0:00:21 > 0:00:25This is Benjamin Grosvenor, playing at the first night of the Proms
0:00:25 > 0:00:27just a few weeks ago.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33At 19, he's the youngest ever soloist to perform at the first night of the Proms,
0:00:33 > 0:00:39and his virtuosity has dazzled both the audience and the critics.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Six years ago, Imagine discovered this musical prodigy in the making.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25This is an 11-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor on his way to winning the piano section
0:01:25 > 0:01:31at the Young Musician Of The Year competition in 2004.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36I'm absolutely bowled over by him.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38It was fabulous really.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Completely natural feeling for colour and gesture, extraordinary.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46I really felt like I was witnessing some historic moment.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51Benjamin's very clear about his future.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56In about 10 years time or 20 years time, I'd like to be a concert pianist.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58It's what I want to do in life.
0:02:10 > 0:02:16But what does it mean to be a concert pianist today and what is Benjamin letting himself in for?
0:02:46 > 0:02:50The idea of having to walk on stage and play the piano
0:02:50 > 0:02:56in a packed concert hall is one of those universal fantasies, or is it nightmares?
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Unfortunately, I can only play the piano in my dreams.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Yet, I'm still magnetically drawn to the instrument.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08I can never resist sitting down at a piano and touching the keys.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Unlike the violin, it is at least easy to get a sound from.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17But at the same time, there's something so improbable about serious piano-playing.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20The speed, the technique, the memory.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24Great piano players appear to be endowed with mystical qualities.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29What's more, the swaying, crouching, tormented figure hammering
0:03:29 > 0:03:33and caressing the ivories is still one of those archetypal romantic images.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46It's not hard to understand why a young boy like Benjamin Grosvenor
0:03:46 > 0:03:49might want to be a concert pianist. Who wouldn't?
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Great!
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Concert piano playing really began in the 1830s when the composer,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Franz Liszt, first introduced the notion of the solo piano concert.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Piano recitals rapidly became a widespread and highly popular form of musical entertainment.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Liszt and his friend, Frederic Chopin, were the first
0:04:45 > 0:04:50in a long line of great pianists who became the cultural heroes and pin-ups of their time.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57They were followed by such piano giants as Ignacy Paderewski,
0:04:57 > 0:05:03whose fame as a pianist led him to become Prime Minister in his native Poland.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09The Virtuoso pianist and composer, Sergei Rachmaninov and Artur Rubinstein,
0:05:09 > 0:05:14who in his 70-year-long career, became the ultimate international superstar.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The tradition of heroic pianists continued
0:05:46 > 0:05:50throughout the twentieth century, with iconic figures like Horowitz...
0:05:53 > 0:05:54Richter...
0:05:57 > 0:05:58..and Glenn Gould.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11In today's fiendishly competitive music world, the star pianist still retains an elite status.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19'I went to see the leading British composer, George Benjamin, who both writes and performs at the piano,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23'to talk about Benjamin Grosvenor's chances of success.'
0:06:23 > 0:06:29When a young pianist like Benjamin Grosvenor, for instance, here he is, he's at the beginning of this.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31It's a hugely competitive area.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36What is it that's going to make a concert pianist for today stand out
0:06:36 > 0:06:38in this very competitive environment?
0:06:38 > 0:06:44It's very difficult because there are thousands wanting to be concert pianists.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Obviously, natural virtuosity, the ability to learn and to conquer the instrument.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51All the obvious things.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Depth of interpretation, understanding,
0:06:53 > 0:06:58the ability to listen to oneself, to hear the piano while playing it.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Also, charisma for the audience, having that quality that forces
0:07:02 > 0:07:08the listener to empathise with you while you're playing and to force the public to listen.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Essentially, if you want to master it, you have to start young.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14I think so, on the whole, there's always exceptions.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Usually, people do start pretty young - six, seven, eight.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20To conquer music...
