Latest / Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger / Sasha Unbound

Transcript

Sasha Unbound · Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

0:01
SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Q&A.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm Jay Nordlinger, and I'm coming to you from the Salzburg Festival in Austria.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: I am podcasting on behalf of the Salzburg Festival Society,
0:13
SPEAKER_00: with whom I have had a long association.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: I started coming here in 2002, I believe, the year after our guest today was born.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: He is Alexander Malofaev, the Russian pianist.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Let me spell that.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: M-A-L-O-M.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: And he, Alexander or Sasha, is playing a recital here at the festival.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Hello, Sasha.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: And so nice to see you.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: So nice to meet you.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Great to be here in Salzburg.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: So give us the real proper pronunciation of your last name, please.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: And does your last name have a meaning or is it simply a name?
1:03
SPEAKER_01: It comes from some old Slavic name, Malafé, but there's no meaning in the internet.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: Lost the time.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking this morning,
1:14
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking I'm going to interview Sasha,
1:18
SPEAKER_00: and he's a young pianist, he's a young guy.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: But then I thought, you know, when I was 25, I didn't consider myself young.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: I never thought of myself as young, really.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I thought of myself as young when I was 20, honestly.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you, do you feel young?
1:34
SPEAKER_00: You're such a veteran pianist.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: You've been performing in public for so many years.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: What do you say to that kind of funny psychological question?
1:45
SPEAKER_01: I actually question myself quite often about it because I'm feeling quite disowned
1:50
SPEAKER_01: because obviously most of my life has been wheeling around music.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: And you count years with seasons.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: At some point you stop counting them from January to December, but the seasons.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: And in this way, my sort of career started when I was 11 years old.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: I won a couple of competitions and at the time I already had a schedule.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: So, um, it feels like 15 years of, of, uh, um,
2:23
SPEAKER_01: work experience, but, um,
2:27
SPEAKER_01: also everything changed because I was living in Russia and I moved out of Russia
2:32
SPEAKER_01: in 2022, uh, living in Berlin now.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: And, uh, I mean,
2:37
SPEAKER_01: there was COVID,
2:37
SPEAKER_01: there was a war, um,
2:39
SPEAKER_01: there is a war and, um,
2:42
SPEAKER_01: had lots of canceled concerts and, um,
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Generally the environment around this is absolutely different,
2:49
SPEAKER_01: the psychology of people.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: Music, life around,
2:56
SPEAKER_01: values are different and I sort of started a different career,
3:03
SPEAKER_01: at least that's how I see it in my mind,
3:06
SPEAKER_01: with a different repertoire,
3:08
SPEAKER_01: a different kind of approach to the sound, to ideas, to people I work with.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: And I do enjoy it tremendously because I do many things which I could do in Russia
3:23
SPEAKER_01: for different reasons.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: And in this sense, my career is
3:31
SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: It's sort of a post-Russia career.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: In Russia and after Russia, like two different phases.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean,
3:41
SPEAKER_01: obviously it helped that I played some concerts in Glasgow when I was 14,
3:47
SPEAKER_01: but... Did you say 14?
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't quite associate myself with that person because I was traveling with my mom
3:57
SPEAKER_01: and teacher and the repertoire was chosen together
4:02
SPEAKER_01: and rehearsals were very much controlled.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: And if I count my real adult life, let's say, as three years old, then yeah, I'm pretty young.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Do you ever feel like you deserve to be a little bit goofy,
4:23
SPEAKER_00: a little bit silly, like a young person?
4:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're a serious,
4:27
SPEAKER_00: serious artist,
4:28
SPEAKER_00: let's say,
4:30
SPEAKER_00: but don't you think you have a right just to be,
4:32
SPEAKER_00: just to goof off now and then, like the rest of us did, without anyone noticing?
4:38
SPEAKER_01: It's fun that I'm wearing crooks right now in the moment of this interview,
4:42
SPEAKER_01: if that's what you mean, but...
4:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, I studied in Russia and if you imagine musical education in Russia
4:50
SPEAKER_01: or any other strong professional education in Russia,
4:54
SPEAKER_01: it's incredibly workaholic,
4:57
SPEAKER_01: lots of sacrifice, lots of time spent alone in the practice room.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, basically all time spent there.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Until the age of 20,
5:13
SPEAKER_01: I had very limited social experience and very limited chance to be goofy and to get
5:20
SPEAKER_01: to know what it is.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: And well, now I think I'm trying to find more balance and it kind of works out.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: If this is too personal a question, let me know.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Did you choose all this?
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Did you want it?
5:42
SPEAKER_00: Did you embrace it?
5:43
SPEAKER_01: No, no one chooses anything when you are five years old.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Initially, it was...
