Word: pianists
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...before his death in 1967 at the age of 71, he had handed down his extraordinary platinum flute to her. She was not just the queen of the flute, but one of the world's two or three finest concert flutists, male or female. In 1971, Shaffer and Pianist Hephzibah Menuhin gave the world premiere of the new work at a benefit for Philadelphia's Settlement Music School, with Copland in attendance. Last week in New York, Shaffer recorded the work for Columbia Records, this time with Copland, 72, at the piano...
...from their years of practice. If it came from practice, he argues, then musicians with the same training would not have such differing degrees of dexterity. Not even the size and shape of the hand seem to count. The first-prize winner in a recent Munich piano competition, Taiwanese Pianist Pi-hsien Chen, had the smallest hands Wagner measured...
Wagner believes that his tests could be used by music academies to weed out unpromising applicants, as well as by music teachers to "locate the exact physical shortcoming of a student and work out compensatory techniques." A pianist with a "stiff" finger, for example, could make more use of an adjacent note. Another result of his research, he maintains, is confirmation that the recurrent inflammations of the hand and arm suffered by musicians are the result of overtaxing their native skills-a musical variation on tennis elbow, football knee and surfer's knob...
...common disease of the cynic is Vicarious Vertigo-the dizzying belief that he can be someone else. Very well, then, let him be, say, Andre Watts or Artur Rubinstein. Every pianist is familiar with the tale of the Texan who asked an old man, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" and received the reply, "Practice! Practice!" Alas, repetition cannot guarantee a recital. But $2,000 can. For that amount, the cynic may rent the entire Carnegie Hall, with Steinway, to play Chopsticks all evening. After all, who's listening? The cynic can be Arthur Fiedler...
Separation. It was not always so, says Rosen. Until the mid-19th century, pianists, for example, regularly played from the score or improvised. With the score sitting right there on the piano, how could anyone question the pianist's veracity? If he were improvising, virtually composing on the spot, who was to challenge him? Thus stage fright was all but unknown. But then along came Clara Wieck (soon to become Robert Schumann's wife), who did away with the score at public performances. The result, eventually, was an absolute separation of composer and performer...