Last night after another of my home concerts a musician who was there for the first time told me that she hates piano recitals and never goes to them. But she loved this one. What a compliment!
I admitted to her that I walk out of piano recitals more than out of any other kind of event I have paid good money to hear. Why?
My first feeling is lack of attention on the part of the player. Having been trained to not notice vibrations, since every piano is different from every other, pianists are notoriously terrified of the disconnect between what they are used to hearing and what will come forth from the strange beast they confront upon that specific occasion. Their detachment communicates.
I used to make it a strict rule whenever I had a public performance (i.e., on a strange instrument) not to touch any other instrument that entire day. Call it the piano du jour.
