Appreciations of the
work of Jan Koetsier
‘Jan Koetsier is a phenomenon: a musician, an
interpreter in a key position at Bavarian Radio and a professor at the
Musikhochschule, works for 25 years in a diverse city like Munich –
and has no enemies! His straightforward, yet always charming manner,
his personal modesty and absolute integrity are combined with the precision
of his work, plus an intensive, intellectual comprehension of the material
and a spontaneous joy in music-making. The character of his success
is therefore particular to his interpretations, quite without subjective
vanity, always in a serving tolerance, so to speak.’
(Alexander L. Suder: Foreword, in: Henner Beermann (et al): Jan Koetsier,
Tutzing 1988 (= Komponisten in Bayern. Dokumente musikalischen Schaffens
im 20. Jahrhundert, vol. 19), p. 11)
‘Jan Koetsier’s life and work reveal an
admirable balance of ability, artistic intentions and opportunities
available at the time.’
(Gerhard Haffner: ‘Persönlichkeit und Werk Jan Koetsiers
in unserer Zeit’, in: Henner Beermann (et al): Jan Koetsier, Tutzing
1988 (= Komponisten in Bayern. Dokumente musikalischen Schaffens im
20. Jahrhundert, vol. 19), p. 13)
‘Jan Koetsier always knew how to relate his ideas to reality,
to orientate his musical aims towards practical situations, therefore
avoiding the danger of clinging to solitary, pseudo-intellectual ideas
and burdening his works with these. In a period which seeks artistic
salvation in an individualism which all too often can’t be communicated
even to an interested public, a personality such as Jan Koetsier treads
a difficult path. His conviction as a composer, nurtured during his
study of classical periods as well as his intense involvement with the
music of our time, left him no choice but to swim against the tide of
the so-called avant-garde.’
(Gerhard Haffner: ‘Persönlichkeit und Werk Jan Koetsiers
in unserer Zeit’, in: Henner Beermann (et al): Jan Koetsier, Tutzing
1988 (= Komponisten in Bayern. Dokumente musikalischen Schaffens im
20. Jahrhundert, vol. 19), p. 13)
‘The concept of a worker in music is an honourable one for him;
his tireless efforts were always in the service of the business, the
music and the performing musicians. This ethos also characterised his
teaching at the Munich Musikhochschule.’
(Reinhard Schulz: ‘Der dirigierende Holländer’, in:
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14-15 August 2001)
‘On the podium Koetsier personified the kind of resident conductor
who at the same time embodies consistent quality, seems to have no prejudices,
and deals with difficulties calmly and reflectively.’
(Karl Schumann: ‘Jan Koetsier 70’, in: Süddeutsche
Zeitung, 14 August 1981)
‘The conductor Jan Koetsier explored the entire repertoire with
the leading orchestras, and imparted the sum of his experience to the
students at the Munich Musikhochschule, where he became a professor
in 1986. He conducted Mahler in Munich in the days when Mahler performances
meant half empty concert halls. It wasn’t his over-meticulous
beat, but rather an expressive seriousness which revealed that Koetsier
was indebted to the legendary Mahler apostle Mengelberg. Brahms’s
2nd Symphony, a work almost done to death through over-interpretation,
breathed under the unpretentious Koetsier in relaxed naturalness.’
(Karl Schumann: ‘Der freundliche Hüne’, in: Süddeutsche
Zeitung, 15 August 1986)
‘A Dutchman in Munich. Expert, charming and totally incapable
of boasting, which is probably why he didn’t always receive the
recognition he deserved.’
(‘Jan Koetsier ist 85’, in: TZ, 14 August 1996)
‘He didn’t like public display, and when as a conductor
it can’t be avoided, he tried to keep it to the bare minimum.
That’s why he was happiest in the broadcasting studio. Here, he
was at home amongst his musicians, a ‘primus inter pares’,
and everything but a dictator. On the podium he never felt like a ruler
in command, for he had too great a respect for the contribution of others.
Koetsier’s recordings always resulted from a communal effort between
him and the orchestra on the basis of mutual understanding in the service
of the composition.’
(Gerhard Haffner: ‘Persönlichkeit und Werk Jan Koetsiers
in unserer Zeit’, in: Henner Beermann (et al): Jan Koetsier, Tutzing
1988 (= Komponisten in Bayern. Dokumente musikalischen Schaffens im
20. Jahrhundert, vol. 19), p. 176)
‘He always took his teaching very seriously, and his concern was
not only limited to his own field, but extended to providing a complete
musical education, as far as that was possible within the defined limits.
He followed the compositional output of his students with interest,
and they were grateful to him for this. The empathy which all his students
had for him later in life lead to the conclusion that Koetsier the teacher
also knew how to impart those qualities which go to make a personality.’
(Gerhard Haffner: ‘Persönlichkeit und Werk Jan Koetsiers
in unserer Zeit’, in: Henner Beermann (et al): Jan Koetsier, Tutzing
1988 (= Komponisten in Bayern. Dokumente musikalischen Schaffens im
20. Jahrhundert, vol. 19), p. 17)
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