Seong-Jin Cho returns to Chopin

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho shot to fame in 2015 when he became the first Korean to win the prestigious Chopin Competition – following in the footsteps of two compatriots from a decade previously, but ultimately surpassing them to claim the top spot. Since this lightning debut, he's been at pains to present himself as more than a one-trick pony or Chopin specialist – recording works from right across the classical canon and, tantalisingly, even hinting at a coming focus on earlier repertoire.

For now, though, Cho feels it's the right time to pay another visit to Chopin, with a new release completing the diptych of the Polish virtuoso's two intimidating concertos. I spoke to Cho about these works, and what "difficulty" really means for a concert pianist.

You comment on the prevailing opinion among pianists that the Concerto No.1 is more technically difficult than No.2, which you record here. What is it about No.1 that makes it perhaps tricker to tackle, and what are some of the challenges that No.2 presents?

It’s partly because of its length; it’s ten minutes longer than the F minor concerto [No.2], but it’s also more technically demanding. Musically, they’re both tricky, but in terms of technique I think the E minor concerto [No.1] is more difficult to play. There are concerns of stamina and physicality.

You’re a top-tier concert pianist, rather than a conservatoire student or an amateur who might need to consider the limits of their own abilities when selecting a programme. How much do these questions of technical difficulty remain a concern at the level you perform at?

It’s hard to say. Mozart concertos can be more difficult in some ways than Rachmaninov concertos! In terms of technique, of course the Mozart pieces are much easier, but musically speaking, if you’re really trying to make it sound special, the Mozart can be more difficult.

There are a few concertos that I haven’t played yet, like the Brahms concertos, but which I would definitely like to play in the near future. I thought that I wasn’t really as prepared as I would like to be for performing these. In two or three years, maybe it’ll be time. But that’s not really a question of difficulty - to be honest, that’s not a big issue for me. If it’s hard to play, or technically demanding, as pianists we just have to accept it. It sounds odd, but I think pianists always have to struggle and have to enjoy this kind of process. Sometimes there’s a kind of joy in the process of struggling with a piece! There’s an element of solving a puzzle or a problem, and if I can achieve something through that it creates so much joy and excitement.

Coming back to Brahms – I haven’t played his music very much up until now, and I think to understand his music you have to play his chamber music first. His music, in general, is very closely connected to chamber music, and especially if you’re trying to understand his concertos. The second concerto in particular, the third movement of it is very much like chamber music. So to understand this kind of approach, you have to learn the chamber music first before playing the concertos. With Beethoven, by contrast, his music is more closely related to his other orchestral and symphonic music, so when I play his sonatas I can hear different kinds of instruments within that music. So for Beethoven’s piano music, it’s the orchestral music that you have to learn and know about. Likewise Mozart; in his case I think the key thing to understand is his operas.

After your breakthrough success in the Chopin Competition in 2015, Chopin has clearly remained incredibly important to you; what is it about his music that you find so particularly appealing?

Well, I’ve recorded a great many things besides Chopin – in fact the last time I recorded him was about five years ago. Since then I’ve recorded Debussy, Mozart, Schubert and Liszt – so it’s been a while. I also consciously avoided focusing too hard on Chopin; since winning the Chopin Competition I didn’t want to be labelled as a Chopin specialist. There are so many other great composers out there that I wanted to explore and play as much as possible.

Now, though, I’ve been feeling that it’s about time to return to Chopin, which is why I’ve made this recording now.

Charles Richard-Hamelin has observed that the Chopin Competition is one of very few competitions where you cannot “bang your way to the top” by simply playing fast, loudly and accurately – Chopin’s music demands more than that. Would you agree with him on this?

In any competition, merely avoiding playing wrong notes and playing fast and loudly isn’t going to count for very much. For me, “technique” is not about that kind of thing, it’s about control. And musicality is about understanding the music; everyone has their own approach and ideas about the interpretation of a piece. This is why competitions are something of a gamble; it depends so much on the jury members’ reactions to your performace, and ultimately on luck. You have to be very fortunate to win a competition. What I had to do in preparing for the Chopin Competition was simply to practice hard and prepare, and try my best. After that, all you can do is pray!

How is Chopin generally received in Korea – do you feel like you’re blazing the trail for him, or is he already a firm favourite among music-lovers?

I gave a few concerts before winning the Chopin Competition; I’d already won the third prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition and I was able to work with some other musicians, in particular Myung-whun Chung. After I won the competition, however, it was totally different. My concerts and recitals were suddenly selling out very fast, and it really caught me by surprise.

Back in 2005 there were two Koreans who had jointly won third prize in the Chopin Competition, called Dong-Min Lim and Dong-Hyek Lim, and at that time I was eleven years old, and it was big news that they’d taken the third prize at this competition – the first time a Korean had picked up a prize. So I don’t know about Korea specifically, but Asian people in general are very much into Chopin’s music. Japan, in particular – they really love Chopin and the Chopin Competition there. When I was in Warsaw in 2015, there were a lot of Japanese audience members in the hall for the Competition – their passion for Chopin was very impressive.

Having now recorded both Chopin concertos, can you tell us anything about your future plans? Will you stay focused on Chopin, or do you have other ideas?

Recording these concertos in London was terrible from a logistical perspective – this was back in April, and I had to do so many COVID-19 tests and quarantine for five days, and so on. We were still in lockdown at this point. But it was a memorable time all the same, and to be able to record the Scherzos was quite convenient; I didn’t have the concerts I would normally have, so I had more free days and far more flexible schedule. The planning for those wasn’t so hard. In terms of upcoming things – it won’t be Chopin! Maybe in another five years I’ll come back to him again. But for now I’m looking at doing something different, possibly focusing on Baroque music. It’s not confirmed yet so I can’t say anything more at this stage.