The Winner of 2002 International Web Concert Hall
Competition
(Honorary Mention)
Tell us about your musical background.
MAIA: I began my musical studies under my father (conductor
of the symphonic orchestra) when I was three years old. I began to study piano because my
father made me listen to a lot of classical music. I liked the music so much, my father
decided to send me to study the piano at the more prestigious school of the Soviet Union
(the Central Special Musical School in Moscow) for seven years (in 1973).
 ALEXEI: I was
born in Moscow in 1966 in a family of musicians. My parents teach piano in a music school
in Moscow. I started to play piano when I was six years old when I asked my mother to
teach me to play. I entered the Musical School of "Gnesina," and after a few
years I moved to the Central Special Musical School in Moscow, where I met my future wife,
Maia, with whom I have played in duo since 1987. Since I was small, my parents often
brought me to listen to the concerts of Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, and so many
other famouse pianists.
Tell us about your teachers?
MAIA: During my studies in school I have had many teachers.
From 1985, I studied with Professor Genrietta Mirvis at the "Tchaikovsky" State
Conservatory in Moscow from which I graduated in piano in 1990. Just after, I attended the
same Conservatory and took the Chamber Music apprenticeship course (1990-1992) with
Dmitriy Galynin. During the lessons with Professor Mirvis, who was the winner of the Gold
Medal in piano competition "W.A. Mozart" of Salzburg in Austria, the technical
precision and perfection of the touch, especially in the music of Mozart, surprised me.
With Dmitriy Galynin, I always had a positive and friendly
relationship. Because I was trained under such musicians, I have never suffered pressure
of selecting the program or preparing upcoming performances. He has given me a lot
of opportunity by allowing me to play in various Chamber Music groups (I have also played
duos with clarinet, violin, and in Piano trios), enriching my repertoire and my
experience.
If we speak of my parents and friends, I can say that the
greatest influence on me as musician is surely the figure of my father. For me, he is one
person who really loves music. When he was young, he came to the conservatory at night to
study because he didn't want to waste the time for sleep. Anytime he travels to Moscow
(even now), the first thing that he must do is to visit the music shops to buy books and
recordings with the different interpretations that he made me listen to from morning to
evening. This way I know how to distinguish varied interpretations and he is able to
educate himself to what is good taste.
 ALEXEI: I have
been very fortunate, because I have studied with great professionals. I studied the basic
techniques privately in Moscow with Eleonora Musaelian. She was a student of a famous
pianist and professor, Konstantin Igumnov. She made my hands fly on the keyboard and she
has changed completely the way of playing the instrument. Most
importantly, I would like to thank particularly to my parents, that they guided me to
become a pianist. In the Central Special Musical School in Moscow (1977-82), my
teacher was Alexander Bakulov. For me, Bakulov has organized many concerts in many cities
in the Soviet Union. Through such experience, I have learned to love the stage and be
comfortable at it. When I was eleven years old, I played with the symphonic orchestra
playing the first concerto of Beethoven and at twelve, I performed
Grieg Piano concerto. My last two years in the Central Special Musical School
(1982-84), I began to study with Professor Evgeny Malinin and I have continued to study in
his class in the "Tchaikovsky" Conservatory (from 1985), obtaining my
Diploma and specialization in piano in 1991 and completing the doctoral course of study
(1991-93). For me it was a great experience, the chance to learn so much, to learn from
the pianist who has played concerts all over the world (Evgeny Malinin was the winner of
the piano competition "Chopin" in Warsaw, and piano competition "Marguerite
Long-Jacques Thibaud" in Paris), to learn from the professor who was the student,
assistant and disciple of the Great Henrich Neighaus (the teacher of Richter, Gilels and
many other Russian pianists who have entered into the history of the Russian Piano
School). He has given me so much in romantic music, he was the king of the touch, he
shaped Chopin as if it was a God! He was a great performer of Russian music too. I never
forget his interpretation of the second concert of Sergei Rachmaninov. He didn’t
teach often because he had many concerts to perform, but when he was there to teach me, it
was fantastic! He was a great artis!. The suggestions that he made to me, were very simple
(with two or three words he succeeded in changing all of my images) but they helped, and
they help me a lot on the stage.
About your practicing strategy...
MAIA: I don't have a precise method of study for every day. I
have to know the reasons to play that day; to improve some places in the pieces, trying to
overcome technical difficulties.... Before the performance, I study a lot, but it also
depends on what I have to play; if the program is new or one that I have already played
many times, if the pieces of the program are techically difficult, I practice up to the
last minute. For me, I find that it is much more effective to practice in the morning,
when my mind is clearer and knowing that the whole day is in front of you... however, I
often find myself practicing in the evening when our children are sleeping. However,
having a problem not wanting to practice for weeks or months for us simply dont exist
because we always have some concerts or competitions that force us to be always in shape.
