■ Jury member Krzysztof Jabłoński talks to Aleksander Laskowski
How do you like being a juror?
It’s difficult. A jury member should give an equal amount of concentration to each of the participants, and that is not easy to maintain given such a large number of participants. But I have my own ways.

■ What are they?
It’s a secret. But seriously—it helps to concentrate if someone is playing well because music gives joy.
But if someone is playing badly, that also helps, because it annoys and raises concentration level. I am tough and demanding on all the participants because this is the way I am to myself.

■ Does perfect pitch help?
I simply can hear, and I demand. And often I cannot believe the ease with which my younger colleagues let things go, that are inadmissible. I have text mistakes in mind, the fact that pianists often “take it easy” in more difficult places, they drop the sounds or play out of tune.

■ Hitting the wrong key happens even to such famous pianists as Rubinstein and Horowitz...
And it annoys me all the same. A work’s text should be delivered without any mistakes. Technique, skills are the preliminary conditions that you have to meet if we are to talk about artistic creation, about building an interpretation.

■ How do you recall the competition from 20 years ago, when you won the third prize?
I particularly remember—and I’d like to meet them now—the film crew that was hanging around the stage, disturbing my playing. But of course I don’t want to sound like a grumbler; I can still remember the joy after winning an award—after all, you take part in a competition in order to win. I have to add that in my case, this was only the beginning of a competition career.