Montpellier : Bertrand Chamayou, l’interview d’un ultra-trailer de la musique classique

HERAULT TRIBUNE

Cinq Victoires de la musique classique ne suffisent pas à définir tout le talent de ce pianiste français originaire de Toulouse. Il faut ajouter à Bertrand Chamayou, le plaisir, l’exigence, la passion et l’amour.  20230722 Bertrand Chamayou à Montpellier interview

Transcript

00:00 Bertrand Chamayou, in 2006 you received your first classical music victory as a revelation.

00:06 In 2023 you are rewarded for the fifth time.

00:10 Are you the boss, as they say?

00:12 No, it's not me the boss.

00:14 You know, the awards were great, it's an incredible encouragement.

00:18 When you are in a profession like this and you have the whole profession rewarding you,

00:23 it's good, it's encouraging, I'm not going to lie.

00:26 But now, art is very subjective.

00:30 Like in sport, you can't say there is a first, a second, a third.

00:35 It's not as clear as that.

00:37 There are people we prefer to others.

00:39 There are people who detach naturally, who are noticed.

00:42 I have the chance to be part of my generation of people like that,

00:45 who tour internationally and have an audience that is appreciated.

00:49 So it's not for nothing, no doubt.

00:52 But there are a lot of people who propose interesting things that are very different.

00:56 And I'm not old, but I'm not completely young either.

01:00 I'm 42 years old today.

01:02 And to say that I'm not the boss,

01:04 it's because there are young generations,

01:06 there are musicians who are 25 years old,

01:09 that I admire a lot.

01:11 And it's very good, there are testimonies that are made.

01:14 So yes, five music victories.

01:16 Maybe recordman, but still not the boss.

01:19 It doesn't make sense in music.

01:21 You are co-director of the Ravel Festival,

01:24 which will be held in the Basque Country at the end of August.

01:27 Ravel, Chamayou, it's a story.

01:29 It's a story of a passion, it's a story of love.

01:31 Can you tell us a little bit?

01:33 So yes, it's passion and love, it's both, it's mixed.

01:37 That is to say, it's a love at first sight.

01:39 Why I play the piano today,

01:41 why I play some composers, some music,

01:44 it's first because I have big crushes

01:46 and that I wanted, in my turn,

01:48 to be able to express myself in these great scores.

01:51 So Ravel, it was when I was maybe 8 years old,

01:54 something like that, it was a revelation

01:57 when I discovered his music, first his scores.

02:00 It was too difficult for me, but I wanted to play them.

02:03 And it was an engine for me.

02:05 It's part of the composers like that,

02:07 I heard one or two pieces that fascinated me

02:10 and I wanted to discover everything else

02:12 and immerse myself in all this music.

02:15 The first piece I discovered was called "Jeux d'eau"

02:18 so I really wanted to immerse myself in it.

02:21 And then, it so happens that I spent my holidays

02:26 when I was little, I'm from Toulouse,

02:29 but we went to the Atlantic side, to Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

02:32 And Ravel was born in a small village

02:34 close to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, called Sibourg.

02:36 And then, today, we set up a festival project,

02:39 an academy also for young musicians,

02:42 and a large-scale festival that takes place in this region,

02:46 around Saint-Jean-de-Luz,

02:48 and in front of the ocean, with the mountains.

02:52 So it was the landscape in which this music was born,

02:55 if I may say so.

02:57 And then, I continue to nurture,

03:02 by doing this festival, this love story with Ravel.

03:06 So, an appointment in August for this festival.

03:10 But how do you explain, Maurice Ravel,

03:13 to those like me, who would be stuck in Ravel's bolero,

03:18 with as their only cultural horizon, the film by Claude Lelouch?

03:21 So, yes, Ravel is an author who really made a hit

03:27 with everyone, thanks to his interplanetary hit,

03:31 which is "Le Boléro".

03:33 And almost everyone knows it,

03:35 and people would say, "What is it?"

03:37 But listen, you can't escape it,

03:40 because it's played all over the world,

03:42 all the time, in advertising, in movies.

03:44 So yes, Claude Lelouch too,

03:46 but it's especially that it was one of the most re-recorded works

03:49 in the whole world, including by very different cultures,

03:52 in Africa, in India, etc.

03:55 It was one of the works like that,

03:57 which was re-recorded, as they say, everywhere.

03:59 And so, yes, Ravel, he found himself,

04:01 maybe a little closed, but you have to know that Ravel,

04:04 if you look at the performance numbers,

04:07 even if you remove "Le Boléro", which is the most played work in the world,

04:10 he still remains one of the most played composers in the world.

04:13 He is in the top 10 of the most played composers in the world without "Le Boléro".

04:16 So when you add "Le Boléro", he beats all the records.

04:19 So he still remains a composer who remains very accessible.

04:24 So, apart from "Le Boléro", he has a very immediate effect.

