{"id":1149,"date":"2020-03-06T07:54:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T07:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2020-03-06T07:54:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T07:54:43","slug":"we-are-the-music-makers-exclusive-interview-with-pianist-natalia-nicolaeva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/03\/06\/we-are-the-music-makers-exclusive-interview-with-pianist-natalia-nicolaeva\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS: exclusive interview with pianist Natalia Nicolaeva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00b4MY\nLIFE AND MY ART WERE BORN BY THE SEA\u00b4. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exclusive\ninterview for all across the arts <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian pianist,\nNatalia Nicolaeva \u2013 March 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nI knew nothing at all about either Iya Zhmaeva or Natalia when my wife and I\nand two friends stumbled into into a small concert room in Tias on an evening\nbefore which we had heard a classical piano recital in The Camel House in\nMacher, I hope it wouldn\u00b4t sound too rude when I began my interviews with both\nartists by asking, who are you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I\nam Natalia Nikolaeva. I was born and grew up in the Crimea, on the Black Sea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Isadora Duncan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In this regard, I recall the lines of the great dancer, Isadora Duncan, from her autobiography: “I was born by the sea and noticed that all the outstanding events of my life took place near it. My first thoughts about movement and dance were certainly inspired by the rhythm of the waves… My life and my art were born by the sea”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe same way, my first childhood experiences and memories are mostly related to\nthe sea and to music. Maybe that’s why I need and love this wonderful island of\nLanzarote so much. I have been living in Berlin for 24 years now, where I\ngraduated from the University of the Arts (Universit\u00e4t der K\u00fcnste Berlin) in\npiano and instrumental pedagogy. Berlin has a multifaceted cultural palette\nthat allows me to grow and develop professionally, providing impulses for piano\nand chamber music. Berlin and its cultural life is my intellectual food, which\nI need very much. And the Lanzarote and the Canary Islands are my soul and my\nheart without which I cannot imagine my existence. Here on Lanzarote there is\neverything – the energy of the volcano, the power of the ocean, the\ninvigorating sun and interest in culture! Here I have the opportunity to\nrealize my projects and bring music to people. It’s like a little paradise!\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nsuch an obviously wide love of and interest the arts I wonder why it was\nplaying music, and the piano in particular, that  Natalia was drawn to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4For\nme, a piano is an instrument of my inner world. With it I can express myself.\nIt’s my language. You can speak Russian, English, German, Spanish, or you can\nspeak and express your thoughts through a piano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vladimir Horowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vladimir Horowitz, one of the greatest pianists, said that the piano is one of the easiest instruments for beginners and the most difficult for experienced masters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ninstrument combines strength and grace, singing and life; on the piano you can\nperform one voice and imitate the entire orchestra; play opera and ballet;\nperform an entire symphony and a small salon piece; accompany the melody and\nbuild a complex polyphonic vertical. The pianist can be a soloist and part of a\nchamber ensemble. Without the accompaniment of the pianist it will be difficult\nfor a singer and any other instrument. The piano is a kind of foundation. It\u2019s\nlike ancient columns on which a building with a beautiful dome is built.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nI ask Natalia what she plays for her own pleasure without rehearsals or concert\nplans, she gives the question some serious thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Natalie speaks with a fan after recent concert<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4This is a very difficult question, as professional musicians are almost always preparing for something. But in order to distract from the usual activities, sometimes you want to remember and pick up forgotten childhood melodies or musical passages and make piano transcriptions out of them. Or, for example, when reading a book about Beethoven, you want to play all 32 sonatas in a row, and all variations and all 5 piano concerts by this great composer. After seeing a Rafael exhibition you definitely want to play the Scarlatti’s sonatas or after visiting Monet and Renoir’s exhibitions to enjoy Debussy’s music… there is also jazz, but this is a separate conversation!\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nthruway reference to jazz sounded intriguing and was rendered more so by the\nYou Tube screenings of her playing some jazz standards. Her talk of great\npainters and their works makes it sound as if Natalia has also followed similar\nsidetracks and detours all across the arts to those we have taken, so I ask her\na question I also asked of Iya Zhmaeva, about where her music has taken her,\nboth literally and spiritually. The question obviously loses something in\ntranslation, as asked Iya in Spanish before asking Natalia in Russian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\nbegan her response in much the same way as Iya had done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I\ndon’t quite understand this question. Please send it in English or Spanish! However,\nif you are asking about places where music has won me over I would say that\nplace is my my room where I can study at my instrument.. The moment I start\nworking on a piece, I am very happy. It’s very hard, hard work, but it’s\nhappiness! It is the happiness of being in touch with Music, with something\nsacred.\u00b4 (ed. Natalia\u00b4s deification, though whether intentionally typed by her\nas such I cannot be certain. What do you think?). \u00b4The great Russian pianist\nMaria Yudina said “We will all be saved through Music.” This has deep\nreligious roots.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4In\nterms of where music has taken me  beyond\nmy own personal space, I have to mention, of course, the magnificent concert\nhalls – the Berlin Philharmonic and the Berlin Opera Houses or the halls and\nopera houses of Salzburg during the Music Festival. For me as a musician the\nquality of the music, the quality and the frankness of the performers I listen\nto, is very important. The music of Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Mozart\ngoes deep into my heart and soul and remains there forever. And how can we not\nmention Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Bach?\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given\nNatalia\u00b4s reference to the quality and frankness of performers I have to ask\nabout her musical collaboration with violinist Iya Zhmaeva and how that came\ninto being and what makes it work so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Playing\nchamber music is very difficult. It’s a kind of relationship, a partnership.\nEither you’re right for each other, or playing together is impossible. What do\nI mean when I spek of being right for each other? Actually I can’t definitively\nanswer that question. Probably it’s necessary to have a similar level of music\neducation, to be able to listen and be ready for dialogue, to be open to\nsomething new.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I\nam very glad that I had the pleasure of meeting such an interesting person and\na wonderful violinist as Iya Zhmaeva. In my opinion, we understand each other\nin music, we try to discuss and create programs together, to make sure that\nboth parties are interesting. We learn to breathe together, to sound similar\nand to think alike in music. Our great happiness is that we speak Russian.\nStill, having one native language, it doesn’t require much explanation, because\na common mentality unites. Of course, there are no disputes either! I really\nlike that we can always stop our discussion, smooth out our hot Russian\ntemperament, listen to our heart and inner voice. And the inner voice says, \u201cViva\nla musica!” And then everything at once falls into place, the concert\ncomes and we are happy that we can play together and carry to our audiences the\nmasterpieces of musical literature – sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Frank, works\nby Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Bart\u00f3k, Piazzolla and many, many others.\u00b4 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natalia\nwill be back on Lanzarote in June and we hope she and Iya might again play a\nconcert here. Meanwhile, we look forward to seeing Iya play, in accompaniment\nwith her thirteen year old month son, and a pianist, in Tias later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b4MY LIFE AND MY ART WERE BORN BY THE SEA\u00b4. Exclusive interview for all across the arts Russian pianist, Natalia Nicolaeva \u2013 March 2020 As I knew nothing at all about either Iya Zhmaeva or Natalia when my wife and I and two friends stumbled into into a small concert room in Tias on an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}