The Natural GABRIELA MONTERO
‘Iwas in the shower just now, listening to what was in my head. I realised that my inner world is not words. It’s always music. It’s almost as though nothing exists except thoughts through music.’
Gabriela Montero is reflecting on the latest twist in her musical life, which has also not been short of a surprise or two in the past. Th is time, it’s a change of focus – brought about not least by the pandemic lockdown – which has turned the pianist, long celebrated for her astonishing improvisations, into a composer. She had already recorded her own Latin Concerto, but now she is preparing her debut publication of a book of solo compositions and it sounds as if there will be much more ahead. ‘Everyone tells me that I’ve been improvising all my life, so essentially I’ve been composing,’ she says, ‘but now it’s become almost an obsession.’
Her compositions start life as improvisations, but can evolve into something completely different as she writes them down: ‘It’s almost as if I’m creating a puzzle. I have to find the right pieces and sometimes I have to adapt what is already there in order for it to fit in. I love that. I never thought I would enjoy it so much. But I’m
