(violin music)
- What was the question?
(laughing)
My family is musical so it felt very natural to me
to ask for a violin when I was little.
So it kind of went from there.
I don't think I quite realised how much
of hard work that was.
One of the first pieces I heard
was my father playing the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata.
I think that must have been one of the pieces
I knew the best because he just practised it all the time.
All of those works that you learn when you're so small,
they stay with you, they have a particular place,
I think, in your heart.
With a new piece, if I'm learning something,
I try not to listen to it
because I find other people's ideas kind of get stuck
in me before I have my own.
And I tried to approach it from
as blank a sheet as possible.
I mean, I'll play it through a few times,
probably every day,
just to get the idea of the whole structure
and then start working on the detail.
But ultimately, you never truly get to know a piece
until you've played it in concert, I think.
(violin music)
I think with Mozart, in a way, it's such a natural language.
There's a lot of charm and a lot of wit
and he was a man with a great sense of humour.
And that's very, very evident.
It speaks for itself.
It's almost like you just need to let it, I find.
The A major Concerto is probably,
possibly the most unusual of the five in some ways.
The opening, this Adagio that the violin comes in with,
it's so strange what is happening
and what is this incredibly beautiful melody
and where it comes from and why?
And I think that's kind of a great example
of Mozart breaking the rules because it's such a surprise.
(violin music)
And then of course,
there's the famous heavy Turkish influenced dance
in the last movement is just the kind of licence
to go crazy I think
and Mozart's awareness and sensitivity somehow
to know how to surprise
and how to keep everyone on their toes, really.
What always amazes me about Mozart,
and I've played all the sonatas,
I've played all the quartets, you know,
there is so much variety going, you know
from his childhood to the Requiem.
It's incredible how he sees the whole world, really.
He can portray it in seemingly such an easy way.
(violin music) I've played quite a lot
with the Philharmonia over the years,
starting already when I was 19 or 20
so it's quite a sort of long-term relationship now
in the Philharmonia Orchestra
that the players are so flexible
and good at adapting to all these different styles.
So I can't wait to do it with them.
Elim Chan, I've never worked with.
I'm really looking forward to it.
I've heard great things about her, and it's fantastic
that we are able to make this happen in such tough times.
It's a privilege to be a part of.
(violin music)
For me a concerto, be it Mozart or even something larger,
is just as much chamber music as a quartet is.
It's just there are more people involved.
And if there is a conductor
that just adds an extra energy, an extra presence.
I think, yes, I probably am quite far
from the whole kind of soloist and accompaniment thing.
I really want to react.
I want for it to be spontaneous
and have an experience of the moment.