An interview with

Isabelle Faust

What’s the attraction of the Triple Concerto for musicians? It’s quite a unique piece, with its combination of chamber, symphonic and concertante elements. There are a lot of places where it’s only about the trio, then there are moments between one soloist and the orchestra. And then there are passages with two soloists against one. It’s so diverse and very special, but also tricky. Musically it’s so witty and so original, and it’s a pure joy for every musician.

Why did you want to record on period instruments?

They have such different characters; and there’s a big advantage in using them in the sense of the rhetoric, articulation and colour they bring. It’s perhaps more obvious with the piano, because the fortepiano sounds completely different to a Steinway. With this special piece it really comes through in the balance and transparency. I hope details can be heard in this recording that are not so easy to bring out in other recordings. For us, that was a very important reason for doing it.

You’ve established a great partnership with Alexander and Jean-guihen…

We enjoy playing together. It felt like recording this piece was absolutely meant to be. It’s so much about chamber music, but also about the solo playing and contact with the orchestra. We’ve been playing together for many years as a trio, but we are also very active as soloists. So I think we bring all of those experiences to this piece. It was also a very special recording because it was our first meeting after the initial lockdown last spring.