Piano Blog

There is No Middle of the Road in Art

Great works of art and great performances are never middle of the road.

Some of my favorite performers, like Richter and Argerich, also elicit my most negative reactions. Rudolf Serkin's concerts were incredible or disastrous, but rarely mediocre. Beethoven has a large collection of worthless compositions. So does Mozart.

This is the nature of real art: this is my world and to hell with you if you don't like it. The artist doesn't aim to please but to create -- even if the creation polarizes, offends, or falls apart completely. 

 

Getting to know Scarlatti

I think it was Horowitz who considered Domenico Scarlatti to be the "first Romantic". I find it hard to disagree. Scarlatti's own preface to his "Sonatas" gives us a peak into his own benevolent disposition: 

"…show yourself to be more human than critical, and then your pleasure will increase…Live Happily!" 

It's hard for words to do justice to the beauty and range of emotion found in Scarlatti's music. Many of his pieces are flamboyant and playful, but one of my favorites is this beautiful introspective and tender work played here by Spencer Myer: 

Bach

Bach is a very humbling experience for me. You can play Rachmaninoff and Chopin and everything else that impresses the hell out of people, but you come back to something like 2 part counterpoint and the ground falls out from under you. At least it does for me! But this baroque stuff is good for the fingers at least...and great music. With all the teaching I'm doing, I just hope I have enough time to practice before the recital Friday!

But I did come across this video on youtube; one of the movements of what we are playing. If you know the piece and listen close, it sounds like the harpsichordist isn't too comfy either! Maybe I'm in good company.