I was given a graphic lesson the other day in just how crucial sheer strength is to a well-developed piano technique. Kemal Gekic was trying out the pianos for his recital on Monday in Novi Sad, and he asked me to play a bit because it was difficult to decide between an old Steinway that had a noble but tired sound and a new Kawai that had a beautiful set of upper partials but somehow sounded like a toy beside the Steinway.
I played a few things that he had tried so he could hear the repertoire in question and I realized quite quickly that although I played well, with a differentiated, well-orchestrated sound that had real buzz and shimmer in it, my sound simply was about half the volume of his. I attempted to jack up the volume and quickly found my hand scrambling to maintain its optimal organization. There was a tendency to return to a less sophisticated hand in the attempt to squeeze more sheer volume out of the instrument though I knew that in fact the more sophisticated hand would do a better job.
It was nice to have a practical situation in which the necessity to integrate quickly what I have been cultivating lately was literally forced upon me!
By the way, interestingly enough he picked the Kawai and played one of the most wonderful recitals I have heard from him over the years. An incredible plethora of colours and expressive worlds, no forcing, no overblown statements and yet incredibly daring in the way he would stretch a phrase to make a point.
AFF
Tags: alan fraser, classical piano, craft of piano method, Kemal Gekic, piano performance, Piano Technique