2023-05-21 04:00:10
Alexandre Tharaud made a name for himself in 2001 with a record, Branch. “New Sequels”followed by a Ravel recital (Ravel. Complete works for piano), which made him an international star. Since then, he has multiplied his recordings, his concert program is fixed three years in advance, and he has received three Victoires de la Musique. A success that gives him the freedom to escape from classical music, to play Barbara or film music and, more recently, to reveal his talents as a composer.
I wouldn’t have come here if…
… If I hadn’t clung to the branches! If there hadn’t been a force in me powerful enough to get through a life that was not always easy and manage, at all costs, to get on stage. Much more than the music, the stage is essential for me, whether in a village church or at Carnegie Hall in New York.
I could live without music, never without the stage. The stage is life to the thousandth power! Love, fear, pleasure, vertigo, fusion, all the emotions are amplified there like nowhere else. Next to it, life seems bland. So I fought to live the scene. It was not won.
But didn’t you get on stage very early on?
It’s true. My parents put on operettas. From the first months of my existence, I was backstage on weekends. From 4 years old, I was doing dance and figuration in the theaters where they played. I was even on stage even earlier, in my mother’s womb! She danced and also gave lessons. Through the wall of her belly, I heard Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, and the tips of the young dancers pounding the floor. Still a fetus, I was enveloped by this music, and by the magnificent voices of my parents and my big sister. So I became a musician and stage man even before I wanted to.
Then, at 5, I started playing the piano and, very quickly, I had the opportunity to play in front of people. The piano allowed me to be interesting. And, unlike the dance, I was the only one to capture the attention. I liked that!
This joy was transformed in adolescence into the pleasure of virtuosity: playing faster than a Formula 1 car, learning a Prokofiev concerto in five days… I experienced a pleasure in performance. The pleasure of the depth of sound came later, when I started to give concerts, young adult. Then that of sharing the passion.
So why do you say you had to fight to get on stage?
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