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At the beginning of my career, well-known and experienced singers simply gave me the programmes. Song recital programmes are ideally discussed and decided upon by both the singer and the pianist.
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How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season? Many of these are unforgettable memories and some I still experience today, thank heaven! Inspiration comes from everything which has formed my personality – in good times and in bad. It comes from a wonderful evening atmosphere by a lake or on a mountaintop, from the longing, the loving, the disappointments and the happinesses I have known. Sometimes I learn a lot from all this, but, in the end, the inspiration comes from the life I live and have lived: from the dreams, the fears, the anger and the frustrations which I have experienced. I read books about composers and their times.
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Of course I listen to recordings and attend concerts. I do not consciously do anything in order to inspire myself on stage. What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage? In addition to the great volume of German art song, I especially love the Slavic repertoire. The fact that these musical emotions, as well as the often wonderful texts, comprise most of today’s usual song repertoire, definitely influenced my career choice. This is music which demands emotional depth, reflectiveness, infatuation and passion. That is clearly the Romantic era from Schubert to Strauss and Mahler. In answer to this question, I can only say what kind of music I like best, which musical style I feel most comfortable and secure playing. Which works do you think you perform best? Perhaps one can be ‘proud’ of a particular phrase or passage, but never of an entire concert. One must be satisfied with ninety percent and often a great deal less. For me, it is inconceivable that they will all sound as perfectly as I imagine. There are thousands of notes in any concert performance. I think one has certain ideals in performance which one attempts to reach, even knowing that they are unattainable. There are, for example, around twenty-five songs on a CD, and it can happen that I am satisfied or even happy with some of the songs. I would not say that I am proud of a particular concert or recording. Which performances/recordings are you most proud of? That is a part of this occupation and one gets used to it. Such critical situations no longer happen, but in general every concert is a new challenge, first regarding my singing partner, but also for myself. Then there was the audition for Hermann Prey, during which my right leg shook so much with nerves that I could scarcely control the piano’s pedal. The first rehearsal with Irmgard Seefried, at that time a celebrated star especially to Viennese audiences, remains unforgettable because of her ‘motherly’ severity. I often had the feeling that in the course of a few minutes my chosen career path could change dramatically and this was, in fact, several times the case. The first steps with these well known artists were always a big challenge for me. I had the good fortune at a relatively young age to work with singers who were ahead of me both in age and, more importantly, in their careers. What have been the greatest challenges in your career? Today I still learn a great deal from the singers I accompany, much of which is not taught in schools. I had fine teachers, but the most important inspiration/impetus came later: above all, from my friend and colleague Leonard Hokanson and from the two most important singers of my early career, Irmgard Seefried and Hermann Prey. Next to chamber music, the human voice fascinated me above all else, so my passion led me to become an accompanist for singers. For a while my mother suffered from my decision to follow a slightly different path. The question was only whether it was to be as a pianist, conductor or composer.
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As a ten year old I first experimented with composition and at fourteen it was already clear to me that I wanted to be a musician. I played the recorder for years and finally was allowed to study piano as well. Before I entered grammar school, I was already familiar with a large art song repertoire.Īs was usual in my generation, early on I joined a children’s choir. Almost weekly there were chamber music/string quartet evenings at home and my parents read through many songs together – from Schubert to Hugo Wolf. Both were enthusiastic members of concert choruses my mother studied singing for many years and my father played piano and viola. Although my parents were scientists, they were very drawn to and active in classical music. Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?įrom a very early age I was surrounded by classical music.