P Festival 2016 Interview:Thomas Lehn (interview from 吳尚芸)
Q1: What does the piano mean to you?
T: A lot in many ways. The experience of many musics and musical practices. The understanding of and deeper insight into music. The exploration of sounds and it’s relations and structures in the soundspace and their progression in time (as interpreter and improviser), not only when performing, but extensively when practicing (a specific aspect of the keyboard instrument is the exploration of harmonic progressions/relations).
Q2: Do you still remember why you choose the piano to start your artistic life? T: I don’t think that as a kid I did a "decision"; it was just happening by the initiative of my parents. But there was a piano in my parents house and my mother had learned piano (as an amateur)
Q3: Does that influence your works so far? T: Yes. Ongoing.
Q4: Have you ever be lost into the mood/ atmosphere/ situation as you perform? T: Mostly I would get lost/disturbed by interfering incoming/passing-by thoughts ;-)
But "mood/ atmosphere/ situation" have of course an influence in a live concert as well.
The space, the acoustic, the audience, the climate/temperature etc., but also the sound and quality of the equipment – all that interferes, supportingly or obstaclingly.
Q5: What kind of a year do you think of this year(2016) ? T: See above under 6.
This applies to everything bad happening today globally and in geo-politics.
Q6: What do you think is the most valuable character of humanity? T: Honesty, friendliness, modesty, simplicity, openess (openmindedness), true curiousity, understanding and compassion against other people; LISTENING! (to yourself inside, to others; and listening as a kind of refinement of all our senses). Deepest respect and humble amazement against nature, the animals, the vegetation, the planet, the space/cosmos, and to all its big unknown (unknowable?) constitutional cause (without feeling the desire to know it, nor the need to believe in anything). Detachement from your own views and the ability to step out of yourself in order to view things from different perspectives.
The worst is being greedy for money and power: It’s the key problem of humantity, and the strongest aspect of the human species, which separates people. And today we probably experience (or approach) a peak level of this tremendously weak (and in its todays worldwide spread and massiveness: almost disgustingly ugly) character of humanity.
The second worse aspect of human weakness is being inclined (or feeling the need) to join a belief system (religions, world views, political systems) and getting by that too deep in a "group-conciousness", with which then being identified too much. Also all this seperates the people.
Q7: Do you think music is a practice/action? And what kind of practice/action do you think music is?
T: I will certainly talk about that in my lecture; but in short: definitely yes! It is the pratice and action to experience yourself in the world of sounds and all it’s thinkable or playable or imaginable constellations (in time and space).
Q8: What's your expectation of your own music?
If I could dare to express such! I can’t have any specific expectation! Individual experience of the same music can me so manifold!
Well, in the best case, I hope, we will wonder and wander in the moves of (or inside of) our minds by listening (in)to soundscapes and music.