That was very... Danny, it's great to have you
on the podcast today. Hi, lovely to be here.
Thank you. You're very welcome. Why don't we
kick off by talking about your Variations series
at the Wigmore Hall? I believe it's five concerts
in total, isn't it? It's five recitals over two
seasons, so it's a real marathon. And it's bookended
by two really monumental pieces in the genre.
We started with the Goldberg Variations in November
last year, and we're going to finish with the
Diabelli Variations by Beethoven towards the
end of the... 27th 20 26 27 season um and uh
yeah in between those major bookends i'm taking
the audience along a bit of a journey and traversing
a whole range of smaller and bigger sets of variations
some very well known some undeservedly forgotten
in my view and also some contemporary things
that are very very new and even some anti -variations
if that makes sense i'll tell you a bit about
that oh yes well why don't you talk us through
the concerts like what the recitals i'm coming
to the next one i missed your goldberg variations
but on the 15th of february you're playing one
of my favorite sets of variations schumann's
symphonic etudes yes i adore those pieces um
and i've been playing them a very long time i
i learned them um when i was still at college
actually and um so they've accompanied me throughout
my my career and it felt completely appropriate
and essential in a way that i should include
them and i have also in that program brought
them together with a piece that was inspired
directly by them um by another composer i adore
gabrielle foray who uh despite being um a church
organist and trained in church music never wrote
anything for solo organ to my knowledge but he
really wrote fantastic solo piano music that
still somehow is not um as appreciated and as
loved as i think it might be and certainly not
played as much as it might be and his c sharp
minor variations are directly inspired and modeled
on schumann's etude symphonique same key same
number of variations kind of it depends what
version of the Schumann you play and what you
believe and don't believe but there are it's
it's a theme with 11 variations uh and there's
even a you know in variation 10 there's even
a direct quote of the of the theme of the Schumann
which of course isn't by Schumann so it's like
a you know it's a bit of a maze that's amazing
I mean wow ah I honestly didn't know that but
for example with the Schumann I find there are
counts of people who love them or those that
don't or those that don't get them. Maybe you
can... What do you think here? I think with Schumann's
Etude Symphonique, there's kind of a tussle between
two things. There's Schumann that kind of...
romantic spirit you know who adores the romantic
literature and is so loved for his free -flowing
ideas and romantic sweep but then also you have
variation form he's given a theme not by him
of course it was a theme that was given to him
by the father of his fiancee at the time ernestine
this was pre -clara days. And the theme is a
very beautiful theme, but it's quite square in
a way. It's the right number of bars for a classical
theme. And Schumann embarks on a set of variations
that essentially preserve that structure. So
what does a composer do then if he's kind of
beset by this great romantic freedom? um and
spirit and yet having to work within a constrained
form and that tussle i think what's fascinating
for me i think if one makes them too boxy so
to speak and too classical it becomes a little
bit variation after variation and i i'm guessing
that those who don't warm to them quite so much
might um be feeling that way because of that
um so i try very much to make those variations
into into a much larger structure like an arc
a musical arc that sort of in a way transcends
the the granular detail of each variation while
obviously preserving the the essential qualities
of each and there are so many interesting aspects
to that set of variations i mean the way he imposes
the the orchestra on the piano for instance the
the symphonic proportions i mean they really
are symphonic both in their in their grandeur
and length but also the kind of textures that
he writes you can just imagine orchestrating
some of them um straight away because there are
so many layers um going on within the piano um
and also there's there's a great um harking back
to the baroque interestingly um i think in these
pieces that there are there are some you know
there's one that sounds like a slow stately french
overture for example um and in the finale i can't
help thinking that he is alluding to or quoting
maybe he didn't know the piece maybe he did did
he hear it did he not i'm not sure but the christmas
oratorio the quartet that sort of precedes the
the final number is almost exactly what happens
in the finale. It's funny, there's this bit that
comes back again and again, and we know he was
a great admirer of Bach, but yet he kind of pays
this homage, if indeed it is a homage, in a very
personal, romantic way. So I don't know, there's
a lot in them. I think there's something about
that finale that puts people off, because it's
quite bombastic. It reminds me slightly of the
middle movement of the Schumann fantasy. Yeah,
it's got this potentially like a sort of march
-like formality, all this the choric rhythm that
goes through. I mean, I think that generates
a lot of excitement. I think to harp on that
as too much in the foreground is probably ill
-advised because then it just becomes potentially
repetitious and just too much of a good thing.
