Artur Sanin

Composer

Germany

Author

About

I was born in Kasachstan in 1995 and moved with my family to Germany. I started playing the piano at 16, but stopped after a year. I didn't start again until I was 22. I received my first piano lessons from Alfred Rippe. His wife Nina Rippe taught me the basics of harmony and only then I begun to compose my first pieces. Nina Rippe supported me in this matter, listened to my pieces and gave me important advices on how to improve my compositions. I would describe the music I write as classical music, at least my musical role models are based in classical music. I mainly write music for the piano, but I've also started orchestrating my music.

Sheets

Interview

What does music mean to you personally?

To be honest i don’t really know. I tried to think about it but I can’t come up with a satisfying answer to this question and i don’t want go for cliches like „ it is a tool for me to express myself“. I mean it is for sure one part of it but not the only. I start composing music only a few years ago and before that i hadn’t a really deep connection to music so i never asked me this question. So at this point i can't give you an answer. The only thing i can say is that music is an important part of my life now. Maybe in some years i can give a more concrete answer to this question.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

I think there at least 2 approaches on music. For sure one part is fantasy and creativity. But there is also an intellectual part, where you leaf the fantasy and try to give your music form and structure. This part is about, how you work with your musical material, what means how you work with the themes and motifs you introduce in your music. For example, which motif do you want to develop or how do you transform the main theme to give it an other meaning? This are questions that you can ask yourself in a development of a composition and this are important questions, because it not only gives your music form, it is also better for the listener to follow your music. This are principles that where used and developed over hundreds of years. Every great composer new them and could work with them. But at the end this are only guidelines and there are no rules in music. You can write your music without any structure or development and introduce always new musical material. It depends on your personal taste and what you want to express. What matters is that you are happy with the end result.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

I am not a professional musician or composer. This is my hobby.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about the future?

It maybe depends where you look. There are plenty of successful youtube channels of young people, who try to introduce classical music to other people and every channel have it’s own approach. There are channels who gave insights in the life of a classical pianist, so topics like practice routines or maybe their thoughts and feelings before and after a performance.I think a lot of people, especially the young one, want to see more insights of the life of their favourite performers, to have the feeling that they are a part of the performers lifes. And with the internet it is possible. Performers can give live streams and talk with their fans and built a closer connection to them. There are also other channels who try a more humorous approach, and want to show, that also classical music can also be funny. A lot of this channels have hundreds thousands of subscribers and i think most of them are young people.

What do you envision the role of music to be in the 21st century? Do you see that there is a transformation of this role?

I don't think there is a general answer to what role music should have. For some it is a form of expression, for others it is entertainment and an opportunity to relax a little and forget the stress of everyday life. It won't change the fact that music plays a different role in life for everyone.

Do you think that the musician today needs to be more creative? What is the role of creativity in the musical process for you?

It depends on what you mean by more creative. I mean writing music is always a creative process no matter what kind of music or style you write. If you mean by more creative to produce new type of music that didn't exist before, then sure you need to come up with a good idea and you need to be more creative. I think it applies to today's musicians. There are many musicians who experiment with music and are always trying to find new ways to create new sounds. I personally don't want to write revolutionary music or anything like that. I have my musical role models and I orient myself to them. I don't really care whether I create a completely new style or not. I just want to write music that I think is beautiful.

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this?

I think the most important thing every musician can do, is to build a closer connection to their audience. The best tool to do so, would be the internet.You can use social media or live streams to communicate with your audience. The audience get you better to know as a person and can ask you questions that they are interested in. Or create your own Youtube channel where you can talk about music related things or give more insights in your concerts. With a closer connection to your listeners, they will be more willing to support your work and go to your concerts.

Tell us about your creative process. What is your favorite piece (written by you) and how did you start working on it?

Most of the time it starts with improvisations on my Piano. In this process i usually come across a beautiful melody or harmony. Then i write the idea down and try to imagine the piece in terms of it’s form to have a plan what i need to finish this piece. I mean by this, that i ask myself how many themes do i want in this piece? What kind of motives do i have and which of them i want to develop? This are questions that i frequently ask myself when i write a piece. Otherwise i hear the works of other composers and try to analyse their pieces. By this i discover new styles and techniques that i also use then in my compositions. I like all of my pieces, because they document my development as a composer. But to pic one of my pieces that i’m really satisfied with, it would be my Valse Romantique. It is in Terms of form one of my best pieces . It also contains nice harmonies and a good climax. I also made an orchestration of this piece. I started working on this piece, when i improvised the main theme over a chord progression that i found before.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

Classical music is a big topic and i understand that a lot of people don’t know where to start the journey. I would recommend to start with the major composers like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and so on. So basically hear through the composer's most popular works and try to find the style and epoch you like the most. If you found your favourite composer, then hear through his works, read about his lifes to get a deeper understanding of the composer and his music. If you got through the works of your favourite composer, then pick another one and try to be open to the different styles. And step by step you discover more and more composers and their music.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

Not exclusively. It is more like i projecting my own taste on some potential listeners. That means if i get bored by listening to one of my sections in my composition, i would think other listener would get bored too. But I am open to criticism from my listeners, especially from experienced composers. For example, my teacher listened to my music and gave me important criticism, which led me to study the music more intensively and therefore make me a better composer.

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects?

I working on two major projects. Since this year i got more interested in orchestral music. So i tried it myself and orchestrated some of my own pieces. So the first thing i currently working on is, improving my orchestration skills. Currently i try to orchestrated a prelude of mine. In my second project, which is inspired by Ravel's Ma mere l'oye, i try to take scenes from fairy tales and picture them in music. I have some ideas for pieces, but i need to working them out and maybe i will orchestrated some of the pieces. Yes sure i experiment in my works. I think it is natural to do so, because if you stay at the same level all the time it will eventually get boring. Current things i experiment with are harmony and technique. With new harmonies i try to create a more variety of emotions and atmospheres in my pieces and with new techniques i try to write more challenging pieces and to create new effects in my music.