Do classical musicians commute to the tunes of their classical heroes or does their musical taste drive them into more surprising territory? MICHAEL DERVANtook time out at the recent West Cork Music Festival to find out
PHILIPPE CASSARD French pianist
What have you listened to most recently on your iPod?Actually, this Vierne Piano Quintet [which he played in Bantry]. I wanted to have a general idea of the piece. It's a very tough piece to learn. The text is extremely rich, complicated. It's never straight.
What's the most-played piece?Christa Ludwig singing Von ewiger Liebeby Brahms.
The most exciting piece you've heard this year?Probably Wagner's Lohengrinunder Daniel Barenboim in Berlin. It was the most miraculous production I have heard. Barenboim now, in my opinion, belongs to the category of major artists. I was never really convinced until recently of his genius as a conductor. But now, he can build a musical line from the first note to the last over four hours, and without covering for a single second a voice on stage. The suppleness, the flexibility, the sheer beauty of the sound – I was amazed.
The most exciting new work you've encountered?Apart from this Vierne, probably the Schumann Fantasy in C, which is new in my repertoire. I've been dreaming of it for years and years and years, but I didn't dare to approach it. It's a very difficult piece to think, to build, to give in concert. Now I am eaten by it. It has made me totally its servant. I am completely amazed by the genius of Schumann.
The most exciting performer that you heard for the first time?A Swiss pianist, Cédric Pescia. He's 35 years old, lives in Berlin. His recording of the last three Beethoven sonatas is absolutely amazing, the mastery, the beauty of sound, the construction, the intelligence. It's totally out of fashion. That's what I loved about him.
Where are you off to next?Back to France for a long series of festivals. I start in the South of France, and later I go to Switzerland and England.
ALINA IBRAGIMOVA Russian violinist and leader of the Chiaroscuro Quartet
What have you listened to most recently on your iPod?I haven't listened to my iPod in a while, but I was listening to John Eliot Gardiner's St Matthew Passion, and some Bob Dylan.
What's the most-played piece?My favourite Mozart Requiem recording with Jordi Savall.
The most exciting piece you've heard this year?One of them was yesterday's Hindemith [his 1923 Clarinet Quintet]. I'd never heard it before, and thought it was a fantastic piece, something I'll think about playing soon.
The most exciting new work you've encountered?I saw a film about the German composer Wilhelm Killmayer on the inter- net, with some violin pieces that Thomas Zehetmair was playing, and I really, really enjoyed them.
The most exciting performer that you heard for the first time?I saw Gustavo Dudamel conduct for the first time in Venezuela.
Where are you off to next?I'm going to the Cheltenham Festival, for a violin and piano recital, a recital by the quartet, and The Four Seasonsby Vivaldi.
JORG WIDMANN German composer and clarinettist
What have you listened to most recently on your iPod?I don't have an iPod and I don't have a computer. But on my CD player it was Miles Davis, one of his last concerts in Montreux.
What's the most-played piece?Well, I'm obsessed with certain pieces. There's the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony, Op. 9, also late Mozart, and Schumann's Waldszenen.
The most exciting piece you've heard this year?I'm still under the spell of Brahms's E minor Cello Sonata, because I just heard it five minutes ago [at a festival concert]. I never heard it played that way before . . . no hope at all in it. I saw a production of Wagner's Götterdämmerungon TV from Valencia by La Fura dels Baus, and they built this pyramid with human beings, and with the music at the end it almost made me cry.
The most exciting new work you've encountered?I just rehearsed with Pekka [Kuusisto] my Études for solo violin. I heard them many times with many players, but the colours he produces on the violin I had never heard before. He goes so much to the edge, it was really exciting, maybe not the piece itself, but what he did with it. And also the Prokofiev Quintet, which we did here. This piece was really not well behaved. It was more radical than anything I've heard in new music recently.
The most exciting performer that you heard for the first time?Since I just met Pekka, I must be grateful. I've worked with many violinists. But going to the edge in that way I really have not heard on this instrument which is so familiar to me.
Where are you off to next?Back to Freiburg to teach . . . then I go to Lockenhaus, to Gidon Kremer's festival, then I go to Montreal to play the Mozart concerto with Kent Nagano, and he'll also play a piece of mine. And then a piano piece which I'm writing just now will be played by András Schiff at the Salzburg Festival.
PEKKA KUUSISTO Finnish violinist
What have you listened to most recently on your iPod?A new record by Robyn, a Swedish pop singer, who works with interesting producers. She became extremely famous in the mid-1990s as a teenager, when she was the last discovery of Stikkan Anderson, the ABBA producer. I think she got burned out pretty badly. She's been quiet for a long time, but now she's doing music only on her own rules, dancefloor stuff, except it's very interestingly produced. I like her. She's mean.
What's the most-played piece?It's kind of embarrassing. It's a thing that I wrote, like three-and-a-half years ago. I was going to make a very pompous, very slow song, where most of the instrumentation was just violins and violas in strange clusters and heaps, and I would write lyrics to it and sing it, and sit in a studio with a friend and programme it. We got it programmed, but I forgot about it for quite a time. And now I'm listening to it like crazy to feel like it's still mine. I would be super-happy to finish it.
The most exciting piece you've heard this year? Les illuminationsby Benjamin Britten. I actually managed to avoid it until now, and I was working on it in February, touring with the Britten Sinfonia and tenor Mark Padmore. So when I started to get to know it I was kicking myself for not getting to know it earlier.
The most exciting new work you've encountered?There was this piece by Jörg [Widmann] that Finnish Radio played, called Con Brio. It's a 10-minute orchestral piece with the craziest timpani solo. I think the timpanist probably doesn't play anything on the skin, but everywhere else.
The most exciting performer that you heard for the first time?I heard Patricia Kopatchinskaja [the Moldovan violinist] live for the first time. I also heard Madonna for the first time live. But I think Patricia was better.
Where are you off to next?I'm going to Hamburg to hear a gig by this rock band called The National, who are really interesting. They work together with Nico Muhly, who I also work with. I was always an admirer of Joy Division, although thought the singer couldn't sing well- enough for that kind of music. The National is like everything I wanted Joy Division to be, plus it has something of Bruce Springsteen in it, rootsy, really dark American rock.
CARA O'SULLIVAN Irish soprano
What have you listened to most recently on your iPod? Debussy's songs
Ariettes oubliées. I'm learning them, and I'm also enjoying listening to them.
What's the most-played?Carlos Santana.
The most exciting piece you've heard this year?I was asked at the last minute to sing in the Mahler Second Symphony, Gerhard Markson's final performance as principal conductor of the RTÉ NSO. I've very little to do, I sit there listening for most of the piece. And the very ending, where I sing, was one of the most emotionally involving performances I've taken part in.
The most exciting new work you've encountered?The Barber I sang in Bantry [
Prayers of Kierkegaard]. I hadn't known it before, and I really enjoyed it. The most exciting performer that you heard for the first time? That's difficult. I'm terrible for going to concerts. I get nervous at them, I find it hard to relax. It's a bit like a busman's holiday. But I sang in a Bach
St Matthew Passionwith Irish mezzo soprano Ann Murray, who I hadn't actually heard live before. She gave what amounted to a masterclass of superb singing and superb technique. I'm in awe of her.
Where are you off to next?My next opera engagement is with Opera Ireland. Myself and Orla Boylan are sharing the role of Tosca in their new production.