But it's actually, it's an undercurrent. It's
more... you know the the theme of the finale
is actually not the theme of the variations at
all it comes from a contemporary opera by marshner
um another reason why i love this uh this this
piece you know um it's uh it's uh from his opera
i think Ivanhoe and the text to this variation
to this theme is Du stolzes England freuer dich
proud England rejoice which kind of has interesting
varied resonances these days but it's a completely
different material and it's got some you know
light -hearted you know joyous aspect and so
I think it shouldn't be formal and pompous I
think it should be Like a party, basically. And
the theme on which the variations are built,
the Baron Fricken von Asch theme that opens the
work, appears in this Bachian guise throughout.
So actually, I don't know, it shouldn't sound
repetitive at all. It should sound fresh. And
it's a new thing. It's a new idea that incorporates
and rounds off everything that has been explored
so far. Very interesting. And then you say foray.
modelled his on Schumann's, which I honestly
didn't know. What does Foyer do? Well, Foyer's
theme is original. And it's interesting because
his theme is quite formal and straight. And he
even told his student, I think he told Marguerite
Long that she should play it like an etude, not
too much feeling, just do it. Just a theme. Don't
do too much with it. Interesting what he and
he again also maintains the structure very closely.
And I suppose when you think about the relationship
with Schumann, he also varies it with a great
eye and ear for counterpoint. So there is this
kind of Bachian church musical contrapuntal heritage.
You know, he was trained in the Niedermayer school.
And I think that's sort of you can you can feel
that. And in the orchestration, he really uses
the full range of the piano, all the registers.
He uses the top registers, he uses the deep bass.
And again, the demands are severe. The technical
demands are quite severe. But musically, again,
the challenge with this is to make it into something
that transcends the sort of solidity of variation
by variation. I often think with variations that
it's very clever. You kind of get a real insight
into a composer's creative mind and how they
are going to vary this material that is often
essentially quite simple. But it's not just about
what am I going to do next? These variations
have to sit in some kind of journey, in some
kind of narrative or in some kind of explorative
state. gets you around them in a in an aesthetically
very satisfying way so i think in that respect
they're both quite similar and of course but
stylistically they're very different yes of course
i mean i've always shied away from variations
i don't know what it is it's kind of like maybe
it's frightening to have a whole load of variations
as you said you've got to make them all come
together um and it's the same material of course
embellished and changed and whatever but you
know you've obviously got deep fascination with
them and as you said you can really understand
the composer more with variations? Yeah I think
it's one aspect and it's interesting because
I talk to a lot of people about variations and
some people love them and some composers say
I don't write variations, I don't like writing
them. I once wrote a few but I don't do that
anymore. The thing is, the starting point, I
suppose, was with works like the Goldberg and
the Diabelli variations and the Etude Symphonique.
And actually with the piece that forms the centrepiece
of the third programme, which is Mettner's Improvisation
No. 2, which is a phenomenal set of variations,
but it's kind of twisted into the fabric of an
improvisation and a kind of prolonged fairy tale
legend about the Song of the Water Nymph at the
same time. So it's kind of like a multi... genre
piece in a way and i suppose major masterpieces
such as those kind of really were crying out
for for some kind of trajectory that that kind
of takes them well and personally artistically
for me as well because they're works that i adore
and i um i'm really sort of still itching to
play i'm enjoying playing them and i i will do
i think for many years to come i mean your repertoire
is absolutely varied i mean as you say in all
these programs, you've got the well -known and
the more obscure, which is wonderful. So have
you always had a fascination? I mean, and I'm
looking at your discography as well. I mean,
all types of composers. So you're obviously not
just a Beethoven, Bach and Brahms kind of guy.
You like to discover the more off the beaten
track repertoire. I do. I do like some variety.
