tonight, peter baker of "the new york times" joins us for a very interesting preview of a front page article in the "new york times" magazine about president obama's first two years. >> he is already beginning to think about what obama 2.0 would mean. and a couple of things are on his mine. first of all, you know, he recognizes that the most transform difficult element of his legislative agenda have already been done, health care,, financial regulation, some of his education reform, stimulus. if that is not going to be the defining character of his next two years, there will be some big things like immigration and energy but for the most part it will be a lot more about implementation, about take the legacy of the last two years, making a stand, defending it against the attacks will be under from republicans in congress and from the courts. >> rose: we continue this evening with the great portion of our program devoted to a conversation with the conductor, valery

gergiev. >> rose: you. >> you always are ahead of musiciansment you know you what want to hear. you do something and then you hear something. so this should be very interesting process that what you want to hear, is it as good as what you-- because good orchestras can do fantastic things. >> rose: you hear something in your head which is perfect and you're trying to reproduce something with an orchestra. >> you cannot go behind orchestra and chorus. that is unacceptable. you have to be, you lead. >> rose: peter baker on president obama, valery gergiev on music when we continue. >> funding for charlie rose was provided by the following:

maybe you want school kids to have more exposure to the arts. maybe you want to provide meals for the needy. or maybe you want to help when the unexpected happens. whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer, or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose.

>> rose: we begin tonight with peter baker from washington, his piece, the education of a president appears in the upcoming issue of the "new york times" magazine out on sunday. baker explores where president obama is today politically, lessons learned so far, and his agenda looking ahead. the interview with the president, white house aidees and top democrats. in retrospect the president said to baker he probably, quote, spent more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the poll particulars rightment he also says that bipartisan cooperation is possible after the midterms, whatever the resultsment i'm very pleased to have peter baker back on this program to talk about this piece. first of all congratulations. will is the cover. some interesting photographs. the education of a president, and then there is the president. what does he do now as the president barack obama promised he would change washington. two years in, he may have to change his approach to his

job. let's start there, peter. he may have to change his approach to the job, meaning what? >> well, look, no matter how the election turns out, even if democrats were to hold on to a thin majority in both houses, we know that this next congress is not going to be as friendly to him as the last one. he is going to have to rethink what his relationship with capitol hill is going to be like. he's already gone doing so. obviously he is not going to admit that his party isn't going to do well in the elections. that is not something any political leader would do two weeks out. but he is very cognizant that the environment is going to be different. he is beginning to think about what obama 2.0 would mean. a couple of things are on his mind. first of all he recognizes that the most transform difficult elements of his legislative agenda have already been done. health care, financial regulations, some of the education reform, stimulus. and that that is not going to be the defining character of his next two years. the next two years it there will be some big things like immigration and energy but for the most part it will be a lot more about

implementation, about take the legacy of the last two years, making a stand, defending it against the attacks will be under from republicans in congress and from the courts. another thing he is looking at of course is how does he reconnect with the people who put him in the office. people who in some ways are disappointed, even disi lition-- illusioned that is something he has given a lot of thought to today. >> he makes the point here that he didn't think he was that poetic in campaigning. and that he hasn't been good at governing. but in your own words what did he say? >> well, you know, it's really striking because if you remember, go back to that campaign, it was such a, you know, it was sort of a romance for people who supported him at the time. they wanted to believe in him. they wanted to believe he was what they thought he was. but everybody had different ideas about what that was. even president obama at the time, not president at the time, said that he was sort of the ultimate rorschach test. and you know i remember this quote that he had given when he secured the nomination against hillary clinton. and he told his audience

then, he said you know, in the future generations will look back at this is the moment when the oceans began to recede and the planet began to heal. and so forth and so on. i read that quote to him. i said how does that sound to you today in this mortgage of murky, you know, reality of governance. does that lead people to expect too much? and he kind of, you know, he smiled and laughed. he said look, you know, i don't apologise for setting high expectations. but i think he recognizes, and that is how he used that poetry and proceeds line, that the campaign, the art of campaigning is different than the art of governing. he is adjusting to that even as we speak. >> rose: so what does he think went wrong when he looks at the numbers of his presidency? >> well, for one thing he doesn't back down on any of the big questions. he still obviously believes that he did the right thing when it came to health care. did the light thing when it came to stimulus. and he recognizes that any president at this stage if there was 9.6% unemployment would be having difficulty.

