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| Picture taken from http://www.claviercompanion.com/access 9 Oct 2010 Clavier Companion September/October 2010 Vol 2 No 5 |
The cover of the latest Clavier Companion September/October issue had "Garrick Ohlsoon Talks Technique" printed bold and large with his photo. Ever since I went to his concert last July in Sydney, my curiosity of this great pianists floods by admiration. This article claimed to reveal Garrick Ohlsson's playing magic by measuring his muscle tension and biomechanical movement. Sounds just too interesting to be missed.
The data is taken while Garrick Ohlsson plays on a Yamaha Disklavier that generated correlating data. On the official web page you can find the film of he playing part of Chopin's Nocturne op 15 no 1. Not only you get to see the data which response his playing, but you also have a very close look of how he moves his body and use his fingers. Dare I said, something that no pianist should not missed.
The interview though not an indepth study, presents some of Garrick Ohlsson's concept of piano performance, e.g.
(Riley, Kathleen. "Garrick Ohlsson on Technique: Mastering the Paradoxical Element of Control". Clavier Companion September/October 2010, Vol. 2 No. 5 pp.12-21.)
"I think technique is the ability to play the right note at the right tim in coordination with l the other notes, and in a musical relationship."
".....no one can ever really be good enough, because every aspect, every nuance, can always be a little better--a little more gorgeous or exciting. That's when practising becomes truly creative, when you get to think about how much spice you're putting in or not putting in, or how you connect the phrases with each other."
"It's really important that the ear is the guide."
".....tell three parts of your body to relax: the ankles, mid-section, and neck and shoulders."
"The music is much bigger than playing a few wrong notes." (as I recall, there is no obvious wrong notes during the concert., for someone who can produce such a great music like him, this is a fair statement.)
"Arrau (one of my favourite, most admired pianists) said that there's a dynamic relationship between tension and relaxation. It's not that you are one or the other.....It's a matter of degrees."
".....there was a study done at the Minnesota Orchestra, where, just to give the board members an idea of what the musicians were doing, each board member was given a violin and a bow and instructed to just hold them in position for one minute. At the end of the minute, each board member was exhausted--they just couldn't do it. People tend to forget what an amazing amount of conditioning we need in order to be able to play music." (oh, people also tend to forget what an amazing amount of mental work we need in order to be able to play music, play music well.)
The article is followed by another short one by Dolores Fredrickson's "Garrick Ohlsson: A Chopin Master" which tells how much Garrick Ohlsson is known for his Chopin repertoire:
"It seems that every pianist in the world has jumped on the Chopin bandwagon by playing a piece or two during this year's celebration of the Chopin bicentennial, but few can touch American pianist Garrick Ohlsson. He has recorded everything Chopin has written and performed the entire Chopin repertoire from memory world-wide."
"Chicago's Ravinia Festival showcased Mr. Ohlsson this summer as one of the world's foremost interpreters of Chopin's music. Besides giving an all-Chopin recital, he played both Chopin concerti with the Chicago Symphony. When I asked Mr. Ohlsson how he was going to play both concerti, I told him I thought only Rubinstein did that. Garrick's eyes twinkled and he smiled his "Watch me--I can do it" smile. And so he did, to the great delight of the audience."
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