R O B E RTTHIES CONCERT PIANIST by Lucia Brantley
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FALL 2012 R O B E RTTHIES CONCERT PIANIST By Lucia Brantley What can we expect to hear you play for us here in Zion? Evening Performance at the Canyon “I will perform music of Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, Chopin, and Community Center in Springdale Prokofiev. While many make careers playing more contemporary music, November 7, 7:30 p.m. I still regard these traditional composers to be among the best. There is www.robertthies.org so much rich piano repertoire to be performed!” Z-Arts is pleased to present a world-class How do you give a piece its emotional intensity? performance by Robert Thies funded in part “Many audience members of a classical performance, and sadly a num- by WESTAF (Tourwest) and Onstage Utah. ber of musicians, think that adding one’s own emotion to the music is part of the process of music making and performing. But the truth is that Members $10 a performance is a display of a performer’s understanding and connec- Non-members $15 tion to the music. The more one understands the music, the more one can connect to it, and the emotional aspect of the performance should Tickets will be available at the Z-Arts office therefore be natural. In other words, the “emotion” is already written in the Canyon Community Center, into the music, and if a performer connects to these emotional charac- Under the Eaves Inn, Lisa Zumpft or they teristics, then the listener will experience those emotions with the per- may be purchased at the door on the former. Unfortunately, there are times that we have to play music that evening of the performance. CONT’D NEXT PAGE 1 CONT’D we do not necessarily connect to. In be spontaneous in performance. So, What might you have done, if not this instance, it is very difficult to con- yes, the music can be so powerfully this? vince the listener of the music, if the beautiful that it transports us to won- “To be brutally honest, it is very chal- performer doesn’t understand or con- derful places, and that’s wonderful if lenging to make a living as a classical nect to it first.” the listener has that experience---but musician. One needs to be creative and the performer has to stay somewhat versatile to make it happen. It is a life of Reviewers note that you do not grounded in performance.” many sacrifices, and many insecurities, waste your efforts on “flashy ges- financial and otherwise. The demands tures” or showiness; that all of your can take quite a toll on one’s health too. physicality is purposeful, calm and Still, knowing what I know now, given a confident. How do you maintain second chance, I would do exactly the this level of focus (and humility)? same thing all over again. This music “My mantra, as a musician, is that we has enriched my existence beyond exist to share and keep alive the art of comprehension. As Rachmaninoff once these great composers. We exist to said, ‘Music is enough for a lifetime, service THEM, not ourselves. One can but a lifetime is not enough for music.’” watch a performance and know very quickly if the performance is about the Along those lines, and since you composer or about the performer. I am appear to be very young, do you disturbed when a performer is too self- have other aspirations / interests indulgent or blatantly ignores a com- beyond your musical career at this poser’s intentions for selfish purposes. time? I would say that 80-90% of a success- “My aspirations are to love, be loved, ful and inspiring performance is possi- give joy to others, celebrate and adore ble simply by executing what the com- the beauty of this world and the gift of poser wrote. The rest falls on the per- life itself. I simply want to do more of former’s understanding, love for, and what I am already doing.” experience with that composer and his language---and it’s this element which What keeps your practice, and your allows us to hear countless, different performances, new for you? (How interpretations of the same piece.” do you maintain your passion for playing?) Can you describe what you are “Ironically, the fact that it is such a thinking / feeling when you are financial struggle to make a living as a playing? Here's a weird question: If the classical musician, almost fuels the “Again, I think there is a misconception piano were a person (or some other passion more. When I start to lament that perf o r mers are somehow pos- living thing), what characteristics how hard I work for often little financial sessed by the music or exist on a differ- would he/she/it possess? How reward, I remember how Mozart and ent plane when they play. And perhaps would you describe your relation- Schubert died as paupers. All these some musicians would even testify to ship with "it?" great composers struggled to make a this! When I perform, I am thinking “I treat my instrument with the same living, to create art, in spite of it all, and about the upcoming phrase, the struc- loving care I would to a human or ani- so must I. Why? CERTA I N LY not ture and architecture of the piece, and mal. If I want to make a beautiful sound because anyone is making me! I play frankly there is a lot more “computing” come from the instrument, (and I would this music because it needs to be happening than it seems. For example, think this would be a priority for any heard, live on, and pass down to anoth- if I don’t pay close attention to a little instrumentalist) I am gentle with the er generation.” turn of a certain phrase that happens i n s t r ument and draw the sound twice but a little differently each time, I out…you cannot force your instrument What art forms (musical, visual, lit- might accidentally jump to a different to create something beautiful…just as erary, etc.) have you discovered part of the piece! However, if one gains you cannot force someone to love you. lately? confidence in the memorization of a Even in louder passages, the sound “I continue to be inspired by painting, piece, then he is freer to react to the should always be beautiful and round, sculpture, and the beauty of nature elements of live performance, and even never harsh or ugly.” itself.” CONT’D NEXT PAGE 2 CONT’D What other genres of music do you cational system is the failure at what led you to the piano, and to appreciate? introducing music and art to the the classical genre? “Too many to list. I really don’t listen to children as a regular part of the cur- “I showed an interest in music when I classical music as much as I should, riculum. There will never be a lack was 3 or 4 years old. I would go up to because much of my listening happens of musicians ready to cross the the piano and sound out melodies I had in the car, and it’s difficult to listen to stage. The problem or “crisis”, as I heard on the television. Classical music classical music in the car with its dra- see it, is in cultivating and maintain- came a few years later in lessons. I matic changes of dynamics. I draw ing an audience for those perform- practiced the music I was taught to inspiration from all kinds of music…jazz, ers.” practice…fortunately it was a traditional world, ambient, folk, and film music.” If you were an educator, how training, and so that music happened to would you incorporate music into be of the classical genre. I didn’t yearn What advice would you give some- the curriculum to foster an apprecia- for or request to study other genres, one who is trying to become more tion of classical music in our youth? because at that age I wasn’t too aware creative...someone who wishes to “If I were in a position to influence a of the different genres out there. The develop an artistic talent but is hesi- curriculum, I would do what they do in point is: I was exposed to this music at tant to do so? Europe. I would make music mandatory an early age, and I found that music “I would say, “Don’t let anything stop s t a r ting early elementary school. stimulating and rewarding.” you, because honestly, is there anything Students should be taught fundamen- more important than art?” There was a tals, should sing in choirs, learn their You spoke of your love for the g r eat scene in a film called “Mr. country’s folk music, and be exposed to mountains and nature--would you Holland’s Opus.” When the administra- classical music at an early, impression- care to comment on that? Just tor told the teacher that the music and able age. They should be exposed to whatever comes to mind or any- art programs might be cut---because the and learn all the popular melodies of the thing you want to share. music program is much more trivial than great composers. Young kids absorb so “Yes, I have always loved the splendor reading, writing, and arithmetic---the much, they can learn foreign languages of nature, and I adore Zion National teacher responded, ‘If you do this, then quickly, and they can develop an appre- Park.