The Winner of 2009 International Web Concert Hall
Competition
 "Simmering
Volcano" (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany)
"Master
of the sensitive touch" (Sächsische Zeitung)
"A young man endowed with phenomenal pianistic and musical talent. A
talent, so rare that I would place him among top three per cent of the
pianists performing before the worldwide public today."
(Lev
Natochenny, Professor of Piano Frankfurt Conservatoire of Musik & City
University of New York, Artistic Director, Meranofest)
"In addition to an impeccable technique, Vadim possesses a highly
developed sense of phrasing and rubato, an impressive palette of colors,
and an almost philosophical approach to musical interpretation, all
qualities that set him apart from his peers."
(Peter
Takács, Professor of Piano at the Oberlin Conservatory Ohio, USA)
"His play is not only excellent technically, but also, first and
foremost, characterized by artistic fantasy and a prominent sense of
color, form and musical development."
(Peter
Rösel, Concert Pianist, Professor of Piano at the Dresden Conservatoire
of Music)
"Beside a virtuoso technique, fine musicianship and tonal colour, he
possesses a special artistic personality which touches the hearer."
(Eugen Indjic,
Concert Pianist, Professor of Piano at the Scuola Cantorum, Paris)
How did you begin to play the piano?
I began at age five. Actually, no one in my family is a musician but –
as the story goes – I was once caught singing quite clearly in the
bathtub when I was about 9 month old and my parents decided that I had
potential to become a musician. When I was about two years old my
parents got me a toy piano as a birthday present. I began to play tunes
and popular melodies by ear. Finally, I got a real piano when I was five
and my parents sent me to a local music school.
Where were you born and where do you live now?
I was born in Vilnius (Lithuania). I moved to Frankfurt (Germany) when I
was 17, following the invitation of Professor Lev Natochenny to join his
master class at the Frankfurt Conservatoire of Music.
How did your teacher
influence you as a musician?
There are three
people whom I owe much to my professional growth. Tatjana Radovich, my
first teacher in Vilnius, is a very attentive pedagogue and a great
musician. I am also very much indebted to two remarkable musicians, both
pupils of the legendary Russian pianist Lev Oborin – Lev Natochenny and
Peter Rösel. The former taught me to see a musical score as, first and
foremost, a source for creative re-discovery and re-invention of
aesthetic meaning through interpretation rather than a stale work of
something called “standard repertoire”… treating like a corpse that one
should reanimate according to the strict unchangeable rules and derive
its meaning from a pre-defined approach rather than from the potential
of the piece itself. The latter, Peter Rösel, one of the most
significant representatives of the contemporary German piano school, has
revealed to me the crucial role of the formal aspect of the music work:
there can be no convincing interpretation without realizing the inner
structure and the logical connections within the work. Furthermore,
Peter Rösel is a living example of what a true artist can and should
accomplish. I find his creative potential, pianistic abilities and
skills absolutely incredible in a scale rarely witnessed today.
 Do you have a
practicing method you follow everyday?
Yes, I have a method
of my own, and my principle is quite simple: I practice at a slow tempo,
almost without using the pedal, trying to achieve that which can be
achieve by using the fingers alone - paying attention to every note as
much as possible. While practicing, I always focus on realizing my
conception of the piece fully, trying to achieve what I actually wish to
bring out again and again, so that later, on stage, I can just “let it
go” and sort of watch and control it as it unfolds.
What period of music
do you enjoy playing the most and why?
Music from Viennese classical period and the Romanticism. I can express
the most in these two periods of music. However, I also enjoy playing
Baroque and classic modernism.
In your opinion,
what are the characteristics of a good performer?
For me, it is crucial that the performer has his own style, a musical
idiom of his own. It does not mean that it should necessarily correspond
to my idea about the appropriate means of expression concerning a
certain piece. I often experienced a situation when, at an intellectual
level, I felt that I should disagree with the interpretation but the
creative impetus was so strong and the performer produced something so
convincing at the emotional level that I could not but admire its
outcome.
Do you
play chamber music?
