Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Sara Davis Buechner on Mozart

I just had this video come up on my YouTube feed. I really respect Sara as a musician and i enjoyed this short video.

I thought others would as well. I would love to hear opinions on her point of virtuosity in Mozart's time:

What Sara said makes sense to me. Thanks for posting.

I always play Mozart with a perfectly made Martini in my left hand. Shaken, not stirred.

As long as it is a vodka martini. You would not want to bruise the gin.

Vodka Martinis are heresy.

Martinis, cigarettes, and extreme race cars aside, I do agree that examples of movements from Mozart Sonatas such as the one Ms. Buechner cited are indeed examples of virtuosity. A high degree of control, precision and pin-point accuracy of execution are required to successfully pull off a Mozart fast movement.

Moreover, with Mozart, there is nowhere to hide as the writing is absolutely transparent and exposed. If you don't have the virtuosity; it shows!

Regards,

I once spoke to Sara after she moved to Vancouver B.C, very nice lady! At that time I thought she was a Steinway artist and owned one she had brought along from New York. But now saw Yamaha name popping up - quite visible...ahem. Going from "good to better" guess....
Norbert

Thank you Rich!

I really enjoyed Sara's comments in this video. She is absolutely on the money. I am finding as I get older that virtuosity is far more than being able to play Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1 in Eb or a difficult Rachmaninoff Prelude... it is the ability to play a Schubert Impromptu, singing & lyrically, and as am most recently finding the ability to play Mozart's Rondo in Am, KV.511 with great ease and clarity. Quoting the late Prof. Raymond Hanson "having your pianissimos sound as the fall of the first flake of snowfall touching the ground" and "your legatos be as smooth as spreading peanut butter on a piece of toast" - this is virtuosity!

Speaking of virtuosity and great Yamaha artists, here is the incomparable Maria Joao Pires playing one of the hardest and most lyrical pieces ever written - Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58, live in Japan - on what I believe is a beautiful new Yamaha CFX Concert Grand. This may not be the showiest piece ever written, but only a true virtuoso can perform such a personal work of Beethoven like this with such grace and eloquence:

Mid-First Movement:
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, Op 58　Maria Joao Pires

Opening 2nd Movement

She's clearly a great pianist and great artist, but I do completely disagree with her choice of tempo. I am becoming more and more convinced that Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, and even Chopin and Liszt are being played today at speeds they had never even thought of.

She played that movement faster than I've ever heard it played, perhaps a trifle too fast for my taste. OTOH she was using it as an example of virtuosity in Mozart. It was also interesting how she used finger pedaling in the left hand but not in Alberti bass figurations.

Joe, are you talking about Buechner or Pires?

Buechner

I agree. I actually have heard her play Mozart (and Chopin and Bach and Hindemith) and I have not heard those at raceway tempi in a performance.

Was she illustrating a point? Or had too much coffee? Or made some artistic decisions recently?

I heard her perform a recital for the Gina Bachauer Foundation series a few years ago. She is a very entertaining raconteur, as well as a great pianist!

She has been a Yamaha artist for several decades, but I heard her perform on a Steinway provided by the Steinway dealers who are regular sponsors of the Bachauer Foundation performances.

I see that this video was produced by Hugh Sung. Was it recorded in her home? Or was that her studio/office at Temple?

That was in her studio at Temple. The piano is a C7x Disklavier. She has a Steinway grand at home that she won (could she have won it as a prize for the Bachauer?) as well as a Yamaha N2.

That Steinway probably is from winning first prize in the 1984 Bachauer competition. A grand piano was part of the prize at least into the early 90s.

I remember listening to the final round of the 1988 Bachauer competition live on the radio, with commentary by Buechner—who strongly disagreed with the jury's pick for the gold medal!

Thank you Jason,

I loved the Maria Joao Pires video. She played so beautifully and, as you said, with grace. The piano is definitely a Yamaha CFX, which has been such a game changer for that company. That was the beginning of some tremendous innovation that now bleeds through so much of Yamaha's line. Thank you for posting that video. I saved it so I can easily go to that 2nd movement again.



I don't think she was ever a "Steinway Artist", Norbert. At least that has never come up in my conversations with her, but she does own one - even today. Unfortunately, between city living (in a condo) and her work schedule as a prof. of piano, she is not able to play it very much.




You called it. I believe she still owns that same Steinway, Corvus. Thank you for that info.