ICMA winner the pianist Josu de Solaun: « During this era any excellent news has a particular which means »
Among the winners of the International Classical Music Awards 2021 is the CD Fantasque produced by Audite and performed by the violinist Franziska Pietsch and the pianist Josu de Solaun. It incorporates Sonata no. 1 op. 13 in A significant by Gabriel Fauré, the Sonata in G minor by Claude Debussy, the Sonata no. 2 in G main by Maurice Ravel and the Sonata for violin and piano by Francis Poulenc. Florica Jalba from Jury member Radio Romania Muzical made the next interview with Josu de Solaun.
ICMA : First of all, congratulations on the award! I believe it was superb information for you throughout this tough time we’re going by way of.
Josu de Solaun : Yes, precisely, throughout this era any excellent news has a particular which means, it’s value far more and I used to be very glad to obtain the information of this award. For any musician, receiving an award within the present circumstances offers him hope to maneuver ahead and hope for a greater future.
ICMA : How did you determine to pick out this system for this disc – 4 sonatas from the creation of 4 French composers ?
JdS : I all the time felt very near French music. I fell in love along with her since faculty, once I was finding out in Spain. In specific, I admire the works that, along with my duo companion, I selected for this document. At the identical time, we needed it to be one thing extraordinarily completely different from the earlier album with creations by Strauss and Shostakovich. So I selected these sonatas with music that reveals parody, sarcasm, but in addition tenderness and a wealth of colours. Nothing may very well be extra completely different than French music, and making an allowance for private preferences, it turned out to be the right selection.
ICMA : Franziska Pietsch is the violinist alongside whom you recorded for the second time. Tell us about collaborating along with her and in case you plan to run different tasks collectively.
JdS : Our German document label, Audite, had this concept, to convey us collectively. The folks there thought-about that we’ve got related temperaments and right here it’s already 4 years for the reason that starting of our collaboration. From the primary rehearsal we realized that we perceive one another very properly, virtually telepathically, so we began working and it seems to be a beautiful collaboration. We will proceed to document collectively, the subsequent choice being Bartok – Sonatas for violin and piano.
ICMA : Regarding the solo tasks, what are your plans for the subsequent interval ?
JdS : Very quickly, my new solo CD shall be launched, after a break of about 4 years, as a result of the live performance exercise didn’t enable me to present time for recordings. Basically, it’s the first solo album after the one devoted to Enescu’s works. This time I recorded Brahms and Schumann. I’m going to publish my first quantity of poetry that shall be printed by a Spanish publishing home. These are poems that I’ve been engaged on for the final 20 years and that I’ve accomplished throughout this pandemic interval. Restrictions will quickly be relaxed right here in Spain, and several other concert events are deliberate. Obviously, many had been canceled, however I managed to assist some throughout this era.
ICMA : What do you consider the interval through which we are actually, the one through which the vaccination marketing campaign takes place?
JdS : There is a poem written by the American Emily Dickinson through which it’s stated that hope is just like the feathers of a fowl – so fragile, however so robust on the identical time, that they permit the fowl to fly. I imagine that hope is way stronger than optimism and that it’s our solely probability. Hope it will get higher. As a musician, all I can do is maintain finding out, as a result of in such instances, folks’s morale tends to drop.
ICMA : Do you suppose that the vaccine would be the answer to the present drawback?
JdS : I definitely take into account the vaccine to be one of many options, however I imagine {that a} mixture of options shall be wanted. Throughout historical past, there have been far more critical conditions, however they’ve been resolved. All it takes is endurance, and that’s the toughest factor to do in life. I believe one of many life classes of the pandemic is to be taught to be affected person and to have the flexibility to think about a greater future.
ICMA : Finally, would you want to inform us one thing in Romanian? I do know you’re finding out it.
JdS : Yes, I write, learn and perceive Romanian properly, however I nonetheless have work to do on pronunciation. I attempt to shock you at some point with a full interview in Romanian. Until then, you’ll be able to learn within the Yearbook made by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid an enormous article, of about 20 pages, which I wrote about Romanian music and about what I take into account to outline it (The concept of Romanian in music). I labored quite a bit on this text and I researched for a very long time.
