From the age of three, when he first started playing his neighbour’s modest piano on the east London estate where he was raised, John Lill has felt a deep connection with the works of Beethoven and Brahms.
His initial passion for their music propelled John towards a career in which he would ultimately be hailed as one of the UK’s most successful pianists of all time. He has performed with the world’s most prestigious symphony orchestras across 50 countries and, deservedly, won numerous accolades – the most famous among them being the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition, which he claimed in 1970.
As he approaches his 70th year, John is being prompted by friends, colleagues and fans to take pause and reflect on his career. And as the audience at tonight’s celebratory concert at Aberdeen’s Music Hall will learn, the 18th and 19th-century composers who sparked his passion for the art form have been constant companions through the decades.
In an ode to them, he will perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 alongside the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO).
“Brahms created such wonderfully romantic music with a strong discipline,” John said.
“I learned the concerto when I was very young and couldn’t believe that music could be so powerful. It really lifted me off my feet. If I had to choose one concerto as my favourite of all time, it would be this one.”
Beethoven, too, proved inspirational to the budding virtuoso at an early formative stage.
“His work is so different and dramatic, and he was such a strength during my early years. We were very poor and life was not easy, and he was a great support, like a security blanket. His music has such a structure to it, and I never get tired of it,” he said.
John’s passion for music, which he has often described in near spiritual terms, has underlined each of the 5,000 concerts he has performed. And while he has at times felt transported by the music, he has held tightly to the responsibilities of his job.
“I have become a channel, a vehicle for interpreting the black and white notes into something that is good for the receiver,” he said.
“And that’s because a performance involves three people: the creator of the music, the re-creator, meaning the musician, and the receiver, meaning the public. For a performance to work, you really need all three,” he said.
This explains why he has never been too keen on recording his work. Without the input of the audience, the composer’s music and musician’s performance can seem “predictable and dull”.
He also firmly believes that it is his job to remain strictly faithful to the work he performs.
“It should be the original inspiration which grabs you,” he said.
“And if you can transpose it with minimal distortion, then your job is done. Once you start interpreting with a capital ‘I’, then you start veering away from your responsibilities.”
While this might sound somewhat restrictive and stern, John is anything but. Hearing him talk about his career is like listening to beautiful poetry. He exudes such warmth when engaged in conversation on music, the last thing he would want is for people to think it is a completely serious business.
From botched radio recitals to a concert-hall ceiling literally collapsing on him while he played, his career has been filled with interesting moments. And he considers them as equally important threads in the tapestry of his career as he does his many prize-winning performances.
But he is ever mindful of being too effusive and abstract in the way he describes his art, for fear of appearing strange.
“I’ve learned to hold my tongue, as the press have sensationalised it in the past and made me sound like a nutter,” he said, laughing.
But when put in simple terms, it’s perfectly understandable that a pianist of such talent would feel a deep-seated connection to his art.
He said: “It’s impossible to describe, as all intangible things are. For example, could you describe the colour blue purely in words?”
But connecting to your work on such a fundamental level, as he has with the music of Brahms and Beethoven, doesn’t come easy. It needs to be worked at, and this ongoing quest is arguably what has driven John – and continues to drive him – throughout his career.
“There’s no denying that you have to work very hard to raise your standard to make contact with something that leads to the infinite. We call it inspiration or the spirit. But you have to do your best to get there. You just have to grasp that energy which is available to all people.”
See what I mean? Like listening to beautiful poetry.
John Lill will celebrate his 70th year with a concert alongside the RSNO at the Music Hall, Aberdeen, tonight at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from www.aberdeen performingarts.com or by calling 01224 641122.