Live Performances
"Live Performance," a short essay by Greg
Recordings are great.
Say you happen to be in a particularly forlorn mood; without too much trouble, you can jump into your sweat pants, poor a glass of red wine, light a set of candles, find your stashed chocolate ice cream, and get some self-indulgent Rachmaninoff piano music going on a fine set of speakers. Voila! - you've got yourself a decadent pity party. Edward Grieg's "Air," heard on my CD, would make a fine addition to the playlist.
Of course, a live performance can evoke a similar experience, but classical musicians tend to be wary of displaying music on anything but a bare white wall. "Chocolate and candles," they say, "distract from a pure listening experience." I disagree.
But even if we insist on sticking to bare white walls, live performances have unique advantages that cannot be recreated by recordings. (See the Sabre Dance video for an example.) Imagine sitting at the edge of your seat, looking down the isle and seeing an entire audience breathless in anticipation. A good performer feeds off that energy and delivers a performance that could never be recreated in a recording studio. Imagine listening to Franz Liszt perform a new Hungarian Rhapsody for the very first time. How exciting would that be, attending the premiere of a great work? Or imagine a pianist introducing you to a new composer or a new piece that changes your life ... or simply tugs your heartstrings in a way they've never been tugged ... a piece you would have never come across on your own volition.
Personally, I am propelled by the conundrum regarding my perspective of the field: I love classical music but I am rarely invigorated by classical music concerts. Friends joke about how often I fall asleep at concerts. So how can I present the music I love in a way that excites others, and me? In my obsession to find some sort of solution to the dilemma, I have strayed from the established path known to yield notable pianists. I have no idea whether my exploring will lead me to a similar end, but it doesn’t really matter; I love my present surroundings.
Classical piano music can serve as a relevant and powerful force in society and I intend to demonstrate that in my live performances.
- G
