Perfection.......Is It Possible?

[MTS_JSOT]

I've just recently started "re-practicing" Rachmoninoffs Etude Tabluex No. 6 and found it to be rather difficult for me. My teacher says that she wants the song to be perfercted by the middle of March/April and after seeing/hearing how the song is played (I have played it once for perfomance but was rather messy.) I wonder if anyone has ever played this song, or any song of this caliber or higher, perfectly with clean notes?

[brsmpianist]

Think not so much about technique but of musicality... this is Rachmaninoff, and although you want it as clean as possible more importantly it needs to be intense 

[steinwayguy]

A perfect performance is one with perfect execution of sophisticated musical ideas, not perfect execution of playing what's on the score.

[jlh]

Read a bit about Rachmaninoff and you'll see that there was a lot going on in the Russian world at the time.  Rach captured much of the emotion of the time in his music, so yes, intensity and musicality is more important than a perfect execution of notes -- any pianodisc can do that.

[ehpianist]

Don't feel the need to get up to tempo right away, this will always have a negative effect on your performance.  Instead make sure you do things as slow as you need to in order to truly play perfectly.  As your hands and brain get used to it they will naturally start going faster.  If you push it it is a recipe for many mistakes and technical problems.  The results are slower to show but the end result will be worth it.

By the way, a "song" is something that is sung and has lyrics.  We refer to  non-vocal performance music "pieces".

Elena
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[anda]

in reply to your topic question: no, perfection is not possible - at least, not for human beings (great pianists included).

also, i agree with everything said about - a "well-played" work has nothing to do with playing all the notes exact and precised. we're not supposed to be computers.

[Awakening]

I've just recently started "re-practicing" Rachmoninoffs Etude Tabluex No. 6 and found it to be rather difficult for me. My teacher says that she wants the song to be perfercted by the middle of March/April and after seeing/hearing how the song is played (I have played it once for perfomance but was rather messy.) I wonder if anyone has ever played this song, or any song of this caliber or higher, perfectly with clean notes?

Basically, the idea of perfection is unattainable.  The more accomplished the pianist, the higher their standard of perfection is.  For me, perfection might be playing all the correct notes on a piece without any noticeable hiccups, while also keeping the dynamics and phrasing just the way I want them.  I can never do this, because I haven't reached that level yet.  If I could do it, my standard of perfection would be higher (and still unattainable).  To the audience listening to me, perfection might be hearing the majority of the notes played correctly, because they simply don't know the piece the way I do, and a mistake I make may not be noticeable at all to them.  As for great pianists such Horowitz, Kissin, Gould, Rubinstein, or anyone else of this caliber, perfection would be playing the piece with everything exactly the way they intended.  No matter how great they are, the human mind is far too perfectionistic when compared to the human body to allow for complete satisfaction.  Our minds and hearts can expect one thing so incredibly specific and beautiful and precise, that our bodies could never accomodate.  Nevertheless, the difference between what our mind wants and what our body actually delivers becomes smaller and smaller the more we practice a piece, and eventually it becomes so insignificant that a piece sounds perfect to everyone except the performer.  Best way I can explain it, anyway.   

[Skeptopotamus]

There is always some way to humanly improve.

PS if we are talking about Op. 39 i love that piece and use it all the time in competitions.

[MTS_JSOT]

Sorry for the typo but I meant Rachmoninoff's 9th Etude Tablueax Op. 39.

Think not so much about technique but of musicality... this is Rachmaninoff, and although you want it as clean as possible more importantly it needs to be intense

I've got the intensity down, I pretty much sweat gallons while playing lol. But I've been told many times that it's my technique that isn't as good as it should be to play this song.

[vivacelife]

Perfection does not exist in this realm...
It may exist in another realm, and artists must search for it in the other realm in order to become a true artist