Interview with Peter Klatzow, winner of the Helgaard Steyn Award 2014

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Congratulations on winning the Helgaard Steyn Award! Second time round. Has that been done before?

O yes, Roelof Temmingh won it three times! (I have one more to go!)

May I ask Peter the Composer a few questions?

The first three questions are borrowed from Bálint András Varga, the music publisher from Hungary.

Have you had an experience (of another's work) which changed your musical thinking and ushered in a new creative period?

The first time I heard Chopin's Etude in A flat (the first one of the second book) I suddenly realised what the piano could do (up until that time my listening had been purely classical). That really changed my life. Szymanowski's 1st violin concerto also changed the way I thought about the orchestra. 

A composer is surrounded by sounds. Do they influence you and are they in any way of significance for your compositional work?

Actually not at all. All non-musical sounds are rubbish and I ignore them. I don't have a passion for bird song. I like the sound of wind and waves, but they don't influence my music.

How far can one speak of a personal style and when does self-repetition begin?

These are two separate questions. A personal style is developed by one’s being supercritical about all the choices you make when you compose. That's why I don't like "systems" like the 12-tone system to make selections for me. I don't think my music is absolutely ground-breaking, but it is very much my music. 

Where does a composition start?

Composition starts in the head – a conception of a phrase, an idea, a harmony. One of the most striking moments in my Mass was conceived in the shower. Ideas/structures come to me at any time or anywhere. People don't understand that when I go very quiet I am actually working music out in my head.

Are there any South African composers that you consider to be underrated? 

I don't think Arnold van Wyk gets enough attention. I wonder how many of our pianists can play Nagmusiek, or even the easier pieces. And the songs are all lovely. Hats off to Albi and Hanna van Schalkwyk for keeping South African music on the front burner. 

A few questions for Peter the Person:

What are your favourite compositions?

Of mine? Prayers and Dances of Praise from Africa, Three Sonnets, The Healing Melody.

Films?

Anything that Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren does. All-time favourites are The Devil wears Prada and The Queen.

Books?

Thomas Hardy and Somerset Maugham, or any books about them.

Listen to "Cover me with the Night", for choir, from Klatzow's Prayers and Dances of Praise from Africa.

Listen to the award-winning Lightscapes for marimba and ensemble I moderato.

 

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