Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music and who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?
When I was young there was this monthly magazine called “The Great Composers” and I particularly remember the Rachmaninov issue. Featured in it were the 2nd piano concerto and the Paganini Rhapsody, and I certainly remember that it was a long-standing dream of mine (from the age of 8) to some day play the 2nd piano concerto… This “only” happened aged 14 at my secondary school, under the baton of my now lifetime mentor/friend Dennis Kiddy with my A-level french teacher Marcus Jeffrey playing the bass drum!
Music had always been a hobby and basically, aside from golf, the only thing that I was actually good at. I feel that I simply fell into the profession – I just continued my childhood hobby into adulthood…
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
I guess COVID has probably been the biggest challenge for any of us in the Arts. The governments basically forbade us to continue our profession with no compensation or solution whatsoever. However, the long-term effects still continue and I can only hope that the performing arts will someday return to the precarious position it had occupied before the pandemic (!).
Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?
Hmm… I have never been such a great friend of the recording genre. I am a very spontaneous performer and all too often find that my recordings just don’t reflect my performances in the way I want them to; or putting it another way, maybe I am just not good at recording(!). Having said that, in the 20 or 30 or so recordings that I have done, I reckon that my Liszt Transcendental Etudes for BIS records are at a level where I think, hm, …that I don’t think it’s a performance I could necessarily easily replicate! However, working on the Preludes and Fugues from Matt [Dibble – released 14 June], maybe because they are so varied, and Matt was a great improviser, this helped me to understand better how to put my inner thoughts onto a record. These works really have every conceivable style, from vaguely immitaging Bach, to absolute modern avant-garde, from jazz, klezmer to mainstream pop.
Which particular works/composers do you think you perform best?
It’s always hard to be one’s own judge. I think we are too prejudiced – plus we hear ourselves in such a different way to how we are heard by an audience… I personally feel closest to romantic composers. I love passion and try to recreate that passion as intensely as I can. However, I do get the impression that I can recreate intensity most of all over everything else. I guess going on general reviews and reception, I am good at Prokofiev and Stravinsky most of all… However apparently my Rachmaninov seems to be developing well over recent years.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
I simply pick the works that happen to appeal. I then try to build a programme that makes sense, possibly thinking in a very amateurish way about the marketing side… For instance, during the Rachmaninov anniversary I got to know the Moments Musicaux for the first time. I really loved them and ended up pairing them with the Schubert Moments Musicaux and then concluded that Rachmaninov and Schubert were in fact the only 2 composers to write such works! So I simply tried to find works that could fill the gap in that programme.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
Perform in? Hard to say… I think as a performer there is always the idea of performing in an iconic venue but once you’ve actually performed there and then return, the impression onbviously changes. The Royal Albert Hall is possibly one of the world’s most spectacular venues for a classical performer, however it doesn’t necessarily work ideally in terms of acoustics. A classical work more often than not does benefit from amplification. The Sydney Opera house is an absolutely amazing venue in so many respects – from the performer’s side it is such an encompassing venue since it contains more than 1 concert hall and the opera house. It is the only venue where in the artist canteen world level conductors and soloists might bump into each other…
What do you do off stage that provides inspiration on stage?
For me any deep emotional experience is a source of inspiration; so simply living life itself – all our basic emotions, love, sorrow, joy, sadness, excitement, calm etc.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
I suppose two memories stand out in particular. One was at Marlboro Music Festival in 1997. I didn’t really know what Marlboro was, but it is basically a huge summer festival, 8 weeks long, with world famous musicians. I vividly remember meeting one of my idols, the chamber violinist Isodore Cohen from the Beaux Arts Trio, and not only played chamber music with him, but heard him play a wonderful concert and learned to play Bridge with him…
Another unforgettable concert was listening to Shura Cherkassky’s final recital in the Royal Festival Hall. I remember going with friends, not really knowing what to expect. Cherkassky was certainly very old and maybe not every single work was the best he’d ever produced but I will never forget his Chopin’s 1st ballade. It was as if he was a young lad again – and it was utterly electrifying and so inspiring and wonderful.
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
I think for every musician it is different. I am a very spontaneous musician and believe that music is simply communicating and inspiring. I mean obviously success implies a certain amount of commercial success but for me it simply means being able to communicate with and inspire a large number of the audience.
What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?
I think it is a long-term cyclic process… First of all I do think that the general appreciation of “culture” varies from century to century. Some eras the classical culture dominates, as in culture that is the epitomy and utmost of what humanity can achieve, regardless of how appealing or unappealing it is. The opposite is where popular culture dominates, as in culture that appeals to the masses but what may be not so sophisticated or advanced in terms of our humanity’s cultural achievements.
Coupled with that (as in society’s general tendencies) the fact that appreciation needs to be cultivated or educated, it does also depend on the amount of cultural education both available and on offer. Some countries in this world do prioritise culture far more than science and, in those countries the younger audience numbers are more than they are here…
What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?
I think the toughest message is that we simply need to accept what we are. I feel there are too many influences or prejudices suggested on us – for instance in the UK where we are forced to believe that soloists are the most accomplished and that the teachers are the least. In many cultures in the world soloists, teachers and orchestral players are given the same amount of respect as each other.
So believe in what you feel closest to, keep pursuing that and just don’t give up!
What’s next? Where would you like to be in 10 years?
I think we’ve had such a challenging time with COVID, plus the fact that a performing career is maybe not so simple for someone that is neither “young and new” and not yet an “older master”. I would simply be happy to still be performing as I do now
What is your most treasured possession?
My family.
What is your present state of mind?
I feel incredibly lucky to be or have been a professional pianist – to have been able to have pursued my passion. I am very happy! I am trying to lose weight…(!). And trying to improve my general sports – my skiing, swimming and running…
Freddy Kempf’s recording of Matt Dibble’s Preludes & Fugues is released on 14 June on the Divine Art label. Find out more
MEET THE ARTIST 