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Wolfensohn I don't, but I thought if I talked about the symphonies here you would do all the talking, so I thought I had better pick something which had a little personal touch to me. I first heard Tommy Hampson sing at Leonard Bernstein's apartment. In fact, I heard him sing a not often played series of songs, Yiddish songs, that were written in the latter part of Lenny's life and I was just overwhelmed by the voice of Tommy Hampson, as I was that night with Lenny Bernstein playing piano and the two of them singing. And I just wanted as a sort of personal reflection to have a recording played on the show that could recognize the remarkable skill that Bernstein had in picking young artists and in supporting them. In, of course, dealing as he did uniquely with the whole issue of song and orchestration of song. I'm not skilled enough to compare Bernstein's treatment of song with Mahler's but I find in the sort of impact that it has on me the remarkable color that you get in the orchestral music. The fact that you have two conversations going on at all times, one with the orchestra and one with the words which you get in Mahler and I think you also got in Bernstein, and yet they come together in such a marvelously compatible and cohesive way that I thought the Songs of the Wayfarer which I guess were some of the early songs of Mahler in which the text is written by Mahler, would be a very good example to put on the show and might give you a chance, Gil, to tell me whether I'm right or wrong about Mahler and whether my perceptions are anywhere on target.

Kaplan Well, you're not only right, but I think in thinking about the connection between Bernstein and Mahler they were both hopelessly romantics and in speaking of Bernstein's emphasis on youth, you selected Mahler's earliest masterpiece and these songs were written when Mahler was 23, when he was ditched by a shapely blue-eyed soprano he had been courting and he did write the words to most of these and the song, not surprisingly, is about losing the blue-eyed girl to someone else.

Wolfensohn Indeed, it is.

Kaplan And these are the heartfelt words that come out at the very beginning.

[Music]

Kaplan Two of Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer sung by Thomas Hampson with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, a selection of my guest on “Mad About Music,” former World Bank President and now Special Envoy to help coordinate Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, James Wolfensohn. I suspected James Wolfensohn had shared some musical moments with heads of state. Jiang Zemin, the former Head of China, has been known to sing Swanee River at the drop of a hat; and Israel's Ehud Barak is an accomplished pianist and he was a guest on “Mad About Music.” I asked James Wolfensohn about this and also whether music might play some role in his Special Envoy assignment in the Middle East.

Wolfensohn Well, because of my many years as chairman of Carnegie Hall and at Kennedy Center, this always appears on my resume that goes ahead of me to these various countries and as a consequence usually the people in the diplomatic liaison say well he must be interested in music, so let's get all the local musicians and we'll put on a show for him. You mention Jiang Zemin, he sang Schumann to me. And he was a violinist, which I had never realized, and in the case of Ehud Barak we agreed some three years ago that when the peace would come we would do a Haydn Trio together, the Haydn C-Major Trio and that we would look for a Palestinian violinist to play with us. Sadly, that peace is not yet with us and so I know that Ehud Barak is ready and I'm ready, but we have to pray for the peace first before the world will hear that performance.

Kaplan Speaking of performances, I understand that a performance of Bach by Vladimir Feltsman once knocked you off your feet.

Wolfensohn His repertoire in Bach particularly is remarkable. He has an enormously broad repertoire. But his recordings of Bach and his performances of Bach, I heard him play at the "Y" several years ago on successive evenings, or successive weeks, I guess it was, performances of Bach which left me really stunned. And I've chosen for the performance today a performance of the Goldberg Variations , which is a fascinating performance. I had grown up as I guess Valadia had on the Gould recording which is by any measure magical. But this is a different type of recording, this is a recording where Valadia takes all the repeats in the Bach and he also changes the voices in the Variations , so that he'll bring out the alto or the tenor differently than he may have in the first Variation and I find that when I listen to this recording which must be 20 minutes longer than the Gould recording, that you hear things in these Variations which I've not heard in any other recording.

[Music]

Kaplan An excerpt from Bach's Goldberg Variations played by Vladimir Feltsman, a recording especially admired by my guest on “Mad About Music,” former World Bank President and now Special Envoy to the Middle East, James Wolfensohn. When we return, we'll explore music for the cello – music that James Wolfensohn himself thinks he probably plays best.

