Sur le choix du répertoire

Il m’a longtemps paru surprenant de rencontrer auprès de musiciens ou de mélomanes une sorte de prédilection affichée pour la sonate de Béla Bartók. Etudiants ou musiciens amateurs rêvant de la jouer sans en avoir les moyens techniques, mélomanes donnant l’impression de l'écouter tout les jours en

 Scarlatti

My discovery of the piano and of pianists is intimately bound up in my life with the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. At the age of twelve, soon after coming to France, I came across Horowitz and his famous recording of the sonatas. In Albania there had  not been many opportunities to listen to records made by great instrumentalists. The Horowitz quickly became one of my favourites. I soon felt as if I knew these short, stylish and often melancholy works by heart.

Encounters

It was in Paris. Someone who introduced himself as François-Xavier Roth had just called to ask me if I would like to write something about my encounter with the flautist Alain Marion. He had died quite recently and La Lettre du musicien was planning a homage. That didn't surprise me. Marion had been worshipped by his students (François-Xavier Roth was one of them). Several of them had been in touch with me at the time of Marion's death. As I was on tour in Denmark I wasn't able to attend the funeral of a person who had completely altered the course of my life and the lives of my relatives.

Dans l’Albanie de mon enfance l’image de Paganini occupait une place très particulière. A l’ouest, l’Italie du compositeur, bien que fantomatique depuis l’avènement de la dictature communiste, continuait de distiller une magie d’autant plus forte au sein de familles autrefois bourgeoises à travers sa langue ainsi que mille autres objets, livres et souvenirs...