Answers

Deniz Türkmen Of course, the concertos by masters like Rachmaninoff, Ravel, or Brahms are at a very high level, but for me, Scriabin's concerto is the most difficult to interpret.

Deniz Türkmen Each etude has its own difficulty, but for me, the easiest is the octave etude. Many people can never believe their ears when I say that, but everyone is different. Playing fast octaves is like resting for me.

Deniz Türkmen There is always something in my mind. For example, when I see a beautiful landscape, I am immediately inspired, and I play the piano in my imagination. I love that feeling of inspiration!

Deniz Türkmen My composition "Poems," which is also known as the 2nd piano sonata, brings me to my limit—I have never performed it publicly. It is a work that makes me sweat a lot!

Deniz Türkmen There are many. I like to hear 20th-century recordings by Rubinstein, Horowitz, Sofronitsky, Cortot, and Gieseking—I could now list a number of legends.

Deniz Türkmen No, definitely not! Horowitz, for example, recorded Chopin's 2nd piano sonata so often—each recording is so different in tempo and dynamics. This is what makes the music so unique. You may have lost a loved one and now play some passages more thoughtfully and sensitively. Or you had a stressful day and now play some passages more energetically and aggressively. Everything that happens in life also affects how you play.

Deniz Türkmen You have to differentiate between 'playing an instrument' and 'living an instrument.' The question is: What do you want to achieve? For example, if you want to perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall, you should dedicate yourself to the violin. If you want to be a common musician, you can continue playing all 3 instruments.

Deniz Türkmen As a child and teenager, I composed only for fun and curiosity. When I got older and performed here and there as a concert pianist, I sometimes felt like a record player playing works by Beethoven, Chopin, or Rachmaninoff. So I started adding some of my own compositions to my concert programs. A highlight was when the audience stood up and clapped when I premiered my 'Grand Sonata'—it was a nice feeling because I knew it was a work by me and not by another composer. Composing is like breathing for me now.

Deniz Türkmen My motto is always: Create something new. I found out a few years ago that Turkish and Azerbaijani art music hadn't been arranged much for piano yet, so I did it. When my album came out, it was very popular because there was no such thing before. My album even hit the charts.

Deniz Türkmen No, I know a lot of musicians with no academic training who have a more successful career than those with an academic degree. You should never rely on a piece of paper. In the end, it all depends on your skills.

Deniz Türkmen The most important thing is that you learn it effectively with full attention and concentration. You should always use time effectively in life. Most people always have excuses to postpone something to another day. What others need 8 hours for, you can do in 2 hours; discipline is everything.

Deniz Türkmen There are always ups and downs in a career. You should never get emotional; it could make things worse. Emotionality is the enemy of a successful career.

Deniz Türkmen I recommend a concerto from the Viennese classical period, such as early concertos by Haydn or Mozart. It is good to start with these so that you first get a feeling of what it is like to play with an orchestra. My first was Grieg's concerto. As a child, I had listened to the recordings of this concerto by legends like Rubinstein, Gilels, and Michelangeli so often. For me, this concerto is one of the highlights of music.

Deniz Türkmen I ride my bike or jog in the park for an hour every two days. I don't use a car to go to the supermarket 800 meters away, so I also strain my arm muscles when I carry the bags back. I usually cook very fresh meals, but you should also set days when you eat less healthy things—that's good for the psyche; you cannot only eat healthily. As you can see, it's easy to keep fit.

Deniz Türkmen No, definitely not! It's never too late to start something new. In fact, it is very important to play a musical instrument in life. A study also showed that even 85-year-olds who started learning a musical instrument improved their brain's memory performance within 6 months.

Deniz Türkmen It is very difficult to say. The sonatas by Scriabin and Rachmaninoff are of course very demanding, but for me, the 8th sonata by Prokofiev is the most difficult. Every concert pianist breaks a sweat with this sonata. It is also one of those sonatas where you have to warm up like hell.

Deniz Türkmen I saw some first concerts where a lot went wrong, for example, a pianist who played Rachmaninoff's 2nd sonata. If it's 100% at home, it's 50% at a concert, so it has to be at least 200% at home. You should listen to your inner being. If you have any doubts about one work in the concert program, you should take another one immediately. Doubt is never a good sign. As a teenager, I went to a concert by Yuja Wang; she even exchanged something in the concert program a few minutes before the concert. You can always have less good days. That's human. Classical music is the Champions League of music, especially when you play transcriptions by Godowsky or Cziffra in concerts.

Deniz Türkmen Such questions always amuse me. I would say if I look at the pensioners in Germany, hopefully not someone who gets up in the morning, eats, drinks, listens to the radio, watches television, stares at the smartphone, and goes to sleep. My goal is to give concerts, compose, and teach until my last breath.

