Interview with Samuel Adler
by Bethany Tillerson (photo credit: © SamuelHAdler.com)

On Sunday, October 2, Rob Kennedy will interview Samuel Adler, a composer, conductor, and author renowned in both America and Germany. He studied under some of the most prestigious composers of the 20th century—Hindemith, Thompson, Piston, and Copland, to name a few.

When asked about which composer throughout his life influenced him the most, he had a very eloquent answer.

Adler: I really can’t say which composer [had the greatest influence]. You always try to please the composer that you’re studying with because you learn something each time that you copy them. When students take lessons in drawing and painting, they go to museums and copy the great masters. We don’t do that in music enough. When I was studying with Hindemith or Piston or Randall Thompson, I tried to write in their style. I tried to learn what they do in composition. I have to say that I was very influenced by Hindemith for a very long time until I studied with Copland and he completely turned me around. He was a great influence in my life and in my writing when I was a student at Tanglewood, in 1949 and 1950. Mr. Piston was a great influence because I loved his music, but his teaching was never as clear and as focused as Copland’s. But then you become influenced by other things once you get into the field, and the Copland influence did not last for too long. 

Adler also spoke at length about his experience studying under famed conductor Serge Koussevitzky, the founder of the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Adler: As a teacher of conducting, he was very strict with us. I remember the first thing I had to do as a student was to conduct the Egmont Overture. 

Koussevisky was in his seventies, and he jumped over the podium and went over to the clarinetist and shook him and said, “Why do you play this? The boy does not know the music.” I forgot to give an entrance, and he noticed that. He was so strict that he went over to the clarinetist to tell him, “You shouldn’t play if he doesn’t give a cue”. Well, I’ve never forgotten that cue again! 

I was 14 or 15, at the premiere of the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok. And Bartok was there, and I was able to get his autograph. Koussevitzky came back all excited and said, “Boys,” to the assembled people, who were reporters from all over, “I want you to say today this is the greatest composer in the world.” He pointed to Bartok and Bartok looked up at him and said, “Serge, didn’t you say last week it was Prokofiev?” Well, last week he did Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony for the first time in America, and he thought Prokofiev was the greatest composer in the world.

Adler himself is a prolific composer, with plenty of pieces that span many genres and styles. But, he says, his favorite is always the one he’s working on at that moment.

Adler: Right now I’m privileged enough to write only when I’m commissioned for something. And for whoever commissioned me, I always try to listen to how they sound, because I write for the personality of both the individual and the group. And it’s very important for me to concentrate my whole effort on the particular piece that I’m working on, rather than saying, “Oh, I’d rather write for chorus” or, “I’d rather write for string quartet or for orchestra”.

Download the WCPE app or listen to 89.7 FM at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2, to catch the full interview!