LEGENDS
ANDRE RIEU: THE WORLD'S GREATEST MUSICAL SHOW BELONGS TO HIM! Cont'd.
By Maximillien de Lafayette. Contributors & Additional data: Andre Rieu Fans web. Le Violon Magique (Ms Martine), Maestro Rieu's official biography and official site.
Once
while I was still a conservatory student, I was asked to take part in a
salon ensemble, and when I played my first waltz with them - "Gold and
Silver" by Franz Lehar - it was as though I had discovered a new world.
Such compelling rhythm, that 3/4 metre! I fell immediately in the grasp of
this music and decided that I wanted to play more like it. I started
studying the biographies of composers like Strauss and Lehar and I found
out that Johann Strauss did not write his waltzes so much for performance
in the concert hall, but rather for festive gatherings and celebrations
where young people danced and were cheerful. Strauss would perform in
the parks and halls for large audiences, who would thoroughly enjoy
themselves. One could almost compare it to our present-day discos! From my
very youth, I have always regretted that there is such an enormous gulf
between the musicians on the stage and the audience in the concert hall. I
have but a single aim in my concerts: to involve the audience in such a
way that the spark of all that wonderful music will be transferred
directly to them!"
"The people who come to my concerts are very fanatical."
Asking him about those who appreciate his music, Andre replied: "Actually, the people who come to my concerts are very fanatical. I've given concerts all over the world, and the audiences everywhere get really worked up. I sense that the audiences in Tokyo are particularly fanatical! (laughs) Before giving a concert, people warn me about the way audiences will react. "People in New York are very self-centered, so you'd better be careful", they say, or "People in Paris are lazy", or "People in Tokyo are very polite", or "People in London are snobbish". But when I get up on the stage, everyone everywhere feels just the same. You see, language and nationality are irrelevant when it comes to music. Music is such a wonderful thing. Having been brought up in close proximity to music from a small age, I just couldn't imagine life without it. And that's precisely why I want to make classical music something that everybody can relate to. To achieve that, I'm working hard to set up my own music studio and make new arrangements of classical music. I'm 53 years old now. I aim to live to 120 (laughs), so I've got 70 years left. But rather than setting down future plans, I want to appreciate each year as it comes. Because I feel I'm having the best time of my life now. I love music, I enjoy myself and I actually get paid for it. That makes me happy. And I hope the music I make can continue to bring happiness to other people for a long, long time. "And how about the set, the costumes, the ambiance, the decor and the magic on stage? This is what Andre had to say:
Maestro Andre Rieu in concert in Holland.
"The stage and everything on it was planned and designed by me. The stage and everything on it was planned and designed by me. Even the glamorous dresses worn by the women, and the music stands, were designed by me. Decorating the stage with flowers is also my idea. I want to be in charge of everything, you see. (laughs) In my head I've got a lot of ideas for presenting music to my audiences, and I'm in the best position to act on those ideas. If I asked someone else to do it, I'd only end up having to correct half of it. I do it all myself because it's quicker that way. With my father being a conductor, I had contact with music and theaters from a very early age. The things I felt as a small child naturally entered my physical awareness. For example, the blue light I use when the audience comes into the auditorium originates from memories of my childhood. In those days, theaters would be lit with blue lights. For me as a boy, that added an air of grandeur. So I always use blue lights before the concert starts. My orchestra consists of young people with plenty of enthusiasm. Every evening, we put our whole heart and soul into creating our concerts. That passion conveys itself to the audience. They become one with the orchestra in their enjoyment of the music. They move, hum, clap, even jump up (laughs) in time to the music. Every evening is another unforgettable experience. But this concert style of mine didn't just happen overnight. It developed gradually. "
He won the
hearts of millions around the globe. He mesmerized his audience with
unsurpassed warmly sublime musical beauty, with personal humanistic
virtuosity free of stagnant dogmatic musicology. He imbibed the world of
music with inner feelings, depth and substance which transport you to a
world so far away from our troubled existence, yet, his violin strokes,
his classical and traditional music training, his eloquent fraction of
seconds he ads here and there between musical whispers and short bars
while playing the Blue Danube recapture the reality of the moment you
live in, it recaptures that moment to enchant you, to tease you, to
flirt with you, to remind you that you are an invited guest to his
altar, to his magic, to the warmth and intimate beauty of his creative
musicality...he pauses for one second or two ...his orchestra for a
fraction of a second stops too...and at that very moment, and all of a
sudden splashes of musical lights, your whole being, your memories,
perhaps a delightful madness somewhere in a corner of your life and all
the good feelings, joy and sorrow in your heart will jump again in front
of you, around people sitting at your right and at your left and beyond
the bleeding desires of becoming part of Andre's orchestra...all of
them...all these feelings you have or you might discover, jump out of
you, free, happy, mesmerized, energized, mad and crazy of joy. In
addition to his virtuosity, this man has the power to heal, to comfort,
to cure and to "put a tiger in your tank". And this is exactly what
millions around the word believe in. I took the liberty of selecting
some of the most illustrative letters he received from his fans. They
are self-explanatory.