5:51
SPEAKER_01: Well, in a way, it's a lifestyle.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: It's only lifestyle you know since the age of birth.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: And it seems logical because that's everything you have.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: And I didn't question it.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have crises.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have any self-identification problem.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Also because I was lucky enough to...
6:21
SPEAKER_01: To have a schedule as a child.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Pianist, I had quite lots of plans in terms of new concertos, new recitals to learn.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: And when you learn new repertoire,
6:33
SPEAKER_01: you just simply don't notice that is it what you want,
6:38
SPEAKER_01: is it repertoire what you want, what you like.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: You just wake up, you wake up, you go to your piano, you spend some time.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: I felt comfortable.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: It's not like I was ever against it and I felt good with the piano.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: But there was never a moment of choice.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: A moment of choice happened when I moved out of Russia and in a way it's a real step
7:04
SPEAKER_01: which you need to make and this I consider as a decision.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: I want to use the expression Declaration of Independence.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: I remember you, Sasha.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can tell me where this was or with whom.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: I remember seeing,
7:26
SPEAKER_00: I think,
7:27
SPEAKER_00: a live stream of you and the Saint-Saëns G Minor Concerto when you were very young.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: I know you had so many performances, but this caught the attention of the world.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: And your playing was so mature.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you closed your eyes, you wouldn't imagine it.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Cute little blonde haired boy, you know, so good.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: But there's so many performances.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about recordings today, knowing that I was gonna speak with you.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: And when I grew up, in my house, there were LPs, 33s, and even some 45s, more pop music.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: And then there were audio cassettes.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: That was a real revolution.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: And then CDs, which were amazing.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: But I'm thinking, Someone born in 2001.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: What were your recordings, Sasha?
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Spotify?
8:21
SPEAKER_00: YouTube?
8:22
SPEAKER_00: How did you listen to music when you were growing up?
8:27
SPEAKER_01: Talking about classical music, in my childhood I still did listen to CDs.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: My teacher was sharing
8:33
SPEAKER_00: some of them
8:34
SPEAKER_01: with me.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Like all Rachmanino's recordings I listened on a CD, but that stopped pretty quickly.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, basically I got most of my listening experience I got from YouTube.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: And now,
8:50
SPEAKER_01: for example,
8:51
SPEAKER_01: at home I have quite a large collection of CDs
8:55
SPEAKER_01: because we just appear randomly there,
8:58
SPEAKER_01: people give it to me, but I don't have any CD player.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why the people give it to me.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: And most likely I'm never going to listen to them.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to buy one.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: So if you give CDs, give also a CD player.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Because no one has it.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who uses it, but Spotify, Apple and Kobo, I do use a lot every day.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: It's a really important part of my life listening to music
9:35
SPEAKER_01: and possibly even more important than playing music.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Because as I said, practicing and job with job is not really a job, it's a lifestyle.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Feel yourself in the world, how you position yourself.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And you don't sometimes do it consciously.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just wake up and go to a practice room.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you're not in the mood, but you just do it because there's nothing else to do today.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: And
10:12
SPEAKER_01: there is not as much love to music in it as During my listening hours,
10:20
SPEAKER_01: because I do love the sounds.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: I love the symphony orchestra sound.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: I love pianists, all kinds of pianists.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: I listen to all the new recordings.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: I listen to violin, cello, maybe not so much of a voice, but everything.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: I love absorbing music and any moment I don't practice,
10:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't play, I listen to music in my headphones.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you use headphones?
10:49
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: You prefer that?
10:51
SPEAKER_01: It's more direct?
10:53
SPEAKER_01: I just look on the street like whenever I go somewhere.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I see.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I see, yeah.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, sound insulation is a good thing.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: You mentioned Rachmaninoff and his recordings.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so old, Sasha,
11:05
SPEAKER_00: that I knew people when I was young who were quite old
11:09
SPEAKER_00: who had heard Rachmaninoff repeatedly and told me about it.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: My math is a little slow,
11:14
SPEAKER_00: I can't quite do the math,
11:16
SPEAKER_00: but you, I imagine, have never met anyone who
11:19
SPEAKER_01: heard Rachmaninoff.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Would that be correct?
11:21
SPEAKER_01: I met some people who were telling me so after the concerts, but no particular story.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: But we can tell that he was a great pianist, can't we?
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Just from the recordings we have and from the testimony of others.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: I knew someone,
11:39
SPEAKER_00: I knew a woman,
11:40
SPEAKER_00: a Russian pianist,
11:41
SPEAKER_00: who said,
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Just think of the beginning of the D minor concerto, those simple unison notes.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Rachmaninoff played these notes in some perfect magical way,
11:53
SPEAKER_00: even though it was so simple,
11:55
SPEAKER_00: just these unison notes, but there was something about how he did it.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: And she got this faraway look in her eye.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: It was sort of touching to hear her talk about it.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, I do love Rachmaninoff's recording more than any other recordings possibly
12:14
SPEAKER_01: to be released ever.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: You have good taste.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: It's a feeling of...
