LDV111-2

26 BEETHOVEN ∙ COMPLETE SONATAS AND VARIATIONS FOR CELLO AND PIANO Let’s go back in time and talk more specifically about your approach to this music in relation to your training. Has the influence of your teachers or of other great musicians had an impact on your interpretation? David Selig: Before my studies in Paris, I was trained in the German-Russian piano tradition. In France, I rounded off my apprenticeship with Aldo Ciccolini, who had sought to deepen his approach to Beethoven’s world by studying with Artur Schnabel. Schnabel remains one of my benchmarks in Beethoven, followed by pianists I have heard in concert, like Maurizio Pollini, Rudolf Serkin, Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu. I would also add other musicians, such as Itzhak Perlman and the great conductors of our time. Gary Hoffman: I was fourteen years old when I finished my studies with Karl Fruh [ 1914-99, American cellist, member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and later of the NBC Radio Orchestra of Chicago ]. Fruh was a great teacher who laid a solid foundation for my instrumental technique. I don’t think I ever worked on Beethoven sonatas with him. But I come from a family of musicians for whom this music was our whole world. Later, János Starker had a certain influence, although my conception of Beethoven’s works is different from his. He taught me clarity, precision and awareness, qualities that apply to all music. Only one person really influenced me in Beethoven’s sonatas, and that was Pablo Casals.