"There are many prized recordings of the Beethoven sonatas from past masters and current artists. But if I had to recommend a single complete set, I would suggest Mr. Lewis’s distinguished recordings."

- Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

 

"One of the most highly prized recording marathons of recent years... An unmissable benchmark."

- Gramophone

 

 

With no piano lessons on offer at school and only John Denver records at home, it was against the odds that Paul Lewis rose to become our finest young pianist. He tells Ivan Hewett how it happened.

 

There are some fine pianists who seem fated to become musicians. They grew up in musical households, they were taken to concerts, they were sat down at the piano and taught the value of practice and self-discipline before their feet could barely touch the pedals. Paul Lewis was emphatically not one of these.

 

In 2010, he’s reckoned to be perhaps the finest among Britain’s younger pianists, with a string of prizes to his name, and a recent complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas that’s been praised worldwide.

 

 

Paul Lewis is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation.

 

His cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide, and consolidated his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire.

 

His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D'or de l'Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. He holds honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill, and Southampton Universities, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours.

 

 

Highlights from the 2017/18 season sees the start of a two year recital series, exploring connections between the sonatas of Haydn, the late piano works of Brahms, and Beethoven's Bagatelles and Diabelli Variations, as well as appearances with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra Mozart di Bologna, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

 

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. He is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK, and the Leeds International Piano Competition.

 

 

Program
Beethoven - Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119
Haydn - Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. XVI: 49, L.59

- Intermission -

Haydn - Piano Sonata in B minor, Hob XVI: 32
Brahms - Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119