04:27 There are works that are more subtle, a little more sophisticated, maybe,

04:30 but still, it's a music that speaks a little to everyone.

04:32 There are great works like "La Valse", for example.

04:35 There is a great piano sign called "Gaspard de la Nuit".

04:40 And all of these are works that are great masterpieces of the early 20th century,

04:44 and which still sound very modern today.

04:47 Because Ravel was first loved by jazz musicians,

04:50 because he also loved jazz at the time.

04:53 And then, all the great musicians, whether they are classical,

04:56 whether they are jazzmen, whether they are in pop,

04:58 or even in hip-hop, he is really a very universal composer.

05:03 So, in Montpellier, you offer the whole of the pilgrimage years of Liszt.

05:08 Can you tell us a little bit about it?

05:10 So, in Montpellier, indeed, I have...

05:13 In other places, by the way, I made a great trip.

05:16 It's the pilgrimage years of Franz Liszt.

05:18 He is another composer that I love, Liszt.

05:20 He wrote an incredible work called "The Pilgrimage Years".

05:23 It's a kind of trilogy in three years,

05:26 which is actually a great journey.

05:29 He describes a journey he made with a countess he was in love with,

05:35 who left the count to go with him.

05:37 So, it was a big scandal in the 19th century.

05:40 And they fled through Switzerland and Italy.

05:42 And he discovered not only the landscapes,

05:44 but Italian painting, music, sculptures, etc.

05:49 He was very impressed by all of this, and so he made a great cycle.

05:52 But you should know that he first started to collect

05:54 all kinds of impressions, like a travel log.

05:56 Ten years later, he started to write a score,

05:59 until the death of Marie d'Agou,

06:03 the countess he was in love with for a long time.

06:06 But at the end of his life, he wrote again,

06:08 so the third year, which is a much more mystical cycle.

06:11 So, if we look at the layout of the composition of this score,

06:14 it's almost 50 years.

06:16 For someone who lived 75 years and started to compose in his adolescence,

06:20 this score is the story of a lifetime.

06:22 It's a journey in the life of Liszt.

06:24 And since Liszt was one of the great romantic heroes,

06:27 one of the great heroes of the 19th century,

06:29 it's really a journey in romanticism.

06:32 So, we're going to try to motivate the youngest.

06:35 What do you say to the youngest, so that they say,

06:37 as they could say, "I want to be like Ronaldo,

06:40 I want to be like Chamayou."

06:42 Well, motivate...

06:45 I have a hard time competing with Ronaldo

06:49 to make a name for myself,

06:52 or with Zidane, or with...

06:54 But, obviously, music is a story of love, first of all.

07:03 It's a heartbeat.

07:05 So, you should never force yourself.

07:07 If all of a sudden, something...

07:09 I think that in any situation,

07:12 what is important is to be curious, to stay open,

07:15 and not to put things in categories.

07:18 To say, "Classical music is for the elderly,"

07:21 or things like that.

07:23 Or to say, "Dance is for girls,"

07:25 or things like that.

07:26 It's absolutely ridiculous to think like that.

07:28 So, you really have to stay open,

07:31 and discover things.

07:33 And you should never force yourself.

07:34 It should never be a constraint.

07:35 You shouldn't say to yourself,

07:37 "You have to go to the piano, you have to go to the violin, etc."

07:39 There's no reason, you shouldn't.

07:41 If you're curious, and all of a sudden you want to,

07:44 and even if you don't respect it at first,

07:46 you're not a very disciplined kid.

07:48 I was a kid who wanted to play the piano,

07:50 who even wanted to compose music,

07:52 but I wasn't always respecting

07:54 the exercises that were given to me.

07:55 However, I wanted to spend time with it.

07:57 And so, that's the main thing.

07:58 It's the desire, first.

07:59 And then, when you have the desire,

08:01 you have to be a little regular.

08:02 It's like everything else.

08:04 Sport is the same.

08:05 When you want to get to a high level,

08:06 you need rigor and discipline.

08:08 You can't have everything by snapping your fingers.

08:10 That's for sure.

08:11 And on the other hand, what's important is the desire,

08:13 and you shouldn't be shy.

08:14 If all of a sudden, at first, you want to play the piano,

08:18 but you're not interested in classical music,

08:20 you have to do something else.

08:21 And then, maybe you'll get to classical music later.

08:23 If you like certain pieces,

08:24 you have to try to play them.

08:26 You have to learn to be disciplined,

08:29 but it's first a matter of desire, of passion.

08:32 And then, there are times when you'll have less desire,

08:34 that's for sure, but you have to stay listening.

08:36 You shouldn't shut up.

08:37 That's what's very important.

08:39 So, a little musical phrase to finish?

08:41 Yes.

08:43 ♪ ♪ ♪

08:46 ♪ ♪ ♪

08:50 ♪ ♪ ♪

08:53 (upbeat music)

08:55 (audience laughing)

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