INTERVIEW | Sarah Chang | "There are so many things that are variable in performances and for everything to come together, you need that extra level of luck"
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| Sarah Chang, © Cliff Watt |
While it is true that old age is indicative of life experience, this view may paint a misleading picture for the likes of Sarah Chang, not to say that there are many like her. Having released her professional debut solo album at the age of nine (Debut, EMI), Ms Chang's musicality has always been strikingly ahead of her generation's. Her accumulated experience in the music industry, therefore, already cuts her a wise figure, although her insights betray the confidence and dash of youthful vigour.
Surprisingly still, despite Ms Chang's internationally-famed prowess in concert halls and despite her debut solo album that upwardly swept her career, the majority of her present activities circle around concerto performances. When I interviewed Ms Chang in February 2019 for her Cadogan Hall recital, it hence came as a surprise that the recital was only her second recital she would be giving to the London public. New grounds - relatively speaking, of course - this may be, the very charisma and authenticity that characterise Ms Chang's concerto performances were also what characterised her as an interviewee and the excitement she expressed about her upcoming performance. During the 20 minutes we had, her views on musical collaborations, her love of Brahms, her repertoire choices, her collaboration with Fil Eisler and Ashley Wass, and the work she does at schools, as well as her views on the recital, brightly illuminated the calm of that particular day's London afternoon.
Below is a transcript of our conversation (all interviews on the website are personally approved by the interviewees before the final publication).
I.
Young-Jin Hur (YH): It has been some time since you have done a recital programme in London. How do you feel like returning to London for a recital?
Sarah Chang (SC): I am really happy about this. In the 30 years that I have performed in London, it's always been concertos with orchestras, whether it's the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, all the BBC orchestras, or a visiting American orchestra. This is only my second recital in London. My first recital in London must have been 15 or 20 years ago.
YH: Doing a recital must feel rather refreshing to you then.
SC: I've done recitals in other places. However, I would say around 95 per cent throughout the year of what I do are concertos.
YH: Given that you so rarely give recitals, are you in any way nervous about the recital you are preparing at the moment for London audiences?
SC: Going on stage is always the same. It's the same thing but instead of having 80 to 100 musicians with you, it's just one pianist with you and that's it. It's much more intimate on stage and, of course, the programme itself is longer. Usually, with an orchestra, you play a 30 minutes concerto and you're done. But with a recital, you have to play for two hours.
YH: You've mentioned this sense of intimacy. I suppose this intimacy can affect your musical expression?
SC: It is possible. The intimacy also gives you a little more cushion to play different repertoire, different composers, and bring out different colours. Just the sheer fact that you are not playing with another 100 people means that you can actually take the risk of playing as softly, as intimately, and as quietly as you want, which is a luxury you don't always have when you're playing with an orchestra.
YH: Would this risk-taking flexibility means that you must work with a partner who understands you very well?
SC: Yes, absolutely. I am so used to having a conductor who anchors everybody in. But in a recital, you don't have a conductor - it's just you and your partner.
YH: It seems you have much more control over your artistic possibilities in recitals compared to normal concerts. Is there a sense that you are conducting your own music during a recital?
SC: Yes, there is. It's only the two of you on stage, so you have to bob and weave all the nuances and rubatos. You have to go in waves together. You're much more exposed because everybody hears everything. But it's also fun.
II.
YH: I'd now like to ask you a number of questions regarding your partnership with Mr Ashley Wass, who will also accompany you during your recital this time. Do you have much experience performing together with Mr Ashley Wass?
SC: Yes, I do. I do have other pianist partners but Ashley has been one of my solid and consistent partners for the past decade or two. We've done many concerts together. The last big recital tour I did with Ashley was in the US, where we toured around twenty or more cities. We also performed at Carnegie Hall. So we've done a lot.
YH: How would you describe a good accompanist?
SC: There are a variety of things to consider. I don't want just an accompanist. What I want is a really strong pianist who is a soloist in their own right and who can hold a 50-50 partnership with me. And I also want somebody who is sensitive and somebody who can be spontaneous with me at the spur of the moment. There are things that you rehearse, but you leave the majority of things to the final performance. We are human beings, so emotions vary every night. So I need someone who can actually come with me and go through the waves and play slightly differently every single night.
[Note. In my previous interviews with Ádám Fischer and Sunwook Kim, we spoke about the qualities of live performances that cannot be planned in rehearsals. See also my interview with Denis Matsuev on the element of improvisation in classical music.]
YH: Is this perhaps why you want to perform with friends often? Friends are the people who can be spontaneous with you and who can understand your emotions as well.
SC: Exactly. I've been in the music business long enough that I know the conductors and partners I have good chemistry with and whom I get along with. These are people I can trust completely when on stage. Of course, a few times a year there are some new conductors and new young musicians that you want to play with. So you get to know new people, too. But you have your tried and true favourites.
YH: I can see why musical partnerships are so important when it comes to performances. Have your experience and relationship with Ashley shaped your recital programme in any way as well?