0:07:20 > 0:07:24People can be extraordinarily brilliant at music at an early age.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28More than anything else, mathematics is the equivalent.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32One must be born with talent. That is the most important thing.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38You must be born with talent and then you can only develop it when there's nothing to learn.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40You can't learn talent.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49There's no question, becoming a concert pianist is an olympian task
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and it certainly helps to start young.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58Not all but most of today's top pianists began playing at an extremely early age.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Piano for me is like my childhood friend.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10My parents bought a piano, an upright piano for me
0:08:10 > 0:08:14when I was one year and eight months,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16almost two years old.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23My mother tells me I started to play the piano when I was three.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25I was just a kid who played the piano.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31I guess nature decided for me from the beginning.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38I started to play the piano at aged two,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43or to be precise, when I was two years and two months old -
0:08:43 > 0:08:47as soon as I was tall enough to reach the keyboard.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Do you have a first memory of the piano?
0:09:04 > 0:09:06When you first heard a piano?
0:09:06 > 0:09:07No!
0:09:10 > 0:09:11I don't think I was a Mozart
0:09:11 > 0:09:15and went up to the piano and started playing when I was about three.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I started when I was about six and a half.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19I think then I wasn't really
0:09:19 > 0:09:22very determined and confident.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25I didn't want to practise a lot.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I suppose a bit more like Beethoven,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31he tried to avoid music lessons when he was younger.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Over the years, I got used to it and it grew on me.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39There has to be a moment when you think to yourself,
0:09:39 > 0:09:45- I want to do this. - I remember a couple of years ago,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48playing on the stage at the local cricket pavilion, the concert hall,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53a charity ball or something.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58When I came off, I said to my mum, I really want to be a concert pianist.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I had so much fun being on that stage and playing to the people.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05So there's definitely a performer in you,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09someone who likes the appreciation of the audience?
0:10:09 > 0:10:14Likes that scary moment when you get up on stage? Is it scary?
0:10:14 > 0:10:18No. It's fun, I suppose.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22When you receive the audience's applause it's...
0:10:23 > 0:10:27..I suppose it gives you self-confidence.
0:10:30 > 0:10:36There's no doubt that Ben has the necessary enthusiasm as well as a huge dose of natural talent,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39but he also needs to be immensely dedicated.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44He practises for up to eight hours a day, six days a week.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49On Sundays, he travels up to London with his mother
0:10:49 > 0:10:56for lessons with Christopher Elton, head of the piano department at the Royal Academy Of Music.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12There are different types of prodigy.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14In a way, I don't like using the word.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17There are those who're incredibly well developed physically.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21They can tear around the piano in a very gymnastic way.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23There are also people who are prodigious in,
0:11:23 > 0:11:29just somehow, and who knows where from, having a deep understanding,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33sensitivity and even spirituality.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35For me, this is the more interesting one
0:11:35 > 0:11:41and I would have to say that Benjamin is stronger on that front than the purely pianistic front for his age.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44He's capable of giving a performance which is very moving,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48which has enormous integrity to it, which is natural.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53He finds his own voice in many ways, but he also works very hard
0:11:53 > 0:11:59at the physical side of things, as has to be done, in order to be able
0:11:59 > 0:12:02to deliver and to communicate what it is he wants to say.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Change, change...
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Good.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20Hold on...
0:12:20 > 0:12:22That was fine, the pedalling there.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26The first time, there was almost none which is a fantastic way to practise it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:33There's no point evading the fact that playing the piano is physical to a large extent.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37It's easier to train physically when you're young, to develop muscles
0:12:37 > 0:12:40which are supple, to develop strength when you're young.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46If a pianist hasn't got the basic technique really sorted out by the time they're 15 or 16, they may
0:12:46 > 0:12:50advance and get very good, but there are always going to be some hang-ups,
0:12:50 > 0:12:56feelings of insecurity, fillings that they aren't naturally developed enough.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05How does this all fit into your school routine? I take it you still have to go to school.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08I have quite a lot of time off school.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12I have 16 free periods a week off.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It's quite a lot of time.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20With school, I don't really get the amount of practice I want to get done.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26I'd like to practice eight hours a day, but I can't do that because of school.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30What do you do in your time off or don't you get any?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Most of the time, I'm practising.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39You get enough satisfaction without worrying about all the things you're missing.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42I don't really see what I am missing,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46because it's not like... I do do other things.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48I'm not always on the piano.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Most of the time, I'm on the piano but I do do other things.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57For the moment, Ben is carrying on at his local grammar school
0:13:57 > 0:14:00with just a weekly visit to London for a lesson.
