Purpose of instrumental performance as sole career?

[gapoc459]

"Who needs another recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas?" was the rhetorical question the head of my school's music department asked me the other day.

Some days I feel that there is nothing I could do besides music and questions of "practicality" or "relevance" become trivialities in the face of my passion. Other days, although my love for music never wanes, I simply feel that I would be better off doing something that can directly benefit people around me, simply enjoying music in the comfort and solace of a practice room or a good set of headphones. At these times, it is not as though I am doubting the absolute significance to humanity that music serves, but rather I ask myself, "What can I really do that can make any sort of difference?" Maybe if I were able to compose music as great and contemporary as that of Beethoven or Shostakovich was in their time, that would be a different question. But purely playing their works? I can spend thousands of hours listening, studying, playing the music of only Beethoven, my absolute favorite composer. His music occupies upwards of 90% of my spare time. But I believe that a career should be something as pleasurable for me as it would be important for those around me. Can I have something radically new and life-changing to say about Beethoven's work? Is it worth spending the majority of my life simply trying to share what hundreds of thousands have already shared?

I'm still in high school, btw, and I think it would be best not to make an extreme decision one way or the other about my career until college. Still, it is a question I ask myself every once in a while. In the meantime, I am studying every note Beethoven wrote (plus or minus Wellington's Victory and the like...   ).

Now go listen to Eroica. <3

[j_menz]

"Who needs another recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas?"

It's a good question, and anyone contemplating a recording of them should ask themselves it.

There is much to be gained from studying and playing them, of course.  And I doubt the head of your school was doubting that.  But, it seems to me that there is a relatively small repertoire that is constantly being recorded largely so a label or a performer can say they've done it and without adding anything worthwhile to what's already there.

At the same time, there is a vast amount of repertoire, some of it very good indeed, which languishes unperformed and unknown to the listening audience (and the performers themselves, it often seems).

If our art is to have meaning, and be a living, relevant thing, surely it must involve more than dusting off the same old museum pieces for an umpteenth outing.

Of course, if you really do have something new and profound to say about a Beethoven sonata, I'm all ears!

[visitor]

It's ....Beethoven... I'm all ears!

I see what you did there.    Cheeky

[j_menz]

I see what you did there.    Cheeky

LOL. Purely unintentional, I assure you. If I meant to be funny, I'd have said all ear trumpets.

[visitor]

LOL. Purely unintentional, I assure you. If I meant to be funny, I'd have said all ear trumpets.

now you're just being insensitive.

[j_menz]

now you're just being insensitive.

Beethoven can handle it. He was quite good at insensitivity himself. My personal fave: "I like you opera a lot, I think I will set it to music".

[visitor]

Beethoven can handle it. He was quite good at insensitivity himself. My personal fave: "I like you opera a lot, I think I will set it to music".

LvB was a hipster.  Trollin' before it was mainstream.

[ale_ius]

[Bob]

There's always room at the top.

You might have something just a little different than others.  I'm actually thinking maybe 20-30 recordings of the same piece would be enough.  But everyone would have a different 20-30 recordings.

And there's live music.  You can't always have someone around to play a certain piece of music live for you.





From the title though, the purpose would be something like...
Need to make money.
Because you can.  Because someone has to.
To spread your message.
Because you just have to, must communicate the music to an audience.
Because you don't want to go into business, law, medicine, the army, etc.
[Because of a mistaken belief that you'll pick up more chicks.  If one piece imrpesses... What would a whole repertoire do?]

[classicalnhiphop]

i really couldn't answer your question, but on a side note, this is one of the best posts/topics i have ever  seen since joining this forum.  kudos to u sir

[classicalnhiphop]

im still trying to think about it

[gapoc459]

It would be interesting to hear from a professional pianist what they think. Bob, thank you for your response, although I don't really find any of your reasons particularly compelling. If I want to make money, I'll go into a field like medicine. I don't believe that most pianists chose their careers out of a process of elimination (although I've met many who have...)! And "because someone has to"? I mean, there's soooo many musicians out there. Absolutely, the top 20-30 recordings of any great piece are worthwhile. If I could be one of the top 100-200 pianists in the world, of course I'd feel fulfilled, useful, relevant. But what about everybody else? Who cares?

[awesom_o]

If our art is to have meaning, and be a living, relevant thing, surely it must involve more than dusting off the same old museum pieces for an umpteenth outing.

This is a good point raised by j_menz.

Beethoven himself would laugh at the idea of a person attempting to make a 'career' out of solely playing his music.

Beethoven liked Handel a great deal. He thought Handel was the best composer, period. He liked Handel AT LEAST as much as the OP of this thread likes Beethoven, possibly more.

Even so, he didn't expect to have a career just because he liked Handel and could play his music beautifully!

He worked really hard, taught lessons, and composed a ton of music!

So that is my advice to the OP: if you don't like teaching, composing, and chamber music, you had better be financially independent! It's going to be pretty hard for you to pay your way through life on solo performances of someone else's music!

[ignaceii]

Parts of my answer are worked in my topic, beginning of a piano depression, which also questions the relativity of another concertpianist playing the same works again and again.
I wrote about A. Schiff. Who started recording Beethoven when he was 50th.

It heapens by coincidence that when I was younger I saw myself flying around giving recitals all over the world.
And at the same time now It doesn't give that same feeling anymore.
My furiosity that goes beyond my own piano abilities is the fact that the classical topindustry, meaning, the top agencies with big names, with or without substence, don't care a damn about those lost and forgotten, or not forgotten, but never played great composers.

Play a concert by F. Ries and there may be people who say, hah, finally, not a Beethoven again.
Barbie Yuyu who finds Shostakovitches 2nd concert too easy, the pretentious pratt.

They have nothing to say, and still they manage to infiltrate in every aspect of the performance industry. Pierre Alain Volondat, queen Elisabeth winner, exiled to a provincial french academy. My god.

Lennie Bernstein gave children concerts, educated them with enormous success, best conductor, pianist, composer.
Now, that's what great musicianship is about.
A french book in 2 parts has been written on every piano composer, 3000 pages. Maybe 5 % of it is played today.
Well, do something and learn to know other composers to. Cpe Bach was called by Mozart "our father". Nowadays not anymore.
Remember, that a large portion of concertgoers are there for the performer, for theirr networking with champagne afterwards,...

Argerich is right. I like playing piano, but not being a pianist.