WEBVTT - Itzhak Perlman Cracks Wise 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.240 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:27.080 This is it sak Perlman's exquisite vibrato on Bach's first 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.760 violin Sonata. He was mature by the time he made 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.080 this recording, thirty years into a career that started before 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:39.040 his bar Mitzvah. Perlman doesn't like the word prodigy, but 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:42.760 it's hard to avoid. At three, he was practicing scales 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.360 on a toy violin. At four, he was studying with 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.840 a great master. At thirteen, he was whisked away from 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.640 his native Israel to the United States to be on 0:00:52.720 --> 0:01:00.160 the Ed Sullivan Show. He won admission to Juilliard that 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:08.200 same year. From prodigy to master and finally national treasure. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.959 For sixty years, his life was a blur of world 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.240 tours and TV specials, playing for the Queen and given 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.560 a place of honor on the program for Obama's inauguration. 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.560 Yet it's not Perlman had a difficult childhood, stricken by 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.280 polio in the war torn early days of Israeli statehood. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.720 Now he gives back at every opportunity, including through the 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.440 Perman Music Program founded by his wife Toby. The summer 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.120 school is located on Idyllic Shelter Island, giving talented kids 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.240 of every background the chance to study with the world's 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.720 greatest musicians. You'll meet Toby and a couple of former 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.560 students at the end of the program. You'll even hear 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:03.520 the students play virtuoso movement from Mendelssohn's Octette. The whole 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.320 crew joined me live on stage at the n y 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:10.320 U Screwball Center in Greenwich Village. Ladies and gentlemen, it's 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:28.000 not perlment before we get into the the real grist. 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.400 Here you and I were talking about the grist, you know, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:37.720 the real essence like that the So this is a 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.440 burning question I have. What's your favorite guilty pleasure? Go 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.560 to food or snack late at night? Oh? Let it now, 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.919 now that I'm old, there's no food after at eight o'clock, 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.200 you know, if if I pay for it, if you 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.520 can't eat after, I can't eat it. But then in 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.600 the middle of the night and you give vault. So no, no, no, 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.400 no food. But you grew up food was everything. Food 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.360 was everything, very very guiding force in your life because 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.120 you grew up kind of poor. Correct very no not no. 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.640 What did your dad do you grew up in Tel Aviv. 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.120 What was your father? What was his occupition? My father 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.040 did all sorts of things, you know. He was the 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.400 immigrated he immigrated from Poland to Israel, you know. And uh, 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.400 no professional really, so he did He picked oranges in 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.480 an orchard, he went into construction, anything. He just got 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.400 any job. He was not you know, he did not 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.400 have a particular skill, so he just did whatever it 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.160 is and he learned on the job. And then when 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.040 he met my mother and they somehow got ahold of 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.880 a barbershop and she knew how to cut hair, but 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.000 she taught him how to do that, so he did 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.080 that as well. So he did like everything that he 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.920 had to do to make a living. How many siblings 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.800 did you have? I'm an only child child. Yes. I 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.320 always ask people who have a career similar to your 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:58.720 career if you understood they have a career similar to Mike. 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.400 Well not really, actually, you know, there aren't many. There 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.200 aren't many, but anybody, but anybody who was a young 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.160 person who especially in this world you're in where they 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:10.880 cultivate them very young, and in sports too, where they 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.000 get these kids when they're ten years old and they 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:14.960 kind of know that they're heading to the NBA or 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.760 the NFL or whatever. But you're a very young child, 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.360 and I'm wondering, do you know what you're going through 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.640 when you're a young child, or you're too busy doing 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.520 it to understand what you're inside of when you were 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.120 getting shot through this rocket to become the famous, well, 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.120 when I would look when I was young, Uh, my 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.719 parents thought that I had a good ear because I 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.280 could repeat everything, you know, by singing it. And then 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.360 I said I want to play the violin, and I 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.800 think they told me that I had a nice sound. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.440 So that was the, if you want to call it, 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.640 the unusual thing about the way I played. I had 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.240 a nice sound. You were playing on what didn't you like? 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.719 A toy violin or But I just started with a toy, 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.039 which I didn't like, so I quit that. And then 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.320 I was playing on something. I don't remember what it was. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.320 It wasn't any in spectacular. I started really when I 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.359 was like almost five four four and three quarters almost? 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.039 Why what made you do I want it? I want it. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.839 I like the sound. I love the sound of the violin. 