Pavel Kolesnikov was about seven years old when he first heard Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It was the legendary Glenn Gould recording and the future piano star listened intensely. Years later, having become a celebrated young soloist in his own right, Kolesnikov still found the Gould memory “overwhelming”. Soft-spoken and thoughtful, he describes it as “the Glenn Gould curse. It was very difficult,” he reflects, “for me to imagine the Goldbergs in a different way. It was such a powerful interpretation. So I never intended playing it in my career. I didn’t feel it was necessary to add something.”
That changed in 2018 when, out of the blue, Kolesnikov was contacted by the famous Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Would he collaborate with her on a performance for solo dancer and solo pianist, featuring the Goldbergs? While intrigued, Kolesnikov hesitated, even proposing different music. But he was eventually won over by De Keersmaeker’s explanations and the chance to work with dance (“very much outside my comfort zone!”). He also thought it might finally exorcise the Glenn Gould curse. “And that,” he says with a coy smile, “proved to be right.”
Realising that De Keersmaeker had also been heavily influenced by Gould, Kolesnikov was clear in his brief. “From the outset I explained to Anne Teresa I did not know if we would create something similar to Glenn Gould, but that I needed to start building my interpretation from scratch.”
This suited De Keersmaeker (“she likes to begin with really deep analysis”). The two sat down together for a series of intense preparatory meetings. “I would analyse the piece and pass the results onto Anne Teresa. We were discussing everything in detail. The harmony, the way the piece is built, the way each repetition is built. We were both doing a lot of reading – trying to trace different threads that would lead us through the work. And then we started feeling it would be unfair to choose one way of interpreting over the other.
“It’s such a seminal piece,” he explains. “It had been so important in music history but in fact we know very little about it. We don’t even know why it was written. There are different legends, but no solid documentation. That is quite unusual for a piece of this meaning. So there is layer on layer of interpretation… and we realised all those layers are part of the work and its appeal. So we made an inventory of those meanings that had become part of this piece over the centuries, and created ten key words”.
He draws out his phone with his long pianist’s fingers, and begins to read. “Gift, gold, dreams, numbers, love, alchemy…” The “ten key words” proved a breakthrough. After that, Kolesnikov began learning the piece and gave a working recording to De Keersmaeker. Then Covid-19 hit. “It was quite dramatic,” Kolesnikov recalls, “quite nerve-wracking and complicated. As soon as I could travel from London to Brussels I came, and we had two weeks of rehearsal before the premiere.”
Kolesnikov lights up when he remembers the first rehearsal where De Keersmaeker revealed her choreography. “I was fascinated and touched. It was very exciting to see those ideas, which I had planned to music, applied to dance. I had created my musical landscape, and she had created her choreographic landscape. And we did it at a distance because of Covid. But they really came together. You could finally see the puzzle, but in a very unexpected way. So it was all a complete surprise – her movements, her costume, just everything. It was very exciting and heart-warming to be involved in this intense creative process, and work with Anne Teresa because I respect her so much. I’m always saying it is possibly one of the most satisfying collaborations of my life.”
Could he see the music in her dancing? “Yes. As with all her work, you can see the music not so much in the movement itself but rather the very essence of the piece. When I first saw Anne Teresa’s work on Bach, I thought ‘If Bach’s work is going to be danced, this is how it should be.’”
He is at pains to clarify that this transcends Mickey Mousing. “It’s much more complex. It’s not that her dance mirrors what is happening musically. But in the same way we worked on our piece together, her interpretation grows not from the outer layer but from interior characteristics. The connection is much deeper than simply dancing and interpreting Baroque dance forms. It’s based on the same principles and spirit, like a tree or a flower that grows from the same root. It’s about the determining principle of Bach’s creation, the way his mind worked. Anne Teresa was able to enter that... a very rare thing, for any artist.”
Kolesnikov also loved sharing the stage with a dancer. After experimenting with where to place his piano, he discovered being able to see De Keersmaeker’s dancing as he played was a “game-changer”. He found the experience addictive. “You are being influenced by the dancer’s character of movements, but also you feel you can influence the dancer and the movement very strongly too. It is basically similar to playing chamber music, but it’s like 3D chamber music because you’re dealing with something extra-musical!” He beams at the memory. “It feels very free, but also very connected.”
Did working with De Keersmaeker make him more of a dancer? “No!” he laughs. “I love dance, but I am literally always completely unable to dance.” I press whether he at least tried. “Of course I tried!” he exclaims. “On the empty set of the Goldbergs! It’s very beautiful and I always spend a lot of time there rehearsing by myself, so I tried. But,” he declares, “I am not a dancer!”
Back at the piano, in addition to De Keersmaeker’s physical energy, Kolesnikov also draws on the introspective inspiration he uses for solo recitals. “When I’m playing,” he explains, “I always have certain visuals in my head, certain situations. Some are based on the ten key words, and some are very personal, that I never even discussed with Anne Teresa, and there are moments like that for her too. Those “associations” are our tools, and they can be very private and difficult to verbalise. In this piece they are very strong. There is a central moment in the Goldbergs when I remain alone and the images come very strongly, and I almost follow them rather than the score. And when we are starting the second half, I have this image of very strong light, and birds.” He also draws on his sense of touch. “I perceive certain materials and that can be helpful.” So helpful it spilled into the physical realm when Kolesnikov, imagining the soft touch of cashmere as he recorded the Goldbergs, was inspired to dampen the strings with a cashmere scarf. (“My producer was initially very much against it,” he chuckles).
Nonetheless, it is De Keersmaeker’s influence that has deeply changed his experience of the Goldbergs. “It’s now inseparable from Anne Teresa,” he acknowledges wistfully. “Her image, her movement, her character, her personal energy is very much connected to the piece for me. I would not be able to explain how exactly, but there is a certain character in the phrasing, and in pacing things, that comes directly from Anne Teresa and the character of her movement. And I would never be able to get rid of that. The recording I made is different to how I played with her – it’s too subtle for dancing – but nevertheless I know she’s very much in that recording too.”
She is, I suggest, an inspiration Gould never had. Kolesnikov agrees. Reflecting on his journey, he observes “This piece actually speaks for itself quite strongly. I have fallen in love with it. And every time I finish playing it with Anne Teresa, it feels very sad, like something important is over. So I hope listeners get that same impression.”
He pauses, then adds carefully, “But at the same time… I find it strange, almost upsetting, that people often don’t understand the dance if they have an idea that performance of any kind is just entertainment. I think this is an incorrect concept. Performances are spiritual experiences, or spiritual education, rather. This is what Anne Teresa’s work is about. It requires a lot of effort from us artists, but we also need the audience to be willing to be involved, to try to feel and connect. This is when you are going to get something out of it. You hear people say, ‘That was amazing but it was a bit difficult’. Well,” he asserts gently, “I think that was the point. There are many things in life that are both amazing and difficult. The most easy example is climbing a mountain. It gives you an amazing experience, but it is not only difficult but also dangerous. And I think the Goldberg experience is a bit like that.”
Are the Goldbergs dangerous, then? “No!” he responds earnestly. “This is what makes art so beneficial. It can be sometimes very hard, but it never causes you real danger. It’s getting out of your comfort zone – but without getting out of your comfort zone. You can experiment and let yourself go much further in art than you can in real life.” He smiles, then adds quietly “And you can climb higher mountains in art than you can in real life.”
Pavel Kolesnikov performs The Goldberg Variations with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker at Sadler's Wells on 6th and 7th September
