Arthur: ‘There are so many things involved in recording a CD. You appear in magazines, in newspapers and on television. All this attention at the same time was new to us. But mom and dad made sure it was not getting too much.’
Lucas: ‘We are now already receiving concert requests for 2012 – 75 percent of which they refuse.’
Arthur: ‘We are not even allowed to play very much. I am still too young, you see. According to the label I even am their youngest musician ever. But I don’t feel I have to prove myself more than others.’
Lucas: ‘I noticed that CD critics were mild to us. I expected we would at least get one or two really bad reviews. Het Parool wrote that our CD did not add anything unique to the existing Beethoven performances. I definitively understand that, as we just wish to show what we can, without immediately going from one way to another. Many people appreciate that, but now they will focus even more on how we develop ourselves further. It is our job to hold those people’s attention. Perhaps because of our age more eyes are focused on us, but we do not feel any pressure.’
Arthur: ‘You cannot take account of everything. People sometimes write completely different things.’
Lucas: ‘That Arthur is a more emotional person, for example, that he is the poet, and that I am more of a thinker.’
Arthur: ‘And the next time it is exactly the opposite. Anyway, it is more important that technically and musically we can make a huge leap forward in the coming years. In particular we have to improve the emotion you have to put in the music while playing. But for this you have to be older and more mature.’
Lucas: ‘Now we are surrounded by various people, such as Jan Wijn and Maria João Pires, telling exactly in which style we have to play a certain piece. For example, I am now playing an intermezzo of Brahms that has an intermediate part which I feel I must play a little faster. But then my teacher says: ‘It must be played more slowly; you must completely still in that part.’
Lucas: ‘We never had the intention to do all this together, and actually we still don’t, but that is how everyone sees us. We will never get rid of that. Here, at home, Arthur usually practices upstairs, and I downstairs. We hardly ever do anything together, but those are the moments the press writes about.’
Arthur: ‘We are not really concerned about that image.’
Lucas: ‘You don’t need to do your best to be who you are, do you? We are just doing our thing. For example, I also like other music. We both have an iPhone on which we can listen all kinds of music.’
Arthur: ‘We then prefer not to listen to classical music, but to Amy Winehouse, The Beach Boys, or the ‘Jeugd van Tegenwoordig’. We both really like Stevie Wonder. If Lucas puts new tracks on his computer, I actually always like them.’
Lucas: ‘And the other way round as well.’
Arthur: ‘At the opening of the Hermitage in Amsterdam we played for Queen Beatrix and the Russian president Medvedev. ‘Verrry good’, Medvedev said afterwards, ‘This was verrry good’. With Queen Beatrix we had a longer talk. Sometimes, after such a weekend you get distracted on Monday – ‘wow, that really was very special’ you think
Lucas: ‘It was very special, but I notice one gets used to it. You have a concert on Sunday and on Monday you are just back in the classroom. Then I actually just go on. It’s the best thing to do I think.’
Arthur: ‘If we are in the Concertgebouw people recognise us now, but not so much in the street. Classical music is not really sexy, we are not being chased by crowds of girls. If you look at Justin Bieber… it isn’t our style, but obviously he has lots of girls who adore him.’
Lucas: ‘I don’t think he has anything to complain about.’
Arthur: ‘In classical music there is no such person. Sometimes girls from our school come to watch. We like that. It’s not that there is nothing else.’