-4

I am listening to a piano music and it raised a question which I was thinking about it for a long time:

Why do pianists start with nice melodies and they ruin it afterwards?

They suddenly change the style. The audience who loved the previous style might find the new style harsh or jerk.

This description is subjective so to avoid offending professionals, I call the styles A (pleasant) and B (I cannot feel its beauty). These grouping is distinctive for we amateurs.

In this example, the music begins pleasantly from 0 to 48th second (A). Then it becomes (B). Then from 1:27 to 1:41 it becomes (A) then (B), from 2:40 to 2:56 (A) again. Then (B). Then (A) from 3:40 to 3:53. From 3:58 harsh to the end.

I know many of descriptions are subjective and I hope no one gets offended.

Why don't pianists keep the melodies playing in their best way?

Music: La Campanella (Grandes Etudes de Paganini No. 3) - Franz Liszt

Improve this question
  • 3
    It seems like this is partly about your opinion of the music, in that you like some parts of the music and don’t like other parts. Other people might like or dislike the whole thing. So it’s really based on different peoples opinions of the music and those are not the kinds of questions we want to answer here. You can learn more about the questions we want to answer in the hell center. – Todd Wilcox Nov 16 '17 at 13:52
  • 1
    @ToddWilcox - aw, come on. That centre's not that bad !! – Tim Nov 16 '17 at 13:54
  • 3
    One man's pleasant is another's jerk. We all know this from experience. So, someone else could phrase the same question the opposing way. Thus, it's a question of opinion, which never gets accepted on this site. Sorry! – Tim Nov 16 '17 at 13:58
  • 1
    @ToddWilcox, all I said were examples. my question is about why they change the style of playing? why dont they keep the same mood? – ar2015 Nov 16 '17 at 13:58
  • 1
    I haven't listened to the clip, chances are you are just not used to certain elements of that section. An intentionally "ugly part" may also be there for a purpose... See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calm_Before_the_Storm – user43681 Nov 17 '17 at 9:09
3

You like a straightforward tune, you're not so keen on development and embellishment. That's OK. I often remind jazz performers (particularly when performing for an audience not exclusively jazz afficionados) not to forget to present the melody, played/sung as beautifully as possible, before setting off on a string of improvisation. Many of that audience may enjoy the tune, merely tolerate the improvisation. But there's a famous quote about using folk tunes in extended musical works. 'Once you've played it, there's not much to do except play it again, louder'. If a piece is to last more than a minute, it's difficult to avoid developing the material. Maybe you'd enjoy a less mechanical performance of the piece rather more.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.