An interview with

What draws you to Shostakovich?

He has always been one of my favourite composers; since childhood, in fact. I used to listen to his symphonies quite a lot, which was an unusual choice for a kid. Actually, when we were looking at the programme it wasn’t the first choice! We talked about doing Balakirev, but then I offered to do Shostakovich and I’m very glad that it turned out to be him.

Tell us about choosing the pieces for this recording.

I had played his First Sonata and the 24 Preludes before, so it was quite a natural choice. Since I was playing the First Sonata, it was quite logical to do the Second. Moreover, the Second Sonata is rarely played. I didn’t know the reduction of The Limpid Stream. They found the score somewhere and we struggled to find out who actually did the arrangement. I think it brings a very sweet touch to the composition of the album, after the devastation in the Second Sonata. It’s sort of a relief.

How are you most tested in this repertoire?

Apart from some obvious technical difficulties in the First Sonata, the main challenge is to reveal the beauty. There is an image of Shostakovich as being a rather complex composer; a lot of difficult harmonies, and very dissonant music. Beneath this layer of obstacles, I can feel that he has real beauty in his music. Somehow, it feels like he’s trying to protect it, because it’s very fragile. I wanted to reveal these multiple layers. That’s what always attracted me to his music, that I could somehow feel the person himself within it.