"Making music is better when you can open up"

What would you talk about if I wasn't here? About music or about something else?

Tanja Tetzlaff Definitely something else. We haven't spoken for a relatively long time now and there are a lot of burning issues.
Christian Tetzlaff Family matters, illness, children ...
TT When we're rehearsing together, we also talk about music, of course. And sometimes that overlaps. It always happens that the pieces we work on and experience together bring up feelings that lead us into our personal lives. It's often not an either-or, because music fulfils a large part of our private lives.
CT Or the other way round - our private lives fulfil our music. You notice that in rehearsals: Depending on someone's mood, it gives you very different impulses.

Is there a difference between making music together and with others who are not part of the family?

CT It's not the same, of course. However, our closest chamber music buddies are very close to the family. We've been playing with them for a long time, we talk about everything.
TT We're at an age where we like to choose projects with people with whom it almost feels like being siblings. Making music just goes better when you can open up. And that's easier with people with whom you know you won't be taken advantage of, that there won't be any nasty jibes, but friendship and love. It helps to have a protected space in which you can go to extremes musically.
CT I could imagine that with some siblings it's the other way round, that conflicts are resolved by musical means. But I don't have that feeling with us.

There are sibling duos that only perform together. You have been playing together in a quartet since 1994, and you also had numerous trio performances with the pianist Lars Vogt, who died young. But at the same time you are pursuing independent careers.

TT There are an incredible number of advantages to only meeting up from time to time. On the one hand, you bring a lot to the collaboration from all your own projects. And on the other hand, on a purely human level: as much as I love Christian, I don't know if I would want to spend the whole year with him. It's not easy with anyone. Even with my husband, with whom I make a lot of music, I wouldn't want to play exclusively. It's so intense, you need times in between when you're travelling with other people.
CT I agree. What changes we've gone through in the quartet because one of us has played with this colleague and the other has learnt something from that conductor! It's nice not to just stew in your own juices.
TT Then there's the repertoire. I do very different things, not all of them involve a violin. And teaching has also become very important to me.

How did it all start for you? You don't come from a family of musicians, but from a family of pastors.

TT It was almost a family of musicians. Our parents always sang and played instruments. And our father, at least, would probably have liked to become a musician deep down in his heart. Music was a natural part of our childhood, but not in an oppressive way. When you grow up with musical parents, you can also experience the stress or the eternal grind; music then takes on a negative colour for the children.
CT It was clear to our parents that we would make music. They never asked about alternatives. Others are told that they should learn something decent first. We didn't have to learn anything decent.
TT That probably has to do with our pastor background, it's an educated middle-class environment - to use this somewhat strained term. We were encouraged musically, but not at all in terms of sport, for example. With my own children, I now realise that sport is absolutely an alternative, something great that you can fully immerse yourself in.
CT Luther already said that devotional music could move people much more than words, and Bach saw it the same way. These were greats who were very present in our family home. And I'm happy to take that into my music-making without any religious background: that it's a service to the soul and therefore not so different from what my father did. Just in a slightly broader sense. Our parents probably also enjoyed making music because it was also a way of dealing with essential things.
TT Church services and concerts have a lot in common. In the church, as in the concert hall, there is this stillness, the concentration of many people on a common feeling, on something that is happening at the moment.

There are two of you talking here, but you are a total of four siblings who all make music professionally. Sibling constellations often result in perfect line-ups - a string quartet, a piano trio. It's different with you: your sister Angela Firkins is a flautist, your brother Stephan Tetzlaff started out on the trumpet and is now a conductor.

CT There was at least one piece for us, namely the trio sonata from Bach's "Musical Offering". We were able to play it because our brother is also a good pianist.
TT We all played a lot in church services, in different combinations. Our brother used to blow from the tower at Christmas, which was extremely atmospheric. But there was never really a plan to turn us children into a chamber music group. There was also the age difference: Christian was already a musician when I was almost still playing with Playmobil.

The difference between you is seven years. From what age did you meet on the same level?

TT I always looked up to Christian, right into my studies. The feeling that we can now play together because the gap is no longer there only came in my twenties. By then, I had already built up a lot of my own, I knew I was an independent musical personality. From then on, things went very well.
CT It was also ideal that we then played in a quartet, there are so many dynamics with different relationships. That was certainly the best way to play together as intensively as we did.
TT We are a very democratic quartet. There are certainly ensembles in which the first violinist says, now we're going to do it this way and that way.
CT This dream of mine never came true ...
TT That could still happen!
CT I'd rather not. It's nice to see that there aren't as many dictators in the music business as there used to be.
TT That's why we're looking forward to working with Paavo Järvi so much: he's a prime example of someone who has incredible ability but never acts like a ruler. I played a lot under his direction during my time with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. I later worked with him as a soloist and I thought it was wonderful that that was possible. It can happen that you get stuck in the conductor-orchestra musician relationship. But as soon as I sat at the front, I really was an equal colleague. It's never about hierarchical structures, that helps the music.
CT Especially with the Brahms double concerto that we are now playing in Zurich. It's a piece in which four players want to cook their own porridge: the conductor, two soloists and the orchestra. If there's a competition between the soloists, if the conductor wants something and the others oppose it, a work like this doesn't work at all. Here we are sure that we will achieve a deep co-operation.

You actually play a single large instrument in this work, the violin and cello parts often merge seamlessly. What does that mean for the soloists?

CT You have to enjoy supporting each other.
TT The piece doesn't work with two soloists, each trying to be louder and faster and more impressive. You have to play the lines to each other so that the whole thing makes sense. And if one has the melody and the other the accompaniment, then the accompaniment has to take a back seat - even if you know at that moment that not all the notes will be heard.
CT The work is a kind of offer of reconciliation to the violinist Joseph Joachim. Brahms had sided with his wife in the Joachims' marital dispute, after which the two avoided each other for years.
TT It begins with a cello motif that almost seems like an accusation: How could you! Or: How could it have come to this! As the piece progresses, the instruments come together and the music becomes increasingly conciliatory.

How often have you played the piece together?

TT Countless times!
CT Maybe forty?
TT The first time was exciting, I had just learnt the piece during my studies and had to stand in for Alban Gerhardt. I was glad that Christian was my counterpart. Despite everything, the atmosphere was relatively relaxed.

Do you actually have the same taste in music?

TT I love Prokofiev, Christian doesn't really like him. And I'm probably less critical of contemporary works that are very melodic or esoteric. Christian would have described it as shallow, at least in the past, but perhaps less so today - or not?
CT Who knows. You have to judge it on a case-by-case basis.
TT But what we usually listen to isn't that different. We both like old-fashioned bands like Cream, the Beatles and Radiohead. And we're thrilled that our children like them too.
CT My wife also introduced me to Italian music: Lucio Dalla, Lucio Battisti, this whole Cantautori tradition that I didn't know before. It's a culture that doesn't exist in Germany - with hits and pop songs that are very impressive and beautiful.

Did your parents also listen to pop music?

CT No, we were exclusively classically orientated.
TT I almost blame my parents a little for the fact that this huge part of the music world was frowned upon and only our niche was guarded. I think it's so marvellous what my children listen to - and how my eldest son not only studies the bassoon, but also makes beats. It always makes me realise how blinded we were.
CT Mainly because it was associated with ignorance, along the lines of: we don't listen to it, but we still think it's bad.

Finally, a hypothetical question: would you have become a different musician if you hadn't played music in the family?

CT It doesn't matter whether it happens in the family or in a youth orchestra: there is a huge difference between experiencing playing together as a child and always practising alone. I only wanted to become a musician because I loved playing Brahms' or Tchaikovsky's symphonies in the orchestra. There are many violinists in particular who practise an awful lot and are encouraged to do so by their parents and teachers; ensemble playing is considered downright harmful. But I am convinced that in the long term, those who see music as a social activity will enjoy it more.
TT I would have given the same answer. I'm often shocked when I hear at music college: Oh, now we have to go back to the orchestra, when we should be practising.
CT You can't always practise on your own and then at some point say: So, now I've learnt everything, now I'll play string quartet. You can only learn to think and listen to others if you make music properly - in other words, together with others. When I perform as a soloist with an orchestra today, I know exactly how long a wind section needs to play a chord, I can anticipate it all.
TT It's also a completely different social attitude. In a chamber music group or orchestra, it's not about being the best, but about creating something together.
CT That brings us back to the interweaving of music-making and life that we talked about at the beginning. In an ensemble, you learn that you can be criticised and still remain friends. You get used to listening and supporting each other, but also to saying: Look, that's not expressive enough. This experience helps you for the rest of your life.

We use deepL.com for our translations into English.