Playing by the mood of the audience

Rachmaninoff sent fellow composer/pianist Medtner his Corelli Variations.  He wrote:

I played them here about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances, only one was good.  The others were sloppy.  I can't play my own compositions!  And it's so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity.  I was guided by the coughing of the audience.  Whenever the coughing increased, I would skip to the next variation.  When there was no coughing, I would play them in proper order.  In one concert, I don't remember where – some small town – the coughing was so violent that I played only 10 variations (out of 20).  My best record was set in New York, where I played 18 Variations.*  However, I hope that you will play all of them, and won't "cough."


* In Washington, Ruth Howell of the Daily News wrote: "There were, perhaps, too many variations.  The piece grew long, boring, and the theme thickened so that even Corelli couldn't have found it.  If the finale had been put in five minutes before, it would have been perfect.  When it was finished, even Rachmaninoff looked a little disgusted."

Cited in: Bertensson, Sergei & Leyda, Jay (2001) Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Lifetime in Music.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p.280-81.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

,

Featured Content

Harbouring doves and crocodiles
Beethoven, who is often bizarre and baroque, takes at times the majestic flight of an eagle, and then creeps in rocky pathways. He first fills the soul with sweet melancholy, and then shatters it by a mass of shattered chords. He seems to harbor together doves and crocodiles. A review of Beethoven’s First Symphony, Tablettes […]
Searching for expression
When my students compose, I prefer them to be mistaken if they must make mistakes, but to remain natural and free rather than wishing to appear other than what they are. I remember a day when Stravinsky was dining here. He took his neighbor at the table by the lapels, violently! His neighbor crushed, said […]
Bach’s method of keyboard teaching
The teaching methods of Johann Sebastion Bach are recounted by his son, Philip Emanuel Bach: The first thing he did was to teach his pupils his special ways of touching the keyboard. For this he made them practice for months nothing but separate exercises for all the fingers of both hands, with constant attention to […]
Jean Sibelius: Bagatelles (op. 97)
(i) Humoresque I (ii) Song (iii) Little Waltz (iv) Humorous March (v) Impromptu “Never write an unnecessary note. Every note must live”.1 — Sibelius The miniature is the perfect genre to master this philosophy. Sibelius wrote the Opus 97 Bagatelles in 1920, in between his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. The quirky nature of these Bagatelles […]
Harmann on orchestration
“To orchestrate is like a thumbprint. I can’t understand having someone else do it. It would be like someone putting color to your paintings.” – Bernard Hermann on orchestration. Hall, Roger L., A Guide to Film Music, p. 43.  Cited at Wikipedia.
Rustic Dance
Title: Rustic Dance Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score SAMPLE:
The Castle Builder
Title: The Castle Builder Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Menken on the the strength of music
“It’s like, why move to Florida if you don’t like the sun?” says Menken when I visit his home in North Salem, an hour out of New York. “Music is a viscerally powerful medium, both on a bodily level and on an emotional level. There are intellectual components about it, but its basic strength comes […]
Mass of Solidarity
Title: Mass of Solidarity Text: Roman Catholic Mass Composer: Greg Smith Sections: – Penitential rite – Gloria – Gospel acclamation – Creed – Holy – Eucharistic acclamations – Amen – Lamb of God Additional: – Gospel acclamations for Lent (Glory and Praise to You) – Gospel acclamations for specific Sundays or Feasts available on request. Instrumentation: – SATB […]
Ravel’s influence on Vaughan Williams
In 1908, after a period of intense period of immersion in English music due to his role as editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern, Vaughan Williams “came to the conclusion that I was lumpy and stodgy, had come to a dead-end, and that a little French polish would be of use to me.” (1) He […]