Around those grand flourishes
G.N. PRASHANTH
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Chantal de Salaberry, a pianist from Belgium, says western classical music is becoming increasingly popular in England because that is where the money is
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REAL QUESTIONS Chantal:`The pianist has to survive solo' Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
The most beautiful thing about a conversation with Chantal de Salaberry, the pianist, is the more you try to talk about music, the more she loves to talk about things around music. And she does so very, very naturally. She's seen the piano for 50 years now and in a domain that can be intensely purist, she is absolutely refreshing. Chantal de Salaberry is originally from Basque now settled in Belgium. She has taken her lessons from Stefan Askenase and Eduardo del Pueyo. She is more than familiar with the masters — Chopin, Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart.
Chantal de Salaberry performed the "four-hand repertoire" from Mozart to Rachmaninoff, here in the city recently with Fareed Curmally in a programme organised by Bangalore School of Music and WorldSpace. De Salaberry, who is looking to organise a festival soon in Basque, took time-off to share some of her views on western classical music, culture and politics in Europe.
You come from a region that is now `separatist'. Tell us about its culture and music.
Well, I do come from Basque, but French Basque that is quiet compared to the one in Spain. There is no Basque music if you consider the western classical form. The culture is old. They were people from Georgia who settled down in France and Finland. There has been traditional music and some words dating back to 5,000 years are in use. In the modern period, Basque has no great culture to speak of. People never spoke French. They did so only after World War one because they were obliged to - they had to speak to French soldiers. France did something I do not agree with. When you kill a language, you kill a culture. It is only towards the end of the century that there has been interest in the Arts and revival of the language. People can now pass exams in Breton. But Basque is still bi-lingual — all signboards are in French and Breton.
With the revival, can there be Basque music?
This is a difficult question. Traditional music has been there. But Basque may not be useful to learn and is difficult to learn. I don't see the point. Who do you speak with? There is a complexity to recognise: there is an older generation that speaks Basque, a middle-generation that does not and a younger generation that does.
How is western classical doing in Basque today? And in Europe itself?
I've been organising western classical festivals at Biarritz for the last eight years. I've stopped now because there is little money. We need to pay artistes.
The first two-three years people play. And then enough is enough. The music is serious, but money is serious too. People don't have the time to spend two to three weeks without being paid to play. It is what can we say — to pay to play. I know young musicians who want to come to India on their own money.
You learn from great teachers in Bonn or Berlin and when out, you have just two or three places. There is a sort of duality in the western classical.
Anything specific to piano?
Violin, cello and the viola players have the orchestras. The violinist can play overnight.
There are too many pianists. There is no place. The pianist has to survive solo.
Basque surely has one popular town for western classical.
Bayonne. That is where the first important music school between the two World Wars came up. That was where Ravel taught for a while.
Where in Europe is really the concentration of western classical?
Austria, Germany, Scandinavia and England. More and more in England because that's where the money is. And France is not the most musical of countries I've come across.
Where in all this is Russia?
Russia had very fine music schools during Communism. You couldn't speak you see! Once Communism fell, the best teachers and students moved out to Europe. There was no money to pay them.
How mainstream are the "nationalist compositions" from Russia and Eastern Europe?
Many compositions have not been published in this century. But translations are happening now especially in Brussels because it a common market. But then Russian to French is easy, but then Hungarian to French is not. Translation is difficult, but is happening.
The compositions you loved?
"Fantaisie" by Schubert and "Sonata" for piano by Shostakovich.
Have different composers been put together in western classical? Or has it been about re-producing?
Gould tried putting together Schubert and Bach, but it did not work. There has been no innovation in this sense because there has been no such tradition. It has been re-production all along. I think most of us want to be close to the sun.
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