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.640 I heard it on the radio and I said, that's 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.360 what I want to do simple, that's what I want 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.280 to do, And there's no explanation. You know, everybody has 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.640 a different thing that they hear and it sort of 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.480 grabs their imagination. And the violence sound was that and 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.800 I think it was hyper so it was pretty good 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:34.120 for grabbing the imagination. You know. When I was a kid, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.560 I saw Butch Cassidy and I said, that's what I 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:41.040 want to do. I want to rob trains. Very impressionable 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.000 when we're young, But when you're five years old. What's 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.120 the difference between when you teach a five year old 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.760 and a ten year old. I don't teach that young. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.200 You know, there are people who specialize and then you 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:56.559 can tell basically, uh something about technique, you know, something 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.680 about what kind of hands do they have? You know, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.039 it reminds me sometimes, you know, you you see young 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.120 baseball players, you know, and they say they've got soft hands. 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.560 You know, when they catch the ball, that's soft hands. Well, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:08.839 it's something like this is similar when you when you play, 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.880 you can see that somebody can get around the violin 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.840 pretty naturally, even though it's not finished or anything like this. 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.080 But at an early age you can already see it, 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.400 so that gives you an inclination as to what's in 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.120 the future, but of course you don't know what's in 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.480 the future. You just and and for me, I personally 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.080 feel that when I hear somebody play at the young age, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.240 let's say even ten, eleven, twelve years old, if they 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:38.040 play age appropriately, I'm very happy. What I mean by 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.200 age appropriate is that you can if you close your eyes, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.599 you think that that's a young person. You know, there's 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.919 there's hope, there is you know, there is talent there 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.840 and and but it's young. You hear it as opposed 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.880 to listening to sometimes if you put on on the internet, 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.960 you know, you hear people who are five, six, seven 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.880 years old who sounds like like the years old. You 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.720 know that amazing and that I find something times is 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.400 challenging because if you're twelve and you sound like you're 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.440 twenty five, what what are you gonna sound like when 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.080 you're eighteen or nineteen? You know, That's that's and that 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:14.160 I worry about, because that's very very difficult exactly you 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.239 know and what and how do you treach this person? 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.760 And according to your philosophy, at what age do you've 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.400 started a little tougher with them? With how old. Well, 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.200 it's not a question of being tough. It's well, look, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:30.080 everybody has their own sort of schedule of development. You know. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.440 Sometimes you hear somebody at the age of twelve who 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.400 just sound basic, not very very good, but you hear 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.760 something there, and so you have to know what's to 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.640 say and what not to say. I'd like to just 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.560 insert that. You know, what's the great secret of a 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.320 good teacher is not only knowing what to say, but 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.440 knowing what not to say, and especially what not to say. 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:57.560 When somebody that has great gift and great musical musical naturalness, 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.880 and those that have that great gifts in that natural 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:04.240 them alone, do you leave them alone hurt their feelings? No, no, 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.640 you don't want to hurt them. No, it's not their feelings. 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.600 It's you don't want to fox around. You know, you 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.080 don't want to, you know, just let the natural ability 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.840 to natural talent develop and usually things get better as 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:22.040 you grow older, you know, without having to really nitpick 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.480 with everything. And that's that's I find is a danger 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.640 because you know, when a teacher has such incredible talent 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:31.640 in front of them, you know, they want to give 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.560 you their old So then they become too picky, leave 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.559 it alone, Just leave it alone. During what years did 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.400 you study with gold Guard? I studied with her from 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.720 the age of five until I was thirteen. You studied 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.920 with for eight years, eight years, and then you came 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.720 to the United States to do Sullivan. You were thirteen 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.960 years old. And when you came to do so I 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.040 find that unbelievable. When you came to do Sullivan and 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.280 you're thirteen years old, did you have any idea who Sullivan? Was? 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:02.360 That what your first idea, there's some guy was exactly No. No, 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.040 I didn't know how how you looked or anything. I 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.160 just I just in Israel they talked about because when 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.760 we came to to Israel to audition a whole bunch 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.920 of people to go on his show, they said there 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.840 they didn't call him Sullivan. They called him Sullivan. That's Sullivan, 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:29.440 sat Sullivan. Is that Sullivan? That's Sullivan? Oh, Television, I said, okay, television. 