[Station Break]

Kaplan This is Gilbert Kaplan and on this special edition of “Mad About Music” we are revisiting shows where a guest is back in the news. Today it is former World Bank President and just-appointed Special Envoy to the Middle East, James Wolfensohn. Now in looking over your selections, I'm not surprised to see some chamber music, you being a cellist. But before we come to what you've picked, I wonder, is there a work that you play best? If you had to go for an audition, for example, what would you pull out to play?

Wolfensohn I would, if I had some people with me, I would play the Mozart G-Major Piano Quartet which I really love and which I had the pleasure of playing a few years ago in my second chamber music recital at Carnegie Hall with many of the same characters but which on that night I had the privilege of playing with Radu Lupu who is, of course, perfectly remarkable pianist. Pinky Zukerman playing viola and Jimmy Laredo playing violin. And with Daniel turning pages as I remember, and every now and again hitting an extra note on the piano for Radu.

Kaplan And what about just if you had your top ten list, just a few of them, of the cello pieces you most admire? Most love?

Wolfensohn Well, I love the Bach Suites and since I started on them, I really adore them. I think they have almost everything in them that you could possibly want to hear.

Kaplan They certainly do, and I see the cello shows up again in your next selection -- Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio -- but this time you dip into history, it seems, for a recording that features three legendary performers.

Wolfensohn I was looking for something which meant something to me currently but where the recording was of artists who have their place in history already and I've chosen this, it's a recording of Heifetz, Piatigorsky and Rubinstein which is I think definitive. I did have the privilege of knowing both Piatigorsky and Rubinstein. I was a camp follower of Rubinstein because he was a great friend of Daniel Barenboim's and I therefore was admitted to see him many times after concerts and smoked cigars with him and had dinner until very late and Piatigorsky was again another giant. And so really is a tribute to that generation of musicians as well as to a remarkable work, I thought it would be good to put it on the program.

[Music]

Kaplan An excerpt from the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio played by Heifetz, Piatigorsky and Rubinstein, the final selection of my guest on “Mad About Music,” James Wolfensohn. You know throughout the show you have spoken of artists with such awe, with such love, that I wonder whether you ever wish that your parents had forced you to take those cello lessons as a child and that you might have had a real career as a performing artist?

Wolfensohn I don't know that I had that spark of genius that I think these people have. I certainly have the interest in music and if our financial conditions had been such that we'd been able to do that, maybe I could have been a musician. But life didn't give me that opportunity and I guess my parents thought very correctly that I should be able to earn a living and there was a real chance I wouldn't as a musician and so I do regret it.

Kaplan Do you still find time to practice? I mean, you used to keep a cello in your office.

Wolfensohn I did when I owned my own firm, but it was a little more difficult at the World Bank but recently Yo-Yo Ma has solved that by giving me a new instrument, which is an electronic cello where I have earphones. So I can play the cello and no one else can hear it and I can now practice at the office. And so I've promised Yo-Yo that I will in fact do that. He was kind enough to play at my last concert, so I'm practicing in the hope that he will do it again next time.

Kaplan Well, on that note, I thanked James Wolfensohn for his appearing on the show and for his enormous contribution to spreading the message of the power of music in our lives. Please mark your calendar now for Sunday, July 3, at our usual time, 9:00 PM, when we open our summer season. Our first show will bring together three leading conductors who have already appeared on “Mad About Music”: Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez and Valery Gergiev – each of whom reveals not only the music they love to conduct, but especially the music that they simply like to listen to. Until then,

this is Gilbert Kaplan for "Mad About Music."

[Credits]

About James Wolfensohn
James D. Wolfensohn has made sustainable poverty reduction the World Bank Group's overarching mission since he became the World Bank's president June 1, 1995. Mr. Wolfensohn was appointed to a second, five-year term on September 27, 1999, making him the third president in Bank history to be reappointed by the Bank's Board of Executive Directors.

Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn established his career as an international investment banker with a parallel involvement in development issues and the global environment.

In his nine years as President, Mr. Wolfensohn has traveled to more than 120 countries to better understand the challenges facing the Bank's 184 member countries. In addition to visiting development projects, he has met with the Bank's government clients and representatives from business, labor, media, non-governmental organizations, religious and women's groups, students, and teachers.

Under Mr. Wolfensohn's leadership, the World Bank Group has redoubled its efforts to monitor and combat corruption, give voice to clients living in poor communities, and magnify the return on development investments, including sponsoring a global dialogue on Scaling Up Poverty Reduction, which culminated in a major conference in Shanghai in May 2004.

Further, during Mr. Wolfensohn's tenure, the Bank has become the largest external financier of primary education, basic health, HIV/AIDS programs, the environment and biodiversity.

