BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
English classical pianist Paul Lewis discovered music all on his own. As an 8-year-old, he visited a record library each week to explore music that was far from the styles his parents listened to.
“I don’t really remember why I was drawn to classical music in particular. It may have been exactly because there was none at home that I felt curious about it,” Paul says.
Now 43, he’s grown to be named one of the leading musicians of today and is a specialist in European classical repertoire. He’ll perform works by Brahms and Beethoven in Australia and ahead of his concert series he tells us what it was like breaking into the world of classical music without the advantages of a musical family.
Why did you latch onto classical music in particular during your childhood?
I think I was just fascinated by the sheer range of styles and emotional scope within classical music. I clearly remember coming out on a huge high many times after having attended Royal Liverpool Philharmonic concerts when I was a kid. I was aware that other kids at school didn’t share the same fascination, but never really cared about that. I just couldn’t discover music fast enough in those days!
Without musicians in the family, was there any pressure on you to grow up to achieve other things and follow other career paths?
None at all. I came from a very typical working class background. Mum worked for the local council and Dad worked initially on the Liverpool docks until that all changed in the mid-1980s, so there was no expectation that I would continue any kind of ‘tradition’ within the family. The music world was as bewildering to them as it was to me, so they were in no position to offer advice or push me in a particular direction. I was able to work it out for myself which is something I’m grateful for, even though it may have taken a while! Liverpool under the Thatcher government wasn’t exactly a gold mine of job opportunities, so perhaps my parents also felt that music was something which might give me more options later in life.
Your life is full of incredible achievements, having recorded all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas to acclaim and performed them across Europe and the United States. As a kid, what gave you the drive to grow up to be the best you could be at something that was then foreign to you?
I’ve never had a drive to be the best at anything – only to do the best I can, whatever that may be. I’m a fairly obsessive worker and treat each performance as a lesson in itself, as I find there are certain things which can only be revealed in a performance situation. The source of any kind of drive has only ever been related to the music, and if I feel I don’t get close to conveying what I mean in a performance, then I get very cross with myself!
Do you think it’s necessary for good musicians, composers, conductors, to start as young children or can people work their way to success at any time in life?
I think everybody comes into their own at different stages of life, and develops at different paces. I feel there is way too much pressure these days on young children to get ahead in whatever field they operate. Having the ability to play all the Chopin studies at 12 is, of course, astonishing, but has very little connection with the skills one needs to sustain a career over a lifetime, and successfully manage all that surrounds it. I worry that this sort of pressure damages the long-term prospects of some very talented people, and feel that in many cases it impedes their development. We all should be allowed to develop at our own natural pace.
How do you think your life would have been different had you been raised in a musical family?
Impossible to know! It depends what type of musical family. I could have been pushed in a musical direction that my parents felt was appropriate but not necessarily the one I would have chosen. I could have been given a head start in terms of career opportunities, I may have been put off music altogether by insistent, evangelical parents. I could have been given invaluable encouragement and help, or I may have felt the need to go in a totally different direction in the shadow of a high achieving parent – who knows!
Paul Lewis will perform tour Australia as part of Musica Viva until September 12. For more information visit musicaviva.com.au/lewis.
Image supplied.