I mean, first of all, I must say, I don't have
any problem with playing Bach and Beethoven.
And later you're probably going to ask me what
composer would I play if I only had one choice.
And I, you know, well, I won't spoil it now.
But it won't be necessarily someone very obscure.
But at the same time, there are pieces of music
that have been forgotten about. We've got pianists,
we're very lucky. We've got such a huge repertoire,
such a rich repertoire. And it's inevitable,
I think, that, you know, I mean, I'm never going
to get through everything. No one is. And some
things do get left behind. So I am interested
in that. And I'm also interested very much in
the music that's being written now. So a lot
of my programs actually, have been juxtapositions
of kind of wonderful mainstream things that people
love or that people have heard about and will
come and hear, but also alongside those new things
that nobody knows and that are emerging now,
that have been written quite recently. I mean,
the fourth program is an example of that. So
that's really the variations. There are more
variations on an idea. So Pictures at an Exhibition
and Debussy's Image is all about pictures. And
Pictures at an Exhibition has a set of variations
running through it very quietly. You know, the
promenade gets varied very, very subtly, registrally
and orchestrally as we go on throughout and kind
of reacts to some of the... the paintings that
you see along the way. So as you walk through
that exhibition, metaphorically speaking, your
way of promenading is varied according to what
you've just experienced or what you might be
thinking will be around the corner or things
like that. But because we're dealing with images,
pictures, paintings, portraits, I've chosen some
of Amy Williams's piano portraits. Amy Williams,
who's an American composer, is fantastic. She's
a wonderful pianist herself, knows the instrument.
And a sort of 21st century answer to Mussorgsky
in a way from Thea Musgrave with her snapshots,
not paintings at an exhibition, but photographs.
And photographs, I think that can be, I'm still
studying them, but I think that can be arranged
in different orders. So there's a nice kind of
curatorial input from the performer. as well
as you know actually playing the music yes interesting
oh well i don't know amy williams so i'll have
to have you met her have i met her that's a good
question i've been in touch with i've spoken
have i met her yes i have yes i have sorry this
is embarrassing yes i have i met her in new york
sorry there you go it's on the record yes did
you sit down with the score together No, actually,
I was there. I went to hear a performance of
a piece of hers for soprano and string quartet
that the Jack Quartet were doing at a new music
festival in New York called Timespans. And I
think it was a setting of something called the
Ur -Sonata by Kurt Schwitters, who wrote a solo
sonata for a speaker entirely in nonsense syllables.
with carefully notated timings and vowels and
consonants. And it lasts quite a long time. Anyway,
this piece, I think, was a musical setting of
that. Crazy stuff, really. It got my brain turning
a little bit. But that was the occasion that
I met her. Okay. Interesting. And as you go on,
I mean, your last recital will... feature the
dear bellies beethoven dear belly variations
but that's not till spring 2027. it is yeah that's
right goodness it's amazing you plan it so far
in advance but you have to don't you with the
with the big you know concert halls yeah i think
so i think so and also just for a cycle like
this to see one's way through it it's not something
that can be put together piecemeal as you go
along i think i think it's got to be there's
got to be a vision um if nothing else so that
one can achieve a good balance of works across
the series and bring people with you in the series,
as it is a series. I mean, hopefully people who
come to the first one will keep coming back.
So there's a continuity to it. And I quite like
the idea of exploring this amount of repertoire
together with a particular audience. And I think
that's a good thing. That's fantastic. Would
you like to take the series elsewhere? Maybe
Carnegie Hall? I'd be happy to take the series
elsewhere. I've been obviously playing the isolated
programs in other places as we go along. I'm
not doing the series of five anywhere else at
the moment. very much very much open to it um
yes a lot of work um it's very much open to it
i'm sure and when it comes to the recording so
far i i think i gather you've done the goldberg
variations on the onyx label that was in september
last year that's right um anything in the pipeline
for the future with these variations well yeah
the um there's going to be a release of the schumann
and the foray This coming September, also on
Onyx. That's the plan. Wonderful. Wonderful.
