That was the opening of Schumann's Arbeck Variations
and it was performed by Anna Genuchenya. I'm
Erica Wirth and welcome to this Pianist Podcast.
Today I am speaking to Anna about her new album,
Opus One and lots more. Anna, it's so lovely
to have you on the Pianist Podcast today. Thank
you so much, Erica. Thank you. You're very welcome.
And I think what we're going to do is kick off
by talking about your... new album, which is
called Opus One, which I think is a wonderful
title. And in your illuminating booklet notes,
you say that all the composers on the album share
a common thread, the experience of the beginning.
So if you can expand on this. Absolutely. Absolutely.
With great pleasure. First of all, I'm kind of
an Opus One myself because I was born on a...
1st of January, 1991. So I'm actually opening
and launching the year with my birthday. So actually,
that's how this crazy idea appeared on my mind.
But of course, the idea felt quite essential
to me because each of these works that are listed
in this album is a first word from different
composers coming from different parts of the
world. filled with both uncertainty and courage,
right? And I just wanted to capture that sense
of discovery, vulnerability, role, youthful energy,
and all this. So that was it. I think you're
right. I mean, they were all obviously pretty
young. Absolutely. yeah when they did their opus
once and obviously you know the schumann's are
bag variations and the berg sonata are very well
known but the others on the album are lesser
known especially they're not performed so much
so maybe you could tell us a bit about the other
works absolutely uh of course you know they're
lesser known pieces that were written by, for
example, Clementi, or even Ronda Opus One written
by Frederic Chopin is also on a lesser known
site, which is quite fascinating because I think,
you know, living in our era, it's extremely hard
to find something which which can remain undiscovered.
And when I stumbled across this fascinating piece
written by 15 years old Chopin, I realized, okay,
so this is one of my favorite works and I would
love to record it. But of course, they're rarely
programmed, but that's what drew me to them.
And they show the composers in their raw searching
states rather than before they were defined by
style, I would say so. And of course, you know,
when it comes to Baird, this absolutely majestic
sonata. it contains so much vulnerability because
you know he was you know in in quite unconscious
state of mind i mean he was uh suffering from
finding enough level of self -confidence while
he was writing this piece and uh this particular
music reflects on this on this subject so we
can actually feel uh this uncertainty coming
from each musical line it really It's fascinating.
But what's interesting about Alban Beg, for example,
is this opus one has become so revered. He obviously
wrote other piano pieces, Klavierstück, and they're
way less known. It's amazing that an opus one
has stood out like that, isn't it? You know,
my impression is that maybe those early Klavierstücken,
they are more experimental, I would say so. But
this sonata, despite of the fact that it's just
Opus 1, already holds so much of Berg's mature
world, which we will experience afterwards in
his more popular works like Wozzeck or whatever.
It is amazing to see how he could predict his
own musical language, starting literally from
scratch, starting from the very beginning. That's
quite interesting, because then you look at somebody,
you look at a composer like Scriabin, who started
off very, very classically romantic -y, totally
different, didn't he? Absolutely, absolutely.
And actually, Scriabin was also in my list, but
unfortunately, due to the time limitation, we're
still limited in 80 minutes. for each CD. And
unfortunately, I could not record Scriabin's
wonderful pieces, but probably next time. Which
is the opus one Scriabin? If I'm not missing,
they're like preludes or some like album leaves
or something like that. I might be wrong, though.
We love Scriabin. Scriabin is amazing. Oh, yes.
Oh, yes. And the Brahms sonata opus one, sonata
number one, opus one. that's not played much
today is it? Absolutely and it's very true to
say that it's not his most performed piece but
I find it incredibly honest and useful and of
course you know you can hear him wrestling with
Beethoven and trying to find his own language.
And of course, probably, you know, that he's
been struck by this idea. He was obsessed with
an idea of what should I... write in order to
conquer Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and
then he wrote this Sonata opus one number one
in C major which does not last 40 minutes definitely
but it's so bombastic it's so pompous and so
so grander right and It really fascinates me
every time when I, you know, I actually, of course,
it's not possible to compare these particular
pieces, but at least you can trace the evidence
of youthful abundancy of creativity and energy
that he was trying to put into this music. Fascinating.
