I'm a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.
When I was younger, studying classical music, I really had to put in the time. Three hours a day is not even nice - you have to put in six.
When I did 'Amadeus,' I hadn't done a play for five years. And I was so happy doing it and felt so foolish that I hadn't done a play for such a long time that I wanted to go back and really kind of reach out for a classical career.
My father was the proprietor of a music shop on Forty-third Street, where many of the finest performers and musicians of the day would come to shop. He knew the classical repertoire inside out.
Then, for a hot three or four weeks I wanted to be a concert pianist.
Sometimes the ensemble 'Eighth Blackbird' will have performances and invite me to be a featured soloist. I think that is what they call it in that world-"featured soloist."
A lot of people don't know that my background is completely classical. For a while there, I was all about Moliere and the Greeks and Brecht and Tennessee Williams.
I play classical music almost exclusively. I never mastered jazz or gospel in the way that my mother did. She was a fine improvisational musician. I pretty much have to stick to what's written on the page.
Deutsche Grammophon really has a grasp of the classical repertoire.
