Q: Which was your way to come to music?

A: It was by chance. The college of music were offering a piano course for beginners. And there was already a piano at my parents’ home, because my elder brother played the piano.

Q: Was there anything that set the course for you to become a musician once and for all?

A: There was some success with “Jugend musiziert” (the German national competition for young musicians) to make me realise that a professional career might be established. I had this idea already pretty soon; it became more realistic when I was between 14 and 17 years old.

Q: Which would be your alternative, if - all of a sudden - you would for some reason no longer be able to play the piano?

A: If I was not unable to move I would certainly fling myself into conducting. Apart from that I would like it very much to be a teacher or probably write about music. As I am no longer at the beginning of my twenties, it should have to do something with music, I suppose. In my earlier years it could have also had something to do with other subjects (e.g. in the fields of Science, History or Politics). I do not know if I would think to be able to do such a thing that late as someone from a different field.

Q: Do you still have occasional or regular artistic control with a teacher?

A: Yes. Due to lack of time unfortunately no longer regularly, but I’m still in contact with my deeply redeemed teacher Professor Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling. I’m used to see him from time to time - especially with new pieces of music. I find it very important to have a critical “control” from outside who you trust. That helps you also to "keep your feet on the ground".

Q: Do you teach young musicians?

A: I do so extremely seldom in one-day master courses at concert places. I really enjoy it very much though. Probably it is going to become more important for me in the future.

Q: Is it necessary for you to have a leisure time activity in contrast to music which makes it possible for you to relax and to forget about music for a while?

A: Yes it is. For instance do I no longer play football myself (unfortunately it seems to be too       dangerous for my hands), but I do like watching a game on TV or keep my fingers crossed for my  favourite club (which did not help during the last months: Mönchengladbach has been relegated to the Second Division ...). I like watching films or English and American comedies (Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Friends etc.) together with my wife; I use to take loads of them home on video from concert journeys. I think there must be a “senseless” alternative of my sensible and sense producing main activities.

Q: Do you experience any stage fright before a performance; and if you do: how do you deal with it?

A: Yes, I do have it, more or less. I try to canalize my stage fright in a productive way in order to “change” the special subjective feeling at a concert into a special mood. It is obviously this phenomenon that produces the peculiarity of a concert performance. It is something that starts in the artist´s room, but it does not come automatically nor can it be “switched on”.I now know some ways how do deal with stage fright, more or less successfully. The ability to deal with it, however, grows with the experience that you gather year after year.

Q: What scares you most in connection with a concert?

A: A complete “black out”, I suppose; suddenly forgetting what I am supposed to do at a certain place and whether I am able to play the piano after all. The only help: being aware of the fact again and again that people do not come to a concert in order to wait for a musician to fail (that’s correct, isn’t it???), but to listen to the music and to appreciate it. It is not some mistakes that make the difference, but whether you succeed in taking the audience into the imagination of a piece of music with you (in a mystical way, I believe).

Q: Do you have a special relationship with a particular instrument?

A: For a pianist the relationship with a particular instrument is probably much more unsentimental than for musicians who always play the same instrument. Nevertheless: If you select an instrument (if this should be the occasion in a concert hall), your intuition and your own way of playing the instrument are of great importance. Any pianist looks at the disadvantages and at the advantages of a grand piano in a different way. A “personal relationship” will probably appear only in connection with the instrument that you play at home and therefore use more frequently. In general I prefer the Steinway grand pianos, two of which I have at home, by the way. 

Q: Do you see yourself as a musician in a historical line of interpretation? Are there any musical       examples for you?

A: I tend to see myself in the German tradition of Edwin Fischer or Gieseking. But, I try  to approach any piece of music unprejudiced and in a non-ideological way. I would like to mention mainly Simon Rattle as an example, although he is not a pianist. Moreover, many of my partners of chamber music, e.g. Christian Tetzlaff and Boris Pergamenschikow and Truls Mörk, are very, very impressive and important for me, and I have learned a lot from them.

Q: Do you listen to your own records, even to older ones? Do you chance to be surprised then and now?

A: I do so very seldom; only to decide whether an older record should be used for a certain purpose. In that context there are great surprises sometimes - in the positive as well as in the negative way. You undergo a development, and you change your attitude towards the pieces of music.

