minimum speed

[gerryjay]

 hi people!
 i have a recurrent doubt and maybe you can help me. i'm working on mozart's k. 332 third movement and brahms' rhapsody 2, and i keep wondering about what is the minimum acceptable speed to play those pieces. 

 btw, how do you define the speed to play your pieces? is it necessary to play as fast as some recordings? this particular movement, as far as i know, is played around MM=95, and it sounds very cool. but it is absolutely necessary? at this moment, i play it MM=70 and it is fine to me.    What do you think?

 the same goes to brahms', and to other works as debussy's doctor g ad p.

 any comment is of great help. thank you all! 

[danny elfboy]

hi people!
 i have a recurrent doubt and maybe you can help me. i'm working on mozart's k. 332 third movement and brahms' rhapsody 2, and i keep wondering about what is the minimum acceptable speed to play those pieces. 

 btw, how do you define the speed to play your pieces? is it necessary to play as fast as some recordings? this particular movement, as far as i know, is played around MM=95, and it sounds very cool. but it is absolutely necessary? at this moment, i play it MM=70 and it is fine to me.    What do you think?

 the same goes to brahms', and to other works as debussy's doctor g ad p.

 any comment is of great help. thank you all! 

In my opinion speed is rather individual.
Certain pieces have the metronome speed printed in the page.
Some of these speed are based on pianos that were lighter and had a different responsiveness (i.e. Czerny) and hence the speed written in the sheet is just unbelievably fast and feel free to change it.
Other times there's no metronome speed but information about the tempo of the piece (Allegro, Presto, Grave, Largo ...) here you have more freedom to vary the speed as long as you focus on respecting the nature of the tempo of the piece.

But nonetheless if you have a piece which is Andante you can make (for instance) and Allegretto out of it. In other words you choose to vary the nature of the piece because you like it better that way. This is what for example orchestra directors do.
Often they have to "guess" the best speed because there's no information about it in the score, other times they just choose to arrange the piece slower or faster.

For example the Nutcracker of Giergev is unbelievably faster than common Nutcrackers recording. Giergev claims that he "sees" the Nutcracker in that way and that he prefers it faster because to him it express better the fantasy world and the adventure feel.

Sometime the best speed is just implied in the piece.
For example a piece like Schubert Impromptu op. 90 n.3 which is in 2/2 and has rain dropping arpeggios in the right hand that should sound like background to the main melodic line, would never function at a slower speed as it would destroy the structure of the piece itself.

[counterpoint]

My personal opinion: too slow is always better than too fast 

[gerryjay]

 hey! thanks for the replies.
 i do agree with you both but perhaps i didn't express my preocupation clearly. if you are gleen gould for example people don't seem to care if you play a piece extremely slowly (as he did sometimes) because his interpretation leads him that way. however if you are a simple mortal people seem to think "hey the guy doesn't play it correctly yet" or "he have good ideas but it's a shame he play it so slow". i know that it sounds stupid but it bores me when i feel something in that way.
 perhaps i just may forget about this and play with my full brain and heart but i need at this moment some approval hence my question.
 thanks again for your replies and further comments on the subject!

[danny elfboy]

hey! thanks for the replies.
 i do agree with you both but perhaps i didn't express my preocupation clearly. if you are gleen gould for example people don't seem to care if you play a piece extremely slowly (as he did sometimes) because his interpretation leads him that way. however if you are a simple mortal people seem to think "hey the guy doesn't play it correctly yet" or "he have good ideas but it's a shame he play it so slow". i know that it sounds stupid but it bores me when i feel something in that way.
 perhaps i just may forget about this and play with my full brain and heart but i need at this moment some approval hence my question.

Indeed, forget about this and play with your full brain and heart.
Approval is impossible.
Whenever you do something to attract approval you attract the contempt of people with different tastes and philosophies and viceversa. If you cut your hair short there will be a lot of people who prefer you that way and a lot of people who doesn't like your hairstyle. If you let them grow to get the approval of the latter kind of people you disappoint the former kind of people who used to approve of you. It's a kind of 50% balance.
Whatever you do, you attract approval and disappointment and there's no way in this world that you can do something which attracts only approval, it's impossible.

So since it's impossible to have "people" approval you should focus on another kind of approval: yours. You're the only person that you should try to please and make proud of yourself.

So choose the speed you like ... you would have people claiming you can't play correctly a piece yet even if you chose the most proper speed.

[gerryjay]

 hey danny!
 i think you are right. in other aspects of life i must agree completely with you but never thought like this about the piano. and you make me think about something obvious yet fundamental: isn't there people who hates kissin or argerich or brendel or gould? if the answer is yes (and it actually is) you proven very right in my opinion.
 furthermore to be honest i like myself playing. there are countless things to improve for sure but i'm happy with my work and progress.
 yes, yes...thank you very much for opening my eyes!

[dan101]

As acomposer, I never object to a slower interpretation of my piece, as long as the essence and atmosphere of my composition is captured. I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment.

[gerryjay]

As acomposer, I never object to a slower interpretation of my piece, as long as the essence and atmosphere of my composition is captured. I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment.

it's good to read it!