INTERVIEW | Jan Lisiecki | "my approach has always been and will be to serve the music"
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| Jan Lisiecki, © Christoph Köstlin / DG |
Few compositions are as admired and frequented as Chopin's Nocturnes and Beethoven's piano concertos. The strength of these works, whether it's Chopin's intimate intensity or Beethoven's heroism, probably lies in their ability to continue drawing profound responses across times and cultures. There is something extraordinary in the so-called standard repertoire and longevity seems to work on a piece's capacity to remain current to communicate new joys and intrigues.
Yet it is necessary that all great compositions, for them to be duly represented, must equally be met with vital, individual performances. In this context, pianist Jan Lisiecki's embarking on the said Chopin and Beethoven's monumental sets of works in his upcoming tour invites allures and expectations. Lisiecki's recent Deutsche Grammophon releases of these works have been met with critical acclaim for their ambition and maturity, and the pianist's ongoing live concerts evince a picture of a musician who delivers and will continue to deliver important musical statements.
So what does Lisiecki make of Chopin's Nocturnes and Beethoven's piano concertos? How were the recording processes of these pieces, and what are some expectations of performing these pieces live over the next few months? These were central questions in the 40-minute conversation I had with Lisiecki. Beyond these questions, we also discussed matters concerning pop music, how to balance self-belief with self-doubt, the historically informed performance tradition, and difficulties arising from performing Chopin concertos with conductors. The chat had an unusually natural and flowing quality, and Lisiecki - always amicable with sharp insights - delved into the details of his thoughts yet without losing sight of the big picture.
Below is a transcript of our conversation.
[Note. All interviews on the website are approved by the interviewees prior to publication.]
| I. |
Young-Jin Hur (YH): Hello. Thank you for making it to the interview.
Jan Lisiecki (JL): Hello. Great to be here - thank you.
YH: I first would like to start with a broad question: how are you today?
JL: Excellent. I am doing very, very well. Spring is not here just yet, but that's alright. One thing that's always enjoyable about living in Calgary is that when you travel, it's usually warmer wherever you are.
(both laugh)
YH: In other words, things can only get better.
JL: Exactly.
YH: I understand that Calgary is your home (JL nods). How long have you been home this time? I imagine that you tour around a lot throughout the year.
JL: Absolutely. It's been a very busy first quarter of the year. I just returned home two days ago. Before, I went on a brief holiday with my dad. We went camping in Oman. I'm back in Canada for about a week and then I'm on the road for... I don't know how long. I'm trying to figure that out myself.
(both laugh)
JL: Leaving without knowing how long you're going to be away is never great (JL laughs).
YH: At least you're home now, and so I imagine that there is a sense of stability there.
JL: Absolutely.
YH: You've mentioned camping. Is that something you enjoy on a regular basis?
JL: Yes. It's something that I enjoy doing. But camping this time has been somewhat unusual. We had the chance to go to Oman. I had a great time. It was a fantastic experience.
YH: That's great to hear. To talk about what will happen when you're on the road soon, my understanding is that you will be embarking on a tour to promote your Nocturnes album released last year.
JL: That's right. It's a continuation, in the sense that I've already played recitals of this repertoire over a dozen times in some great concert halls, for example, at the Große Saal of Vienna Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Oslo Opera House or the Chicago's Symphony Center.
This programme has been well-received and I've enjoyed playing it. The recital programme consisted of Chopin's Nocturnes and Études, Op. 10. I've intertwined the pieces in a way that I think is entertaining for the audience. I think listeners can appreciate the beauty of the Nocturnes without being overwhelmed with their intensity - I think it's an interesting juxtaposition that will keep the listeners interested.
YH: You sound very excited about the programme.
JL: Absolutely, without a doubt (JL laughs).
YH: I'd like to ask you a bit about the Nocturnes album itself. Am I right to say that it took you around a decade to take on this project?