 ALEXEI: My
practicing method: To know exactly the reasons to practice and doing it. I agree with what
Maia has said. I would like to add only my personal principle: if I feel insecure in the
piece that I have to perform, I try to study more deeply in all the senses. Regarding the
days when you don’t have the desire to study, with all of the appointments that we
have in our lives, it could happen... however, when it does, I don't thrive. I think that
to make a certain break for a moment from practice sometimes it would be positive for
future studies.
In your opinion, what is your strength in your
playing? What do you hope to achieve ten years from now in your music career?
 MAIA AND ALEXEI:
It is difficult to answer this question, perhaps easier to
ask the public. We try to be professional and sincere on the stage, trying to play and to
approach the ideas of the composer and character of the piece. The performer's work,
according to us, is divided into two parts: preparation and the perfection of the piece,
and the definitive result - it is important to bring to the stage everything that was
done, trying not to lose anything, or better still, to try to improve it on the stage.
For what we have succeeded in doing up to now we are happy,
in the future we hope to continue as we have with more playing in front of the public and
traveling in different countries of the world. We hope to engrave other CDs and to make
contact with different agencies and managers to promote us in the musical field.
Do you like any other forms of art? such as painting?
a favorite writer? Tell us about it.
 MAIA: Our work is
tied to other forms of art: dance, painting, literature, poetry, theater, etc. I think
that all musicians like paintings, even if the preferences of style may be different. I
like the pictures of Russian painters: Vasnezov, Savrasov, Surikov, Repin and so many
others. I like dance, in fact I have worked in the Choreographic College of the
"Bolshoi" Theater in Moscow. This year I want to enroll our children in a dance
class. I am a very sensitive and romantic person. I read the historical romances or
beautiful love stories with a lot of pleasure. I am not very interested in the detective
stories that my husband reads. I read with pleasure some detective novels of Alessandra
Marinina and Daria Donzova. I have even read a book of a Russian writer, Victor Pronin
called "The Gang."
ALEXEI: When I studied at school, I read books of classical
literature and many books of history. Now I am having a good time with some detective
books of the Russian writers about the organized crime of Moscow. Why do I read them?
Maybe because they move me to another part of life which I saw when I lived in Moscow. I
have recently read a book of psychology and also on the religion of Russian author Sergei
Lasarev, called "The diagnostic of Carma." My preferred writers: Tolstoi,
Tchehov, Kuprin, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov.
What do you do for hobby, if any?
ALEXEI: Regarding my hobbies, I like to go to the sea, to
run, to swim, to listen to and play jazz, to draw, and to write poetry. I play the trumpet
(I have been in the military service two years, in one military orchestra in Moscow,
participating in two parades in Red Square). Seven years ago, I began the tuning,
reparation and restoration of pianos that I learned from my father (he is a piano tuner in
Moscow). I have graduated as a tuner in Moscow and have worked as a tuner of the piano in
Moscow, Paris, Milan, Rome, Palermo, and Stuttgart.
MAIA : I don't have any hobbies in particular. I like to do
everything. When I have leisure time, I like to work on sweaters. I know how to sew and I
also like to learn new recipes. I like to learn new things. I take courses in computers
and I have also enrolled in French and English language courses. I have a great passion
for animals. I like to help them and to take care of them in fact we have two house cats
that we found on the road. From infancy I grew up in a house full of animals. I very often
think that I could work very well in some zoo or veterinary clinic, because I really like
it.
In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a
good performer? How do you judge a good performance? Do you believe a performer must
attend conservatory? What is your opinion on this?
 MAIA AND ALEXEI:
As our answers coincide, we prefer to answer together. Certainly a good execution of the
piece; the professionalism, the brilliant artistic style and the perfection of the
execution. The execution must involve you, to give something extraordinary and sincere, it
has to be mature, deep, and it must be interesting!
We think that study in a conservatory for a professional is
necessary because only there can you grow in the correct way. It is a "big factory of
musicians," which could give you so much on the cultural level. Together with our
specialization, we learned so many other subjects that are necessary for the formation of
a musician (for example: the history of music, the history of arts, the history of piano
school, harmony, Chamber Music, art of the accompaniment to the piano, to the singers,
etc.). As the level of the execution today is high everybody must be prepared and
professional, and that can be done only in a professional place. It is probable that
exceptions exist to this rule, but they are rare.
 We are the piano
duo Alexei Soutchkov and Maia Berdieva (Russia) and we are husband and wife. We met in
1977 at the Central Special Music School in Moscow and were married in 1984. This year, we
celebrate 18 years of marriage and have two children, 3 and 7 years, both study the piano.
MOL: I think we need to wrap up at this point.
So on be half of MusicalOnline, we would like to thank you for your time and we wish all
the success.
Interviewed by
MusicalOnline on October, 2002
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