Music as a recipe

I like to think of music, even music that is hundreds of years old as a recipe that you cook with. That when you follow a recipe when you are making dinner, you have a pinch of this, a bit of that, it’s never the same twice. It’s always a nice meal, but its always slightly different, because in addition to following the instructions which I have to do, both when I am making dinner or playing in the symphony orchestra, I want to put a little bit of myself into that music or into that curry I am making as well, to make it unique and individual. So I have to follow the instructions on the paper, but I don’t want to force myself to be a machine about it, otherwise its not alive. I’m not saying anything to you as a listener, about how I think about this music, and how all my colleagues in the symphony orchestra think about the music as well. So it always have to be living, and fresh and new while still following the perimeters, the general themes of the composer’s intentions.