SC: It has. We had done the Franck violin sonata already... and this time we are playing Brahms, Bartók, and Franck. I wanted at least one piece that we had done together (SC laughs) - so we kept the Franck. It's a beautiful sonata, and that's probably my favourite piece on the programme. We've played the piece on so many different occasions together. Essentially, we wanted an old friend on the programme. So we started with the Franck and then we wanted to do a sonata we hadn't done together yet, and that was the Brahms third violin sonata. I love Brahms. Brahms is probably my favourite composer of all time - his symphonies, chamber music, concertos... I love anything and everything Brahms wrote. So we chose a Brahms sonata. And we needed an opener - we went for Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances. The Bartók is different, unique, and exotic - and it's not done very often.
YH: Brahms showed an attachment towards Hungarian folk music. Since Bartók is Hungarian, perhaps there is a music connection somewhere.
SC: You're right. A lot of what Brahms did has a slight Hungarian feel. So I think there is a nice segue between the Brahms and Bartók pieces.
YH: And Franck certain had this Germanic sobriety and sturdiness to his music - one might even detect a bit of Brahms in the Franck sonata.
SC: Exactly. Brahms and Franck also were established keyboardists in their own right who didn't always know how to write for the violin (SC laughs). For this, both the Brahms and Franck pieces have great piano parts. So I thought that the programme was cohesive. And since I know Ashley, this nice balance of having a piece on the programme that we knew already and two new pieces that we had to rehearse worked quite well.
YH: When I interview various musicians, they tend to be quite hesitant to say that certain composers are their favourites. But you've just said that Brahms is your favourite composer!
SC: Yes, I know, I know (SC laughs). I am just being politically incorrect here, but I do not mind saying these things.
(both laugh)
YH: There's something very natural in how you have said it.
III.
YH: If we look at your recordings, you have recorded a wide range of composers, from Vivaldi to Brahms to Prokofiev. When you record, do you have to, at least partially, be in love with the music you are playing?
SC: You do. I have never gone on stage with or recorded a piece that I don't like. When I am asked to play something or asked to record something and I don't like the piece, I will scratch it. I have pulled out of projects because I didn't like the pieces. I would rather not go on stage and not record something. I have done enough recordings that I don't need to necessarily record a piece I don't feel is a genuine representation of me. So I am very selective over my repertoire.
Repertoire, to me, is everything because I feel everybody has a certain call or affinity towards a style of music, whether it's the Romantic era, the Classical era, or the Modern era. There's something that everyone naturally gravitates towards, and for me, it's the Romantic era. So I love anything by Brahms, Tchaikovksy, and Sibelius. Of course, you cannot build an entire career based on just the Romantic repertoire, and so you do have to spread things out a bit. But I've tried to be mindful about what I perform and what I record - and Brahms, for me, is above everything.
YH: You mentioned that you had to give up certain projects because you didn't like the pieces. Do you remember what those pieces were?
SC: Yes. But I am not going to say what they were.
(both laugh)
YH: I can understand.
SC: So we basically recorded an album, it was edited, and it was out there, ready to be released. But I have veto rights, and I felt the recording was not the best representation of my soul and what I wanted to portray as my interpretation of this composer. So I told the team I'd rather not release the album. Frankly, I am probably not the only soloist who does this. But it also depends on how strong a contract you have.
YH: In future interviews with any soloist, I will always ask this question.
(both laugh)
YH: Joking aside, you've said that it's very important to have your soul in a performance, and I think this is a beautiful thought. And yet, while you have said that your love is the Romantic era, your Vivaldi recording received critical acclaim. How did you feel about your Vivaldi recording receiving such high praise? Vivaldi is not a Romantic composer, after all.
SC: I waited a really long time to do the Vivaldi, and that was part of it. From the time I was ten, the recording company was asking me to do Vivaldi every single year. And every year, I would say no.
YH: Was this because your heart was not in the piece?
SC: It just wasn't in it for several reasons. Every violinist on the face of the planet has recorded Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and I wanted to wait until I felt ready and I had something to say with the piece... instead of just putting out a recording for the sake of putting out a recording. I was probably in my 20s when the recording was eventually made. I think there is a right time for every musician's growth and because I started off with the Romantic era, it took me a while to go back to an older era, going back to the basics.
Also, after I agreed to record the Vivaldi, I learned something interesting about the piece. You can do the Vivaldi with a full orchestra with a conductor, a reduced orchestra without a conductor, but you can also do it with a few selected musicians, too. There are so many formations you can play the Vivaldi with. So I did concerts with every formation conceivable until I figured out the ensemble I wanted to record the piece with. In the end, I chose to record the piece without a conductor. In the end, the recording took a while to make, but I am glad we waited - once a recording is done, it's out there. You can't retrieve it.
YH: You've just said that every musician has their own right time for certain pieces. I wonder what pieces you are working on this year.
