Some critics thought your first Beethoven recording came too early. What do you think of that?
Arthur: ‘Of course some people believe we were too young for the first CD and they may even be right. But at the same time it is our strength.”
Lucas: “It also has the advantage that we address a new kind of public. If we listen to the CD later we will probably say: “Gosh, I would now never do that this way”. But doesn’t that also happen with CDs you record when you are 40?”
Your new double CD-album is dedicated to Franz Schubert.
Arthur: “Schubert is a composer we grew up with. We used to play him a lot when we went to live with Maria João Pires for a year.”
Lucas: “Schubert is a magnificent composer. He sometimes goes beyond the boundaries of what is musically acceptable and this actually creates the most beautiful pieces.”
Do you approach Schubert differently than Beethoven?
Lucas: “Schubert obviously is entirely different. While Beethoven was a celebrity who was aware of the eternal value of his music, Schubert mainly composed for himself and for friends. This intimacy can be heard in all his music.”
Arthur: “Beethoven’s music generally has a certain structure you can keep to. With Schubert you sometimes have to do without, which makes it both so brilliant and more vulnerable at the time.”
Did you do heads or tails to decide who was going to play which solo pieces?
Lucas: “I preferred to play the Impromptus opus 142, because I was not so familiar with it.”
Arthur: “And I actually had not played the Impromptus opus 90 very often. And also I believe one has to be a little more mature for playing opus 142 than for opus 90.”
Your Polonaises could remind one of some cheerful ‘final numbers of a show’.
Lucas: “We do keep in mind we will have to play some pieces on television, and an impromptu is too long for that, let alone the four-handed Fantasy.”
Arthur: “Moreover, Schubert’s Polonaises are fairly unknown. We could have recorded the Military March, which is a piece most people are familiar with, so that is so easy then.”
What do you learn from Maria João Pires?
Lucas: “Most importantly, never to play as a machine.”
Arthur: “If she is playing in the Netherlands, or elsewhere nearby, she always stays at our home. While she cooks and we study, she listens to us and corrects us where needed. We do not have many real lessons of an hour or so.”
Lucas: “Moreover, we take lessons from Jan Wijn every week and we go and see Ton Hartsuiker now and then. It is actually the combination of both that makes the right balance. Ton we see especially for the modern repertoire. We did a lot of Dutch music with him, ranging from Schat, Pijper, Ketting and Badings.”
Will you be performing together in the future?
Lucas: “Yes, I think we will. But not necessarily as a permanent duo.”
Arthur: “For the time being we are going to combine both: one time together and the other solo.”
Lucas recently got his grammar school diploma. So, what now?
“In January 2012 I will be going to Bloomington, USA. I am going to study with Menahem Pressler, one of the founders of the Beaux Arts Trio.”
What is your ambition?
Lucas: “The most important ambition is to keep developing our piano play. Of course, giving concerts and recording CDs and everything it involves is fantastic. But our study has the highest priority.” Arthur: “What I believe is the most important, is to play well every time, so I can say to myself I did everything I could.”