JL: Yes. The album was something that had been on my mind for quite a long time. You sometimes have these ideas or concepts that you'd like to get to. And in this case, the Nocturnes as a complete set was something I wanted to record for a very long time. But it did take a bit of time to get to the point where I felt ready to do so. The feeling that I was ready happened during the pandemic because I suddenly had the time to think about these pieces, prepare them, and, ultimately, go into the studio without any stress or time pressure.
YH: Do you think there was something you were waiting for in particular? Were you, for example, waiting for a form of musical maturity in you?
JL: No, it wasn't so much that. It was more about having the experience of playing them in public. The Nocturnes are pieces that are intimate and very individual. Still, at the same time, you still need to communicate that to the audience. You don't learn about how you communicate your pieces until you are actually playing for an audience. So, in this album's case, it's been an ongoing project for many years because I had to incorporate the pieces into my recital programmes or play them as encores. That just took many years.
Learning a Nocturnes piece technically is not an absolute challenge - in fact, most of them can be sight-read. But it's about having that balance, I suppose, between feeling those intimate feelings but also being able to communicate those emotions instead of just closing yourself entirely into your own bubble.
YH: This makes sense. Does it often happen that one closes oneself entirely into one's bubble?
JL: No, it doesn't happen so much to me.
That said, on some days it's a good tool to have (JL laughs). You're on stage and sometimes you simply need that personal emotion, closure, and intimacy. You have to be able to recede into your own world and not be concerned with what's going on. But on the other hand, I really believe you gain a lot of emotion from playing for an audience. That's the experience that I've had so far.
YH: Yes, I can imagine that. Did you ever perform the Nocturnes pieces in their entirety in your past recitals?
JL: No, no (JL laughs). It was always a few pieces at a time. That was one of the goals of having these programmes where the Nocturnes were the main focal point without inundating the audience with intense emotions.
It wouldn’t do the pieces justice to say they’re merely sad or slow but at the same time, that is very much part of their character – they’re dark, and, well, nocturnal. And so the big question has been how to design a recital programme where we don't lose the listener's attention, which would inevitably happen if you just play all the Nocturnes in one go. I thought that the Études are contrasting enough to be part of a Nocturnes recital programme.
YH: You mentioned how the audiences might be inundated. In the recording process, did the Nocturnes, conversely, ever inundate you? I imagine you could have gotten a bit exhausted in the recording studio recording all the pieces in a short span of time. Or you could have even thought, "I don't necessarily like this piece but I guess I'll record it because it's part of the cycle."
JL: Luckily, there aren't any Nocturnes that I would say I don't like. There were one or two that I felt were more difficult in terms of finding the right atmosphere and getting the flow right. And those would be the later ones - they have a very different emotional sphere compared to the earlier ones. For these later pieces, the music is less obvious to me. When I say less obvious, I mean this in the sense that the music is different compared to other Chopin pieces; it's late Chopin. It's pretty much what happened to Schumann as well. Schumann's late works, like Chopin's late works, become less straightforward and less direct - there is a kind of uncertainty in this music.
In recording the Chopin Nocturnes, those were probably the biggest challenges. But we had so much time in our hands that we would come into the studio in the morning and we'd work as long as was necessary and as long as we all felt we were "on the ball." We would rest, come back the next day, and it was a repetition of this. We ended up with lots of takes, which provided us with plenty of colour to choose from overall. There were times when we would just sit down and say, "ah, maybe I'll try this again!" So all in all, I had a good time in the studio actually.
YH: Could I ask what those pieces were that gave you a hard time? Or would you rather not say? (YH laughs)
JL: I don't want to name them because I don't want to give undue attention to them (JL laughs). But I can say that with the later works of Chopin, the interpretations choices are less obvious, at least for me. So you end up spending more time on these pieces, thinking, "is this tempo right or is this too slow? What about the dynamics indications - what does forte mean here? It doesn't feel like it should be forte so do you force yourself to play it as is indicated in the score?" It's these kinds of "existential" questions that were involved... if I can put it this way.
(both laugh)
YH: That makes sense. Was there a point where you thought you wanted to record the Nocturnes at night, given the nocturnal atmosphere the pieces elicit and signify? (YH laughs)
JL: We recorded the pieces during the day. I'm not very much a nocturnal person other than playing concerts in the evening. I will not sit down at the piano for myself in the evening - in the evenings, I am doing other things. I like practising in the morning and I like playing concerts in the evening. Of course, if you play 100 concerts per year, you end up not having many free evenings (JL laughs) - and so you enjoy and value your free evenings more.
That said, while in the studio recording the album, there were certain moments when I would turn off the lights and I would try to get into a different mood. We were recording in October in Berlin, so you can imagine it was pretty grey and dark outside. The weather wasn't sunny or positive - it was this greyness that I would associate with the Nocturnes.
YH: It seems you took part in a bit of musical method acting.
JL: A little bit.
(both laugh)
II.
YH: Talking of Germany, my understanding is that the Nocturnes album reached the pop charts in Germany. Were you aware of this?
JL: No, I didn't remember that, if I am honest. But it makes sense. Some of the pieces are very popular and I am sure a lot of people want to hear them. It's a new recording, and so there will simply be numbers to stand behind the new release. Deutsche Grammophon, of course, was happy about this result as well. And if I had selected and recorded only a few of the Nocturnes, the effect would have probably been the same in terms of streaming numbers, chart numbers, or CD sales.
But ultimately, my approach has always been and will be to serve the music. You do this by showcasing not only the popular Op. 9 No. 1 and 2, Op. 27, and Op. 48 No. 1, but actually going deeper into the other Nocturnes as well.
One of my favourites was Op. Posthumous in C minor, which is not so well known and which isn't played so much even though it's so beautiful. I hope that if someone hears Op. 9 No. 2, they will go on and listen to something else. Is that going to happen? I don't know. But it is an approach I always had.
YH: Sure. You may have implied this earlier when you said that you didn't really follow the pop chart results for your album. But do you enjoy listening to pop music in general?
JL: Actually, I tend not to listen to a lot of music as I spend so much time with the piano. When I am not playing, I prefer to hear the world around me - the sounds of nature, the cities. That is quite relaxing to me.(both laugh)
JL: Especially when it comes to listening to piano music, you think about interpretational questions, you think about tone, you think about touch, volume, dynamic, and everything else. In my case, I don't relax listening to classical music as much as I do listening to pop music.
YH: And when you do listen to piano music, do you ever worry that you might be influenced too much by someone else too much? I imagine one can go from "oh, I really admire this musician" to "oh, I really admire this musician - I want to be like this person."
JL: You know, when you're living so much in the music and you're playing so much, I would hope for myself and for my colleagues that we really don't get to that point of thinking we're influenced too much by others. This is because as much as you stay humble and you respect your peers and their ideas, you also have to have this certainty in what you're doing. If you start questioning yourself as an artist, you certainly lose your originality and you lose that strength of being yourself.
We are completely exposed when on stage. We're alone. And we're doing what we're believing in. But how what we are doing is going to be accepted by the audience is completely outside of our control. This means that we have to be firmly set in what we do and yet still be open to ideas. But I think there is a lot to be said about going out on stage and giving your all in what you believe in. If you start having idols and start thinking, "oh, maybe what they're doing is better than what I'm doing", then I believe you've lost that belief.
Certainly, I listen to some recordings and I am wowed by the music ideas and the technical virtuosity of certain collaborations. There are these moments. But I haven't yet had a moment where I listened and I thought to myself, "I wish to play this way." Do you know what I mean?
YH: Yes, yes. You've said that you have to have this self-belief. Yet at the same time - and I am aware that this might be an excessively romanticised view of artists - self-doubt is often also portrayed as an important quality in an artist.
JL: Sure. I think you can have self-doubt, but not because you believe that other things are greater. Most certainly, you ask yourself questions all the time and I am probably my worst critic. For example, I don't really like listening to myself because you listen and you notice the things you'd do differently. And you would like to change things that sounded not the way you imagined them to be. There are exceptions as well, of course; some days, I listen and think, "oh that was really good" but some days you don't have this reaction. And so you are that critic - you do doubt yourself. There is a balance you have to find.
