Kit Armstrong on the first concert production: a strong and personal vision

In late October and early November, Le Concert Olympique delivered no less than five splendid concerts in Hamburg, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Mechelen and Leuven. Star pianist Kit Armstrong took centre stage in each concert. How does he look back on this first concert production? We caught up with him for an intriguing interview.

Good evening, Kit. The first concert production of the Beethoven27 project is over. How have you experienced this first production?

Kit: There is still a long journey ahead of us. Because we will follow Beethoven’s entire life during this beautiful project, we know how much more there is yet to come. But by coming together with Le Concert Olympique and especially with Jan Caeyers, I certainly have a renewed enthusiasm and really look forward to seeing what we will come up with and how we will interpret works that we have already played and heard hundreds of times, in a new way. In this combination, we are somehow magically inspired to do things that we would have never thought of doing before. I am eager to witness the rest of our tour.

Lots to look forward to, indeed! But let's look back: during this first concert production, you improvised a few times on the spot. How did you experience that? Were you satisfied with your improvisations and will you continue improvising in the next productions?

Kit: To be honest, by now I have almost forgotten how they went. But that is unimportant. The point is that every kind of music is based on the fact that it is human communication, and human communication is, by definition, something that happens in the moment. So, improvising might be unusual and noteworthy today, but for me, it is the logical consequence of performing in a way that feels natural. So yes, I will keep improvising during the next concert productions as well.

That is wonderful. Of all the works played during this first concert production, is there a piece that you like best?

Kit: Part of the concept of this whole project is that we leave a lot of baggage at the door before we enter. For example, when we start to work on the Second Piano Concerto of Beethoven, we leave all the inspiration and experience of all the times that we have played this piece behind. So we can create something new that we are really convinced of.

Through this process, every piece grows. When we see something new, we do not ask ourselves if this is our favourite piece. Of course, I, too, have my opinions, but those come after some reflection and cynicism. With Le Concert Olympique, we have this mutual understanding of not having this cynicism. So we do not prefer one work over another merely because we performed it really well last time.

A remarkable attitude. Concerning the person behind the music, are you a fan of Beethoven himself?

Kit: I guess we have quite different personalities, but part of the attraction of classical music is the fact that when you play it, you enter the mind of someone else. And that can be very enriching. I often have this feeling with music by Beethoven: he has expressed things that I have never thought about, but through my piano skills I come to embody these new things.

I can believe it is truly amazing to get inspired by playing the music of others. These days you also work a lot with conductor Jan Caeyers. Are you inspired by him too?

Kit: Yes, absolutely! As everybody knows Jan is the world’s great expert on Beethoven, but he is also a musician who has something to express through the language of music. This combination makes it possible to communicate on both levels.

For me, that makes a big difference. I mostly do not care about what conductors think about music, but I do care about what Jan thinks because he knows so much about Beethoven and about everything that happens at the moment we make music.

To conclude, do you have one last anecdote you would like to share?

Kit: With pleasure. I remember this rehearsal before our concert in May in Antwerp. The orchestra was rehearsing a particular place when Jan suddenly interrupted and told everybody that it sounded too beautiful and that the music got lost. Such a wonderful occurrence can only happen in this group, with Le Concert Olympique. Other conductors are mostly trying to get the orchestra to feel good about how they are playing, but Jan is different. When he says something, nobody doubts his remarks. We know it is honest and true, and we understand what he means.

Jan is not only a Beethoven expert, but also a musician with a vision. One has to be both to be able to tell 100% professional musicians what to do. If you have the same music but a conductor who is just focused on performing, or a historian who has simply written books about a composer, the impact vanishes.

Thank you, Kit, for sharing your insights and for your time. We wish you beautiful concerts during the next productions and eagerly anticipate hearing more from you soon!