The balance of spiritual and sensual in music making

By WILLIAM DART

I first heard Thomas Hecht two years ago, playing Mozart's C minor Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. This Thursday, he'll be giving us Beethoven's concerto in the same key, with the Auckland Philharmonia.

His Mozart was lusciously delivered, with a slow movement that almost melted off the keys. So, might we expect a taste of the same with the Beethoven? Hecht, in a breathless Baltimore clip, admits he is "used to the Kiwi thinking that I'm this way in general".

"Although back in the States it's not a big deal. Over here, I'm getting accustomed to being labelled as a rhapsodic performer.

"But," he adds as an afterthought, "you think of all those wonderful love arias Mozart wrote and there's just so much love in those slow movements."

Hecht wants to talk about his studies with Leon Fleisher, who he describes as "one of the great teaching gurus, with the whole tradition of Schnabel blazing through his mind". He regards Fleisher's recording of the Beethoven C minor with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell as one of the definitive interpretations of the score.

Then it's back to the concerto we're about to hear; for Hecht the great moment in the work "is the incredibly celestial slow movement, probably the first window Beethoven had on the sublime. You can almost sense the later Beethoven, a cosmic kind of having-departed-from-Earth kind of music."

Just as I'm beginning to imagine New Age wind-chimes in the background, the American also addresses the need to balance the spiritual and sensual in music-making. He lays weight on "the great sensual pleasure in playing the piano - if you don't get that out of it, then it's just so much work".

And he finds sensuality in the works of some of our New Zealand composers. Ross Harris' Variation, which he recorded for Waiteata, is one such piece: "Ross is a real sensualist, although he might not like me saying that."

That work was a testing experience, he says, "and now it's nice to sit back, relax and listen to the recording".

There's not too much relaxing with Hecht's schedule, but then he moved to New Zealand "to find more room to move and the chance to do different things". Now, he's the man behind Wellington City Gallery's Salon di Virtuosi concerts, and this year launched the National Piano Competition in his home town of Paekakariki.

As a pianist last year he toured with his Trio Victoria and performed at the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music; later this year he guests with the Cleveland Orchestra and does recital tours in Australia and South Africa.

As Head of Victoria University's Piano School, a position he took up in 1997, he is also in touch with the nuts and bolts of piano teaching. What does he advise students who feel they have the calling?

"The most important thing is to completely and totally apply yourself. Don't worry about getting to Carnegie Hall. Pursue your goal blindly, naively even. If there's anything else grabbing your attention, maybe music is not your thing. She's a pretty selfish muse and she doesn't like any other distractions.

"Go in for as many competitions as you can. Let's face it - the Van Cliburn Competition is a running joke. Whoever hears of the place-getters after they've carried off their awards? But playing in these gives you a taste of what life on the road is like, you meet so many people and play in so many different venues. Remember, there's nobody listening to you in your practice room."

* Thomas Hecht plays Beethoven's C minor Concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia on Thursday, at the Auckland Town Hall.