EXPRESSION IN PIANOFORTE PLAYING.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7771, 27 January 1891, Page 2

EXPRESSION IN PIANOFORTE PLAYING.

Nmo OZsatancL Berald.

. A member of the Herald staff was chatting with Mr Sydney Hoben one day this .weeßs%rhen the conversation turned ttpofe the subject of expression in the playing of ihe pianoforte. Mr Hoben took exception to the statement which is often made, that the playing of that instrument mast always be mechanical, aad that, or •"tefe otaeraand, expression rauifc <b*iooke& to* only In the violin. "Ther© is'«»h« laid, **no doubt that' in-NewZea&tftL where people have not the'' opportunity' of study* and where there ia, above ail, no * musical atmosphere* such aa. fou meet witb.forinstaaeeyiß -Germaayv that is a po&alas' error.- I am not going 60 say anything shout the violin, In my opinion pifef&g&ce'for t&e violto or the pitas, ■ the performws'being of «qual ability, is purely «matterof taste; but 2 will say this for tbtf'p!aai>,thatft is capable of whatever degree of expression ia Infused into his playing by the performer. Those who have heard the instrument only thumped mechanically ©®a form no conception of its fasouxcssi The fact fe than the express sion must ba in the performer, and if it is in the performer ho will bring it out of his 1 Instrument even II that instrument in a trombone. I have heard many meu play with more expression on the trombone ; than others with all the resources of the modern pianoforte at their command. " Take the -great, musicians who have been moat noted for their power over audiI eaeas. At tho head of them all stand \ Liast and Chopin* .two pianist®. Then ajmoat all composers, and especially those of the modern romantic ©ad Impressionist school, have? c&osen the .piano - as their iavoniito instrument. -' Witness Liszt, Beinecto, Mendelssohn,:" Grieg, Heaselt, Chopin, Seisumana, Sehuberfc, Rubinstein, ahd many other ju . .\.~ " Ofaopla, the most poetis ot all musfeelans, was never happy unless at the piano

or composing for it. t , who waa one of the moitsSSv S^hk «ct7y ho was> MmtttSi i G Wo ■ aeK tomusiche becamentSAS fa Instrument, and so great h T ! to excel taafc in h '« ?-* • mechanical device to »&% ife"* 6he Angers he actualßtenS 0 Hg» ' "Butof tUlexecstaates ft ou «»ffe r ment, Liszt and Chopin ha y/l? y 8$ ? famed for their power of «J **** J?* & like nearly all the o7h eP K reX , * 8,0 \13 1 they produS^ m *%ff 4 , * with the piano. KSj thr,if £? ' illustrative* of their •"flfe memory and the only dim *? eto 2? choose. Of course, hi" ic <% f»« - Fay's -Music btu ly finl 8 ■**!,? nearly as I can reiSect she?.? 1 1? '*} of her experiences at wl ?• W Playing moves mc beyond al I*l' *X~ heard. Even Joaefilm, %{"»»;• divine, never moved mo to te«2?? } ftla . plays, the piauo seems to ha«P \ J^fi " Lissfs audiences us.d t ob * ° 81 ' moved to tear, by the p Uho. w u^^: } he invested his perform*!™.. t& W W ' tore off thrir jew.ll"ry'and thS, t l < ; and men jumped up in thdW *•"«? cheered. Someone tell %&*«*• «3 Schumann while Lisst*• ■„* n S*to<*S pathetic composition, uud «S liV *£ tears streaming down her cha2r B "sJt{ stories of the manner lnVhicft.A piano solos moved his hearers willed would ttll a volume oH. en *i such cases the audieaca are nSSSb h and ths performer, feellnn- ?£*?**"*& netism, instils his owninto nh»t l L *-* > highly emotional playlnir ' safe. The nerves are stSma Vto S «" ing point, and you know that r!L b *H . died in this way. He wL ? composition,' The Death,' TfiS f. were sympathetic, and he hlitliN?' roused to a pitch of intensity »$> t - Sl*i2ft ,calln ff» proved fi**. dead across the stiffening Angers strikingS •* •- literally the last chord. V " One cause of tho idea that is «-«.,' amongst some sections of tho TO speaking peoples, that plano-k^! 4 necessarily mechanical. l< oUoKi* • so very many performers doS 4I mechanically and soullesslv, and ... "J think that the acme oV pSfff : reached when they are able to nl»'i?J feweet dome,' with various mora •TO appalling variations. Inßn R b2}rS> culture is working down, and thU thing is becomiiAssiioteT &S" a performer of this stamp would 59" be incarcerated as a dangerous No matter what degree of U'chnlqtSg* former had—and of coarse evcrrtwfi: supposed to perfeot his technE 1 would not be listened to iaJc cpncertjroom if he played wlthoati S sion. There would probably fc» omlaous silence until he bowed on vL 4 " thestage, and that would betbtfste-t?' the moat emphatic and unanlmouffirf that oan be heard anywhere. -^ "Naturally, even if a player has rA technical power, and pi R y a e ?eM exactly as v written, if he doeg nSi 41 /eeJ what he plays, and is himself wiis? soul or intellectuality, he can never**? emotion in the listener, any raore the player who may feel the true aw& of the composer, but havlna technique blunders helplessly on, car any pleasure. Itis only when good JJfc? tionls combined with musical exsre*** thatapertosmer.can move his sm*»n and then he cannot ask for a has medium than the pianoforte. " I have often been amused at H*V-, to uneducated criticisms on music, 'Mw people who have not the requisite l<*l ledge to enable them to spaalt InteWA"" or correctly of performer or. ai®toS}\;[ draw their conclusions from city of manner or style, sod par«dTfti npinlons so formed. Perhaps tbs A former is some local celebrity whosfe, good composition without cle*mcss*M bad accentuation, no expression' A feeble -touch. Then tho pices i< immediately condemned as'snob you know • really nothing ia It *"rfj critics saddle the unfortUaats ccfaWi with the. Pins which they will not mm ! in their favourite. Then aaotfe ®a . which has a tendency to rnsk<9 do not know better, regard.pigaofcw playing as mechanical, is ths bad \**\ shqwn by so many English playing some * Volksliad,' werfed Bk; -z a number of variations, genet-aJk .$? X?\ form and harmony.

••* 1 always think that It la m kmll k the Intelligence of the colonies whe&&ijg -great artist cornea outhew std te t& sore of thing. The artists thai&«l?si 6 ? not llkeifc* and they daro not, atm if th\ -','' would, do it in-Europe ; bus dlrecfily Hef, f come to the colonies their mimsgm m i them that is the sort of thing ti«r smsl '•* do to ■leJmplydes'&tkl'efftfojNo '•' good can be obtained from %%$\ #@!sp., ' " In my own opinion, when $!&alits osj» here take to studying cotsseletttelnel pla/ing the beautifully thoSßMfi «sd . melpalous. compositions of mt \mtofa school, which selge on thehftsssr. ftmsi moment he hears them, then Ft alsflfef no more of the piano befog a racfisaie] , Instrument. It will bo better usiltetcd, arid will ocenpy the pedeafcsl upso'Wifel j it ia already placed In Europe • shall have fewer 'cheap Jjlfttees)&H \ 'cheap'pianists." \