Q: “Classic goes Pop” - meanwhile even the Berlin Philharmonics are accustomed to “Cross-over”; how do you see this?

A: I find things ok that are fun to do. A good and interesting artist will really find fun only in interesting musical matters. I do however reject musical prostitution applied only for the purpose of sales promotion. There are some phenomena in the realm of crossover that I suppose to be terrible; quality is no longer the most important aspect, but people seem to appeal to basic human interests in order to increase the sales figures. I don’t mind anybody’s being a good-looking human person; but he should be well-trained in handling the instrument that he plays in public!

Q: Is human understanding in the field of chamber music a necessary requirement for great interpretations?

A: Not necessarily. It is also from musical or even human conflicts that magnificent interpretations emerge. But it certainly is more fun, if things also “work” in the mutual personal understanding.

The questions were asked by Wilfried Nachtigall, who is responsible for artist´s contacts at the chamber music festival "Spannungen: Musik im Kraftwerk Heimbach

Translation by Ulrich Erzfeld.

If you want to ask me questions, please, write an e-mail (lars@larsvogt.de)! I will always - if my time allows it - try to answer as directly as possible. Especially interesting questions will be published on this FAQ-Site. When you ask your questions, please, let me know in case you do not want your name to be published.

Here are some questions that I received via e-mail and my replies:

A young student from Lugano asked me the following question:

Q: Yesterday I heard on radio your Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto with Peter Maag. The performance was stunning, as usual, and I wasimpressed by your perfection. How do you avoid mistakes? Could you give me anysuggestions how to play with less mistakes?

A: It is very sweet to be asked a question like that, which of course bothers every single musician once in a while. Of course we all strive for the highest musical expression which brings us as close as possible to the intentions of the great composers that we perform. And of course we also strive for perfection to the highest possible extent - at least when practising. And practising - i.e. repeating things, expecially problematic bits again and again, at first in slow tempo, then gradually getting faster, or in different practising methods - is really the only way to perfection, or at least to get close to it. But perfection  is by far not the most important issue for a real musician. It´s just the start. So many performances in music history were special and exceptional because of the atmosphere and the very special mood, and it didn´t matter, that there were mistakes. So, when on stage, if in doubt I always take the risk of mistakes in order to make the most intense music possible. My advise is: Think of perfection when practising, but try to completely forget about those worries when performing. It can liberate you and your ability to express yourself!

All the best to you!

Lars

A student from Philadelphia wrote an e-mail to me regarding questions of the basic motivation of music-making and the necessary efforts to go through technical work on the instrument, here are some thoughts that I wrote back to her:

Basically making music should be fun and fulfillment in any way. It should reach deep in our soul as well as being physical and sensuous. But to achieve this, there are certain things that one should technically be able to do, otherwise the direct contact with the music and it's deep content can remain covered and not reach us (or the listener). I'm also doing a limited amount of technical studies most of the days, very specialized exercises that my teacher Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling (Professor in Hanover and Salzburg) gives to his pupils. In the end these exercises only take about 10 to 15 minutes, but really help develop the muscles of the hand itself, as well as creating a feeling for natural movement of hands and arms to help play difficult passages. But the important thing is: There is no piano technique that is of any value just for itself. Technical ability on the piano just means that our "servants", the fingers and hands, are always able to do what we want them to, so that we can get as close to the inteded expression of a musical masterpiece as possible. So, even though technical aspects are important, it's always the music and what we want to do with it that counts. It's also the best (and only real!) motivation to keep going and striving to get better. If your love to music is so strong as I get the feeling from your e-mail, you will overcome difficulties and will be part of our musical community that fights for the future of music in our society and in people's hearts. I hope this isn't getting to philosophical for you, but the question of "why are we doing all this, why do we invest so much energy into this?" has to be asked constantly, and the answers that you give yourself have to be really convincing to keep you on the track. And they have to be more convincing than " I want a carrer as a soloist" or " I want to be famous" or whatever. It has to be a motivation that comes from deep inside you that gives everything a sense. I've never had the feeling that playing music or the constant work involved isn't worth it; even when years ago I sometimes played concerts for audiences of 10 people or so, I didn't question the sense of this, because these people came to hear music and to experience something special. And a reaction like yours to our concert means so much encouragement for me!
So thank you very much for this and all best wishes from
Lars

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