WEBVTT 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:25.800 That was the opening of Beethoven's Piano Sonata 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:30.300 Opus 109 and it was performed by Paul Wee. I'm 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:32.399 Erica Worth and welcome to this Pianist Podcast. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.100 Today I am speaking with barrister and concert 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:39.340 pianist Paul Wee about his life at the piano 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:42.759 with a particular emphasis on his new recording 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:46.079 of the late Beethoven sonatas on the BIS label. 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:49.359 Paul, it's great to have you on the Pianist Podcast 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:52.219 today. Thank you, Erica. It's great to be here 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.679 and thank you for having me. You're very welcome. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:57.020 What I'd like to do is step back a little in 00:00:57.020 --> 00:00:59.399 time first, because I know we're here to talk 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:02.020 about your album of the late Beethoven sonatas. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.159 But first, for those listeners who don't know, 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.400 Paul is a top London barrister working in commercial 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.540 law. So I thought it'd be nice to start out by 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:14.040 talking about your double life career, as it 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.359 were. And when did you decide to really concentrate 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:21.760 on the piano? So when I started to concentrate 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.140 on the piano, would probably have been as a child, 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.540 I grew up thinking that that's what I wanted 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:31.140 to be. I fell in love with the piano, with the 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:34.640 music, with the literature at such a, well, at 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:38.819 quite an early age. And it was my dream to be 00:01:38.819 --> 00:01:42.159 a pianist, a concert pianist, as far back as 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.299 I can remember. But cutting a long story short, 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:50.420 I... thought to myself when it came to the end 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:52.299 of my high school studies and I had to decide 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:55.260 whether to go full time into music at a conservatory 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:59.840 or to stay studying something else with music 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.500 on the side, I thought about it for the first 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.700 time and thought that as much as I loved the 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:10.080 piano and the music, the life of a concert pianist, 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.819 the realities that day to day that would involve 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:17.530 probably would not be for me. So I decided at 00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:21.370 that stage to turn to the law. And I always kept 00:02:21.370 --> 00:02:24.469 playing the piano. I knew that from the beginning, 00:02:24.469 --> 00:02:27.330 one of the great advantages of being a pianist, 00:02:27.389 --> 00:02:29.530 having the piano as your instrument, is that 00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:32.550 you can always play completely on your own. You 00:02:32.550 --> 00:02:35.349 don't need anyone else to make the literature 00:02:35.349 --> 00:02:37.610 and the repertoire accessible to you. I always 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.340 continued to play. concerts here and there right 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:43.159 throughout the beginning of my legal practice 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:45.699 up till now i would play about two or three concerts 00:02:45.699 --> 00:02:49.280 a year quite often in or around the inns of court 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:53.379 or you know in aid of various charities so the 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:55.719 piano was always part of my life bit in the background 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:58.240 now the the events of the past few years so far 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.400 uh i've been very fortunate in that they've seen 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:02.979 the concerts that I've given and the projects 00:03:02.979 --> 00:03:05.120 that I've been taking on being a little more 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.759 visible and high -profile, but the sort of mix 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:10.300 of things has remained unchanged. Yeah, that's 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:13.060 very interesting though, because obviously, so 00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:15.680 you decided piano, you're gonna take piano seriously, 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.979 but you know, most people, it's like, I need 00:03:18.979 --> 00:03:22.599 an agent, I need a record label, you know, but 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:25.759 I don't know how it began with you and Biss Records, 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:28.180 but you have a recording contract with them. 00:03:28.219 --> 00:03:29.990 It's something that... most pianists can only 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:33.270 dream of. How did that come about? Yeah, so that 00:03:33.270 --> 00:03:35.949 came about. Again, I'm just, it's a constant 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:38.629 reminder of the role that luck plays in all of 00:03:38.629 --> 00:03:42.289 this. It came about following a recital I played 00:03:42.289 --> 00:03:46.430 in July 2016 for the Alcon Society. I played 00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:50.050 the concerto for solo piano. And in the audience 00:03:50.050 --> 00:03:53.430 at that recital was Bryce Morrison, the famous 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:56.229 critic and writer. And he came up to me afterwards 00:03:56.229 --> 00:03:59.639 and said, you know, this is... this is this is 00:03:59.639 --> 00:04:01.759 fantastic something needs to be done we need 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.199 to make a recording and i said well well i'd 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:07.560 love to do that but how you know uh he put me 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:09.560 in touch then bryce put me in touch with mike 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.759 spring formerly of hyperion now he's a very close 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.840 friend of mine mike helped me to make the recording 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.860 he said to me immediately up front well look 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:23.980 nobody is going to be interested in you uh just 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.339 because i say to them or bryce says to them he 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:28.040 is a great pianist he wants to make a recording 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.139 of alcan no one will make that happen it's not 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:32.699 how the industry works so mike said the way it 00:04:32.699 --> 00:04:34.740 works these days is that you have to make your 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:36.560 own recording finance your own recording and 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.959 then you know we'll see what we've got we'll 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.639 see who might be interested in taking it and 