‘It’s totally depressing’: Richard Tognetti on the state of music education

Richard Tognetti, the artistic director and lead violin of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, seems remarkably chill for someone who’s “working frantically”, as he puts it. Currently wrapping up the ACO’s 50th anniversary with a national tour of Beethoven’s Pastoral (aka Symphony No. 6), his mind’s already deep in the orchestra’s program for 2027, which will be led by Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion.

“It’s simply one of the greatest works ever conceived by humankind,” says Tognetti from his beachside home in Manly. “J.S. Bach is widely believed by anyone who cares to know about such things these days as the greatest composer, and his two surviving passions – the St Matthew and St John – are regarded as these extraordinary musical events. It’s going to be a pretty good year.”

Worst habit?

Impatience. I’ve always got 15 plates in the air and way too many projects, so I’m always lying awake at night, worrying about things I need to get done. As technology gets faster, our impatience gets worse, which is ridiculous. So recently, I set myself up with a turntable hi-fi system. It’s vinyl-only, and you’re only allowed to use it if you listen to a whole side of a record.

Greatest fear?

The shark problem. Surfing is my life. I grew up in Wollongong, and I’ve been surfing since I was a kid. So, as a surfer, my greatest fear is that the shark problem is going to become so unmanageable that we’ll become a Reunion Island “paradise” with no swimming or surfing.

Unfortunately, it’s become a highly politicised issue. The trolling on the internet is almost a joke. It’s people who don’t even know what the ocean is saying, “Well, you deserve to die because you’re in their backyard.” There’s a lot of misinformation and emotional anxiety, and what we’re left with is a lot of fear and distress in the surfing and ocean swimming community.

The line that has stayed with you?

“Art makes grand our own stupid lives.” Seven dangerous words. I think I got it from Clive James’ amazing book, Cultural Amnesia. It’s self-explanatory but it means that art – which is everywhere – elevates you in a way that makes you feel the world is more interesting than it actually is.

The more we can be involved in cultural pursuits, the better off we are. At the least, it keeps us out of trouble. If a kid plays a clarinet and they’re obsessed with playing it well, it focuses the brain, you get emotional expression, it brings joy to people. Art does that.

It’s interesting that there’s a lot of talk about saving Western culture these days, but most of the people who make us paranoid about it are those who don’t even consider its merits. I wish politicians would read more. I was involved in a rather narky incident with a very well-known politician who told me they don’t have time to read, and I just thought, “Therein lies the problem.”

Biggest regret?

I think it was Helen Mirren who was once asked this and she said, “I didn’t tell enough people to f— off.” [laughs] Well, we all know what she means. But I suppose my biggest regret at my age is that I’ve tried so hard to convince politicians about the value of music education and to this day, I regret that more of them haven’t listened. It’s shithouse, totally depressing, and if anything they’re making it worse.

It’s a no-brainer, learning how to read and write and appreciate music. And not just Mozart, but lots of different types of music. Have you ever met someone who said, “I learned to play the guitar when I was young and I really regret it”? No! So I regret I couldn’t convince these people. I take full responsibility for the stupidity of politicians.

Tell us about your turning point.

When you start playing piano as a kid, if you just work at it a bit, with one note you can make as good a sound as any pianist who’s ever lived. With a violin, no way! It takes years just to get a reasonable sound.

I think it was in 1974 in Wollongong. I would’ve been about eight. I remember standing on a stage and playing my own little pathetic piece and just thinking, “Wow, I can actually kind of play.” That was a turning point.

I started playing violin when I was five. The worst thing I hear is parents saying about their kids, “Oh my God, it sounds like shit.” Yeah, we know it sounds like shit… until it doesn’t!

What is the song you wish was yours?

The last movement of Symphony No. 41 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which is nicknamed the “Jupiter Symphony” for good reason. As incredible as Bach is, and possibly we could all agree that he’s the greatest composer, here is Mozart bringing together tunes from the street, opera tunes, ecclesiastical melodies and balancing, like, seven of them at one time so that all you’ve got is pure exhilaration. That for me is, wow. If I wrote that, I’d be like, yep, that’ll do. And then the poor bastard goes and dies at 35! It was one of the last things he wrote.

If you could time travel, where would you choose to go?

The fairly sophisticated times of Mozart’s Vienna. Which is nothing like modern-day Vienna. As much as the modern-day Viennese musicians will have you believe they’re connected to Mozart, they’re not in any way or form.

I’d just hang with Mozart, talk nothing with him. Hang in the bars, watch him play billiards, listen to his filthy language. Drink whatever he drank and observe how the hell he wrote that stuff… whilst playing billiards! That’s the myth. Let’s believe in the myths sometimes.

Richard Tognetti and the ACO perform Beethoven’s Pastoral at Newcastle City Hall on November 12; Sydney’s City Recital Hall on November 14, 17 and 18; the Sydney Opera House on November 15; Brisbane’s QPAC Concert Hall on November 16; Melbourne’s Recital Centre on November 21 and 23; the Arts Centre Melbourne on November 22; Adelaide’s Town Hall on November 24; and Perth’s Winthrop Hall on November 25.

Take 7 appears in Spectrum every Saturday