RFI Musique: What do the rough line drawings on the cover of Epures represent for you ?
William Sheller: They're the very image of the album. It's all about stripping things back to essentials, going back to the principal lines of a drawing. Once you've trimmed things back, you're left with the core. And that's what appeals to me in the drawing on the cover – it's exactly the same thing I'm trying to do with my music!

And does your Epures conform to the format record companies require these days ?
Ah! You mean the idea that the more you cram into your ears the happier you are? Well, yes it does… Actually, what I told my record label was that the way I progress is by trying to remain myself. I have a little motto in life and it's this: "A clock that's stopped gives exactly the right time twice a day!" Basically, if you waste your time running to keep up with fashion, I think there's a high chance you'll never catch it!

When do you get to savour pure silence ?
In the woods round my house. Strictly speaking, there's never total silence because you've always got animals and things snuffling about. There's always some kind of life going on. But that's where I go to take a break and refresh my ears.

Does this 'relative' silence inspire you to compose music? What about the natural sound of a cuckoo, for instance ?
(Laughs) Well, seeing as Beethoven already used the cuckoo in his Sixth, I think I'll pass on that! No, to be honest, musical inspiration can come at any moment. I can be out doing my shopping or chatting away to someone and I'll get this melody running through my head. It can be a real pain at times because you find yourself torn between the music in your head and the urge to finish your conversation.

At what moment in your career have you experienced the sensation of pure joy ?
Well, I'd say that has to be when I received a "Victoire de la musique" award.* I never dreamt for one moment that a simple piano album could take off with the public like that. Another high point in my career was when Madame Barbara contacted me and asked me to write a series of "blue string" arrangements for her. I spent a long while trying to figure out what she meant, but I was very touched she'd asked me.

What instrument, to your ears, produces the purest sound ?
It's not so much the instrument itself as the way someone plays it. Personally, I can't stand composers who stick lots of notes everywhere just to prove they're virtuosos and they know how to play. And, while we’re on that score, I can't stand musicians who develop an over-the-top style of playing… A piano can quickly run away with things and take up too much space – and so can a violin for that matter!

What about purity in terms of sound recording? Is the first take always the purest ?
Oh no, not at all! I'd say acoustic purity. That's what comes closest to what the ear picks up when there's no embellishment. But it's funny, sometimes you actually have to distort natural acoustic sound so that it comes out sounding natural on a recording. You have to deform certain sounds to bring them to life.

How did you go about recording your new album ?
At home with the windows wide open. It was so quiet you could hear flies buzzing past the window and ducks quacking on the pond next door. I originally thought I'd have the recording finished within a week, but as things turned out it ended up taking me a good month! One of the reasons for that is I was playing my own piano, an instrument with many qualities, but many faults – but that suits me fine as it allows me to hide my own! But my piano posed us a major headache on a song like Elvira which really isn't easy to play at all. The problem was I ended up concentrating on my fingering too much and so my voice tended to go cold.

What was the inspiration behind a song like Elvira ?
It came from my rhyming dictionary actually. I started playing the musical theme of the song and suddenly, I don't know why, I got this image of a beach in my head. I started imagining Spain and this little campfire burning away on the beach and then, as so often happens, this character came into the picture. I started imagining this woman. Actually, I had this image of a work by (the Spanish painter) Goya and that's where the idea of La Maja** came from…

Is your left-handed concerto intended as a tribute to Ravel's famous left-handed piece ?
(Laughs) You know, it's funny, but at the Conservatoire one of the professors wrote on Maurice Ravel's report card: "Has a bit of trouble with his left hand!" I happen to have a bit of a poor left hand myself and what happened was I used to sit down and play the piece while my right hand was busy holding my cup of coffee in the morning. It's as simple as that!…

And then from time to time I get people who come up to me after a concert, amateur pianists who tell me they play my compositions at home as piano practice. So I like to slip a few little instrumentals in here and there, you know, include a few not too difficult pieces which give amateurs a change from the weight of classical exercises. It's just a little fantasy of mine!

Is there a certain purity in your life of solitude tucked away in Sologne? Would you say you're drawn to the hermit lifestyle ?
Well, I do have to be a bit careful really. I have a tendency to withdraw and act the hermit at times. I used to have these big discussions with Barbara on the subject of solitude and the fact we both found it impossible to give enough to people we loved. When you spend so much time floating off in your own thoughts, people get a bit tired of you. You spend all this time seeking solitude, longing for solitude, and then when you get it, well, you regret it. It's a very ambiguous thing. But I have to say, it certainly suits me down to the ground right now.

And, last question, what for you is the purest voice imaginable ?
Children's voices, like in the film Les Choristes.*** Children's voices are filled with purity. As you get older, emotions tend to get mixed up in things and then there are all the ugly things in our lives… But children have these totally pure voices, these wonderful instruments which produce totally magnificent sounds. I enjoy the voices of opera singers, too, although I have to say, I can't stand the voices of female divas doing those big, over-the-top vibratos. But I like the voice of Schwarzkopf and Françoise Polle