Interview by Johanna De Jong
Matthieu Idmtal is one of the most remarkable personalities among young pianists. His interpretations are always original, testimony to great refinement, and reveal a predilection for poetry. These are qualities he brings to fruition in the form of a third cd, which will be released soon. Reason enough to bring this Belgian pianist out of the shadow that covid-19 has cast over cultural life, and to ask him some questions about his work and life as a musician.
Let's start with an obligatory question: how have you gotten through the past year?
Actually quite well. First of all, neither I nor my immediate circle have had to deal with the darkest sides of corona. That helps considerably. And professionally I can't complain either.
Since I perform in the Netherlands more than half the time, and the corona policy there was much more relaxed for a long time than here, I was fortunate to perform a few times while everything was paralyzed in Belgium. I also played some livestream concerts and used the time given to make a new cd recording, so I was able to keep myself occupied. But I miss concert life of course. And everything that goes with it. Traveling to the concert venue, stopping at a gas station for a coffee,... And good and long dining with friends, I miss that too.
You mention a new cd recording that will be released. This is entirely devoted to Edvard Grieg. May I see this cd as a follow-up to the recording of Grieg's complete violin sonatas, together with violinist Maya Levy?
Not really. In any case, I don't see it that way myself. The cd will be released on a different label, and it's rather coincidental that it became a second Grieg cd. I've wanted to do something with Grieg's piano sonata for a long time, which I've been carrying with me for quite some time. It's Grieg's only piano sonata, a youthful work, which is not very well known even among pianists, and unfortunately is almost never to be heard on the concert stage. Yet it is a particularly attractive work.
The second movement alone is something every lover of music should know. Furthermore, this sonata is also a symbolic work for me. The third movement was the first piece I studied with one of my main teachers as a teenager. In any case, I find that Grieg is often treated with a certain condescension. Apart from perhaps his piano concerto - which by the way was Rachmaninoff's favorite concerto - his music is all too often overlooked at conservatories. Totally unjustified.
When I listen to your recordings I immediately notice a great poetic freedom, with much attention to the left hand. A kind of piano playing that is more akin to an older generation of pianists.
Can we stop the interview here? Then I can go home with these compliments! You mention some key words that are essential for me as a pianist, and for making music in general. You see, all my heroes are long dead.
Who are we talking about then?
Pianists like Friedman, Rachmaninoff, Ginzburg, Horowitz, Cortot,... In themselves very different personalities, but what binds them is that they all sing at the piano. They are poetic, narrative interpreters. That is my main endeavor. To sing. To tell a story.
Did your teachers also teach you in this tradition?
I have been influenced by a thousand and one things, but I was fortunate to encounter a few good teachers at important key moments. When I think of my piano education, I think of three important personalities. The teacher of my childhood, the teacher of my teenage years, and the professor at the conservatory, who was perhaps the most influential. With Vitaly Samoshko it was very much about sound. I think I have never heard him play an aggressive note and I am eternally grateful to him for that. But I have also had less fruitful encounters.
In Belgium you have something like the kunsthumaniora, a secondary school that is supposed to prepare you for the conservatory. I have very good memories of that school, but there you would just be assigned a piano teacher. That sudden change created such a conflict with the principles I had been taught up to that point, that I had many disagreements with a particular teacher. Then I thought: okay, here I learn how not to play. That's also important. (laughs)
When I observe your concert programs I notice they consist mainly of Romantic repertoire.
I know. And sometimes I even slap myself for not programming more Classical repertoire. I think I play Haydn or Mozart quite decently, but I have more problems with Bach or Beethoven. For some reason I have to work twice as hard with those two to reach the same level of satisfaction.
Let it be so that I play the music that is closest to my heart. And music that I understand. In itself, isn't it wonderful that you can do what you want? There's no one forcing you to play three hundred years of music. If you want to devote your entire career to Bach, you can.
And what about contemporary music?
It happens that I play it. Perhaps more often in chamber music formations than solo. I can really enjoy new compositions, but if I have a choice I always go for music that still operates within a tonal framework. Really advanced contemporary music, or music involving electronics I let pass me by. First of all, there are plenty of pianists who can do that much better than I can, and second, my heart isn't there. Perhaps those two things are linked. As I said, I try to sing at the piano. Much contemporary music is too tuneless and too percussive for me. A large part of these compositions are also a sort of sound experiments exploring boundaries. It's often too conceptual for me, too mathematical, too little heart, and I'm not attracted to that.
Now, I am convinced that quality can be found in every genre, but I often have the feeling that the filter of time still needs to pass over it. I do hear a lot of rubbish. But that hesitation is perhaps subjective. The conservatory where I studied liked to profile itself as a conservatory with the greatest attention to contemporary music, and in my perception it often came at the expense of the classical repertoire. There prevailed such a blind glorification of everything that hurt the ears, that I still have to get over certain figures. Compositions were performed there, so to speak, for piano, Mandarin, and two ping-pong balls, but when I played Schumann's piano quintet for my chamber music exam, the jury rolled their eyes. I could hear them thinking: Schumann again. Their intention was perhaps well-meaning by trying to awaken enthusiasm for contemporary music in the students, but it had the opposite effect on me.
Have such experiences also affected how you teach yourself?
Yes. I hate authority, and I therefore fear that I myself am not the most authoritarian teacher either. I prefer suggestion to obligation. In life too, by the way.
Wanting to push through your own ideas or your own personality at all costs makes little sense. But I'm enjoying teaching more and more. I now have a few students who want to go to the conservatory, and also conservatory students who occasionally come ask for advice. Then you know you're getting old. (laughs)
In another interview I read that Alexander Scriabin is your favourite composer. In 2022 his 150th birthday will be celebrated. Are there any special plans?
By the way: when people ask me about my favourite composer I usually answer with a straight face: Johann Strauss. The look of confusion you get then is priceless. (laughs) Mind you, seriously: I love Johann Strauss and Viennese waltzes in general. But you're right. If I were forced to choose, the answer to the question would perhaps be Scriabin.
If all goes well, that year I'll have two concerts dedicated to Scriabin, both in the Netherlands by the way. But I fear the worst and think they won't do much around Scriabin in either Belgium or the Netherlands. He lived in both countries nonetheless.
Are there any other projects you dream of being able to realize?
What I like most about this profession is the creative aspect. First and foremost at the piano, but also with the concert series I organize. I mainly hope to be able to continue doing that.
Perhaps I would like to play a couple of concerts with a distinguished song cycle. Bringing Dichterliebe or Winterreise with a good singer seems wonderful to me.
To conclude: there has been much ado this past year about whether art and music are essential or not. What do you think about this?
Certain composers have changed my life. How essential do you want it?
That's clear!
- WHAT: interview with Matthieu Idmtal by Johanna De Jong
- PHOTOS: © Yoshie Kuwayama
