Swiss Review 3/2018

18 Swiss Review / May 2018 / No.3 Culture MARIANNE MÜHLEMANN Meeting the musician Patricia Ko- patchinskaja is always an eventful ex- perience. Whether she is giving a vir- tuoso performance on stage or simply talking about music, the 41-year-old violinist exudes energy and ingenuity. She is well-known to audiences and notorious amongst conductors and or- chestras for her spontaneity. Once she puts the violin bow on the strings, absolutely anything can happen. Whether it is Beethoven, Bartok or a contemporary composer, Kopatchin- skaja plays the violin with such inten- sity and directness it seems the ink of the notes she is playing is still wet. The fact that she never learns music by heart out of principle may come as a surprise. She has her reasons for this: “Notes give me the room for manoeu- vre I require,” she remarks. “Playing music is about more than hitting the right notes. As an interpreter, I have to explore and reveal the meaning be- hind the notes.” Every concert should be as imme- diate and fresh as the opening perfor- mance. Kopatchinskaja pays little heed to convention. This may explain why she is continually challenging classical music, but also herself. It is precisely this approachwhich is doing the concert business so much good. She was long unaware that her incli- nation for casting famous pieces of the repertoire in a new light was polaris- ing audiences. She has now learned to cope with that. However, audiences have also become more receptive and curious. Today she often finds that people respond to her unconventional stylewith indignationwhen they first hear it. Then when they listen for the second time they are euphorically en- thusiastic. This was also the case in 2016 at the memorable concert for which she has nowwon a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance. Always barefoot The award is seen as the greatest in- ternational accolade for musicians and is often compared with the Os- cars in the film industry in terms of its importance. Although the prize has been presented in Los Angeles since 1959, Kopatchinskaja’s award is only the fourth Grammy to go to Switzerland. What was so remarka- ble about the concert? You have to visualise the scene. At the Ordway Concert Hall in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the audience was waiting for the mu- sic of Schubert. The personification of death unexpectedly appeared on stage next to the orchestra. Inside the black costume with its skeleton print was Patricia Kopatchinskaja. She came up with the idea of the fleeting, unearthly spectre. The audience could have recognised the soloist by her bare feet. The 41-year-old ex- traordinarily talented violinist al- ways performs barefoot as it makes her feel more grounded. However, the clothing was not an end in itself. It went with the programme she was performing live with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. The centrepiece was a version of Franz Schubert’s quartet “Death and the Maiden” that she had rearranged herself for the chamber orchestra. But even without that the piece sounds unfamiliar. Kopatchinskaja broke it up and interspersed additional pieces of music about death between Schu- bert’smovements. They came fromall eras – fromBaroque to the present day. The unconventional collage was skil- fully pieced together, producing a per- fectly composed programmemade up of pieces which do not actually belong together but nevertheless comple- ment one another. But that was not all. While playing, Kopatchinskaja sang Schubert’s song “Death and the Maiden” with lyrics by Matthias Claudius, on which the quartet is based. The audience’s reaction was one of bewilderment. Initially at least, but in the end they were moved to tears. Thought-provoking “It was a little bit mad,” recalls the vio- linist with a smile during the inter- view in Berne, where she now lives with her husband and daughter. “In Europe, they would have packed me off to the funny farm after a perfor- mance like that, but you can take such gambles in theUSA.” Those close to her know that she never does such things simply for effect. When she tests boundaries, it is always about the mu- sic itself. She likes to provoke thought. “I am always looking for what lies be- hind the notes,” explains themusician who performs over 100 concerts a year all over the world. She has been a star for some time now despite never wanting to be one. Kopatchinskaja much prefers to meet the audience on equal terms. When she releases classical music from its ivory tower with her impassioned per- formances, she also puts it out on the street, making it accessible to ordi- nary people. She reveals that she en- joys taking people on a musical jour- ney of discovery during concerts. But “Nothing ever runs smoothly with me” The violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja was once criticised for her radical approach and for challenging deeply entrenched ways of listening to classical music. Today she is picking up awards for it. Who is this musician with Moldovan roots who has chosen Swiss nationality and has just received a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance?