Emily Sun and Andrea Lam interview

August 2022

Emily Sun and Andrea Lam spoke with Acting Communications Manager Ben Nicholls about their work as a duo before their concert at UKARIA. Based around the French program of their debut album, their recital at UKARIA is augmented with the inclusion of Mozart and Piazzola.

Your album Nocturnes gleams with its all-French repertoire. What does this music mean to you both?

It was such a joy to work on this French repertoire so closely and intensely together. We experimented so much with our tonal palettes and timbre to try and find the intimacy and freedom of the repertoire. It was fascinating to push each other to the limits of what was possible, from the quietest whispers of Debussy’s Clair de lune to the intensity of the Allegro in the Franck Sonata. The heart of the album are the two major sonatas by Franck and Fauré, and the Fauré Violin Sonata in particular was an incredible journey of discovery. There are moments of such exquisite delicacy – at the premiere, fellow composer Saint-Saëns commented that it was ‘magic which floats above everything’.

The program you’re preparing for UKARIA moves beyond these borders and includes Mozart and Piazzola. These composers seem like great pairings for the Fauré, Debussy, and Boulanger. Why do you think they fit together despite geographical and chronological distance?

Piazzolla was a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris – the sister of Lili Boulanger who wrote ‘Nocturne’ which we will be performing. Nadia Boulanger taught many illustrious musicians and composers, from Philip Glass to Quincy Jones! Piazzolla was embarrassed by his non-classical training, and tried to hide his background in tango music and the bandoneon from Nadia Boulanger. From his memoir:

"She (Nadia Boulanger) kept asking: 'You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?' And I didn’t want to tell her that I was a bandoneón player, because I thought, 'Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.' Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: 'You idiot, that’s Piazzolla!' And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds…" – Astor Piazzolla: A Memoire

So, we really have Nadia Boulanger of the French school to thank for bringing Astor Piazzolla’s tango music to the concert hall!

We’re so grateful that your schedules aligned for this recital and your collaboration clearly means a lot to you both. Do you have plans for further albums or concerts together?

We love performing together and we are so excited to present our program in UKARIA. We have another album in the works – stay tuned!