Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Anyone here ever stop raising the bar for a minute?

You were allowed to take sets.

Tell me about it. G# minor, B flat minor, E flat major, D minor...frightening difficulties.

If you were only allowed the music of one composer, would it be Chopin?

....G major!....


No contest whatsoever.

BTW, for the "1 piece" or "1 set" question, I could just as happily take the Well Tempered Clavier. Which I'm sure would seem like a saner choice to most people.

Well, as Horowitz said (and we all know that quote) "Perfection itself is imperfection".

But you would take Chopin's oeuvre over Bach or Beethoven?

Would the set of 32 sonatas of beethoven count? XD

I could be happy with a set of Chopin Etudes...
Or Preludes.
Or Ballades.

I think I'd have to take the Ballades over the Preludes, but the 32 Beethoven sonatas would be my #1 choice.

Yes, I suppose. Op. 52 alone satisfies almost every single emotion.

Yes, but just for a minute.

That's all you need.

I would take the Beethoven first, then ballades, then études, then preludes... Though to be honest, I'm not very familiar with the preludes.

I think the last ballade wins for me.

no i haven't had this question and yes it is a curious one.

A sign of a truly great pianist is one who can perform the easiest, most overplayed piece and make it worth hearing again...um...I never try to raise the bar But then, I don't need to... ?
Xxx

I often do this. But not for enjoyment--it's still a means to improve.

In a much harder piece, just getting the notes under the fingers is a long process, and there are lots of big leaps or unusual situations to resolve.

In an easier piece, I can instantly concentrate on relaxed playing, expression and tempo.

In this exact vein, my teacher and I started Schumann's Album fur die Jugend--playing the early pieces with exactly the kinds of approach/technique I've been (re)learning this year has been a great way to reinforce those changes she's made. I'm actually quite enjoying it. And I can see the progress. What's interesting is that my ability to simply identify the notes and play them has not really improved. Learning music as a child ensured that I read music fairly fluently, but my technique when jumping into something novel that is easy to play and read at speed has gotten better. It just sounds more mature. It's hard to see that when you are plonking your way through a harder, new piece. And even after you're putting finishing touches on something, it often feels so labored and over-contemplated, especially when you still have to think about so many things, like I do. It's nice to discover that my baseline playing has improved as well. Many things I had to specifically train into my hands are now second-nature.

It's like I was stuck in a time capsule in which I was rushing through things like a young teen often does, and while I had long since stopped being a immature kid, my playing had largely stagnated there. Which explains why it bothered me so much. My ear went ahead and grew up. My playing didn't. But now it's on its way, and playing easier pieces really helps reinforce those changes.

My teacher, for her part, is fond of the concept that nothing is easy, of course. The notes may be easy, but the technique to play well is difficult to acquire. And while there are plenty of pieces with notes easy enough to let a child murder, playing them well takes a lot of work. Maybe not on the piece itself, but on the skill to play well. Which is why it's patently obvious whether that Fur Elise is being played by a well-trained pianist or some 10 year old with a few years of lessons.

The desert island folks are planning to take a piano, too, I guess?

On the other thread I think we were talking about what we'd choose for listening. (So we still would have had to take..... something.)

BBC Radio 4 has a very long-running series - now in its 72nd year - called Desert Island Discs, in which renowned figures are invited to choose what eight discs (previously LPs, now CDs/downloads) they'd take with them on their desert island. They are also allowed the complete Shakespeare and the Bible, and a luxury item that has no survival potential. Quite a number chose to have a piano.......(obviously ).

And one particular well-known diva chose eight records.....of herself singing. Guess who?
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs