Searching for sincerity
As Paul Lewis prepares for the final round of the Cliburn Competition, serving as Chair of the jury, we find out what he’s looking for in the young players and how he hopes they will benefit from the experience, and check on his progress following a recent accident that damaged his spine
How are you recovering from your accident? [A car drove into Paul in a Tesco car park in January]?
I was lucky. I ended up with a hairline fracture of the end plate of T11, but it could have been a lot worse. It was a case of waiting until it healed, which took three months. Now it’s time for me to put work into strengthening exercises. It was tough at the beginning, though. I cancelled concerts in the first week after the accident, but at the end of the second, I played Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto in Palermo. I got through it with painkillers, on a chair with a backrest so I could lean back when I played. It’s counterintuitive to lean back when you play, so that felt strange. I didn’t want to stop for too long, and I knew it would heal itself, so I kept going.
What did the experience teach you?
You can have the best-laid plans, but there is no guarantee that life is going to follow them. Being hit by a car wasn’t on my schedule – I was getting ready to rehearse with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I’m usually a big planner – I need to know what’s going on – but when those plans are scuppered, you just have to adapt quickly to the new situation.
How did you adapt physically?
Your back is central to everything. It’s where all the nerve endings start and terminate. In the first few concerts, I struggled for power, partly because I had to lean back, and because when you want to generate more power, you lean into the piano from the hips. If you don’t have the strength in your back muscles to support that, it’s a problem. I also felt quite restricted in my movement, so I had to navigate that. I adapted, in order to get around the keyboard, but I was conscious that you can start compensating for things that aren’t working well, using muscles wrongly. I wanted to avoid that, although to some extent you do it automatically. It’s much better now.
People say, ”You’re a pianist, do you insure your hands?” But if you can’t support yourself sitting on a piano stool, then it doesn’t matter if you’ve insured your hands or not!
You’re Chair of the jury of the Cliburn Competition. What will you be looking for when you watch the contestants?
I don’t look for anything specific – just being struck by someone who speaks to me. When people ask me who my favourite pianist is, I never know how to answer. Fundamentally, when I hear a pianist, it comes down to whether I think they’re being honest with me, whatever their musical approach is. That approach could be very different to mine, but that shouldn’t get in the way – especially in a competition. I may have my own preferences, but so what? It’s about whether someone is being honest with the music, and not standing in the way, drawing attention to themselves. What’s most important is that they’re being sincere, and not thinking, “I have to be noticed here.”
What makes a good music competition?
A good competition is one that cares about the experience of the pianists that compete in it, which doesn’t just boot them out and say, “Thank you very much. That’s it.” It should provide something that’s memorable, useful and rewarding. Of course, it’s disappointing if you do get kicked out, but players should have an experience that’s more than just turning up to play.
This year is a perfect storm – most of the big piano competitions are happening in a twelve-month period, and it’s many of the same people going from one competition to the next, but there’s something nice about that, because it’s a community. Many of the players are friends, and it’s good that they can build connections and friendships, and feel part of a community. I hope the pianists who are doing all these competitions feel supported. People talk about how competitive it must be, but I don’t feel that myself – there’s also a great deal of support between these young pianists.
How important are competitions now?
I took part in my last competition when I was 21 and wondered then whether competitions would become a bit irrelevant, but they haven’t gone away. There seemed to be so many that I wondered whether the effect would become diluted, but as far as the big competitions are concerned, that hasn’t happened. With social media and the immediacy of how we get messages across and make connections with our audience, the effect of competitions is at least as powerful as it was in the past, sometimes dangerously so.
If someone very young and completely unknown suddenly becomes well known, there’s an artificiality in what is expected from them overnight. In some cases, you wonder whether the speed at which a musician’s career has come so suddenly is not conducive to their development as a musician. The career is pulling them along. It’s important to have the chance to grow into a career, for it to be a gradual learning curve. It certainly was for me. If I’d won a big competition when I was 19, it might have destroyed me – I’d be doing something else now. I worry about that for young players. Some personalities are fine with it, but learning to handle the pressure and reality of a career should go hand in hand with your evolution as a musician. It’s best to progress slowly.
What advice would you give the winner?
If they’re very young, I would say to take it slow and make sure they have enough time to study and grow, and to try not to be affected by the noise. Social media generates a lot of that noise, and it doesn’t help your evolution as a musician. One has to have a quiet space separate to that.
It’s important to feel you have control, although that’s difficult when you’re 20. Believe that you don’t have to say yes to everything – no is an answer.
You gave the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Piano Sonata in Oviedo in March and will be playing it next season. How did it came about?
I’ve known Thomas for quite a while and premiered his Movement at the 2019 Aldeburgh FestivaI. I love his music: his language, what he does with colour and how he seems able to stretch time. That’s what Schubert does so well, so I feel drawn to it. John Kongsgaard runs Chamber Music in Napa Valley, and when his wife Maggy died in 2020 after a long struggle with cancer, he decided to commission a series of new pieces in her memory. He asked for suggestions of composers, and I suggested Thomas.
The Piano Sonata is a huge piece – more than 30 minutes – but wonderful: accessible and rewarding. Audiences have liked it and haven’t been restless, which can happen with long, new works. The first movement is a reworking of the Movement I premiered in 2019 and the third is an expansion of a piece that was originally written for Lars Vogt, so there’s also a little tribute to him in there, too.
You tour quite extensively – what is your approach to travel?
I enjoy the actual travel less since the pandemic – I find it more stressful. But I love being in different places, so I just think of the destination. When I’m away, I try to walk around a city, to get a feel of a place, rather than take a taxi. It’s still a real thrill to go to so many places and experience different cultures. I always try to explore. When I was in San Diego recently, there was a day without rehearsals, so I went to the border and walked across to Tijuana, which is back at number one as the world’s most dangerous city. But I love that – it’s a privilege to be able to walk across a border and experience a totally different culture and circumstances.
Do you get a sense of the different audiences?
Audiences react differently at the end, on the whole, but the important part for me is not that, but how they listen. In most places, audiences are very attentive. That’s something I appreciate hugely, especially for Schubert, for example, where silence is so central to the concentration and focus. I’m always grateful for that, and that’s usually the case, wherever you are in the world.
Your Midsummer Music runs in June – what is the most important thing you’ve learnt about running a festival?
A festival is all about community. Quite a few people come to Midsummer Music from far away – Asia and North America – but the core of the audience is from nearby. It’s important to have solid local support, because it’s a local event. It’s for the community, and it’s important to understand that and to look after them, making them feel valued and happy with the experience. That’s central to any festival of this type – your local audience is the most important one.
