A RONDO BY ONE PIANIST

"Music ought to touch people's hearts," Johann Sebastian Bach said. These words spontaneously come to mind when you listen to the piano brilliantly played by Nargiz Aliyarova, Ph.D., professor of the Baku Academy of Music, Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan. Perhaps you will not hear such a free, dynamic and inspiring interpretation of Chopin's works anywhere else. It was for a good reason that Nargiz xanim [a term of respectful address for Azerbaijani women] was awarded a diploma of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland in recognition of her services in promoting Chopin's musical heritage. In 2015, Etcetera Records, a leading Dutch record company, released a CD with Chopin's works performed by Nargiz Aliyarova. Despite her busy schedule, Nargiz xanim found the time to tell us about herself and her live performances.

- There were no musicians in your family, as far as I recall…

- That's right: my mother is a journalist, my dad is a computer expert, but I imagined my future only as a pianist and learned scales at the age of five. I studied at the Bulbul Secondary Specialized Music School. When I was nine, I appeared on the stage of the House of Actors for the first time to perform Beethoven's Bagatelles. However, I had a mishap: I came on stage and skirted around the piano not at its rear, as is right and proper, but at its front, as a result of which I fell into the prompter's pit. Still, I was not embarrassed; I got out of there and performed the work. I was very determined even as a child. And later, when I first got behind the wheel of a car, and when I repeatedly appeared on the big stage in other countries, I always told myself: I can and I shall do it! Now I teach my students the same. At the conservatoire, I studied in professor Elmira Safarova's class and I graduated with honours. Then I entered the graduate assistantship for chamber ensemble in the class of Vladimir Anshelevich. I was quite young - in the eighth form - when I first studied under Vladimir Tsezarevich [Anshelevich], then I continued my studies in his class already in the conservatoire. However, Anshelevich emigrated to Israel a year after I entered the graduate assistantship. Before leaving, he turned over his entire class to me because he was sure that I could continue his pedagogical principles and traditions. I was still young at the time, even some of the students, in particular correspondence students were older than me, but I was not scared by this fact. Next year, I continued my education in the class of Professor Azar Rzayev.

- You had a chance to play under the guidance of Niyazi. What are your impressions?

- After the concert, he congratulated and kissed me, which he did very rarely. Back then, I was studying in the eighth form. The maestro held auditions for all performers before the practice. Everybody was really excited about playing in front of the great musician. Then rehearsals with the orchestra began. I have never seen a conductor who could, through his silence, achieve the results which others could not attain by shouting. He would simply stop, put aside his baton and look at the person who played out of tune. A breathless silence would set in. The musician just did not know where to hide from the indignant penetrating glance of the great conductor. My performance at an international competition in Italy, where I took second place and received a medal, was a life-changing event.

- How could you have reached such heights in the performance of Chopin, as it is very difficult when the whole world is playing this great composer?

- I "discovered" Chopin in 2010, when we marked his 200th anniversary, and concerts dedicated to this date were held in Baku. I played Chopin's Rondo for Two Pianos, together with Polish pianist Stanislaw Deja. We formed a well-coordinated ensemble, as if we had rehearsed together for years. Then there was a concert with the participation of the Prusinowski Trio, a Polish folk music band. I played Chopin's waltzes and mazurkas and, without a break, the band performed a related Polish folk tune. In the second part, the band played together with Alim Qasimov, producing a synthesis of Azerbaijani and Polish music, however hard to believe this. There were brilliant switchovers from mugam to Polish folklore. I started to play and listen to a lot of Chopin works, and I am proud that following the results of these concerts I was awarded a diploma "For outstanding contribution to the promotion of Chopin's heritage". Setting aside the conventional wisdom about the ease and elegance of the so-called salon Chopin, one can sense the depth of his music, its relationship with the Polish national music. Today, he is one of my favourite composers who is very close to me.

- How many recitals have you given altogether?

- About 200. This includes Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 conducted by Rauf Abdullayev, a concert in Austria together with the soloists of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano and Trumpet together with the Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra directed by Teymur Goycayev, a concert in the Senate Hall in Paris, as well as many other performances. After all, concerts involve a colossal amount of daily work.

- What's new in your live performances right now?

