Does the world really need another piano virtuoso ?

[m19834]

I am kind of serious, actually.  It's not that I don't appreciate the individuality of people's playing.  It's just that when you look at the world as it is, it's perhaps easy to think "what is one more going to add to what has already been done ?"  I am struggling with this at the moment and that struggle is putting some kind of 'cap' on my work, I think.  I have realized that I probably could never quit playing, and some part of me will always want to push towards getting better ... but, how many people are there who are doing the same sort of thing, hoping/thinking they have something unique to offer the world by doing so ?

And this is a serious question : How many virtuosos are there in the world already, anyway ?  I am curious about an actual (approximate) number (not to mention everything between beginner and virtuoso). 

In another thread I wrote that I am not studying music and piano in order to be a pianist and musician, but I am studying them in order to be myself.  And, this is very true.  But, I will admit, there is some hidden part of me that hopes one day I will be capable of communicating something of significance to the right audience -- that is part of who I am and part of what this all is to me.

Well, off to go study my scores !

[communist]

A pianist is not like a miner.

A pianist is an artist, any pianist can contribute to the musical world. The possibilities of music are unlimited, as oppose to a miner who does the exact same thing as every other miner I.E. get coal, minerals, iron etc... Pianists are not getting the same interpretations every time, which is why there is no such things as "to many piano virtuosi".

There is another universe of possible interpretations that has not even been looked at.

[giannalinda]

A pianist is not like a miner.

A pianist is an artist, any pianist can contribute to the musical world. The possibilities of music are unlimited, as oppose to a miner who does the exact same thing as every other miner I.E. get coal, minerals, iron etc... Pianists are not getting the same interpretations every time, which is why there is no such things as "to many piano virtuosi".

There is another universe of possible interpretations that has not even been looked at.

I agree communist...  There can never be too many. And besides, if all the virtuoso pianists were the same i could see saying there are too many, but all of em are different in a certian way, even though they are all virtuosi.

[iroveashe]

A pianist is not like a miner.

A pianist is an artist, any pianist can contribute to the musical world. The possibilities of music are unlimited, as oppose to a miner who does the exact same thing as every other miner I.E. get coal, minerals, iron etc... Pianists are not getting the same interpretations every time, which is why there is no such things as "to many piano virtuosi".

There is another universe of possible interpretations that has not even been looked at.

Each virtuoso (or pianist, or artist for that matter) may be different, but does that difference make a difference? In other words, if we keep digging on the same spot over and over, will we ever find gold, so to speak? The fact that each pianist has something different to contribute does not mean that something has to be valuable.

but, how many people are there who are doing the same sort of thing, hoping/thinking they have something unique to offer the world by doing so ?

More than I could count, but another interesting question would be: even if we had something unique to offer, is the way we're trying to express it the right one?

[db05]

I am kind of serious, actually.  It's not that I don't appreciate the individuality of people's playing.  It's just that when you look at the world as it is, it's perhaps easy to think "what is one more going to add to what has already been done ?"  I am struggling with this at the moment and that struggle is putting some kind of 'cap' on my work, I think.  I have realized that I probably could never quit playing, and some part of me will always want to push towards getting better ... but, how many people are there who are doing the same sort of thing, hoping/thinking they have something unique to offer the world by doing so ?

I don't know what kind of answer you want, but let me tell you the first thing the first thing that popped into my head. Years ago I read "How to Be Creative" from gapingvoid.com . Here is the link. https://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000932.html

Take a look at No. 1. Ignore everybody.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

I think the idea that you study in order to be yourself is a wonderful one, and thinking in terms of what the world "needs" has put you one step back. I agree with communist, that a pianist (virtuoso or not) is an artist, but an artist works for him/herself first and foremost. Thinking in terms of - am I needed here? - is a trap. If you're not needed, you're worthless and you get depressed. If you're needed, you realize that what you're doing is never enough, and cave into pressure.

But, I will admit, there is some hidden part of me that hopes one day I will be capable of communicating something of significance to the right audience -- that is part of who I am and part of what this all is to me.

Well, well! How thoughtful of you! I don't think you need to fret. So long as it is as you say, part of you and part of what that all is to you, it is in my opinion, significant. Anything said in truth and sincerity is worth listening to. (And believe me, there are A LOT of people who don't tell the truth. Not going to name anyone though...  )

Honestly... I think these musings of yours are so adorable... So, if I may... *hugs and kisses K on the cheek*   

[sharon_f]

And remember it's not only how you say it but what you say. There is so much wonderful literature out there. The piano repertoire is almost unlimited. We need lots of pianists out there, keeping these works alive.

[cloches_de_geneve]

You point to a real problem. Most pianists have nothing to say. The chances of anyone studying the piano joining this group are enormous, almost mathematically certain. How to extricate oneself from this dilemma? a) Blind, ideally obsessive, belief that you have something new to say. b) Truly having something new to say. c) And say it with grace and charisma.

[communist]

Each virtuoso (or pianist, or artist for that matter) may be different, but does that difference make a difference? In other words, if we keep digging on the same spot over and over, will we ever find gold, so to speak? The fact that each pianist has something different to contribute does not mean that something has to be valuable.More than I could count, but another interesting question would be: even if we had something unique to offer, is the way we're trying to express it the right one?

the "mines" in music are very large. If we keep digging in one we might find gold. But if we keep digging there we will have nothing left. So we will have to go to a different mine and find new gold. Than; with no explanation, we will find new gold in the mines we had previously used.

[go12_3]

I think that a virtuoso is discovered by their abilities, skills and artistry.  I am sure that each country in the world and city has some, if not , several virtuosos.  Some virtuoso in the world will stand out and be a prominant public figure. What appeals to the audiences is what  makes a virtuoso by the performances that would be unforgettable.  There is a concert pianist in my hometown and he is well known and loved by the audience because of  his performances , his persona and artistry.  When a virtuoso plays the piano, it has to be with musical expression and with articulate precision upon each note that would indeed, and leaving no doubt, penetrate into the hearts of the audience.  And, that to me, who ever the pianist may be throughout the world, is a virtuoso.

best wishes,

go12_3

[Bob]

There's always room at the top.  I've heard several people make that comment. 

[ted]

What the musical world needs doesn't matter. It's going to grind on relentlessly and haphazardly anyway. What you need musically does matter. If you enjoy virtuosity, if you feel it is an important component of your musical psyche, however you define the word, then embrace it. The world doesn't "need" the bed of flowers at the front of our section but I plant marigolds every year anyhow. They give  pleasure to me, to yellowhammers, bumble bees and passers by. I think you are asking the question the wrong way around. You are a part of the musical universe and have as much right as anybody else to operate as you see fit.

However, if you meant "virtuoso" in the narrow, old-fashioned sense of somebody who plays an enormous swag of difficult pieces, mostly the same ones as everybody else plays, with extreme dexterity and showmanship, then there does appear to be a glut of talent of that particular type. Even then, if they enjoy themselves then that is probably all that matters, whether or not the world "needs" them.

[timothy42b]

I think maybe you want to be an artist.

Not me. 

My goal is craftsman. 

[omar_roy]

We have plenty of virtuosos who play very well.  And the more the merrier!

What we really need more of is musicians who are willing to take risks.  Willing to use a little bit more rubato than seems tasteful just for the sake of it, taking liberties with Bach and Mozart, and even deviating from markings in Beethoven's scores.  If anything, I've grown tired of hearing "safe" and "tasteful" playing.  Listen to Rachmaninov's recordings, especially his recording of Chopin's Nocturne in Eb Major.  Listen to how many liberties he takes with it.  It seems so ridiculous but at the same time its sublime.  Beautifully unrestricted, but still somehow manages to be structured.

The whole notion of conveying the "composer's intent" is somewhat arbitrary.  Many people argue that when Horowitz performed, it was more Horowitz that they were hearing than Chopin or whomever.  But that's the thing: People went to hear Chopin as played by Horowitz. 

Take risks.  Try to seek out the composer's intent, but don't be afraid to show a bit of yourself as well.  That's what so many "virtuosos" lack.  They can play notes and follow markings just fine.  It's personality and style that makes you an artist.

[pianochick15]

This whole thread is really encouraging. I have thought about this many times and find all this info very helpful and true.
Thanks!

[m19834]

I will admit, these responses are somehow different than what I was expecting.  More or less, it's a green light I guess.  Thanks, all !

[pianowolfi]

If "the world" "needs" something it's people who have the courage to be themselves. The quotation marks indicate a certain difficulty to express the real thing. If I am myself I think it will be welcome to the world. But to be myself is a completely free act.  How can something that I am or do out of freedom be a need of the world? So it seems to be a sort of contradiction. But to me it's no contradiction, it's art.