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:43.800 that's exactly what we did we made the first 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.949 recording we decided to pair Alcon's Symphony 00:04:46.949 --> 00:04:49.370 for solo piano alongside the Concerto for solo 00:04:49.370 --> 00:04:52.230 piano. Once the recording was finished, we sent 00:04:52.230 --> 00:04:56.050 it out. We sent it out to labels including this, 00:04:56.290 --> 00:04:59.829 where Mike knew that the hardest thing in all 00:04:59.829 --> 00:05:03.170 of this is having someone who will actually listen 00:05:03.170 --> 00:05:06.209 to what you send them. Everyone's time is precious, 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.339 and again, you know... Everyone has so many demands 00:05:08.339 --> 00:05:10.720 on their time. Simply a recommendation saying, 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:12.459 oh, you know, this is great. You really must 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:15.139 hear it is always, always going to fall on deaf 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:18.980 ears. But Mike knew that Robert von Baer of BIS 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:22.819 was different. He knew that Robert listens to 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:26.100 what is sent in to him. And that's exactly what 00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:28.560 happened. Robert listened. He liked what we heard. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:31.939 And he moved with amazing speed, you know, not 00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:34.639 only to get the recording issued on BIS. in a 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:37.259 matter of months later that year but also to 00:05:37.259 --> 00:05:40.639 lock in plans for future recordings even all 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:42.899 agreed before the Alcan was even released so 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:47.620 yeah it was it was a pretty extraordinary journey 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:50.399 and many things had to fall into place for that 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:52.620 to happen the way that it did I mean it is quite 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.319 remarkable because first of all Alcan you know 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:58.980 that's a composer a particular taste isn't it 00:05:58.980 --> 00:06:02.800 um and then the next one was Talberg's L 'Art 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:07.740 du Chant. I mean, another work that, you know, 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:11.939 for pianophiles, you know, all your recordings 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:16.980 have been really for pianophiles, not your typical 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:19.600 mainstream repertoire. Well, in a way, in a way. 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:25.170 And that has reflected the... I guess the freedom 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:29.410 that I both have, given my relationship with 00:06:29.410 --> 00:06:33.810 the piano, I don't need for other music related 00:06:33.810 --> 00:06:37.389 reasons to record whatever programs I would happen 00:06:37.389 --> 00:06:40.230 to be touring around with. I mean, you couldn't 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:43.149 really tour around viably with a program of Talberg. 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:49.529 No. Also, it reflects what this has given me. 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:51.600 all of these projects that i've suggested to 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:56.060 this and this is just you know down to i'm immensely 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:59.819 grateful to this and robert for being able for 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:03.339 being willing to sort of indulge uh my suggestions 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:05.639 my tastes and and the third factor is that they 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:08.819 reflect the works that i would have loved myself 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:11.649 to have seen recorded and that i therefore thought, 00:07:11.649 --> 00:07:14.509 well, I'd love to do it myself. So the Talberg 00:07:14.509 --> 00:07:16.730 in particular was a set that I think it is a 00:07:16.730 --> 00:07:20.589 set still, that I think is very underserved in 00:07:20.589 --> 00:07:22.829 terms of recordings. And yet there's so much 00:07:22.829 --> 00:07:26.269 beautiful music written in there. I don't think 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:29.629 it's not accessible. You have, you know, some 00:07:29.629 --> 00:07:32.209 transcriptions of very well -known arias from 00:07:32.209 --> 00:07:34.810 very well -known operas, some beautiful leader 00:07:34.810 --> 00:07:38.199 in there. it is music that actually incidentally 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:40.420 of all of my recordings performs the best by 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:42.879 some considerable margin on streaming platforms 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:45.839 so there is there is you know absolute appeal 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:47.899 to this music but yes it's a combination of those 00:07:47.899 --> 00:07:50.720 things which um until now have meant that uh 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:54.279 what i have recorded is not necessarily your 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.819 standard fare absolutely and and so that there 00:07:57.819 --> 00:08:01.139 were four and now with this fifth recording this 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:04.170 latest you have gone really in the different 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:07.509 path. You've gone to Beethoven, the late piano 00:08:07.509 --> 00:08:11.589 sonatas. Most of us know them. Why have you suddenly 00:08:11.589 --> 00:08:19.589 gone on that path? Yeah, so I'll start by making 00:08:19.589 --> 00:08:23.410 one observation, which is to suggest that it 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:29.329 might not be as radical a shift as it may first 00:08:29.329 --> 00:08:32.029 seem. And then I'll answer the question directly. 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:35.889 It is the first time that I am recording Beethoven 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:38.830 in the original, but it isn't the first time 00:08:38.830 --> 00:08:43.169 that I'm recording very core mainstream repertoire 00:08:43.169 --> 00:08:46.269 Beethoven, for instance. And for instance, the 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:49.049 recording in which I pair Liszt's transcription 00:08:49.049 --> 00:08:51.629 of the Eroica Symphony with Alcott's transcription 00:08:51.629 --> 00:08:54.529 of the Mozart D minor concerto. I mean, put aside 00:08:54.529 --> 00:08:56.710 the transcription elements of this. These are 00:08:56.710 --> 00:09:01.970 two of the most core mainstream. monuments of 00:09:01.970 --> 00:09:03.769 the classical literature. So it isn't, I would 00:09:03.769 --> 00:09:07.570 suggest, my first foray into the field. But of 00:09:07.570 --> 00:09:09.730 course, when we talk about Beethoven in the original, 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:13.409 it is. And there is a little bit of a story there, 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:17.929 if you'll indulge me. So after the Henselt and 00:09:17.929 --> 00:09:22.070 the Bronsart disc, Biss and I sat down to chat 00:09:22.070 --> 00:09:25.409 about future projects, and we agreed on a provisional 00:09:25.409 --> 00:09:28.190 list of six. Now, the late sonatas, they were 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:30.669 on that list. I had... proposed them myself, 00:09:30.750 --> 00:09:34.629 as I had found myself drawn to them more and 00:09:34.629 --> 00:09:37.830 more over the preceding years. I mean, in a way, 00:09:37.830 --> 00:09:39.570 the works, they don't need any justification. 