‘Beethoven is the music I will play my whole life’

Jan 9 2009 Chester Chronicle

Classical pianist Paul Lewis is used to playing all over the world, but he is one Liverpool talent who was certainly no stranger to his hometown in 2008.

The Huyton-born musician came back to the city to perform a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos throughout the year with the RLPO and conductor Vasily Petrenko.

“Playing at the Phil means a lot,” he says.

“When I first started going to concerts when I was a kid, I would be on a high for days.

“So it is strange and nostalgic to play there. It was a huge part of my musical upbringing.

“It was fantastic to go back there and I really feel that same buzz again.”

Lewis’s acclaimed and award-winning recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas secured his growing reputation as a real international talent.

“I knew I wanted to play my first concerto cycle and it just so happened it seemed to really fit in with 2008 to happen in Liverpool – I was really delighted.

“Beethoven, I feel, is the music I am going to be playing my whole life.

“His music is very human, very emotional and it’s something we can all understand, and that is what draws me to it.

“Every time you come to it, you see something new you’ve never seen before, and that’s what it is for me, the feeling it is never finished, it is always a work in progress.”

Lewis, who left Huyton at 18 to study at London’s Guildhall, teamed up with the RLPO again in the summer for the BBC Proms.

“Even if you do the Proms every year, it is a very special occasion,” he says. “Everyone is really up for it and it has its own specific energy, like no other concert series in the world.”

And he should know. Lewis’s touring schedule takes him all over the planet, to play with the world’s best orchestras.

In 2009, he has dates for the first time with the Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as part of a heavy international schedule, but unfortunately he doesn’t have plans to return to Liverpool this year.

“I’m sure everyone needs a break from me,” he laughs.

But he can be caught at the end of this month at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, where he will turn his hand to Mozart with the BBC concert orchestra on January 24.

Tickets from 0161 907 9000 or www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk