Taken from the old website. Original post date: June 15, 2005
If someone had told me at an early age what the music business entails, I would have moved to Tibet and become a monk. But it’s too late now!
Today, many extremely talented pianists are rejected at the doors of agents and artistic directors. Those that don’t become their own managers, at least in the beginning of their careers are completely left out in the cold.
This raises a complex psychological question in the minds of many pianists today. “Am I really playing that badly – I mean after all I was yelled at for so many years by my piano professor?” Or the other question – “is that pianist on stage really that good – I mean he’s marketed like crazy?”
Unfortunately, because of this many young pianists are under extreme pressure which results in a lost childhood, bitterness, and many lost friendships.
I went through this painful phase many years ago. In fact, when I entered the Int’l Chopin Competition in Warsaw, I became extremely sick just days before the first stage. I was coughing out blood, was placed on powerful antibiotics and looked like a ghost on stage. I was placed at the end of the first half to allow at least one more day to heal. It was an awful experience.
Today’s problem is quite obvious – simply take a recording of an extraordinary pianist of the early 20th century like Dinu Lipatti or William Kappell and hear how purely the music seems to flow out of their fingers. And then listen to 99 percent of the laureates of any piano competition in the world today. You will immediately hear how stiff and manufactured their sound quality is.
Many young pianists today are terrified of losing and obsessed about pleasing a jury. To sum up, today’s young pianist thought processes:
“Forget about listening to one’s sound, forget about relaxation, forget about remaining faithful to the composer’s text – I want to chop away that Sonata with super-precision, a refined technique, and by God I swear that it’ll be 200 percent ready for that competition.”
I have witnessed some pianists enter a competition knowing that they will win. They are absolutely sure that they are the best of the bunch. Sometimes these self-proclaimed gurus even win. But they’re fame is quickly superseded by the next ‘king’, who can play their octaves a little cleaner, a little faster, and is a little younger.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If we stop and take a moment to enjoy a truly spectacular view of a mountain top, there is in essence a higher power above us which enables us to put our ego aside and surrender to the moment. Our knees start to get weak, our arms start to get heavy, and we experience an eternal peace within us. What a greater reward awaits the pianist who can capture this state and recreate it on the concert platform!
