“There is a young generation of music lovers. One just has to acknowledge them.”
Berlin-based concert pianist Leonie Rettig speaks with IDAGIO about being a young musician, her favourite compositions and the future of the classical music industry.
Berlin-based concert pianist Leonie Rettig has been described as “a poet and a wonderful narrator at the keyboard.”
At just 25 years-old, she already has an extensive repertoire and tours internationally with various orchestras and festivals, including: the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Haigerlocher Schlosskonzerte, the Leipzig summer piano festival, The International Chamber Music Festival and the MiTo festival in Milan and Turin.
This year will see Leonie debut with the Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada, where she will be performing Ravel’s Concerto for Piano in G major under Bernhard Gueller. She will also perform with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden where she has been invited to play Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini under Stefan Solyom.
Leonie, speaks with IDAGIO about her career, her favourite compositions and where she sees the future of the classical music industry heading.
What was your first musical experience and what influenced your decision to become a professional pianist?
I don’t think I ever actively decided to become a concert pianist, except for one moment in my early childhood. My mother is a former pianist and singer and I remember clearly how I always accompanied her to her singing lessons and soon started singing myself, namely Mozart’s Das Veilchen and later on the Queen of the Night. However, apparently I was standing in front of her one day at the age of four, stating that I would also become a pianist. It was only much later though, at the age of eight, that I would finally receive my first piano lesson, as my mother had decided that she did not want to become my teacher and thus took her time to find the perfect teacher for me (which she did). I always felt this inner certainty and without ever questioning it, going down that road was always quite natural to me and so I paved the way by fighting for home-schooling at the age of 12 or going to conservatoire at the age of 15.
What has been one of the greatest experiences as a performer in your career so far?
Only recently a man came up to me after a concert and apologised for being so blunt — he couldn’t help but tell me that if it had not been for the other people in the hall he would have been in tears throughout the whole performance of Schubert’s Sonata for Piano No. 21 in B flat major. Nothing comes close to the blissful feeling overwhelming me when I see people in such a special state of mind, the experience of touching your audience on such a deep level. Such an experience outweighs everything and is more important than everyday struggles or any material “needs”. Nothing will ever be able to adequately substitute or compensate the joy of music making, receiving and giving.
What are your favourite pieces of music to play and why?
Any piece by Schubert. It might be that my mother played a lot of Schubert when I was little, so I always woke up or fell asleep to his music, but I feel so close to his compositions, his way of expression and communication. “On top of the world, or in the depths of despair” … And not only in two bars or two hands, but in one hand, one chord. I don’t know any other composer with such a wide, complex and detailed spectrum of colours. You can find more in one bar than others have tried to put on one page. And then there is Liszt. I also feel a natural understanding of his music, especially his profundity, spirituality and of course his savoury virtuoso aspects which pleasantly demand and feed my inner sturm und drang. But ultimately I enjoy the pieces I play at the respective time the most as I always chose carefully what I play and therefore could also put Brahms’ piano concerto on this list, or Tchaikovsky’s piano trio, which I am currently working on.
Is there another pianist/musician that you aspire to?
Sergiu Celibidache. There is no one of that caliber and steadfast sense of breathing, timing and voice leading, especially when it comes to the communication of the different voices within the orchestra. There is no way I can escape his capturing interpretations. I have heard his recording of Schubert’s Symphony in C major a million times and simply can not get tired of it. And Grigory Sokolov. I clearly remember a concert he had given in Hannover many years ago. He played Bach’s Italian concerto and the first note of the second movement made such an impact on me that it has stayed with me throughout all these years. The first note of the right hand had me instantly burst into tears. And up to this day I still remember the crystal clear, heavenly sound as if he was playing right now. They both gave me something sustainable, something to draw my inspiration from and I have learned an incredible amount simply by listening to their recordings.
As technology advances, where do you see the future of the classical music industry heading?
What has been common practice in the pop industry, is now slowly finding its place in classical music. Social media becomes an important tool for young musicians as it is a way of communicating with the audience — showing you are human and bringing you closer to the audience. In that sense I believe that it plays a big role in the future careers of young musicians.
You can now choose how close you want your audience to be to you and guide that through blogs/Twitter/Facebook fan pages and so on. I often hear that classical musicians are rather difficult to access or associate with because there seems to be some kind of wall between the stage and the audience. I personally don’t feel that, but posting what you do in your daily life and those kind of things can make people relate to you more easily and take away that glow of unreachable perfection. It is also a great channel to give practicing advice to young students or answering questions they might have. Or simply express your buffoonish vein!
In terms of online platforms such as IDAGIO I think it is a wonderful chance to make classical music more accessible to a broader range of people. Especially with features like choosing your music based on your mood. If you don’t know anything about classical music it is very unlikely that you will find yourself in a classical music store browsing through stacks of CDs. However, I believe there’s a high chance of finding yourself in a music store looking for specific composers or artists after exploring classical music through IDAGIO for instance, and realising that it can just as well reflect, embrace and comfort your emotional condition as pop music can and that it’s actually not as difficult to access.
Speaking of technology advancing: You can now watch Renée Fleming’s hologram sing on stage instead of herself, in case you can’t make it to her performance 5000 kilometres away. How crazy is that! But despite all the fascinating developments in technology I’m still a fan of the good old vinyl and would not trade it for anything just as much as I would not trade a book for a Kindle. My friends call me sentimental, I reckon they may have a point!
In your experience as a young musician, what are your ideas to keep and develop an audience for classical music?
I was never one to say that our audience is “dying out”, “too old”, or use similar apocalyptic dictums. At my last concert in South Germany, I witnessed something extraordinary. I was playing the Sonata in B flat major by Schubert and the F minor by Brahms and because it was sold out, there was a family of five sitting on the heater right in front of the piano. Never have I ever seen toddlers be so fascinated and quiet throughout a concert and especially not with such a demanding program. There is a young generation of music lovers. One just has to acknowledge them. And seeing these kids being fascinated by Schubert gives me hope that there will always be an audience that wants to listen. We just have to keep playing.
You can listen to Leonie play Liszt and Chopin on IDAGIO and read more about her career (and listen to more of her wonderful recordings!) on her website.
