LDV80

22 BEETHOVEN_PIANO SONATAS NO.21 & NO.29 Beethoven achieves freedom by using very straightforward materials: a simple interval of a third runs through the whole piece. Yet this very constraint generates incredible freedom. He bends the form to his will. It’s a very beautiful gesture, isn’t it? I’m very sensitive to form. There is often a misunderstanding between structure and emotion. Just because the music has a form doesn’t mean it’s not moving. Beethoven creates invisible connections and structures that will touch us more deeply in our unconscious, in the unfolding of time. Some composers are much more lyrical, to the detriment of coherence, and that becomes wearisome in the long run. Beethoven’s music is music that doesn’t flatter, but that accompanies us. Would you say that Beethoven’s piano writing is orchestral? The early sonatas are, yes, unquestionably. But the ‘Hammerklavier’ on the orchestra? It would be impossible to achieve such power. There’s a very strong pianistic gesture here. Has the practice and experience of chamber music changed your interpretation of these sonatas and made it evolve? I’ve always approached a composer’s output through his chamber music. Apart from, say, Chopin, that’s generally the way I function. I came to understand Rachmaninoff when I worked on the Cello Sonata. I need to immerse myself in the music and share it before I can eventually tackle it on the piano alone. In the case of Beethoven, I played all the cello sonatas several times, and the violin sonatas too.