Deniz Türkmen I have a lot of favorites. Nowadays, all brands are of a very high level and very qualitative: Yamaha, Steinway, Kawai, Fazioli, Schimmel, or Petrof. I could list many now. All of them are great, and I love to play all of them.

Deniz Türkmen First of all, I love these kinds of questions! I think I would describe my life with Grieg's Arietta. It's a piece full of hope.

Deniz Türkmen It depends on the concert program. Claudio Arrau once said in an interview that he had to warm up the most with Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata. I usually distract myself with a walk in the woods or read a book before a concert, but when Prokofiev is on the program, I have to warm up a lot.

Deniz Türkmen I only record something once. I know that pianists like Krystian Zimerman repeat something very often. But I'm someone who only records something once, and that's it. It should be natural, not chemical. Rubinstein was also someone who only recorded something once. There is something magical about it.

Deniz Türkmen The village in Turkey where my father grew up. It is a place full of peace and harmony high up in the mountains. This place makes you forget all your worries.

Deniz Türkmen It's hard to believe. There are many myths from the past. It is certain that Liszt was very jealous of Chopin's etudes. He could not understand how one could combine beauty and difficulty in such a way. According to presumptions, it is assumed that he already got the etudes before meeting Chopin. So, of course, he could show off. When Chopin published his etudes, all eyes went to him. You should never forget that Liszt was very much in love with himself and didn't like to see anyone standing over him. So, sometimes he tried unfair methods. Of course, Franz Liszt is one of the greatest composers in history! Maybe even the greatest composer.

Deniz Türkmen Women were viewed very differently back then, but she was truly a power woman. She was piano-technically much more talented than Chopin and Liszt, as I have read in various books. At that time, however, women were never accepted into this circle of artists. If you don't know Cécile Chaminade yet, I would also recommend you listen to her compositions. She composed a lot. Every single composition is beautiful.

Deniz Türkmen Grandmasters like Rubinstein and Horowitz concentrated on the music and wanted to feel it. Rubinstein even once said that when you do such acrobatic movements, the emotions of the music are lost. Pianists like Trifonov and Lang Lang have made it a habit. It doesn't have much to do with their emotions; it's much more like an automatic mechanism. That's why I close my eyes when I go to concerts by this type of pianist to just concentrate on the music. Then you focus only on the pianist's interpretation and can enjoy it. I also don't do acrobatic movements, like Rubinstein and Horowitz; you saw that right. In this way, concert guests who are new to classical music can concentrate better on the music. Once, a listener even came up to me after one of my concerts and said that she could concentrate fully on the music and at a Lang Lang concert, she couldn't because she was so distracted by the pianist. I thanked her and said that I am a pianist and not an acrobat preparing for the Olympics.

Deniz Türkmen My longest concert program was over 2 hours. It contained Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, and my own works. It was a benefit concert in a church. I deliberately drew it out so people donated more.

Deniz Türkmen Everyone is talented, but when parents and educational policies fail, the children cannot help it. In China and Russia, children get better support and education. They are specifically prepared for what they love to do. The culture there is also associated with a lot of discipline and respect, which is why the upbringing of parents is so successful. And not to forget the very good educational policy there. I have been asked very often why there are so many artists from China and Russia in German music universities. Quite simply: They invest a lot more in education there. You don't have to be an expert to see this. It's a shame that Germany is very far behind. Playing a musical instrument and getting lessons is a luxury in Germany. Unfortunately.

Deniz Türkmen I named it that on purpose. My parents' homeland, Turkey, is always associated with oriental music, but Turkey is a very diverse country with very different cultures. Turkey used to have very great composers like Ulvi Cemal Erkin who composed in the Western style; unfortunately, such composers are more and more forgotten. That is why one associates Turkey almost exclusively with oriental music. Unfortunately, culture is being pushed more and more into the background in Turkey.

Deniz Türkmen First of all, respect for having farmed for so long! Now to your question: Nowadays, you can learn without a piano teacher right next to you giving instructions. Video conversation, for example, would be a good alternative. Of course, later, when you are more advanced, it is better to learn with a piano teacher who is right next to you and explains the subtleties.

Deniz Türkmen Yes, I asked him about Horowitz earlier. He said that he was very attentive and listened carefully. He also said that when Horowitz was not at the piano, he was very humorous, but when he sat at the piano, he was more disciplined than anyone else. "Horowitz was the perfect student."

Deniz Türkmen "Be unique, think for yourself, question everything, don't let others think for you, just because a billion people think the same thing, it doesn't have to be the truth"—a quote from my time in Rome. It's not from a well-known poet, just from an elderly gentleman I worked with on projects. This quote says so much about our world today.