Yes,
I enjoy playing chamber music a lot - when I have an opportunity. In my
view, it is the genre of chamber music in which most composers created
their best works.
Do you
have any upcoming concert engagements?
Yes I do.
Most of them are in Europe, the first in Germany. And of course I would
be very happy to have a chance to perform for the American public,
especially now, after winnig the Web Concert Hall competiton in the
United States! I hope this dream will come true some day.
 Do you have a hobby?
Here, I would like to mention two things that I enjoy doing when I don’t
play the piano: reading and traveling. As for the first, my favorite
authors are such philosophers and psychologists as Schopenhauer,
Wittgenstein and Jung and such writers as Dostoevsky and Hesse. As for
traveling, “my heart’s in the mountains”, so to speak. The Bavarian Alps
with their picturesque lakes of cold green crystal-clear water is the
area where I like to roam the woods with a couple of close friends and
my iPod.
I
understand that you have attended two post graduate studies from 2003 –
05 (Konzertexamen) and 2005 – 07 (Master class). Can you briefly discuss
about these two studies? Are they equivalent to doctoral studies in the
United States?
I am not
quite sure if the postgraduate studies that I attended in Germany are
equivalent to doctoral studies in the United States, as unfortunately I
am not very well acquainted with the American educational system, but I
guess yes, there must be a similarity. Being a postgraduate music
student in Germany means perfecting your skills and command of the
instrument, enlarging your knowledge of repertoire, but it also
often means giving lessons to undergraduates at the conservatoire. As
for me, during my postgraduate studies in Dresden the communication
between my professor and me became more and more personal, I felt that
I was treated as a colleague and a mature artist whose ideas were
respected even if an older and much more experienced musician felt like
disagreeing with them. Very often, one small suggestion from my
professor sufficed to help me complete my concept and execution of the
piece, and I must confess that not infrequently I miss those hours a
lot.
Who are some
of your favorite performers... and why?
There are
many remarkable pianists who I admire, however, I would like to single
out two of them whom I really adore: Vladimir Horowitz and Emil Gilels.
In Horowitz, I cherish most his unique ability to "add spirit", as it
were, to the matter of music and to re-discover the material / re-invent
the piece anew every time. His music is "alive" in all respects. In
Gilels I value most his incredible pianistic skills and mastery, his
command of the instrument and his famous "golden sound" - in my opinion,
he is one of the greatest pianists of the last century. I also would
like to mention that I believe my pianistic and artistic approach is
somewhat akin to his...
 What do you hope to
achieve as a pianist and musician?
“Without
music, life would be a mistake”, Nietzsche wrote. I have always felt
that this is much more than just a beautifully turned phrase. At some
point in my youth, I realized that this statement immediately concerns
my life. Already as a child, I felt that classical music was
something very earnest, something to be taken seriously and even
revered. As
I was learning to play the piano, the inexplicable laws of being in
music gradually but steadily took possession of my whole existence:
the piano taught me solitude, pensiveness and self-criticism. Now, as a
mature artist, I know that those rare moments of revelation which
occur on stage are something as true as God and as beautiful as his
Universe, something you wish so much to stop and share with everybody
around you. And when you see tears in the happy eyes of people as they
come up to you after the recital to tell you a few warm words or just
shake your hand you begin to believe that this is possible.
Being a
concert pianist is not easy: there are days marked in your calendar on
which you just must do your best, no matter how physically fit
you are or what thoughts and worries torture your soul. You are often
alone on stage, ‘naked’ before the audience full of expectations, you
cannot put it off or escape. I must confess that I am not one of those
musicians who get used to the concert routine and, sooner or later, come
to regard what they do as their job. No, for me every concert is
another battle with myself in my never-ending quest for art.
On be half of the Web Concert Hall, we
would like to thank you for your time and we wish all the success.
Interviewed by Webconcerthall in March, 2009
Contact
Vadim Chaimovich:
vadimchaimovich@arcor.de
Vadim's Website:
http://www.vadim-chaimovich.com/engl/main.html
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