You have just recorded the Rachmaninov Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 with The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Has your vision of the D minor Concerto changed since the first recording, in 1985, with The State Academy Symphony Orchestra of Russia and Ivan Shpiller?

N.L. : I haven't listened to it very often. I remember something quite lyrical, quite melancholy. Really, this is not the disc about which I am most satisfied. Today my conception is, without doubt, more dramatic, more contrasted.

This Third Concerto is well-known, but the First is less so. How would you describe it?

N.L. : When you admire a composer, you love all his works. That is my case, where Rachmaninov is concerned.
But among all of his concertos, the First remains my favourite.Unlike the others, it is not very tragic; rather it is refined, with - of course - great melodic inspiration. Later on, Rachmaninov was to adopt a more somber style with more complex harmonies. With the exception of the Symphony no. 3 - my favourite... it always brings me to tears - all his works from the last period are very dark.

Do you like the composer's famous recordings?

N.L. : Of course, but as a pianist, it would be better not listen to them - they are so incomparable, so unattainable ! In the Third Concerto, he always uses rapid tempos, and he makes four cuts, for which I don't really know the reason. It was perhaps related to the maximum duration that could be supported by recordings of the time. It will be necessary to look into that. But apart from these legendary versions, many pianists have recorded interesting things: Kocsis and Pletnev in the First, Gilels, Argerich and Kissin in the Third for instance.

Last summer, at La Roque d'Anthéron you played your own transcription of some 
pages from Götterdämmerung. Where do they come from?

N.L. : I wrote them on the occasion of December Nights, a festival created by Sviatoslav Richter, held at the Pushkin Museum. In 2001 it was dedicated to Marcel Proust whose work is full of musical references, and especially allusions to Wagner, whose music II was asked to play - like Isolde's Liebestod arranged by Liszt. And since, along with Tristan, Götterdämmerung is my favorite opera, I thought I could write a transcription...

Do you like opera?

N.L.:  Yes, Wagner,  that genius of catastrophe and passion. But, in fact, I don't know other operas very well. Apart from the piano, chamber music is what draws me most.

And transcriptions? Is this a part of Rachmaninov's work that you like?

N.L.: He simply wrote the best transcriptions ! Liszt did a lot of them, but he overloaded the scores. Those of Rachmaninov are more economical, less external. Take the Scherzo from a Midsummer Night's Dream : Liszt would never have transcribed it this way.  He would have added octaves at once, and chords that were more powerful and impressive. With fewer means (which does not necessarily mean fewer technical difficulties!), Rachmaninov is more successful. Following his example, Mikhail Pletnev has also written outstanding transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's ballets (The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty) that have almost become classics in Russia. But some of the pieces are almost unplayable....You must hear them performed by Vadim Rudenko. "C'est quelque chose", as you say in French!

Let's talk about him. Do you often play together, as you've just done at the Châtelet Theatre?

N.L.: We have been friends since we studied together at the Central School of Music. We both performed at the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition. He is a pianist of incredible skill. And it's nicer to play with friends - the stress is not as great and you make your entrance on stage with a lighter step...

Is he also your partner in chess, another art in which you excel ?

N.L.: Yes, but like Vadim Repin and Boris Berezovsky, he doesn't play very well [laughs]. The cellist Alexander Kniazev is better. In Russia, many musicians play chess. It's almost a tradition - Oistrakh and Prokofiev were excellent players. A tournament brought us all back together, in Moscow, in December.

Did you win?

N.L. : No I finished only third, ahead of Anvar Turdief, a violinist in his fourth year at the Moscow Conservatory. He's a good musician, but I think in fact he works mostly on chess. You must practice every day in order to play 
well... it's not like piano ! [laughs]

And today, do you teach it, in turn?

N.L. : After Tatiana's death, I studied with Sergey Dorensky at the Moscow Conservatory. I am now his assistant. In fact I watch him teach - I try to help him a little. But for me it's more a hobby than anything else.