I think that today, in Europe at least, people don't tend to think so much about the instrument that is producing the music; they are more interested to see if the musician actually has something to say.

My father is a violinist and my mother is a pianist, so I've been hearing music all my life. I started playing at three and had my first music teacher at five.

You need to express things stronger today, more so than in the Baroque time, and you need to expand the expressiveness of the instrument.

I think that today, in Europe at least, people don't tend to think so much about the instrument that is producing the music; they are more interested to see if the musician actually has something to say.

It was quite unusual to use the recorder as a concert instrument. But my mother, a pianist, actually helped me a lot by assuming that anything done on the piano can easily be done on the recorder! She helped me with technique and was just as critical about my playing as she was with her own. I think that has been one of my fortunes.

When you play the oboe, the flute or other wind instruments, there is something between you and the breath; there is the embouchure, the reed, etc. But with the recorder, I receive an immediate response from the instrument. This is something that attracted me to the instrument, that I could immediately feel the response of what I was doing.

In contemporary music, the challenge for me is to make the recorder sound as naturally expressive as, for example, the violin - without doing it too much and forcing the instrument. It is very easy to be overly expressive on the recorder, and finding the balance is quite difficult.