Pianist Paul Lewis Photo: Copyright: Kaupo Kikkas
English pianist Paul Lewis is in New Zealand performing all five of Beethoven's Piano Concertos with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
He talks with Bryan Crump about discovering classical music as a child through the LP collection at his local library, and the importance of experiencing live music in person.
"One thing I realised in the [Covid] pandemic was we can always talk about how people need music and [how] it keeps us in touch with things that are important."
"But the pandemic made me realise that music needs people. Because without that, what is it really?"
"And the experience of music is in the concert hall. We can all listen through speakers, we can listen to recordings, and that's wonderful, but how we listen to music is very different in the flesh."
"The experience of being there when someone's actually doing it in front of you - there's nothing that replaces that, it's unique. And that's the experience that stays with you."
