Christian Zacharias explains that his relationship with the piano has always been guided by his attachment to the music itself, rather than the instrument: “I was eager to know and feel these musics. I wanted to play with a violinist friend, I wanted to read Mozart’s sonatas. My sound developed quickly from there. I tried to imitate Michelangeli’s sound in his interpretations of Beethoven, Emil Gilels too but I couldn’t succeed, his sound is impossible to imitate.” This passion was accompanied early on by a complete education, combining piano, harmony study, counterpoint, and analysis.
In parallel with his piano studies, he began conducting with Heinz Karl Gruber. He even hesitated between piano and conducting, the latter seeming safer for a while: “As a conductor, we had more possibilities for success.” But after winning the 2nd prize at the Geneva Competition, he chose to focus on the piano: “I gave myself 5 years to live off my piano.”
He continued his training with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, where he discovered rigorous discipline: “He was an interpreter I deeply loved, I knew I wanted to work with him since I listened to him in Chopin. He was quite austere when I met him, but I learned a lot from him. I almost learned more about precision and discipline in their forms than about Chopin! That’s what I was actually looking for, playing Chopin but without frills. One must know how to honor the great works.”
While competitions were important stages in his career, he emphasizes that the results are not enough to define it: “Winning a competition is not always a guarantee of success. For example, I made it to the second round of a competition without receiving a prize, but this performance still allowed me to receive concert proposals.” He stresses the importance of failure and doubt in musical practice, considering inner demand as vital: “One must be dissatisfied! An artist’s story is the story of their eternal dissatisfaction.”
