0:00:13 > 0:00:17Every three years, during the month of September, the eyes of the piano world
0:00:17 > 0:00:21turn to Yorkshire for the Leeds International Piano Competition.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Long established as one of music's most coveted prizes
0:00:24 > 0:00:28since its inception in 1963, the competition was the dream
0:00:28 > 0:00:32and ambition of a local piano teacher, Fanny Waterman.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Today, at the tender age of 92, Dame Fanny Waterman still runs
0:00:35 > 0:00:39the event with her trademark zest and energy and is in demand
0:00:39 > 0:00:43all over the world as a teacher and all-round piano guru.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47As the Leeds approaches its 50th birthday in 2013,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I went to meet this remarkable nonagenarian
0:00:50 > 0:00:53and began by asking her about her childhood.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00I was born in Leeds and my first recollections
0:01:00 > 0:01:04is when I remember feet going across a pavement
0:01:04 > 0:01:08because the house where I was born
0:01:08 > 0:01:11was a house with a cellar kitchen.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14What was Leeds like in the 1920s when you were growing up?
0:01:14 > 0:01:21I can just remember going with my mother to the grocery shop and she
0:01:21 > 0:01:26was crying because she didn't have enough money to pay the grocery bill.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28But I was always happy.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32I used to dance around the table to Henry Hall
0:01:32 > 0:01:34and his BBC Dance Orchestra.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Tell me about your father.
0:01:36 > 0:01:43My father was Russian and came over at the turn of the century.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45He was a wonderful jeweller.
0:01:45 > 0:01:51I watched him making beautiful brooches
0:01:51 > 0:01:55of his own design of pearls and diamonds
0:01:55 > 0:01:59and rubies and these had strength
0:01:59 > 0:02:04and beauty and I think it influenced me at a very early age.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06When did you first play the piano?
0:02:06 > 0:02:09My mother said it was when I was four
0:02:09 > 0:02:14and I used to climb on the stool and I would play the ditties
0:02:14 > 0:02:19of the day with very good accompaniment like Tiptoe Through The Tulips
0:02:19 > 0:02:25and all of those little things that I learnt just listening from the radio.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30And people used to say, "Oh, she could be a dancer."
0:02:30 > 0:02:34My father said, "Go on the stage? Never!"
0:02:34 > 0:02:40Really, he did like the idea of me being a concert pianist and I went in
0:02:40 > 0:02:45for festivals and they did everything they could
0:02:45 > 0:02:47to nurture this talent.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51So, there was a piano in the house, like most houses in those days, I suppose?
0:02:51 > 0:02:57Absolutely. The piano was in what we called the front room.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59The parlour?
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Never called the parlour. It was the front room!
0:03:01 > 0:03:07Which was only used occasionally or when I had to practise
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and it was bitterly cold, there was no central heating.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13I might be practising with a coat on!
0:03:13 > 0:03:18But my early lessons were really farcical.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Because I learnt from somebody who had a piano in the kitchen
0:03:23 > 0:03:29and instead of concentrating, as I do, at the end of the piano
0:03:29 > 0:03:33looking at the fingering and listening, she was doing the cooking!
0:03:33 > 0:03:40I always say I hope her cooking was better than her piano lessons.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43But, that was really hopeless.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47And Leeds was a musical city then.
0:03:47 > 0:03:54Well, what I do remember is being taken to hear Rachmaninov, Kreisler,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Heifetz, Claudio Arrau, Schnabel
0:03:58 > 0:04:01in the Leeds town hall.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05- How old were you when Rachmaninov played?- It was about eight.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14I just remember the atmosphere as much as the playing.
0:04:16 > 0:04:23Rachmaninov was very, very tall and all the lights in the hall were lowered.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33And it was magic. But the sounds,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36that's the importance of sound.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38The sounds that comes after it.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42It's just wonderful.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Did you enjoy, as a child,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48playing the piano or did you have to be forced to practise?
0:04:48 > 0:04:55Never forced to practise but I never quite knew why I was practising.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57I was only learning notes.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01And tiddling around on the keyboard
0:05:01 > 0:05:06but my father must have had an idea that I had talent.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11I was not a prodigy. Prodigies are Beethoven, prodigies are Mozart.
