Zhu Xiao-Mei: How Bach Defeated Mao er en gripende dokumentarfilm om pianisten Zhu Xiao-Mei og hennes livsreise gjennom Kinas kulturrevolusjon. Filmen skildrer hvordan hun overlevde politisk forfølgelse, tvangsarbeid og fengsling, og hvordan Johann Sebastian Bachs musikk ble en indre kilde til styrke, motstand og overlevelse. Dokumentaren er både et personlig portrett og en sterk fortelling om kunstens kraft i møte med undertrykkelse.

Trykk på bildet å se dokumentaren. Det er noen sekvenser på fransk som dessverre ikke oversettes til engelsk, men det meste er oversatt til engelsk fra kinesisk.

Intervju i forbindelse med ICMA Special Award 2015

Your career – but I guess you prefer the expression 'musical life' – is mainly focused on Bach: why?

Another sentence I found in your book: "The stiff and unbending is the disciple of death; the gentle and yielding is the disciple of life". How much freedom do you take when you study a composition and when you play it in front of a public? Is the former the 'stiff' period and the latter the 'yielding' one?
It's not my sentence, it's a sentence by Laozi, the most important Chinese philosopher: when I came out of China I did not know anything about him, he was not in Mao's red book! I never practice a new piece less than six month, but for big ones I need at least five years: maybe I am not very talented, but I must work on it a lot. That has happened, for example, with the Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue.

Which musical ideas do you want to develop in next years?
I would like to play Bach, especially the Goldberg, in as much countries as possible (now I count 25), to every kind of people, from businesspersons to pensioners and prisoners, people of every religion. And, of course, I'd like to play more Bach in China: I was there last here and it was wonderful. Many people had come for the very first time to a concert, but the stayed silent for the whole time and, at the end, we sold 300 recordings of The Art of Fugue! The record company told me that it had never happened!

If you had met Bach, what had you said to him?
First, I would explain him what China is and where it is! (laughs) Then, I would tell him how much Chinese people love his music, how deeply he has helped us to survive in difficult times. Then I would ask him if he likes how I play his music!

If you were allowed to save just one work of your repertoire, which one would you choose?
Well, that is a difficult question! I could say the Winterreise by Schubert, but I cannot forget either the Goldberg Variations, that saved me 30 years ago and now are a part of myself. Nevertheless, I'd hate having to leave Mozart, or Beethoven out! I would cry but… yes, I would definitely choose the Goldberg!

Journalist Arminta Wallace, Irish Times

Many pianists are mesmerised by this mathematical virtuosity. But for Zhu the essence of the Goldberg Variations lies elsewhere. It's all about emotion. When she plays that first note something special happens. "I feel something came out from silence," she says. "Something very peaceful. Something that makes me calm and gives me courage. So I want to share that feeling. It's something like a miracle."

It's a rare lapse in her flow of soft, quick, French-inflected English. But as we laugh together the whole Tao-of-Bach thing snaps into focus. Taoism's blend of profundity and spontaneous silliness is mirrored in Bach, where one minute you're listening to music of high seriousness and integrity and the next you're dancing. But it's not a change of gear; it's all part of the whole. Joy emerges from the music itself, like bubbles in a glass of spring water.

No surprise, then, that water is one of Zhu's favourite musical metaphors. "For me, as for that most famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, something most important in my life is water," she says. "And I feel Bach's music is like water. His name actually is water – it's no accident," she adds, referring to the German word "Bach", which means "stream".

"The Goldberg Variations is like the water in a river. At the end it's not finished: it goes back to the beginning. The water continues to flow."

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

― Lao Tzu