Last year, I decided to take time away from the music business. I needed to take a step back and breathe, reorganize my work, to work on me and set guidance for the upcoming years: I had to go from the relative liberty allowed by my school work to the total freedom I got in September 2009. This year seemed very short to me and was far from useless, I learned a lot, and I have been pursuing my research, but under my own and only supervision this time.

First of all, I had time to do a background work that was essential: rethinking my piano technique and exploring the repertoire really deeply. I needed to improve a few technical issues which have been embarrassing me for quite a long time, so I decided to work on it seriously. This year was the perfect slot to do this kind of thing: no deadlines and time to work or rework certain pieces. I’ve also been exploring the repertoire, and it was essential to know which path I wanted to follow. Finally, these investigations reinforced in me the idea that I feel particularly close to music of the XX^th and XXI^th centuries, although there are some other composers I love playing but only for myself.

I also discovered something else: I like solitude. Last year, I thought I would suffer from isolation but not all. In fact, far from the hustle and bustle, and far from the permanent “intellectual” disruption, I’ve really stayed focused on my work which is not as easy as it sounds. If I could in the past think that solitude was the soloist’s scourge, I find it essential now. Not that I’m antisocial, but it seems to me that if an artist wants to use his brain for a creative work, the so-called self-discipline – which is nothing but a way of moving away from society – is absolutely essential. Any creative artist who intends to produce a work worthy of interest can not help being a relatively poor social being. (I’m paraphrasing G. Gould, I know it’s a shame I can’t quote him exactly…)

On a personal level, this year has been particularly interesting. I have made a lot of progress, learned a lot about myself, and about my relationship to the piano and music. Professionally, things have changed also. I’ve changed my view on the career as a pianist, but I’ll share this in my next post.