Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Barenboim

"But how many pianists alive are so willing to risk so much, to think aloud, to feel their way so openly and generously - even at the cost of wrong turnings? Barenboim can rush passages, fumble notes, blur intricacies and even, on occasion, depart from the score - though he can also draw gasps at the fastest, lightest pianissimo fugal dexterity you could hope to hear. But so what? He moved the audience onto another plane where they stopped thinking about technique, or mere pianism, and came face to face with the music, with Beethoven himself."

Read the rest here.

I wish there were more pianists of that mold. It is a is bracing relief from consumptive theatrics of some of today's younger pianists.

No comments: