A a lifelong journey - An interview with Seong-Jin Cho
https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/stories/seong-jin-cho-interview/
Interview with pianist Seong-Jin Cho
In this interview, you can find out how microphones make him nervous, that a pianist’s work is never done, and why the sound of the piano cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
www.berliner-philharmoniker.de
Ravel had a rather detached, even enigmatic personality. Do you think that a complete performance of his piano music like this brings us closer to Ravel the man?
I think Ravel was a perfectionist. His music is very different from Debussy’s, which is more imaginative and Romantic, in a way. Ravel, on the other hand, was a sharp thinker with very clear ideas. And then there is this incredible wealth of colour in his music – even his piano music often has an orchestral sound.
But is it also emotional music? Or are emotion and perfection mutually exclusive?
I think you can be emotional in many ways. For example, when I play Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, I see a person crying loudly in front of me. When I play Brahms, especially his late works, I imagine I can feel that the person is so sad, almost depressed. But he doesn’t cry; it’s very inward-looking. And Ravel’s music also has a very emotional effect on me. Here I imagine a person who smiles gently, but there are tears in his eyes. There are so many kinds of emotion in our life.