Piano Forum

I always find it funny how loved Cortot is by modern pianists. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to him, there's just something special about the way he phrases melodic lines. But man his playing is riddled with  so many errors. For Cortot it's a "unique" and "individualistic" way of playing common in 19th century born pianists, whereas a modern pianist doing the same would get told to pick up a metronome and to read the score properly. But then the same people will complain about modern concert pianists losing the magic older pianists had!

It's kinda funny!

To be fair, I think the people admiring Cortot's playing, mistakes and all (people like me) are not the same people as those who think modern pianists should pick up a metronome and are not allowed to make mistakes

Personally, my admiration for Cortot's technique has grown as I've grown older. When I was younger I heard the mistakes more and thought he must have not been very good but compensated for it with musicality. But I dare you to try to play some of the things he plays at the tempo he takes them, with the lightness, control over infinite tonal shades, and rhytmic drive that he has, and see how you fare. I think it's simply not possible to get the results he does without a very fine technique underneath it. It's just that there are some wrong notes here and there. Be it because he had too thick fingers, did not keep his technique in optimum shape, suffered from nerves in front of the mic, simply cared more about other things, or was growing too old to play as accurately as a younger virtuoso I don't know.