0:14:00 > 0:14:01But for how much longer?
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Most teenage wannabe pianists will sooner or later head off
0:14:05 > 0:14:10for full-time piano education at one of the music hothouses.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The Juilliard School in New York attracts piano students from all over the world.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26They come here often at huge personal and financial cost to study.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Unsurprisingly, there are no slackers at the Juilliard.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35Juilliard provides incomparable atmosphere for budding artists.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41You have to be incredibly strong and confident in a certain way
0:14:41 > 0:14:44to be able to survive the pressures of the school.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46It can ruin a person.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51It's notorious for being a competitive place because everyone plays at such a high level.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58There are 25 students in this college class.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01All of whom come in here
0:15:01 > 0:15:03with the wish to fulfil a dream,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06a dream that they've had since childhood,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10of being able to make music and share it with an audience.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14I would say that almost all of them want to be concert pianists.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19Many of them come in here having no idea what their potential is.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Some come with inflated views of what they can do,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25some come with very little confidence.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30They all want to find out, find out how far they can take it, and that's what they're here for.
0:15:53 > 0:16:00The one common thread here is their love of music, which becomes almost their religion.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18I was five and half and I started winning competitions after competitions.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Finally, my piano teacher said
0:16:22 > 0:16:26"There's no more room for her to grow artistically here.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29"I feel like I've taught everything I know.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35"You should take her to America where there are more opportunities and more...
0:16:35 > 0:16:39"I guess, just a wider horizon for music."
0:16:39 > 0:16:45My mother took me here when I was... I think I just turned 11.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54She was always a very successful businesswoman in China.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59We had a very well established life and were comfortable.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03When we came here, all of a sudden, we were starting from the beginning.
0:17:07 > 0:17:14Given the incredible opportunity to do it and to have my parents go against all odds
0:17:14 > 0:17:22to make that possible for me, has only fuelled this drive that I've always had to be successful at this.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25I love playing and I love performing.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Yeah, I basically just work!
0:17:42 > 0:17:48Because of the enormous pressures, students need to be actively discouraged from overplaying.
0:17:52 > 0:17:59An optimum number of hours for practising for a concert pianist is between four and five.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Six is a maximum and beyond that, the law of diminishing returns starts setting in.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09The muscles are worn, they're depleted of blood
0:18:09 > 0:18:13and fluid supplies and they're much more likely to become injured.
0:18:21 > 0:18:29At some point, it becomes apparent which students have the potential to make the transition into artists.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42I know that a student has the making of an artist when you give them an idea and they fly with it.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44They don't just...
0:18:44 > 0:18:46simply reproduce what you tell them.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51They take the idea and take it a step further
0:18:51 > 0:18:54and that step opens the door for them.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06Teachers in general can teach them what to do at this spot, what to do at that spot.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Once you get that down in your system,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12you have to go into a practice room
0:19:12 > 0:19:17and think about it all over again from the first note to the last.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21I'm quite surprised when we have masterclasses
0:19:21 > 0:19:27and somebody else is playing the same piece that I worked on.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33We have the same teacher but it sounds totally different and I don't understand how that can be.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35That's when the personality thing kicks in.
0:19:49 > 0:19:57The scene today is such that the percentages of the people who are actually going to make it is low.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00They know realistically that their chances
0:20:00 > 0:20:07of making it are slim statistically, but they want the chance to try so that there are no regrets later on.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11They give it their best shot and some are lucky, some are not.
