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.

Many people used to call me a child prodigy, but I never thought that. I knew that I had learned everything, that I had very good circumstances.

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.

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

Denmark is, of course is very much like Germany: in terms of culture, the same kind of thinking, etc.

To me, the advantage of the recorder is that it is so natural. I love the fact that it is just a piece of wood, that there are almost no mechanics involved.