IDRS Podcast with Fábio Cury, Bassoon

Terry B. Ewell, Interviewer

2018 Sept. 01. Granada, Spain

Terry B. Ewell: I noticed when reading your biography that you studied with Klaus Thunemann. Can you tell me what it was like to be in the Thunemann studio?

Fábio Cury: Yes, it was a hallmark, it divided my career. I was young; I was twenty-one. But you know, Thunemann is a very severe professor. He is wonderful, brilliant… but I also suffered a little! Sometimes we Latins, we Latin Americans in general we have this sentiment—the sentimental, the feelings are very noticeable.

TBE: He was much more strict

FC: Sometimes we wanted to play things very virtuoso, very fast. Sometimes we didn’t give then attention that the technique deserves. Of course, for me, Thunemann was a very expressive performer. But it was good at that time that my technique was guided by him. This was very important for me. He always told me that one should play with more mind, more brain, and less heart.

TBE: How many were in the Thunemann studio?

FC: Perhaps fifteen at that time.

TBE: Was there any competitiveness?

FC: Yes, there has to be. I would say that there were a lot of lovely people there and some were not lovely.

TBE: What was the repertoire that you worked on with Thunemann? Were there studies, were there solo works, was it scales, arpeggios?

FC: As I said, my technique was not so well oriented, so we worked a lot with scales. I am using the same method with my students now. We are doing variations with scales and arpeggios and everything by heart…improvising that. Several articulations too and also a bit of some methods like Milde, which is very traditional, also ... and Giampieri.

TBE: With the Milde is it the scales and chords?

FC: Yes, and also the Concert Studies. But also, at the start he gave more than just this repertoire. He gave these important things the Weber pieces and the Mozart, Hummel, Tansman, Saint-Säens, Jolivet and all this.

 

Copyright © 2018 by Terry B. Ewell. All rights reserved.