[polymath]

If "the world" "needs" something it's people who have the courage to be themselves. The quotation marks indicate a certain difficulty to express the real thing. If I am myself I think it will be welcome to the world. But to be myself is a completely free act.  How can something that I am or do out of freedom be a need of the world? So it seems to be a sort of contradiction. But to me it's no contradiction, it's art.

BEETHOVEN!

[m19834]

Thanks, Wolfi.  I guess I was thinking sometime in the last couple of days about this, and realizing that I don't want to just be some "virtouso" ... I mean, I still want only to be myself, not just some shell of a somebody who may or may not be called "virtuoso" (not that all virtuosos are a shell of a somebody).  And, funnily enough, if my best pianist, who I am inside, is actually what the world might label a virtuoso, then in a sense, I am being a shell of a somebody if I am not that, for any reason.  Even the reason of there being so many in the world already.

I had this strange dream last night about a musical garden  .  In my dream some voice told me what the musical earth is, and this same voice told me how musical things grow out of it, and I remember I could see flowers blooming in my musical garden.  hee hee ... I know, it's a bit cheesy, but hey, it was a dream ... what can I say ?  Somehow it stuck with me though.  I think part of it is that, a couple of weeks ago, I read a passage from Eugenie Schumann's book of memoirs where she writes about what she told her doctor once when she was apparently ill :  "I do not wonder at my father's illness, because no end of flowers were blossoming in his head."  hee hee ... I know Robert Schumann's challenges are nothing to laugh about, but somehow I felt that Eugenie's description probably fits the situation so entirely perfectly.  I remember reading from some other source, sometime ago, about Clara telling how Robert turned everything into music, and that was part of what made things difficult for him.

Anyway, I am not sure why I went off on that.  Today though I decided that there is not only a garden, but an entire musical kingdom ... and it is vast.

[dr. j]

Thanks for sharing the Eugenia and Clara Schumann's writings and descriptions - and your dream.  Interesting and lovely thoughts for all of us who make music our lives!

Dr. J

[omar_roy]

Karli,
I'd call you insane, but that would be the pot calling the kettle black coming from someone who gets piano lessons in his dreams from the composers of pieces he's working on.

[pianowolfi]

Karli,
I'd call you insane, but that would be the pot calling the kettle black coming from someone who gets piano lessons in his dreams from the composers of pieces he's working on.

Then I am surely insane as well, because I think that this is really possible...

[omar_roy]

I'm right up there with you because I'm convinced that it is as well.

[m19834]

Karli,
I'd call you insane, but that would be the pot calling the kettle black coming from someone who gets piano lessons in his dreams from the composers of pieces he's working on.

While I believe I understand that you are apparently not calling me insane, I can hardly grasp how having a dream about a musical garden would somehow come anywhere close to qualifying as a reason to even bring insanity up at all.  In my world, what you are talking about and what I have described, while apparently two somewhat different things, are not anywhere even within miles upon miles of that particular ballpark !  I had a dream probably based on something I read; I believe that is what most dreams are made of (I know, I know, that is not *nearly* as mysterious and mystical) !.

[opus10no2]

It needs one more.. and as you know Karli, I'm here to fill that opening.

[go12_3]

It needs one more.. and as you know Karli, I'm here to fill that opening.

Hooray for you, Opus!   

[db05]

It needs one more.. and as you know Karli, I'm here to fill that opening.

 

[anafressari]

https://www.youtube.com/user/rolipoli

[indutrial]

The music world can never get enough virtuosos. However, it could arguably use more virtuosos who are willing to build original repertoires. More of them should be doubling up as worthwhile music historians, or at least promoting works that don't receive their proper dues in the performance world. As it stands, the big-ticket virtuosos are still mostly playing the same pieces that virtuosos played 10, 20, and 40 years ago. There are certainly plenty of virtuosos promoting unknown repertoire and less-favored composers, but they are heavily scattered and often faced with a loss when they try to produce discs for labels.

[ramseytheii]

Those who go into music do not need to be justified by the world.  The obsession with music and performance is justification, not whether or not the world deems someone relevant.  There will always be people who strive to be piano virtuosi, and to live off music, and their inner passion is reason enough.

That said, the current traditional mold (I say current because there have been traditional molds that precede ours) is probably no longer viable.  Think of Van Cliburn, who goes to a top school, competes in an international competition, wins, and has a life-long career (or at least as long as he was interested in it).  That just won't happen again.

The biggest mistake young pianists can make, in my opinion, is to try and imitate the career trajectory of past pianists.   Every generation operates under different conditions, with different opportunities, and different possibilities.  

