Paul Lewis

Admired for his refined musicality and consummate poetry, the British pianist Paul Lewis is best known for his masterly playing of Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert, although his repertoire extends far beyond this. Born in 1972 in Liverpool, he was raised in a nonmusical family, and while his talent bemused his supportive parents, it won him a place at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, where he studied with the Polish pianist Ryszard Bakst. Later, while at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Lewis met Alfred Brendel, who became an important mentor and a valuable sounding board in the early stages of his career. His much-lauded cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas was recorded in a period of intense focus (2005-07) during which Lewis performed almost nothing else. He has also recorded Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, Mussorgsky, and Weber, bringing a consistently engaging commitment to everything he sets down on disc. But perhaps the highlight of Lewis’ ever-growing catalog is Schubert, a thread that runs through his discography. Intensely communicative accounts of the major song cycles with the tenor Mark Padmore (rec. 2008-2010) and a wonderful album of piano duets with Steven Osborne (rec. 2010) are complemented by outstanding renditions of many of the piano sonatas, where his inner calm and concentration lend the music a beautifully spacious lyrical quality.