＜Part 03＞

ーAre there any differences in a concert and a recording ?

A concert and a recording is completely different. A concert is a once in a lifetime opportunity and instantaneous, and I play so that my heart can get as close to the audience as possible, sharing the moment together. It is like confessing the truth of your heart, the feelings and expression of that particular moment.
A recording is where the approved takes remains eternally. The sound you make is instantly frozen to be kept for life. Unlike in concerts, the sound never goes away. It is most frightening.
It is almost like a prayer. Prayer of life, prayer of a human being, prayer of playing for God.
At my very first recording, I shivered as I was so frightened about this fact, and could not make a sound. I could not play music when I felt that neither of these were my “eternal sound”.
Now, I try to be innocent and pure as possible. If I start thinking too much, idle thoughts take over in my sound which disturbs me so much. So, it is important for me to feel innocent and
play pure music.

ーIn that sense, is it easy for you, or you can be yourself with unaccompanied works?

There is nobody but yourself in unaccompanied music, which is all about you, the concentrated you, yourself. So, when playing those pieces, you kind of make up your mind in a good way to confront yourself.
When you have someone else to play with you, you need to find the best timing together and make the best moments together but in unaccompanied works, it is all up to you, so in that sense, I do like unaccompanied works.

ーAre there any repertoire that you would like to take up ?

I would love to spread my repertoire to a wider area. There are still many more wonderful unaccompanied music that I have not yet done, and I am interested in playing violin music which children study when they are young. Also interested in playing and finding music that are not originally for violin but pieces that are familiar to everybody. Finding and arranging such music might be something that my audience might like to hear.
Also, the Olympic Games in Tokyo is approaching, so I would like to explore various possibilities.

ー2020 , the year of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, will also be your 45th Anniversary since your professional debut as violinist.

Yes ! I don’t know if I am supposed to mention that !
I am sure that time is going to fly like an arrow. I need to keep training my body to get stronger. Muscles do get weaker if you don’t take care of them. So that is why I am trying out much sports but as soon as I get lazy, you loose your fitness. But if I do enough sports and eat meat properly, I feel fit and my fingers move so well. Also I can concentrate better.
I will have to be prepared for the anniversary year.

ーLastly, please give us the message to your fans.

I really would like you to come and hear me live, in concerts.
Each concert is different and is the art of once in a lifetime, which disappears in an instance.
I really would like you to feel that together.

＜Part 02＞

ーIn Interview Part 1, you told us about your efforts to charge energy to play the “Duranty”.
Could you please tell us how do you actually keep fit in your daily life ?

I think many of you might know already, that my specialty is, I take 3 raw eggs every morning for maintaining a healthy body! I am still doing this. Also, just before concert performances
I drink honey. I just look upwards and take it from the bottle. With honey, I feel that my brain refreshes. So, it is raw eggs and honey for me. I also like eating a lot of meat, mostly beef then
pork and chicken. I eat quite an amount. The biggest portion I ate at once is 450 g !

I go swimming about twice or three times a week and swim at least 400 – 500 m, and more than 1 km when I can. I was able to do only breast strokes before but have learnt to freestyle (crawl) as I heard that it is good for your shoulders. I started freestyle from the beginning of last year and at first was only able to swim 50m but now I can go for 500m.
My next target for this year is to swim 1 km in freestyle.

I also go walking, do Yoga and Pirates, go to the gym and do dumbbells, and also pressurized muscle training.

ーWow, that is a lot ! You must be an enthusiast.

Yes, my brothers always keep saying “Mariko, you are too enthusiastic about everything. You should stop doing them too hard.” and also “You eat too fast, you should slow down!” but somehow my brothers’ words don’t get to me. It goes straight out through the other end of my ear. The frequency does not seem to match. (laughing)

ーYou also like drinking wine ?

I am getting weaker with alcohol now. In my twenties to thirties, I was able to drink endlessly , I could drink for ever if I wanted to, like 3 to 4 bottles in a day.
Now, drinking wine and relaxing, watching television after a concert is about my only pleasure which I really look forward to. But I don’t drink as before. It is impolite to the wine. (laughing)
Nowadays I can only drink half a bottle or about 2 glasses . I love lighter stuff too, like white wine and sherry. I even drink Shochu. I have changed quite a lot. Also like Beaujolais.

＜Part 01＞

ー15 years have passed since 2002, your fateful encounter with your violin “Duranty”.

To be honest, I cannot believe that 15 years have passed already!
I still have that sensational feeling and excitement from when I actually met “Duranty” for the first time. I couldn’t believe that “Duranty” was with me and had to go and check if the instrument was still actually there and I was only relieved after checking the existence in my room.

Now, the instrument is really in a good shape. But in the first 5 years, it was really a difficult time. I couldn’t control it and first when I woke up in the mornings and started playing, the sound really didn’t open up or wake up and only after playing for 7 to 8 hours, it started awakening but I would be too exhausted by then. I really had to work myself to the bone , even for concerts. So, I decided to change myself to confront with the instrument and thought about how to build strength and energy and shape my body towards it, changing everything, actually.

ーWas it so hard until you got used to it ?

Yes, I tried out almost everything that I could think of. I tried out and changed the hair of the bow, changed the rosin, tried out different strings . I was trying to find out what the instrument was requiring from me, and tried out playing hard, playing soft and making various adjustments with the instrument and also the environment like room temperature and humidity. Before “Duranty”, I used to use shoulder rests once in a while, but with “Duranty” , I realized that the shoulder rests somehow took away the beautiful sound of the instrument so I stopped using it. It is easier to play with a shoulder rest but I could not take the risk of spoiling the sound. It also didn’t work with a handkerchief between my chin and the violin.
I really concentrated in making it sound at its best.
After a while, I got used to the instrument and it gradually opened up to me. I started picking up and understood the characteristics of “Duranty” and we both came closer with each other.
I think I had changed during the course. As a result, I changed the bow three times. I actually had this piece I wanted to play and the exact bow appeared at the right timing. It was like that “Duranty” was calling the bows to come to us. Bows are also really expensive so I had to take out a loan each time which made my life harder. (laughing)

ーYou will still have another 20 or 30 years with “Duranty” ahead of you.

Indeed !
I do think that there still will be many changes during the course.
It still changes in seasons and I don’t know how it is going to change or develop but I will sure be adjusting to the changes by developing my performance style and expression.
I am learning a lot from the instrument, it guides me and teaches me all the time.