<<  -- 11 --  Bill Newman    AFTER ANTAL DORÁTI

'Making a long story short, I changed all my plans, staying in Innsbruck for a whole year to change my technique with the help of this lady. She has my eternal gratitude, straight from the heart, in coming at the right time in my life. What a beautiful sound came out of this new way of playing. It is not possible to explain in so many words, but it can be demonstrated very clearly.

'It has always amazed me how little time young pianists give to producing beauty of sound. In the main, their playing is always fast and loud. Whenever I taught, I used this method with excellent results. The change could be a little taxing, but once mastered you felt an ease and understanding that made you wish to never play any other way.'

To demonstrate, she arched her hand, letting the fingers 'fall' on the notes. I was reminded of this when Dame Moura Lympany, some years back, explained that the strength lies in the shoulders, allowing the arms and wrists to stay entirely relaxed.

Performer Contretemps

'Sound can be taught. If you have a violin player with an ugly tone, you walk out. But a pianist will play hard and loud, and nobody complains. Ugliness does not make sense to me.' Audiences have this crude fascination with technique -- the louder and faster it is, the more marvellous the performer. 'A great pity!' Correspondingly, some possess beauty of touch as well, yet have a monochrome attitude to different repertoire. Everything sounds exactly the same, and does not move me at all. 'So, what is it all about, then?'

'That is why I admire Andras Schiff. He has a wonderful touch and commands a very wide repertoire. He is one of the few that I can tell is working on sound. We talked about this at length. There are some others -- Murray Perahia, Alfred Brendel. Brendel hasn't the kind of touch I am aiming for, but has such wonderful musicality. Then there is the Romanian -- Radu Lupu. They are just some I would pay to go and hear.'

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