BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
I’ll be candid with you: I did not predict that an interview with a highly skilled pianist would turn into a conversation about indoor bouldering.
But when I discovered Po Goh leaves the practice room to climb, I had to ask about his experience (if only to learn why, like so many musicians, he is not worried about injuring his hands).
Po is an award-winning pianist in his second year at the Australian National Academy of Music, and his background in indoor bouldering has influenced his music in surprising ways — from relieving irritated nerves to helping him build body awareness.
As he eloquently states, “the body works as a whole” when you’re a performer (a health and wellbeing topic I’ve been interested in exploring). He will be using his whole body to perform the music of Brahms and Schoenberg in an upcoming concert with his fellow ANAM pianists.
Hi Po! It’s great to catch up with you ahead of Brahms the Progressive — you have a substantial role in this concert program. But I’d first like to ask you about something intriguing: you do indoor bouldering?
Hi Stephanie, thanks for having me! I started indoor bouldering in maybe 2021, following my friends during the intermittent releases from lockdown.
I love how nerdy of a sport it is, and there’s something quite satisfying about reaching the top of a climb, especially one you’ve been working on for a while. I find less time for it these days, but I still scratch the bouldering itch from time to time!
I can’t not ask — are you worried about your piano-playing hands?
Of course, every sport has its risks — and the risks of bouldering definitely cross paths with piano playing.
When I first started, I had my worries. But once I tried it, I actually found that it had a therapeutic effect on irritated nerves that were bothering me at the time.
Nowadays, I just try to be very aware of my body’s current capabilities and work within them. An accident is not really worth it! I see it as a fun way to keep myself moving and not cooped up in a practice room all the time.
I love this idea that you’re balancing various passions in your life. How does an awareness and strengthening of your body help with your piano playing?
Through activities such as bouldering, yoga, Alexander technique, and the guidance of my teacher Timothy Young, I’ve realised that the body works as a whole — and awareness of how you’re using your whole body is essential for being in control of your sound at the piano.
I’ve also learnt that when you’re climbing, it’s important to be really efficient with your moves so that you can conserve your strength. Every extra movement might cost you being able to get to the top. In my piano practice, I find myself in a similar mindset, looking for the most efficient path to get to the next note, and this helps me find playing that is both more elegant and more precise.
I’m going to provide a shameless pun as we move further into the topic of piano: how have you been scaling the heights of the Schoenberg Suite you’ll soon perform on this program?
I was struck by Schoenberg’s Suite Op.25 at first listening. His mad approach to rhythm seemed so fun. Parodying the form of the baroque suite, he takes the identity of each dance type — gavotte, minuet — and by playing with accentuation, phrasing and articulation, he constantly subverts any sense of stable metre. I think a successful interpretation gives life to all the detail in the quirky rhythms, whilst somehow hinting the dance qualities that it pays homage to.
This is also one of Schoenberg’s first works where throughout, he employs his 12-tone technique of composition, in which every chromatic note is treated equally, and this language makes it quite uncomfortable to learn. There’s very little that sounds or feels familiar — no major triads, scales, arpeggios; it almost feels like learning to walk again. I like to think of it like a choreography that I have to step through over and over to find the flow. I can’t dance, which makes the analogy stronger, I think.
From the outset, it may seem like Schoenberg and Brahms are like, well, bouldering and piano playing! But despite their vast differences, they do share an intimate connection as Schoenberg was a fan and even orchestrated some of Brahms’ music. How do you feel about the way these two composers are linked through this program?
The juxtaposition of the two composers also puzzled me at first, but I think Schoenberg was, at heart, a romantic, and looked up to his Romantic predecessors Brahms, Wagner, and Mahler. One just has to listen to his early work for string sextet Verklärte Nacht to hear this.
The music he would go on to write later has the same soul, I think, but it’s written in a different language. You could imagine you’re watching a foreign movie with no subtitles — it’s harder to understand exactly what’s going on, but you can feel the story and emotion through all the other elements.
You’re also performing five of Brahms’ waltzes, but there are 16 in total. How have you been preparing to share this suite with your fellow performers?
The waltzes are for piano four-hands, and in pairs we listen to each other perform the waltzes and give each other feedback.
The artistic director of ANAM, Paavali Jumppanen, has also been there to guide us along. In this process, we both give and glean ideas from our peers, which we can then apply in our individual rehearsal time.
I think we’re all aiming for diversity of character and exciting contrast — each waltz having its own nuance, within a Brahmsian soundworld, that is unified between the six of us.
You’ve been doing a lot of learning with Timothy Young. What are some of the key lessons you’ve picked up ahead of this performance?
Timothy Young has been on leave this semester, but the lessons I’ve learnt the past one-and-a-half years have definitely stayed with me as we’ve been receiving guidance from other teachers.
Besides helping me to play in a more sustainable way that hopefully prevents future injury, something that I try to take to every practice session is the mindset of being faithful to the score. The answers are always in the score — one just has to be honest and diligent, and the music will come out.
Any final words you’d like to share about the program?
It’s a program of both more- and less-accessible music, and I think audiences don’t need to feel pressured to enjoy it, but I hope everyone will go along with the musical journey and find themselves immersed in the worlds of Brahms and Schoenberg.
We’re all very excited to share this program!
Before you go, what boulder will you be climbing next?
The musical boulder I’m climbing next is Visions de l’Amen by Olivier Messiaen, which I’m performing with my colleague Matthew Garvie on November 14.
As for real boulders, I think I’ll stick to the indoor walls!
Hear Po Goh perform alongside fellow ANAM pianists in Brahms the Progressive, 7pm October 11 in Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent.
Image supplied.
