LDV80

24 BEETHOVEN_PIANO SONATAS NO.21 & NO.29 I regret that I can’t go to concerts more often, even though I try to get to big orchestral concerts whenever I can. My father introduced me to a lot of things in jazz. And I’m grateful to him for that. Jazz teaches us a great deal about sound and rhythm, and especially that famous ‘swing’, which is not necessarily innate for us classical musicians. I also loved rock at a very early age: Radiohead, Pink Floyd (now there you’re talking about form!), and Queen for their performing skills. Bohemian Rhapsody is a lesson for all of us, even for us performers of ‘art’ music. When you play, do you sing along? No, I don’t sing, but I’ve been told that I do groan from time to time . . . (laughter) Do you listen to vocal music? Yes. Luckily my brother (Pierre Fouchenneret) was there to introduce me to the art of singing. I’m trying to develop that further. Christian Ferras on the violin, Maria Callas, Gérard Souzay in Fauré, Matthias Goerne nowadays, these are artists who have a grain or a voice, in short a personal touch, that you recognise immediately. Having said that, I confess I get less from Italian opera than from works like Wozzeck or Der Rosenkavalier . That’s also because I’m only moderately interested in theatre. Even the words don’t really matter to me; I listen to the music, first and foremost . . .