YH: I very much agree with you. I have just one more question regarding the Nocturnes album. The theme of the night seems to be continuing in your latest release. The latest album is called Night Music, after all (YH laughs). I am curious if this continuation of the night as a theme has been an intentional move from your end?
JL: Well, I think it was somewhat intentional, but at the same time, it wasn't. The Night Music programme was my recital programme for a season about four years ago now. And this live concert, which is now made into the Night Music album, was played in Würzburg in 2018. The occasion was recorded for various reasons and Deutsche Grammophon decided at this point that following the Nocturnes release, it would make sense to release some fresh music with a similar theme. The album is completely live - in other words, there were absolutely no touchup sessions including for Gaspard de la Nuit. That concert was a bit of a challenge, I would say (JL laughs).
Night Music deals with an interesting subject because we inevitably experience the night in our everyday lives. But there are so many different facets to the night, it doesn't necessarily mean one single thing - I think that was the most important aspect of the recital.
As a musician, there are always certain works I want to present to the audience. But how you put them together in a way that would engage the audience is the big question. In a sense, you are presenting a "complete art" because it isn't just about how you play the pieces. It's also about how the individual pieces work together. Designing recitals is always an interesting aspect of touring and I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can design programmes.
YH: In fact, how do you design recitals? For example, in Night Music, the album starts with Mozart and ends with Ravel. You must have thought that Mozart has to come before Ravel. In other words, do you have a certain way of thinking in terms of how a recital programme should progress?
JL: Of course. There is a natural progression. And that can come in many forms. When I'm thinking about my current recital programme, I start in C major and I also end in C major, but we're in two very different places. Of course, that is thanks to Chopin's Études, Op. 10, which start in C major - and Op. 10 No. 12, which ends with a C major chord. The start and end are very different C majors. Anyway, we have this full cycle and we actually go through the keys. That's one aspect.
But we also have the element of contrasting moods. I do like starting programmes from a sort of purist base point. This is why in the past, I would start programmes with Bach - very challenging mentally and also challenging to engage the audience. But if done successfully, that's great (JL laughs). So you do take risks sometimes and, hopefully, there is a reward.
YH: Maybe playing Bach at the start of a recital programme is similar to Calgary's cold weather you mentioned at the beginning of today's interview. Things will only get better as you move away from a challenge.
JL: Exactly - that's right.
(both laugh)
III.
YH: Now I'd like to move on to Beethoven, as I understand that you will also be performing a lot of Beethoven concertos over the next few months, sometimes in between some of your Chopin concerts. Because Chopin and Beethoven are such different composers, I am curious how it feels like to alternate between these two composers?
JL: It's a big juxtaposition to jump between these two composers. You have this moment of shock when you realise that you are playing the same instrument that produces such different sounds. But between Chopin and Beethoven, it's luckily still not quite as different as, for example, sitting down and having to play Prokofiev and Mozart - now that is a big difference.
Going from Chopin to Beethoven, it's a distinct musical language but not so much in their treatment of the piano. And so, at a certain point, to play these two composers is rewarding because you have this contrast. After all, you're not playing the same programme all the time, which can become a bit boring. If you change your programme between concerts, you have a chance to think about something else and then return. I think this process of juxtaposing composers really brings out the best in the composers - the composers work off of each other.
YH: And talking of juxtaposition, I've noticed that you're even mixing different arrangements within Beethoven as well. For example, you are playing Beethoven's concertos not just on modern pianos but also on some historical instruments as well. By playing Beethoven on older instruments, you are perhaps gravitating toward the Historically Informed Performance tradition?
JL: We'll see. I have two concerts in the summer on historical instruments, both on Beethoven's fifth concerto. One will be in Dresden in May and the other one will be in Warsaw in August. It's going to be a learning curve for me to play these different instruments. But it's something that I really wanted to try. I want to experience it and then I will be able to draw my own opinion from the experience.
