Cellist Stephen Isserlis - A man of many interests 

By Saskia Constantinou 

The renowned British cellist will return to Cyprus to partake in the 9^th Pharos Chamber Music Festival which begins on May 28 in Kouklia. 

I met him during a previous festival – he is a fascinating man with strong ideas on a variety of subjects, very intense, an intellectual and a passionate cellist. He’s played with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, has inspired numerous composers to write for him and not least, is an accomplished author.   

He will appear on May 31 with Greek-Israeli pianist Keren Hanan. Asking him about his criteria for the selection of this particular repertoire, he explained “the first half is all Russian, and it’s music with which I feel quite a special connection. My grandfather’s Ballade for cello and piano is his only work for cello and I love it…it’s so warm-hearted and full of melody.

The Rachmaninov pieces were written for the famous cellist Brandukov with whom my grandfather played many concerts at the Moscow Conservatoire. To link this, Plentnev’s beautiful sonata which was written for me after we played the Taneyev Piano Quintet together, and which encompasses Rachmaninov’s spirit and possibly that of Shostakovich too. Incidentally, Taneyev, who was a pupil and friend of Tchaikovsky, taught my grandfather and Pletnev and I both love his music.” Isserlis considers the Mendelssohn Piano Trio No 2 a masterpiece, and explains another family connection – “Mendelssohn is a distant cousin of mine.” 

Isserlis is a keen exponent of contemporary music and works with many composers on new compositions. “Some write in the ‘mainstream’ contemporary tradition, some, such as my friend John Tavener, religious-based music and others are pop-influenced. They are entirely individual, and my approach to learning their works is the same as that of classical music.” As long as the music is sincere and genuinely inventive, Isserlis is interested in a wide variety of styles.

Many composers stand out for him in the 21^st century - Dutilleux particularly as well as Kurtag. “At the moment I’m working on a new work by Thomas Ades which is extremely challenging.” 

Children’s education is a major interest for Isserlis.  His first book Why Beethoven Threw the Stew was published in 2001 and Why Handel Waggled his Wig in 2006 with both translated into many languages.  

He has gone on to write stories set to music by Ann Dudley – “I love writing these stories. I write when I feel like it and send them to Anne. She always comes up with excellent suggestions and then produces the right music for the text. I knew her through her music for the television series Jeeves and Wooster and liked it so much that I wrote to her and asked whether she would like to collaborate. We are now good friends and Universal Edition in Vienna is publishing our stories. They used to be famous for their work with Schoenberg and Mahler – times have changed …” 

Asked whether he will, like many other soloists be lured by the baton, Isserlis is adamant. “I haven’t and don’t conduct. I direct from the cello which included a concert of Haydn Symphonies with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Tokyo Mozart Players. This all-Haydn programme, which I did last year will be done a few more times later this year which might lead into branching out with other chamber orchestras, but I shall never conduct!” 

Isserlis is away from home about eight months of the year. “My wife is used to my absences and our son is studying in America – it’s all fairly normal for musicians.” He loves to read, Dickens being a favourite and watch films.  He is also quite open about his enthusiasm for food. “I love to eat! It is a consuming passion – if I didn’t, I would probably hate my life. With travelling around and spending so much time in hotel rooms, the excitement of new restaurants all the time is a mitigating circumstance. I love all sorts of food – Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Italian…In fact, I love it so much that I have made a firm resolve never to eat anything else.” 

He also has some pet hates which include liver, kidney, caviar and tinned tuna! Musical snobs are included in the category as well as comments after a concert like “Good job! – I can’t understand why there was such a small audience – How are you? (Without any comment about the concert he’s just played) and Nothing to do with your playing – but I didn’t like the piece.”  

Now you know!