The relevance of chamber music in the training of young musicians.

The Klimt Quartet has been a significant project in your artistic journey. What has been the key to the success of this ensemble and how has it contributed to your growth as a musician?

“Well, for me, the Klimt Quartet is like an arm, like a leg. Next year we will celebrate thirty years together, as we were born in October 1995. We were just teenagers, I was 17 and my colleagues were more or less the same age; so, you can clearly understand that in thirty years, there have been so many musical adventures together, and not only, that we grew together. It becomes a part of you, so it’s hard to answer because it represents an indelible part of my musical and personal life. Thank you for the question about success. I don’t know if we’ve been successful, but we’ve certainly done many things, and I believe the key has been the harmony, and the friendship, that has always been behind this project.

We did have, to be honest, two changes because in the original lineup, there was Lorenza Borrani on violin and Alice Gabbiani on cello. Then, in 2008, Duccio Ceccanti replaced Lorenza and three years ago, Jacopo di Tonno replaced Alice. With Lorenza, with Alice, the relationships have always remained excellent, so it’s natural that in thirty years there might be some changes, but this atmosphere of sharing, friendship, mutual respect, and esteem, has made the Quartet work in a way, in my opinion, well beyond music. In short, they have shared a lot of life experiences and growth. So, it has become an indispensable element for everyone in their activities.”

With the Klimt Quartet, you also dedicate yourselves to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary music: how do you approach the technical and interpretative challenges that these compositions bring?

“This is a very important aspect of our history because practically from the beginning, we started commissioning new compositions for our ensemble, for a variety of opportunities and occasions. Also the repertoire for the Quartet for piano and strings, yes, is very significant in chamber music, but not quantitatively immense. Of course, it is dotted with masterpieces, but compared to other formations like the piano trio – strings, let alone a string quartet… In short, it’s a slightly smaller repertoire. So, we felt the need to expand the repertoire and we turned to many Italian and very significant non-Italian composers, whom I won’t name because I’m afraid of forgetting someone.

Tackling a piece that has never been performed before, beyond the instrumental technique it requires, is a somewhat different adventure because you also feel invested with a particular mission. But it has been exciting, I must say, especially working with the composers because splendid friendships have also been created in many cases. Working closely with a composer of a piece teaches you a lot about your instrument and more. So, it was also nice to revisit some of these pieces after some time, reworking them, and noting changes, which often the composers themselves have requested. So, in our own way, I must say, we have contributed to expanding the repertoire for our formation, and it has been very, very rewarding.”

The Klimt Quartet, as mentioned earlier, approaches thirty years of activity: what are the strategies you have learned to adopt in managing conflicts and differences of opinion that arise during rehearsals?

“Well, this aspect is fundamental in chamber music because chamber music is ultimately the highest expression, or should be, of democracy. In the sense that clearly there cannot be one person who decides, but thoughts are shared, opinions are shared, and often there are disagreements. Indeed, when you collaborate for many years and are friends as well as colleagues, there may be some small friction. But it’s about finding a balance that is difficult to explain because it is built over time and is built, precisely, with mutual trust. Sometimes there may even be some healthy arguing, but strategies are formed over time and settle over time. I also remember episodes, over all these years, maybe a rehearsal ending with a bit too much friction, but then you realize that jokes also serve to grow individually and as a quartet. So, I remember with great affection some arguments, not many to be honest, because there has always been great harmony. In a quartet, dynamics are created where someone has the role of mediator, someone may be a bit more intense, and someone may seem to be influenced by the characters of others, but actually has a fundamental role in mediating.”

For several years now, you have held your chamber music masterclass at the Livorno Music Festival, so I imagine you have seen many budding chamber formations. What are the main difficulties that a newly formed chamber music group typically faces and how do you help them overcome them?

“So, in the history of the Klimt Quartet, participation in the Livorno Music Festival represents a fundamental point because from the second edition, our course began. The first edition Maestro Ceccanti invited us to perform a concert and then the following year the actual course started. We calculated that over all these years, we have seen between 300 and 400 students pass through, many of whom did not come with their own chamber formation. Most of them did, but one of the characteristics of our course at the Livorno Music Festival is that a musician can also come alone and then be paired with other musicians during the course week. Beautiful friendships are born, sometimes something more than friendship, and from a musical point of view, groups have also been formed from the Livorno Music Festival, and this is the greatest satisfaction we can have.

As for the question regarding the main difficulties… Well, chamber music requires very high, very strict discipline, and, as I mentioned earlier about our history, some balances and dynamics simply come with time. It is one of the reasons why it is very difficult to sustain a chamber group for many years; there are not so many situations of this kind, proportionally speaking. So, you simply have to – so to speak – teach to listen and to listen to each other, which is fundamental for the life of any musician, but in chamber music, issues come to the fore and the discipline of mutual listening, not only regarding notes but also, as we said before, regarding words, suggestions, proposals that each member of a group can make, bring to others is necessary, otherwise, synthesis is not achieved. So, in our own way, in a very short time, some students, of course, we already know (for example, Edoardo teaches chamber music at the Fiesole Music School, I did it for many years). So, we have had the opportunity to follow some of these groups even before and after the various editions of the Livorno Music Festival. But we try to create an atmosphere where this discipline of listening is brought to the highest levels.

