Johannes Brahms – Music of Embrace
‘For me, Brahms is music about love and embrace. His two piano concertos, which I will perform at the Musikverein one evening with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra without a conductor, are not really concertos for me, but rather symphonies with piano: great chamber music, a collaboration in which everyone listens and responds. I love his trios, quartets and quintets, this intense dialogue between voices that functions almost telepathically. When I play Brahms, I am not concerned with external effect or spectacle, but with discovering the composer’s inner emotional world and bringing it to life through sound.’
Making music in Vienna – part of a living history
‘When you make music in Vienna, you immediately feel that you are part of a living culture. You are literally carried by this tradition – as if you were a link in a great, ongoing history. It’s incredibly inspiring because you realise that music really matters here, that society needs it. You don’t feel alone on stage, but part of a shared cultural moment.’
The Musikverein – wrestling with the space
‘If you don’t enjoy playing at the Musikverein, it’s down to you, not the hall. The slight discomfort you sometimes feel due to the hall’s unforgiving acoustics is what makes the experience so special. It forces you to listen even more attentively, to play even more intensely. You struggle a little with the space – and it is precisely in this moment of searching that something truly beautiful emerges.’
