Being the Music: A Conversation with Khatia Buniatishvili
Khatia Buniatishvili, one of the most accomplished pianists of her generation, sits down to talk about her forthcoming album of Mozart compositions.
After my interview with Khatia Buniatishvili, I was surprised how emotional I felt. Signed to Sony Classical at age 23 and boasting over 300k Instagram followers, Buniatishvili is one of the most well-known and accomplished pianists around. But the emotions that I’d felt had nothing to do with her career. They had to do with the deep passion she brought when talking about music. When performing “the music has to fill your entire body,” she told me. “You have to be the music.”
Though this musical passion was apparent throughout our entire conversation, we also touched on her forthcoming album of Mozart compositions, what it was like collaborating with Coldplay, how you have to train to become a virtuoso on piano, and so much more.
A Conversation with Khatia Buniatishvili
Earlier this year, you released a record called Labyrinth: Ephemera where you performed pieces by some of the most well-known composers of all-time, including Bach, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. As a performer, what are you trying to do when performing a piece that has been interpreted scores of times?
Think about when you see a movie that was adapted from a book. Each director is trying to take the book that you love and say something new with it. It’s the same when I perform a composition. You are trying to say something new.
When you first study this profession, you aren’t thinking about that, though. You are just learning the discipline and happy to be making music. After a certain point, you feel like you are finally an artist and have your own thing to say. That’s when you can finally say something personal or unique with these compositions.
Can I pick a specific piece from Labyrinth: Ephemera, say Bach’s Prelude in Bm, and have you tell me specifically what you were trying to convey while recording it?
Sure. That piece for me is about the perpetual movement of life, about how from the moment you are born until the moment you die you are on a journey that involves endless choices. That piece is about choosing the way you want to live, about transforming the pain of our lives into movement.
Do you think it’s important for a performer to convey what a composer specifically intended? Or do you think there is room for each performer to say what they feel?
A composer’s intent is very abstract. There are many ways to try to understand what that intent is. The one way, of course, is reading the music that they’ve written. Another way is listening to other recordings of that music. But in either case you as a musician must follow how the music moves you. It is a gift to be able to feel things in that way.
I was watching a video of you performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on YouTube when I came across a comment that read “I am sure if [Gershwin] were listening to this particular performance, he would say ‘Ah. This is what I heard when I composed it.’” This sentiment is common when people talk about your playing. You are a virtuoso. Can you talk me through two things? First, how you began learning the piano as a child. Second, what your practice routine looks like today.
You start this profession quite early and you also become professional quite early. For me, I started learning at six-years-old. Very quickly, you are on stage where you are expected to perform pieces correctly and with charisma. Honestly, you are so young at that time that starting isn’t really your choice. But you do have to choose if you keep doing it. Of course, I did enjoy it. And I’m quite happy today. That said, I have a kid now and would want her to decide if she wants to play. It becomes your life very quickly.
I don’t think I can give specific practice advice to everyone. It differs from person to person. But you have to have tremendous discipline. And it isn’t just physical discipline. It is also psychological discipline. I think that is actually a bigger barrier for musicians. You have to get used to physical and psychological discomfort if you are going to be able to perform difficult compositions.
At your skill level are there still pieces that require a ton of physical and psychological practice to get right?
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