David Lang

I felt like then the pressure was on.

I went to every rehearsal and every performance, yes.

I got very relaxed.

I don't usually enjoy myself this much.

The first night, the piece really felt like it was long.

Not like it was too long, but I felt the massive quality of the piece.

And every night, it really felt like it got faster.

Even though it didn't get faster, it's just I got used to the trajectory of the piece.

And by the end, I couldn't believe that we were at the end already.

The quality of the performance, not the musical quality, but what the players, the singers, and the soloists found in the piece changed a little bit every night.

Some of the nights were much more emotional.

And I thought that was really interesting.

It's like they got to the point very quickly where everyone could make a great sound and could make the argument for the piece.

But I think what happened those four nights of performances is that Gustavo is finding something different.

He's bringing something out.

He's looking at a different bunch of players in a particular moment to give them confidence and make them emerge better.

First of all, I think it costs a lot of money in our society to do bad things too.

What's on your list of bad things?

I think that list is very long.

The idea that you might actually be able to take a bunch of money and do something for good, that doesn't sound like a bad thing.