0:05:11 > 0:05:17People confuse prodigies with highly gifted children.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21And I think they decided they had to develop this talent
0:05:21 > 0:05:26and so that's why we continued living where we were,
0:05:26 > 0:05:28no car and no luxury.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31- So, he was proud of you? - Oh, he was proud of me.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37But I think, looking back, and being a mother, I think praise is
0:05:37 > 0:05:44so important with my pupils, my sons and my family -
0:05:44 > 0:05:48always say, "Well done!" But I never got that from him.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04In 1940, determined to repay her parents' faith in her musical ability,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08the 18-year-old Fanny won a scholarship to the Royal College
0:06:08 > 0:06:11of Music to study with the great British pianist, Cyril Smith.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14What was it like arriving at the Royal College of Music
0:06:14 > 0:06:18for the first time, that grand frontage of one of the most
0:06:18 > 0:06:20famous musical institutions in the world?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Well, it was a great honour.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26A great honour to be a scholar.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30When I was at college, I won several prizes
0:06:30 > 0:06:38and at the end of my time there, I got the Challen gold medal and
0:06:38 > 0:06:44I was invited to play at the Proms, which I did with Sir Henry Wood.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46What were you playing?
0:06:46 > 0:06:50It was the Bach triple piano concerto
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and it was a lovely work and I enjoyed playing it.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Here's the Royal Albert Hall, 1942.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04"London notes...the Leeds pianist Miss Fanny Waterman played
0:07:04 > 0:07:08"in the triple piano Concerto at the Bach promenade concert this evening."
0:07:10 > 0:07:15- And here's the programme.- Max Rostal and Lionel Tertis!
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Oh, I say.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19On the same bill.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22And smoking permitted!
0:07:22 > 0:07:27- What is that line at the bottom? - "In the event of an Air Raid Warning,
0:07:27 > 0:07:32"the audience will be informed immediately so that those who wish to
0:07:32 > 0:07:40"take shelter, either in the building or in public shelters outside, may do so.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42"The concert will then continue."
0:07:44 > 0:07:46And there he is.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Henry Wood, the conductor best known to London music lovers.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56It must have been a huge event - 6,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall
0:07:56 > 0:07:58working with Henry Wood, the most famous conductor of the day.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00I've lived on it ever since.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04I've never forgotten it. I'm very proud of it!
0:08:04 > 0:08:07It sounds like your time at the Royal College was really
0:08:07 > 0:08:09a coming-of-age.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14It was a great influence on me but then,
0:08:14 > 0:08:20Sir George Dyson called a few of us up to say you are going to
0:08:20 > 0:08:26be called up into the Women's Land Army.
0:08:26 > 0:08:32Now, I'm no gardener! I thought, "What will I do in the Women's Land Army?"
0:08:32 > 0:08:38But he said, if you get into a reserved profession,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42we might get you off from that
0:08:42 > 0:08:48so I decided that I would try and teach
0:08:48 > 0:08:53because that was a reserved profession.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58I returned to Leeds and I taught in my old school
0:08:58 > 0:09:06and I sent 40 pupils in for exams and they all got distinctions.
0:09:06 > 0:09:14I thought, I'm not bad at this! And I enjoyed it so why not teach?
0:09:14 > 0:09:19And I think teaching is the greatest profession in the world.
0:09:24 > 0:09:2970 years later, Fanny Waterman is still as passionate as ever about teaching.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Her pupils range from established professionals to primary school children,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36all keen to learn from her vast experience.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41There are a few things I consider very important
0:09:41 > 0:09:43when you learn to play the piano.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46The piano is a percussive instrument
0:09:46 > 0:09:50so you have to learn how to make the piano sing.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I go all round the world
0:09:52 > 0:09:56and I'm sorry to say that very often
0:09:56 > 0:10:00they've no idea how to make
0:10:00 > 0:10:03the piano sing or make the piano sound like an orchestra.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Now, you can't learn this all of a sudden -
0:10:07 > 0:10:12you've to learn at an early age how to voice a chord -
0:10:12 > 0:10:13a chord is two notes.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17How to make the piano sound like an orchestra.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22It's the only instrument that really can sound like an orchestra.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Two... D now.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34La, la, la, la, la. Now long phrase...
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Now the cello. D.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Not slower.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Yes, I think you could begin the phrases better.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54'Beethoven piano sonatas are really symphonies for the piano.'
0:10:54 > 0:10:59You can hear the viola register so that's the first most important thing.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05Then, the next thing when you're teaching is musical integrity.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07What is in the score?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10I've been on juries of competitions
0:11:10 > 0:11:13and the competitor doesn't know the title of the piece,
0:11:13 > 0:11:19they don't know if it's Dolly's Funeral or A Walk In The Summer Garden.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23They don't know what the composer has written.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28You have to be a musical detective from an early age.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41There's just one place, I think it's an F that's struck about four times.
0:11:41 > 0:11:47Do you know what I mean? Can you pick it up? To me, that is a clock chiming.