Ultimately, when you think of the improvements of the piano as an instrument over the years - and I would argue that this is an improvement - modern pianos have more colour compared to the past. Not just that, modern pianos have more volume and they generally enable us a wider range of things to work with compared to historical pianos. At the same time, the modern instruments sound very different to the pianos of Beethoven's time. How to balance this is always the question. Having this experience of playing both the modern and historical pianos from the driver's seat, I think, is going to be the best way to approach that question.
That said, I don't think I will be able to become somebody who really focuses on bringing out historical aspects in musical interpretations. I do like making music live and making it current. The baseline is that I think there's nothing to lose in widening my experience.
YH: I agree with you! There is absolutely nothing to lose!
(both laugh)
YH: On a purely musical level, too, I think it's fascinating to play a piece with different instruments. I sometimes imagine how Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto would sound like on a harpsichord (YH laughs).
JL: You know, it's fun. You do that actually quite a bit. In piano rooms at the concert halls, when you're bored you go down and start playing all sorts of music like Chopin on the harpsichord. You know, it's fun for about two minutes - and after that, it becomes absolutely awful.
(both laugh)
JL: But it is really fun for those two minutes.
(both laugh)
YH: And could this perhaps mean that you would like to play Chopin's music on historical instruments well one day?
JL: With Chopin, I have more difficulties, to tell you the truth. I have played Chopin's music on an Érard and on a Pleyel - not in public, but for myself. The variations across the pianos are immense. I did prefer the sound of the Érard, although Chopin himself preferred the Pleyel. But I love the lyricism and the harmonic sustenance of a modern piano so much that it would be really, really hard for me to go back and play on historical instruments of Chopin's time (JL laughs). But, you know, you never know.
It must be said that it is much easier to play certain pieces on a (historical) pianoforte than it is on a modern piano, such as the Étude Op. 10 No. 2. On an Érard or Pleyel, the keys don't go very deep. On the other hand, it's a bit of torture on a modern piano. So the older pianos seem to make things easier - relatively speaking.
(both laugh)
IV.
YH: I would like to return to the topic of your Beethoven performances this summer. It seems that you are also performing the concertos in different orchestral arrangements. For example, you will sometimes perform with a chamber orchestra and at other times, with a modern orchestra. Sometimes, you have a conductor but at other times, you don't have a conductor. Was all of this variation in performance based on your own decision?
JL: Absolutely. We had planned a fantastic Beethoven year in 2020 during the pandemic. That year had probably as many if not more Beethoven cycles scheduled, which, of course, didn't always go to schedule. That was a shame, but we were able to re-create a fantastic summer this year with some of the ideas we already had back then.
To be honest, having these various arrangements makes a massive difference. Some days, you play with an orchestra that inspires you - you also play with a conductor who gives you inspiration. But sometimes, you don't. Therefore in this setting, you never know what to expect going into a concert. There is no guarantee, even if the orchestra or conductor is famous. But when you have all these options open to you, you do grow with the music.
And you as a pianist can start looking at these pieces very differently by the end - and I think that's probably the most important thing. Because when you play all five concertos at the same time within a matter of few months - and it's unlikely that I will be playing all five concertos together like this again in future seasons - you come away with a different level of understanding and appreciation. So, me playing all these concertos is good for the audience of course, but it's also great for me. You do learn a lot.
YH: And do you think you will also come out of this experience knowing which arrangement would be best for you in performing certain Beethoven concertos in the future?
JL: Well, I already have my preconceived notions as to what the best arrangement would be. That's because I've played these concertos extensively already with various conductors and ensembles. I'm pretty sure that the best experience will be with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
But...! I am prepared to be surprised and I know I am working with some musicians that I absolutely adore and who will give me great ideas and will change how I approach things. So, I would actually say I am most looking forward to returning to perform with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, but at the same time, I think I might learn more from the other experiences (JL laughs).