- I like the newness around me: I like to travel to new countries, taste new foods, learn new languages, perform new pieces of music. More recently I gave a concert jointly with the chamber orchestra under the baton of maestro Teymur Goycayev, which was dedicated to the great Qara Qarayev. When I was asked to prepare a concertino by Belgian composer Willie Austin, Qarayev's contemporary, I gladly accepted. We took sheet music for this work from the internet, but on closer examination, I found a large number of typos and inaccuracies in it. I could not cancel my performance since only two weeks were left before the concert. On the other hand, my professionalism would not allow me to play with mistakes. Using the internet, I found the addresses of eight conservatoires that functioned in Belgium and wrote letters to them asking to help me find the music of this piece. The only answer I got was from Mr. Dewilde, the head librarian at the Antwerp Conservatory, who referred me to another site posting this concertino. Much to my regret, however, though it was a different site, the score was the same and contained the same mistakes, about which I wrote in my response. I already lost all hope, when suddenly I received a letter from Mr. Dewilde who sent me 49 pages of a scanned copy of the composer's manuscript. Imagine my surprise when a few days later I received a letter from the composer's nephew Jean-Pierre Austin, who thanked me for my performance of his uncle's work. It turned out that Mr. Dewilde passed him my request, and Jean-Pierre scanned the manuscript of this work and sent the copy to the library, so that the librarians would forward the notes to me. I am very grateful to these people who lent me a helping hand.

- How much do you have to practice at home? They say performers may devote some 8-10 hours a day to home practice.

- When learning a new piece, I need to sit at the piano longer, but on average, I practice from two to five hours a day. Alas, this leaves no time for a hobby. I've got an au pair, and thanks to my husband who provides for the well-being of our family, I can devote myself to my favourite occupation. Otherwise, household activities would consume all my time. We have three children. My elder daughter is 18, my younger daughter is 14, they study in England; my little boy is just six years old.

- How often do you perform as part of the state trio?

- I am a soloist of the Azerbaijan State Piano Trio, and once a month we perform at a Protestant church presenting different programmes.

- How do you prefer to play solo - accompanied by the orchestra or as part of a trio?

- It is more responsible to play with the orchestra, as the soloist must follow the conductor's directions and carefully listen to other musicians. Meanwhile, a single musician has more opportunity to play freely and each time introduce new features in their performance.

- You have been conducting classes at the Baku Academy of Music since 1992. Now you are a professor of the chair of specialized piano and the chair of chamber ensemble. Does your teaching interfere with your concert activity, is it time-consuming?

- Not at all, my classes with the students are honing my instrument performance, so to speak. I often repeat my comments to students and see clearly the mistakes which I can avoid myself when playing the same piece. And most importantly, being a performer, I can always sit down at the instrument and show the students how to play difficult passages. Sometimes I like to practice with my eyes closed so as not to depend on the keyboard visually.

- Are there advanced students under your tutorship, as such students can be a measure of your pedagogical work?

- Yes, there are good students, such as sophomore Narmin Qurbanova who has recently become twice a laureate of an international competition held in Russia.

- What awaits us in the field of recording?

- Etcetera Records, which released my CD last year, suggested that I played music by Azerbaijani composers Qara Qarayev, Covdat Haciyev, Arif Malikov, Aqsin Alizada, Firangiz Alizada, Vaqif Mustafazada, Farac Qarayev and Cavansir Quliyev to be recorded by the company. Not so long ago, in May last year, I recorded works by Viennese composers - Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven - at a studio in the German city of Ostenbruck. The knowledge of English and French helps me in my working abroad. After I started making records that capture the mood of the performer and the aura of the work, I wanted to record each new performance in a professional way, so that it could live its own life. It would be nice to release one CD each year, dedicated to different subjects. My first CD was recorded at a concert during which I played Mozart's 15th Concert and Beethoven's 3rd Concert, while the second disc contains my performance of works by Azerbaijani composers. Hopefully, I will be strong enough to release one disc every year.

- When I leafed through magazines with your photos, I mistook you for a photographer's model, but when I started to peer into the inspired face, I realized that I was looking at an artiste.

- Every woman wants to look beautiful...

- Can you tell us a funny story from your concert practice?

- In addition to that unfortunate accident involving the prompter's pit, which brought a burst of laughter from the audience? (Laughs) One day, when I played in the Grand Hall of the Conservatoire to qualify for a Transcaucasian competition, a cat appeared on the stage. I still don't know where it came from. It began to walk around and rub against my legs. The audience began to snigger; I kept pressing the pedal with my right foot and tried to get rid of the cat with my left foot. I was lucky not to get upset and played to the end.

- Do you consider yourself a happy woman, and which day has been the happiest for you?

- For me, the happiest day is always tomorrow because once again I will be able to live, take care of my family and do things I love. Isn't this happiness? Furthermore, my happiness is that my calling coincides with my work.

- What is your biggest dream?

- My dream is to give a solo recital in Susa liberated from the occupation and to see all my children and, ideally, students at this recital.