SC: The bulk of the big Romantic concertos - the Brahms, the Sibelius, the Mendelssohn - those, I am doing all the time. Those are the pieces that I religiously return to every week, and I rotate between them. Those pieces are what most audiences and orchestras want. But every season, I try to learn and introduce a new piece. I do it also for myself - I want to grow as a musician.
This year, I am learning a new concerto written for me, and it's a piece by Fil Eisler, a British composer. He's a big Hollywood composer. Right now, he's doing loads of movies and TV shows. He did the soundtrack for Empire and Revenge and he's an amazing composer. So he wrote his first concerto for me. Just two days ago, I received the last pages of the score. The premier is in April, so I don't have a lot of time (SC laughs). It's exciting because you get to work with a living composer. To see how his mind works and how he makes changes is really fascinating.
[Note. In my previous interview with Maxim Vengerov, we spoke about repertoire that one repeatedly returns to. See also my interview with Seong-Jin Cho, where we discussed repertoire expansion. With Esther Yoo and Sumi Jo, I discussed collaborations with composers and compositions within the film industry.]
IV.
YH: Now I thought I'd ask you some broader questions. Back in 2011, you've been named a United States Department of State artistic ambassador. You also took on a role as a State Department Special Cultural Envoy. In other words, you have taken on a number of roles that have a real impact on society. I assume this comes from your belief that there is a strong relationship between music and society?
SC: That's correct. We are really proud of the work we are doing. A while back, the State Department approached me and told me that they wanted to form a partnership with me. They asked what I enjoyed doing outside of concerts. And I love working with students. I think education is key and because I am travelling so much anyway for concerts, they came up with this artistic ambassador programme. I am so grateful for this opportunity.
As part of the programme, I play for kids in various schools around the world. I bring kids into rehearsals, give masterclasses, do general Q&As, and spend time with the communities that might not have exposure to many classical music concerts. This programme has taken me everywhere, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia, and from Syria to Ukraine. I think my job is to represent a sort of rebuilding process through music.
YH: So do you believe that music can change lives and societies?
SC: Yes. Music is a language that can bring people together. In many of these countries, I go in there with an interpreter because I cannot speak the language of those countries. But frankly, sometimes you don't even need an interpreter. You can make yourself understood purely with music. Of course, we have also visited various places within the US and part of South America - we have visited a wide range of places. This is something that I will continue to do.
After a while when you do so many concerts, it's not about doing 120 concerts a year versus 100 concerts. I think the ambassador work that we are doing is much more impactful than the concerts we give.
YH: I can definitely see why you are proud of yourself.
SC: On second thought, I don't think pride is the right word because I think these activities are necessary. If you are not careful as a soloist, you can go into your own cave and everything is about you. As a soloist, you are always playing by yourself and, in interviews, talking about yourself. And if you are not careful, it can be a very self-obsessed profession. So I feel that going into schools and sharing your musical abilities via masterclasses is necessary. I feel really fortunate that I get to work with these kids. We work with a wide range of levels, from kids who barely know their scales to kids who are incredibly talented and who want to build a career in music. I am able to see the extreme contrasts in these places.
[Note. See my interview with Shiyeon Sung, where the topic of soloists being locked within one's own world emerged.]
YH: I am very happy to hear this. I will now ask you the last set of questions. For you, what determines a good performance?
SC: Whether I am happy after the last note (SC laughs).
YH: Are there cases when the audiences love a performance even though you yourself thought you didn't play well?
SC: Yes, but I ultimately go by how I feel myself.
YH: Does this mean that you don't think too much about the audience while you play?
SC: Of course, I do care about the audience. Without the audience, the concert wouldn't make sense. The audience and their reaction, their involvement with the concert, are extremely important. That's what brings a concert to life. There are times when you play and everything is absolutely fine but then there are really special nights where the atmosphere, the audience's energy, and the reciprocation that you get from the audience are magical. That's when those special concerts happen, the ones that stay in your mind. And that's what you strive for every night.
The interaction and connection that I have with an audience are incredibly important. But at the end of the day, I assess my performance based on how I feel when I am done. And somethings that happen during a concert is something you control - you work and practice, you know what you expect of yourself, and you trust yourself to an extent. So you know that you are going to play at a certain level.
But there are a lot of unknowns. A lot of the time, you are working with new partners. A lot of the time, you don't know the conductor. Maybe it's a matter of chemistry. Sometimes you do everything but the chemistry just isn't there. There are so many things that are variable in performances and for everything to come together, you need that extra level of luck. It can be really special when things all come together.
[Note. In my previous interview with Vasily Petrenko, we spoke about the striving for perfection in a live performance and the rarity of its occurrence.]
YH: With that note, I would like to conclude the interview by saying that I truly wish that everything will come together well during your recital here in London.
SC: Thank you. I appreciate that.
YH: Thank you so much, once again, for making time.
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| Sarah Chang, © Colin Bell |
Young-Jin Hur