12:22
SPEAKER_01: of being a composer like when you listen
12:26
SPEAKER_01: to him you don't quite know what's exactly going to follow in the next bar
12:33
SPEAKER_01: but I'm sure I love it like and even if I listen
12:38
SPEAKER_01: to it repeatedly it feels like he's composing the piece in the process of performing
12:44
SPEAKER_01: and at the same time being tremendously Above the music,
12:50
SPEAKER_01: you know,
12:51
SPEAKER_01: it's a great talent because of course we are learning a lot how to make music,
12:56
SPEAKER_01: how to know the craft of music making.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: But looking at Rachmanineff, you can see that he's above the music making.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: Same part of the audience, you know?
13:14
SPEAKER_01: That's also what I try to do during my conference.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: Feel like I'm sitting outside of a piano space.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: To try to listen to the music which is happening on stage
13:28
SPEAKER_01: without my professional opinion, even though it's made by my own hands.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: But being a part of the audience,
13:38
SPEAKER_01: I think it's important
13:40
SPEAKER_01: You're a listener as well as the player of it at
13:43
SPEAKER_01: the same time.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: It's important to enjoy your own concerts,
13:50
SPEAKER_01: your own music is the same ears as you enjoy our music.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Because if you,
14:00
SPEAKER_01: if you are too much in the process,
14:03
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes listening to people,
14:06
SPEAKER_01: I feel like they're trying too much of projecting their own experience,
14:09
SPEAKER_01: their own emotions on me.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And they're so different.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: And especially when I play a concert, the audience is usually much, much older than me.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: It is as it is.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: And it would be naive to project my own experience on them because it's pretty limited.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: So the only thing I can is to try to imagine how does it sound from their side
14:39
SPEAKER_01: and
14:40
SPEAKER_01: in a way to find
14:44
SPEAKER_01: not the personal way of telling but some common point, some
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Point which can be related to both of us,
14:57
SPEAKER_01: to old person living all these years and coming at a concert after a long work day.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And me who spends the whole life practicing in the room and basically chewing in my own juice.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Which is dangerous because it's only me knowing it.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: How did you learn that idiomatic expression?
15:22
SPEAKER_00: How did you get this English, Sasha?
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Stewing in your own juice, that is a very specialized phrase, young man.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: I learned my English talking to people.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: I studied it until the age of 12 and then I started touring a lot and talking a lot
15:40
SPEAKER_01: and it happens to be useful.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, so on the subject of Rachmaninoff,
15:46
SPEAKER_00: I want to know This is a very old fashioned expression.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: You can tuck it into your English repertoire.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make much sense today because now we use electronic devices.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: But the expression is, do you have something in the drawer, like this drawer?
16:01
SPEAKER_00: And what people meant was,
16:03
SPEAKER_00: do you write any music on manuscript paper and then put it in a drawer?
16:08
SPEAKER_00: Are you a composer?
16:12
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not a composer.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Not even in the way of interpreter, I compare myself with composers.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And especially in reality, I mean, I can try, but it just doesn't work.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: I can see it after
16:30
SPEAKER_01: so many pages going from my hands of great music.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: I can't offer anything on the same level.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: Are you an arranger?
16:41
SPEAKER_00: A transcriber?
16:44
SPEAKER_00: I think about it.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: I tried out
16:48
SPEAKER_00: at home,
16:50
SPEAKER_01: but
16:53
SPEAKER_01: as I said, the thing is that I just started.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't have really the virtual preferences.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's some things I like more or less, but I want to try it all.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And it's been not enough time to try it all.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: No.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: There will be.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: And the transcription,
17:12
SPEAKER_01: which I can possibly make,
17:14
SPEAKER_01: is not quite on the level of all the pieces by Beethoven and Brahms,
17:19
SPEAKER_01: which I haven't played.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: Look, Sasha,
17:21
SPEAKER_00: let me tell you,
17:22
SPEAKER_00: there are some of my favorite composers I didn't learn to like or love until I was
17:27
SPEAKER_00: in my 30s or 40s, I swear.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Wagner, Verdi.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: I came very late to them.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Bruckner, Mahler.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: I was in my 30s or 40s.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: It's...
17:40
SPEAKER_00: There's so much music and we never run out of it.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you, when it comes to piano playing, you may laugh at this phrase.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: You may not.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: You may think it's a legitimate phrase.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Is there a Russian school?
