This article attempts to reveal the peculiarities of composer Helmut Lachenmann's conceptual metaphorical interpretation of the piano, defined as 'philosophy of the piano'. The main aspect of this article is to analyse the aesthetic connections between the composer's creative principles and the poetics of Japanese hokku, art ideas of Leonardo da Vinci and philosophical theory of Henri Bergson. In a similar vein, aspects of Lachenmann's music perception that form the performer's "new hearing" and change the paradigm of his empirical perceptions are analysed. Piano sound and performance art are approached from the viewpoint of reflecting the phenomenon of "vitality", which is understood as a category of inclusion of perception in the context of a work of art. Taking Bergson's ideas as the base, Lachenman's concepts of "performing gesture" and "structural sound" are discussed. In the images of the compositions, the texture of the works is linked with the symbolism of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings and texts. In the composer's piano music, the principles of the relationship with the performer as an aural artist who brings musical ideas to life in a new context are revealed. On the example of the piece "Echo Andante", a hypothesis is expressed about the composer's comprehension of the illusiveness of the piano legato, which served as a stimulus for the composer's search for changes in the sound life of works. In the work "SerYnade" the author investigates the methods of work with the latent polyphony. The notions of "overtone dynamics", "textural sfumato" were introduced into academic usage for the first time.
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