0:11:47 > 0:11:54There's no people in this, it's just the moon and it's going different speeds,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56in front of the clouds but all of a sudden
0:11:56 > 0:12:01if you can start from there, it's in the left hand. Can you go back?
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Two o'clock.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Now it changes.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Yes, that's a marvellous moment when it changes through E flat.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23You just play it as if it's ordinary. To me, that's magic.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Do it once again.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43The next thing is rhythm.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Rhythm is the part of our life.
0:12:46 > 0:12:53You think of our lives - there's the seasons, the months,
0:12:53 > 0:12:59the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02We're governed by rhythm.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Does the player, da, da, da, da?
0:13:05 > 0:13:07That isn't playing rhythmically.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10That's just playing in beats.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14What is the difference?
0:13:14 > 0:13:18The second one has started soft and gone loud.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21So you feel the music is going forward.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Or you can start loud...
0:13:25 > 0:13:26..and go soft.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30There's movement. Music always moves forward.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Yes, just a minute.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Now, when it repeats with the exact same note,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48I think it should be softer the second time.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Can you remember that? Good. Off you go.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02No teacher can give anybody charisma,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05musical imagination.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08That is within the young person
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and how they develop and how
0:14:10 > 0:14:18they go to concerts, know what Beethoven wrote apart from the piano.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22What he wrote - symphonies, string quartets.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27So I give my pupils from a very early stage,
0:14:27 > 0:14:33an idea what I feel they can imbibe from me.
0:14:33 > 0:14:34It's amazing.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38PIANO PLAYS
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Shhh!
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Very dainty, like you are.
0:14:47 > 0:14:48SHE MOUTHS
0:14:48 > 0:14:49And...
0:14:53 > 0:14:58What greater pleasure is there in life than giving
0:14:58 > 0:15:03a young and beautiful talent a little lift
0:15:03 > 0:15:05in the direction of his stars,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09though he may never reach them.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Up!
0:15:11 > 0:15:12That's it!
0:15:20 > 0:15:21Very good.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Leeds, September 1966.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30For ten days, the scene of one of the most remarkable gatherings
0:15:30 > 0:15:33of young musicians this country has ever known.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36The second Leeds International Piano Competition.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Having made her name in Leeds as a teacher during the 1950s,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Fanny Waterman's life was transformed
0:15:45 > 0:15:47as she embarked on a remarkable musical journey
0:15:47 > 0:15:50with fellow pianist Marion Harewood.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53The origins go back a number of years.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Fanny Waterman and I
0:15:57 > 0:16:02started six years ago saying how exciting it would be
0:16:02 > 0:16:04to have a competition.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07It was her idea. She bullied me into agreeing with her!
0:16:07 > 0:16:11It started when I couldn't get to sleep one night.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I started planning what I was going to do next.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17I woke my husband and said, "I think we'll have a piano competition
0:16:17 > 0:16:18"in Leeds."
0:16:18 > 0:16:22He said, "It'll never work here. This must be held in London."
0:16:22 > 0:16:24The moment he says anything like this to me,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27it inspires me to prove him wrong!
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Maybe I thought, "Well, I'll show you.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34"I'm not going to remain as a local piano teacher."
0:16:34 > 0:16:39That's where the courage...came out and maybe
0:16:39 > 0:16:41my ambition came out.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44How did you go about setting up the first competition?
0:16:44 > 0:16:46- Lots of people to win over, presumably?- Yeah.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Marion was then the Countess of Harewood.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Married to the cousin of the Queen.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Daughter-in-law of Princess Mary.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57And a great friend of yours.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01And a great friend of mine and still is a great friend of mine.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03I love her to bits.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06By saying who she was,
0:17:06 > 0:17:12people would support her quicker than me
0:17:12 > 0:17:15who was the local piano teacher!
0:17:15 > 0:17:18I don't think I'll ever get away from that.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20- I mean...- The aristocratic name she had helped?
0:17:20 > 0:17:22I think she'll admit that.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Were people sceptical about the idea in Leeds?
0:17:25 > 0:17:29No, it caught fire straight away.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34The people... The people we mentioned it to said,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37"That's a good idea."
0:17:37 > 0:17:39The fact that it was going to be international, they foresaw
0:17:39 > 0:17:43it would put Leeds on the international map.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46How did you choose the competitors the first time around?
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Sir Arthur Bliss was chairman of the jury.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52He had just come back from the Tchaikovsky
0:17:52 > 0:17:55and I think they'd had about 103 entries.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59He said to us, "I hope you're not having everybody
0:17:59 > 0:18:00"who's entered?"