17:59
SPEAKER_01: I think there is a solid school of piana,
18:04
SPEAKER_01: because definitely when it was relatively closed,
18:08
SPEAKER_01: there have been very strong piana tradition cultivated,
18:15
SPEAKER_01: partly on a cultural basis of,
18:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't know,
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Russian Empire and philosophy and books and Orthodox motives and language,
18:24
SPEAKER_01: but also partly on an incredibly strong discipline and Violence
18:30
SPEAKER_01: and incredibly
18:36
SPEAKER_01: common idea that a child should study music.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Which might be good because,
18:41
SPEAKER_01: for example,
18:42
SPEAKER_01: at home we always had an upright piano from my grandpa who can play two notes maybe.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: But he studied music, my grandma studied music, my dad studied music.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: None of them can play.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: We have a piece of furniture.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: And when I grew up to the age of five,
19:00
SPEAKER_01: We unwrapped this piece of furniture in order just to try it out.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: Piano School is beautiful, it's Aborin, Sofranitsky,
19:17
SPEAKER_01: Feinberg, Ginzburg and Neuhaus.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: There is a certain quality, some weight, To me, I do hear Russian language in my play.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: I think language is incredibly important.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Not that I can't play French music or German, but as a Russian.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Your English is so good.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: I can try,
19:49
SPEAKER_01: but the problem is my English also,
19:54
SPEAKER_01: but I can, I might know the words, but the phrasing is not American.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
20:05
SPEAKER_00: you spend a month or two, you'll absorb it, you'll be like a sponge.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, I do hear if Russian music is played by Russian or not Russian.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Versus a foreigner.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Or someone who is very much influenced by Soviet tradition.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: I think I can hear it.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm...
20:28
SPEAKER_01: Making a job.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: But I think I can hear it.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make the performance worse or better, but it's just a fascinating quiz.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: A friend and I were saying the other day, we love Horowitz's Il Joyeux of Debussy.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: He sounds like Horowitz.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't sound French, but I love it.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: I don't like any Il Joyeux better than I do his.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes, but I mean...
20:58
SPEAKER_01: It's unfair to try to classify Horowitz as anyhow.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: He was a nation of one or two.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Especially at his older age.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he got out of any school description.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: I heard him twice.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: He was just Horowitz.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: So hard, hard to classify.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know,
21:24
SPEAKER_01: everywhere is a Russian teacher in every conservatory,
21:28
SPEAKER_01: in every orchestra there are Russian musicians.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: Especially before a few years ago,
21:35
SPEAKER_01: the border was open and so many Russian conductors were around and you can exchange.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: And also in Russia,
21:44
SPEAKER_01: I think that the world kind of opened in a way that many foreign
21:50
SPEAKER_00: pianists came
21:51
SPEAKER_00: to Moscow to play.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: For 20 years,
21:54
SPEAKER_00: I guess,
21:55
SPEAKER_00: there was this,
21:56
SPEAKER_00: we heard so many performers from the former Soviet Union We heard Russians and Balts
22:04
SPEAKER_00: and Eastern Europeans, especially in opera, I remember.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And I thought I knew all the singers.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, who's this one?
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Ah, she couldn't come before, that's why.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: That kind of thing.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: We got to know so many.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is a great...
22:22
SPEAKER_01: I like the idea of exchanging cultures,
22:25
SPEAKER_01: of removing the borders between Russian and non-Russian,
22:30
SPEAKER_01: because ultimately such a blend,
22:33
SPEAKER_01: it brings out people like Horowitz,
22:36
SPEAKER_01: ultimately,
22:37
SPEAKER_01: I think, because he was a mix of everything in his life and without being born in...
22:44
SPEAKER_00: He and his wife spoke French at home for some reason, and she was Italian.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes, without all his travels and a mix of countries and mix of languages
22:54
SPEAKER_01: and people around him, he wouldn't be himself.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: So it's a huge pity to see that this exchange currently is so much cut and
23:09
SPEAKER_01: so much decreased because it's just...
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Doing a bit that helps to all of us.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Sasha, I wanted to mention when we were talking about transcriptions,
23:25
SPEAKER_00: thank you so much for playing and forgive my pronunciation of all Russian names,
23:29
SPEAKER_00: the Pletnyov-Tchaikovsky Nutcracker transcription.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Is it the grand pas de deux that you play?
23:37
SPEAKER_00: You're the only two pianists I've ever heard play it, Pletnyov and you.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a gorgeous transcription, really my favorite ever.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: And my music is nice itself as well.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: And I played it so many times.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: I just, also in America when I come, and it's a new city.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: And it's just what people connect immediately.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: It's overwhelming.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: And they all know the tune, even if they can't place it.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: They've heard it because they've been to the ballet at Christmas.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: It's just great music.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: And great music, it...
