Richard Clayderman: ‘I am not a classical pianist’

You will be returning to London for the first time in 25 years in June – what has prompted this return?

The English promoter CMP Programming heard that I celebrated my seventieth birthday last December, and they thought that it would be a good idea to organise a concert in London to celebrate this birthday milestone. So, they contacted me, and I had a few opportunities in June to do this concert. In the end we settled on 18 June with Fairfield Halls. Actually, I will have just returned from Brazil a few days before this concert, and two days after it, I will head to China to perform a series of concerts in June and July.  

What can London audiences expect from your upcoming performance?

I will be performing some of my original classics like Ballade Pour Adeline, and also some movie themes, with a particular focus on love themes from the movies. I think that the cinema has given composers a lot of opportunities to compose beautiful love themes that are convenient for the piano and that go to the heart of the audience, so I will be performing a lot of these themes during my concert. I will be playing alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which is great for me, because I recorded two albums with the orchestra about twenty years ago, and I am delighted to perform with them again.

You’re recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful pianist of all time. Your millions of record sales and hundreds of gold and platinum discs are one definition of success, but what does success mean to you?

During the last tour I did in China last December and January, I performed 53 concerts in a row, which was quite notable. I am to play 30 concerts during the summer period, and more than 50 concerts in the coming winter season. So, there is a strong demand for the way I play in China. I performed there for the first time in 1987, and at that time, the country was becoming an economic giant, and they were falling in love with my playing. I was very lucky – I could not have expected that I would perform more than 500 concerts in China since then in all the country’s big cities. I do lots of concerts in front of thousands of people, and they always want to know more, and enjoy my piano more. It’s lovely to be offered this possibility.

I will be delighted to return to the UK to perform at Fairfield. I will be delighted, after many years, to meet the English audience again, which is, by the way, one of the warmest audiences in the world.

(Image courtesy of Universal Music Group Deutschland)

You’ll be celebrating your 70th birthday – what have been some of the highlights across your longstanding career?

In fact, to tell you the truth, in 1979, when I performed my first concert in Vienna, I could not imagine that 45 years later, I would be performing at the Fairfield. During these 45 years, I have of course experienced fantastic emotions in different countries in the world, but I remember one huge concert at the Korakuen Tokyo baseball stadium – it was the first time I performed an open-air show. I also remember in the nineties I performed another very big show in China’s Kunming football stadium. I got to experience so many great emotions which are extremely rare for a pianist, and I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to live these great moments.

In a 2013 article you said ‘I don’t think my audience goes to classical concerts. They prefer things more light’ – where do you feel your work fits within the classical music sphere?

I don’t remember giving this answer! But it is true that in Paris, like in London, there are many theatres with classical performers; pianists, soloists and orchestras who perform great classical composers like Beethoven, or Schumann, Maurice Ravel or Debussy. The audience for these concerts is rather limited in France, and although people love the piano, they prefer to hear something which you might call ‘light classical’, which is a bit of what I do. In China, for example, people feel that they are going to a classical concert when they attend my shows, but I am not a classical pianist, I am a ‘pianiste de variété’, we say. I play all sorts of themes, including love themes, in a light classical way.

You were born Philippe Pagès and changed your name when you began to perform outside of your native France – how did this ‘stage name’ of sorts come about?

You’re right, my name is in fact Philippe Pagès, but when it was decided that I would be recording my first single Ballade Pour Adeline, my producers were not so keen on the name. They thought it would be best to change it, and as I had a Clayderman on my great grandfather’s side of the family, we decided on ‘Clayderman’. I thought, “Great!” Then when we were deciding on a first name, they thought Philippe wasn’t quite convenient. One of my producers, Paul de Senneville, said ‘Richard’ would be excellent and that’s how Richard Clayderman was born. I have been very happy to live with this name for 45 years now, though in my family they still call me Phiphi. If you happen to meet me, please feel free to call me Phiphi!

Many of your albums focus on the theme of love and romance. At a time when the classical sector is working harder than ever to highlight the enduring power of classical music to elicit emotional responses of all kinds, why does the theme of love in particular continue to draw your attention?

My producers, Paul de Senneville and Olivier Toussaint, were also my composers, and both of them are very interested in music with a link with love. They composed love melodies for me to play, and I agreed. Just remember that, when I started my career, the popular music was disco and rock, and love was not always the main subject of these songs. So we did something without thinking, it was spontaneous and targeted towards love. We don’t regret it, because love has been existing for years, and will exist forever and no doubt love themes will remain too.

Richard Clayderman returns to the UK for a 70th birthday celebration concert at Fairfield Halls on 18 June. Tickets can be found here.