<<  -- 14 --  Bill Newman    AFTER ANTAL DORÁTI

How easy is it to switch from one composer to another in the course of a recital? 'I usually try to specialize in a small group of composers' works.'

Technique allied to the singing line

'Working with singers, like Peter Lagger in Schubert's Die WInterreise song cycle, is a wonderful thing. Singing in the piano phrasing is the most important part of a pianist's art. Many students regard the piano as a percussion instrument, and treat it as such. Yet it is just as important in perpetuating the melody and singing line.'

How important is it to acquire a sound technique as a long term process, before deciding how one should interpret the music, or is this something one has to grasp in the first year of learning the instrument? 'Opinions are divided over this. I once talked to Karl-Ulrich Schnabel -- with he and his wife Helen Vogel, I made my first recording of the Mozart 3-Piano Concerto. His wife as a youngster was forced by a teacher (or parent, I forget!) to practise eight to nine hours a day. She did that for ten years, so she does not have to practise any more, he thought.

'I am unable to do that -- the limit was usually three to four hours, even in my busiest period with a large repertoire to maintain. The mechanical part I ignore -- I don't think that is fruitful.

'But opinions differ. He had to practise all his life because he missed the part when he was young by not practising enough, Karl-Ulrich admitted.'

Several pianists tackle the passages in their concert repertoire which they realize they have problems with, rather than constantly limbering up with scales and arpeggios. 'When I was teaching -- and this was never children, but youngsters from seventeen or eighteen years on who came from other teachers -- I was amazed that they were never asked how they practised, or were never taught how they should practise. Many of them just worked on tempo only, no details. What a waste of time!'

Deviations and dangers

You need to know the historical backgrounds very thoroughly. 'Truly.' Many pianists listen to older masters from their gramophone recordings, for comparisons. 'I do that, but never before I have studied the music properly -- mainly to discover my own ideas within the piece. When I have got that far, then I might listen to others for new ideas, but never to copy, of course. It is very dangerous to hear a piece that you don't know and want to learn, performed beforehand by another pianist. Of course, you might hear other artists perform it in concert, but the more you listen, the more it influences your own performance and perhaps ruins the character of your interpretation.'

Continue >>