0:20:19 > 0:20:27In my last 20 to 30 years of listening to young pianists, I remember only
0:20:27 > 0:20:34maybe a couple or three whom I say, I think you can make a big career.
0:20:34 > 0:20:40So every year, hundreds of brilliant piano students get to the end of a training for which they've literally
0:20:40 > 0:20:46given up the whole of their life so far, only to discover there's still a long way to go.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50If they're serious about being a pianist on the concert stage,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54they'll need to continue studying, maybe with one of the great masters.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57I had a few very fine pupils.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59I have a passion for it.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02- I love it. - What do you try to communicate?
0:21:02 > 0:21:06What is it that you want to teach, to instil into them?
0:21:06 > 0:21:12I not so much communicate, I try to discover who they are for them.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18I think that one has relied too much, too long on methods for everyone,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and that's very wrong in art.
0:21:21 > 0:21:29The great master, the great professor, the one who discovers possibilities and impossibilities
0:21:29 > 0:21:34in his pupil. I have good results with it, I must say.
0:21:34 > 0:21:40You have to develop something powerful, authentic and original to say about the music that you play.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44That means a profundity of soul and an insight into the music.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47That's something you can't tell if it's going to come.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49It can come along later than you expect or not at all.
0:21:49 > 0:21:56Just absolutely brilliant, pianistic, virtuosity is in the end uninteresting
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and won't feed a whole life.
0:21:59 > 0:22:06The Portuguese pianist, Maria Joao Pires, is one of the great figures on the world concert platform
0:22:06 > 0:22:13and an inspirational teacher, who gives masterclasses to a select group of exceptional students.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Now, what is the meaning of this?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19What means this?
0:22:19 > 0:22:20What do you feel?
0:22:20 > 0:22:24I feel like it's not a clear image, like a ghost
0:22:24 > 0:22:28that is passing by, that you can never really see what it really is.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33But after, you have felt this...
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Then you cannot play, ba ba ba ba...
0:22:39 > 0:22:43because it doesn't fit. Feel with your body, don't feel it here,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48don't hear what I am saying, I am not talking to you.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51I don't exist. You are...
0:22:51 > 0:22:54You are...feeling now something.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58I'm just helping you to feel something.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Feel it with all your being.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03(Go, go, go, go!)
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Why is it staccato?
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Who says? You?
0:23:16 > 0:23:19You're feeling that it is staccato?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Really? Promise me?
0:23:21 > 0:23:24My feeling of...
0:23:24 > 0:23:26My brain says...
0:23:26 > 0:23:32My sense of style says I have to play everything staccato.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38- Also not good.- No!
0:23:40 > 0:23:44We encounter most people trying to read literally what the score says.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47The score says a lot of things,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52but we're looking for that thing that is beyond the notes, the bars,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54the crescendo, the innuendo there.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57It is a safe haven for teachers.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Most teachers rely on a literal reading, very accurate,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05exact reading of what's written. Then you hear this music
0:24:05 > 0:24:09played this way and it's that - it doesn't express anything.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12It is very literal reading of the score.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16As Mahler used to say, the print of the score
0:24:16 > 0:24:20has everything you need to know about the music except the essential.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Time.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45What is the difference between my way of playing and yours?
0:24:46 > 0:24:49It is just one thing
0:24:49 > 0:24:51and one little thing.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57I think it's something to do
0:24:57 > 0:25:00with giving space
0:25:00 > 0:25:01to certain notes.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06The space is given by time. No time,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09all the world is mine.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13I have the space, I don't have to do.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15I just feel.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Time.
0:25:30 > 0:25:37The paradox of being a pianist is that much of your life is spent in almost monastic isolation,
0:25:37 > 0:25:42in the relentless soul-searching business of practising alone at the keyboard.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46But eventually, you have to emerge in front of a large crowd of people
0:25:46 > 0:25:50and perform for an hour or even two on a stage.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53There's no doubt that part of our fascination with the pianist,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58lies in witnessing something very private being revealed in public.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05The business of people playing music, for others listening to music,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09in the ceremony of a concert hall is incredibly important.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15Not only is it some form of social gathering and it's a ritual, but people love to be played to.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20People who play music yearn to play for others, so there's an osmosis
0:26:20 > 0:26:25between performer and audience, which is the heart of music.
0:26:25 > 0:26:32The recordings are fantastic things, incredibly useful, a wonderful gift to a musical civilisation,
0:26:32 > 0:26:38but the truth is the danger of the concert, the risk of the theatre of a concert where so much
0:26:38 > 0:26:42can go wrong and so much can go mysteriously right.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Where in the best moments, a magic performer playing a great piece can hypnotise hundreds,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51if not thousands of people and take them to another world and move them very deeply.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56A young pianist who's recently joined the upper echelons
0:26:56 > 0:27:02of the piano world, is the 22-year-old Chinese virtuoso, Lang Lang.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10'Five minutes, please. Five minutes, thank you.'
0:27:10 > 0:27:16Lang Lang now performs an exhausting schedule of concerts right around the world.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Tomorrow, he's playing in Berlin, but tonight, it's Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Talking about performance day which is a great subject to talk.
0:27:27 > 0:27:34It is a little bit hard because now I have 100 concerts a year.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39And so basically three days, one concert, plus the travelling.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44It's very different between the performances.
0:27:50 > 0:27:58Before the concert, I rehearse a little bit and normally I like to eat some chocolate or fruit.
0:27:58 > 0:28:04Also I just like to stand up, not playing piano, but just thinking about this music
0:28:04 > 0:28:08and then start...not conducting,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11because I really don't know how to conduct,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13but something...
0:28:13 > 0:28:19Look out to the moon and start touching the air.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Sometimes I start thinking about images, or thinking about
0:28:27 > 0:28:30a good vacation, lying on a beach or in a mountain.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Basically thinking about nature.
0:28:33 > 0:28:40Sometimes I even play with closed eyes and it's very helpful.
0:28:40 > 0:28:41Very helpful.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45'All soloists, this is your call to the stage, please. Thank you.'
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Perhaps I don't think I need to be nervous.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Even when you're nervous, it can start to help you.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Please go, I don't want to be late!
0:29:27 > 0:29:32Maybe the first time I performed, you're quite nervous when you walk the stage.
0:29:32 > 0:29:39Then you see the audience, the piano, the light in the concert hall, it is very warm.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43For me, that's the reason I love to perform.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58When I was five, I gave the first recital.
0:29:58 > 0:30:04In the beginning, I was nervous because I didn't know what the stage was like.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08The stage lights are there, it's very beautiful.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Basically it is big yellow shining lights
0:30:12 > 0:30:17and then you don't feel any cold, or any nervousness.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20It feels like home sweet home.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07This piece, it's the Beethoven Piano Concerto Number Four.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09It's quite a religious piece.
0:31:09 > 0:31:16It is very mysterious and the second movement is like a mystery.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19It's like how to solve mystery.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23It is like, kind of a pre-movement.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47Then I think the most sad thing is the end of the piece.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49This note...
0:31:57 > 0:32:00It is dead inside.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29I do find it easy to play, but I certainly find to play the piano
0:34:29 > 0:34:32is such an enjoyable thing to do in life.
0:34:32 > 0:34:38Sometimes I'm tired, but after I play a few notes...
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Those don't count, but I play something!
0:34:43 > 0:34:49Then I'm like... It's like I get out from a vacation for 10 days.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52It is that kind of freshness.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23APPLAUSE
0:35:39 > 0:35:44Are you cultivating a personality for your concert performances?
0:35:44 > 0:35:46I don't want to play concerts.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I don't like to dress up.
0:35:48 > 0:35:55I don't imagine myself going on with tails and flapping out of the seat!
0:35:55 > 0:35:58I play in a BHS shirt!
0:36:00 > 0:36:02Totally casual I suppose.
0:36:02 > 0:36:09I tried all my life to find the best way of feeling well-disposed for a concert.
