Two years in Messiaen’s World

LINDE VERJANS

When I speak to pianist Bert Lasseel, the summer is just entering its third heatwave. A few months earlier, in June, he had graduated from the music programme at KASK & Conservatorium with a performance of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus, a piece lasting over two hours. Now the future, with all its possibilities, lies open before him.

How did you find your way into the world of music?

BERT LASSSEEL 

I think I’m a late bloomer. Around the age of fifteen, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I was feeling a bit lost. Until I discovered Beethoven. For me, he was the gateway to classical music. It was immediately clear to me that I wanted to learn to play music and that I’d want to do that for the rest of my life. 

LV
That sounds quite radical.

BL
For me, it was simply very clear: that was the only option. I started studying the piano quite intensively straight away. A few months later, I made the switch to the KSO, and a few years after that I started at KASK & Conservatorium. 

LV
Not an obvious choice, when you’ve only just started learning an instrument.

BL
No, and yet… it couldn’t have turned out any other way. And in a way, it’s easy to commit fully to something. You know what your goal is and what you need to do at every moment of the day.

LV

Was your choice of KASK & Conservatorium just as obvious?

BL

I wanted to do contemporary music, and the school is renowned for that. There’s a good composition class and, during the project week, for example, there’s also a focus on contemporary repertoire. Everything falls into place. You can engage with that new music in a really relaxed atmosphere. And, of course, I was also very keen to specialise under Daan (Vandewalle, ed.). I love his nonchalance, which was a world away from the rather strict, Russian style of playing I’d experienced with a previous teacher. He’s made the joy of playing central to his teaching, and that has done me a world of good. It’s helped me to be more relaxed whilst playing and to put things into perspective. At the same time, he set the bar very high when it came to mastering the score. Right from the start, I had to get to grips with a lot of difficult repertoire very quickly. That gives you a sort of professional attitude, which I love: I like to see progress.

LV
You just mentioned that your love of music began as a sort of coup de foudre with Beethoven. Does he still play an important role in your life as a musician?

BL

Not really. I moved on to twentieth-century piano music quite quickly, via Schoenberg and later Messiaen as well. The repertoire from the last century appeals to me the most. That’s another great thing about the school, by the way: things are a bit freer and more personal here than at other conservatoires. Take the way an exam programme is put together, for example. At most conservatoires, your programme has to comply with strict rules: works from different stylistic periods, a concerto, a solo piece. That’s not at all how you’d put together a concert program­me. In Ghent, I was given the chance to really do my own thing and follow my own vision. During my master’s, I was able to devote two years to Messiaen’s work, which allowed me to delve deeply into his world. I wouldn’t have been able to afford that level of focus anywhere else.

LV

You’ve now become a Messiaen specialist. Is your love for his music still just as strong after two years – or perhaps even stronger? Or do you need a litte distance?

BL

More the latter (laughs). No, actually, both are true: I’ve only come to appreciate him more. At the same time, it’s good to make room for other things now.

LV
Such as?

BL

Next March I’ll be performing Ligeti’s concerto with students of Tom De Cock, and in the autumn there’s a collaboration with Spectra centred on the music of Lucien Goethals.

LV

Performance opportunities that come your way through the school?

BL

Yes, indeed. That’s another great thing about KASK & Conservatorium: you make connections easily, the atmosphere is bril­liant and you get plenty of opportunities.

LV
What appeals to you so much about Messiaen’s work?

BL

He has such a distinctive voice, with his own harmonic system, his religious obsession and his boundless love for nature. It’s incredibly rewarding to engage deeply with his body of work.

LV
Perhaps you share that capacity for hyperfocus. Just as you knew straight away that you wanted to be a musician, Messiaen did exactly what he wanted to do and followed his own path.

BL

(Pauses to think) Perhaps so. Although for him it really was a life’s work. I don’t know if I’ll keep focusing on the same thing for that long.

LV

Apart from Messiaen, who else do you look up to?

BL

There’s an American pianist, Frederic Chiu, who I think is underrated. I’ve learnt a great deal from the way he practices and his intellectual approach to music. I also admire Glenn Gould for that reason. He took the interpretation of music so incredibly seriously and was wonderfully creative with it.

LV

Is that an approach you adopt yourself?

BL

I’d like to, but the music I’ve been working on a lot so far isn’t very flexible in terms of interpretation. I don’t mind that. But with Bach, you can do almost anything. Not so with Messiaen. Throughout history, music has become increasingly specific; there’s less room in the score for personal interpretation. For Messiaen, you need an excellent piano and a large concert hall. That music is so extreme. If you don’t respect certain things, you really ruin it, whereas Bach always holds up in all sorts of situations, on a wide variety of instruments.