"One of my teachers, the great American pianist Leon Fleisher, who died on Aug. 2, is likely to have enjoyed the irony of this. Fleisher taught his students about playing music for music’s sake. He would ask us to shelve our virtuoso training and forget about filling large halls with the huge, sparkling sound we had been honing for years.
Instead, he would ask us to direct our focus inwardly, on the intent of the composer and the music’s deepest message. Beginning Schubert’s last piano sonata was like joining a river that flowed eternally. A Mozart concerto wasn’t made of notes but of champagne bubbles."
Comments