Of course, chamber music is a meeting of individualities, and so each person brings their own instrument, in Livorno, we also offer the possibility of individual lessons on chamber parts and not only, so we try to accompany the students individually in their growth and construction of a piece, and this is very much appreciated. In short, a formula that, at least at the beginning of this project, of this adventure, was almost revolutionary. I see that someone has rightly copied us, which pleases us. Every year we try to renew ourselves, to find new formulas, and above all to play with the students, which is important for them, even more important for us, because it’s a burst of enthusiasm and energy. As I always say, a teacher learns much more from their students than vice versa. This is something that has always been told to me even when I was a student, but only when you become a teacher can you understand. So, playing with these students is a humbling experience, it’s an experience of enthusiasm and music that gives us so much energy that we carry it with us from the day after one edition of the Livorno Music Festival to the day before the next one begins.”

During the masterclasses, you often find yourselves not only in front of quartets but also duo, trio, and quintet formations, does your teaching method change depending on the formation you have in front of you?

“Yes, yes, over the years we have had strings, winds, pianists, even some guitarists. Clearly, each formation has its own repertoire and each repertoire has its own technical and musical aspects; so, it’s important for us to stay updated as well. Some groups, I remember over all these years, have brought us pieces that we did not know, perhaps not necessarily modern or contemporary music, pieces of rarer listening that we had not had the opportunity to personally work on. So, we have to try to get into the heads, the hands of the musicians, and the students, and try to put ourselves in their shoes and try to help them as much as possible. Also because, well, a week is a time that during the Festival seems very long because you live very intensely, so after a week it feels like a month has passed, but in reality time, in a general sense, is very short and so the work we do is very different from continuous work, for example, in a year of work in a conservatory or school. We have to try to concentrate on information, suggestions, and stimuli. But this comes very naturally because you live intensely, you are together even in convivial moments in the evening and so beyond the moment, the hour or the hour and a half of the lesson, practically all day is spent reasoning about music together with the students, and this is very beautiful.”

So, I’ll finish with one last question, which is the question from our students or future students, who when we announced that interviews would start, began asking various questions.

The question is: How do you go from being an excellent student to being a professional?

Good question. First of all, you have to believe in it a lot, very strongly, as someone said. Now more than ever, even compared to the times when – not too many years have passed – when we were students, the technical and instrumental level on average has increased incredibly, and also that of chamber formations, consequently. These young people, in some ways, are more prepared than we were, at least from a technical point of view. The world has changed because the average type of music listening has changed. Not always in this case has it changed for the better, but it is useless to oppose change. Indeed, we have witnessed this revolution because in a few years there has been a revolution within music and beyond. So, as I was saying, you have to believe in it, you have to be lucky, of course, you have to have opportunities, you have to be able to exploit them. I believe, and I don’t think it’s a biased view, that chamber music has never been as fundamental as it is now. Bringing experiences together makes the individual musician grow like perhaps nothing else in the world and making music together, whether it’s chamber music, playing in a quartet, playing in an orchestra, or singing in a choir, is something that goes beyond music and makes better citizens.

So, if I may add, I remember with great affection and great admiration many young people, even those who have passed through our Livorno Music Festival courses, who then, over time, had other opportunities, decided to pursue other professional paths, but music remained in their hearts and in their lives. I believe many of them are truly to be considered real musicians. They are when they go to concerts when they listen to their colleagues, and perhaps have made different life choices and become musicians. They are when they start a family and find the right key to motivate their children to study music because music should be studied, should be studied by everyone. A great master used to say, “Music belongs to everyone, even if perhaps it’s not for everyone,” and he meant precisely this, I’m talking about Piero Farulli, who was a master for all of us in the Quartet. It’s not for everyone because few can then pursue this path professionally, but it belongs to everyone because it should be part of the cultural and human heritage of all citizens of the world, if possible, so we have this mission.

Returning to the original question, I realize I have taken paths that have led far and that would take us even further. Recently I read an article where it was calculated that musical studies provide something like 55 or 60 possible branches of the profession of musician. Once it was thought, “I study piano. Either become a soloist, or become a chamber musician, or become a teacher.” No, there are more than 50 possible professions within music, and in this, all the changes I briefly mentioned earlier have increased the possibilities, both in research and production, in everything that is behind the scenes of a concert.

So, you have to believe in it even more, because who knows, maybe life brings you opportunities that were not foreseeable. So, study, go a bit against the grain, because the young musician now is a young person who goes against the current compared to the extreme speed of today’s life where everything is fast, where everything, allow me, is “easy,” because often a click is enough to get the information you are looking for. Music teaches the opposite, that there are no clicks, there is work, there are perplexities, doubts – even atrocious – that we are all subject to one day and another. So, it’s tough, but it’s worth it because I believe music is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

So, not only groups but also soloists can participate in the summer chamber music refinement course of the Klimt Quartet which will close its registrations on May 31st. The registration methods and procedures for the masterclass are available on the page Professors and Courses 2024

We remind you that all Livorno Music Festival students can participate in the selection to play with the masters on the festival stage, and that some instrumentalists will be able to participate in the selection to play as soloists with the Mascagni Conservatory Orchestra in the concert on September 1st, 2024, scheduled in the program of concerts of the XIV edition of the Livorno Music Festival. All information is available on the dedicated page Prizes and Competitions