Meeting Kolja Blacher

I took advantage of a concert intermission at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival to meet briefly the violinist Kolja Blacher, having been so enthusiastic about two of his last CDs: the Schoenberg and the Nielsen violin concertos.
Kolja Blacher has been attending this festival since its first years.

TV: Why coming here, where you don’t get any fee?

KB: For their incomparable houmous! (Laughs) Seriously, because it is a very special place and the festival gathers so many good musicians, and I know many people here. I have been playing also often with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

TV: You are going to appear in so many different works: Brahms Quintet op. 34, Franck Piano Quintet, Rachmaninov Trio n°1, Mozart Piano Trio K. 548…

KB: Yes but I know these scores already!

TV: What are your projects?

KB: There is a CD coming in June with Bernstein’s Serenade and Haydn with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn.
I will do the Korngold concerto.
Another project I like is doing all Beethoven Strings Trios in chronological order; it allows you to follow the composer’s evolution.
Another challenging project – you know I am doing “Play-Direct” sessions were I conduct orchestras from the violin – so I am going to do the Tchaikovsky concerto this way!

TV: Unfortunately, we don’t have time enough to speak about your father, the composer Boris Blacher…

KB: He is, like many composers of his generation not very well known anymore. But I made a CD of his music, along with Dessau, Weil and Eisler, you can find it on my website.