00:09:39.669 --> 00:09:42.909 They're some of the most extraordinary utterances 00:09:42.909 --> 00:09:45.409 in all of music, you know, specifically for their 00:09:45.409 --> 00:09:48.149 searing humanity, you know. I've known them and 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:50.070 I've played them for years, all of them privately, 00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:52.889 some of them in concert. None of this, none of 00:09:52.889 --> 00:09:56.620 them were at all new or unfamiliar to me. But 00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:58.559 although they were on the list, we hadn't planned 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.940 for them to be up next. What actually happened 00:10:00.940 --> 00:10:04.120 is that we had had recording sessions planned 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:08.899 for March 2024 for a different project. But then 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:11.419 my wife and I, we learned the very happy news 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:14.039 that our second baby would be arriving in December 00:10:14.039 --> 00:10:18.019 2023. And I knew that with a newborn baby at 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:20.600 home, I would not be ideally placed to prepare 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:23.500 the other planned. repertoire for those March 00:10:23.500 --> 00:10:26.220 2024 sessions. And rather than cancel them, I 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:28.559 thought, you know, we should go ahead, but let's 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.720 go ahead instead with music that I'm much more 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:34.840 familiar with, that I knew much better. So we 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:37.259 decided to use those sessions instead to record 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:43.659 Opus 109, 110 and 111. And although it was originally 00:10:43.659 --> 00:10:46.960 for practical reasons, there was also something 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.919 that felt, you know, substantively very right 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:56.220 about this. There is a way in which holding a 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:59.320 newborn baby in your arms, that sort of rhythm 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:03.320 of the first few days and weeks and months where 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:06.360 time just sort of dissolves around you, and you 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:09.799 cradle them as they sleep, you watch in awe as 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:11.879 they discover the world around them for the very 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:18.519 first time. Let me put it this way. I felt that 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.029 approaching this incredible music from... That 00:11:22.029 --> 00:11:25.509 sort of day -to -day place of wonder and awe, 00:11:25.730 --> 00:11:29.049 I felt that was an enormous privilege. I'm definitely 00:11:29.049 --> 00:11:30.909 not saying that that's the only way to approach 00:11:30.909 --> 00:11:32.929 these sonatas. Of course it's not. It's nothing 00:11:32.929 --> 00:11:35.889 that Beethoven himself ever experienced. But 00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:39.490 for me, immersing myself in this music, you know, 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:43.529 it touches the deepest nerves, I think, of what 00:11:43.529 --> 00:11:45.509 it means to be human. You know, it's got some 00:11:45.509 --> 00:11:49.580 of the most vulnerable... bearing of souls the 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:54.100 most aching tenderness a lot of that just felt 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.919 right at that point in time in my life and so 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:01.320 it was that combination as i say of practical 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:05.080 circumstances but also you know this this this 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:09.220 resonance i i i felt and i still feel between 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.879 you know the magic of those early months and 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:16.019 throwing myself immersing myself you know headlong 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:20.610 into this music that that has yeah led to led 00:12:20.610 --> 00:12:23.309 to where we are now oh that's absolutely wonderful 00:12:23.309 --> 00:12:26.730 and um when were the recording dates again when 00:12:26.730 --> 00:12:29.909 were you in the studio yeah so we did opus 109 00:12:29.909 --> 00:12:33.830 110 and 111 in march 2024 and then we returned 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:36.889 back later that year november 2024 uh to the 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:40.389 same venue at wyest and to do opus 101 and 106. 00:12:41.169 --> 00:12:44.210 goodness and in between then you gave your wigmore 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:48.860 hall debut Yeah, it was quite a busy year for 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:53.220 me musically, 2024. That was in June 2024, yeah. 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:56.000 Absolutely. And how did that feel, a debut at 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:57.740 the Wigmore Hall? Did you ever in your wildest 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:00.840 dreams think you'd be giving a debut, playing 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.519 at the Wigmore Hall? No, is the short answer. 00:13:03.539 --> 00:13:06.700 I absolutely didn't. And that made it, you hear 00:13:06.700 --> 00:13:08.879 these words a lot, but it was quite literally 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:13.120 a dream come true. You know, as a concert goer. 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:15.990 It's my favourite venue in London. I've had so 00:13:15.990 --> 00:13:19.470 many wonderful, transformative musical experiences 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:21.350 there over the years, sitting in the audience. 00:13:21.610 --> 00:13:24.230 And yeah, the thought had never really occurred 00:13:24.230 --> 00:13:27.330 to me that one day it would, it might be me up 00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:32.490 there. And I'm, yeah, it's a memory and experience 00:13:32.490 --> 00:13:36.690 that I will absolutely treasure. And I'm looking 00:13:36.690 --> 00:13:38.429 forward, hopefully, to there being more to come. 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:42.919 Okay. And nerves? Did you, were you nervous? 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:50.639 Yes, definitely. Definitely. I always have an 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:54.360 element of nerves before any kind of performance, 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:55.980 I should say, you know, whether we're talking 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:58.759 about court or on the stage. It's fair to say 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:01.639 that being at Wigmore and especially immediately 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:04.019 beforehand, whether it's in the green room or 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:06.860 waiting in the wings to go on, it's fair to say 00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:10.500 that that probably amplified it a little. I've 00:14:10.500 --> 00:14:14.899 always enjoyed that sort of thrill of performing 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:17.299 because that's what it is. It's the other side 00:14:17.299 --> 00:14:19.600 of that coin. And as I say, whether it's the 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.460 day job or whether it's as a pianist, it's part 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:27.840 of what makes every occasion magical and fun. 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:34.039 I would use the word fun. And, you know, we all 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:37.679 wonder sometimes, are we... Do we feel this way? 00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:40.440 Do we have these nerves? Because, well, in a 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:42.220 word, imposter syndrome. Is it because, you know, 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:44.320 we're about to get found out or are we not sure 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:45.799 we've done the preparation? But then you think 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.700 to yourself, we've all read the stories about 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:50.980 Horowitz sometimes being so nervous that he would 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:54.340 have to be pushed physically out onto the stage. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:56.940 And in my day job as well, you know, I've heard 00:14:56.940 --> 00:15:00.700 from some of the most brilliant barristers, KCs 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:04.100 at the commercial bar, that they too always have 00:15:04.100 --> 00:15:06.860 nerves before hearings. And I find that... reassuring. 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:09.379 Well it's so interesting because you know you're 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:13.000 up there at a hearing performing and you're on 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:15.100 stage at the Wigmore performing so there are 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:17.059 slight similarities there you obviously like 00:15:17.059 --> 00:15:20.879 performing. Yeah absolutely absolutely I think 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.299 there are actually you know very many similarities 00:15:24.299 --> 00:15:26.679 between the two and it's part of what keeps things 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:30.019 fun you know it is the culmination of so much 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:33.200 preparation on both sides both sides and then 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.200 but when it comes to it When you stand up in 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:38.220 court, when you go out on stage, that's when 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:40.259 it matters. It doesn't matter how many times 00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:42.559 you've got it right in the practice room if it 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.379 doesn't come out the way you want it to on stage. 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:50.639 It doesn't matter how hard you're prepared, rehearsed 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:52.080 in your head, how the hearing's going to go, 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:54.200 if the witness says something completely unexpected 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.440 or if the judge asks you a question that you 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:59.080 haven't at all considered. It's what keeps it 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:02.399 fun. That's fascinating. That's fascinating. 00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:05.559 Do you have any safety, I mean, with regards 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:07.899 to performing, getting nervous beforehand? Is 00:16:07.899 --> 00:16:09.980 there anything you do beforehand to calm yourself 00:16:09.980 --> 00:16:13.379 down? Not really, not really. I haven't had any 00:16:13.379 --> 00:16:17.179 rituals, whether practical or purely, you know, 00:16:17.220 --> 00:16:21.120 psychological. It's, yeah, nothing over the years 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:26.259 has built up. Okay. I'm looking at your, when 00:16:26.259 --> 00:16:27.799 you were young, who you studied with, and I've 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:30.669 just realised that we both... share the same 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:32.850 piano teacher at some point in our lives, don't 00:16:32.850 --> 00:16:36.169 we, in Manhattan? Absolutely. Nina Svetlanova, 00:16:36.250 --> 00:16:39.809 who I absolutely adore and I miss her very much. 00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:42.730 Yeah, you were in pre -college at Manhattan School 00:16:42.730 --> 00:16:47.690 of Music. Yeah, that's right. From 2001 to 2005, 00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:51.450 I went there on Saturdays alongside my regular 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:54.389 high school studies as well. Fantastic. And what 00:16:54.389 --> 00:16:58.350 did you think she taught you, Svetlanova? ah 00:16:58.350 --> 00:17:06.549 well so she taught me i would say she gave me 00:17:06.549 --> 00:17:10.869 the foundations completely new foundations for 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:13.009 my approach to the keyboard my keyboard technique 00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:16.369 if we want to use that shorthand i turned up 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:21.619 at nina's studio thinking that you know I knew 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:23.539 my way around the piano. I thought I was a pretty 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:27.460 nifty pianist. I was ready to bring her big pieces, 00:17:27.500 --> 00:17:31.599 big repertoire that I wanted to charge through 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.259 with her very much as a hot -headed teenager 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:42.359 in high school in New York. Instead, she saw 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:44.140 what I had done, how I was currently playing, 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.960 and she brought me right back to basics. She 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:49.680 brought me right back to basics. She assigned 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:54.460 me movements from works that I had first played 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:58.200 as a child. And I thought to myself, well, what's 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:02.059 going on here? What's going on here? And in the 00:18:02.059 --> 00:18:05.039 time that I had with her, which, you know, extraordinarily 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:07.319 looking back, I was only with her for two years, 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:09.019 actually. I was only with her for two years. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.460 It was a very short period. She completely transformed 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:16.440 my piano technique from... top to bottom and 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:19.380 put it on. I would say for the very first time, 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:25.180 she introduced me to a principled approach of 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:27.960 what it means to use your hands, your body, your 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:31.099 arms, everything to navigate the keyboard. My 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:34.140 previous teachers, I think, were giving me technical 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:37.799 advice on a much more sort of surface -oriented 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:40.160 level, but she was the one who, for the very 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.000 first time, brought me right back to square one. 00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:46.450 With hindsight, that was invaluable because what 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:48.150 it enabled me to do, because she'd given me the 00:18:48.150 --> 00:18:50.769 foundations, the fundamentals, I was able to 00:18:50.769 --> 00:18:54.869 keep working from them on the basis of what she 00:18:54.869 --> 00:18:57.490 taught me, to keep advancing my own understanding 00:18:57.490 --> 00:19:03.369 of technique, mechanics, for many, many years 00:19:03.369 --> 00:19:05.529 after I stopped having regular lessons with her. 00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:09.309 And it is entirely thanks to her that I have 00:19:09.309 --> 00:19:12.960 the... technique that I have today and that includes 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:17.740 I have to say because what she taught me about 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:20.440 having an understanding of piano technique that 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:22.259 resides in the mind as a matter of principle 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:26.380 it's meant that I have never needed to say you 00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:28.319 know sit down at a piano for one or two hours 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:30.319 every day to practice just to keep things going 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.059 instead I'm able to keep I'm able to go for weeks 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:36.799 at a time without touching a piano without playing 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:38.940 a piano and I can pick up where I left off and 00:19:39.579 --> 00:19:41.579 That has been invaluable for me because I've 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:45.880 needed that. The day job often means that I don't 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.640 get to touch a piano for, you know, a very, very 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:51.819 long time. And I owe all of this to what she 00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:54.240 gave me. That is remarkable. I mean, the fact 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:57.319 that you can go back to the piano four weeks 00:19:57.319 --> 00:20:01.460 later and not feel like you've been awake from 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:03.859 it, really. That's remarkable. Yeah, absolutely. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.079 Absolutely. Well, I mean, of course, a lot of 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:08.579 that. The other part of that is that even if 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:10.059 I haven't been touching the piano, physically 00:20:10.059 --> 00:20:16.099 touching the piano, I mean, I do always have 00:20:16.099 --> 00:20:19.160 the piano, it's music in my mind, you know, and 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.519 whether you might think, to use the formal term, 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:25.400 practicing away from the keyboard or just something 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:27.680 in general, it is never the case that I'll go 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:29.299 for weeks without a time without thinking about 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:30.940 the piano or thinking about playing the piano. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.039 Yes. And I mean, when you're at somebody else's 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:36.880 concert, like I know tonight, we will both be 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.019 attending our Caddy Volodos at the Barbican. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:43.980 I'm a special pianist indeed. When you're sitting 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:47.019 there listening to him, obviously, I would have 00:20:47.019 --> 00:20:50.000 thought you'll come away thinking, I should try 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.319 that. Oh, I like what he does here. Do you sometimes 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:57.400 think, bring that back to your own playing, your 00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:00.299 own technique? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It's... 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:05.230 it's a constant process and something that we 00:21:05.230 --> 00:21:08.170 are so privileged uh in london to have you know 00:21:08.170 --> 00:21:11.089 this never -ending stream of the greatest pianists 00:21:11.089 --> 00:21:13.009 in the world always always coming to play and 00:21:13.009 --> 00:21:15.670 of course you you go to listen i go to listen 00:21:15.670 --> 00:21:18.809 to other people uh as often as i can i it's fair 00:21:18.809 --> 00:21:22.670 to say i used to go to many more concerts than 00:21:22.670 --> 00:21:25.190 i do these days because the children have arrived 00:21:25.190 --> 00:21:28.630 and life is a lot more complicated but yes um 00:21:30.040 --> 00:21:32.660 Always. I go to hear other pianists. It's not 00:21:32.660 --> 00:21:35.380 with the primary aim of going and thinking, what 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:37.660 can I take away from them? But just because, 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:41.079 as I say, I love the piano. I love music. I've 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:42.960 always been going to concerts for the sheer joy 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.059 of it. But yes, every now and then you'll hear 00:21:45.059 --> 00:21:46.779 a pianist, especially playing a work that you 00:21:46.779 --> 00:21:49.619 think that you know very well, and you will just 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:52.839 be blown away by what you... what you hear others 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:55.000 do with them. And you can't help but think of 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:57.279 experimenting. I mean, some of the works that 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.240 Volodos is playing this evening are some of the 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:02.319 absolute works that have been very, very dear 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:07.000 to my heart for years. So I'm really excited 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:10.480 to hear him. But of course, the other side of 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.559 the coin is that when we're talking about specifically 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.960 pianists like Volodos, and there are very few 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:20.440 that that can be spoken of in the same way as 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:22.890 him. it's all fine and well saying oh i'd love 00:22:22.890 --> 00:22:24.650 to take what volados does in those bars and do 00:22:24.650 --> 00:22:27.049 it myself but no not in a million years not in 00:22:27.049 --> 00:22:29.549 a million years no and we're all unique aren't 00:22:29.549 --> 00:22:33.170 we and he is volados and that that's what makes 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:37.990 him so special and you are you yeah i mean what 00:22:37.990 --> 00:22:40.990 i like also is your philosophy as a pianist once 00:22:40.990 --> 00:22:45.029 you said to me that you're 95 a listener rather 00:22:45.029 --> 00:22:47.589 than a performer you like being in the audience 00:22:47.589 --> 00:22:51.049 that you feel is that true you're more inclined 00:22:51.049 --> 00:22:53.670 towards that direction? Yeah, I mean, I'd say 00:22:53.670 --> 00:22:58.670 that that's just a description of my relationship 00:22:58.670 --> 00:23:03.349 with music. I am far more often the one sitting 00:23:03.349 --> 00:23:07.589 in the audience or listening to new recordings 00:23:07.589 --> 00:23:10.710 than I am the one on stage. I mean, it reflects 00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:13.150 the very small number of concerts I give in comparison. 00:23:13.789 --> 00:23:20.480 It's the setting with music that I Spend more 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:25.200 time within. Yeah, I get it. I heard you play 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.900 the Rachmaninoff Third with the Fidelio Orchestra 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.980 in June, this June. Would you like, and it was 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:34.059 great, it was fantastic, would you like to do 00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:37.190 more concerto appearances? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. 