Internally, Mr. Wolfensohn has transformed the World Bank Group, greatly increasing decentralization, bringing the Bank forward technologically, and turning it into a far more open and transparent organization. Externally, Mr. Wolfensohn has helped forge strategic partnerships around culture and peace, faith and development, and communications technology, including the Global Distance Learning Network and the Development Gateway.

The Bank's original mandate of post-conflict reconstruction became an increasing focus from the late 1990s to today, with the institution becoming involved in war-torn areas from Afghanistan to Bosnia to Rwanda. Understanding that poverty cannot be eliminated without peace, Mr. Wolfensohn has encouraged further exploration of the linkages between economic opportunity and human security, with the idea that increasing social and economic stability can foster the prevention of conflict.

In a speech to the 2003 World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting in Dubai, Mr. Wolfensohn highlighted the growing gap between “the haves and have-nots” between and within countries. He called for “a new global balance” with donor and developing nations both taking urgent steps to ensure the United Nations Millennium Development Goals are met.

”We must rebalance our world to give everyone the chance for life that is secure,” Mr. Wolfensohn said, “'with a right to expression, equal rights for women, rights for the disabled and disadvantaged, the right to a clean environment, the right to learn, the right to development.

In September 2003, Mr. Wolfensohn participated in a dialogue with 100 youth leaders from 70 countries whose organizations represent more than 120 million members worldwide—among them rural youth, street children, children orphaned by AIDS and civil conflict, Roma youth, and youth with disabilities. Mr. Wolfensohn noted that while people under 25 already account for more than half the population in most developing countries, their concerns, which commonly include education and unemployment, are not being given the urgency required to build a more secure world. The Bank is now establishing youth teams in Bank offices, and advocating for more active engagement of youth, including in developing anti-poverty strategies.                                                 

In 1999, Mr. Wolfensohn introduced the Comprehensive Development Framework or CDF, emphasizing country ownership of poverty reduction strategies and strong partnerships among government, civil society, and the private sector. The CDF called for a broader approach to development, moving beyond economics and stressing social concerns as equally important to tackling poverty.

In 1996, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund launched the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, or HIPC, the first comprehensive debt reduction program. As of August 2004, 27 of the world's poorest countries were receiving substantial debt relief under the program that will amount, over time, to more than $53 billion.

Before joining the Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn was President and Chief Executive Officer of James D. Wolfensohn Inc, an investment firm that advised major international and U.S. corporations. He relinquished his interests in the firm upon joining the Bank. Mr. Wolfensohn served as Executive Partner of Salomon Brothers in New York and head of its investment-banking department, Executive Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Schroeder's Ltd in London, President of J. Henry Schroeder's Banking Corporation in New York, and Managing Director, Darling & Co of Australia.

Mr. Wolfensohn has participated in a wide range of cultural and volunteer activities throughout his life, especially the performing arts. In 1970, he became involved in New York 's Carnegie Hall, first as a board member and later, from 1980 to 1991, as Chairman of the Board. During this time, he led its successful effort to restore the landmark New York building. He is now Chairman Emeritus of Carnegie Hall. In 1990, Mr. Wolfensohn also became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. On January 1, 1996, he was elected Chairman Emeritus.

Mr. Wolfensohn has been President of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies and Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development. He also served both as Chairman of the Finance Committee and Director of the Rockefeller Foundation and of the Population Council, and as a member of the Board of Rockefeller University.

In addition to serving as President of the World Bank Group, he is Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Mr. Wolfensohn is also an Honorary Trustee of the Brookings Institution and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association in New York.

Born in Australia on December 1, 1933, Mr. Wolfensohn is a naturalized United States citizen. He holds a BA and LLB from the University of Sydney and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Prior to attending Harvard, Mr. Wolfensohn was a lawyer in the Australian law firm of Allen Allen Hemsley. He served as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, and was a member of the 1956 Australian Olympic Fencing Team.

Mr. Wolfensohn is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society. He has been the recipient of many awards for his volunteer work, including the first David Rockefeller Prize of the Museum of Modern Art in New York for his work for culture and the arts.

In May 1995, he was awarded an Honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the arts. The governments of Australia, France, Germany, Morocco, Norway, and Russia have also decorated him.

He and his wife, Elaine, an education specialist and a graduate of Wellesley, BA, and Columbia University, MA and MEd, have three children—Sara, Naomi, and Adam.