Comments on: Adjustments!

By: Jaqi

Jaqi — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:27:29 +0000

The composer is definitely shaking the “fickle finger of fate” at you, abandoning you and turning a silent ear as you wrench from your body and soul a fresh interpretation of their oeuvres.

By: sheil

sheil — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:53:25 +0000

No Denk, you’re not a Patsy. But you are a Medium. Anybody who’s really done what you’re talking about can tell you that it’s the hardest damned thing on Earth, outside of American Motherhood (now an oxymoron). You’re going down into the collective unconscious and you’re translating its very soul, using another human’s musical language. All of that for an audience that MIGHT understand a little… particularly if any of its number isn’t already a)21st Century deaf, b)preening phony, c)perverted, or d)all of the above.

I do beg to differ with Eire, just a little. An ‘ARTIST’ is a creator, e.g. Beethoven or Chopin. A ‘CONCERT PIANIST’ as we know it, is a translator, e.g. Jeremy Denk when he isn’t hammered.

By: brent

brent — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:28:48 +0000

This reminds me of what was written last year about Mother Teresa’s crisis of faith. Some theologians said this was a gift from God, that He would share Christ’s feeling of abandonment only with those most devoted to Him, that they could feel what Christ felt in His hours on the cross.
In that sense, if anyone were to feel the indecision,urgency,frustration and ultimately the triumph that Beethoven, and maybe all composers, felt when composing, who better than those willing to devote their lives to performing music?
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and author, referred to the state of grace as his “four walls of freedom”, so maybe what a performer experiences is a Musical State of Grace.

By: David McMullin

David McMullin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:35:23 +0000

This is a rather obvious point, I guess, but since no one seems to have said it yet, I’ll go ahead:

The Lonely Predicament you describe can be avoided by working with living composers. We’re generally in no hurry to “zoom off in the getaway car…” In fact, we’ll keep the engine running for you, and even let you choose the radio station. Unless, of course, being a performer really is “all about” working only with dead guys. If that’s the case, then yeah, you’re a patsy.

By: Alana

Alana — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:55:06 +0000

Thank you again for the wonderful recital at IU, and for taking some time to enlighten us further about the Concord sonata post-concert.

Suggested Addenda to your Dramatis Personae:

JPI: Jeremy practicing Ives
JPB: J. Peter Burkholder, purveyor of all knowledge pertaining to Ives, Western music, and the universe

By: Taylor

Taylor — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:13:03 +0000

I’m with eire… this predicament is art. We all suffer for our respective art forms, and yet the process feeds the soul instead of destroying it.

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:38:36 +0000

Looking forward to the performance at Auer Hall tonight, whoever is playing.

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:33:57 +0000

First of all, that’s definitely not a “show” that Mickey & Judy would have put up in their barn, let alone something that someone would turn into a stage musical – although, it could be staged as an environmental theatre piece much like Ladies and Gents which is currently being staged in the Bethesda Fountain bathrooms in Central Park. -Is there someone you could hire to sell and distribute tickets in the lobby of The Greystone Hotel?

As for labeling that “State of Mind”, the phrase that seems to pop into my head at the moment is “An Obliged Benevolent Solitude”. Although, a phrase reminiscent of my college days also comes to mind: Practice Room Fever.

In any case… Did you ever make it to the Apple Store? Or get that massage?

By: jupiterjenkins.com » Blog Archive » Blogging at its best IMHO

jupiterjenkins.com » Blog Archive » Blogging at its best IMHO — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:49:10 +0000

[...] But what I admire most is his verbosity and imagination. Case in point is yesterday’s entry (Adjustments) where he imagines himself into two [...]

By: eire

eire — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:21:53 +0000

“ARTIST”

—————–

This sense that the composer has abandoned you for the relatively serene realm of the grave and that you, who have chosen to program and perform piece X, are the only one left…

(this is a brilliant articulation of the source of the indefinable and unique quality that a performer brings to his performance that makes his performance –not just the piece x–recognizable to his audience. It is like the performer is in a continual cycle of connection/abandonment with the composer, and every moment of abandonment exposes him to the audience, and they see him in that moment, and then he answers the abandonment with his independent interpretation of the composers idea thereby answering fully the abandonment, closing the space, preserving the relationship, bringing it back to the connection and then again onto abandonment. And in each abandonment it is the strength of heart of the performer (read JPBC) that is exposed to the audience and can make his performance simply unforgettable.