Ludovico Einaudi: ‘I record most ideas on my phone’
With sheets of music scattered around his room and a piano in a central position, the Italian composer and conductor Ludovico Einaudi, known for his music in Oscar-winning productions such as Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” talks to Κathimerini in an online interview about his return to Athens, for a performance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on Saturday evening, and the importance for him of expressing his emotions in his music.
The maestro does not seem to accept the title of “minimalist,” as many classify him. “I do not know exactly what ‘minimalism’ means, but maybe it reflects how I organize and control my emotions. The emotions are a big part of my work, but I have to constantly structure them.” He adds: “When I compose music, it is not specifically connected to a story, but it is more like a place inside myself where I try to dive in and bring out those emotions. This process is not automatic or easy, but it takes time and requires hope. There have been some moments,” he stresses, “when I have had the fear that what I need to capture has already been said, but then you realize that if you find a way to connect with that, the emotional side of yourself, it is a never-ending place of creativity.”
Einaudi was asked to compose the main musical score for the film “The Intouchables” (2011). The composition “Una Mattina,” which accompanied the quadriplegic Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his caregiver Abdel Yasmin Sellou on their journey together, received rave reviews and helped bag the film the 15 awards. Einaudi recalls the moment of composing the melody: “When I composed it,” he says, “it was at a very special moment in my life. It was a time when I was discovering new things, I was more positive, happier, and had a lot of hope. At that time, I moved to a new house, where there was a beautiful and bright light, and I bought my first beautiful piano. I then started to enjoy playing and composing. So, this album (‘Una Mattina’) reflects this joy, this feeling of simple, pure, and yet powerful emotions.”
With the Italian maestro having confessed in the past that he keeps daily notes in his notebook and records harmonies on his mobile phone as a map of his musical thoughts, we ask him how he manages to master the “creative chaos” in his mind. “Every day a new idea comes to me, and I record most of them on my phone,” he explains. “So, my phone is always full of ideas for my albums. When I want to create a new album, I go there and start listening to them, and it is really a never-ending place where I can find inspiration.
‘I could not understand everything because I do not speak Greek, but in the sound of the people talking there was an inner musical piece that I liked very much’
“If I would not do that, I would forget a lot of the ideas I had and then I would have to start from scratch and do all the work at the same time. It is worth noting,” he adds, “that nowadays, when I perform my works, I change parts of them or add a coda or an introduction, and that is because I believe that music should be alive all the time and constantly be given new life.”
In 2016, Greenpeace invited Einaudi to play piano on a floating platform in the Arctic Ocean. Titled “Elegy for the Arctic,” the serene melody carried the message of 8 million citizens about environmental risks and protecting the Arctic Circle. In our conversation, Einaudi highlights the vitality of music on critical issues such as climate change. “[The project] was difficult,” he says. “I remember writing the piece, and I said, ‘This could fit.’ There is a moment in the video,” he adds, “where I play a descending scale and you have the glacier collapsing at that moment. That was kind of a coincidence, but I think the impact of the music and the video was a very powerful message of awareness, because sometimes if you manage to say something through emotions instead of words, it is more powerful than anything else.”
With AI becoming noticeable in music productions, Einaudi estimates that much of the composition in films where music is not particularly important will be replaced by AI compositions. “But,” he points out, “at the highest level of production, where you are looking to convey emotion, it will not be replaced, because human emotion cannot be substituted by the machine.”
Saturday’s concert at the Irodion comes seven years after Einaudi’s last visit to Athens. “I love Greece, I have been there many times and I think it is my favorite place. The Greek way of life, for me, is the best. I like the way they all gather together in the cafe, have their coffee, talk for hours, and enjoy life. I was in Greece on holiday recently and part of my mornings were spent in the cafes listening to what people were saying. I could not understand everything because I do not speak Greek, but in the sound of the people talking there was an inner musical piece that I liked very much.”
Just before we say addio to the maestro, and knowing his love for subtle flavors and wine balances, we ask him to pair a variety of wine with two pieces that he loves. For the musical composition “Experience,” from the album “In a Time Lapse” (2013), he suggests a Pinot noir, while for the track “Nuvole Bianche,” from the album “Una Mattina” (2004), he recommends a Chardonnay.
Ludovico Einaudi will perform at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens on September 14, starting at 9 p.m. Tickets are available at more.com.
