Of course, the recorder will never have the repertoire of the piano or the violin.

Of course, the recorder will never have the repertoire of the piano or the violin.

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

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.

It is important to note that the world changes and that perception of music changes as well.

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.

When I was very young, Denmark was a very small country, and we still are, but it was then very provincial and everybody knew everybody. Now, we are very much like the rest of the world, especially with the arrival of the internet.