December 9th, 2008
A special technique for the Horowitz Steinway: 1) don’t play loud!
I write this from Miami where Misha Dacic played a recital on Horowitz’s Steinway last Sunday. An amazingly beautiful recital, very emotional for me – one of those rare moments where why one does what one does becomes palpable and fully significant… Afterwards Kemal and I discussed that instrument and how Horowitz played it. He pointed out something that is not generally perceived, that Horowitz didn’t actually play very loud. He created the illusion of loudness. The instrument has the most beautiful set of rich overtones I have ever heard, but to have them sound fully, they must not be overpowered by any of the other voices – there must be space between the sounds. To get the multileveled tonal qualities you must have a precise, incisive touch but not a heavy one. Horowitz’s forte sounds so loud because it is full of upper harmonics: if he really played loud, all those upper partials wouldn’t be there in such rich supply, they would be drowned out by the fundamental note of each vibrating string.
And the instrument itself is not that loud. One thing you notice when you touch the Landowska Steinway B is not only the beauty and depth of tone but the sheer volume of sound – it is loud! But not this one…
Listening is the center of piano technique
To access this tonal quality in playing any piano, listening must take precedence in your attention over anything physical. We work a lot on developing the strength, sensitivity and organization of the hand, but there’s a very real danger that our concern with physical issues ends up hampering us from playing well, because if your listening is even just a little less than total, your physical mechanism won’t have the demands made on it to do the job right. You have to conceive of a very specific sound and then search for it with your ears. Do not tolerate anything less than that total beauty, that totally melodic joining of sounds that makes the piano sing. It takes a real mental effort to set up the correct hierarchy of attentions and then maintain them ongoingly in time. But when you succeed, your hand will do what it’s supposed to in a much finer and more evolved way than it ever could when your were developing aspects of physical technique, because now your ears and brain are sending it definite signals as to exactly the job it has to do. There’s a weird alchemy of combined attentions that happens when this works well – you’ll recognize it; it’s palpable and you will like the strength of Being that appears when you cultivate this for some time…
AFF
7 Comments
Hello Alan,
Do you mean that Misha played on Horowitz’s own piano? Is this instrument still in good shape?
As as one of the closest Yveline Ciazynski’s friends , I will feel happy if we start sharing our respective experience in teaching piano.
Awaiting your answer,
Best regards,
Pierre
Yes, we all played on it – Misha, Kemal and myself. It’s an amazing instrument, unlike any piano I ever played, and very well-maintained.
I am fascinated with what Yveline tells me about your work. I wouldn’t know where to start a discussion or how, but I am delighted to be in touch with you and have the opportunity to exchange our thoughts. Have you visited my forum at http://www.maplegroveproductions.com/piano? There are some people on there who are really expressing themselves well… a fascinating discussion of arm weight. From what Yveline describes, your version of arm weight resembles what I saw in a wonderful DVD by the American Paul Wurth – The Gravity DVD. This clarified many things for me.
All best wishes,
Alan Fraser
Hello Alan,
Pierre Tran est, en France, un pédagogue passionnant, dans la filiation de Scaramuzza (école argentine), il est aussi très intéressé par l’apport de Feldenkrais… je lui ai fait lire votre premier livre, et depuis nous travaillons ensemble, je lui apporte mon expérience vécue d’élève Feldenkrais, et lui m’apporte son idée d’un son non percussif, avec l’utilisation du coude “antigravitaire”, pour amortir la chute du bras.
J’ai demandé à Pierre de dialoguer avec vous, car il est bilingue, et peut mieux que moi écrire en anglais.
avec mes meilleurs voeux pour 2011
Yveline
Bonjour Yveline, C’est merveilleux ce que tu as fais, merci beaucoup! J’espere que M. Tran va me contacter, je serais tres heureux d’avoir une echange avec lui!
For those of you who don’t speak French, Yveline has studied with Pierre Tran, a student of Scaramuzza, who is fascinated by Feldenkrais. From what she describes, he knows what he is doing! She invited him to meet with me and I have replied that I would be delighted and honoured!
AFF
Is it the same piano from the Last Romantic film?
Yes it is indeed!
AFF