0:36:09 > 0:36:15I spend the day eating a big steak at luncheon, I lie down to rest.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18I read a book,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22I go for a short walk, I had slept 10 hours that night.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Everything that a little good boy should do, yes?
0:36:26 > 0:36:31In the evening, I come out and suddenly, something drops in me.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33There is no inspiration,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36not a real wish to play.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41On other days, I arrive half dead from a trip. I hadn't slept,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46it was very inconvenient, they didn't give me any good things to eat.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50I'm nervous, very restless,
0:36:50 > 0:36:56I feel weak, I imagine some pains in my arm, a headache.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02I come out to the audience and all those things drop from me
0:37:02 > 0:37:04and I'm the highest of spirits.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Jo MacGregor, one of Britain's most innovative and popular classical
0:37:11 > 0:37:15musicians, is playing one of the keyboard masterpieces,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19Bach's Goldberg Variations, at London's Wigmore Hall.
0:38:22 > 0:38:30I've waited a long time to play this piece. I've had the score of it for 20 years.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34I didn't think I was anywhere near ready to play this.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38Obviously, I've known the two Glenn Gould recordings since I was young.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42I have lots of recordings of people playing it.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I just waited until I thought the time was right for me to start playing.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01I always think of these pieces as you make these friendships.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06You take them into your life, if nothing too bad goes wrong with the piece first time round,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08you go, OK, you're part of my life and come back to them.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Your relationship with them gets deeper and deeper.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14There's an element of...
0:39:14 > 0:39:19a spiritual connection that you have with these pieces.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27When you practise the piano for hours every day, for months and years,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30which is what you're doing, even when travelling,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34there are certain parts of you that become very focused.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38You learn to deal with solitude, learn to...
0:39:38 > 0:39:42direct your time on your own. You become very self-sufficient.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46You also begin to have a strong fantasy life.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49You have a strong creative landscape.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55You become somebody who reacts strongly to pieces
0:39:55 > 0:40:01and you extract things from them that can only come because you've spent hundreds of hours on these pieces.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04That's what the audience sees on stage.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32You have to be not mad while you're doing it too.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35You have to keep things in proportion.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37You feel very cut off
0:40:37 > 0:40:42sometimes when you're playing and become so...
0:40:42 > 0:40:43self-critical,
0:40:43 > 0:40:48so hard on yourself if things don't go well.
0:40:48 > 0:40:49That can be hard.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01I've always thought that pianists, like boxers, should have trainers in the corner.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05You go back to them after each piece and they go, "You're doing really well!"
0:41:05 > 0:41:09You don't have that, as a pianist, you're on your own.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13You do it for yourself and have to be very strong.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12It's interesting to me how you...
0:42:12 > 0:42:14you think to yourself, "I want to be a pianist.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18"Lots of people have played this, lots of people I've admired."
0:42:18 > 0:42:21How do you make it your own, the pieces? Is that easy to do?
0:42:21 > 0:42:28Well, the Chopin Ballade, I've got about...ten recordings of it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31I listen to all of them.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35From them, I get my own interpretation of it.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39What do you think it is that you want to bring to those pieces when you listen?
0:42:39 > 0:42:42What is it that you have to offer do you think?
0:42:42 > 0:42:45- It's got to sound natural. - What do you mean by natural?
0:42:45 > 0:42:52If it doesn't sound convincing, you can do anything, but if it sounds convincing it will sound all right.
0:42:52 > 0:42:58So I suppose you think of your interpretation and keep practising it.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00Make the piece your own.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03There's one bit...
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Rubinstein goes like that.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12I prefer it to go...
0:43:21 > 0:43:25So, we all do it differently I suppose.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Rachmaninov's second piano concerto is one of the most popular
0:43:55 > 0:43:57and frequently performed pieces in the repertoire.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03The challenge for every pianist is to somehow forge a fresh interpretation.
