A Conversation with Robert Walters

How did you come across Geoffrey Gordon and his music? Why did you pick this concerto specifically? 

ROBERT: He actually came across me! He reached out and said, “I’ve got this new English horn concerto. Would you be interested in giving the US premiere?” I had heard his name but didn’t know his music, so I said, “Sure, I’ll listen.” I was immediately struck by how well he writes not just for my instrument, but also for the orchestra. It’s masterful the way he uses every section. Usually, with new music, it takes me a while to form an opinion, but I was taken with this piece right away and knew I wanted to play it. 

What has your preparation process looked like? 

ROBERT: Preparation is very important to me. My family has a house in upstate New York, and I spent a lot of time this summer immersing myself in the music. The first stage is to learn the piece, but you also have to practice performing it. Gordon made me a piano reduction so I can play it in various settings and identify problem areas before the first rehearsals with the Orchestra. 

Leading up to the Severance performances, I’ve played it for a Bard College masterclass, for my studio at Oberlin, and for several friends and colleagues. I even played it for my yoga studio. My daughter calls my yoga instructor my “breathing teacher.” She had me perform the concerto for the class so they could see my breath control. It was my yoga studio debut! 

What makes the English horn stand out as an orchestral instrument and also as a solo voice? 

ROBERT: The English horn is sort of the cello version of an oboe. One of the things I love about my job is that my seat on stage is almost part of the cello section. I have a lot of melodies in unison with the cellos; I watch their bows and the way they vibrate as my model. 

In Italian opera houses, an early version of the English horn was called voce umana — the human voice. There is something very human and vocal about the instrument. In general, it’s used for slow, mournful melodies. My mother used to jokingly call it the “anguish horn” — there’s a lot of pain and pathos that the English horn range is particularly good at expressing. 

What can audience members listen for in this work? How does it complement the rest of the program? 

ROBERT: When I learned the concerto would be paired with Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, I was thrilled. Mahler is one of the undisputed masters of orchestration; his music is fantastic, gripping, and immediate. There’s a similarity with how Gordon writes for orchestra that I think the audience will really hear. 

What I love about this concerto is that there are heartbreaking melodic gestures that are typical for English horn, but there’s also fleet, technical material that breaks out of our typecast. 

The construction of the work feels like the William Blake poem it’s based on (Mad Song). There are three stanzas in the poem and three movements in the piece, but it’s through-composed like a Wagner opera. It’s almost like a storyboard for a film — there’s a real sense of narrative and journey. 

What are some of the other solo works you’ve played with the Orchestra? 

ROBERT: You hear English horn solos a lot if you come to Severance, but you don’t hear it as a concerto instrument that often. The first concerto I played in Cleveland was by Ned Rorem, and I did a beautiful concerto by Pēteris Vasks in 2011. Another career highlight occurred 10 years ago: Oberlin commissioned Bernard Rands to write a concerto for me on the occasion of the Conservatory’s 150th anniversary. I premiered it with The Cleveland Orchestra and then recorded it with the Oberlin Orchestra a few months afterward. Then, in fall 2018, I got to perform Copland’s Quiet City with our Principal Trumpet Michael Sachs [pictured above]. 

I love the chance to stand in front of the Orchestra, and the work I put into a concerto certainly raises the level of what I do when I sit inside the Orchestra. The week after this concerto, we’re performing Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. I’m sure playing that famous English horn solo is going to feel much better than usual, having just done the concerto. 

Besides this concert, what other ones are you looking forward to this season? 

ROBERT: Definitely Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in Cleveland and then at Carnegie Hall. There’s a huge English horn solo, which is one of the great moments in the repertoire. And we’re also doing Sibelius’s The Swan of Tuonela in Miami. It’s one of the biggest English horn solos there is, almost like a mini concerto. It’s funny: When I joined The Cleveland Orchestra, I came from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. At that point, I hadn’t played in a symphony orchestra for a long time, and The Swan of Tuonela was on the first rehearsal of my first week on the job in Cleveland! I’m very excited to revisit it again. 

Robert Walters is the solo English horn of The Cleveland Orchestra. He holds the Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair.