When I decided to start this series of interviews I knew that I had to talk to my mentor and friend Hubert Nuss.
The first time I heard Hubert’s music was when a friend of mine gave me his record “The Shimmering Colours Of The Stained Glass”, I guess this might have been sometime in 2003. At first I didn’t know what to make of it and actually cast it aside for a while. I couldn’t grasp what he was doing, I didn’t know what these mysterious chords were that he played, I couldn’t “hear” them – I was puzzled! Quickly, I felt the urge to go back to it and check it out more, seeking a deeper understanding of what I heard on the record. People told me that Hubert Nuss was deeply influenced by Olivier Messiaen, a name I hadn’t heard until that point. So I did my homework and checked some pieces by Messiaen and also some other records that Hubert played on. This led to me completely falling in love with Hubert’s playing (and of course Messiaen’s music, too)! I couldn’t stop listening to him!! Important records for me during this time were of course Hubert’s own records (“The Shimmering Colours Of The Stained Glass” & “The Underwater Poet”) , but also records by Peter Weniger (“Weirdos” & “Tip Tap”) and “Ouvido” by Alexandra Nauditt (with Hubert, Paul Heller & Dietmar Fuhr).
I’ve had the great pleasure of studying with Hubert for a couple of years and he became my mentor and my friend during this time. We’ve spent countless hours listening to music, hanging and playing together and I’ll cherish these memories forever. Without a doubt he had an immense impact on my musical development and his wisdom remains a deep source of inspiration for me to this day.
Also, I’ve been lucky to get Hubert to play on a couple of my records: GLOW, GLOW II & INVESTIGATIONS which of course means a lot to me.
Sharing this particular conversation gives me a great joy, since it displays a Hubert&Pablo-hang in it’s purest form: talking about music, showing each other stuff at the piano and listening to music together. After every time I get to see Hubert I feel inspired – I hope you feel the same way after watching this.
Pablo Held
P.S. – Big thanks to my friend Samuel Gawlowski who put english subtitles to the video so that everyone who’s not fluent in german can still enjoy the interview!
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