The keys to success
‘To be a pianist, you need a very strange combination of modesty and assurance. In front of the score, you cannot be modest enough. It? What is it? What ? Slowly? How slowly?” You need a great, permanent modesty to do that. I have been playing the Beethoven sonatas for more than 60 years, but I still read the score in quite a concentrated way before I start practising, let alone playing them on stage. There are always surprises because there’s always one side of the mountain that remains unseen.