24:11
SPEAKER_01: It's much more important than the transcriber or anything else.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: It's an idea, I swear.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Sarge, I want to ask you a question about competitions.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: You were such an early winner.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: I know some people who are pro-competition and some people who are anti-competition
24:33
SPEAKER_00: and some people who are in between.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, it depends.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: It depends on the person, so on and so forth.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Earl Wilde,
24:42
SPEAKER_00: speaking of great transcribers,
24:44
SPEAKER_00: thought that he stopped judging competitions because he said that competitions were,
24:49
SPEAKER_00: quote, anti-artistic.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: I always liked competitions,
24:54
SPEAKER_00: knowing who won the Tchaikovsky competition, who won the Van Klyburn competition.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: What is your view?
25:01
SPEAKER_00: I feel you can talk freely about this because you won practically every competition you entered.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: No?
25:08
SPEAKER_01: No.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: I won...
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Lots of youth competitions.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: They count.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: Which brought my career to life and gave me the opportunity to play on stage,
25:24
SPEAKER_01: which is actually the most important for finding yourself.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: And music is having an access to stage
25:31
SPEAKER_01: because it doesn't really matter what you learned in the classroom.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: It all...
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Here's another expression for you.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: Can you do it when the bell rings?
25:42
SPEAKER_01: It comes from boxing.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: When the bell rings and the round begins.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: Talking about adult competitions,
25:50
SPEAKER_01: I participated a couple of times and I lost everything I participated.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: One competition I didn't pass the video round, quite big competition, some years ago.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: And when I moved, it was all before I moved to Germany.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: And now I don't have time to participate in competitions basically.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: And I can say that I don't like them,
26:22
SPEAKER_01: but also it's because at some point of my last competitions, I was losing them.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: So you don't like to lose.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: It's not fun.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: But also I do follow some modern competitions.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: And there are people who are able,
26:42
SPEAKER_01: who are great enough pianists, but not only musicians, but also competition winners.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: It's a certain,
26:53
SPEAKER_01: not job,
26:54
SPEAKER_01: but certain talent to win a competition,
26:56
SPEAKER_01: which is a separate talent from being a great musician, being a great pianist.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it comes together, sometimes it doesn't, but it is a certain talent, very...
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Respected from my side.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I have it.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I had it when I was a child, but you can eat.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like, have you ever heard this expression?
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead, take a drink, Sasha.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: I've had you talking for so long.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Drink as much as you want.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: People say that some students are good test takers.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: And even some very bright students are not good test takers.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: You may have heard this.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that relates to the skill of Doing well in competitions.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because in a professional environment,
27:47
SPEAKER_01: there are actually so many gifts I've seen with my own eyes in a different kind
27:53
SPEAKER_01: of hands, which are not quite applicable to like adult concert life.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Because,
28:00
SPEAKER_01: for example,
28:02
SPEAKER_01: I need people who can sight read any possible modern sonata, which ever exists.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Which actually no one cares about outside of professional circle.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: That's true.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: As they say in the south of the United
28:16
SPEAKER_01: States, that's a true fact.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: It makes me fascinated when I see it.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: It makes me jealous in a way.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't make any influence on the audience in a whole
28:32
SPEAKER_01: who has no idea how difficult it is or easy or how to prove it, how to check it.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: And the applause is polite.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's a great addition to all kinds of other talents,
28:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, charisma and ability to connect with an audience.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: And the same as a talent to win a competition.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: It is certainly a great talent, but it doesn't necessarily mean that...
29:04
SPEAKER_01: It goes together with all kinds of package.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't necessarily mean that you can explain to the audience with words
29:15
SPEAKER_01: that you are here because you want a composition.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: You don't do it.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: You come on stage and you play a concert.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm saying it because I just feel that I can't really win a modeling competition.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: I check Van Klybern, I check Chopin.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: I would never ever participate in Chopin competition.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't like radio, but also I don't think I can do it.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: And whenever I see someone is winning it, it happens.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to watch it because it's something which makes me very curious.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been a judge, Sasha?
30:04
SPEAKER_01: No, thanks.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: Why?
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Maybe someday.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why do people do it.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, I do know why do many...
30:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are lots of practical reasons because as a professor it brings your status up.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: It can go into your bio.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: It gives you extra masterclasses, but personal reasons, I can't find any.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Unless you are a really good friend of mine.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: All our jury members and you are having a nice time.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: Because you will have a nice time listening to a competition more
30:51
SPEAKER_01: than sitting one row behind the jury and enjoying it as a concert.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: So, no.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: As such, I was thinking of your concert life.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: So, concertos with orchestras, recitals, chamber music.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Like your partnership with that wonderful young Spaniard, the violinist.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you enjoy the balance of those things?
31:21
SPEAKER_00: My bias is,
31:22
SPEAKER_00: and I'm speaking as an American,
31:25
SPEAKER_00: there are lots of orchestral concerts with concertos, lots.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: It seems to me that recitals have gone down in my country.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: There are fewer than when I was young.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: I understand there's not the problem in Europe.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: What do you have to say about this?
