Piano Performance: A Brief Background

The history of professional musical performance began at the time when the first musical work recorded by notes appeared. Performing is the result of bilateral activities of the composer, expressing his thoughts through music, and the performer who brings to life the author’s creation. The process of performing music is full of secrets and mysteries. In any musical interpretation, two trends are friendly and rival: the desire for a pure expression of the composer’s ideas and the desire for the full expression of a virtuoso-player. The victory of one tendency inevitably leads to the defeat of both – that’s the paradox! Let’s take a fascinating journey into the history of piano and piano performance and try to trace how the author and performer interacted over the ages and centuries. Continue reading →