Pianists to provoke debate
Bold new musical ideas are exciting – but are they true to Chopin?
Emma Baker 1:55pm GMT 13th October 2010
At last, we have a competitor to argue about! Piano pundits have been buzzing about the 26-year-old Bulgarian Evgeni Bozhanov (mentioned in yesterday’s blog). He seems to have become the Competition’s Marmite pianist, polarising opinions with his memorable and individual performance in the second stage. His fans think he’s fabulous – original, bold, commanding, imaginative, technically superb; his detractors think he's not true to Chopin and his big, virtuoso gestures swamp the music's message.
At the heart of this debate is that fundamental question – how do you serve the composer’s intention while imbuing the music with an individual, personal interpretation? This might seem obvious, something that comes naturally to the greatest performers, but hearing less established musicians playing back-to-back over many days in a competition setting highlights just what a fine line there is between original thought and parody. It seems to be particularly apparent in the case of Chopin, whose music is so specific about detail in the score yet somehow still so elusive to capture in performance.
Personally, I found Bozhanov exciting and impressive but a little flashy, especially in the context of the Austrian Ingolf Wunder's performance this morning. I had heard great things about him, and I wasn't disappointed; in fact, I was spellbound. His playing perfectly balanced stylish, aristocratic restraint with surging power and passion – Chopin to a T. The fact that he studies with Adam Harasiewicz can't have done any harm, either. Out of those I've heard so far, Wunder is the one I'd put my money on. I very much hope he makes it though tonight's vote.
Comments
We do not have Chopin's playing to use as a reference. Since his time, pianists have fattened the rubato to excess, and then some use less. As we are into the 21st century, we have so many books about Chopin, editions, recordings. I believe we can accept the fact that pianists play Chopin's music differently from each other, and audiences vary very much. For me, and from my teachers' lessons (Adele Marcus was a protege of Josef Lhevinne), the main objectives in playing Chopin's music is to strive for the vocal line (Chopin made his students study voice, after all), to have moments of bliss, beauty, alternating with intensity (notice I didn't say tension), virtuosity (to serve the music, please!) and temperament--serving the music only. External physical effects are probably not necessary, and don't add to the sound that is drawn from the instrument. The fine line of physical gesture and great playing should be an even compromise. Anything above that is probably unnecessary and detracts from the overall performance, in my opinion. It is like a decent steak that needs alot of sauce to cover up for what the steak doesn't have. All an opinion.