# Standards For Performers - How Much Personality Is Too Much?



## QuestionMark (Dec 23, 2007)

I think we could all agree that any classical music soloist we are likely to see in concert, probably has the technical know-how to get the job done. We may not like a particular artist's interpretation of a piece, but I doubt that anyone worries that Murray Perahia is going to have a technical meltdown during a difficult passage.

But what is the role of the performer beyond the technical performance itself? Is there ever a place for a bit of showmanship in a classical performance? How about a performer's offstage persona? Can it "get in the way", and possibly even undermine the artist's legitimacy within the music community? 

Some would say the performer's responsibility is to service the composer -- period. The artist is the conduit between the composer and the listener, no more, no less. Yet there remains a certain fascination with classical artists as human beings, maybe even a secret desire on the part of some to see the mold broken once in a while. Nevertheless, the critics can be brutal.

Did the younger Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg really have to wow us with her hot pant suits, and possibly distract us from Mendelssohn? How about that little end-table thingie that Awadagin Pratt calls a piano bench? Does anyone really care what bad boy Nigel Kennedy thinks about Israel's wall? And who can take Glenn Gould's infernal blending of piano playing, conducting, and humming?

Even my childhood idol, Vladimir Horowitz, has received his share of criticism. A technician, not a musician. A self-indulgent showman. (And what was Liszt?) Lang Lang is receiving similar criticism already. His technique is prodigious, and given his youth, I would hope he might be cut a little slack. Who knows, he might actually generate a little excitement, and maybe attract more young people to the world of classical music. But for now, the critics continue to hammer him. 

Well you can probably tell where I stand. But I'd be interested in hearing other opinions. Where is that invisible line, beyond which the artist must not cross? Is it merely an annoyance for you, or do you actually avoid certain artists who cross that line?

Mark


----------



## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

I think André Rieu is so over the top that his performances are much more about the "performance" than about the music.

But he's probably gotten very rich doing what he does, so power to him.


----------



## EricIsAPolarBear (Aug 18, 2007)

Having listened to Du Pre's interpretation, I recently heard another version of Elgar's Cello Concerto, maybe it is just because i enjoyed Du Pre's version first, but hearing the two, even if it is a little over the top, Du Pre's version really resounds more with me.


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Du Pre took everything right to that "edge" spoken of here. She was one of the creators, in my mind, of this line beyond which none should tread, or at least the second most famous person to utilize that line to the max (the other, of course, being Glenn Gould).

Now, as to who I think goes beyond this line, those people who show off way too much as far as movements, etc., go, like Vengerov, Joshua Bell, and people like that who just look like drunken monkeys and infuse their performances with much the same absurdity. And then there are also those people, such as Nathan Milstein, who nitpick at every little thing. That in itself is perfectly fine with me, but when you bring it onto the stage, I have a problem with it. If you've rehearsed this performance enough to play it without constantly making everything sound as though you're still learning it, you should be able to perform it that way, in my opinion.


----------



## anon2k2 (Dec 18, 2007)

Music is such a different art form than the visual arts because we depend on the performers to be a lens between the original artist and our brains. When going through an art museum, there is obviously a connection between the art and the "stagers" of the art, from the architect of the building to the curator to the designers of the displays, but for the most part you are getting a raw feed of the art itself. In music, we never get that.

So, how much personality is too much? When you as an individual you think that the interpretation doesn't match the emotional connection you have to the music you hear.

There's another thread going right now concerning a rendition of the Beethoven 9th conducted by some guy named Max Cobra (a contrived name if ever there was one) and I agree with most in saying that it is pretty awful. Why? Because it is so darn slow that I loose any focus on the emotional thread that I get started when hearing the passages.


----------



## Rachovsky (Jan 5, 2008)

Lang Lang...


----------



## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

QuestionMark said:


> Some would say the performer's responsibility is to service the composer


I _beg_ your pardon! Doesn't that hurt? 



> Did the younger Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg really have to wow us with her hot pant suits, and possibly distract us from Mendelssohn?


I have to say that females in hot pant suits intrigue me rather more than Mendelssohn.



> Even my childhood idol, Vladimir Horowitz, has received his share of criticism. A technician, not a musician. A self-indulgent showman. (And what was Liszt?)


I honestly doubt anyone these days would claim that Horowitz was anything less than an artist which, looking at some of the items he played, assumes he was a technical supremo. Liszt was a showman as well as artist of the highest quality.

I have a fairly cynical view of critics - they pander to fashion, they usually make more money than the artists they criticise - the ones who do the actual work - never grateful that those artists give them a living. Funniest, when they have to retreat finding they're out of line! This will probably be edited out but I basically look on them as a cancer on the world of art.



> Well you can probably tell where I stand. But I'd be interested in hearing other opinions. Where is that invisible line, beyond which the artist must not cross? Is it merely an annoyance for you, or do you actually avoid certain artists who cross that line?
> 
> Mark


I honestly doubt you'll find an answer. Much depends on the personality of the artist. One can assume a certain extraversion hence showmanship. Let a scruffy bloke appear in a dirty old macintosh, poorly shaven etc, turn up and, hunched up, start playing the piano. There's just a chance of him being a genius but I'll bet he'll get nowhere in the critical circuit.


----------



## SWILLS (Jan 18, 2009)

Kurkikohtaus said:


> I think André Rieu is so over the top that his performances are much more about the "performance" than about the music.
> 
> But he's probably gotten very rich doing what he does, so power to him.


BUT... have you been to see him live?? You may then change your mind


----------

