SLOWING DOWN
BUT STILL PERFORMING
AND RECORDING ...

LIBOR PESEK in conversation with Bill Newman

<< Continued from page 6

'I have also stepped down as the President of The Prague Spring Festival - enough is enough - but there is more to life than just honours. Younger people should come and have their say! It depends on their wish to learn, and they are much more competitive than my generation. They are brilliant, but it depends how far they are prepared to dig into past interpretations. Anybody who is not going to investigate those old recordings will deprive themselves of golden experiences. The bigger question is: will there still be symphony orchestras in future? Players are all underpaid, so they might decide to become lawyers, or something. The first step is a strong feminisation of orchestras, because the women are more diligent than the men. The general understanding of art is that it is cheaper than it used to be. Walk into San Francisco Art Gallery the best thing is the building, and you then go into a room and see a heap of bon-bons in the corner. Look at bloody television - it's everywhere! I am optimistic that we should go on and widen people's appreciation of music, but from a broader, philosophical standpoint. Perhaps Art is not so important for man, and we were brought up in an illusory state where Art is something sacred. Take Unesco's list of necessities - Art comes in seventh place. The whole materialistic value of life might be so repulsive someday, that someone might endeavour to rediscover a true culture, but I am a sceptic, not a pessimist!'