Piano: Labèque sisters play Philip Glass in Morges

ThoseClassical Music –

The Labèque sisters, from Messiaen to minimalism

Formed half a century ago, the most famous and most pop tandem of the classic piano will play Philip Glass in Morges, the 1^is FEBRUARY. Interview.

Bottal

• The Labèque sisters have been playing together since the late 1960s.
• They are known for their two modern pianos repertoire.
• Their recent records include follow -up of Philip Glass operas.
• A recital in Beausobre will present their works for two keyboards.

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You come to play in Switzerland. What does our country inspire in you?

We love being here, there is the lake, we make beautiful walks, we eat well. It is something very calm and it makes us feel good, because we sometimes have a completely crazy life! Already, we are fortunate to live in Rome, which is perhaps, among all the capitals, the quietest there is. We are looking for this. We used to live in Paris, then London. And then, we moved to Italy. Rome, it seems chaotic, but no, because each district is a village. It is something other than the great usual capitals, which become very tiring.

How would you describe this emotion to play with your sister?

This is difficult to describe with words. This is a question that I never ask me. I think it’s very tender. We grew up together, but we worked together quite late. We had done all our studies as a solo pianist. We started a duo, I was 20 years old, she 18, realizing that we were going to be separated, that we were going to have concerts in different cities, that we would not see each other. It appeared as a great way to stay close because we get along very well in life. We couldn’t play on stage without this daily fusional agreement. In fact, we share everything, travel, bad flights by plane, good theaters, extraordinary orchestras.

How do you explain this success, this longevity to the scene as well as on the disc which has become quite rare among classical music artists?

It’s true. We always wanted to expand the repertoire and go get things that do not exist. We do not stop, we work more and more, we are doing more and more new projects. It’s very tiring, but it makes us happy!

Do you share other things outside of music, both?

Yes, we love to eat, get ice. We love fashion, choose how to dress. It is very difficult at the moment because many of our favorite designers have stopped a little, like Jean Paul Gaultier or Riccardo Tisci. But now, we play with a lot of vintage things that we have bought and that are always so beautiful. We are always on tour. So when you return to Rome, you like the house to be impeccable, go buy flowers together, finally, do everything that is beautiful in life, to share.

You had signed another album entitled “Minimalist Dream House” in 2013. Why does minimalist American music interest you so much?

Because it was the great current of our century. The last great revolution was, strangely, this return to the melody, to the rhythm, and to have people courageous enough to say: “Ok, there is Boulez, Berio, Ligeti at the school of Darmstadt that exist , but there is another way of making contemporary music today that is not that one. ” It was one of the pillars of many currents of our time, from electronics to techno, including rap. She inspired certain pop or rock groups like Sonic Youth or Radiohead, who have looked at this minimalist music. Philip prefers the word repetitive to minimalist, but because it is true, the emotions he sends is not minimal. There is a very beautiful sentence in “novecento” by Alessandro Baricco, where this pianist who never got off from his boat said: “At the end of my life, I would like to play all the notes in the world in one note.” And that is an image that sums up the essence of this music.

Which composer would you like to record in the future? What are your projects?

It will surprise you, but we would like to record Mozart’s “concertos” with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico. Ditto for the “concerto” of Poulenc, we have been talking about it for a very long time with chef Simon Rattle. Or Martinu’s “Concerto” with Semyon Bychkov. We also dream of making an album Of all the Bach concertos, which we have already played in concert but never engraved on the disc.

So retirement is not for now?

I hope not. The body will tell us. Me, in my head, I am still 20 years old, even if I no longer have them. On the contrary, I find that we have progressed. We worked so much with Marielle, I find that we get along even better musically.

You are a friend of Madonna. How did this meeting go?

In general, she doesn’t really like that we’re talking about that. I’m just going to tell you that I admire her a lot. We are always very close. She comes to our concerts, we go to his own. He is someone who has a monstrous work capacity, who knows how to renew himself all the time. In fact, she is a fighter and she is incredible intelligence. She knows everything about literature, painting, architecture. She has a huge culture of cinema. At her age, she is always an inspiration for us.