0:44:12 > 0:44:19Top British pianist, Stephen Hough, received widespread acclaim for his recent Rachmaninov recording -
0:44:19 > 0:44:23an interpretation in the spirit of the composer's own playing.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28Today he's rehearsing the work with conductor Richard Hickox and the National Orchestra Of Wales.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Rachmaninov's second is perhaps the most popular piano concerto
0:44:34 > 0:44:38because it's just a most beautiful piece of music.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43It's filled with gorgeous tunes and everyone loves a great melody.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47The piece is fascinating for all sorts of reasons, partly because of its popularity.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52Something that, 100 years after it was written, is still the most popular concerto.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54It has to be doing something right.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57It's a very well-constructed piece.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00I don't think there are any bars in it that you feel could be cut.
0:45:00 > 0:45:06It's very exciting. It's a wonderful piece to sit in an audience and listen to.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09We know that Rachmaninov was a nervous performer.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12We're told that sometimes he had to be pushed onto the platform.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15He was terrified of playing in public.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18I have a personal feeling about the piece.
0:45:18 > 0:45:25It's perfect for the nervous pianist because it begins with some chords to warm up, to feel the instrument.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29You're sitting down at the piano and thinking, what's this like?
0:45:31 > 0:45:34You're playing these chords to feel the instrument.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Then you reach the big one.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50From that moment, you can't hear the piano for another two minutes.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55He's playing lots of notes, warming his fingers, but he's given this luscious theme to the orchestra.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58They're covering him, perhaps deliberately,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01because you always are nervous - am I warmed up enough?
0:46:10 > 0:46:14Here you try the piano out, play for two minutes without anyone
0:46:14 > 0:46:17hearing whether you're playing any wrong notes.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22Then you have a glorious melody to prove what a marvellous lyrical gift you have.
0:46:43 > 0:46:49Whenever I learn a new piece for the first time, I've got to want to play it.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53That is the first stage. If you want to play a piece because you love it
0:46:53 > 0:46:57and feel you have something to say about it, it's a good start.
0:46:59 > 0:47:05It's not the sort of inspiration when you're sitting in a field, looking at the sky thinking
0:47:05 > 0:47:12artistic thoughts. It's graft. It's sitting on a piano stool with a piano there, a pencil and a score,
0:47:12 > 0:47:18cutting through the thicket of this music and finding your way to the heart of what the music is about.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20This is hard work.
0:47:42 > 0:47:47For me, to avoid listening to too many other recordings or performances is essential.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52To know the tradition and the tradition of Rachmaninov,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56of the composer's own style of playing and the pianist that he liked,
0:47:56 > 0:48:01but once you have that language, you have to speak your own words with it.
0:48:10 > 0:48:16I hope that having something original to say makes it worth going to the other side of the world
0:48:16 > 0:48:23and stepping out onto the stage and wanting to share what I feel about piece with the audience.
0:48:33 > 0:48:39I think this burning quality, this compulsion to play, it should be there in every human being.
0:48:39 > 0:48:45In order to live a full life, you have to burn about something.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55Let's not pretend that this is a nicely air-conditioned room.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57This is a furnace at times and so it should be.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02You're dealing with things which are at the heart of what it means to live a meaningful life.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Fantastic. Thank you, Stephen. Bravo!
0:49:38 > 0:49:45Stephen Hough is one of Benjamin Grosvenor's two favourite pianists, the other is Yevgeny Kissin.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50I admire Kissin's phenomenal technique.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53It's amazing really.
0:49:53 > 0:49:54It's to be in awe of.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58I like the sound he creates.
0:49:58 > 0:50:04He can play extremely fast and can get round notes octaves down the piano.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09He's extremely confident on the stage.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11He is known to have nerves of steel!
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Kissin started the piano earlier than I did.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20I know that he was always doing technical exercises like thirds and tenths.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24I'm always preparing pieces and I don't get time to do the technical exercises.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27He did the two Chopin piano concerto's when he was 12.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31I'm going to do that next autumn.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33I'm trying to follow in his footsteps.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36I'm a bit behind him.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48Russian prodigy, Yevgeny Kissin, exploded onto the world stage
0:50:48 > 0:50:54in the 1990s, astounding audiences with the physical virtuosity of his playing.
