Me chatting with the brilliant Stephen Hough. Love that a bunch of the film crew went and bought the Liszt Sonata after shooting this... http://vimeo.com/71639214
James Rhodes (@JRhodesPianist)8/19/13 7:24 AM
Did an interview w Royal College of Psychiatrists rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychi… - relief knowing my answers couldn't put me back in hospital :)
In ‘Notes from Inside’, you mention hearing Bach’s Marcello Adagio as a turning point for you. What is it about this piece and Bach’s music in general that allowed you to find such solace and inspiration?
Bach works on so many levels – he’s mathematically compact, angular, perfectly structured and clearly defined. Everything fits perfectly. And yet within that is one of the most Romantic and visceral composers who ever lived. I love the idea of somehow being able to plumb the depths of our emotional world within a safe and logical framework. I know how pretentious that sounds, but it is remarkable to me that a guy who lost 10 of his 20 kids in infancy or childbirth, was orphaned by the age of 10, lost his wife, most of his siblings and endured a childhood that was unimaginable in its horrors can live well, create thousands of pieces of music that are immortal, universal and infinite whilst keeping his job and holding his shit together. That has to give all of us a bit of hope, doesn’t it?