RDL: We have no way of knowing if they would have preferred the modern piano. But one thing is certain—to the extent that when fashion designers fit their clothes for the runway show exactly to the model, these composers wrote music for specific instruments. The composer is tailoring his music to the instrument. And as a musician now, you need to have experienced how that specific instrument sounds. Then you can come back to the modern piano and transpose. It’s not going to be exactly the same. It’s been a voyage of discovery to immerse myself in these various textures and sounds that come out of these instruments. I investigate how I can reproduce the sounds—is it something that I can make...happen by altering the technique? Some people insist on overriding certain textures to reveal their individuality, but I want to put myself into service for music.

THC: What are your plans for after retirement?

RDL: Teaching has been a very important part of life. I think I’ve more or less accomplished what I would’ve liked to do coming to Harvard, and I had an extraordinarily inspiring two decades with these marvelous Harvard students. But I’m not going to stop teaching, performing, researching and doing my creative work. I have masterclasses lined up in Germany [and] Switzerland and will be attending the Salzburg Music Festival this summer. I’m also working on completing a volume of Mozart fragments with my completion to be published with Henle-Urtext. That being said, I’d also like to lower my pace to a slightly less life-threatening one.

-Staff writer Adela H. Kim can be reached at adela.kim@thecrimson.com