Yeah, because I think a lot of... pianists feel
that it is slightly too bombastic. You just need
to find the middle between being super emotional
and super energetic and still finding this fragility.
especially when it comes to the third movement,
because it's one of his most tender and almost
whispering melodies that he would pick for his
music. Wonderful. And then I think the only one
we haven't touched on is Tchaikovsky, his two
pieces, Opus One. I must say the impromptu is
just gorgeous. Oh, absolutely. Actually, impromptu
was the starting point of this, album because
I think I discovered this piece almost seven
or eight years ago and I was driven by its creativity
and also its fragility and tenderness I think
I mean I might be wrong though that it actually
reminded me about some of the tunes that have
been used by Red Deerhead in their albums. I'm
obsessed, I'm a biggest fan of Red Deerhead group
so I was like oh my god this is absolutely incredible
and of course having a musical background it
always strikes you how these melodies could be
picked and used in different circumstances, in
different fields of music. So after that, I realized,
okay, so I should try to think about this idea
of Opus 1 more precisely, more carefully. So
that's how it all started. Yeah, but regarding
the Tchaikovsky pieces, it's a kind of a revelation
because of course you know that music has become
the second degree for Tchaikovsky and he started
composing music at the age of 23 -24 and but
before that he graduated as a lawyer so he got
a degree as a lawyer from the university. But
then he decided that probably he's just doing
something wrong or maybe this particular field
is not something that he would really would like
to dedicate his life to. That's how it all turned
out. And these particular two pieces were written
at the age of 24. I think these pieces are the
oldest, the most matured ones, I would say. Yes,
exactly. Wow, that's so interesting. Absolutely
interesting. And what I like about you, I mean...
I really like the idea behind, the concept behind
this album. And the one that you've done previously,
the solo album, is one that's called Berceuse,
Lullaby. Inventive programming as well. How did
that idea come about? Well, of course, that was
a very personal project and music connected to
tenderness, comfort, motherhood. And by the time
that I realized that I have this opportunity
to record something, I became a mother of second
child, like Cleburne guy, we would call him like
that. Because, you know, he was actively participating
in the Clyburn competition in 2022. So this particular
album. just grew very naturally out of my life
at that moment and so we picked these 18 composers
again coming from different parts of the world
just to see and to make kind of an assessment
what do we have, what kind of works have been
dedicated to this theme, to this particular theme.
And I was absolutely amazed by the amount of
the music that I've never heard in my life. And
that's how it went. I know. I mean, the Bursers,
I mean, you could have volume after volume of
Bursers, couldn't you? Absolutely. But unfortunately,
I was hold to make recordings only of lesser
known pieces so that's why unfortunately I had
to to omit for example very popular verses written
by Frederic Chopin even though I would love to
play this music but it was actually the the regulations
the conditions that we agreed on before the recording
session oh my goodness that's so lovely though
that you were of course you were pregnant at
the van cliburn how how many months did you know
you were i think it was uh uh by the uh the end
of this uh of this competition i was already
seven months pregnant yeah My goodness, my goodness.
I mean, talking of the competition, I know that
these international competitions aren't for everyone
and you never know who's going to win. It's potluck.
Well, it's not potluck, but sometimes you just
don't know who the judges are going to choose.
But by you having been awarded silver at the
Van Cliburn, it seems to have really, the recognition
and everything behind that seems to have catapulted
your career even more. Would you say that? Absolutely.
It would be probably fair to say that it was
kind of a turning point for me, both professionally
and personally, because it not only opens so
many doors and opportunities, but it also gave
me the... enough level of confidence in my artistic
voice. Because I think, you know, of course,
I've been to so many different competitions before
this one. And even though I had quite a success
during the previous editions, that would be probably
the milestone of my career as a competitor you
won't be doing it again no definitely not i'm
too old i'm too old for this i know and you were
you were 31 weren't you at the time because of
covid um exactly yes they they made a special
exception so uh i was i was lucky enough to be
admitted for the um from for the preliminary
and then um the main face of the competition
because of the COVID. It's really, it's incredible
thing to say that COVID actually helped me. Yes,
yes. Oh my goodness. Suddenly enough, yeah. I
was there in Texas. It was fantastic. And what
a year it was. And what I thought was so special
was that the three of you who got the top prizes
seemed to really be so happy with one another.