and i think there's something to do, obviously. at the same time he is looking at what he calls tactical lessons, things where he might have approached something differently to create a different outcome. he allowed himself, as he told me, to look a little too much like a tax and spend liberal, the old-fashioned democratic way. he mentioned that he did not think, in fact, there were such a thing as shovel-ready projects, a phrase he had used a lot in selling the stimulus. that he what he understands now after being in office for a couple of years, he's seen how much more time it really takes to get these projects going than he had hoped when he first proposed that. and he feels like, you know, on, for instance, on the stimulus he could have maneuvered with the republicans in a different way. maybe let them propose the tax cuts that became part of the stimulus, so they felt more bought into the program, could have been a bipartisan effort. >> rose: other than the quote we probably spent more time trying to get the-- there is probably a perverse pride in my administration. i will take responsibility for this.

this was blowing from the top, that we were going to do the right thing even if short term it was unpopular. that's not really what the indictment is about him. the indictment is not so much that they didn't care and wanted to get the policy right. the indictment is they can't explain the policy very well. >> when you say this of course t is sort of self-justifying. i was so focused on doing the right thing, i didn't care so much about my politics. well, you know, a lot of politicians would say that. on the other hand t is interesting admission because what he is saying is that he had neglected basically to bring the public along with him. >> rose: that is the explanation. >> that is an important part-- sorry. >> rose: that is the explanation part. he didn't bring the public along with him meaning he didn't explain it very well reasons right, exactly. now of course, that's also, an easy refuge for a politician it is a communications problem, not a policy problem. if only they understood what i was trying to do, everybody would agree with me. that may or may not be the case. it may be the public does understand what he is doing and is simply not buying it at this point. we are being to learn a little more about that in a few weeks. but clearly he thinks it is

a mix of these things. he is not putting it all on that one element. >> rose: politics seems to have always been there, even in discussions of war. >> sure. right. let's's face it, that's been true of any white house, obviously. and it's hard to imagine that politics ent err into most major decisions. now the question is are the politics controlling. what his people would tell you is look, he did a lot of things that went against his own political interest. he obviously supported the tarp, the bank bailout when president bush first sported it. and then when he was president or becoming president, supported the second, you know, half of that. he bailed out the auto industry even though that was unpopular in the polls because he thought, you know, it would cause great economic upheaval in parts of the country if he didn't. they all point to aspects of his decision-making where politics may have been a part but didn't govern the decision. even in war let's face t you know, stef inbiddle from the council of foreign relations makes an interesting point.

he points out that if you can't bring a country along with you on policy of war, then are you not going to be successful at it so that you can't completely ignore where the public is when it comes to a war. he doesn't support president obama on his decision, for instance, to begin withdrawing in july 2011. but he says that he thinks that it is a rational thing for public opinion to at least enter the equation. the question is how much of a factor it really is. >> rose: quoting you, most of all he has learned that for all his anti-washington rhetoric, he has to play by washington rules if he wants to win in washington. but the fact is that he chose washington insiders to, throughout his government. >> right. that's exactly right. which of course then disi luiged a lot of his supporters who thought he was, in fact, a change agent and not a washington. it is an interesting mix. he hasn't really decided, in effect, is he of washington, is he apart from it and i think that sort of uneasy balance is something that has caused him trouble in terms of identifying,

creating an identity or a definition for himself with a lot of americans. you know, he's trying to avoid the mistakes of previous outsiders if, you want to use that phrase who have run for the white house promising to fix washington. he didn't bring in as president clinton did his childhood friend to be his first chief of staff. he did go for a washington insider, rahm emanuel. but you know that carries its own trade-offs. and so you know, onhe one hand you figure you know somebody, you bring in somebody who knows washington and can help you get things done. on the other hand you lose some of the shine of that sort of idealism that he had managed to capture in 2008. >> rose: but he had had the people closest to him in the white house. he had valerie jared there, he had axelrod there, he had those people that had been with him in chicago. >> right, right, right. and you know, what is interesting is he makes this sort of slow motion reshuffle of his staff in these last few months and in the coming months. what you see is a lot of continuity.

we will have a lot of new-- of jobs filled but a lot of people in those jobs will be familiar faces to us. we will have a new national economics advisor, a new chair of the council of economic advisors, a new chief of staff, a new national security advisor and so forth. and that new omb director, budget director. all these people he has chosen from the inside from his own circle. it will be interesting to see whether that continues after november 2nd. does he then begin to reach out beyond his own intimate circle for people to freshen his white house in the next two terms or does he figure that he is doing the right thing more or less and he doesn't need to do that and it is a matter of adjustment rather than a wholesale change of course. >> rose: speaking of bill clinton, he's now listening to or reading the taylor branch diaries of bill clinton. >> right, right, it is a very interesting book. taylor branch's book is based on eight years of secret conversations that he had with president clinton when he was in the white house. and it is a very intimate and interesting inside

account of that eight years. and what president obama told me is that he is looking at that right now and other presidential books. you know, looking for, i think, probably the only people in the history of our country who could really understand where he is, right. only 43 people have had this job. president clinton is particularly interesting case study of course because two years ago, barack obama ran as the anti-clinton. he was running against hillly clinton. and he specifically on the campaign trail derided some of the ideas that were associated with bill clinton, try angulation and school uniform, small ball politics and so forth. but now he finds himself in a position where he kind of hopes can replicate the success that president clinton had after he lost congress in 1994. >> rose: you asked a lot of questions that i was curious about. clearly this one. and what being president has done to him. what has it done to him. >> it is a good question. and you know i don't think we got a especially riveting

answer. because i think he is still in office. it is interesting, you know, of course barack obama wrote probably one of the most introspective memoirs of anybody who has ever sat in that oval office in modern times. and yet now that he's there, i think it's hard for him to get out of his skin, to get back into that sort of narrative thought of an author looking at himself in that way. you know, i asked him during the interview, i said put yourself in the shoes of barack obama the author rather than barack obama the president. and his first response was the sort of say okay i'm going to do that. but first let me give you how i see my presidency in terms of policy. and he went through tax, stimulus and all the sort of policy questions. i think obviously he seems, you know, obviously anybody would find the job stressful and straining as robert gates the defense secretary put it to me, you know. he is obviously a lot grayer now. but he doesn't talk about it much.

he doesn't retreat to camp david as often because michelle obama tells guests it's not really his thing. he goes to vent or blow off steam on the basketball court in the white house where he brings aides along and kind of trash talks his way through games. so he is, you know, he's dealing with these thing in a quiet and you know self-contained way. i think it may be a long time before we get a better picture, maybe even after his presidency of some of the things that mr. going on really in private there. >> rose: thank you very much, peter baker, "new york times" magazine, the education of a president. october 17th, 2010 issue. thank you, peter. >> thanks, charlie. appreciate it. >> rose: valery gergiev is here, one of the world's greatest conductors. also one of russia's most well-known cultural figures. he is currently the principal conductor of the london symphony orchestra. since 1988 he has been the life and leader of his beloved marinsky theatre in st. petersburg. he became its artistic

director and he was only 35 years old. he preceded to revive the orchestra and to restore the work of the great russian composers of the 20th century. today the marinsky ballet, opera and orchestra are world renowned and everyone knows-- ger geoff's style of conducting has made him one of the most compelling performers to watch. here he is in a "60 minutes" piece about him. ♪ ♪ . >> he's got to be the world's most unkemp, unshaven and unlikely of conductors. ♪ ♪ ♪. >> but don't let that put you off. ger geoff is conductin conducting-- gergiev is conducting are you in

another world. his eyes roll inwards. his hands perform a ballet for ten fingers. he coaxs the musicians, he ca joels, he's a source ree -- a sorcer casting a spell. >> rose: gergiev is also famous for being everywhere at the same time. this month in new york he conducts the metropolitan opera. at carnegie hall he will perform symphonys with his marinsky orchestra. he is doing so much, it's surprising we get him here back at this table. so welcome. it's great to see you. where are you happiest? in what of all the things you do, bring you the greatest satisfaction? >> maybe with something is really dangerous and a little bit difficult. i'm trained in the difficult years, late '80s, early '90s. of course russia is a big country.

of course culturally it's a huge tradition. and we inherited tremendous, glorious. but end of '80s, beginning of '90s it was a big question whether it all survives or not. >> rose: survive the fall of the russian empire. >> well, the breakup of the soviet union was one thing. and it went its own way, the empire, political process but then there is another process, culture. and it depends very much on the big one, you know. so let's say smaller brother is very, very important because all these, the loss of many musicians, and people are unsure. people are not well fade. and then are you 35 years old. you have to be a leader of important institution. which is undersupported. you can't sell tickets very well. if you sell tickets they

will be re cheap tickets because then people didn't have money to buy extension-- expensive tickets and so on, so on. so we had to work very, very hard. and that was maybe the most challenging for me when i really had to lead by my own example. i had to work more than others because it was challenging. >> rose: are you saying saving the marinsky is what has brought you the greatest satisfaction, the fact that this great and famous survived in another name. >> yes, the kirov is the name of a communist leader. maybe he was a good man. he used it to come to the theatre. we never met him in person. he was killed in 1934. marinsky historical name was which restored of course in 1992. we brought this name back. like st. petersburg was again st. petersburg after it was leningrad. we know all this. but marinsky theatre was working hard in these

difficult years. and i myself as a leader, i thought, i have to work a little bit more than anyone else in the house. because everyone was supposed to trust me and to see not only that i would tell them now you do this, you do this. i had to do a lot. and that was challenging. and finally became also something of a pride for everyone that we could overcome all these difficulties. '93, '95 was very difficult. then '96, '97, '98, we came to america first time in 1992. then we came back in 1996, i remember, 1998 to the met again. and then growing, the fingers are becoming more and more confident. they were making big international careers yet they were coming back to st. petersburg and we enjoyed very, very good years and many, many important productions. >> rose: but you claim

credit. and i mean this not in a sense as an ego thing, but was it you and that time that somehow gave a new emphasis to-- brought them to an even larger recognition? >> i was like a young general who had to know what to do with a very, very difficult situation. it wasn't a war we had to conduct but the danger was that orchestra, chorus, ballet company was being disintegrateed. there was a real danger. so i had to do something very smart. and one of the smart things was to make recordings with big concern companies. now we do our own recordings. >> that's a story with will tell. >> but it was also important to come to european capitals and demonstrate why this tradition should survive and why actually it is alive. because we had to do it. >> rose: because you came to the west and said you've got to, you need to know and appreciate because i'm going to make sure this tradition survives.

>> yes. and my biggest supporters in france were these composers. extravinski. >> rose: because they gave you something to work with. >> they gave us the powerful tools, the powerful weapon. this great russian music. and we obviously tried to learn how to perform it best level. and then when it worked, best level. there was a huge-- there was a respect t there was a support. everything was somehow coming together. and we mr. becoming more and more confident. and the dangerous really truly dangerous period was behind us. >> rose: i think you've said to me before in another conversation you are more asetian than russian. >> i am by birth, my parents both, my father and moth are. by education, a russian musician, i'm russian because the great russian tradition, there are many ukrainians or armenians or georgians or kazakhstanis or even baltic states. they had this ingre

ingred-- incredible training which is called russian school. russian musical tradition. there are many in the world. and we felt it strongly. 30 years ago, 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. because it will be very, very mentioned that there is a totally separated armenian school, there is totally separated ukrainian school. we were old trained in soviet union and it was a powerful system. nothing wrong about this education we were getting. musical, the education was very powerful. >> rose: i don't know how dow all this. you have built a new operahouse in st. petersburg. >> we are building. >> rose: there it is, tell me about it. >> well, we have canadian architect jake diamond who built toronto operahouse. yake is a very fine professional. we work hard on this for many years already. and we hope in 2012 we will invite you, charlie, as well as many, many friends around the world for the opening. and there will be

interesting. the building to the left is historical marinsky, you see part of telephone. and then we see this future new operahouse. which is already going up very strongly. >> rose: did you choose the architect? >> i was totally for this choice because jack diamond already built operahouse. after very difficult beginning, i was very much against looking at someone who doesn't know what is operahouse about. and then will learn while building this project. will learn what is operahouse lz what is operahouse about. >> i think it's about both public and artistic family. there are two worlds. and both are very important. public should feel good. public should be happy. should be comfortable. it will be comfortable. but also artist, technicians, they have to be very comfortable. it's 21st century. the met was built what, some 50 years ago. and it's still exemplary the way it works.

but today, you can learn a lot about what is the ideal operahouse. >> rose: do you go somewhere to find some, is there someone person or two people in the world that know how to create the best sound inside an operahouse? >> yes. the technicians are magicians if they are good. strad varuous was creating these instruments, vie lins am you have have 200 grand or 300 gram in your hand but yes why they sell 10 million a piece because it is an acoustical miracle there. wood, shape, how you cover it. and how you preserve it and it's a fantastic form of art which you can't maybe even beat ever. but a concert hall. we build new concert halls. >> rose: where is the best sound you've ever heard? >> two, three very famous halls. of course in amsterdam, in vienna, moskow, leningrad, had always very, very good

historical halls, boston has a very good hall, carnegie hall, of course, one of my favorites. >> rose: what makes one favorite. somebody else, another conductor could come around and another musician and say i like something different because this sound that i like is better reproduced in this building. >> your ears are conducted to your heart and also to your brain. this combination gives you a result in five seconds, maybe 10 seconds whether you like it or not, will be clear very, very soon. but incredibly, japan in the last 30, 40 years demonstrated incredible grove. a number of halls is maybe equal to the rest of the world. so they were very smart and that's why toyota who is maybe a leader today, is actually the child of this project because he inherited this from his teachers. they learnedment but now of

course everyone is very attentive to what is acoustical miracle. and i think that would be good halls here and there, i'm sure. >> rose: initially completed in 2012. >> let's hope. >> rose: okay. you's here also to do all of the symphonys of moler. >> yes but the same question was when i recorded this, which is shall it --. >> rose: i will get to that. >> why you need russian orchestra and russian conducter. >> rose: right. >> but then you can go and say why you need american orchestra play kai kofsky so it is a very dangerous place to go. but to have it in a democratic, international, kind of-- . >> rose: how many symphonys, nine? >> there are ten, nine are finished. and the 10th isn't finished. >> rose: and which is your favorite? >> well there are good symphonys. and i always feel that it's not only important to conduct all the symphonys but it is important to find what is different about six

and seven or seven and eight or eight and nine and especially four and five. recently conducted in london. and i put together four and five. very unusual program. number four, moler it is enough for one concert. >> people say oh, it's too big. there was some time before we agreed let's do it. and when we did it, i thought most of the people there were maybe 6,000 people now. i thought they were that we can do this. they are so different. and composers spends much time to think i'm growing. i am changing. my number five will be definitely different than number four. so for conductors, the challenge, you know, i would do number five alone. i would try my best. but four and five, or one and four, that's a challenge. that's a challenge. >> you mentioned the fact that at some point you started your own music company or you did and

skornt with others. in order or because you didn't think the music was appreciated or they didn't understand the music american and other companies. >> my feeling was already five, seven years ago that recording industry in the hands of giants, obviously it was in the past who looked at these companies, saw the music, emi, they were giants because they are catalogs are huge. 50 years ago, 7-- 70 years ago, certainly 30, 40 years ago they were doing great, great things. they still do but this smaller, younger, fresher, quicker and maybe sometimes smarter players, this is a sign of our time. the same happens to the world economy. sometimes unknown company doing such a good and smart work, progress is so quick and propels to the top. and this is what i think

will happen to recording industry today. marinsky recording label is our own label. >> rose: right, right, marinsky is right here. >> yeah, we started with the opera. now quite famous after this production at the met, recently. being such a success. but this recording was a contributor that a lot of people around the world for the first time realized that the young man -- 2 years old composed a fantastic opera. very crazy, very strange. but incredible. incredible. all in all, the effect is incredible. and this recording of-- is already fourth the opera recorded in this label just in one, two years which is quite serious progress. it's a big amount to talk opera recordings are rare today. >> rose: where is your head when you begin a symphony? >> you always are ahead of

musicians. you know what you want to hear. >> rose: exactly. >> dow something and then you hear something. so there, there should be a very interesting process that what you want to hear is it as good as what your wishes are, maybe even better because good orchestras can do fantastic things. >> rose: you hear something in your head which is perfect and you are trying to reproduce that with an orchestra. >> you can't go behind orchestra and chorus that is unacceptable. so you have to be, you lead. when you look at a musician, before he plays, he has to understand what kind of sound conductor hears or wants. i think the conductor like great american conductor lenny bernstein, when he look at orchestra, you already hear even before the start because there is an expression in his eyes. we are all colleagues. so i am not ordering people. that's not interesting. giving order, not interesting. you invite.

sometimes you create atmosphere. musicians, they can go very well with you like one, two, three, four. but they need to create something. they feel like it's not just one. it's like a whisper. there is a magical atmosphere. and everyone feels much better. of course in operahouse you also depend very much on the singer. you support, you follow the singer. i don't lead the singers. i'm happy to follow them as well because they have to sing. it's very, very difficult, big roles, powerful roles, powerful cargs, the death of boris is a powerful scene. i will do whatever it takes. but renee will feel comfortable in my hands or together with me because that's my obligation. >> rose: your obligation is to do what for the singer. >> i have to create all sorts of elements that he

feels his absolute best. he should not feeling that the orchestra is so loud he has to scream when he doesn't want to scream. orchestra playing so fast that he has no time to pronounce the text. orchestra is so slow that he's losing energy on stage so it's a process where many, many elements come together. you have this census here. you always have to ask yourself is my tempo good. are we not too fast. or maybe we're a little bit too sleepy or should i push it, now, is the temperature high enough or maybe are we wall. are we very friendly to our audiences right now. because there are many, many elements. >> rose: and how does a conductor get that skill? >> well, the famous-- says if you ask how i get to carnegie hall,. >> rose: practice, practice, practice. >> the other thing is that you have to thank your mother, your father, both of

them, if you have some natural gift. conducting-- . >> rose: what are natural gifts though n this case. >> most important, you work with the people. so this is where conducting comes close to politician. if you scream at people, not everyone likes it. but you inspire people when you raise your voice, people will say but he's very inspirational leader. or he's maybe unhappy a little bit. so it's on the border of risk being too powerful, maybe to obviously dominating. but even are you just undr. ing. you don't dominate. your presence is not felt. that means you are not a conductor. >> people are not inspired. they don't feel anything about your presence. you have to lead people. and that means it's also here. you have to always ask was it smart to build this process this way or not.

because you work with 200, 300 people, the use of the time of so many people. it's like-- like big politician. they request make mistakes and the entire company goes down. >> one mistake. >> the entire company. so conductor is more or less in the same shoes. >> rose: really. >> we're not talking about billions of dollars. but we're talking about wasted energy, wasted talent, which is maybe sometimes more than dollars. sometimes. >> rose: are you different today than you were when i first met you ten years ago, 15 years ago. >> if i improved, not because i am a different age now because i spend more time with mozart or wagner or tchaikovsky. i think in this company you have no chance to get worse and worse. because if you are if are you attentive to them, i can't talk to-- i can't talk to tchaikovsky-- but i look at what they want from me.

makes me a better person, i believe. >> rose: what drives you, what is the motivation for you. >> not fame, not money. it's maybe the challenge which was there many years ago. and i made it work like a motor. and when it goes slower, maybe i feel a bit less excited than 20 years ago so i somehow re-create this agitation, maybe. but it's music, of course. because you know that to perform the symphony or perform this opera, really well is difficult. and you know that the competition or record part which i rerecorded with my colleagues, with our best effort, there are 50 recordings maybe made 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago. by great, great masters you compete with the dead. it's always very difficult. for architects of our time.

they compete with the dead. >> sure. >> the big leaders even leaders in cultural field, they compete with the dead because look, many-- they did something incredible. they just built cities called florence or someone built venice, someone else built st. petersburg. these are incredible cultural monuments. >> rose: it a very interesting question about the intersection of politics and culture for me. one that there are some people who it is argued understand how important the understanding of culture is to being a successful politician. they get it. they get how cultural, how people are embedded in a culture and so therefore they see that and they can reach people. and therefore and inspire because they have a larger culture sense. on the other hand clearly policies can influence culture because it can encourage and enhance and

give, you know, a broad canvas for culture to rise. >> we know that our world is extremely rich world. there are many, many colors, culturally speaking. for example african culture is certainly different to italian culture. >> or asian culture. >> or asian culture, certainly different to russian culture. >> at least what i describe, very different colors but the bouquet has tremendous variety. so we musicians are also, we, let's say we leaders. because at some point you become responsible for certain things. i'm responsible for 2,200 people working. i am also responsible for the programs and musical life, london symphony is an important institution. sometimes i invited done-- so they are big responsibility centers. we can influence and in a positive way, but we have to remember that these wonderful multi-coloured

world is something we always have to nurture. we always have to help young people understand. we have to tell them come. we play a musical-- and say dow hear how beautiful it is. we play a stradivarius violin to them and they have to pay attention this is unbelievable sound. it's not just-- it's this magical color which people enjoy for 300 or 400 years from the same instrument. >> and i think we should do what in my case 35, 40 years ago, my teachers did to me. they just opened the door. they told me look. come here. play. and slowly i was getting more and more understanding oh, this is beethoven. and this is oh-- i had great, great teachers. without them i would be nothing to you. and my heart was beating when i was 13, 14 years old, with a musical beethoven. when i was maybe 17 years old, i discovered prokopiev,

chy coughski, of course-- even bach music but there was this big, and then another big jump, you know t was like kangaroo in a way. because if you are told that look, this is straf inski, i didn't know who extravinski was when i was 15. i didn't. but when i was 16, i was already shocked with certain compositions, i now conducted in new york i think about 15 concerts with new york philharmonic, last may, april, may. i traveled to get here because it was all kinds of-- we flew to africa and then to u.s. it was dramatic but it was wonderful experience. there were many, many pieces of stravinski performed. but no one knows for me that a long time ago, stravinski

was close to fear what i felt. i felt i will never be able to master this complicated world. how to understand this musical stravinski and then of course there was petrushka, this russian ballet music which became such an explosion of-- became so famous, so big. maybe he was the number one in the world after this incredible compositions of russian ballet, famously. it was premiered in paris. it was a scandal at the premier. people were screaming. someone was saying oh, i need a dentist. then the other one saying no, not one dentist, deux. but it became one of the most famous compositions of all times. so that's music. it needs time for many, many people to understand the beauty or the power of the. >> and has there been an evolution in your appreciation of what you appreciate and how you see

music and both -- >> you get wiser and you get stronger but then conductors who are say eight years old in america, so physically they were not getting stronger. but the spirit was working. the power was in the eyes. i saw some conductors that were not very young men but what a power they had. because your spirit, verde was what, 80 years old when he conducted fastouf but it is the youthfulness of this opera. the tremendous energy from the very start takes you immediately. will you never believe it is an 80 years old man. because the spirit, the spirit gets more and more powerful and of course your soul, your intellect gets richer and richer especially if you train yourself, practice, practice,

practice. >> and in everything, everything. you have a certain temperment, certain personality that is larger-than-life. >> is that temperment because it is necessary for you to achieve the objectives that you want to or is it simply who you are? >> it's a good question you asked me. i have maybe a difficulty with myself because if it was me who asked myself this question, the answer would be very long. i was six or seven years old kid. i was growing in the caucuses. you don't want to demonstrate fear. you don't want to be seen even by the boys if from your street. so you have to know many things including even protect yourself. you play football, soccer and two boys don't like each other. can fight each other in a way. then i remember very well-being a young boy.

once i was simply pushed and thrown into a very dangerous-- so i had to do something. i didn't know how to swim. so i had to do something simply to survive. that was one of the memorable moments of my upbringing, danger. danger. the reverse in caucuses, they are high in the mountains it. my father used to take the family, you know, maybe 15 kilometers from the city and we go up and then the air is fresh. the rivers are very, very cold. and they are very fast. they take you, you go. but there was a challenge for say ten years old to swim. but you have to know how to do it. you have to, sometimes need a stone to hold because if you don't hold, it takes. and are you gone. but there was this risk and challenge and i remember growing always surrounded by this, not maybe huge but

there was a risk, always. and maybe i still continue on this energy, maybe. maybe. maybe because it's a little bit closer to the sun because i was growing. >> attitude. >> so you are becoming what? >> you know? >> i became today maybe someone who wants to reach quite far working with young people. take st. petersburg, 5 million people more or less live there. it's like paris. in europe you have london moscow, 10 million, then paris peters burg over 5 million and then will there are many, many wonderful cities but these cities are really big, by any, of course today we have china, mexico but culturally it will take a lot of time before petersburg or paris will sink. the culture there is very, very important and it doesn't hurt to have hermitage or love museums or

marinsky or-- what i want to say, this is all the glorious past, still being there. so impressive. but young people, young people. i know that if you live another ten years, you better spend most of these ten years helping young people if you live another 30 years, better start now, how you can do it it's very simp el in my case. i talked to all universities, all schools. i invite them to experience at least one what is the world of opera, what is the world of ballet, what is the world of symphony orchestra or chamber music, singing, theatre. how the theatre starts. we invited-- invite kids in and do something for them that they understand. there is a line between being in the audience and then there is a magical land where some theatre work starts.

maybe 50%, maybe 70% will not get it immediately. maybe 90%. but they will be inkrieg-- intrigued, i hope, and they will carry this impression, hearing something. most of them will come back. >> rose: but are there things that you very much want to but somehow you can't get yet. you can't get your hands around it for some reason or your mind or your heart or your -- >> i want to inspire the greatest leading composers and see maybe in two, maybe in five years, a sort of happening which can be compared to the world premier of boris-- back in 1872 and 1874. and there were two versions. the first one was-- and he what asked to definitely also a female character because the marinsky theatre, there was a commission.

they felt it is only male characters. so where is the love story. so he was sent back to work it out. somehow change and bring it back with a famous polish act which would perform here. this would be a big achievement for me. so i encourage now-- . >> rose: living composers. >> living composers. i encourage several composers now to work also living. we all try, look in america, france, germany, russia t is the same problem. all of us, we want to find. you can't find new moz ard-- mozart and new verde but you should try. and if you see someone who is very giflted you give him as much help. >> rose: is there any reason to believe that there is not the possibility of a new verde or new moz arth. >> there is the possibility. >> rose: there is the possibility. >> yes. when you go and start your concert, and behind you

there are 2 or 3,000 people, you always have to tell yourself, maybe one of them is future mozart. and that's why you have to perform at your best because he will judge your performance maybe later, maybe he's only ten years old. because you know, when mozart was a little boy, there was some giants who composed. we know about bach, about hayden, mozart, beethoven. but the younger generation after beethoven, they were maybe ten years old, maybe six years old. and then the same happened in marinsky. one of the last visits of tchaikovsky to the marinsky appeared to to be one of the first with his mother holding his hand, of igor stravinski who i am sure was maybe 7 years old, maybe 8

years old. >> rose: but he had influence on him. >> he is the genius of the 20th century. but he just obviously he blessed him. obviously it was expected of him, tchaikovsky was a god to that boy. but one, closing his page without too many words, just that and the line is continued. and stravinski took it over. so these are very symbolic things and i think we always have to remember that whatever we do, is just another small process of continuation of huge, like an ocean it moves somewhere. so in the classical music, this is what we are. we are small, maybe important but small part of a huge ocean of music which is performed over the world. all the time. >> rose: brilliantly said. let me just look at some of

these and tell me what we should know about this. these are some of the things that i assume you are, the marinsky is doing. this is -- >> that would be a cycle. we recorded already more than half it will be coming out very soon. the cycle is important part of my life and i hope i will fix it on cd the way i see it and the way i hear it today. i think it's important for the orchestra, from st. petersburg from the city where he was born, where his gifts were formed into something incredible to make this. >> rose: he hopes you will be able to translate what you hear in your brain too. >> i want to make sure tha that-- that the orchestra-- he sometimes is put into political content. for example styling and-- hitler and-- my understanding is music and-- , his music and musical world all together, today by far

is the most important thing. styling is gone. hit-- stalin is gone, hitler is gone there a music in his music. >> rose: tchaikovsky. >> 1812, yes, we did it, again this typical russian, very popular, look at hollywood bowl or somewhere-- this music will be performed regularly but i think we perform it as well. >> rose: and this? >> this is a nose t became a sensation here in new york. as always new york proves to be one of the most important capitals of music in the world because it was here where the nose suddenly became such a success. the public was ready for this unusual and very, very provocative project. and i am very happy, very, very proud it worked is so well. >> rose: an here is stravinski. >> yes. linoss is a choreal music t is a jewel, a fantastic ballet music. most russian of all his

work. >> it is the most russian music stravinski ever composed. nass's my-- understanding. >> rose: rachmaninoff. >> a berlin russian pianist, third piano concerto which was recorded by horowitz and clyburn but i think-- . >> rose: and this is? >> this is a leading composer, and please remember this name. chadrin and his wife, legendary balancer ino, 20th century, both alive. i think we will bring very soon a major festival of his music to new york. very soon. very important living composer. >> rose: before i go, since you have made this point that you want to encourage, develop, make clear the work of living composers, name me five living composers, or six that you want the world to know more about in terms

of your belief that the music they are creating. >> i have two friends morb living composers who are much more senior to my age, for example, one is chadrin, another one is-- over 09 years old, french, a living composer, genius, both are fantastic. but then please pay attention to names like one of them is alexander roskato. very recently his opera, the dog's heart was performed in amsterdam it was a huge success. we will perform it in st. petersburg. i love it, myself. i think it's very, very important that we work with the living composers. of course thomas ardus was recently in st. petersburg for a series of concerts, british, young, less than 40 years old. very important composer. and i'm asking these living

composers to compose for tchaikovsky competition. i became a president of this organization, committee of tchaikovsky competition after-- passed away it wa was-- well, i'm not a match for this glorious names but someone has to do it today. and i was asked to do it. i will do it, i hope, together with colleagues and we will make sure that young people have a fantastic opportunity to shine during this next competition which is 2011, june. but living composers is a fantastic opportunity for any conductor to become very important historical figure. today the composer, is remembered, of course. but also the director, his name was-- without brought boris to life. he's remembered because he

did it. >> rose: as always, thank you. >> pie pleasure. -- my pleasure. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org . >> funning for charlie rose has been provided by the coca-cola company, supporting this program since 2002. >> rose: and american express. additional funding provided by these funders