[ PORTUGUÊS ]
Christophe Desjardins, or the inventive interpreter
Interview conducted by Diana Ferreira in November 2005; translated by Catarina Martins
photography: Pierre Johan Laffitte
6/9
You spoke about conceiving concerts. How do you come up with a programme? Imagine I invite you to make a concert and that you are free to choose the programme. How do you do it?
Let's imagine the simplest solution: if there are big constraints and we can't invite any other interpreter, then we have a solo recital. In the repertoire there are some major pieces that must be played and made known, and that I enjoy playing, such as Sonata by Zimmermann, the Sequenza VI by Berio, Prologue by Grisey, Einspielung III by Emmanuel Nunes...
…some leaves…? […some leaves II…— a piece by Michael Jarrell]
Yes, but that one is by a younger composer, from a generation under fifty, so he isn't yet in the pantheon of paternal figures. And there's also Ligeti that I don't usually play.
Why?
Because I feel that his writing is too systematic. It has a rhetoric quality that is already heard too often...
But it’s completely different to think in a programme for an experienced audience or a...
In Contemporary Music? Well, yes. The pieces have a spectacular quality and a strength that doesn't require a specialized audience. The Sonata by Zimmermann is maybe different, but the Prologue and the Sequenza are already so spectacular that it works very well. And then you must adapt to the audience, to the place. See if it's necessary to introduce young composers, or if I prefer to share my knowledge of composers that I stand by, like Michael Jarrell, Ivan Fedele, etc.. And it's also possible to combine a “classic” piece, as a Bach’s Suite, a Sonata by Hindemith...
But how do you define the programme? Is it more important to introduce the audience to certain pieces or the overall composition of the programme?
We have to conceive the programme as a composition, when we choose what to play. We must build it as a puzzle: I start here, I end the first part with this, and the concert ends in this way. What is the propose of the concert... For instance, the Prologue by Grisey is great to open a concert. We know it's called prologue, it opens with that very slow develop, that actually correspond to our idea of a start and of a rising force. Then you can play Einspielung III that is like a labyrinth, and it will work very well. And you have the first part.
For instance, I try to avoid things that are very close to each other. If I'm going to play Sequenza VI by Berio and ...some leaves... by Jarrell, I can't play one after the other. Because although they have different writings you can feel that quality that Jarrel took from Berio, that virtuosity as the pleasure of sonority. He explores all the fields, all the styles, all the different ways of playing, in a very pleasant editing of the discourse. That is very close, and between the two we need to have a more distant piece, like the Sonata by Zimmermann or, for instance, the Sciarrino's pieces, that are a sort of miniature full of activity but without much sonority.
That means you decide first what you want the audience to listen to, and then you build the programme.
Yes.
What is the most exciting aspect of a world première? Is there something magic about it?
There are different aspects and it’s not easy to say what comes first... but I believe that first of all there’s the pleasure of making something being born. To take part in the discloser. Then there’s the transformation of the piece itself. When we embrace a new piece there’s a period of getting to now it, where we try to accomplish new things, maybe talk about some changes with the composer so that things are easier to accomplish, closer to the composer’s project. And then there’s the period of the musical accomplishment itself, which is related with the musical project that is being introduced by the piece. And it’s a true adventure each time we start a new piece, because it’s something we can’t experience when we discuss the project. Even if the composer knows me and says “I’m going to write a piece for you”, even if we discuss several aspects of the piece, it won’t tell us anything about the music we are going to encounter. That’s why there’s always a discovery and it is truly passionate. Each time I believe, in a tremendous naive way, that I’m going to do the best world première ever done. [laughs]
Many times only quite a lot of time after the première, I can listen objectively to the recording and try to detach myself of it and measure if the piece is really accomplished. I have a great faith in the world première. I always expect something more beautiful. [>]