Just for you to understand what I am talking about if you don’t, I let you watch the 2 videos I chose to illustrate today’s topic. I had to choose these 2 pianists of course : THE showman versus THE ascetic. Keep in mind that the point is not to compare interpretations but to analyze two very different styles and their aesthetical implications in a non-judgmental manner.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Debussy: les collines d'Anacapri

Lang Lang, Debussy: les collines d'Anacapri

Something really weird happened while I was watching all these Lang Lang’s videos: I was so fascinated by his gestures and faces that I forgot there was something to listen to. In fact I focused on visual aspects of his playing, so I had to hide the video to really listen to his interpretation. So, back to the video: he is moving a lot and my old man would definitely appreciate this, seeing him as a “really passionate pianist”. But what I see is that Lang Lang is drawing attention of the audience on himself and not on the music he plays. He seems to show off his bright technique as much as he can even in this prelude.

With Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli we’re in an other world. Nothing superfluous with him, but what a sound, what a subtle interpretation : nothing more than the music needs. In this video, nothing to see, and I was so focused on the sound that I got kind of hypnotized : I had my eyes wide opened but I was not watching anything, just listening to him. If you know a little about Michelangeli, you certainly know this economy of gesture and visual sobriety was something he had worked on and thought about. In fact, he wanted to disappear behind the music he was playing. That’s why he used to politely bow from behind the piano.

As it should be obvious by now, visual aspects of piano playing have a huge impact on the listener, but can also define how the performer defines himself aesthetically speaking. In both cases, the pianist’s body expresses his approach of piano playing and music: one in the role of the spectacular star, one in the role of the craftsman. I won’t go further in this explanation, you got the picture which could be summed up by this new idiom: show me how you play, I’ll tell you what kind of musician you are.

I hear you now loudly complaining “But what’s his point?”. My point is that the old man’s question was much deeper than he thought. In fact he asked me to modify visual aspects of my playing, and thus to re-define who I am as a performer.

I feel much closer to Michelangeli than Lang. I am a craftsman: music comes first. No need to show off, no need to draw attention on me while on stage. Move to produce the sound, nothing more. You don’t need more to serve the composer and his music. And what is more important for a musician than this? So, no, I won’t move a little more, Sir. Music is the art of sound and silence, and I deeply believe music is self-sufficient to express emotions. If sound and silence are not enough to tell others our musical emotion, something may be wrong in our playing or in our understanding of what music truly is.

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After the first listening, I felt an irresistible attraction to Brahms’ chamber music, which led me to the piano works of the famous bearded. I have never played much Brahms but I like to listen to his music. Aimez-vous Brahms? Yes, and I also hated him before I listened to Richter and Oistrakh.

I hope, if you do not know this version and you do not like Brahms, that Oistrakh and Richter will change your mind!

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You can find much more live recordings at http://www.recitals.alexeisultanov.ru

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Many thanks to Ionarts for the transcription into English:

Poème symphonique was composed by György Ligeti in 1962. We are presenting this work this evening. The concert, which we went to record in Rome, was presented by an orchestra of 100 performers. This rebroadcast is a television premiere. At the end of the concert, we will offer a brief explanation, but first listen and watch. The concert begins in one minute.

[the piece is performed]

Since its world premiere in the Netherlands in 1963, Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes has been very rarely performed in public. The complicated scenographic staging, the detailed preparation by hand, the need for around ten technicians to activate more or less simultaneously the 100 metronomes, makes the demand for performances limited. Thirty-two years after the premiere, the sculptor and installation artist Gilles Lacombe heard a recording of the work. Impressed, he decided to invent a machine able to perform the piece automatically. After six months, he set up this ingenious device. Ever since, Poème symphonique can be performed accurately, at any time, and in public. Please understand that at its world premiere in 1963, the concert was filmed by Dutch television. On that night, after the final tick-tock of the metronome, there was a heavy silence, followed by booing, screaming, and threats. The concert was never broadcast.

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The Clown Prince of Denmark as he was nicknamed in his adoptive country (the USA), was a very famous entertainer and pianist who amused the American continent. He made a film with Franck Sinatra (in higher and higher) among others, and hosted on NBC from 1946 The Victor Borge Show where he developed many of his concepts, like the Phonetic Punctuation in which he recites a text with its full punctuation, or the Inflationary Language, which consists in incrementing the numbers embedded in words.

Now, I let you enjoy this video, together with Victor Borge, Leonid Hambro and Liszt!

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