These days one encounters young pianists who almost apologize for playing in competitions.  For instance I heard and met a prizewinner from the Cleveland and Rubinstein competitions, who felt he had to explain that in order for a pianist to succeed, he "had to" play in competitions.  Well, I didn't ask.  But I still dispute his thesis.

In older days, a competition was a springboard to general success, it seems.  But in these days, competition wins (one is never enough) are enough to succeed within a closed, self-perpetuating system, that incestuous three-headed monster of conservatories, competitions and festivals.  Win some competitions, and then find yourself in a modest teaching post; judging other pianists in competitions; and going to summer festivals in rural Vermont or whatever. 

For anyone to achieve a more popular success, that is a success outside the inner-circle of this particular music industry, a competition is a means, but not a necessary means by any stretch of the imagination.

Or to influence colleagues, to influence peers in their approach to music - what competition is necessary for that?  To gain the respect of your colleagues, perhaps the most important thing in a career in music, takes much more than winning a competition, no matter how large.  It takes real world achievement, a personal vision which resonates with public psyche, or affects the way people hear or perceive music in some way.

I always think of the anecdote of Brahms, who one afternoon was sitting outside the cafe enjoying his coffee.  A theory professor from the Hochschule was passing by, and remarked that he wished he could enjoy his coffee in the afternoon.  Brahms said, "Go back to work, earn the respect of your colleagues, and then you will deserve it."  Or something to that effect.

I think because pianists generally know the sordid conditions under which competitions operate, one can rarely have a special respect for those that win them, because we know - it could have been anybody.  There are times when pianists truly rise above the mire and stand out, but how often is that really?

Just some food for thoughts.

Walter Ramsey

[ramseytheii]

Each virtuoso (or pianist, or artist for that matter) may be different, but does that difference make a difference?

That is quite simply, wonderfully said.  Bravo!

I always, in moments of cruelty more and more common as I become older, snicker at those pianists who say things like, "Nobody else plays it this way," referring to their own interpretation; or "Nobody else plays this piece," referring to some "gem" they've "unearthed" like Chopin's first sonata (blech!)

In my opinion these kind of comments, and this kind of desire to be different, are birth pangs of a new Zeitgeist.  People are slowly realizing that success cannot be achieved in the way that pianists of the past achieved it, and that the paradigm, so to speak, has to change.

However just playing something familiar in a different way, or unearthing some rarely played piece, is just not enough difference to make a difference as you so beautifully put it.  Because what if some pianist comes along, and feels that everybody has interpreted a dynamic in Tchaikovsky concerto no.1 "wrongly," and they play how they feel it - then what?  So what?  They would be better off spending their time learning how to compose.

Unless these interpretative gestures are tied to a singular, personal vision - unless they are based in some greater principle in other words - they are just meaningless nuances.

The real difference a pianist has to make, is much more profound.  The real difference is, finding a way to achieve success and respect of your peers (true success) without following the old, tired, traditional means - means that have been discredited based on their corrupt processes (*cough competitions cough*).  That is the measure of creativity for today's pianist.  Can they reach general people (non-specialists) and still impress specialists without being a cliche?  The idea extends much, much further than just playing a different kind of inflection here or there, and unearthing the odd unplayed piece, no matter how good.

What is the audience supposed to do, seeing this huge glut of winners of international competitions?  What do those pianists do, that truly distinguish them?  It is never just nuance.

Fascinating topic!

Walter Ramsey

[giannalinda]

Somebody needs to become like a Beethoven. THE WORLD NEEDS BEETHOVEN!!!! dont some of you wish Beethoven were still alive?

[ramseytheii]

Somebody needs to become like a Beethoven. THE WORLD NEEDS BEETHOVEN!!!! dont some of you wish Beethoven were still alive?

This is really my point exactly.  There can never be another Beethoven; there can never be another Bach.  Although both of their musics are wonderful in themselves, they also occupy historical positions that can never be replicated.  Beethoven achieved success in a way that no composer could do today.  The conditions under which Bach flourished can never occur again.

Similarly, there can never be another Gould; there can never be another Landowska, Cortot, Richter, Horowitz, whomever.  It is the task of today's pianist, to define new measurements of success.

Walter Ramsey

[m19834]

.

