LDV80

THÉO FOUCHENNERET 19 In what order did you record? And how did you approach the recording process? For strategic reasons, I didn’t record in a precise order, but rather by listening and measuring how things were going in the heat of the action. I started with the first three movements of the ‘Hammerklavier’. After the slow movement, we switched to the ‘Waldstein’ to avoid the fugue, which we saved for the end, and which took its time! (laughter) Out of my three long days of recording, I wanted to save one afternoon to do long takes. I felt the need to play, as much as possible. Did the recording change your conception of the work, or even your interpretation? The ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata came at an important moment for Beethoven: he hadn’t written very much for a long time. This sonata, along with the famous Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis , which are contemporary with it, gives me the impression that the composer is trying to reconquer his own music. He needs to prove several things to himself, as both pianist and composer. Hence the fact that it’s a real challenge. Both physically and mentally. It tires you out, but it’s such a journey that it becomes addictive. The more you play it, the more you love it. The more you listen to it, themore you appropriate it.At first, when I played it in concert, I would come off the platform absolutely exhausted. That’s not the case any more. I can view it as a whole. The recording of course contributed to that. I arrived with my ideas, my plan! And then, when I went and listened to the takes in the control room regularly, I had to change things! It’s very hard to hear what’s happening behind the microphone from the sound you’re producing. I tried to adjust my