JN: At such a moment you're concentrated physically and mentally on doing whatever it takes to achieve a good result. But there's space inside that for pleasure. A lot of technical things, listening to the orchestra, watching the conductor, paying attention to my tempo and making sure I give the right tempo for them. That's not really so much different from a normal performance for me. I'm like that all the time, also when I'm onstage with the trio. I think once you're onstage in front of an audience, at that moment you're thinking only of the music, and how you can put it together. Your mind is going very fast, thinking like a computer with hundreds of calculations a second, picking up information and giving it out. But there's a lot of room for enjoying the experience too, because you're working also at an emotional level, enjoying or not enjoying the music, directing it in a particular direction or other. And that emotion on the one hand, and rationality on the other, are what determines the quality of a performance in the end. If it's too emotional, then that's at the cost of the construction; and if it's all construction then you pay the price in intensity of the experience.
FT: When you're playing jazz, you can always change direction. If something isn't working, you can step in and immediately take action. You also in the trio have the safety nets of the other two musicians [Piet Verbist on bass and drummer Teun Verbruggen]. But with an orchestra and a score, you have to carry on.
JN: You have to keep going.
FT: Were there any difficult moments?
JN: There were certainly a number of difficult moments with this concerto, but because we were well-prepared, we managed to get over them.
FT: It's a sort of trade secret, isn't it, that things don't always go as they were supposed to, and part of the trick is to act as if nothing happened and get on track as quickly as possible.
JN: That's true. Nothing went wrong as such, but there are always points where you have to be very careful, stress points if you like, where you know the trouble is going to happen if it happens at all. I've had it happen, of course, but the only thing to do is eyes front and keep moving forward, don't look back, the mistake is made, the false note is out there and you can't bring it back, or whatever the problem was. Sometimes the mistake, though, can sap away so much of the good energy collectively that the whole performance takes a sudden dip, everything goes slack and lifeless. So that's why it's important to make the effort not to let that happen.
FT: How much time went into this concerto?
JN: I've been busy on it for two years, though of course I wasn't working on it full-time for all that time. For the actual composition, I'd say I worked for two months, if you add it all up together. Orchestration, another month. Preparing the score digitally, because I'd done the original with pen and paper, that's another good month or more. And then the performance, I think easily three months of intensively studying the work to be able to play it. That's quite a lot altogether actually, when I think about it.
FT: And at the end of all that, you play it twice. Normally, with the trio, you can play your compositions, or a choice from all the things you've composed, every night you're on stage. But a piano concerto needs an orchestra and a concert hall, which costs a fortune, so for this work, that's it, most likely forever. Okay, composers these days often don't get to hear their works performed at all, but still. That's a lot of work for very little.
JN: Yes, but I don't mind. It was so intense that for me it was a positive investment.
FT: Have you a new-found respect for those soloists who do that for a living?
JN: Of course I've got a lot of respect for them, but that's not new. They go about it so intensively, I think, and they bring so much to the performance, that I've always had a great admiration for them.
FT: During the preparations for the concerts you said you were taking some exercise and meditating a little. What did you do to wind down afterwards?
JN: I didn't have much time to relax, because I had to go right away into the recording studio, then perform here and there with other musicians. But that in itself is a great way for me to loosen up. It's so much easier than a concerto, after all. That was a complete change of air, and I loved doing it.
FT: Any chance of another concerto one of these days?
JN: I hope so.
FT: And is that something that comes from you, or are you expecting another commission?
JN: There is talk of commissions, nothing official yet. We'll have to have a good look at the diary. I already have a full calendar of engagements for about the next two years, so it's a question of how and when it can be made to work. But I'd be delighted to do it again.
FT: Will Concerto No. 2 perhaps be a little bit jazzier than the first, to keep your friend happy?
JN: I think so. Nobody has asked for anything yet, but I feel it in me that it's time to take what that experience has given me, and the things I've learned, to maybe exploit my own musical fantasy, with an orchestra and all the rest. Other than that I have a lot of projects on the horizon. There's the possibility of a dance work with Wim Vanderkeybus, that's something I've always wanted to do. I'm doing an album with Gabriel Rios, and I have a commission to compose something for the Vlaams Radio Koor. I work a lot, it's true, I'm working constantly. I find it hard to sit still.
You can tell a lot about a person by what s/he carries around on his/her MP3 player. Jef Neve's is an iPod Touch, which turns out to be battery-dead. So he quotes me some highlights, and one lowlight (everybody has them):
1. Stabat Mater, Szymanovsky
2. Art of the Trio, Brad Meldhau
3. Grace, Jeff Buckley
4. Headhunter, Herbie Hancock
5. St Matthew Passion, JS Bach
but also:
6. Ray of Light, Madonna
The full performance of the First Piano Concerto in Ghent on May 1, 2024
Jef Neve playing solo on De zevende dag on één
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