I am sure Truls is very special – I must admit that I have never really heard him live, nor do I own a cd by him (don’t like cd’s, prefer the live experience); but I heard once a bit in the radio, and that sounded very beautiful. Also other people told me that he has a very, very special sound. And yes, intonation is probably part of it, but maybe also because he is a wonderful musician and cellist.

Who chooses pieces for recordings? Well, depends, sometimes it’s suggestions, sometimes it’s our desire – sometimes the suggestions become our desire…
In my case the people at Hyperion have a great knowledge of repertoire and suggested some things, in my last recording their suggestion was the Volkmann Concerto – I choose Schumann and Dietrich, and the radio producer asked for the Gernsheim.

The Reger disc I just finished was my idea (inspired by the pianist Markus Becker) – so one has the whole variety of who chooses what.

thanks for the comfort, by I am aware that since I am not famous, people do come to “my” concerts to hear the cello or a particular piece, which I like. I would hate it very much, if it becomes all about me – I think, I might even give up music and do something else, because then I missed the point of my vocation.

Moving around chairs to make sure of sound quality? I am in a very direct mood tonight, but I would call this nonsense – every space changes the sound so much with people in it, that it is impossible to find out, how the sound will be in the evening anyway. I heard Yo Yo Ma a couple of times in my life, he is a wonderful cellist, but sound quality is not his forte – there we have people like Truls Mörk or Lynn Harrell who always had better sound. And I think, they don’t worry about moving around the chairs before a concert, they just practice 🙂

But public relation is a dangerous thing: if one does too much of it, there will be many interview requests, and one has to fill them with stories… For me this is a story like so many others, which for the outsider sound quite good, but I don’t even believe, that he does it. To answer your question: no, I don’t do that. Sometimes I move around the hall, just because I like halls, and I like to get the feel of a hall, but I don’t think it will change anything in my performance.

Sincerely
Josh