And at some point, there'll be some more Ligeti
with Hyperion, but I'm not quite sure when it
will emerge yet. And there are still some things
to do with it. Ligeti's fabulous. Ligeti continues
to pleasantly haunt my schedule. Really? Yes,
absolutely. What is it about Ligeti? What is
it about Ligeti for you? That's a great question.
I sort of became a bit addicted to his music,
I think. I became addicted to the ideas, to the
striking originality of the sound and to really
the way he was inspired by so many musical and
extra -musical ideas and how he, more than that,
how he brought those ideas together and fashioned
music. coming from those places that really in
an era where so many composers had done so many
things to shock, he managed to bring this all
together and to fashion something striking the
original that wasn't requiring kind of extended
techniques, prepared pianos, conceptual things,
you know, it's just, you know, 10 fingers on
the keys and the feet on the pedals, more or
less as usual. tiny tiny exceptions you know
some blocked keys and things like that that he
uses but but um other than that um really his
his late style his answer to the to the as what
he saw as the dead end of the avant -garde and
the kind of less appealing directions to him
anyway of minimalism and of neo -romanticism.
It's really inspiring. I mean, he was a polymath.
He had a remarkable life. He was under the Nazis.
He was under the communists. He had everything
thrown at him basically and somehow survived
all that and sort of pulled through. And his
music has been so influential. There's no composer,
I think, working these days that hasn't somehow
been touched by George Ligeti. So for all those
reasons, I suppose. And then, of course, once
you've played all the etudes and recorded them
and done a lot of that, you keep doing it. It
starts to become more fun when you've done them
a lot. I bet. I bet. I bet. Yeah, people are
recording them. You're right. I mean, you obviously,
but I remember first hearing it was Pierre -Laurent
Emard who brought them out to the open, really,
I think. Absolutely. I mean, he worked very closely
with Ligeti for many years. He was the dedicatee,
actually, of a couple of the etudes. He gave
the premieres of quite a few. And Ligeti was
sort of, I think, actively involved in those
first recordings and everything else. So, I mean,
we all owe Pierre Laurent a huge debt, really,
as the pianist who really brought them out, as
you say. Yeah. I'm going to turn to something
else now. I know you're very, very busy on the
concert platform, but your role as, well, teacher
in higher education seems to be equally... as
important to you. You are Professor of Piano
and Contemporary Piano at the Royal College of
Music. That's an interesting title. Yes, I often
think it shouldn't be necessary in my mind to
specify that I also deal with contemporary music
but I think it's probably good that it is that
way because I think maybe from the outside, sometimes
the view of conservatory to our life has been,
hopefully not in the case of the Royal College
anymore, but has been that the musical material
that we work with and the way we teach is kind
of very much in the past. And it is rooted in
a tradition for sure. But I wouldn't say that
it's backward looking or sort of conservative.
And I think that sort of... Because I do play
a lot of contemporary music and I'm interested
in it, that sort of speaks to a more forward
-looking way of thinking about pianists and young
pianist development. I mean, I think it's very
important for young pianists to be... So maybe,
yeah, maybe somebody who is more interested in
contemporary piano will be happy to have you
as their professor. Yeah, I think, well, I think,
you know, if someone wants to play contemporary
music, it obviously helps to have someone who's
sort of experienced with it and sympathetic to
those potential directions. And, you know, I'm
not a world authority on contemporary piano,
but I do work at it sort of actively in my career,
solo -wise, chamber -wise. So, yeah, and I enjoy
that as well, very much. What would you say is
your style of teaching, or do you think that's
a silly question? No, I would never say that
was a silly question. I've thought about it quite
a lot. I do try to encapsulate it. So I think
there are two sides to what I do and I think
I combine them. I try to combine them very seamlessly
because they're not really separable. One is
certainly about trying to find a very free and
conscious... mechanical approach like a physical
approach to the piano so but when i say mechanical
i'm not saying technical because i think technique
is something a bit different i think i think
you have mechanics which is you know how you
move around your joints and how you move efficiently
and quickly if you need to and all the rest and
how you use your body well i think technique
is is kind of the act of using that ability to
achieve an artistic goal so for me there's no
such thing as technique as an as a as a thing
that is separable from from an artistic goal
so i would say i i work with my students on kind
of freeing up the mechanics on freeing up the
physicality of really connecting um physically
with the instrument which has so many mechanical
parts as you know um in a really efficient and
positive way and then at the same time um i'm
very engaged with interpretation i'm very engaged
with helping students to try and find their artistic
vision and sort of opening the door to, well,
how do we go about finding an artistic vision?
