Why Must Pianists Play from Memory?

[Maciek]

Thanks, Scott!

i have a question- are modernist scores like Boulez's 2nd Sonata also played without the score? that would seem pretty hard.......

On most of the concerts of contemporary music I've ever been to the music was played with the score. However, I do remember three outstanding piano recitals where the pianists (excellent pianists, needless to say!) played everything from memory: two were given by the Australian pianist Michael Kielan Harvey (in 1994 and 1995 but I still remember them!), and one by the French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard (in 2000 but, strangely enough, I remember this one a little less distinctly).

Oh, and both Krenz and Czyż often conducted contemporary stuff without the scores (sometimes even first performances!).

[greg]

Thanks, Scott!

On most of the concerts of contemporary music I've ever been two the music was played with the score. However, I do remember three outstanding piano recitals where the pianists (excellent pianists, needless to say!) played everything from memory: two were given by the Australian pianist Michael Kielan Harvey (in 1994 and 1995 but I still remember them!), and one by the French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard (in 2000 but, strangely enough, I remember this one a little less distinctly).

Oh, and both Krenz and Czyż often conducted contemporary stuff without the scores (sometimes even first performances!).

lol, they deserve a trophy for all that

[Maciek]

Man, I should be going to bed! I wrote "two" instead of "to", and then almost corrected it to "too"... Sorry for the OT .

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Yes, from about 1980 on, after an embarrassing memory lapse, he played with score and with the intimate lighting you mentioned.

Interestingly, it worked both ways for Richter. He decried not working from the score yet only took it up himself late in his career (about 1980, as you say).

He claimed that reading from the score was the better way to go so to experience as wide a range of repertoire as possible. However, the rumor mill had it he simply forgot his way during a concert and this necessitated a quick change in philosophy.

Who's right? It's unclear. But for a good chunk of his career Richter had all the music he wanted locked in his memory banks. And no one had a larger range of repertoire than Richter.

On the other hand, it's interesting to note that Richter's change of heart did, in fact, occur in the relative twilight of his career. Which might lend credence to the comments above about late-career memory fuzzy-wuzziness in performance.

[Novi]

I was witness to HvK conducting "Die Walkure" at the Met in 1968.
He had the score on the stand in front of him. But he never opened it.

Yoiu can't see the score with your eyes shut anyway ...

[George]

Can anyone confirm (or annul) that statement I made about Sviatoslav Richter? I think I read an interview with him somewhere where the interviewer asked him about this and he replied that having to commit everything to memory would mean needlessly reducing his repertoire. There was also a question about lighting - why he would insist on only using a small lamp next to the piano and turning all the other lamps off during recitals (he said he wanted the intimacy).

I believe that he said that he wanted to lights off for concentration. Not his, the audiences.

This statement blew my mind.

[George]

Yoiu can't see the score with your eyes shut anyway ...

LOL! Good point! 

[George]

I forget. 

[Symphonien]

I generally memorise everything I play since I find it much easier to give a nice flowing performance, not to mention I don't have to worry about annoying and distracting page turns. And also because I don't find memorisation that difficult, since I try to memorise as I learn. i.e. Each physical movement or each passage I have to learn while first learning the piece I memorise as I practise it. This is also much more time efficient since the difficult passages or difficult fingerings require a lot of practice to learn and execute properly, and this is a great opportunity to memorise at the same time. A lot quicker than learning the whole piece first, and then trying to memorise it I find.

i have a question- are modernist scores like Boulez's 2nd Sonata also played without the score? that would seem pretty hard.......

Well, here's Aimard playing Boulez's 1st piano sonata from memory. I'm sure he could also play the 2nd from memory if he wanted to; an amazing pianist.

[m_gigena]

Yes, from about 1980 on, after an embarrassing memory lapse, he played with score and with the intimate lighting you mentioned.

From http://www.perfectpitchpeople.com/richter.htm

"In the book Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations by Bruno Mosaingeon, Richter mentioned that not only was his perfect pitch altered by a full tone in his old age, but that the same thing happened to his teacher, the great pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus.  He went on to say that the main reason why he played with a score in his last years was that because of this altered pitch he tended to transpose automatically when playing from memory, and was thus afraid of presenting musical pieces in the wrong key to the audience." [2]

[Iago]

Yoiu can't see the score with your eyes shut anyway ...

Karajan frequently kept his eyes closed during purely orchestral works.
But for "opera", they were wide open and alert.

[knight66]

An excellent memory is clearly a great tool in the musician's toolbox, but don't confuse it with musical talent. It is quite possible to have one to excess, but not the other.

Maazel has indeed an extraordinary memory, but how interesting is most of his music making? He is high profile and basically a gifted musician, but there are no doubt plenty of also-rans with a great memory and nothing much to say.

Mike

[Joe_Campbell]

Well, here's Aimard playing Boulez's 1st piano sonata from memory. I'm sure he could also play the 2nd from memory if he wanted to; an amazing pianist.

I'll say! I have him playing 'Gaspard de la nuit' by Ravel, coupled with some Carter works. He is amazing to listen to.

[m_gigena]

Maazel has indeed an extraordinary memory, .

And he also plays the violin.

Well, here's Aimard playing Boulez's 1st piano sonata from memory. I'm sure he could also play the 2nd from memory if he wanted to; an amazing pianist.

Wasn't he boo-ed at the Proms last year for a slow Brahms' 1st concerto, 2nd movement?

[Mayfielder]

I'm a pianist (amateur) and I find that the best way to memorize a piece is to not try. If I fall madly in love with a particular piano work I play it over and over as I get to know as much about it as I can and, without even trying, I find I've memorized it. 

[The Mad Hatter]

It might be psychological, but I've always found that the music stand seems to block the sound. Also, when I know a piece well, I find the music just distracts me, so doubleminus points to reading from a score for me.

[knight66]

But reading from the score is what the majority of professional musicians do.

Mike

[George]

But reading from the score is what the majority of professional musicians do.

Mike

What if they all jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge? Would you do that too?


(My goodness, I have become my Mother.)     My apologies, Mike.

[Ten thumbs]

In the nineteenth century, it also saved the travelling musician the inconvenience of having to carry large quantities of sheet music with them. Mendelssohn in England has been mentioned. His sister took a long holiday in Rome where Gounod heard her playing many works by Bach, all from memory.
This is the main reason I regret not learning to memorise. If I meet a lonely piano on my travels I can only extemporise. I restrict myself to those awkward passages that are just over the page. I find my mind too elastic and full of wrong ideas.

[Maciek]

Had the same problem and found a simple solution: I don't travel anymore.







(Only kidding, of course. )