New Music Marathon
Horologe of Dreamers

The violinist Gabriela Demeterová is already one of the established stars of the Czech music scene. Apart from performing she is also involved in organising a festival devoted to Baroque music and she is the leader of the ensemble known as the Collegium of Czech Philharmonists, with whom she plays this music. Last Autumn she released a CD of Karel Stamic duets for violin and viola, playing both the parts herself. She first presented herself live as a violist in mid November in the Rudolfinum in Prague. Our interview took place during a pause between rehearsals for this concert, and included the pianist Markéta Cibulková as well as Gabriela Demeterová.
The former is now studying in Graz in Austria and has already, for example, worked with Charles Mackeras and the Czech Philharmonic.

What places can we look forward to at the concert?

MC In the first half there will be Hindemith's Trauermusik for viola and piano and Shostakovich's Sonata for Viola and Piano. In the second half we've put cheerful violin pieces like Kreisler's Chinese Tambourine, Sarasate's Gypsy Melodies and Prokofiev's Three Pieces from Romeo and Juliet

Why have you decided to take on the viola as well as the violin?

GD Because I like to get to grips with difficult tasks and I don't like just sticking in the same spot. The velvet tone of the viola has always fascinated me, and its a verypleasant change for the ear after the violin, which is more incisive and dominating But the main reason is that the viola extends my repertoire, since there are beautiful pieces for the viola, like the Shostakovitch Sonata, for example, that hasn't been played in the Czech Republic for a long time, and may not be heard for a long time to come here either. It's a very momentous piece, which is not often performed. I said to myself - why not choose something non-traditional to start with? And I also wanted to use it to launch a series of concerts in which I want to offer the public a rather more diverse programme. Alternating the violin and viola might also be more interesting for audiences than the classic violin recital that everyone offers.

The viola has the reputation of a rather "poor relation" among classical musicinas. Is it that way in reality?

GD The viola has always been in the position of a kind of "makeweight" to the violin. Most parts for it have also been composed in this spirit -just as an accompaniment. But in these Stamic Duets for example, it is an equal partner. The position of the viola has also been affected by the fact that worse violinists often retrained as viola players.

But in recent years has not the viola seemed to be getting a place in the sun?

GD That's thanks to a number of performers. There are a few people on the international scene, for example Pinchas Zuckermann, who play brilliantly on the violin and the viola. So it's emerging that playing the viola has its own meaning and the clichés about it are not entirely correct.

On the last CD you recoded a duet with yourself. Why?

GD I had the idea of doing something nontraditional, and actually I had already tried something similar on one of my earlier projects - it was the CD The Magic Violin [Kouzelné housle]. There I recorded using a playback of Strauss's Tales from the Vienna Woods, arranged for me and the Collegium by Otmar Mácha. He wrote the arrangement for two violins and I had the idea of playing the second part myself as well. It was quite interesting to have the two parts played by the same person, so that there's perfect harmony of expression. Then when Supraphon were considering a new CD but didn't have the funds for a major project with an orchestra, it occurred to me to combine the viola with the violin. I had found the Stamic duet in a bookshop in London about six years before, but at the time I never thought that one day I would put them to use. I liked the fact that the viola part was genuinely interesting, and not limited just to a few notes of accompaniment. First I recorded the violin part and then added the viola part. It was fascinating, but also difficult. Fortunately I was helped by Zdenëk Zahradník and Tomáš Zikmund's excellent recording team.

Didn't using playback make it ncessary to play more mechanically than wheen two musicians are playing together at the same time?

GD Stamic is Classicism, where you don't have much latitude with the tempos anyway, and often these pieces are constructed precisely on a mechanical rhythm. They include very difficult and fast passages that have to be played with complete precision. And because I feel it in the same way on the viola and the violin, the result can be even more precise. When I finally heard the result I was surprised how good it sounded. I had been a little bit scared, but musically the pieces didn't suffer

What's your attitude to the use of technology in music?

GD I adore technology, and I'm a computer enthusiast, but I'm cautious about it in the context of music. I've tried out an electronic violin connected to computer and I already have some idea of the sort of pieces that could be wittily arranged for this instrument using electronic acoustic possibilities. That would probably interest me as a kind of joke, but otherwise I don't feel the need to have everything. Or at least it hasn't got to me so far, but perhaps one day I'll be more interested.

Is it hard to find a good accompanist?

GD Accompanist... it's quite a horrible label. I'd rather say partner. Yes it is hard. In life you only meet a few people whom you really understand and vice versa. .

What kind of qualities must someone have to be the right partner?

GD Above all he or she must be on the same wavelength. It's not precisely definable, but the person must basically be able to read your thoughts, so that you can react to each other correctly. As soon as your partner fails to react, the music suffers. The person should be on your level at least, and if possible even better.

What does the other half of the partnership think?

MC Playing with someone is great. You don't have to think up everything for yourself, there's less work involved and sometimes there can be a surprise, which is an essential aspect of concerts and also the most enjoyable thing about it. So far I have been lucky in my partners. Chamber music is compulso ry at the place where I'm studying, but I have managed to find a hugely talented flautist she's five years younger than me but there's perfect communication between us.

GD I'm not even looking for chamber groups bigger than a duo, because the probability of more musicians on the same wavelength coming together is so low. Audiences don't necessarily notice the problem, but the musicians can feel it.

Does it make any difference whether the partner is a man or woman?

GD I like playing with women, and so far I haven't found many good partners among men. Men concentrate too much on technique and too little on emotion, although recently I heard Norbert Heller play, for example, and I would be able to work with him. For the most part I work with women.

As a woman, what kind of authority do you have in your ensemble?

GD The musicians have to obey me. I don't use kid gloves there. Sometimes they have a hard time, because they come to me after a full day's rehearsal in the Philharmonic where they've been struggling with Mahler, and I want them to play accurately and cleanly. But during that time I think the ensemble has improved and it has drive. That's probably the most important thing. MC We don't quarrel.

On the one hand you play the Romantic repertoire and Twentieth Century and on the other you devote yourself to Baroque. How easily do the two go together?

GD I like alternating genres. Baroque is actually something like a hobby. My main area is naturally Romantic music, and that is the music I have to play all the time at concerts. My approach to the Baroque is peculiar in the sense that I play it on a modern instrument, but I am still interested in playing in the correct way for the time. After Shostakovich, Baroque is like balm.

Do the two areas influence each other?

GD Of course. Recently I played Igor Stravinsky's violin concerto, in which the composer draws a great deal on Bach, Given that I know how to play Baroque, I can identify it properly in Stravinsky as well.

MC We have just been dealing wirh the same thing in Shostakovitch. There is Baroque mote symbolism to every bar of it. It's not in any way hidden, but you need to know how to read it.

GD Today, when access to Baroque sources is so easy, I think every performer has an obligation to learn a little about these matters. Otherwise you are not properly professionally equipped, and all you do is read the notes.

Anyone who enters on a professional musical career must be very certain that be or she has something to offer something new that the competition lacks, is it hard to maintain this conviction?

GD In our field - even at the top - there are only a few people who are true musicians. Only these few people think about music analytically.
MC It's a question of personal courage. You are constantly thrown back just on your own feelings and intuitions, which are hard to defend. You have to keep on defending yourself and the most interior emotions, with which you go to the marketplace. Just fulfilling the demands of the market is easier. GD It is very difficult and already begins at competitions. I had to cope with it with my teacher when I went to some competition. It was clear that I had a good idea for the performance, but the jury included x and y and I knew they wouldn't like it. And so I had to compromise in the interests of winning. Competitions are where a career begins, and you draw attention to yourself. Later of course you don't want to compromise in your own eyes. If you play a Dvorák Concerto, for example, according to your own ideas and not as it "ought to be played", the critics wont like it. But I don't play for the critics. The important thing for me is a full hall and an enthusiastic audience. When someone comes to me after a concert and says that he is ninety years old and now he can die, that's better than any reviews. I don't want to play by rote. I want to rank among the few people on this planet who genuinely know how to read the notes.

Do you take any notice of reviews?

GD Reviewers know how to stab and wound, because we are brought up to be successful, and that includes good criticism.
MC But there are secondary ways of keeping up the belief that my playing is good. You need a circle of people whom you trust. When Gabriela comes to me and tells me that there was such and such a mistake, I can believe her.
GD It's good to have at least one person whose opinion you can trust. And when he or see says it's good, then it's good. After playing I very often have a bad feeling, because one tries to play absolutely perfectly. And then I really need to have someone else tell me how it sounded from the outside.

It's frequent today to take methods from pop music and use them in serious music. You have both already shot videoclips to go with some pieces. How far can this convergence of genres be taken?

MC It depends on the idea. If the idea is good and relevant, then you can do anything. Personally I wouldn't be against playing with Sting. It all depends on whether you know what you're doing and what you want to say.
GD We live in the era of communications technologies and if we don't come to terms with the fact that the world is moving in this direction, then it doesn't matter how right I am - nobody will know about me and I shall just be playing for myself. If I'm generally known, a sponsor will believe that he will get a return on investing in me and I am able to arrange a tour and record the kind of music I like. From this point of view there's no sense in making distinctions between popular and serious music. MC Recently when I was visiting a jazz club I realised that modern jazz has already become entirely the equivalent of classical music in complexity and length. And so it struck me that it would be possible to play classical music - Beethoven sonatas for example - in the club. In informal clothes and a relaxed atmosphere. This kind of link up of the two spheres could work.
GD We can also learn from popular music about communication with the public. People go to a classical music concert with a feeling of solemnity and a barrier arises between the public and the artist. When I suddenly actually speak to the audience, I see the burden somehow falling from their shoulders. That's why I like more intimate chamber venues. One gets audiences of three thousand in Japan, but it's pleasant to play for, say, a hundred people. It means I can be conscious of every listener separately.

Looking through you earlier interviews it's noticeable that journalists are sometimes more interested in your hobbies or clothes than in the music you play. Dodes this tax on popularity bother you?

GD One has to be pleased to be visible and one of the things that makes me interesting for the music public is the fact that apart from playing I am also a live person. Obviously I would rather talk about music, but that doesn't so much interest magazine readers. Or at least their journalists don't believe that it does. If I didn't answer the questions, I would be overtaken by a hundred other people who might be no more than average players, but willing to reveal anything about themselves.

MATĚJ KRATOCHVÍL - Bimothly magazine 2002