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.240 At the minute I heard television said I mean so 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.240 I So I auditioned, you know, and then I was chosen. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:36.920 You know that there was there was sent people over 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:41.120 to audition musicians. Yes, yes, because Sullivan he wanted at 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:46.760 Sullivan wanted a show only of the isra Eli pard 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.120 of my accent, only of the isra Eli people. So 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:55.240 it was a variety great Jew and was going back 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.760 to the homeland and the kids. Ever, well, there's some 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.360 people thought his name was that Solomon, but we changed 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.920 the two at Sullivan. It might have been, but but 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.440 you know, so the whole show was an Israeli variety show. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.040 You've seen this show, you know. He had everybody had 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.360 a monkey dancing, and then he had somebody playing the violin. 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.480 And so in this particular case, it was a pair 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:20.160 of folk singers that there was to know that we 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.800 didn't have topo and we didn't have them, but we 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.360 had a ballet dancer was fourteen. We had a coloratura 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.840 soprano from yem And I think I was in the 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:35.240 Department of Human Interest story or chubby story. I don't 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.760 know what I was what I was, but I was cute, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.800 I think, sorry, very cute. I was cute. Thank you 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.000 so much, thank you so cute. I know when you 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.240 come over you've never been to the US before, your 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.839 mother comes with you. Yes, and you perform on Sullivan. Yes, 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:50.679 do you remember what that was like to win the show? 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:58.160 It was slightly exciting. Uh, I didn't know, No, it 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.400 was it was very exciting, you know, and so I 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.640 I kind of played and it was very It was 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.360 over very quickly, you know, because I did the last 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.560 moment of the medlsone concerto and they cut it down 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.280 to about I think two two minutes and forty five 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.840 seconds because that was it. And uh, and he introduced me. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.680 He was a lovely gentleman, really very very nice. Is 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.920 that what happened after you did Sullivan? Uh? We went 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:25.920 on a tour in the US, the entire group that 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:30.000 did Sullivan, we went on a on a tour months. Yeah, 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.240 about three or three or four months. Yeah. Yeah. And 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:34.920 at the end of the at the end of the tour, 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:40.360 I went I well, the main thing the challenge was 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.400 to get into the Juilliard School, and that was one 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.079 of it was it was it was that a plan 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:46.880 for you to go to Juilliard. Yes, when you were 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.280 back in the issue before Sullivan, before before sa it 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.400 was a dream to go to Juilliard, but Sullivan made it. 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.400 But yes, it was a very Julliard And there was 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:00.280 a teacher there who taught Julia that I heard about 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.560 in Israel. By the name of Glamian, and so we said, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.400 one of these days, maybe you'll study with Gala and 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.720 Ivan Galamian yea. His assistant at that time was Dorothy Delay, 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.720 and she came and heard me play, and she thought 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.680 that I had a good chance, had a good sound. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.920 I had a good sound, you know that that was 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.160 my forte is the sound. But then you were about 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.040 fourteen thirteen half fourteen, right around the same sound. So 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:26.960 what was it like for you? You never lived in 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.160 New York. And again this idea of being like shot 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.040 out of a cannon to have the spectacular career, this 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.600 big ticket career. You want thirteen years old, you want Sullivan. 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.240 You're touring the country, You're gonna go to Juilliard. What 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.440 was your recollection that? Was it intimidating or you don't 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.360 have time to think about that. I didn't really think 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.720 about it because it wasn't really look it wasn't like 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.800 a professional career. It was a specialized career, you know, 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.040 an other ways to play for It was an Ed 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.760 Sullivan concert. It wasn't like I was playing a recital someplace, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.520 you know, or I was making my debut in Carnegie 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.480 Hall or any thing. Like that. It was a specialized 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.760 kind of concert, you know, and it used to play 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:09.600 um Also, I used to play for Jewish benefits, you know, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:11.760 for the u J and they knew about me, you know, 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.640 because the whole organization, the Jewish organization knew about this 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.640 Sullivan program. So they used some of the people for fundraising. 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.880 And I was, you know, sometimes I was. I would 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.480 be called at the telephone. I would be hired to 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.440 do fifteen minutes or ten minutes at the end of 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.160 the fundraising, you know, and I would appear probably like 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.760 eleven o'clock at night, you know, and I would play 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.160 then gun Bay Block and the Flight of the Bumblebee, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.520 and that was it. And then I would leave and 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.679 and I would get I would get paid, you know, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:43.760 and it was it was great, you know. I played 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:47.360 while the people were eating their desserts and of kosher 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.400 food and things like that. It wasn't the same people 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.360 like when one night you do fly to the Bumblebee 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.280 and somebody says he was better at Jerry's bar mitzvah, 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.880 so much better. I never did bar Mitzvah's. I never 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.120 did bar mitzvahs. And I didn't and I didn't do Veddings, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.560 No Veddings. Absolutely. You know, now, when you leave and 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.040 you come to to the United States, when you left 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.040 for the Sullivan trip, was it assumed you were going 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:15.599 to go home or did you kind of know you 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.960 knew you weren't going home. I knew that I was. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.640 I was going to stay and did. My dad stayed 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.400 for about a year in Israel and finished selling the 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.360 apartment and do us in the business, and then he 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.240 came and joined us. I even remember, you know, I 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.320 did not see my dad for a year, and the 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.120 only way to get in touch was through letters. And 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:44.280 then a bit later on, you know, maybe after about five, six, seven, 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.280 eight months, we actually were able to arrange for a 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:53.160 long distance call from New York to Tel Aviv, you know. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:57.480 And at that time, so you're talking about nineteen fifty nine, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.720 so it was like ten o'clock the morning, you know, 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:10.000 on the phone rings and I had Hello, Hello. That 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.680 was the connection, you know, that's the connection. And you know, 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.080 we had absolutely and we had in our street where 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.160 I lived, we had no phone. So what we had 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.800 was there was a grocery store that had the telephone. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.440 So whoever want to make a long distance called we'll 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.880 go to the grocery store and we pick up. So 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.960 that's that's what you knew you were going to stay. Yes, yes, 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.680 I learned the language from watching TV and you know, 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.520 listening to the Yankee baseball. Spoke very little English and 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:43.040 now hardly. I took a class of English in Israel. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.240 I think I failed. But it's amazing how quickly you learned, 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.680 you know, when you hear the language around you all 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.840 the time, and you were you went to Julia with 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:57.640 family years. Let's see, until I think nineteen or I 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.920 was nineteen or twenty. I think as I because I 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:05.240 still I remember still uh doing concerts and having to 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.600 go to class, and you know sometimes I was late 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.680 to a class and I got hell to pay, you know, 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.280 because I just took a flight from Los Angeles. Give 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:14.880 me a break. You know. I don't know, but you 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:16.800 didn't go to an English class, you know, I have 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.360 to be that. So but I was, you know, So 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.080 I did both things for a while and then I graduated. 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:28.520 And is it literally your hand and your brain the 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.880 way they connect. Is it a passion and a spirit 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.600 that you have inside you? Also that helps you play 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.520 the viol When you talk about having a good sound. 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.240 What does that mean? Having a good sound? It means 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.240 that you play the violin and you hear as a 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.480 particular sound and that's you. It's it's something that's individual, 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.160 that's all it is. It's not like I'm not going 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.520 to practice so that I'm going to get a good sound. 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.960 I'm talking about the tone actually to the tone, which 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.040 deals with the beauty of the sound. Sound, of course, 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.880 is tech. My teachers worked on it. You know how 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.119 you use the bowl, you know where you put the 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.160 bow between the strings, and you know what's the direction 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.280 of the bow, the bow speed, etcetera, etcetera. That's the 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:14.119 it's a healthy sound. But the beauty of the tone 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:21.000 is something that every person has differently. It's an individual. Yeah, 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.439 you cannot teach that. There's certain things you cannot teach. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.159 And where do you think your sound comes from? I 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.040 don't know. I mean I really don't know. It's it's 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.919 something that I hear you had when I was four 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.760 and three quarters. So do you find that music become 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.080 you imbue that with even more of your being in 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:41.800 your spirit because you were limited in the things you 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:43.840 could do as a child. I don't think so. I'm 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:48.000 getting everything wrong with you everything, But that's not it. 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:55.040 But but you're batting, that's good. But you're doing good, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.200 you know, I mean because you know, No, it's no, Seriously, 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.159 I just I don't think so. I mean, I mean, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.520 I couldn't say to you. Well, let me see how 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.359 I'm playing without napolio. Now, let's see how I'm playing 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.600 with the polio. I can't I can't say what I'm wondering. 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:16.120 But I'm wondering if you that Okay, sorry, I mean 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:18.359 giving you such a hard time. So I'm so sorry. No, 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:19.920 I mean, I knew this was kinding. I've been around 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.520 you a few times. Always it's always an obstacle. Course, 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.760 but anyway, the the but but you know, what I'm 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.199 saying is is that do you think the spirit of 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.040 the person is that relevant? No, I don't know. I 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.480 love to watch people who are famously like, whether it's 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:39.000 their actors or or people in sports, and sort of 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.160 try and guess what kind of people they are in private, 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:47.760 you know, and uh being good and being a wonderful 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.320 person and being a sort of an agreeable, sympathic a 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.480 kind of person. It is not necessarily together, you know. 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.720 I remember my wife always. You know, sometimes we go 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.399 to a concert and we hear somebody who's absolutely amazing, 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.080 and I said, Toby, come on, let's go backstage and 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.159 say hello, and she said, I'd rather not. You know, 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.840 I I don't want to be disappointed the way this 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:13.040 pression plays. Just let's let's not do it. Let me 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.960 just relax and just enjoy it. Uh you. Many many 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.960 people who conduct, and I'd love to get your opinion 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.600 of this. Many people who conduct are people who have 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.639 good careers as a soloist. They played typically the violin 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.359 of the piano, but they don't necessarily have great careers. 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:30.240 And then but someone taps them on the shoulders. There 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.280 are you keep time very well, and they moved them on. No. 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:34.720 But I mean, I mean every every one of that 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.240 I would talk to would say that. To me. I'd say, uh, 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.040 you know, do this one they say. Somebody walked up 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:41.920 to me when I was like ten years old and said, 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.360 you keep time very well. And they moved them into 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.159 the conducting program whatever. They moved into the viola section. 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.080 That's our ad for the show. Right, No, no, no, 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.400 I might study that viola jokes on no longer applicable 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:05.119 because the level of viola playing has really risen seriously 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.159 so that you said we should be that too. No, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.680 it's really viola jokes. You know. Used to be that 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.400 the level was a little bit below, but right now 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.160 it's brilliant. I mean, so many brilliant viola players. So 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:32.119 it's not but it's still funny, you know. Violin legend. 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:35.160 It's a Pruman has a special place in his heart 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.120 for the New York Pilharmonic. He and then music director 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.639 Alan Gilbert teamed up for the Phil's opening Galla a 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.320 few years ago. Here films our guest soloist It's a Filman, 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:51.119 followed by music director has A l film ut Alan Gilbert. 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.320 Gilbert found out he got the job from the Phil's president, 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.520 Zarin Meta, after a particularly miserable bedtime for his toddler's 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.800 We had had a tortuous night and they'd finally fallen asleep, 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.320 and I got a call from Zarin Meta just after 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:10.159 they had fallen asleep, and he said, I'd like to 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:12.040 invite you to be our next music director. I said, 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.000 my kids just fell asleep. I can't talk to you. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.760 But then I called him back and we had seen 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.000 it in a movie where guys like more than being 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.359 the music director of the Philharmonica, I want my kids 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.600 to go to sleep. Clink totally, he will. We all 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.119 know the madness of that moment. The rest of my 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.040 conversation with conductor Alan Gilbert at Here's the Thing dot 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.960 Org coming up It sucked Perman on Alan and Gilbert's art, 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.520 what makes a great conductor? Plus his wife Toby Perlman 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:43.080 on their music school and the next generation of great 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:49.720 masters takes on Mendelssohn and my questions. This is Alec 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.440 Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. It sacked. 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:57.439 Perlman didn't bring his famous strata varius. He says playing 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.440 takes more effort now than it used to. As you 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.000 get older, everything becomes more difficult and more demanding. Uh oh, 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:09.639 are you kidding me? Uh? But you know, if you 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:11.520 do a great piece, you can do it over and 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.160 over again and no matter how I mean for me, 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:18.160 I mean a perfect example is debatedpen Violent Concerto, which 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:20.840 is not getting any easier as you get older, because 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.120 but it's not. It's but it's very very difficult when 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.440 you're young as well. It's I call it when when 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:29.359 my students start the piece, I say, welcome to the 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.280 lifetime journey, because that's what it is. You know, you 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:35.800 start to play and it's pretty good, and then you 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:38.239 played again, and you played again and you grow up 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.760 with it. So that's that's what music is about. And 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:46.040 the minute you think musically like that, especially when you 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:50.239 repeat something, you're on the right track. Instead of saying, oh, 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:52.879 I have to do that again, but you know, you 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:54.840 have to look at the music and you have to say, 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:59.480