[ PORTUGUÊS ]
Christophe Desjardins, or the inventive interpreter
Interview conducted by Diana Ferreira in November 2005; translated by Catarina Martins
photography: Pierre Johan Laffitte
8/9
About the CD... Why to record music? If music happens essentially on concert - it’s completely different listening to music in concert or listening to a CD at home - why were you compelled to record?
There is no contradiction. We listen differently at home, with the radio. We can listen to music while doing other things or we can just listen to the CD. There are lots of ways to listen and the important thing is that music is transmitted. That is the overall dissemination. But it’s also important that the composers make themselves known.
Do you think the CD can work as a kind of preparation to the concert? We listen at home, we understand some parts and its importance, and then, in concert, we’re finally ready to really listen...
Yes, it’s a good way.... When it’s possible it’s great.
Even if you don’t make much attention when you listen at home, music is there and makes its course...
Of course.
If a young Portuguese violist, or someone who wants to become a professional violist, would ask for your advice, what would you tell him?
I would tell him to work both the Classical repertoire - studies, concerts, solo pieces, and the Contemporary Music. So that he would enlarge his musical expression since the beginning. With gestures, way of playing, different approaches to the instrument. That would allow him more freedom in how to play and how to look at the gestures he will use to make instrument sounds.
Do you think it’s possible to study the viola anywhere or is it impossible to become a good violist if you’re studying in Portugal or...?
There are famous examples of excellent Portuguese violists! Becoming a good violist is to have enough musical skills, to have an adequate technical/physical skill and finding a good teacher. It can be only one teacher, but usually you’ll find two or three teachers to structure you. It’s more a question of finding out a compatible personality to instruct you. [>]