Pianist Muzaffar Abdullah has been building a career as a concert pianist in Europe for some time now. JASON CHEAH finds out what makes him tick.

PRACTICE, practice, practice, that’s what pianist Muzaffar Abdullah lives for, it would seem. Thankfully, it keeps him calm. And calmness is a virtue – a necessity for an international concert pianist.

Ask Muzaffar and you will find that his schedule is forever packed to the brim. Why, even for this this interview he was in a bit of a hurry as he had a plane to catch back to Paris after spending the last one-and-a-half months in Malaysia performing at various concerts and even a piano festival!

And as soon as Muzaffar gets back to Paris, where he is based, he is to start rehearsing for a music festival in Naples which takes place in a couple of weeks.

Muzaffar Abduallh: "A lot of people think I jet-set, drink champagne and have caviar all the time, but life as a concert pianist is not like that."

“There’s a big music festival called the Salermo festival in Naples (in May),” he said. “And I’ve got to rehearse with French pianist Bernard Negroni, one of the most famous accompanists in France. As soon as I arrive (in Paris), I get off the plane, head home, shower and then it’s straight to his house to rehearse. We’re also playing the programme in the south of France in the same month.”

It has always been like that for Muzaffar: for the last 15 years he has been plying his trade in Europe.

So with all that jet-setting, you’d be forgiven if you think that his is a lifestyle of the rich and famous.

“(Yes) A lot of people think I jet-set, drink champagne and have caviar all the time, but life as a concert pianist is not like that.

“You practise, you get on a train - most of the time you have to make your own travel arrangements - you perform and then you travel on.”

“A friend of mine literally had to leave one concert and get on the train for the next destination still in her concert dress!” he joked.

As a pianist, Muzaffar is pretty well known locally as he makes many home forays, particularly for the annual Yayasan Seni Berdafter International Piano Festival.

This time round, his visit was once again for the festival, which he co-founded in 1994. Muzaffar has been responsible for the artistic development of the festival ever since and has performed in every edition thus far. In addition to that and other appearances locally and in the Asean region, Muzaffar also makes countless recital appearances in Europe, making him one of Malaysia’s more active pianists in the international scene.

And that active streak started all the way back in 1988 when he received a scholarship to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique/Alfred Cortot in Paris where he graduated with the highest honours in both piano performance and chamber music.

“I never applied for that scholarship,” he reminisced. “It was actually offered to me and I was stunned.”

At the time, he was studying locally and was asked to just play “for fun” for visiting French pianist Eric Berchot.

“A week later the Alliance Francaise called me and told me the French Government had offered me a two-year scholarship. It was the beginning of July and I had to leave by August.

“I was thrown into it, everything was so rushed,” he laughed. “After two years there I received brilliant results and they gave me another year.”

And after that another scholarship came in the form of the Japan-Asean Scholarship, which meant Muzaffar could carry on at the same school for another four years. Muzaffar also studied at the Conservatoire Europeen de Paris and was taught by eminent French teachers Pierre Sancan (who has since passed on) and Germaine Mounier. His other teachers include Irina Zaritskaya, Dominique Merlet, Vlado Perlemuter, Tatiana Nikolaeva and Alexis Weissenberg.

“Studying there was pretty intimidating as the system was performance based,” Muzaffar recalled. “I cringe (now) at the thought that I had to go through all that. It was all so frightening and tough, like walking a tight rope between the Twin Towers naked,” he laughed.

“If you were not sensitive enough to practise eight hours a day you might as well pack your bags and go home and the teachers were very sparing with their praises.”

Mind you, looking back, Muzaffar admitted he still preferred the “old-school” style of teaching.

“I was lucky to have old school teachers such as Pierre and Germaine. The new generation (of teachers) seem to be too relaxed and easy-going.”

But if the learning was already tough, Muzaffar remembers that participating in competitions was tougher still - ruthless, even. In fact, his competition successes are the envy of many.