00:23:37.609 --> 00:23:40.710 In fact, I just played another Rachmaninoff third 00:23:40.710 --> 00:23:43.829 the other day on Sunday with the Royal Orchestral 00:23:43.829 --> 00:23:46.710 Society, conducted by Rebecca Miller. And that 00:23:46.710 --> 00:23:49.569 also was just a total joy. That was at Duke's 00:23:49.569 --> 00:23:52.089 Hall at the Royal Academy of Music. And yeah, 00:23:52.170 --> 00:23:53.970 I'd love to play more concertos. I mean, there 00:23:53.970 --> 00:23:57.779 are just, again, it's, it's... it's my love of 00:23:57.779 --> 00:24:00.180 the literature there are so many incredible piano 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:02.619 concertos out there and although you can of course 00:24:02.619 --> 00:24:05.059 have some fun playing the solo parts on your 00:24:05.059 --> 00:24:07.559 own it's never the same thing as bringing them 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:09.579 to life with an orchestra and there's such a 00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:12.480 breadth of of concertos out there that i would 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.180 adore to do it's just yeah i i would love that 00:24:16.180 --> 00:24:18.960 do you think you need an agent for that do you 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:24.460 have an agent i don't have an agent i suppose 00:24:24.460 --> 00:24:27.099 in theory an agent would be the conventional 00:24:27.099 --> 00:24:32.660 way to get more well concert appearances generally 00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:37.019 or more concerto appearances specifically uh 00:24:37.019 --> 00:24:42.140 but i don't have an agent and i'm not sure that 00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:50.000 that would be a likely path for me no i am not 00:24:50.750 --> 00:24:54.430 looking to play as many concerts as possible. 00:24:54.529 --> 00:24:59.670 I'm only able to play a small number. And when 00:24:59.670 --> 00:25:03.970 my musical activities and my musical intentions 00:25:03.970 --> 00:25:07.589 are put in that light, it's not obvious to me 00:25:07.589 --> 00:25:10.049 that it would make commercial sense for an agent 00:25:10.049 --> 00:25:12.869 to take me on. No. They'll be wanting to book 00:25:12.869 --> 00:25:15.009 you constantly and you just don't have the time 00:25:15.009 --> 00:25:18.009 in your diary. Absolutely right. And I have been 00:25:18.009 --> 00:25:20.960 very fortunate so far that i've been able in 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:27.019 recent years to secure some very you know wonderful 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:29.799 performance opportunities on my own without an 00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:33.380 agent and i will be a very happy man if that 00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:36.400 can continue yeah well you seem to have the perfect 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:39.839 life balance career balance you know it's it's 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.160 amazing oh that's It might look like that from 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:47.400 the outside. It feels more like a constant state 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:52.019 of chaos on the inside. Well, yeah, I mean, to 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:58.440 be honest, balancing the law and music, it used 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:01.279 to be quite straightforward, quite straightforward, 00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:07.079 quite simple. I would take... I would take on 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:08.960 a musical commitment, a concert, for instance, 00:26:09.220 --> 00:26:14.380 put it in the diary and I would treat it in the 00:26:14.380 --> 00:26:18.059 diary in the same way as any other legal professional 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:20.660 commitments. I'm a self -employed barrister, 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:25.079 so I can have a degree of control over what I 00:26:25.079 --> 00:26:28.380 do. I don't have any any management or bosses 00:26:28.380 --> 00:26:30.960 looking over me and saying, oh, no, no, no. What 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:33.299 are you doing? You can't you can't. take time 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:35.740 off to to spend uh preparing for a piano recital 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:40.259 uh of course um my cases have ongoing commitments 00:26:40.259 --> 00:26:44.440 my clients have ongoing uh needs for advice and 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.259 so on so you're never completely free either 00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:50.359 but i was able to put something in my diary figure 00:26:50.359 --> 00:26:52.740 out in exactly the same way as i do for legal 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:55.460 commitments what sort of uh time will be needed 00:26:55.460 --> 00:26:57.200 to prepare for this what do i need to set aside 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:59.240 to get ready and manage the diary accordingly 00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:02.180 and it all you know um it all rumbled on very 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:05.079 very happily uh in that way for a while uh of 00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:08.000 course what through a great spanner in the in 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.839 in the works is having children because that 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:13.279 it means your time is no longer your own yes 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:17.500 Then you cannot just, you know, take the 24 hours 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:19.299 of the day and use them as you would like. It's 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:23.799 a different ballgame. And it's, yes, as I say, 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.720 a perpetual state of chaos. But we're working 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.640 it out. We're working it out. Oh, well, yeah, 00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:32.180 you need to take parenting seriously, of course. 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:35.460 And I can see that you do. Well, we try. We try. 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:39.440 Well, let's get on to, now we're coming towards 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:41.039 the end, so I thought we'd get on to something 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.079 a little bit more simple and light -hearted. 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:47.599 I'm going to throw some questions at you, and 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.740 if you can answer them off the cuff, that would 00:27:49.740 --> 00:27:54.579 be great. So, here is the first one. If you could 00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:57.480 play only one composer from now on, who would 00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:06.089 it be? I would say... Schubert, if I am allowed 00:28:06.089 --> 00:28:10.069 to keep, for instance, his songs, the leader, 00:28:10.190 --> 00:28:12.769 even without just having that as part of it, 00:28:12.789 --> 00:28:15.410 being able to play that, stick on the vocal line 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:17.809 on top, maybe with the fifth finger. But yeah, 00:28:17.950 --> 00:28:25.390 Schubert. Oh, how come? There is everything in 00:28:25.390 --> 00:28:33.869 his music that is so purely crafted. manifested 00:28:33.869 --> 00:28:40.650 in a way in which the way that he expresses it 00:28:40.650 --> 00:28:47.289 the nature of his writing it is so transparent 00:28:47.289 --> 00:28:54.809 to the musical intention and there is no difficulty 00:28:54.809 --> 00:28:57.789 for the sake of difficulty there is no florid 00:28:57.789 --> 00:29:00.970 virtuosity now these are not things that i i 00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:03.240 inherently disapprove of as you'll know from 00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:08.119 my discography but it is just some of the purest 00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:10.480 form of expression musical expression that there 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:13.640 is and it means that his music often hits me 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:16.559 that much harder than anyone else's yeah i understand 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:21.240 yeah okay next question one pianist dead or alive 00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:26.059 you travel long and far to hear i would have 00:29:26.059 --> 00:29:30.059 loved to have heard chopin All of the accounts 00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:36.859 of his playing, his phrasing, his peddling, his 00:29:36.859 --> 00:29:44.880 dynamics, his poetry, his manner of... Put it 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:51.519 this way. We are all these days, to some extent, 00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:55.359 descendants of Liszt and the way that Liszt approached 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:58.579 the piano. Of course, that's far to say that 00:29:58.579 --> 00:30:01.099 any of us have the magnetism, the charisma, the 00:30:01.099 --> 00:30:03.859 personality of Liszt that lifted his concerts 00:30:03.859 --> 00:30:06.140 to, you know, to the stratosphere and beyond. 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:09.539 But I think there is a lot of modern pianism 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:14.819 that we would recognise from Liszt, Talberg, 00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:18.160 so on. But Chopin appears from the eyewitness 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:20.420 accounts and there are so many written down to 00:30:20.420 --> 00:30:24.180 have been something else altogether. And he is 00:30:24.180 --> 00:30:26.759 the one that I would... most have liked to have 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:32.279 heard. Okay, excellent. One person, dead or alive, 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:40.119 you'd love to play for? I would love to be able 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:43.440 to play one more time for our former teacher, 00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:45.640 Nina Smetanova. I would love to be able to play 00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:48.900 her share with her My Late Beethoven, Opus 110 00:30:48.900 --> 00:30:51.259 in particular, which I know was a very, very 00:30:51.259 --> 00:30:55.829 close work to her heart. Aww. Opus 110 is amazing. 00:30:57.769 --> 00:31:00.950 Oh, that's sweet. Maybe, oh, that's a lovely 00:31:00.950 --> 00:31:07.730 answer. Oh, okay. I used to go back to New York 00:31:07.730 --> 00:31:09.309 a lot more often when my brother used to live 00:31:09.309 --> 00:31:11.390 there and I would see her from time to time and 00:31:11.390 --> 00:31:13.470 play for her maybe once every five years. But 00:31:13.470 --> 00:31:16.930 she passed away within the last couple of years. 00:31:17.490 --> 00:31:21.679 And I'm very sad that that door is no more. So 00:31:21.679 --> 00:31:23.839 you'd go back every five years and play for her? 00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.779 Sometimes more, sometimes more regularly than 00:31:26.779 --> 00:31:29.460 five years, but from time to time. Wonderful. 00:31:29.700 --> 00:31:34.859 Well, that's very special. Do you have any technical 00:31:34.859 --> 00:31:39.460 struggles at the piano? Yeah, many, many, many 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:43.400 of them. But one that I think will always be... 00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:46.319 beyond me for reasons that are non -negotiable 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:51.880 would be very large intervals. I don't have Richter 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:54.900 size hands so you know anything that goes beyond 00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:58.579 white key to white key tenths I can do for instance 00:31:58.579 --> 00:32:02.799 C to E but that's at the very edge of what I'm 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:06.180 able to do and if you're looking at certain pieces 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:08.640 where you have intervals of that width that are 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:11.759 filled in with notes in between and at speed 00:32:12.410 --> 00:32:15.349 that can sometimes be done but it's it's it's 00:32:15.349 --> 00:32:18.890 quite tricky i cannot go beyond so i can't do 00:32:18.890 --> 00:32:22.990 tense like a flat to c f sharp to a sharp d to 00:32:22.990 --> 00:32:26.750 f sharp and that does put certain works some 00:32:26.750 --> 00:32:29.930 composers off limits now there are many many 00:32:29.930 --> 00:32:34.950 tricks that you can do uh that will help you 00:32:34.950 --> 00:32:38.190 to create the illusion of hitting those at once. 00:32:38.230 --> 00:32:39.869 I'm not just talking redistribution. Obviously, 00:32:39.890 --> 00:32:41.829 if you can bring in one hand to help the other, 00:32:41.910 --> 00:32:45.609 that's the problem solved. But, for instance, 00:32:45.670 --> 00:32:48.230 when you're playing composers like Talberg, who 00:32:48.230 --> 00:32:51.490 had enormous hands, and his works, including 00:32:51.490 --> 00:32:56.329 L 'Art Duchamp, are full of these deep, ultra 00:32:56.329 --> 00:33:00.849 -luxurious, you know, tenths, you need to find 00:33:00.849 --> 00:33:04.099 a way to overcome them. And... And listeners 00:33:04.099 --> 00:33:06.579 to my Tolberg who have the score in front of 00:33:06.579 --> 00:33:10.200 them will see the sorts of things that I am attempting 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:14.500 to navigate. It can be done in music that, as 00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:16.319 is the case with many of those transcriptions, 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.740 is slower in tempo, so on and so forth. But the 00:33:19.740 --> 00:33:22.519 moment you encounter that sort of writing in 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:26.819 more physical, more up -tempo passages, I'm out 00:33:26.819 --> 00:33:28.920 of the game. No, you're right, because you haven't 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:32.259 really got the time to roll. a chord, have you, 00:33:32.299 --> 00:33:34.640 if you're playing prestissimo? Absolutely. And 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:37.799 that means, for instance, that some works that 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:42.039 I would otherwise have loved to play, I don't 00:33:42.039 --> 00:33:46.539 think I can execute at a level that I will ever 00:33:46.539 --> 00:33:49.339 be satisfied with. So, for instance, the Liszt 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:52.220 transcription of the Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven 00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:56.480 is not something that I'll be turning to. Oh 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.819 my goodness. Okay, so you've obviously read it 00:33:58.819 --> 00:34:02.369 and thought, uh -uh. Oh yeah, I've read quite 00:34:02.369 --> 00:34:08.469 a lot, all of the nine and many others, but that 00:34:08.469 --> 00:34:11.110 one won't be for me. That's amazing. Are you 00:34:11.110 --> 00:34:13.789 a good sight reader? I'm all right, yeah, I'm 00:34:13.789 --> 00:34:16.489 all right. I would say where my sight reading 00:34:16.489 --> 00:34:21.130 isn't so strong is in open scoring, whether it 00:34:21.130 --> 00:34:23.860 is sight reading from a conductor's score. or 00:34:23.860 --> 00:34:26.820 just you know uh four -part chorales each in 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:29.619 their own stave but where we're looking at music 00:34:29.619 --> 00:34:31.420 you know conventionally written for the piano 00:34:31.420 --> 00:34:33.599 one two or sometimes three staves i'm i'm generally 00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.480 all right yes okay i think i think you know for 00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:40.099 for full orchestral score reading that's where 00:34:40.099 --> 00:34:42.940 if i had gone to conservatory and studied conducting 00:34:42.940 --> 00:34:44.599 for instance that that would have been a huge 00:34:44.599 --> 00:34:47.199 help but i yes i can't pretend to do that at 00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:51.199 sight no i can understand that What would be 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:53.900 your advice to an amateur pianist about how to 00:34:53.900 --> 00:35:01.480 improve? The answer starts almost always by listening 00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:06.820 back to yourself. Listen back to yourself. Quite 00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:15.460 a lot of the time, you will find that what you 00:35:15.460 --> 00:35:17.760 think you do well might not actually sound as 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:20.769 well as you. think it does and conversely what 00:35:20.769 --> 00:35:22.929 you don't think you do well sounds rather better 00:35:22.929 --> 00:35:28.530 than you imagined it's for amateur pianists in 00:35:28.530 --> 00:35:31.050 particular and and i speak as one myself you 00:35:31.050 --> 00:35:33.949 know you will decide for yourself what you think 00:35:33.949 --> 00:35:38.250 are your priorities what are the aspects of pianism 00:35:38.250 --> 00:35:42.809 