31:40
SPEAKER_01: Personally, for me,
31:41
SPEAKER_01: recitals is definitely the most interesting part of my job because it's
31:49
SPEAKER_01: my space.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: It's my two hours.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: I can do basically anything with it.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: More than one piece.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: More than one composer.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: And I'm responsible for connection with an audience.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: When you play concerto, the accountability for the performance is so much blurred.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: There are 50 other people on stage and I can have a good time.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: I can enjoy the concert,
32:17
SPEAKER_01: but I would never be fully entirely satisfied because it's just impossible.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: There are 50 people who have families,
32:28
SPEAKER_01: life issues, and I
32:32
SPEAKER_01: mean, we can come together, but there is always a but.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Do you have enough rehearsal time when you play a concerto?
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: I love it, but
32:45
SPEAKER_01: it's more fun than
32:50
SPEAKER_01: interesting.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Even when we talk about the most dramatic performances ever and concertos,
33:02
SPEAKER_01: it's just impossible.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: 50, 60, 100 people on stage.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: 100% chemistry is non-existent.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Do you enjoy the encore after the concerto?
33:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do enjoy.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: I never planned them.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: So I just play the whole piece, go on stage and think about, okay, what can I play?
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Whatever matches the mood?
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: Talking about chamber music, it is fun because
33:30
SPEAKER_01: two people, three people match can exist.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: It happens occasionally.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: The magic moment may happen or may not, but I like keep trying.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: So I started recently because in Russia it didn't really exist.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: It's not well selling I guess and the education is telling me that it's a second rate activity.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: So I was surprised coming to Germany and seeing that it's opposite here.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Everyone plays chamber music and the tradition is so deeply rooted and
34:13
SPEAKER_01: so well respected that obviously I wanted to participate in it.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: And
34:22
SPEAKER_01: the first problem would be lack of repertoire because I didn't play anything.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: So I started learning three years ago.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: It's better now,
34:31
SPEAKER_01: I do enjoy, I plan all kind of projects every year, very various, very diverse.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: But I'm still on my way,
34:43
SPEAKER_01: but I enjoy tremendously and I had a great time with many of my colleagues.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Duo is the most interesting, I guess, because as I said, it is easier to match two people.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: More people, harder it is, but it still happens.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: And when it happens, it's an incredible joy, you know, of being united.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: The magic can appear, and it appears sometimes.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: It's treasurerous to share it, this moment, with someone.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: You have a recording called Forgotten Melodies.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: That's the name of a set of pieces by Metner, is it not?
35:32
SPEAKER_01: It
35:35
SPEAKER_00: is, yes.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say,
35:36
SPEAKER_00: tell our audience,
35:37
SPEAKER_00: one of the things you have in common
35:38
SPEAKER_00: with Vladimir Horowitz is he always wanted more people,
35:42
SPEAKER_00: especially in the West, to know Metner.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he tried to play it, not play it.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: Successfully, it didn't quite change the mindset and found the appreciation it deserved.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's unfortunate.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: But he tried his best and there are many other people trying because it's
36:11
SPEAKER_01: an incredibly interesting composer to spend time with.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: And this cycle, I learned it years ago, but I just couldn't program it.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Anywhere.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: Because I really wanted to play it as a cycle, but it's basically half of a concert.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not arranging my concerts by myself or as a presenter who is telling me,
36:32
SPEAKER_01: oh no, no, no, we don't want it.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: After recordings released, we are discussing possibilities and it's much easier now.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: But I have a huge list of works which I love and I am going to play and I played,
36:50
SPEAKER_01: which are not known by 99% of the audience, but incredibly loved by me.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Tell us some other composers you would like to bring to light, besides Mentner.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, I recently played,
37:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm playing some pieces by Artur Luria,
37:09
SPEAKER_01: for example,
37:09
SPEAKER_01: tomorrow,
37:10
SPEAKER_01: it's a Russian,
37:14
SPEAKER_01: fascinating composer,
37:15
SPEAKER_01: incredible person, you know, kind of Renaissance man, early 20th century.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: I played recently Weinberg,
37:23
SPEAKER_01: Fianna Sonata,
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Michislav Weinberg, incredible music, what a composer and what a life.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: And Kowalewski,
37:32
SPEAKER_01: who is considered also,
37:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean professionals know him,
37:37
SPEAKER_01: he's supposedly second-rate because of the time he spent on educating children.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he wrote lots of pieces for children.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful pieces.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: People see it and don't dig deeper and music is so joyful.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: I think he was also the head of the composers union, but I try not to hold that against him.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes, but he did a lot for...
