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Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist by Charles Rosen

CHAPTER ONE

Perhaps the most obvious device is the imitation of a singer trying to reach a high note , always an expressive effect .

What is considered primary is a set of pitches which we must imagine as independent of any instrumental color: rhythmic indications are less primary (that is, they can be inflected to some extent according to the personal taste of the performer, with rubato and expressive alterations and deformations) but they are still relatively abstract.

The musician who has surrendered his will to tradition has abandoned the possibility of keeping the tradition alive .

It was , I think , above all the fact that it was the only instrument that could both realize an entire musical score on its own and at the same time call into play all the muscular effort of the body of the performer .

The danger of the piano , and its glory , is that the pianist can feel the music with his whole body without having to listen to it .

It is evident that he wished not only to hear the canon , but to feel the two-part counterpoint in one hand .

The graceful or dramatic movements of the arms and wrists of the performer are simply a form of choreography that has no practical effect on the mechanism of the instrument , although if it looks more graceful , it may sound more exquisite , not only to the public but to the pianist convinced by his own gestures .

The real source of a beautiful tone quality is the musicianship and intelligence of the performer . This is what should be encouraged in piano pedagogy and not the illusion that there is a purely mechanical or technical method of making a good sound .

Franz Liszt, Volume I by Alan Walker