of piano playing that you love most if what makes 00:35:42.809 --> 00:35:46.329 your heart sing is beautiful tone production 00:35:46.329 --> 00:35:50.909 then again listening back to yourself play both 00:35:50.909 --> 00:35:53.449 in the moment but record yourself as well these 00:35:53.449 --> 00:35:55.389 days with an iphone it's it's easier than ever 00:35:55.389 --> 00:35:57.489 to stick something on and hear what you've done 00:35:57.489 --> 00:36:00.449 uh and that is that is where you will really 00:36:00.449 --> 00:36:04.949 know what to uh what what you need to do very 00:36:04.949 --> 00:36:09.429 wise words my next question um slightly different 00:36:09.429 --> 00:36:11.550 for you because you already do have another career 00:36:11.550 --> 00:36:14.710 but it is if you weren't a pianist what would 00:36:14.710 --> 00:36:19.619 you be well Yeah, I guess I have to say I would 00:36:19.619 --> 00:36:22.719 be a barrister, a self -employed barrister. Self 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:24.800 -employment bit is important, but a self -employed 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:28.219 barrister playing the piano on the side. Okay, 00:36:28.340 --> 00:36:32.300 that was a good one. Finally, one composer you're 00:36:32.300 --> 00:36:36.800 not quite ready to tackle. Oh, that's interesting. 00:36:37.099 --> 00:36:39.940 Do you mean musically or specifically as a pianist? 00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:42.500 As a pianist, I would have thought, yeah. As 00:36:42.500 --> 00:36:50.349 a pianist. Interesting. Well, that's really putting 00:36:50.349 --> 00:36:53.289 me on the spot because there are so many composers 00:36:53.289 --> 00:37:01.929 whose works I just adore. But as a pianist, one 00:37:01.929 --> 00:37:07.670 composer I'm not quite ready to tackle. It could 00:37:07.670 --> 00:37:10.670 be you don't have an affinity, you... I don't 00:37:10.670 --> 00:37:15.739 know. It's really quite... It's fascinating. 00:37:15.900 --> 00:37:18.940 I by no means love everything that everybody 00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:24.159 wrote. But the flip side of that is that I find 00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:28.960 so much to admire in some parts. You know, there's 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.519 almost always something I love. There's almost 00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:34.739 always a weakness, works that I do adore, I will 00:37:34.739 --> 00:37:37.820 fight for, I will give you, even if it's not 00:37:37.820 --> 00:37:41.360 those of the usual suspects. Well, you don't 00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:44.480 have to answer. I mean, let me talk from the 00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:48.679 musical perspective, because there is an easier 00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:50.840 example, I think, that might communicate what 00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:53.719 I mean by a lot of this. So, for instance, a 00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:55.880 composer I'm not quite ready to tackle as a listener 00:37:55.880 --> 00:38:00.340 would be, for instance, Bruckner. I haven't yet 00:38:00.340 --> 00:38:04.559 had my moment with Bruckner. I know that the 00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:07.460 music is great. I know there is so much joy and 00:38:07.460 --> 00:38:10.050 satisfaction and beauty to be found there. I 00:38:10.050 --> 00:38:11.730 haven't crapped it myself. I've given it a go. 00:38:11.769 --> 00:38:15.630 I've given it a few goes. But it is not yet music 00:38:15.630 --> 00:38:19.829 that has struck home to me. I know that it will. 00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:21.809 I absolutely know that it will. And the other 00:38:21.809 --> 00:38:23.510 thing is that I'm in no hurry. You know, life 00:38:23.510 --> 00:38:27.349 is, well, life is short. But we don't have to 00:38:27.349 --> 00:38:30.829 rush out there and consume everything all at 00:38:30.829 --> 00:38:34.849 once now. And I'm ready to wait and to bide my 00:38:34.849 --> 00:38:39.340 time. I'm ready to wait and bide my time. yeah 00:38:39.340 --> 00:38:42.340 fair enough yeah i think that's a fair answer 00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:47.380 that's fine maybe then okay i can i can thinking 00:38:47.380 --> 00:38:49.920 about that go back to one composer i'm not quite 00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:52.559 ready to tackle from the pianistic perspective 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:59.000 it's not because i don't love the music it is 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:04.579 more because i find the music difficult to play 00:39:04.579 --> 00:39:12.219 in a way that i would find interpretatively satisfying 00:39:12.219 --> 00:39:16.719 in the long run. Interpretations that would withstand 00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:21.440 multiple, multiple listenings. And that is quite 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:25.300 a lot of Schumann. I mean, I adore the music. 00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:28.639 I mentioned earlier that, for instance, Volodos 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:30.260 is playing David's Gondola Dancer this evening, 00:39:30.340 --> 00:39:32.980 and that is absolutely one of the works that's 00:39:32.980 --> 00:39:35.579 closest and so dear to my heart. But so many 00:39:35.579 --> 00:39:39.000 of the works of his that I... admire they are 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:43.280 so overwrought with intensity and passion and 00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:45.960 that's part of what makes them so fun and yet 00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:52.780 navigating that world that emotional world not 00:39:52.780 --> 00:39:56.760 just not just giving up to it submitting to it 00:39:56.760 --> 00:40:00.840 in the moment and uh letting all of those extremities 00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:05.340 uh fly off the keyboard but harnessing those 00:40:05.340 --> 00:40:08.159 into something that, as I say, will withstand 00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:11.000 repeated listening, which is what you have to 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:17.820 do, I think, as a performer these days. It's 00:40:17.820 --> 00:40:23.659 a very difficult balance to strike. Yes, I understand 00:40:23.659 --> 00:40:25.679 that. And again, I'm not saying never. I very 00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:27.519 much hope that one day I'll turn to so many of 00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:29.960 these works that I love. But it's something that 00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:33.760 at the moment I would... I confess I would feel 00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:37.820 very intimidated to take on properly. I understand. 00:40:38.059 --> 00:40:40.699 Yeah. Well, listen, we've come to the end and 00:40:40.699 --> 00:40:43.260 we've got some Schumann for you to get to enjoy 00:40:43.260 --> 00:40:45.500 tonight, haven't we, with Volodos? Maybe he'll 00:40:45.500 --> 00:40:48.400 change your mind. Oh, well, if I could play it 00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:52.179 like he does then. Oh, well, Paul, it's been 00:40:52.179 --> 00:40:54.679 a real pleasure having you on the podcast today. 00:40:55.139 --> 00:40:56.940 It's been a joy to chat with you. Thank you so 00:40:56.940 --> 00:40:59.199 much for having me. Oh, I'm sure listeners will 00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:01.239 have taken away a lot of interesting info from 00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:05.840 you. So thank you again. And I look forward to 00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:07.820 speaking to you and listening to you in the future. 00:41:07.880 --> 00:41:10.380 Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much, Erica. 00:41:10.699 --> 00:41:46.949 Bye -bye. Bye -bye. That was the scherzo from 00:41:46.949 --> 00:41:50.849 Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, and 00:41:50.849 --> 00:41:54.469 it was performed by Paul Wee. Pianist podcasts 00:41:54.469 --> 00:41:56.949 are free, and a really good way to support what 00:41:56.949 --> 00:42:00.489 we do is by subscribing to Pianist. 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