Photography by Julija Goyd.
Malakoff Kowalski was born in Boston; he has roots in Teheran and currently lives in Berlin. As a musician and composer, he has released numerous solo albums, including some dedicated exclusively to piano music. Yet his love for music extends far beyond that: Since the beginning of his career, collaborating with other musicians and artists has been an integral part of his personal musical journey, including original scores for movies and theatre plays. Malakoff Kowalski’s work is not merely an examination of music itself but rather an exploration of the entire world that surrounds it.
Christian Bracht: Malakoff, what makes you happy?
Malakoff Kowalski: I’m happy when I get to feel something with a certain degree of intensity; whether it’s sadness or love. Experiencing and acting on an emotion is something like bliss because you allow yourself to take that space.
CB: From your own perspective, how would you define happiness in the context of music?
MK: For me, it is primarily about high-quality sound: a recording that sounds fantastic, both aesthetically and formally. When beautiful music is expertly recorded and then played through a high-quality sound system – that sound, that is my definition of happiness.
CB: So music plays a special role for you whenever you want to experience happiness or bliss?
MK: Absolutely. I can control my inner state through music, so to speak. When I’m sad and I’m able to make room for myself to truly feel that sadness, I listen to Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ or Brahms’ ‘German Requiem’. And when I’m happy, I might play the song ‘I Believe in Miracles’ by The Jackson Sisters, for example. When that song plays, bliss washes over me like a wave.
CB: Music can conjure certain emotions in you.
MK: Emotions – and even physical strength! But music is also a great tool for sleep. Max Richter has an album called Sleep which, I believe, is about eight or ten hours long. It guides you through the different sleep cycles with sound. So far, I’ve only listened to the first pieces, but apparently there are still quite a few more hours of music left on the album. I always set my phone to stop playing after an hour and I fall asleep right away.
"I can control my inner state through music, so to speak."
CB: Are you happy when you’re performing music on stage?
MK: I have been asking myself the same question. I think that what you feel on stage cannot be expressed with conventional terms and phrases. It is a strange mixture of stress, stage fright, joy, excitement, gratitude, alertness and concentration – you are so fixated on trying to realise your own goals and desires. And then there is the dialogue with the audience. Being on stage is truly special. The applause: that can be bliss. When you hear the applause, everything else fades into the background for a moment.
CB: Which musicians or which pieces of music bring you bliss?
MK: The Ten Intermezzi for Piano by Johannes Brahms, for instance. If I were to go to the moon and could only take one piece of music or one song cycle with me, I would choose that one, recorded by Glenn Gould in the Sixties. Music encompasses everything, all of life is in there. Carefully budding thoughts, play, infatuation, love, but also loss and the mourning of all that is ephemeral – all in a seemingly casual way. Intermezzi are usually interludes; in classical music, sonatas are considered the greatest form of expression. Yet in all his sonatas, Beethoven never achieved what Brahms accomplished in a four-minute-long intermezzo.
CB: Do you think that your perception of happiness has changed over the course of your musical career?
MK: There have been many moments where music has touched me in a way that I can’t compare to anything else. I remember my mother – she is a pianist – playing a lot of Brahms when I was a little boy; I would cry while listening to it.
CB: Is there something that you haven’t experienced or done yet, but which would bring you a great sense of happiness?
MK: Yes, I have never worked with an orchestra before. But then again, the things I want to do the most are always connected to the demands or constraints a new piece of music I’m working on imposes on me. Actually, the answers to all the questions that arise in music lie within the pieces themselves, in the work that you have laid out before you. If you really consider it thoroughly, you will find the answers. If a piece ever calls for an orchestra, then I will know it.
As featured in SLEEK 78 – BLISS. Available in print and digital here.