Interview with pianist Jitka Čechová

It seems you’re currently having a Brahms period. You’re performing him in concert, recording him. To what degree does Brahms’ music resonate with your character?

It’s a little paradoxical: Though it has been drilled into me since my studies that Brahms is mainly the domain of men – not only from the perspective of interpretation, but also for purely physical reasons (he demands all one’s energy) – I’ve been preoccupied by his wonderful legacy for over 20 years. In Germany’s Freiburg my post-grad studies culminated in a recital featuring the grand Sonata in F minor, op. 5, a monumental musical cathedral. His intermezzi, variations, dance and above all his chamber repertoire in all its forms (we’ve recorded his complete trios with the Smetana Trio, I’ve recorded both sonatas for cello with Jan Páleníček, and I regularly play his other sonatas for viola, clarinet or violin), all of this combined with his captivating songs represents for me a colourful well of emotions that are close to me, corresponding wonderfully with my other musical darling, Dvořák.

What task has Brahms presented you violinists with in the Concerto in D minor being played today (which you recently recorded with the Hradec Králové Philharmonic Orchestra under Ondřej Kukal)?

A gigantic but beautiful one. It’s a 50-minute leviathan from the early period – he wrote the op. 15 at 25 with the original intention of creating a symphony, but later he transformed the idea into a sonata for two pianos and the final version is this delightful, if very untraditional, piano concerto. The piano and the orchestra play an equally important role – I would actually describe it as a concerto-symphony. The pianist needs to harness maximum patience, maximum concentration and control their energy distribution. In order to transport even today’s impatient audience to another world for the entire 50 minutes, the most important and difficult factor is, in my view, the ingenious construction of the piece in the framework of a relatively slow tempo, which suits Brahms, and the utmost concentration of the interpreter. Not to mention, of course, the fact that Brahms’ piano playing is specific and full of chord, sixth and third technique, all of which must be incorporated with a great overview, in order to not interrupt the flow of the music.

Let’s give that subject a rest for a moment. Please tell us how deeply your sons have been impacted by their musical genes? Does music come naturally to them? Is it a joy to them?

Without doubt. Both Alex, who’s 11, and Oskárek, who’s seven, have shown very clear talent. Both are going to music school, the older one for guitar and the younger for piano. Both did flute at kindergarten. They sing all the time. The funniest thing is the snippets of songs that they hear from us at home in various forms, sometimes completely illogical within the framework of the music, but at the same time they hum them in such a casual way that our house is a bit like a beehive. I firmly hope that music flows through their lives like a natural necessity and aspect of existence, so that they experience amazing emotional moments, which the phenomenon of music allows everybody with an open spirit to experience.

Alongside music and your family, what do you need to be satisfied in life?

It will probably sound strange or unlikely, but nothing. I regard the background of a happy family and the partnership of one’s nearest and dearest as absolutely the most important principle of a satisfied existence. Every day we wish – in this strange world, which is politically and economically unstable and full of traps of all kinds, devious practices and terrible illnesses – to maintain our micro-world, at least within the framework of what’s possible in our hectic musicians’ life, in the most satisfying form possible.

You apparently had lots of hobbies in childhood and went in for visual art as well as the piano. Do you have time for that today?

Not much, unfortunately. Time really is of the essence and if it wasn’t for travelling I wouldn’t even get to read much. If it sometimes does come about, it is, naturally, in the company of my children. We’ve done creative stuff of all kinds, including interior decoration, together many times.

How do you compensate for the one-sided physical burden of spending hours at the piano?

In recent times through tidying up J. And in the last two years my hobby has been jogging. Running in the country energises me greatly. In my headphones I usually listen – surprisingly enough – to spoken word; recently to Wanderings in Czech History, which perfectly fills a half-hour run.

Will you manage to go skiing this year?

I firmly hope so! Skiing has been my passion since the age of three; I can’t imagine a winter without it.

In conclusion, please allow me a question that keeps coming back to me when I think about your rich and, at the same time, doubtlessly demanding life: You’ve won positive reviews and public acclaim, which is surely a source of joy, but also a responsibility. Aren’t you ever weighed down by worries of possible fatigue or exhaustion, and a subsequent inability to reach the high bar you’ve set? If so, how do you deal with that?

Of course I’m weighed down by such questions. I’m a human being and also the mother of two kids, so fatigue arising from my range of activities inevitably comes. More and more, that means organising myself and my surroundings far better so that I can withstand it all. But – to put it modestly – so far it’s working out, and I firmly hope that I’ll get to enjoy a while longer yet in my beloved profession.