What's it going to be based on? What do we need
to, what can we identify in the music and what
can we think about in order to help us generate
the artistic vision? And again, I don't, I shy
away from imposing my own artistic vision on
anybody because I think that's, you know, it
can be. It can be helpful to demonstrate it,
but I think to impose it is always a mistake.
I'd much rather be helping my students to find
their way. And if they're truly talented and
passionate about what they do, that's very much
a worthwhile enterprise. So we talk about structure,
we talk about harmony, we sort of analyze things,
we talk about sort of... the music in its context
its history we talk about um aesthetics um and
and all that that those two worlds if you like
the kind of technical mechanical bit and the
interpretive bits sound quite disparate but actually
they become very unified if you consider that
to make any kind of effective musical gesture
you need to find a way of embodying the gesture
i get it yeah so Yeah, it all comes together.
That's sort of, it's a long answer, but that's
kind of what I think I do. Okay. You'd have to
interview my students to find out whether they
think that's what I do. Well, when you were a
student, you yourself had some impressive teachers,
Alexander Kelly, Piers Lane, Irina Zaritskaya,
and Maria Coriccio, who has always been somebody
that, a mystery to many. What was she like? Maria
was extraordinary. I mean, they're all extraordinary
in their way, but Maria was extraordinary because
it's like every cell in her body connected with
the piano somehow. This was someone who had,
you know, her career very much curtailed by what
happened to her during the war. And, you know,
she had been paralyzed. She got tuberculosis.
She was, you know, she was hiding. Jewish refugees
in Holland and didn't have enough to eat. And
she became very ill. So her career really stopped
before it started. And when she could start to
play again, she started coaching singers and
got into teaching. And then the teaching really
took off and she became absolutely primarily
a teacher. But her demonstrations were absolutely
astonishing. Absolutely astonishing. shakes you
to the core in a way i mean always in in quite
small chunks you wouldn't sit down and play a
sonata you know it would be a few bars here and
a few bars there boy i can still i can that sound
still reverberates in my mind um and her Neil
Immelman once described to me, he thought that,
you know, with her, you kind of learned by osmosis.
You kind of had to be ready to, you had to be
interested and ready to receive. I think he was
right. There was something that, you know, she
wasn't, she talked about technique, she talked
about phrasing, she talked about all these things,
but there was something in the way she was that
just transcended all those things. And yeah,
I mean, I didn't study her for a long period.
It was a year and a half or two. But it made
a very deep impression on me and helped me really
to tie together, in a way, all the things that
I'd learned from my teachers up to that point.
Okay. Somehow. Okay. Wow. I wish I'd have met
her or had a few lessons with her. Yeah, she
was an extraordinary person. There's actually
a wonderful film made about her. I mean, I thought
it was wonderful because, of course, it brought
back so many memories. And I know the person,
you know, she's no longer alive. So it kind of
is nostalgic for me. But I think it may be a
BBC film. I'm not sure. But I came across it
on YouTube the other day. And it's there. And
she's talking about things and teaching a couple
of students. Eric Lesage I think is there playing
and um I can't remember who else but yeah it's
um for those interested in Maria Corcho it might
be a nice thing to spend a bit of time I'll try
and check that out um you are married to a conductor
are you uh the American conductor Rebecca Miller
I am what's it like did you meet at the Royal
College of Music we did not we met at the Aspen
Music Festival Colorado up in the mountains lovely
long time ago it was quite a long time ago when
you were a student yeah that's right yeah yeah
we were quite young oh well Aspen sounds amazing
actually I've never been but it sounds like a
fantastic festival I haven't been for many years
it's a very very beautiful place And the festival
is still going strong. I've had some of my own
students now going to experience it. Yeah. Actually,
some of the people who were teaching there when
I was there are still there teaching. Yes. Well,
I mean, why would you stop? It's a beautiful
place. The weather is good. The air is fantastic.
There's music all around. And it's a nice summer.
It's a nice place to spend the summer. Wonderful,
wonderful. Have you played with... Rebecca, have
you performed with them? Yes, we have. There
was a time when we would probably get together
once a year or once every 18 months to do a concerto
together. So we did do something. We worked together
in London with the OAE once, I remember. We recorded
the concertos of Amy Beach and Dorothy Howell
and Cécile Chaminade's Concert Stuck for Hyperion
in 2015. Oh, OK. which was a lovely experience.
It's a record I think we're both quite proud
of. Yes, it happens occasionally. We've done
some work together in Sweden. Yeah, we do play
together. We get on well on stage, I would say.
How wonderful. That's fantastic. And you have
children? We do. We have two children, yeah.
Are they musical? Absolutely, yes, as you might
expect. So it's important for them. You want
them to study music. Yeah, we have no designs
on careers or anything like that. But I think
we're both very conscious of the joy and the
benefits that studying music can bring. So why
would we not encourage that in our children?
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, actually, I can't
believe time is flying. So we're getting towards
the end. So what I would like to do now is pose
some lighthearted questions to you. And if you
could just answer me, you know. I'll do my best.
Yeah. Go for it. Okay. So if you could play only
one composer from now on, who would it be? I've
thought about this a lot. And, you know, this
is, you're talking to someone who hates, you
know, who's your favourite composer questions.
Yeah. It would have to be Bach, I think. It would
just, there's kind of a limitless joy in playing
that music. And there are lots of composers that
I would absolutely be devastated to let go of.
he's probably the one if i had to choose one
above all others it all comes back to him yeah
i think i think that's a wise decision there
yeah okay let's hope we never have to find out
no um if you yes okay one pianist dead or alive
you travel long and far to hear probably sviatoslav
richter did you hear him no Very regrettably,
no. I mean, I could have done his kind of late
concerts with a small lamp on the piano in the
corner. I was around when he was doing that,
but I was too ignorant and young still. I didn't
know what was going on. You've seen the beautiful
film of his. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And
in fact, when you say Trafalgar, it would be
going back to maybe the 50s and 60s. That's where
I would want to go. Definitely. kind of relentless
demonic energy. It must have just been amazing.
There's that incredible recording of pictures
in an exhibition from, I think, Sofia in 1961.
It's just so demonic and so powerful. It just
jumps at you right through the speakers. In a
way, very few recordings sort of do. It's extraordinary.
Yeah. Nice answer there. One person, dead or
alive, you'd love to play for? also difficult.
Maybe Rachmaninoff. Why? Why did you choose him?
Because by all accounts, he was possibly the
most phenomenal classical pianist who ever lived.
And I would, yeah, I would just, I would just
be very, I mean, and that's unfair really, because
that's not all he was. I mean, he was also unbelievably.
wonderful composer that really really gifted
and he he was probably quite modest about that
himself but but um i just love playing his music
no i think i think someone who has that kind
of astonishing pianism and astonishing compositional
mind and able to do both and and write operas
and stuff i mean you know again there are lots
of people that i would like to like to play but
uh yes possibly yes um Yes. Why didn't I say
Liszt? That's a good question. Why didn't I say
Liszt? I don't know. I think I have probably
personally speaking, just for me, I find that
I have more affinity with Rachmaninoff's music
than with Liszt's music. But that's not to say
that I don't think Liszt was an absolute great
master. I mean, he was incredible. So, yeah,
it's finely balanced, I suppose. But I went for
Rachmaninoff. Great. OK. Do you have any technical
struggles? Well, the answer is yes. And I kind
of refer you to the answer I gave before. Technique
is, you know, using your wherewithal to achieve
something. And that is, for me, that's the struggle
of an artist. That's the search. That's trying
to get what you want and to achieve absolutely
what you have in your inner ear and something
that really works. My practice, I suppose, in
that respect, could be viewed as one big technical
struggle. But I mean, I have no problem playing
octaves or whatever, thirds and stuff. That's
lucky. That's nice. Yeah, it's difficult. So
with the Ligeti Etudes, for example, this is
the thing that they're so monstrous and so ferocious
and unbelievably demanding. And I do struggle
with them. I think everybody does. But the big
struggle really is to, for me anyway, to not
forget about the ghost in the machine. There's
all this stuff going on and somehow they're incredibly
human, moving, great compositions. I mean, they
all last two or three minutes, but they really
are great compositions. And so that's where the
technique there really... It's really stretched
beyond belief. It's like you've got to do all
these polyrhythms and multiple lines and hear
everything in your head. But what's it all for?
