Is the most famous classical music so familiar, so often performed, that it's worn out? I've listened to Beethoven's "Appassionata" so frequently that it's rather difficult for me to hear the music, to accurately sense the real sound patterns being made on a particular occasion. (The mind slips into a "this-is-how-it-goes" mode that dulls perception.) Are icons like the Fifth Symphony or the opening of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana being used up as … [Read more...]
Art is long
Long notes are more important than short notes. Pianists often get confused. Because we don't hold out long-duration tones with bow or breath, it's easy to underestimate their significance. Virtuoso pianists spend so much time attending to what's difficult in virtuoso pieces that it can seem these difficulties -- often passages of short, quick notes -- really are the most important thing in a piece of music. Frequently, it's the other way … [Read more...]