38:00
SPEAKER_01: So-called Soviet Piano School, actually.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I mean, without children's education, the adults wouldn't exist.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: So it's an important part and everyone is grateful to him.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: I just played Rautavara's sonata and I have some plans with his concert.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: I really adore him as a composer.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Rautavara?
38:25
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: The film?
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I know him.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful symphonies, so full of light, of texture, of smells.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Smells?
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: He's a sensual composer.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: Yes, not so many melodies, but the layers are always there.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Do you have any time, any liking for jazz?
38:55
SPEAKER_01: I am not going to...
38:58
SPEAKER_01: To talk about it here as I am a specialist.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: I do enjoy it.
39:04
SPEAKER_01: I went to Blue Note when I was in New York just because it's one of
39:11
SPEAKER_01: the funniest experiences in New York.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: I listen, you know, Spotify makes playlists with jazz musicians.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: In the day, when I watch Oscar
39:27
SPEAKER_01: Peterson, for example,
39:30
SPEAKER_01: Or Brad Maldau.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: It is a different mindset and it's completely different hands, completely different technique.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: I do feel jealous in a way, but I just can't do it.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Horowitz loved Art Tatum.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's amazing, that's amazing.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: But it is beautiful,
39:54
SPEAKER_01: it is impressive,
39:55
SPEAKER_01: and I can't repeat it anyhow,
39:58
SPEAKER_01: although I supposedly know how to play piano, but I cannot even try to recreate it.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: I doubt that.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: But you would hear the difference.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: You had a Soviet composer, Kapustin.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to pronounce his name.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Yes, but Kapustin was crazy about
40:15
SPEAKER_01: his jazzy music supposedly to be performed
40:18
SPEAKER_01: as Beethoven, you know, precise.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: And if you look at his score, the way he writes down it, it's so exact.
40:27
SPEAKER_01: It's actually so hard to cite read because it's basically incredible freedom,
40:33
SPEAKER_01: but written incredibly precise.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: An improvisation
40:36
SPEAKER_00: written down.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I see there's a different job, very impressive.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: If you put any kind of score in front of a jazz pianist, they'll be completely lost.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's one thing that a classical pianist can do.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: They can read scores, which is an important part of my life.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: I have appreciation.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: I enjoy it.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm not deeply investing my time in it, but I love it.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: Any pop music sound good to you?
41:17
SPEAKER_01: I love sounds.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: I love fun sounds, new sounds.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: I love following what's
41:26
SPEAKER_00: happening in life.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: I often quote Duke Ellington, if it sounds good, it is good.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I follow quite closely like Russian music,
41:41
SPEAKER_01: pop music, because it's language which I breathe in.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's important, probably with American music or any other, I don't breathe in English.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: And in terms of harmonies, you can't compete with classical music.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: No.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: But I do listen to stuff, I don't know, all my new things.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: I love Daft Punk.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: I listen to it, but there is nothing to discuss about because I'm not an expert at all.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: Me neither.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: I tell you something funny, Sasha.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: Often people say about me, Jay writes about opera.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: And by opera, they really mean classical music.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: And opera is just a part of it, maybe 10%, 20%.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: But they say, ah, opera.
42:41
SPEAKER_00: They associate classical music with opera.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: The truth is, I came to opera, so to speak, rather late versus instrumental music.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: At this stage of your life, do you have any interest in opera?
42:59
SPEAKER_01: I have an interest, but...
43:03
SPEAKER_01: I also have a problem with it.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a fan of human voices in general.
43:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a fan of talking like the street sound of people, of a crowd.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: And that's basically the reason why am I constantly in headphones,
43:22
SPEAKER_01: listening to all kinds of music in order not to hear human voices.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: That's why it feels weird to me to listen to human voice in my headphones,
43:36
SPEAKER_01: even though I know it's beautifully written.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: Even though I know it's genius,
43:42
SPEAKER_01: but I love exactly all the symphonies of Mahler without voice
43:49
SPEAKER_01: and don't love exactly all of them with voice.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Although I know the second is gorgeous, but I can't do anything with myself.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: I love it until the moment it appears or Beethoven 9.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: I know it's a great piece of art.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: Can't do anything with myself.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Why are they singing all of a sudden?
44:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, here at the end, Sasha,
44:16
SPEAKER_00: and so great to meet you,
44:18
SPEAKER_00: I have interviewed a great many musicians,
44:21
SPEAKER_00: and I never ask, who are your favorite composers?
44:25
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people want to tell me, and sometimes they have one.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: I remember saying once to Franz Welsermus, well, of course you don't have favorite composers.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: He said, yes, I do.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: I said, really?
44:37
SPEAKER_00: He said, yes, Schubert.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Has been since I was four or five years old.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: But my usual question is, what composers are you feeling close to?
44:48
SPEAKER_00: Or what composers are speaking to you at the moment?
