Christian Ludwig: Gwangju Symphony Orchestra

By Doug Stuber

The Gwangju Symphony Orchestra, now starting its second year under musical director Christian Ludwig, sounded magnificent in a recent performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number One (with piano virtuoso prodigy Cho Song-chin playing superbly) and Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony, a less-heard piece that demonstrated the orchestra’s ability to perform a subtle, moving work with all the emotion demanded by a Russian composer.

Ludwig commented on the talent of the soloist in an interview after the concert.

“We are able to bring in young, rising stars who are affordable, make the time to come to Gwangju, and perform very well. At age 17, Cho has already taken a prize in the Tchaikovsky Piano competition in Moscow and played with orchestras in Japan, China and Russia. The amazing thing is, no one in his family has a musical background,” Ludwig said, as he prepared for a flight to Germany the next day. Cho is slated to play in China and Europe in 2012 also.

Ludwig, who was the assistant to Mr. Ku, the previous conductor here, in opera orchestras in both Frankfurt and Seoul, was born in Germany, and has a Korean mother.

“I visited here often, with so much family here, but working here has helped me get a complete impression of the Korean culture,” he said, with the smile of a man who appreciates getting to know his mother’s land.

Ludwig had a tough act to follow, as Ku had turned the orchestra from the best one in Jeollanam-do to one of the most harmonious in Korea, yet his goal is to improve the orchestra even further. As is a tradition in all Korean orchestras, the Gwangju Symphony is going through a re-audition process. This means all members must re-qualify to retain their seats in the orchestra. The process has gone without a hitch and, with 16 members left to go, it appears Ludwig will have to improve the orchestra with its current members, rather than replacing fading or less-hard-working members with new blood.

“The May 18 Memorial Concert is the major performance in May, but the orchestra plays many concerts at schools, and in places (like in front of the Town Hall in Sangmu last summer) that draw crowds that would not normally see classical music”, Ludwig continued. “The May 18 Concert features a Shostakovich piece that demands a very large orchestra and provides a chance to perform a symphony that is full of the same spirit of revolution that still hangs in the air here.”

That spirit infected a practice recently when a number of orchestra members hung signs from their music stands asking “Are you doing a good job?” Those may have referred to the fact that Ludwig also conducts the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, as well as guest conducting around Europe for approximately two weeks per month. Most recently he conducted in Lisbon, Portugal. Or, they may have been a reaction to the fact that re-auditions were happening at all, since, in a fit of what must be called a “Seoul Superiority Complex”, the Korean Broadcast Orchestra allowed members to opt out of re-auditions, the only orchestra in Korean history to do so.

The fact is that in classical music, woodwind and brass instruments stand out, while strings are coddled in a cocoon of large sections. This means that a viola player may not be the best, but it would be hard to detect in a large section, while a flub on trumpet or French horn stands out, not just due to volume but also the obviousness of the instrument that made the error (either rhythmically or in tone). Thus in the case of Gwangju, the full re-audition is a necessary part of being a professional musician every year.

Considering the near-mutiny the little red signs created, there is an option for Mr. Ludwig that he did not mention in the interview. Instead of re-auditioning an orchestra, with the assumption most will be professional enough to retain their seats, an orchestra can be disbanded, and the every seat can be opened up to anyone who wants to audition.

Korea has almost an unbounded talent pool on strings, but one assumes that an open call audition would still find 85 percent of the orchestra retaining their seats. I can’t imagine a cellist losing a seat for instance, but a full and open audition is the only fair way to make better string sections, again because of the cocoon effect. It would have to be an excellent player on any instrument to find their way into this already strong addition to Gwangju’s place as a “cultural hub city of Asia.” Without it, Ludwig will undoubtedly be stepping up his already rigorous rehearsals. Either way, we can look forward to an ever-improving orchestra, and as was recently proven, one that plays well together, regardless of juvenile antics at rehearsals.

Photos courtesy of Christian Ludwig and the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra.