After 35 years, the violist is leaving the orchestra.
The Viennese violist Johannes Gürth came to Zurich in 1990. At that time, Hiroshi Wakasugi was still chief conductor; later, he spent 19 years under the baton of David Zinman, witnessing the orchestra’s time at the Tonhalle Maag and its move back to the lake; in total, he has played hundreds of concerts in Zurich and on tour – including a children’s concert in wellies. His own children have grown up in the meantime, and he once recounted in this article how he makes music and explores things with his grandchildren. Now he is playing his final concert and has answered three questions between rehearsals.
Most of all, I’ll miss the wonderful musicians, who are also very close to me personally! I’ll also miss the hall – or rather, both halls, the large one and the small one – both are special. At times, we were able to perform masterpieces here with the finest conductors and soloists; it was brilliant that I was able to be part of that. Over these 35 years, there have been time and again moments that brought real joy and had – or still have – real meaning. In those moments of resonance within the orchestra and with the audience, an enormous energy flows – that remains unforgettable.
Of course, one would always have wished for nothing but magical moments, every week. But sometimes, during rather sluggish rehearsals, you realised that in the reality of the collective there’s little scope to influence the bigger picture – especially in my position as a section player on the violas. I wouldn’t exactly call that a downside, because it’s inherent in the system. We’re all, so to speak, luxury racehorses, and if each one pulls in a different direction, it doesn’t work. But I didn’t always find it easy to accept the interdependencies between us as unchangeable.
I’m going to rekindle my own vitality as a musical creator, in classical music and even more so in other musical styles. I’ve already unpacked my violin again, and my saxophone too. Whether this will lead to new music projects later on remains to be seen. I’ve always had plenty of ideas – and the drive is still there, as ever.