0:18:00 > 0:18:03"Oh no!"
0:18:03 > 0:18:05But when it came to it and we had 100,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08I said, "If in doubt, don't leave out."
0:18:08 > 0:18:11How can we go from the papers? How could there...
0:18:11 > 0:18:15You've only got their CV. I don't know if we had
0:18:15 > 0:18:17a recording apparatus then.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19So we took in everybody.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25He said when the British competitors came out on the platform,
0:18:25 > 0:18:30he wanted the earth to open and swallow him up!
0:18:30 > 0:18:33We were both ashamed that we took in everybody...
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Cos the British players weren't good enough?
0:18:35 > 0:18:37We just took in anybody.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Jack Jones from down the street!
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Anybody who filled in the form we took in.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Nonetheless, there were enough good players
0:18:45 > 0:18:48that first year to allow the competition
0:18:48 > 0:18:49to make its mark?
0:18:49 > 0:18:52The embarrassing thing was Michael Roll.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56He was 17, at a school and was a pupil of mine.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58- He was marvellous.- And he won.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04And he won. I stayed at home and kept out of the way from the jury.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Perhaps now I wouldn't allow it but I gave
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Michael a lesson until 11 o'clock, the Appassionata Sonata.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17And he came out and played it.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Clifford Curzon, who was on the jury, came up to me and kissed me.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26He said, "It's one of the greatest performances I have ever heard."
0:19:26 > 0:19:30It was like taking a souffle out of the oven
0:19:30 > 0:19:32with Michael.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35He was just having his lesson, just ready
0:19:35 > 0:19:40and being run in a car down to the university.
0:19:40 > 0:19:41He was marvellous.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43But that could have been a tricky situation,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46that you, the founder of the competition,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and it's your pupil who wins?
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Surely people were going to say, "This is a fix."
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Marion that night, from home, she says,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58"Michael played so beautifully. He might win this."
0:19:58 > 0:20:00I said, "Marion, don't let him win it.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05"What do you think I will be feeling like in Leeds?"
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Even my own father said, "He shouldn't have won it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11"The others haven't got a teacher on the spot."
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I thought, "Ooh, dear, what have I done?"
0:20:14 > 0:20:16When the result came out,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20it was very difficult.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22The problem is, with jury decisions, often
0:20:22 > 0:20:26it's the person in the middle who isn't offensive
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and doesn't upset people who wins.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31The people who might polarise opinion - half the jury
0:20:31 > 0:20:34think they're great, the other half think they're not,
0:20:34 > 0:20:35they get knocked out.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40With a good jury, when I mean good,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43somebody who understands music,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47will welcome
0:20:47 > 0:20:49an original talent.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51They'll say, "I wouldn't have done it like that
0:20:51 > 0:20:54"but do you know, that convinces me.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56"This is something out of the ordinary."
0:20:56 > 0:20:59There are lots of people who say that competitions are a bad thing
0:20:59 > 0:21:02for young musicians. Where do you stand on that?
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Well, I want to ask you,
0:21:05 > 0:21:06what is the alternative?
0:21:06 > 0:21:12In olden times, if you were a fine musician,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15you had a patron or the Church,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17or royalty.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Nowadays, agents want people who already have fame
0:21:21 > 0:21:23- and a reputation.- Exactly.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26There is a danger that people are pushed too quickly because
0:21:26 > 0:21:30they win a competition - pushed forward before they are ready.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Is that the nature of the beast?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Is that what a modern musical career is about?
0:21:35 > 0:21:38It is but it's not the competition's fault.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43Nobody says you should be trying the Leeds or the Tchaikovsky.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45You have made a decision
0:21:45 > 0:21:48that you feel this is the moment
0:21:48 > 0:21:52when you're ready to take a risk.
0:21:52 > 0:22:00Have you got the courage? Are you prepared not to succeed
0:22:00 > 0:22:02where you had hoped?
0:22:02 > 0:22:07Are you going to be put off completely
0:22:07 > 0:22:13by the result or should your attitude be, "I'll show them"?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16You would endorse that last attitude?
0:22:16 > 0:22:18I would endorse that.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21The jury are not listening for mistakes.
