Paul Lewis

Everything comes to those who wait - so at last we'll finally get to hear the Australian pianist Paul Lewis in deSingel. Lewis has built up a strong reputation as an interpreter of Beethoven's works. His CD of Beethoven sonatas received generous praise from the international music press, who unanimously agreed that it should be the latest recording used as a point of reference. Paul Lewis possesses an unparalleled feeling for form and balance. For him structure takes precedence over the urge to create an immediate impact with splashy effects. But Lewis never appears cool or calculated. By using a well thought out structure, he succeeds in creating enormously powerful emotional tensions. After his Beethoven escapade, Lewis returns to his old flames Mozart and Schubert. A lesser known fact is Lewis' enthusiastic support of new music. He enjoys programming old and new music cheek by jowl to expose their unexpected links. Thus Ligeti can suddenly be at home with the more classical repertoire and alternatively the conflict in Ligeti draws out the modernity of Schubert or Mozart. It's as if you were hearing everything anew.