It felt like such a joyous. finals you know absolutely
and i would i would probably say that we Starting
from the beginning of this competition, we never
felt like we are rivals or we're competing against
each other or we just need to, I don't know,
like conquer the final rounds and kick off our
highly proclaimed established career and solo
performer. No, nothing related to that. And I
think we were... all staying there as family
members and we treated each other as family members
or friends and during these hard times when we
had to face the results announcement we were
sharing these emotions and of course it was so
hard to see that some of your great friends um
they're they're unfortunately you know they have
to leave this battle battlefield but then in
the in in the end during the final round i think
we all were rooting for for each other and actually
during the competition um I watched so many live
streaming videos because I was really curious
about some people, some dear friends of mine
who were also taking part in that competition.
And of course, we're not here to judge. And I
was super, super grateful for that opportunity
to be ranked. amongst the you know the top top
three uh finalists but of course it's it's it
you know it's it's been really intense moment
that we all got through and um it taught us you
know both of us you know resilience and probably
perspective but also that the Real artistry begins
after the competition ends. Absolutely. And most
probably having won silver rather than gold,
you maybe were a little bit more able to prepare
for that. Absolutely, absolutely. And of course,
Yunshan Lim, I have such... such grimly memories
from from his performances live and actually
that was the only one chance that I could hear
him live because after that you know we were
we were all busy with our you know own solo careers
yes yes of course and but you know the the only
one thing is still is still quite quite funny
that's During the, if I'm not mistaken, there
was like a results announcement between the second
round and the semi -final. And I was there on
the stage waiting until the results are being
introduced to us. And then there was Jacques
Marquis who was just getting through the list
of successful candidates. And then when he announced
my name, I was trying to calculate in my head
in which day should I play. And it suddenly turned
out that I should play the next day, the following
morning, 10 a .m. session. But the results were
announced around 1 a .m. in the night. So I had
less than eight hours to actually get ready and
play the semifinal round. So it was one of the
scariest moments. And I still remember that after
finishing this round, there were so many people
who were actually rooting for us backstage. And
they all, you know, came to support me saying
that, Anna. You are not smiling. That's not a
great sign. You should smile no matter how exhausted
you are. Yes. That's, that's the lesson that
I have to learn. Wow. Well, you see, and you
obviously have so much adrenaline that you were
able to do your next round. Absolutely fine.
You know? Yes, yes, yes. Oh, what a wonderful
story. Absolutely wonderful. Now your husband,
Lukasz? Yes. is also a pianist and a very well
-known pianist. How did you meet? We met during
our school years. It was all happening in a college,
a musical college named after Frederic Chopin
in Moscow. I think he was two years older and
we actually started our our romance with music,
definitely. So music united us. Because, you
know, I was looking for a pianist who could accompany
me the orchestral part of Liszt's Second Piano
Concerto. And that was Lucas who decided to help
me out. And that's how it turned out. That is
terribly romantic. Oh, how wonderful. And I mean,
you must... You know, he went on to win or, you
know, got placed high in the Moscow in 2015.
And you were a finalist in Leeds in 2018. It's
amazing how, you know, you went on this journey
together. And recently you made a two piano album.
Oh, yeah. Hallelujah Junction. Hallelujah Junction.
Yes, this is that was our beloved third child.
But that album was a joy to make. And it's all
about pure rhythm, like adrenaline and energy.
And of course, you know, sometimes playing together
feels like a very intensive conversation, full
of freedom, but also trust. Because, you know,
without trust, you can do nothing. I do admire
that the two of you, you're married, you play
together. I mean, it's like you're joined at
the hip. I mean, are you both, do you both think
along the same lines musically or do you go,
or do you have arguments? Well, of course we,
we do argue sometimes, of course. But it's, you
know, like a creative kind of argument. It pushes
us both to, you know, to listen more deeply.
And what is really important that we know each
other's strengths. uh and it's more about you
know complimenting than competing and of course
when it comes to like a proper preparation for
recording session or for dual project like for
performance we always discuss okay so what from
different perspective from different angles we
just need to make an assessment whether this
particular work would fit us both greatly or
it would be like a bloody hell battle even during
the performance. But of course, throughout these
hard times, I think we always reach the final
spot, which will definitely be greatly appreciated
by us as a duo. At least, you know, this is our
main goal, main aim. I don't know whether it's
successful or not every time, but, you know,
we're trying to do our best. It's lovely. It's
lovely. And there's no competitiveness between
the two of you? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Because, you know, sometimes... I learned so
much from Lucas because he is much more into,
for example, contemporary music. He knows so
much about this. And I mean, of course, I had
also my own experience, but I think I just I'm
lacking confidence exactly when it comes to preparing
something like which. was written like not so
long time ago. I think, you know, my stronger
side are still, you know, like emotion or, you
know, building up this scenario or at least,
you know, the texture or combining, you know,
some musical ideas into one creature and one
space and, you know, putting it together so we're
just you know i think we we all work together
we we work from from different perspectives and
it makes our collaboration even more fruitful
and interesting because we always are you know
getting deeper throughout our own similar efforts
That's amazing. I mean, there must be music constantly
in the house, in the home. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
I think our neighbors are cursing us. How many
pianos do you have? One or two? Two and plus
electric keyboards, you know, just for overnight
practicing. And you live in Berlin. You live
in Berlin. Yes, we recently moved to Berlin.
And yeah, we're still newcomers. I don't know
whether it would be our final stop or not. But
at least for now, Berlin is being called our
home. Where were you before? Where were you living
before? We've been living in Vilnius. And before
that, actually London, because I was studying
at Royal Academy of Music. Yes, I know. For entire
three and a half years. Yeah, and you were studying
with Christopher Elton. Yes, yes. Dear Christopher
Elton. He is still one of my probably best friends.
And, you know, he is so dedicated to music. And
I learned so much from his own experience. being
not only a professional pianist but also a professional
cellist so he got two degrees simultaneously
and I think it is one of the most influential
things that I discovered throughout our relations
because he was always adjudicating my my playing
not from the perspective of solo pianist but
also you know thinking more deeply into details
getting more into the details thinking about
the orchestration rather than you know dealing
with all these pianistic problems and it really
gave me an extra boost for my own self -reflection
afterwards. So I'm still learning from what I
inherited throughout this wonderful three years
that I spent with him. And do you still play
for him? Unfortunately, due to visa restrictions,
I'm not a regular visitor to the UK because,
you know, nowadays it becomes such, such... Such
an ordeal to get a visa. So I wish I could travel
more actively, but yeah, I'm not allowed. Oh
my goodness. That's shocking. Oh, dear. Oh, well,
let's get away from that. Let's get away from
that. I think now, actually, I'd like to ask
you some rather lighthearted questions. And if
you could just answer them off the cuff, you
know how you feel, you might it might not be
so simple. Sure. One more one answer might not
be just one answer. But anyway, here we go. If
you could play only one composer from now on,
who would it be? Probably prefer Maurice Ravel.
No. Absolutely. Because I find so many incredible
things embroidered in his musical lines. that
probably I would love to spend the rest of my
days living with this music and using this fuel
until I peacefully die. My goodness. That's quite
phenomenally, that's such an unusual answer.
Wonderful. Gosh, okay. I'll try and absorb that.
Why not? Next one. One pianist, dead or alive,
you would travel long and far to hear? Radu Lupu,
definitely. And Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
Both very different. Yes. These two giants were
my role models since my childhood. And unfortunately,
I did not have this opportunity to hear them
live. But if we can stage it, I would love to
be present in the audience, at least to experience
it live. Because if I can rely on some of my
friends' expertise who were able, who were so
lucky to hear them live, these moments were divine.
They were absolutely impossible even to express
it in words. That was the level of geniality
that they could produce during their live performances.
I heard Lupu. I mean, he was remarkable. But
yeah, yeah. Good choices there. Good choices.
Thank you. One person, dead or alive, you'd love
to play for? I think probably it would be...
