Pianists in Conversation with Andrew Eales
Pianist Rose McLachlan will be performing as a special guest at the MK Piano Celebration 2024, with a programme that includes Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, and music from the 22 Nocturnes for Chopin by women composers anthology that she commissioned.
In this interview I catch up with Rose to discuss her musical journey thus far, and find out more about her programme…
Andrew: Hi Rose, and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. I would like to start by exploring your childhood love of music. Coming from such a musical family you were of course surrounded by wonderful piano playing from birth. Can you share the story of how that familiarity developed into the love for the piano you now have?
Rose: It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when I fell in love with music. As I was constantly surrounded by the sounds of my parents practicing or teaching, it was just all I knew.
However, it was when I became a chorister at Manchester Cathedral that I became much more interested and passionate about music. I think partly because I was making music with other people. Admittedly, I didn’t feel this immediately with the piano. The love I had for singing then transferred to the piano, and after starting lessons with Helen Krizos aged 12, I suddenly decided that I wanted to become a pianist.
Right, that’s interesting! So what do you think it was about the lessons with Helen that led to that change in your perception of learning to become a pianist?
To be honest, I never took the piano ‘seriously’ until I was around 12 years old, but then after becoming a first study pianist at Chetham’s, I realised how much catching up I needed to do. Suddenly I needed to prepare repertoire much faster, and had frequent exams to prepare for, so it was just necessary for me to put in more effort but it was extremely motivating and I really fell in love with practicing.
Helen really inspired this love of practice, and to enjoy the process of learning. Looking back, I think I was quite impatient and wanted to have pieces in my fingers as quickly as possible, but she showed me how to truly learn a piece by going into great detail and teaching me not to run before you can walk!
Studying at Chethams School of Music must have been an intense and inspiring experience, and an opportunity many would love to have. Through those teenage years, did your focus remain 100% music, or did you ever consider any other career path or develop other interests?
Studying at Chetham’s was an amazing experience, with so many exciting musical opportunities such as performances and also travelling to Poland for an international competition. I also met some truly wonderful people, some of whom I continue to play with. Aside from music, I have always been interested in languages and reading, but music was the main passion!
More recently, you’ve studied at the RNCM and Guildhall, and it must be exciting to be finding your feet in the professional performing world.
For your recital in Milton Keynes, you have chosen to play some of the movements from Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze Op.6, an extraordinary and difficult work. What is it about this music which appeals to you, and what are you hoping the audience will hear, discover, and enjoy?
I heard Davidsbündlertänze for the first time last year, and just completely fell in love with it. Made up of 18 pieces, it is just full of character: joy, longing, nostalgia, melancholy to name a few, and changes between them so quickly and unexpectedly.
It was written when Robert and Clara were secretly engaged, as her father strongly forbade their relationship. Robert wrote that Clara was ‘practically my sole motivation for writing the Davidsbündlertänze’, which is also made clear by the fact he used her Mazurka op.6 as the basis for the whole work, and also that she was 18 years old which may correlate to the 18 pieces.
The Davidsbünd (league of David) was a fictional group that Schumann invented to ‘fight against the philistines’. Every piece in the set is succeeded by either ‘E’ or ‘F’ (Eusebius and Florestan) and sometimes both. These represent the thoughtful and reflective, and the extrovert and passionate. I hope that listeners will be able to picture all of these characters, and enjoy the wonderful journey that Schumann takes through this unique work.
Could you tell us a bit about the other works you will be performing?
The concert will start with the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 2 no.2. This is one of his most tender and lyrical sonatas, written when he was only 25 and dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn.
Although written in his early period, it is remarkably forward thinking in terms of harmony and technical difficulty. Some pianists actually refuse to play this piece, as it’s one of the few instances where Beethoven marks in fingering, which is seemingly impossible!
Debussy wrote two books of Etudes, all of which target as specific technical difficulty, such as repeated notes, octaves and thirds. But they are by no means just technical studies. They are full of abundant colour and character.
You are closely associated with the 22 Nocturnes for Chopin by Women Composers project and publication, and recently gave the first performance of all these brilliant new pieces. Do you expect that they will all be a part of your repertoire moving forward, will you be continuing to promote this music?
I will perform a selection of a few nocturnes in this concert, one by Katie Jenkins and one by Zoe Rahman. I really adore all the pieces in this collection, and it’s wonderful to be able to include some in your festival. I think they work as a complete set, or as individual pieces. I plan to include them in concerts where possible, and a big dream is to record them all for an album.
If you could change one thing about musical life in this country, what would it be?
I think it’s incredibly sad that so many children in the UK don’t have the opportunity to learn music. A lot of schools simply don’t have the funds to offer music tuition, and I think it’s such a shame that lots of children don’t have the opportunity to experience everything that music offers. Music lessons should be viewed as equally important as any other subject.
I couldn’t agree more! Thank you so much for talking to Pianodao, and we look forward to your performance in Milton Keynes.
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