Hitting the right keys

"But then you look at these three wolves in the middle, and you see that the lines which are playing very low in the keyboard are the same lines as the previous red riding hood motif. So it is as if it was not the wolves that were chasing her, but some kind of copy of her, like a doppelganger. So what does it mean that the wolves are growling in the end?" says Giltburg.

In looking for the interpretations from within, Giltburg exhibits a level of reverence for the music itself, an influence that comes predominantly from Israeli classical pianist Arie Vardi, whom he has studied from for 15 years.

Giltburg, who was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1984, first started learning piano from his mother, a piano teacher, at the age of four.

But the family soon moved to Tel Aviv, where Giltburg started learning piano systematically from Vardi.

"He taught me almost everything I know today. In terms of the approach to the musical text, of seeing the notes, the score, as the highest truth and the highest authority." Giltburg says.

Later, after winning a range of awards, including the second prize at the International Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in 2011 and the first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2013, Giltburg was approached by Klaus Heymann, the founder and chairman of the Hong Kong-based Naxos Music Group, in 2015 marking the start of his long-term cooperation with Naxos.

Giltburg says his current plan centers on recording more pieces from his core repertoire.

"Recordings advance you tremendously, with the kind of concentration and focus on preparation you need for the recording sessions. So, when you come out from the studio you always know the piece much better than you did before."

Apart from performing and recording classical music, Giltburg, as one with various interests including reading, writing, cooking and photography, also enjoys writing about classical music.

The stories and listening guides he writes on his blog, Classical Music for All, have been published by various media, including the Guardian, Gramophone magazine, and BBC Music Magazine.

"My friends, who are not musicians, once told me that there's so much going on when you play, especially with orchestra. It's like chaos.

"But for me, it's the exact opposite of chaos," says Giltburg.

"And I thought, maybe that's what I need to do. I need to tell people what's going on, so then they can follow."

Giltburg says he plans to continue writing about his interpretation of piano pieces and his performances.

"There is such power in classical music. The ability to touch your soul in such a direct and timeless way. Some of the pieces we're playing today were written more than 300 years ago, and they still are relevant. They still say something to people in the 21st century," says Giltburg.