Maestro Blomstedt: the extraordinary mind and the tender heart

I saw the man with the bushy eyebrows and round rimmed glasses stepping down from the train, the train arriving at the Luzern main station from Zürich. I immediately recognized him but could not understand why a man of his stature was stepping down from the second class wagon of the train. For a moment I thought I saw Maestro Herbert Blomstedt's doppelgänger and then quickly looked at my watch, wondering if I had enough time till the departure time of my own train to Zürich. I grabbed my bag and instead of entering my intended train, I turned around, followed the man I thought to be the famous orchestra conductor, and started walking next to him.

Fearing immediate rejection, I politely asked him, "are you Maestro Blomstedt?" He smiled and nodded, shining his ever smiling and friendly face toward me. I quickly mumbled that I had heard him conduct the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the 80's and was very much a fan of his Bruckner interpretations. He smiled again and expressed surprise, adding, "it is not often I get greeted by a nice man in the street who loves Bruckner, let alone here in Lucerne..." He paused most graciously and talked to me for about 15 minutes with an ease and friendliness that could only characterize a man with a golden heart. That day marked the beginning of a new friendship, a friendship I cherish profoundly. The fact that I lost my train to Zürich, and consequently almost my subsequent flight to the Middle East will remain but a trivial inconvinience which marked that one day.

Interestingly, there were a few things which became obvious relatively quickly. I did not immediately understand why he was traveling second class, and coming to Lucerne by train. I imagined a man of his stature would be chauffeured around the world in first class limousines and flown in private jets. I had not quite realised I had met one of the most extraordinary artists of the 20th century with a most extraordinary mind and a noble spirit, one only finds seldom in life.

Lucerne, Switzerland is the type of city that naturally attracts the best and brightest, the wealthiest and most eccentric people alike. One could say Lucerne is a sort of ultrafiltrate of New York and Paris. The rare combination of splendid natural beauty and quaintness makes Lucerne very attractive to the creme de la creme of artists, both retired and some not. From the shores of the lake one can seem to reach one's arm out and touch the magnificent Alps. The Lake of the Four Cantons regales the wonderful landscape. And for a city of the size of Lucerne, there is copious artistic activity to fill anyone's plate for days on end. So it is that many famous artists, for these reasons and others, not the least of which are the tax advantages and safety that Switzerland affords, settle in this naturally stunning corner of Europe. I had seen the homes of some artists and famous relatively self-centered conductors, whose names are not to be mentioned. Lavish lakeside mansions with extensive art collections. Ostentatious display of wealth. Not the case with maestro Blomstedt.

One can only be considered extremely fortunate to be invited to the home of an artist one has admired for so long. I had admired Maestro Blomstedt for his interpretations of Brahms, Mahler, and Bruckner. I knew him to be an utmost serious and dedicated orchestral conductor, whom I had had the fortune to have heard in San Francisco during my Stanford years in the 80's. My level of admiration toward this most extraordinary man entered a yet completely different dimension as he invited me to visit him at his home one evening, to talk about music, among other topics. I realised the man was much bigger than one expected.

Herbert Blomsted lives in a most modest apartment, in a nondescript section of the city. His dwelling is far from lavish. There is not a single sign of flamboyance. Upon entering his small apartment one immediately noticed the huge number of books and music scores, essentially lining up the entire perimeter, occupying every single wall of the apartment. The fact that Maestro Blomstedt bathes in knowledge and adores his art are instantly clear. Hundreds if not thousands of books and CD's greet one as one enters his personal space. What a treat to spend time with a man like him, who at his ripe age, having lived more than 9 decades, has an intact mind and a golden heart.

As a neurologist who has seen many a person with memory loss related to ageing, I could not believe two events which struck my attention and remain quite alive in my own mind. After talking for a few hours and landing on the subject of one of my own favorite composers, he wanted to remind himself of the fact that Johannes Brahms had enjoyed a close frinedship with a famous surgeon of the day, Theodor Billroth. He sprung up from the sofa, walked to one of his studios where he looked up toward one of the shelves high up near the ceiling, and pulled out a book which comprises the correspondence between Brahms and Billroth. He opened the book, thumbed through the pages, and landed precisely on the photos of the two bearded men, which he wanted to show me, to illustrate the friendship between the master composer and the famous surgeon, between music and medicine. What a delightful moment!

Maestro Herbert Blomstedt. The day we met at the Lucerne train station

However, when I realized the extent of his memory, the power of his mind, was just a few days ago. He had written to me from Japan, where he had touring with NHK orchestra, to remind me he would be conducting Mozart and Bruckner in Zürich in the coming weeks and invited me to attend the musical event, which had been advertised widely in Switzerland. Needless to say I accepted with great joy and took my daughter as my date. That night will remain engraved in my own memory for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that one does not get to hear Bruckner's Romatic 4th Symphony as it is long and considered "difficult" by some people. The 4th symphony is one of the towering orchestral pieces of the 19th century and without a doubt one of the towering works which mark the greatest achievements of tonality, harmony, and coherent musical construction. Maestro Blomstedt undoubtedly knows Bruckner inside out. But to conduct Bruckner's 4th by heart is no easy feat. One sees many conductors who merely gesticulate, who dance with the musicians, who seem to be in control - but are not. They lean on the precision and professionality of the orchestra musicians who work tirelessly to offer a meaningful performance and do most of the real work before the named conductor even shows up to take his position in the limelight. Not Mr. Blomstedt. He left the score at home not only because he knows the score inside out but also because he wants to concentrate solely on the relationship conductor-music, conductor-orchestra, that hallowed relationship which allows the great masterpieces to be heard again and again, century after century, paying homage to the extraordinary creations, the minds of the composers.

Herbert Blomsted conducting the Berliner Philarmoniker

Through the performance of Bruckner's 4th Symphony Maestro Blomstedt kept absolute control of the orchestra, demanding precise tempo control, executing every important cue, every single modulation with his bare hands and occasionally his index finger. He demanded unconditional control and remained standing the entire 70 minutes, the duration of the gigantic piece, precisely on top of every musician, making eye contact with the musicians and correcting the phrases as he went along. He knew exactly what he wanted in order to properly honor Anton Bruckner’s masterpiece. And the result: a prolonged standing ovation the likes one seldom sees in Zürich, a city populated by tempered music lovers of measured merriment. For me as a neurologist who has a life-long fascination with the workings of the brain it is a downright exceptional rara avis that a man of his age has the will, the heart and the mind to do what he does, which is truly gargantuan at any age, let alone at age 92!

As I write these lines I feel thankful for having ears that allow me to love the music of the masters, for having the heart that thrives in this endeavor, for having the mind to realize the great uniqueness of music, for having had the fortune to meet a man like Maestro Blomstedt, a man who is the vehicle that enables the mystery which we know as music to live forever.

Section of Bruckner's 4th Symphony - manuscript