[steinwaynine]

There can, however, be us.  We are musicians.  We are communictors.  We are living in a time when all of us need to re-examine our lives.  Humans tend to return to art in times of need.  In October of this year I will be returning to the recital stage for the first time in many years.  It will be a small group of people -- a salon recital, if you will.  My goal, then, will be not only to play beautiful music for the small gathering, but to educate them little by little about what I am playing and what music means to the human spirit.  Imagine all of us doing this...  The way it was done long ago...  Gathering in small groups all over the world promoting classical music from Bach to Glass (or pick someone).  All of us touching, educating the general public one person -- or twenty at a time -- about the music we love?  We...  All of us... Virtuoso, Artist, Musician...  Could be the new begining for concert music...  So you are important, because you are unique, and you have someting to say.  Now, go out and begin saying it...  It's in you!

[go12_3]

There can, however, be us.  We are musicians.  We are communictors.  We are living in a time when all of us need to re-examine our lives.  Humans tend to return to art in times of need.  In October of this year I will be returning to the recital stage for the first time in many years.  It will be a small group of people -- a salon recital, if you will.  My goal, then, will be not only to play beautiful music for the small gathering, but to educate them little by little about what I am playing and what music means to the human spirit.  Imagine all of us doing this...  The way it was done long ago...  Gathering in small groups all over the world promoting classical music from Bach to Glass (or pick someone).  All of us touching, educating the general public one person -- or twenty at a time -- about the music we love?  We...  All of us... Virtuoso, Artist, Musician...  Could be the new begining for concert music...  So you are important, because you are unique, and you have someting to say.  Now, go out and begin saying it...  It's in you!

Bravo!   and enjoy yourself while you perform in your small gathering.....It's gratifying to share our music with others.   

best wishes,

go12_3 

[goldentone]

My goal, then, will be not only to play beautiful music for the small gathering, but to educate them little by little about what I am playing and what music means to the human spirit.  Imagine all of us doing this...  The way it was done long ago...  Gathering in small groups all over the world promoting classical music from Bach to Glass (or pick someone).  All of us touching, educating the general public one person -- or twenty at a time -- about the music we love?  

A wonderful idea, Steinwaynine.  I wonder if the threat of extinction in classical music is due to
people's unwillingness just to listen and give it a chance.  I got on board when I was 14, but I
had to be patient and listen.  So, perhaps it is simply a lack of patience and prejudice against classical music in this entertainment age.  Our music is more than entertainment, it is an experience.

[mousekowski]

If you look at the skills that Beethoven (or one of his contemporaries) had, and compare it to the skills of a modern piano virtuoso of today, you have to conceed that pianists today seem one-dimensional. If you can play the Hammerklavier well enough that most people in the audience can't distinguish it from their cherished CD recording that they listen to at home, then you've made it.

What the world DOES need is musicians that can say things to ordinary people through music. They don't have to be able to sight-read, or memorise, or play all of Chopin's Studies, they just have to say something personal to ordinary people. To be honest, and I know that there are a lot of jazz-haters out there, if I were a young pianist looking to make the world a better place, I'd probably use jazz or popular music as a vehicle to express myself.

[ramseytheii]

If you look at the skills that Beethoven (or one of his contemporaries) had, and compare it to the skills of a modern piano virtuoso of today, you have to conceed that pianists today seem one-dimensional. If you can play the Hammerklavier well enough that most people in the audience can't distinguish it from their cherished CD recording that they listen to at home, then you've made it.

What the world DOES need is musicians that can say things to ordinary people through music. They don't have to be able to sight-read, or memorise, or play all of Chopin's Studies, they just have to say something personal to ordinary people. To be honest, and I know that there are a lot of jazz-haters out there, if I were a young pianist looking to make the world a better place, I'd probably use jazz or popular music as a vehicle to express myself.

Excellent point!  One-dimensional is right-on.  Pianists these days for the most part totally lack basic music skills: improvisation, transposition, transcription, composition, playing by ear.  These, by the way, are very common skills in church musicians, whose jobs require those skills. 

I think one step pianists need to do to distinguish themselves, is reconnect with these basic musical skills.  Stop thinking about small, local nuances; stop thinking about minute differences in repertoire; learn more about the art of music itself.  Playing an instrument is such a small part of it.

If you look around, you see more and more people who can master their instruments.  We have got that down to a science.  We understand more than in Liszt's time the physical aspect of playing (and we learned it partly from his instinctual understand), and we understand how to apply that to students to get them to be able to use the instrument efficiently.  Now we have to reconnect with basic music skills - go beyond the instrument, into the realm of real music.  That is an essential part of the pianist of the future, trust me. 