You've got to look down on it almost. To contemplate
it, to kind of imagine it, to hear everything,
to be able to conceptualise the whole thing and
for it not to be just kind of a maelstrom of
notes, you know? I get it, yeah. What would be
your advice to an amateur pianist about how to
improve? I think probably the same advice I would
give to anyone who wants to improve at anything.
Be dedicated. Be mindful. Don't push yourself
too hard, but don't expect too little. And progress
is a long game. It is. Very wise words. Okay.
If you weren't a pianist, what would you be it's
funny this is this should be the easiest one
but i do struggle with this question because
of course i i studied i didn't study music at
university i studied science i was a natural
scientist so i should probably say um that um
uh if i weren't a pianist i would be i don't
know like a research geneticist or something
but i'm not sure i would be Because I don't think
that's really me when I think about it now. Well,
you obviously dropped it along the way, didn't
you? I dropped it along the way. I was very,
very interested in it. But as a career, probably
it was not for me. So I don't know. I think probably
without music, I would have drifted around and
done different things and hopefully found a way
forward at some point. But I don't know what
that would be. Music has been a great anchor
in my life. Okay, so what was, and I'm going
off the beaten track, what was your turning point
then? You were obviously studying that. It's
hard to explain, but I did at a certain point
realise, shortly before I started my degree actually,
that music was the big pull, career -wise. And
that at that point I... I did decide to continue
with my studies just because I thought, well,
if I'm going to spend my life doing music, why
not kind of immerse myself in this now? Because
I find it interesting. And I had plenty of musical
opportunities at the time anyway. So it seemed
to make sense. And I sort of appreciate that.
I appreciate this kind of the different perspective
that it's brought me. And also I was mixing with
a very broad... range of people who are interested
in many different things at the time so i i kind
of value that yeah i understand that okay finally
one composer you're not quite ready to tackle
at the moment i feel it might be bartok okay
i'm not sure why not ready i don't know you know
with all these variations and the two -year thing
i've kind of made myself a pledge that in in
27 28 i'm going to play recital programs of music
that i i just i'm going to play for fun and i've
been playing for years but i'm already breaking
that i'm breaking that so so i don't know um
yeah he's sort of been on my mind for a while
but i haven't even taken the first step really
i mean i've played contrasts a few times um so
maybe that is the first mini step but but um
Wow. Well, you've got a lot on your plate. Absolutely.
There's plenty to do at the moment. Yeah. So
I'm not struggling for work or things to do.
So I'm happy. And have you thought what you're
going to do after the, when the variation series
comes to an end? Well, I have to, people are
asking. So I'm actually this week going to put
my mind to it and sort of put a couple of programs
together. So see whether, I don't know, but there
could be some Chopin there. There could be some
Mozart there. I kind of adore. playing Mozart.
So we shall see. We shall see. Fabulous. Oh,
well, I think that's a really good place for
us to finish. I'm looking forward to hearing
you in February. What was the date again? The
15th, isn't it? The 15th of February, that's
right, at Wigmore Hall. And then in April, what's
the date? 27. I think you're right. Yeah, it
is. Okay, so for everybody listening out there.
come and hear that that will be yes those two
programs i'm both for it i'm i'm proud of both
of those programs so i hope people will enjoy
them oh well i look forward to hearing you on
the stage and thank you so much for joining me
today it's a great pleasure erica thanks so much
thank you That was the scherzo second movement
from Amy Beach's Piano Concerto and it was performed
by Danny Driver. Pianist podcasts are free and
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