YH: I am sure that is going to be the case. And it must be quite a big jump in your musical expectations when you perform with chamber orchestras without a conductor. Essentially you are the conductor - and I've recently heard from a different musician that the difference between conducting and being a soloist is that if you conduct, you must be ready to convey your conception to others. On the other hand, if you are a soloist, you're just doing your own thing. I wonder what your thoughts are.
JL: As a soloist, I have my own conception - if you don't, you have no place on stage...
YH: ... oh, sorry, I didn't mean to say that soloists don't have a conception. I wanted to emphasise the conductor's role in communicating certain concepts to other musicians. I think my intentions came out the wrong way...
JL: ... no, no, not at all - you didn't come out the wrong way.
Look, as a soloist, you have to have your own conceptions but you have to also respect the conductor because they will also have their own ideas, hopefully.
Now, there is a problem. Sometimes - and unfortunately, it happens more often than one would expect - because of the strange interplay between the soloist's own ideas and the conductor's concepts, there ends up not being an overarching idea. It's especially tricky because there are some things you cannot precisely express in words.
Another issue is that the pianist sometimes has more experience with a concerto than a conductor has. Maybe the conductor may have more experience in handling an orchestra generally or in the symphonic repertoire of that particular composer. This is especially interesting in the case of Chopin's concertos. I often struggle to play Chopin's concertos with a conductor because I know both of the concertos so well - I've played them hundreds of times. This means that I have a very strong idea of how I'd like to play them and I have a very good understanding of the score. For example, I know where things should be in the orchestra and how they should sound, or how I would like them to sound at the very least.
On the other hand, a Chopin concerto is not a repertoire that many conductors know. This is because they don't conduct Chopin. First of all, there are no Chopin symphonies or violin concertos - the only major Chopin orchestral works are these two piano concertos. Secondly, conductors don't like the two existing piano concertos... for the most part. You know, they are challenging.
(both laugh)
JL: In other words, conductors are not familiar with conducting Chopin. Therefore, they have very little idea of what the Chopin concertos entail. Most of them, unless they are pianists, have never played the concertos, they don't understand the language, and even if they like Chopin, they don't like the concertos. We're in an awful, awful situation.
It's also unlikely that the orchestral musicians themselves like the Chopin piano concertos because they are asked to play half notes the whole time. All this can turn a Chopin concerto performance into a living nightmare. Sometimes, I am sitting just waiting for my time to come in because it's so dreadful to listen to the orchestra.
(both laugh)
JL: All this is a really unfortunate thing because things could be better. There are numerous challenges involved - and I'm not saying that this all happens only because of conductors. Simply, for all these reasons that I've named, it's hard to make a Chopin piano concerto sound incredible. And that incredible quality is what I want in these concertos.
With Beethoven, it's different. With Beethoven, of course, we have the symphonies and other orchestral works. The orchestral works are far superior to those of Chopin. In other words, when performing Beethoven's piano concertos, we don't have the same struggles I've named previously.
YH: What could be some struggles you have when performing Beethoven concertos and have you found solutions for them?
JL: Perhaps this touches upon something more general in concerto performances. When you play directly with a group of musicians without a conductor, everyone listens to each other. However, this doesn't always happen with large orchestras when a leader is present, although in the best concerts it does. And when you listen to each other, you pay attention. You hear ideas and you are inspired. You respond and there is an interplay and collaboration. And that is when music is actually great and you have a great experience.
YH: For a conductor-less concerto performance, you seem to emphasise this collaborative effort. Yet I suppose you would still bring in some of your ideas to lead the group of musicians in front of you.
JL: Of course. But I am also open to ideas. It's just that the ideas are firmly tied to what happens during this kind of collaboration. I think performances will sometimes lack detailed refinement. There will be small moments where perhaps we aren't completely synchronised - I'm not talking about a technical synchronisation of playing together, but about the synchronisation of musical details. But even in these situations, I don't think we are compromising on anything. There is a certain freshness to playing without a conductor. If I take something in a certain direction, the ensemble will follow - it's all about this capability of listening to each other and flexibly responding to each other that makes the experience so exciting. After all, perfection in music is a fleeting concept that does not truly exist.
