Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I know what it feels like to be triaded to death. When one's listening is conceptually reduced to triadic function the subtle shadings of two-voice combinations are lost, as are the subtle shadings of triads with multiple doublings, as in many Schubert Waltzes. This impoverishment leads to boredom, to lack of finesse, to over-simplification in piano-playing. Coming back to real life after years of such malfunction is not easy.

Test yourself: Try writing out by memory Soldier's March from Schumann's Album for the Young, a masterpiece of precision in this regard.