44:53
SPEAKER_00: I figure that's a fair question because you don't have to commit
44:56
SPEAKER_00: to some personal pantheon unless you want to.
45:00
SPEAKER_00: We've already said Rachmaninoff.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: It's a...
45:10
SPEAKER_01: Two different questions because, yes,
45:12
SPEAKER_01: Russian music is considerably the closest to me because I grew up with it
45:18
SPEAKER_01: because my parents are not musicians,
45:20
SPEAKER_01: so they were playing what's new and what I knew is Nutcracker and Rachmaninoff
45:24
SPEAKER_01: and Jekyll's concert.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: You said before, the air you breathed.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: In a way, I see Rachmanineff as limiting, because for simple reasons, he didn't write much.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: What he wrote is quite repetitive without criticizing,
45:46
SPEAKER_01: but if you listen to it all in a row, he repeats himself.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sounds like Rachmanineff.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: Although I'm learning right now,
45:53
SPEAKER_01: Rachmanineff IV,
45:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm playing it in a week, and this is fun because the techniques are so different.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: But this is basically the last concerto which I haven't played by him.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: What I am spending lots of time listening to now, Schubert is a great choice.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: I do love his,
46:17
SPEAKER_01: out of like great sonata,
46:20
SPEAKER_01: large sonata cycles,
46:21
SPEAKER_01: I would say Schubert is the one I would like to play entirely in life.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure I'm not going to play all Beethoven 32 in life.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: I just can't see how it may happen, but Schubert, it may.
46:42
SPEAKER_01: I
46:49
SPEAKER_01: listen to so many different things every day.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: After Russian music, I feel like Prokofiev is under...
47:01
SPEAKER_01: It sounds fun, but his symphonies are not around.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: Why?
47:09
SPEAKER_01: Where can you hear like a third or second?
47:13
SPEAKER_00: It used to be just five and seven in America.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: It's just so much around and I find it so problematic that we are going
47:23
SPEAKER_01: to have another Beethoven year coming.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't Beethoven year just like two years ago.
47:30
SPEAKER_01: Does he need another year?
47:31
SPEAKER_01: He is fine.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's right.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Because, uh-huh.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: 27.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Of course, we are celebrating different things.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, birth, death.
47:42
SPEAKER_01: But when is the year of Kapustin?
47:47
SPEAKER_00: No.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: True.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: No.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: Do you play the... Did Prokofiev himself write Romeo and Juliet piano transcriptions?
47:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: And Cinderella maybe?
48:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not yet, but I'm going to play his ninth sonata next season, which is also non-existent.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: And gorgeous, lots of, you know, very proud piece.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Nine?
48:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it exists.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: Life after eighth.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: So the so-called war sonatas are six, seven, eight?
48:24
SPEAKER_01: No, it's beautiful.
48:25
SPEAKER_01: It's so...
48:27
SPEAKER_01: Pure, you know, it's almost like a psalm.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: It's so sacred, but playful, but yeah.
48:35
SPEAKER_01: It's like a late kind of Prokofiev, close to his cello sonata.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: He was so multifaceted, Prokofiev.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: And good pianist, right?
48:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: Capable.
48:51
SPEAKER_00: Shostakovich is a capable pianist.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: Yes, everyone is capable.
48:57
SPEAKER_01: But Rachmaninoff is the only one.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: No, Metner was also, well, not capable.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: He was a great pianist, I think.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: How about Scriabin?
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Scriabin is nice,
49:07
SPEAKER_01: but again,
49:09
SPEAKER_01: it's two separate talents,
49:11
SPEAKER_01: two separate gifts to perform,
49:13
SPEAKER_01: to be able to influence people's minds from stage and to be able to write it down in
49:19
SPEAKER_01: the score.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: Certainly geniuses, but quite different.
49:26
SPEAKER_01: And quite often the composers are just, I mean,
49:31
SPEAKER_01: it's not about how it should be played,
49:34
SPEAKER_01: but it's also about how to connect with the audience.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: It's something under research,
49:43
SPEAKER_01: because it's quite impossible to research it,
49:45
SPEAKER_01: but you know that there are people going on stage and just...
49:52
SPEAKER_01: The wind is going as a hurricane in a hole of energy before a signal node.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: And that's a certain talent which is not necessarily connected to the component.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, Sasha Alexander-Malafaev,
50:13
SPEAKER_00: I am so glad about this rebirth of yours at 22, about this second life.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: It's just wonderful.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: And I know you're a very serious artist, but Sasha, I hope you have a really good time.
50:27
SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoy yourself.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: I hope you have a ball.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy your talent.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy your concerts.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy your fame.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the praise.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: You deserve it.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: You deserve it, sir.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure to meet you.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: So long, everyone.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Till next time.