Saturday, August 1, 2009

Last night I had a concert experience that shows how hard it is for us modern mortals to trust that sound conveys meaning beyond technical perfection.

Piotr Anderszewski played Mozart's Piano Concerto in B-flat K. 456. It is conspicuously written so that when the piano's entrances follow wind sections the piano sounds out of tune. One can only conclude that this must be intentional since the piano sounds perfectly in tune the rest of the time.

A colleague in the audience (not a pianist) was, however, shocked. "The piano was so out of tune!"

Could there be a more convincing demonstration of the rich complexity of the piano sound?