If anyone can master the instrument, and it seems from the glut of competition winners that most anyone can, than that is not enough to be interesting.  As someone above put it, the difference is not enough to make a difference.

Walter Ramsey

[ramseytheii]

Excellent point!  One-dimensional is right-on.  Pianists these days for the most part totally lack basic music skills: improvisation, transposition, transcription, composition, playing by ear.  These, by the way, are very common skills in church musicians, whose jobs require those skills. 

I know I am quoting myself, but another point about church musicians is that I think more than anywhere else, more than in the concert hall, more than in the conservatories, competitions and festivals of this world, music lives on in churches.  Why?  Because professional church musicians are required weekly to perform, improvise, and compose.

Not only do they play their instruments, they can see their compositions performed immediately after they are written.  They can test ideas with introductions, interludes, and modulations within the course of a service.  They lead a group of people in a way that a one-dimensional concert artist cannot do.

The skills that make a good church musician, will be the skills that preserve the organic life of music.  If competitions are to become relevant again, they need to start including composition and improvisation - pianists should be asked to play their own compositions, and improvise on given themes.

Walter Ramsey

[ramseytheii]

A wonderful idea, Steinwaynine.  I wonder if the threat of extinction in classical music is due to
people's unwillingness just to listen and give it a chance.  I got on board when I was 14, but I
had to be patient and listen.  So, perhaps it is simply a lack of patience and prejudice against classical music in this entertainment age.  Our music is more than entertainment, it is an experience.

I disagree totally with the concept of the "threat of extinction in classical music."

Point one: the line which we know as classical music is already extinct.. it went roughly from C.P.E. and W.F. Bach thru Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, disseminated in Schumann and Mendelssohn, dispersed in Wagner and Liszt, revived in Brahms, deconstructed in Strauss, Mahler, Reger, and shattered into a million pieces by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.  Even in Brahms' time, to compose music according to the values of the classical musicians was a conscious effort, not a given.  Imagine the amount of effort it would take today, to do so.

Point two: if we are talking about classical music more generally, to include all the composers I omitted in the previous paragraph, the only kind of extinction anyone can talk about is commercial.  It may be possible, that the system set up now, with expensive recording costs, huge city orchestras with bloated budgets, huge music schools saddling music students with huge debts, is in these modern times unfeasible.  The whole system might collapse.

But will that kill music?  Will that make extinct those who want to listen to Debussy, Mozart, Liszt, Boulez, et al?  Will that make extinct those who want to inspect closely their ideas, imitate, then compose their own music?  No.  It only means that we may not have the same commercial structure as we have today.  And what's wrong with that?  The commercial structure we have today for classical music is frankly effed up.

Classical Music cannot survive on a commercial aesthetic that demands mass involvement.  It simply cannot.  It never will.  You will never have a city orchestra that is selling 2 million tickets a year, or whatever.  It is just not even conceivable.  For people in classical music industry to operate by the standard of mass production then is stupid.

But would the disappearance of this model mean that that kind of music is extinct?  I don't see how it could.  Those who make music, whether performing or composing, do not need a world that deems them relevant, in order to justify what they do.  They will do it, whether the world says it needs them, or not.  We may have a lot less people passing thru music school, because there is less and less incentive, but I think that could safely be considered a good thing as well.

Walter Ramsey

[bipabew]

I have really been enjoying reading this topic.  I think this is a great question to ask as it seems we are always seeing new "prodigies." 

When I first read the title of this topic a few days ago I interpreted the question as "Would the music world and people in general really benefit from having yet another pianist who can play all of the fiery showpieces from the standard repertoire at breakneck speeds?" 

My response to that interpretation of the question was "No, we don't need more people who can play all the right notes of a piece at a ridiculous tempo.  I've seen enough octave passages by now."

However the word "virtuoso" can also be used to describe someone who makes truly meaningful music.  In that case I would say that we do need more virtuosos. 

Do not feel like you need to conform to society's perception of a concert pianist.  To conform to someone else's idea of good music would take away the thing that makes music great.  Self Expression. 

Without this, music can feel like a mindless exercise.

[m19834]

There is another universe of possible interpretations that has not even been looked at.

Like what ?

[mila5405]

Well interesting subject.... A lot of babies are born each day who has a whole world to discover. We cant really know what there fancies are. Maybe he she/will be a pianovirtuoso and discover all the beauty and love iof pianomusic or only be happy audience on a concert and wheres a better place to listen to live music performed by a good pianist!! 

/mike