0:50:54 > 0:51:00He was the first ever solo artist to perform an entire prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
0:51:00 > 0:51:06For young players like Benjamin Grosvenor, Kissin is undoubtedly the pianist pin-up of the moment.
0:51:06 > 0:51:12I've been very lucky because from since when I was a child, I was in very good hands.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17My teachers as well as those of my parents.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Looking back, I realised that...
0:51:26 > 0:51:31..they brought me up in the right way.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35I became famous quite early.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38And...
0:51:38 > 0:51:45they realised how a child should be brought up in such circumstances.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50They kept criticising me all the time,
0:51:50 > 0:51:54and looking back I realised that was the right thing to do.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58However, I also know that by nature,
0:51:58 > 0:52:03I have never been ambitious, let alone vain.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07So...
0:52:07 > 0:52:13As far as I can remember, I never really cared
0:52:13 > 0:52:19when other people used to speak about me and my playing
0:52:19 > 0:52:21in some lofty terms.
0:52:23 > 0:52:29As I say, what I cared about most was music itself, music as such.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34Usually, the number...
0:52:35 > 0:52:41..of my concerts remains below 50 per year.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48The paradox is that I love playing in public.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50On the other hand,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54each concert...is an event for me.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59I could also say that each concert is a stress for me.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06Kissin is notorious for his total dedication and note-perfect performances.
0:53:06 > 0:53:12This afternoon, he's rehearsing hard in an empty Royal Festival Hall for the evening's recital.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42I give a lot.
0:53:42 > 0:53:48I give everything I have at that particular moment during my concerts.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51So, I need some time
0:53:51 > 0:53:55to sort of refill myself.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06I often have problems falling asleep afterwards. Why?
0:54:06 > 0:54:14Do I keep hearing the music I played a few hours earlier in my ears?
0:54:14 > 0:54:16No, not necessarily.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Do I keep thinking about it? No.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28During my concerts, my adrenalin boils
0:54:28 > 0:54:34to such a high temperature that it takes a while for it to cool down.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Also, after my concerts...
0:54:41 > 0:54:48..when I put on my trousers, I realise each time that I've lost weight.
0:54:58 > 0:55:05Sometimes, I'm being asked if I ever want to escape from music
0:55:05 > 0:55:08and my answer is no.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13I simply wouldn't find it possible.
0:55:13 > 0:55:20Even if I don't touch the piano for several weeks in a row, that doesn't mean that I'm escaping from music.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Music is always in me
0:55:24 > 0:55:26and will always remain there.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28This is the way I am.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Why do we try to communicate something?
0:56:14 > 0:56:19Why do people still come and want to be communicated, want to receive a message?
0:56:19 > 0:56:22That is the main question.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Art is not just entertainment.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28I never thought that from my childhood.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Art is something terribly essential, terribly important.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35It communicates something eternal.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38When it doesn't, then it's entertainment.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41When I make music,
0:56:41 > 0:56:43it is so heavenly.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46I am in love with music.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50Actually, when I play, I make love.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52It is the same thing.
0:57:00 > 0:57:08If there's one thing that unites all of these pianists, it must be their absolute and obsessive commitment.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15The great technical challenge of the piano, is that basically
0:57:15 > 0:57:20it's a machine, you press a key and it makes a sound.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24What pianists do, is dedicate their waking life,
0:57:24 > 0:57:30practically their whole being, into battling with this machine, to make that sound their own.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34It's a subtle and yet superhuman struggle
0:57:34 > 0:57:40and it's this struggle that can make the performance of great pianists feel so close to musical perfection.
0:57:42 > 0:57:47Benjamin, of course, will never need to find out how to be a great pianist.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50He'll either be one or he won't.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09You can see more of Benjamin Grosvenor's Proms performance
0:58:09 > 0:58:12when he returns to the Royal Albert Hall
0:58:12 > 0:58:15and is joined by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18That's on BBC2 on 13th August.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk