Nobuyuki Tsujii on Beethoven

Nobuyuki Tsujii came to attention when he shared joint gold with Haochen Zhang at the 2009 Van Cliburn competition, and has built a flourishing international career around his sensitive and deeply considered performances, supported by a fluid technique which brings a special sense of ease to his playing. Coinciding with the release of his Deutsche Grammophon debut album, and the reissue by DG of his earlier recordings (a selection of which are featured in our playlist), Nobu-san spoke to Matthew Ash about his experiences, approaching Beethoven and learning new repertoire as a blind musician.

You were very young when you won the joint first medal in the Van Cliburn competition. You had already played at Suntory Hall but your debuts at Carnegie, Wigmore and the Proms came afterwards. Was this period of new experiences overwhelming or did you simply revel in having so many opportunities?

After the competition, I suddenly got busy and I was quite surprised about that, but then I had a great opportunity of performing in the great venues, with great orchestras and overseas, and that was really fortunate. I really enjoyed the experience.

And being signed by the legendary Deutsche Grammophon label, how did that feel?

Since I was small, I've been listening to lots of famous artists on this prestigious label and I'm really honoured to sign this same label as them. 

The Hammerklavier is one of the peaks of the whole piano repertoire. What inspired you to choose it for your DG debut ?

I gave a lot of thought to what I should record as my debut album for DG and had several detailed discussions with the producers, which were always very positive and productive. During this process, I came to the conclusion that I would like to continuously focus on Beethoven, who means a lot to me, in terms of my future development. So I chose the Hammerklavier Sonata for my album, which is one of the most difficult works for any pianist and an absolute challenge. I had played this piece at the Van Cliburn Competition in 2009, revisited it this time and came back to it with a fresh eye. I felt that I could really deepen my understanding of the work and I am completely happy with the result.

What is your overarching approach to Beethoven and how have you developed your interpretation of this sonata?

It is not easy for me to put my approach to a work or a composer into words, but with Beethoven, you can certainly say that his deafness is from his middle period onwards of great significance. I find that there is a narrative in his works that always came out of his deep despair, which led to the so-called Heiligenstadt Testament, and found hope in his life as a musician and composer, again and again. I often find myself as a blind musician in a similar situation and feel it when I play Beethoven.

As far as my approach to interpreting the Hammerklavier Sonata is concerned, I can't summarise it in a few sentences because the work is so special and grandiose. The piece requires an extremely high level of concentration when playing, but not only that. It contains pretty much everything that makes Beethoven special. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to fathom it completely before the end of my life. But once you've started to delve into it, you really have to go down that path. The work is so manifold, deep and rich.

Liszt was a huge admirer of Beethoven, and his arrangement of An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98, is a wonderful distillation of this. Your melodic shaping here is exquisite and has many qualities of the human voice. Has listening to Beethoven's original Lieder been part of your preparation?

That was of course essential and necessary. When I first captured the notes and learned them, the piece was not immediately tangible. I struggled with the piece for some time, listening to recordings or seeking opinions from others. As you say, it's a song cycle, and I kept listening to the original and learning the words. And then, finally, the piece opened up to me and I found my view of it.

In the actual playing, I followed Liszt's pedal indications, but I tried to find my own way of playing the pedal, in order to create certain colors and phrasing. It was also important to strike the differentiation and balance between the melody line and the accompaniment and to bind the notes. You have to achieve a perfect legato in order to realise the singing on the piano. I put a lot of effort into finding the right pedal control and the right use of the arms. In the end, the whole thing was a wonderful learning process for me in dealing with works that were originally written for voice.

Do you work closely with piano technicians for the piano to be prepared in the right way for you?

It's a lot of work, unlike a regular instrument. When I have a rehearsal and if tuners or technicians are around, I sometimes of course talk with them and request something. But as a pianist, you have to go to the venue and the piano provided. You have to get used to it and grasp the characterisation of each piano by the performance. 

How did you feel during the playback of these recordings?

During the recording, I listened to playbacks and tried my best until I was really satisfied.

Do you learn using Braille scores? As sighted pianists, we have several editions to read from and to draw from. Is there several Braille editions or just one?

Yes, I did learn the Braille music, but it takes time to learn. There are so many pieces that don't exist as Braille music. Rather than the many editions, it was more like a step back and I had to have the score made into Braille for me.

Which piece began your Beethoven journey?

The first Beethoven piece I studied was Sonata No. 1.

Do you have any plans to record more of the sonatas?

In the future, I would like to play all 32 sonatas, and maybe a bigger dream to do all the piano music by Beethoven.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

I just love people to enjoy listening to the music.