‘We could all do with being a little less vain’: Tanja Tetzlaff’s life lessons

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I was 16 when I first met Heinrich Schiff. I recall playing Bach’s Second Suite for him and he immediately started showing me how an open string could sound. The open, ringing tone was the way he approached every note, and it opened up a completely new horizon for me. You don’t need to add the big vibrato or dynamics at first – just listen to how beautiful the pure sound of the cello can be.

While I was studying with Heinrich, it always fascinated me how he never became bored of going back to basics. Even in my last few years with him, we would still always check open strings, the bow hand and vibrato in lessons. It reminded me of what good technique really is.

His approach to music was also very humble and he made it clear that we shouldn’t put ourselves in the foreground but instead be a means of transport for the ideas and feelings of the composer.

Although my siblings and I became professional musicians, my parents weren’t musicians themselves. And I think this really helped, because while they adored music, they didn’t necessarily understand all the technical aspects. So they were always in awe of what we could do. It’s really important to have people around you who, when you think you haven’t played very well, will still say, ‘Wow, that was so good!’

My decision to enter the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as principal cellist was seen by some around me as the ‘wrong’ decision because it meant I wasn’t going into the soloist direction. But I am incredibly grateful that I took this path. I met wonderful soloists, conductors and concert presenters, and was subsequently reinvited to places because of this network. I think this is a very healthy way of growing into the industry. Nowadays with social media, it can be very difficult to find your individual direction. I see my students always comparing themselves to others, and I tell them to stop, look at the score, and listen to their own voice and thoughts about the music.

I think we could all do with being a little less vain! You shouldn’t play an instrument just to become a star; you should play because it comes from an inner desire to express yourself through music. It shouldn’t matter whether you’re playing at Carnegie Hall or in a small room for 25 people.

Something else that worries me in the industry today is seeing the same handful of people playing the same repertoire over and over again. Concert presenters are so afraid of taking risks, and this is quite detrimental to the survival of classical music itself. It’s such a shame, because there are so many fantastic musicians that, as a result, don’t get a chance to perform. And it’s not because they aren’t as good as the ‘stars’, but that they simply may not have been as lucky when it came to meeting the right people at the right time.

INTERVIEW BY RITA FERNANDES

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