Who or what have been the most significant influences on your musical life and career?
Early on, from the classical repertoire, Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven were the most important music in my life. But I do remember when I was 7 years old my mother gave me enough money to go and purchase a cassette (remember those?!) from the music store, and the first record that really drew me in for some reason was Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York, a gorgeous live album that I still adore to this day. I then dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to the staples like Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Bach but honed in on the music of neglected geniuses like Samuil Feinberg, Nikolai Medtner, and the comparatively lesser-known composers like Ferrucio Busoni.
More recently (in the last 7 years or so), jazz has been a huge influence on my musical life. I was supposed to do a mini tour with Chuck Israels (who played with the Bill Evans trio for years), but sadly we had to cancel because of the pandemic, but we’re hoping to revisit this soon.
How do you work? What methods do you use and how do ideas come to you?
I am a huge fan of alternating between intense work and then letting the idea ‘decant’. I love working very hard and focusing on something then going for a very long walk with no phone, music, or anything to just allow the work and idea to seep into my subconscious. Ideas come to me when I’m able to tap into the part of my mind that is beyond the chatter and narrative by keeping the mind quiet with a low mental energy task like walking, playing a work I know well, swimming or just being in nature. Some of my best non-musical ideas have come out of conversations (sometimes with myself..!).
How would you characterise your compositional language/musical style?
A (hopefully unique) musical voice that has come out of the hundreds of composers and artists I’ve admired, heard, internalised and studied.
Of which performances/recordings are you most proud?
My upcoming album Accents & Echoes has been my biggest recorded labour of love. The theme of the album is all my musical inspirations, which include Brahms, Bach and Rachmaninoff, but also Portishead, Scriabin, Medtner, Massive Attack and beyond… I then felt throughout my life as a composer/improviser I was always speaking in these different musical accents and that my originality could only come ‘out of them’ as opposed to trying to invent my own wheel without nodding to all these accents and echoes of my musical influences. So, the album culminates in a big piano sonata called Accents and Echoes which is a culmination of all of these influences, namely Jazz, the music of Feinberg, Bach, Medtner and Scriabin, but also traditional Persian music as well as contrapuntal themes (it has a little triple-fughetta in the middle where these themes meet). It took a lot of trial and error, writing & re-writing to create this album.
What do you do offstage that provides inspiration on stage?
I try to live as colourful a life as possible by speaking with and learning from as many different people as possible, and travelling to as many places as possible. Music is a reflection of the world and the universe we find ourselves in, and so seeing it as an abstract thing that exists disconnected from everything else is completely counterintuitive to what it is to be an artist.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
One of the most out-of-body experiences was playing the huge Busoni Piano Concerto Op.39 when I was 19 years old. I did it for the opening of the Chetham’s International Piano Festival in Manchester and spent the months before steeped in this zen-like state of living and breathing this work. It’s about 70 minutes long with a male chorus in the finale – what an experience!
As a musician, what is your definition of success?
As a composer/improviser my formula for ‘success’ is how accurately are you able to communicate what you hear in your mind and imagine in your head into real sound using your instrument(s). The latency and distortion between what you imagine and what is heard by the audience should be lessening and lessening as you understand your craft better – I still am and will always be very much a student at this! As for success as a performer, the difference between your best possible prepared version of a work/recital and what you’re able to achieve live should be zero if not even better live. Sometimes my best performances of anything can only be done when it’s not in the practice room and without a safety net. The right audience, the hall, the piano and the occasion can all help you take something up a notch. This is what makes live music incredibly special – the possibility for something very profound to happen
What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?
When starting out composing and writing music, one must not be shy to imitate and emulate those they admire without trying to ‘invent the wheel’ from the get-go. Early Beethoven sounds like Haydn/Mozart and early Scriabin sounds incredibly similar to Chopin in many places. Bach studied and transcribed works by Monteverdi, Palestrina, Vivaldi and more as part of his own musical education and development.
For example, in the Moscow Conservatory, during Rachmaninoff’s time, composition students had to write a work(s) and explain during their exams which predecessor’s work it was based on. This method was designed not only to develop their technical skills but also to foster a deep appreciation and knowledge of musical history and theory, ensuring they could engage with the works of previous composers on a profound level. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto shows influence from Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor (same with Balakirev’s First Concerto resembling very much the Chopin E Minor Concerto). Picasso said it took him 4 years to paint like Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child. So, I think original voices only come out of acknowledging the voices one is deeply influenced by. We also live in a time where people are extremely keen and incentivized to become overnight sensations and to try and force innovation without acknowledging, internalising and nodding to the great artists who came before us.
What’s the one thing we’re not talking about in the music industry which you really feel we should be?
The colossal elephant in the room that is Artificial Intelligence for creators of music, art, literature and beyond. As far as LLMs go, no matter how strong they get, the way in which they parse through and arrange information at present means they are always going to be imitation devices, albeit exponentially stronger, better ones than their predecessors. The plus side to this for creators is that innovation so far stems entirely from the human being. This I feel will make us crave the long-form, slow-burn, thoughtfully and meticulously crafted things even more than the quick dopamine hits that are artistically incentivized now. In a perfect world: all the tedious, repetitive, laborious things will be given to the robots and the creative, artistic to the humans.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness is good health in good weather with good company.
What is your most treasured possession?
My Steinway grand piano: she’s a beauty but also an absolute diva!
What is your present state of mind?
Quite zen because I’m 55 hours through a 72-hour fast, which I do maybe once a year, to reset/clear the body & mind, it’s a superpower for health I feel. My advice is to do your own research and then start with 16 hours, then work your way up to 24, 36 and then 72+.
Arsha Kaviani’s new album Accents & Echoes is released on SRSLY on 28 June 2024. Find out more here
(Image credit: Damon Baker)
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