60 seconds with Cédric Tiberghien

You will be playing Preludes and Fugues in a Major Key from ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ Book II on 31 May. How did you choose the repertoire?

Making a selection has been very difficult, as each piece of this incredible book is a masterpiece. And the way the book is organized is very organic. Bach explore with method each key, in both modes (major an minor), chromatically... Whether I chose random preludes and fugues, or I had to try something with a minimum of meaning. Half the book was an option, but I preferred the all-major idea, playing in each key, but only in major...

What does Bach’s music mean to you?

Well... it's impossible to answer in a few lines... Playing Bach is like coming back to the original language, before Babel. Before each language goes in its own direction. With the complete potential, with a universal dimension where everything is possible, where there is a global harmony. Bach is the healthiest music I know. Playing Bach is like admiring, through a microscope, the elementary brick, what all is made of....

You have performed at LSO St Luke’s with Alina Ibragimova in 2011 – how was your experience of performing at LSO St Luke’s?

I've played there several times, and I always thought there was a beautiful energy. You can see the daylight through the windows, the is kind of an intimacy with the audience, there is no border between the musicians and the listeners. And I always loved , in architecture, the mix between old and new!

You have been performing all over the world – where are your favourite destinations?

London.... (well it's not completely a joke as London gave me the highest joys in my musical life), New York, Sydney, but also special places like Domaine du Rayol in Provence where you play outdoors in a tropical garden with the Mediterranean sea as a background... Unforgettable....

Do you have any pre-concert rituals?

Nothing superstitious!! But I feel better if ironed my shirt myself, if I can eat a banana, if I have a piano on which I can play just before the concert.... The last thing I do before entering on stage is stretching each part of my body.... Ready to go!!

Cédric will be performing at LSO St Luke's on 31 May at 1pm.