This week I went to Kings Place, the new concert venue in Kings Cross (it shares a building with The Guardian), to watch the pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier give a masterclass in Beethoven sonatas to a couple of conservatoire students.
It was fascinating. Pommier is comfortably plump, avuncular, and witty. He speaks excellent English with a pronounced French accent. He spent a few minutes asking each student about her (both were female) life, where she was from, when she first started to learn, how many hours she practices, where she studies, and so on. In part this was to put her at ease, but he seemed to be probing for more too, as if making a quick diagnosis of the person's musical soul.
After listening to them play, he spent much time getting the students to think more rhythmically, to listen to a silent metronome, and then - only then - to move around inside the beat according to the music. He encouraged them to let their feelings about the music sing out to the audience; the key difference between the technically proficient player and the concert performer being the ability to communicate emotion. Both students were, as you'd expect, masters of the keyboard. But you only had to hear Pommier play the shortest of passages himself to understand the difference between that and a master of music.
(The video above shows Pommier picking out the right Steinway pianos for the hall. KP is clearly well-endowed with funds because they decided to buy six of the best rather than one Steinway for the main performances and a few lesser beasts for the others, which is what most venues have to do.)