Winner of the Premier Medaille of the International Piano Competition in Brest, France (2001), the Committee Prize in the Ennio Porrino International Piano Competition in Italy (1994), and the Palma d’Oro Award in the Finale Ligure International Piano Competition in Italy (1995), Muzaffar also holds honorary diplomas from the Citta di Senigallia in Italy (1989), Viotti in Vercelli in Italy (1993), and Rome (1994 and 1995) International Piano Competitions.

His participation as a finalist in the Young Concert Artists’ Auditions in New York in 2000 gave him recognition across the Atlantic.

“When you’re in music school, you dream to succeed, you want to win a competition,” Muzaffar said. And stern though his teachers could be, they were still only too willing to advise on which competitions to go for and which to avoid. No easy task, indeed, when there are hundreds of competitions all over Europe and America.

“Most of them are very political, very bitchy,” he said. “Good pianists may not even last further than the first round which can feature anything from 60 to 100 pianists.”

“Especially in Italy, where every backwater ‘kampung’ has a piano competition,” he laughed.

The Finale Ligure competition holds special memories, for instance, but perhaps not for the right reasons, although it does count as one of his better results.

“The Italian competitors had months to learn their scores, I only received mine two-and-a-half weeks before the competition and it was thick, a terrible piece written by an Italian composer who was in the judging panel.”

Nevertheless, Muzaffar admitted that backbiting and biased judging aside, competitions had their uses.

“What was good about competitions was that there were always talent scouts in the audience. I’ve been lucky in that sense,” he said.

And those contacts have led to concerts and recitals in France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Finland, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the United States, as well as music festivals all around Europe.

In addition to performing with the National Symphony Orchestra in Malaysia, Muzaffar has played with the Orchestre National de Dijon, Orchestre des Jeunes Solistes de Paris, Orchestre de Namur, and Orchestre Festival de Sarlat (all in France).

He recorded his debut CD in Italy in June 2001, a programme of works by Scriabin and Rachmaninoff.

“I have one more to do with a French cellist this summer in Barcelona and that will be a recording of Rachmaninoff’s cello and piano sonata. The cellist wanted to do it after listening to my CD.”

As for the applause and congratulations he gets when he performs, it’s more gratification than glamour to Muzaffar.

“In that little short time of a one hour plus performance they (the audience) judge you, regardless of how much practise and sweat you put into getting the music to that stage.”

As for the cut-throat competition of all the thousands of concert pianists out there, Muzaffar has his own views too. “There are a few big name recordings on big record labels who are really not worth it,” he said.

Many recordings may turn out perfect but transfer the pianist to a live setting and the results aren’t necessarily as impressive.

“And they market these new musicians like McDonalds or even popstars. But for many pianists, what is missing is the heart.”

Nevertheless, there are good up and coming pianists out there too: “Nikolai Lugansky, the winner of the 1995 Tchaikovsky competition, is one to watch and listen,” he recommended.

Then you get the disaster stories, like the First prize winner of a Belgium Piano competition (he can’t recall the name) who became famous but soon after, drove himself off a cliff in an apparent suicide. And the man was famed for a rendition of the dreaded Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3.

In any case, the fact remains that even with all that on his plate, it is no surprise that Muzaffar is continuing to base himself in Paris for the most part, while still making frequent visits to Malaysia to perform.

“It’s the engagements I get there,” he admitted. “What’s so nice about Europe is that when it comes to organising concerts, they (the organisers) do everything.”

All he has to do is rehearse and perform.

Muzaffar said of his usual routine there: “I open my eyes, I have my coffee, and I go straight to the piano.”

Fact File

Name: Muzaffar Abdullah

Age: mid-30s

Hometown: Petaling Jaya

Education: Petaling Jaya, Ecole Normale de Musique/Alfred Cortot, Paris.

Years spent abroad: 15

Current base: Paris

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