# Tyranny of the fingers



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

_I feel grateful to the happy chance which forced me to compose freely and in silence, and has thus delivered me from the tyranny of the fingers, so dangerous to thought._

Berlioz.

There is obvious difference between composers which were famous virtuosos and those without any greater achivements as instrumentalits. It is obvious that the first ones will fill their concertos and solo music with "brilliant" and difficult stuff. But let's focus on the second ones. When you compare Mahler and Berlioz, perhaps the most famous composers not associated with particular instrument, don't you think they share something more in common than just some lack of hair-raisingly difficult moments? Symphonies are not the showboat form, but somehow you can hear great difference between virtuosos and non-virtuosos symphonic stuff. How ability or disability of mastering instrument could affect their music *in general*?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

As usual, I see more than two sides of this coin which is going to make my reply seem unfocused. (Welcome to my world.)

The Berlioz quote is interesting. It's almost as if Berlioz predicted the "freedom" from virtuosity so prevalent in music today. Today's music is made as much by producers as by virtuoso interpretive artists.

I know when I listen to music I don't care how hard it is to play -- I care how it makes me feel. I might appreciate a performer polishing off a difficult passage in the same way I might appreciate an athlete's physical prowess, but that is not why I listen. I listen to feel and to be taken down a path to experience all the twists and turns, with the composer leading the way.

Much music by composers who were best known as virtuosi I cannot always embrace. Paganini was supposed to be a hellion on the violin, but his music rarely moves me. Also, there are moments in the Rachmaninoff piano concertos when I could do with a little less heavy handed keyboard banging. (These latter do usually move me however in spite of this.)

I think most of the greatest composers who were also virtuosi did not let that get in the way of their compositions. Their abilities only gave them a broader palette for composition. Beethoven in particular would rarely sacrifice what is perfect for a composition for the sake of flashiness.

There is another aspect to virtuosity that troubles me as far as interpretation, but that is beyond the scope of this thread about composition and I should make a new thread about it.

*So to sum up all that rambling above, virtuoso technique can be a handicap but is more often a valuable tool composers can draw on if they have the good taste not to let it get in the way of the composition.*


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