YH: In terms of preparing for a concerto performance where you are also leading a group of musicians, I suppose you will be studying the orchestral score as well. I wonder whether it is a usual thing for pianists to study the orchestral score of the concerto they play?
JL: I don't know. You'll have to ask the other pianists.
(both laugh)
JL: For me, I wouldn't say I sit and study an orchestral score, as a conductor might, but I do know it very well from playing, listening, and studying. You still always hear new ideas.
It's just the same as when I am playing the piano. I play all the notes all the time but sometimes you suddenly notice that there is a different voice that you didn't notice before. You have ten things going on at the same time when playing the piano - so you can imagine that these things happen when you're talking about orchestral scores where - maybe I am exaggerating - a hundred things are going on at the same time.
If you are a soloist, it can't be that you are playing the solo part and the orchestra does their own thing. That... is... not correct - that's all I can say.
(both laugh)
YH: And do you see yourself becoming a conductor one day if you continue going down this path?
JL: It's hard to say. On the one hand, I do have strong musical ideas and I do have concepts that I am happy to share. But on the other hand, I am able to do so rather well on the piano. I feel like I have an instrument through which I can express myself. And I do have complete control over a piano... almost complete control. The piano is under my fingers, it's my responsibility, and I am relying only upon myself and the instrument. So you have this directness. And going away from this might be a bit difficult, or not - who knows? For the moment, I am happy that I am still playing the piano.
YH: You're right. We're still very young, so, who knows, we can always try out new things. Who knows, you might even suddenly decide to devote yourself to the pipe organ. Who knows?
JL: That's right.
(both laugh)
JL: My feet aren't as accurate as my fingers.
(both laugh)
V.
YH: I thought I'd ask you two more questions. I did visit your Twitter page a few days ago and I noticed that you describe yourself as a "pianist, traveller." The "pianist" bit is self-evident, but I am curious why you also decided to describe yourself as a "traveller."
JL: Most of my posts and pictures are related to my travels. I love photography and I love to travel in the broad sense. Travelling can mean going for a walk outside of your house. It just means being open to the world. I am also in this very privileged position to travel most of the year and I do see many different places - and I love experiencing a wider world. That's what travelling means to me.
YH: That makes sense. Now to the last question: what are your future plans?
JL: There's always something to learn. Firstly as a pianist and as somebody who has this instrument at your disposal, you are very privileged because there is an endless stream of repertoire. It feels like you are drowning. Even if you've played a certain number of concertos - in my case, it's over 30 - you sit down and you still realise that there are so many other concertos you want to play like Rachmaninov's third concerto, Tchaikovsky's two concertos, or Brahms' second concerto - you name it, there's always something that is still waiting for you around the corner. And in that sense, there are always some big projects ahead and something you'd like to do.
One of the big projects now taking place is Prokofiev's second concerto. That concerto is in quite a different language and it was a difficult concerto to learn. Playing it the first time was quite the experience (JL laughs). I'm looking forward to continuing to play it in the next few weeks.
YH: That's great. I look forward to hearing that at one point. I think it's a great concerto and Prokofiev is one of my favourite composers. It's a funny thing - I've really grown into Prokofiev. I didn't like his music initially, but the more I listen to his music, the more I am addicted to his fairy-tale-like sense of allure.
JL: This music gets better with every listen. It's one of those pieces where you catch new things over time - over time, you understand the piece. In the beginning, the concerto sounded like absolute chaos.
YH: It was the same for me! I am glad I wasn't the only one who thought this way about the concerto.
Anyway, although I would love to continue chatting about this topic, we're not going to go down this route. Otherwise, I fear we'd be opening up another, another...
JL:... rabbit hole.
YH: Exactly. Or even, if I may put it this way, an elephant hole, given the immensity of Prokofiev and its related topics.
(both laugh)
YH: So, I guess I've gone through all my questions for today. All I can say is, thank you very much for making time.
JL: It was a pleasure, Young-Jin.
YH: Thank you.
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| Jan Lisiecki, © Christoph Köstlin / DG |