First of all, let me start with a quote from pianist Claudio Arrau: “We frustrate ourselves constantly. Out of fear — fear of failure and, strange as it may seem, fear of success as well — we artists suddenly fall sick before major appearances. We create frightful emotional upsets (…). Singers suddenly become hoarse, can’t make their high notes (…). Instrumentalists suddenly lose the use of some fingers or suddenly can’t play the simplest (or the most difficult) passages. Or out of competitiveness and the wish for almightiness, as it were, the least sign of imperfection can cause one to give up in the middle of an otherwise fine performance. Worst of all, the struggle may suddenly lose all meaning, and the artist, lost in a terrible maze of conflict and despair, may give up performing altogether.

At the end of his career, Sviatoslav Richter liked to play in the dark with just a little lighting so he could see the keyboard. He disappeared thus in the concert hall’s shadow. But why concerts in the dark? Playing in the dark increases the concentration of the audience and allows to focus on the essential: music.

I wish you all Happy Holidays… and see you next year!

The municipality of Trois-Rivières in Québec has found a strange way to secure the local underground parking. The authorities have indeed installed headspeakers, playing around the clock classical music in the stairwells of this big parking lot.

These days, at the height of a world financial crisis, everything seems to be all about one thing: stock exchange variations or bank crashes. For a long time already, the force and quality of things are measured in economic values. Even art, though previous to speculation…

No one can deny it, today, a pianist’s career requires other skills than just playing the piano. After our studies, we often realize that we haven’t been awakened to the reality of our profession. Indeed, once the conservatory is over, we are confronted to stewardship problems. Most of the time, not enough supported, we must manage everything by ourselves: solicit concerts organizers, manage press relations, deal contracts…

In a previous post I talked about concert halls in Prague. I insisted on the necessity of building a modern infrastructure in the Czech capital city. Well, this modern infrastructure won’t be built in Prague, but in the South Bohemian main city of České Budějovice (95000 inhabitants).

Today, two quotes from the famous Italian Pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Today, I’m interrogating myself: I have often been told by young (and also old) musicians and composers: “It is necessary to please the public and play for him”, or from the composer’s point of view: “it is necessary to write the music the public wishes to listen”.

Lutoslawski, Xenakis, Britten, Carter, Penderecki, Kurtág, Lindberg, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Murail, don’t all these names say anything to you? You surely don’t listen to music known as “contemporary”. “Contemporary” even if it’s quite obvious that any music was one day contemporary.