LDV45

JEAN-PHILIPPE COLLARD 25 Rachmaninoff’s works lie at the heart of your repertory. Why do you come back them so regularly? I have always loved Rachmaninoff for the immediacy of his music. It is close to the heart, with an incredibly naturalness about it. This is probably because Rachmaninoff himself wanted to confide in his instrument: he spoke with his heart and his heart remained on the keyboard. And yet, beyond its beauty and the immediate emotion it generates, his music also offers a space for reflection. It embraces some very sombre thoughts about existence. After all, Rachmaninoff had experience of exile. He left his native Russia, which was his inspiration, but he didn’t forget to take his soul away with him! For a pianist, Rachmaninoff is a particularly endearing personality. First of all because he himself was a pianist – apparently he had big hands, like me – and so he knewexactlywhere to put his fingers and he used all the instrument’s resources. But if I constantly return to Rachmaninoff, it is above all because of the way he makes the piano sound. Before him, no one had ever heard piano music on such an oversize, orchestral scale. He creates a form of intoxication, both musical and technical; it’s real sensual pleasure. If there is one composer I would have liked to meet, it is certainly Rachmaninoff. I wish I’d seen himperformand heard the power of his playing. He had the gift of writing music that touches you immediately and, thanks to its technical feats and its powerful sonority, to build it into works of colossal dimensions. How can one resist that?