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dammit I keep missing this program.
Could you guys remind me next Tuesday or something. In CAPS please.

I totally agree that "wrong notes rule"
They are the only objective way you can judge the musicality . They show that the performer is a human being who learned a piece that he/she liked. As opposed to a Romantic Divinity of Transcental music who is here to provide the world with ARS POETICA MUSICA. TAM TAM TAM TAM, caus' those don't exist. Just in fairy tales.

Just slidin' this puppy to the top! Hope that this helps a few of you. Take care.
Sincerely,
Kenney

I agree with pianoloverus. I don't really buy into this idea of "Wrong notes" being a sign that a pianist is human. It is very possible to play a note perfect performance and still be human and convincing, wrong notes just show how the performer lost concentration or perhaps was too nervous, something which can be controlled. It seems that people just fear perfection, like hearing Pollini play Chopin's etudes or Hamelin- sure, wrong notes are inevitable, but the romantisized notion that they are completely ok is not correct, they are misrepresetations on some level!

Crash-
Tell me you have never been practicing and you just plain hit a wrong note? I don't think that has anything to do with nervousness or whatever, and that type of thing CANNOT be controlled. The fact that you say that people are afraid of perfection is kind of silly. There is no such thing as perfection, and even in a note-perfect performance, there is bound to be some flaw, whether it be pedaling, or interpretation, or phrasing.(and if there isn't, the pianist got lucky). This kind of "perfection" mentality is just why we are cranking out so many young pianists who can play liszt sonata 2 note perfect yet have the emotional and interpretational content of a 10 year old.

Did anybody else listen to the program last night and have it get cut off half-way through because of "technical difficulties"?
I finally get a chance to listen and this has to happen! :rolleyes:

Well put! Accepting wrong notes under some guise of being more human and somehow adding to the performance is just plain silly. No one is saying they prefer an unmusical performance over a note perfect(or as close as is reasonably possible)performance but the obvious goal is a technically accurate AND musical performance. It is perfectly possbile to make mistakes and play unmusically also, but some of the posters seem to imply that making mistakes automatically implies a more musical performance.

Actually I prefer some of Cortot's Chopin to Pollini's Chopin(which I generally dislike) despite Cortot's famous abundance of errors. But I would prefer even more Cortot's interpretation and musicality together with accuracy and it seems inconceivable that he would not agree. Cortot's mistakes in no way add to his performance.And there are, of course, plenty of pianists who have great accuracy and musicality (Perahia is one example).

Selecting a recording with a glaring error(Dubal's choice for the opening of his show)that plays for only a few seconds makes little sense to me.

Bumping a reminder WQXR.com 10pm EASTERN

Thanks. For us in the United States RKVS1 reminder is a worthy one. We celebrated Memorial Day this past Monday, which typically means that workers are given a holiday and don't have to work. So, because of the shortened work-week, today feels like Thursday but it is only Wednesday. Thanks, again RKVS1. Hope that we all enjoy tonight's program. Take care.
Sincerely,
Kenney

Kreisler said:

I keep thinking today (Wed.) is Tuesday, because of Monday's holiday.

I am another who wishes they stored the programs a it is way to late for me to listen to it when it is on. So I have a proposition,

EVERYONE who reads this thread, please go to http://www.WQXR.com , scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Contact Us". Please send them a nice email commenting on your interest in listening to this particular program but how you are unable to for _______ reason and that you think it would be wonderful if they had an online archive of all the past programs so that you could listen to them. You may want to mention WBEZ as a model with their program "This American Life". Their website is http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

I everyone of us does this I'm sure they'll at least start thinking about it. After all, more listeners means more donations!

I am sending my email right now...

Elena
http://www.concertpianist.com

Great idea Elena,
I'll send an email as well.
BTW when(if ever) are you coming to the Philadelphia, D.C., Baltimore area? I would love to hear you play.(and see you )

Hi Elena,

I've just now sent my email to WQXR. Great idea!

And please accept my belated "Welcome" to Pianoworld!

-- Chris

Hi everyone,

Hopefully y'all got to listen to tonight's program (May 28). As usual, I only caught the 2nd half of the program, but here are my impressions.

First up: Chopin's Tarantella, played by Noel Wood. I've never heard this piece before, so I have no point of comparison. Sounded like a good enough performance, but the terrible piano made for an unpleasant experience. Yuck! It really needed tuning or voicing!

Next: The 2nd dance (Book I, No. 2) of Schumann's DavidsBuendlerTaenze. I played this in recital just last year, so this caught my interest (and has made me more opinionated about it ). The first performer was Jerome Rose (Rhodes?). I thought his performance failed to catch the essence of the dance. I think this dance is marked "Innig" (inwardly), and should be played accordingly. Also, it is a dance (though stylized), and so rhythm is important. (Sorry, Mr. Dubal, I disagree with your "dance" opinion here.) Rose played with too much rubato, and it felt like he was "forcing" out the notes. Not at all subtle. But the next performer was Ann Schein, and she gave us a very sensitive, lighter performance that felt nearly perfect!

Then came the "Encores". First one was Rosalyn Turek playing the theme and the Quodlibet of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Both seemed very listenable to me, though I was somewhat surprised that she played the opening theme so slowly. I think a bit faster tempo would have served her better.

Next was Mark Salmon playing Alcan's "Symphony for Solo Piano". This is a very fast, forceful work, but Salmon was more than up to the task. As Dubal said, his fingerwork was flawless. More importantly, he gave an exciting, arresting performance. Wonderful!

Comments from anyone else? Did anyone catch the first half of the program?

-- Chris

First half of program included:
Clementi Op26 #2 (slow movement) by Lazlo Simon, then Horowitz
Schumann's Op 26 Ebminor Intermezzo, by Breluvsky (sp?) then Michelangili
20th century Spanish composer (Mompo ?) Song&Dance#1 by Gustova Romaroe, then I missed the 2nd pianist's name. This sounded a bit like Eric Satie in places

I really have enjoyed everything Bach I've heard Turek play. I liked the final restatement of the aria as she played it...... serene iconoclasm, Socrates' cave shadows bathed in the splendid light of final truth, not so much a performance as a transference through her mediummanship of the Master's ultimate desires for his music.................oh I'm sorry, I've drifted off into DDtawk. I usually return to normal speech patterns by Friday midmorning. Perhaps I'll finish this post at that time.
Bob

Thanks for sending the email to the station.

Perhaps you can speed the process of getting us to Philly...do you know any concert organizers or institutions that may be interested in receiving our package? I would be happy to send it to you or them. You can also point them to our website so they can listen to the duo clips and read about us, see if they get hooked!

Feel free to email me (email address available at the website) if you have any questions. Never been to Philadelphia, would love to play there.

Elena
http://www.concertpianist.com