I have heard from V. Merzhanov that you were offered to head the piano department at the Moscow Conservatory, but you refused, aren’t you?

Of course I refused. I do not like doing careless work. How can I lead the piano department at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid and at the same time the piano department at the Moscow Conservatory? Moreover I perform concerts myself, give a lot of master classes, I’m often on the jury at international contests, and I’m already eighteen-year-old… I have never assumed the responsibilities more than I could carry out. In 1957, on graduating from postgraduate course, Alexander Goldenweiser made me his assistant (what many cannot forgive me until now, because I was from Tbilisi, but there were many his own people). Since then, throughout 45 years I have never had more than eight pupils. I don’t admit the greater number. Pedagogy is a "piece" work, it is not a conveyor for preparation of the winners, it's the work on educating interesting creative people, whose activities shouldn’t end in two or three years after winning a high prize, but only begin.

When my former students participate in the festivals, taking place in Germany, Poland, Spain, St. Petersburg, the same reviewers appear in the press, that I have the biggest number of students, who perform on the biggest stages. There are several levels of solo work. You can play in New York, in Paris, but depending on where and at what level. Fortunately, my students play at a very high level, record CDs at the largest firms and play with great orchestras. Many of them were my pupils far back in Moscow, they are Nikolai Demidenko, Boris Bloch, Eldar Nebolsin, Dmitri Alexeev, Prezel etc. This is the older generation of my students, they are now 56-year-old.

Where according to you is better to get higher musical education: in Russia or abroad?

I believe that at this point, much depends not on the country, but more on the concrete people who teach you.

Nowadays musicians and conservatory students play as virtuosos, but not very interesting. Is that a certain sign of time?

I have already written and spoken about it, that musical performance can’t lose touch with trends that exist in society. Our society is mercantile, concerned with some short-term benefits and young guys cannot abstract away from it. Pursuing external priorities, they do not develop as creative individuals. There are, of course, exceptions among them that prove the rule. And these individuals will always be interesting.

I was on the jury at the contest in America in Naples and the jury’s jaws simply dropped when they had heard how they played the piano. 18-year-old Chinese girl got the first prize. Her playing is amazing and very musical. Now our pianists need to understand that they will not get ahead, they will not play faster than anyone else. Some Chinese boy of 16-18 will appear and will play two times faster and much defter. Of course, the pianist needs a serious base (and we have always had it), but this base should be for something, and when playing starts and ends just with the base, when you play correctly, but do not say something new, there is no any intonation it feels sad.

The whole article read in Musician I 2010.

Translated by Natalia Kornilova