Oh, actually, I would love to play to the Queen
Elizabeth II, definitely. Because, you know,
I admired her remarkable artistry and the genuinity
of her personality. Because what I... you know,
what I read about her, I just realized that she
was very sincere and honest with each of the
human beings that she was interacting with. And
what I really liked about her is that, to my
taste, she was always giving her... her honest
feedback then you know if i had this opportunity
i would definitely play something to her and
see what would be uh the reaction oh my goodness
yes and i would i would definitely love to experience
that but yeah maybe we just need to wait until
it comes on to the next do you have any technical
struggles on the piano Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
I think, you know, you can dedicate all your
entire life getting through all these, you know,
horrible passages and struggling with finding
the right fingerings or, you know, resolving
all these puzzles and troubleshooting the problems.
And you can... You can definitely spend the rest
of your days while dealing with all this. But
in this case, you would just, you know, lack
the pure love towards music making. So I'm just
trying to stay on a positive side because, you
know, you will never definitely reach the level
of excellency. which which would uh guarantee
you an absolutely nice and smooth journey so
you just need to accept your imperfection and
live with all this uh and just you know continue
enjoying what you are doing because you know
otherwise you know uh the music will be performed
by chat gpt yes Oh my goodness. Okay. So what
would be your advice to an amateur pianist about
how to improve? Also, I think what is really
important is dedication and determination. Don't
lose your... interest when you're facing some
challenges. This is very hard but once you kick
off you just need to keep going until you see
the visible results. It may take some time though
but never wait for immediate change because it's
not how things should be doing. I mean, every
time we put a seed into a soil, we just need
to keep patient and wait until, you know, it
starts blooming or it gets fruitful progress.
And the same applies to the music. You just need
to wait on compassion until you definitely, you
know, get to the point. Very wise words. Okay,
if you weren't a pianist, what would you be?
Oh, that's a very good question. I don't know,
because actually at the age of 14... I decided,
I made a final decision that I would love to
start my professional career as a pianist. But
before that, my mother really wanted me to become
a translator and just to get a degree in international
law. So, you know, I actually was not so far
away from Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky's first degree.
That's how things were supposed to be. But I
think with my temperament, it would not have
been possible because I cannot really make something
constantly without any delays, without any interruptions.
I'm more energetic and more... um more creative
but I would probably you know now if we're talking
about you know current times if I need to stop
playing I would probably become a stage director
because I'm very very into this these things
I like this do you go to a lot of opera uh quite
quite a lot quite a lot of course you know I
cannot really say that I'm an expert but I would
I would love to you know to get more into detail
so such things and finally the last question
one composer you're not quite ready to tackle
oh well um probably Bach still Johann Sebastian
Bach because it was actually uh definitely starting
point for me uh but I think you just need to
you know to get more matured in order to deliver
his music at its best and also because of the
reason that I mean his works were published quite
a long time ago so we have like a huge huge age
gap between the music that was written and you
know the current times so I would say you know
probably for me it is still really hard to adjust
myself, to convert myself into a completely different
creature in order to bring these musical ideas.
to the certain point which could be discoverable
or recognized by the larger audience. But that's
my personal opinion. Every time I have to play
Bach, I'm getting so nervous. I'm getting so
nervous because so many things were being put.
and into musical lines so many so many things
were and ideas were uh decoded so it's it's a
never -ending process of uh discovery and uh
um and actually learning learning experience
so you could you could definitely uh dedicate
all your life while uh trying to absorb his legacy
and it's still not enough you know like lifetime
is not enough to discover all those things well
you might wake up one day and think now's the
time yeah maybe maybe it happens who knows oh
anna listen it's been absolutely wonderful here
but i think we've come to the end absolutely
thank you so much erica thank you i know you're
so so great yeah you're busy you're off to spain
aren't you off to seville Yes, I'm hopefully
getting there without any further delays because
we're now experiencing some problems with Berlin
Airport, as always. I mean, it's our, you know,
traditional things, you know. Usual life, busy
life over an artist. Of course, of course. Well,
I wish you well on your travels and your performances.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining
me. thank you thank you it's been a pleasure
That was the last movement of Brahms's Piano
Sonata No. 1 and it was performed by Anna Genuchenya.
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