My wife and I had a friend who taught piano, in one of the more rural areas in the greater Annapolis area. She invited us to a recital for her students, and we went. It was excruciating. Although they managed to pretty much play the right notes and keep the rhythm, they had no sense of phrasing or dynamics, they were devoid of musicality, and it was all I could do to last out the afternoon and be pleasant about the whole thing.
My son is in the concert chorus in high school, and in the fall they invited an alumna back to do a coloratura solo on a Spanish piece, the name of which escapes me. She was perfect, syncopated, modulated, dramatic, matching the piece nuance for nuance. On another occasion, in the winter, she came back to do a solo turn for a Vivaldi Gloria, and was vastly inferior, though still talented, having not rehearsed the piece as much, or realized every element.
Artists are sensitive to the various elements that can affect a piece, and treat with them with care........ |
