208: Pianist Hanni Lang

Hello

Grab a pillow and lay down. Drift off. Allow yourself to dream.

Such overt direction wouldn't normally feature in a Thoroughly Good Podcast introduction, but its fitting for this one with pianist Hanni Liang who, ever the experimenter with concert formats, tests out an element of her forthcoming Edinburgh Festival appearance on me in a bit of a podcast first.

Liang combines a performance of Debussy Reverie with audience-led improvisation at The Hub as part of Edinburgh International Festival this year, inviting people to share their dreams so that she can improvise on the ideas that emerge from it. She does the same here with me.

It's only really since recording this that I've come to understand what my recurring dream really is about - in its simplest terms its to do with the panic of time running out. And now, having understood that, it is phenomenally disappointing to realise I've been having this same dream for as long as I can remember.

Even so, I've not had it since recording this episode. There is then a therapeutic impact to Hanni's work. More than that, Hanni's candid reflections on the experience of improvisation isn't that far from a theme stitched through recent episodes - leadership qualities, and specifically in this case, the need for and the experience of vulnerability.