New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-01-06

About Pianoforte PLAYING
Harold Bauer's Views the Mechanics of the Art-A
Letter and Word of Comment

If one had the opportunity. like
the princes of Mozart's time, of APP
pointing a pianist in ordinary to
play to him for an hour daily, ones
choice would hardly fall upon Mr..
PadcrcwSki. Ones ears would be-
como Quilted with the tonal muscu-
larfty, ones taste cloycd by the sur
pass iTfs~-~ sweetness of the grand ro-
mantle style This is not style of
playing 60 'sensitize the car to all
the delicate shades OF expression, to
the subtle conformations of design,
which reside in the piano music of
schun'ann, and in general in all
music written for the harpsichord
in the eighteenth century. No;
ones choice for daily fare would
fall rather uron such pianist as
Mr.. Bauer 1t is such as he, who
teach the listener to listen, to mark
the exquisite hairs breadth differ
ence between one tone OF an inner
voice and another. to note vara-
tions of tint like those in Whis-
tiers nocturncs, to bring taste and
judgment actively to the enjoy
ment of music. Having so learned
to mark, note and participate, the
listener would discover surpris-
inc thing: that he would no longer
crave the tonal magniGcence of the
heroic school of playing He would
come to feel that grandeur is a
relative thing. depending not> upon
the gross volume Of tone, but>upon
dynamic relations; upon carefully
built climax, upon the subtle min
Cling Of tonal colors List, when
he let loose his hasty boast that he
could reproduce any orchestral eff
feet on his piano. did the world of
music grievous wrong His or
chestral ideal Of pianism has per-
sisted, thanks in no small measure
to LISTS own music, has limited
the expressive range of great
pianists, and has made bumptous
pan-pounders Of the ambitious
small fry in every studio. There is
q far more fruitful work for the
ordinary pianist in proceeding from
Mr.. Bauer's premises. and seeking
to utilize the qualities which the
piano has, rather than attempting
to create the illusion of those which
it hasn't
1t Is mistake to assume that
this moro discreet type of playing is
lacking in 'warmth' or color"
Though in it the color sca.s is low
err, all the tones and shades can be
produced in equal variety. 1t may
be that if it came into general ac-
ceptance much of the pianoforte
music Of the "orchcstral" type
would pass into limbo, simply be-
cause 1t is prcdicated upon the very
assumptions which the discreet
pianist rejects. But in general this
would be small loss. Even admit
ting that the great composers have
sometimes partakcn of the fallacy
OF the old Virtuosi and have over
written their piano music, still the
overwhelming majority of the excel
lent music in piano literature is at
least as valid in the discreet STYLE as
IN the orchestral. Chopin's most
splendid Polonaiscs are as martial
and as emotional in the lower color
scale as in the higher. De Pachmann
showed how varied and colorful the
most intimate of pianism can be
made. Yet most Of the De Pach-
mann values in pianism can be re-
tanned in interpretations of more
imposing outline Miss Novaes Of
fers an admirable example of the
emotional and pictorial warmth
which can be attained without at
tempting to transcend the natural
limitations of the pianoforte
And, finally, if little that is of
worth in modern piano music is lost
In accepting the Eauer premises, a
vast quantity of the older keyboard
music, written for clavichord and
harpsichord, becomes possible again.
Mr.. Dolmetsch gave us only a
glimpse OF the beauties of this
music, and Nine Patorna playing
on her clavocin with the musicians
OF the Instruments Ancicns, only
whets the appetite Il little more. 1t
Is not to be expected that harpsi-
chords and clavecins viii be cult
waited much in large modern concert
halls. But the music written for
these instruments, and the music
such as that of Beethoven and
Schubert still bearing the marks of
the harpsichord tradition, comes
back to new life when played after
Mr.. Bauer's manner. Mr.. Lortat,
playing at Aeolian Hall the other
day with Mr.. Thibaud, revealed
beauties in Mozart which are rarely
brought out in our concert halls.
For he is of the school to which Mr..
Bauer belongs He works intensive
ly. in the lower scale of dvnamics
and color which he has accepted.
and makes eloquent the subtleties