Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner What do you look for in an encore?

Are you saying that St. Paul judges an artist's audience popularity by the encores performed? Even after "a very impressive program" de la Salle won't be invited back?

I'm trying to "go figure."

Regards,

I wouldn't think one is appropriate. Neither is playing one after 109, 110, D 960, D959, and a myriad of other pieces.

An encore seems to be possible after the fourth movement of D960...but an encore after the late Beethoven sonatas doesn't seem to work.

Have you actually heard someone try it, and have a "failed" encore?

To me, the last few Beethoven sonatas may pose unusual problems for encores, but I don't see that as a reason to just write the idea off. After all, one function of encores can be to gently help to transition the audience back to "real life" after some extraordinary musical experience.

I usually look for some showpiece, something impressive and short. It's also a good opportunity to choose something obscure or not frequently programmed.

But one time the encore piece I heard was the Albeniz Tango in D. It was the strangest choice for an encore piece ever. Were we not clapping hard enough???

Very good point, I hadn't thought of that!

Why was it strange? Plenty of great pianists or pianists with big technique play "simple" pieces as one of their encores.

Are you feeling the need to clarify after a recent thread on mediocre guitar players?

If you were a guitarist, you'd make Malaguena your encore..

Some may prefer not to know in advance, but I like it when pianists, after being called back repeatedly and realizing they won't be able to get away without an encore or three, let the audience know how many they'll be playing. Like Horowitz used to do, so charmingly. That way, people in the audience know how long they have to clap for .....or whether they want to leave immediately.

I have no expectations for encores, even to the point of being quite happy without any at all. It surprises me that not only do some audience members expect an encore - or encores - they appear to be disappointed or even short-changed when there isn't one. No program that I've ever seen "guarantees" any encores.

If the program has been well-performed, can't we be satisfied with that? If the program has not been well-performed, do we need to endure more of the same?

I've never been to an orchestra concert where the orchestra plays encores; why should recitals be different?

Regards,

It just felt anticlimactic after hearing a huge program. I also personally don't care for the tango, so we left right after that.

IF there is an encore, I expect it to be the "dessert" after a fine meal. This means short, sweet, and pleasant to the senses...even if it has little "nutritional" value. So something light, fun, familiar, etc. would work and can provide a contrast to the heavy program.

Audiences always seem to like the contrast when the concert pianist plays a boogie, or a rocker playing a clasical theme (eg Jimmy Page playing Chopin).

In the case of Richter, he comments on how he played through entire concerti terribly the first time, only to encore the entire thing and produce a much more satisfying performance.

I think that may have been only once. It was Ravel's Lefty, IIRC.

Yep, it was that one, as well as one a Bach concerto as well...

I don't remember hearing about repeating the Bach - interesting. I remember that Anderszewski once did that with a Bach suite, too. So picky, some artists.

The encore can be used to prove to the audience that you really can play a piece correctly, if you made a mess of it earlier .

I was at a concert many years ago when Ivo Pogorelich had a bad memory lapse in The Great Gate of Kiev, and ended up skipping a whole section of it. His encore was the same bit of the Pictures, this time minus the memory lapse.....