0:22:21 > 0:22:28They are listening, waiting, and hoping for some magic,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32something that you're saying that is different
0:22:32 > 0:22:35from the competitor they've heard before.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38After the controversial first competition,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40the Leeds went from strength to strength.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Spanish pianist Rafael Orozco won in 1966.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50The world had noticed when Romanian Radu Lupu captured the first prize
0:22:50 > 0:22:51three years later.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:22:58 > 0:23:02The stakes were already high for the 1972 competition
0:23:02 > 0:23:07when American pianist Murray Perahia took to the stage.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12When Murray Perahia came on, he looked as if he needed a good meal
0:23:12 > 0:23:16and he started playing.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Within the first page, he made such an impact on me
0:23:19 > 0:23:25not because it was big and loud - it was the way he wrought a phrase.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30I remember at the interval the jury getting up,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34taking a handkerchief out and wiping their eyes.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39He left us all stunned in silence.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43GENTLE PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:54 > 0:23:58How has the competition line-up changed
0:23:58 > 0:24:01in its near-half-century, in terms of the competitors who come here?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04There were great schools of Russian musicians
0:24:04 > 0:24:07coming from the Soviet Union and then it moved on to America.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Well, now, there's an explosion in the Far East.
0:24:12 > 0:24:19One of their secrets is that they start teaching
0:24:19 > 0:24:21at a very early age,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23at the age of three or four
0:24:23 > 0:24:28and they have very good teachers.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31People say they're just like musical typewriters.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Some are but most aren't.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Sunwook Kim, who won our competition, not this time but the time before,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42is a great artist.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:24:51 > 0:24:54An idea that they are not musical -
0:24:54 > 0:24:58out of the millions who are learning,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00there are some marvellous ones.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Take Lang Lang as an example.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09I think any pianist in the world
0:25:09 > 0:25:14would be happy to have his pair of hands.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17They are magnificent.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20He can do, with ease,
0:25:20 > 0:25:27what most pianists would struggle for a lifetime to do, technically.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28MUSIC INTENSIFIES
0:25:28 > 0:25:29He's a showman.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32He throws his arms about.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36That doesn't worry me. That is part of him.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38MUSIC REACHES A CLIMAX
0:25:38 > 0:25:40CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:25:40 > 0:25:44If you said, "I don't want you building big chords like that."
0:25:44 > 0:25:51If you mention that to somebody who creeps along the piano...
0:25:51 > 0:25:59Everybody's got a different way of getting their intentions achieved.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01There are other famous piano competitions -
0:26:01 > 0:26:06the Von Kleiben, the Tchaikovsky, in Moscow, the Chopin.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08Do you see them as rivals?
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Not really. Our competition is for young professionals
0:26:13 > 0:26:16who have got sufficient repertoire
0:26:16 > 0:26:18to take on a career.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Our engagements are the finest in the world -
0:26:21 > 0:26:24to play with the four London orchestras,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26the Liverpool Phil, a tour with the Halle.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31That is what has put Leeds at the top.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34And we've got to stay there.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38For the past 50 years, the Leeds International Piano Competition
0:26:38 > 0:26:40has dominated Dame Fanny's life.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43By her side until his death in 2001
0:26:43 > 0:26:45was Geoffrey de Keyser,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48a Leeds GP, who she married in 1944.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50He had stature.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53He had a wonderful voice.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55His knowledge was terrific.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58He never offended anybody.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Maybe I do offend people.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07I speak my mind. He had a way that he'd get his point over.
0:27:07 > 0:27:08He was a diplomat?
0:27:08 > 0:27:13He was a diplomat and he never had controversies with anybody
0:27:13 > 0:27:15but he got his own way.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18I said to him, "What do you love about me?"
0:27:18 > 0:27:22I expected a lovely compliment
0:27:22 > 0:27:26that I'm charming, I'm fun, I'm talented.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30He said, "You're so unpredictable."
0:27:30 > 0:27:32I thought, "How true that is."
0:27:32 > 0:27:37Some people are predictable and they're boring!
0:27:37 > 0:27:41I presume he didn't think I was ever boring.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44- Will you retire?- Never.
0:27:44 > 0:27:45Why should I?
0:27:45 > 0:27:49There can't be many nonagenarians who are dealing,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52on a daily basis, with 10 year olds, 12 year olds, 14 year olds.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55How do you find the energy to...
0:27:55 > 0:28:00I work nine hours a day but I pace myself.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03- Do you think teaching's kept you young?- Without a doubt.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07I'm always planning what they're doing.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Not only the next week but in the next few years,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I'm always looking forward.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I am thankful I've got the work.
0:28:17 > 0:28:23Working at something you like is one of the greatest blessings
0:28:23 > 0:28:25in your life.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Another great passion is to love
0:28:29 > 0:28:30and to be loved.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34I've had that blessing, over and over again,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37with my parents, with my husband,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39with my family
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and my colleagues.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45I've got no regrets.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd