Caroline Coda
Q: You observe Robert Shaw on a day to day basis. You must have certain theories about what makes him tick. What do you think motivates him?
CS: I believe that it’s a desire to commit himself fully to something that he feels is as important as the religion that his forbears committed themselves to. And he couldn’t do it the sort of traditional religious way and I believe that he thinks that music on the level of the composers that his work to perform is one of the highest possible achievements of humans. And he believes it so fervently and I think he needs to believe it too. It’s a desire and a need to be committed to something that really is above all of us.
Q: Do you – are you saying that music has become his religion?
CS: Yes, very definitely. One of his religions.
Q: What are the others?
CS: Different philosophies, different altruistic expressions and other cultures and in our own, fine painting, great literature, wonderful indigenous folk culture that speaks to the soul, from almost any culture, but sort of high as possible intellectual and creative expressions of mankind, I think, would be his religion. And his particular track is music, of course.
Q: This is perhaps a bit of a delicate question. But do you have a sense at all – is he aware of time running out?
CS: Yes, and it makes him furious. He’d really like to live forever, I think. He loves living. He loves life. He loves his present life and I think he just want it to go on and on and on and on. And he also wants to cram as much as whatever may be left of it as he can.