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What partcular manerisms would put you off?

I went to see and hear Helene Grimaud play Brahms and although she is an excellent pianist, she sways aroud on her piano stool which seeing her do in person I found kind of off putting a bit. It was also mentioned by the critics afterwards who did a write up of the concert last night. I kept thinking why cant she sit still. She started swaying on the orchestras introduction to the concerto. To be honest, it looked a little odd.

None. I'm interested in hearing a pianist.

How did she sound?

Here's a video of the pianist in question.

A lovely sound; an even lovelier sight! I think she likes Beeth!

Well I don't like to see Martha Argerich smoking... but I still adore her!

And I love to see her swaying, smiling and singing while she plays, but then she is never over the top.

Ostentatious virtuosity for its own sake regardless of the character and demands of the piece played. I recently heard a performer rip the Butterfly Étude to shreds through excessive speed just because he could but the essential character of the piece was lost. To roughly quote Liszt regarding one of his pupils attempts at ( I believe) The Heroic Polonaise, "I don't want to hear how fast you can play, I want to hear the Polish cavalry!"

If that little motion disturbs you I'll bet you can't watch this clip of Keith Jarrett without going nuts.

Between the grunting, stomping, gyrations, shoulder shrugs and flailing you might start convulsing yourself!

but hey if you can play like that man I don't care what you do.

I think a lot of these things are on purpose, choreographed and completely unnecessary to playing difficult pieces. It's distracting, IMO.

I like Helene Grimauld. All the movements included. She's very real to me. She gets into what she's doing. I see her doing what she's doing and expect the piano to be smoking at the end.

Our worldly society tries to train us to be actors. Hide what's real inside. I love people who are being real from the inside.

What I don't like is the exaggerated hand and arm gestures by alot of classical pianists. like they are waving a magic wand like some wizard. and the head bobbing in rhythm to some of the loud passages.

watch this playing by Lang Lang and you'll know what I mean:

There could be a reason for that, insofar as, well, it`s keeping your arm moving so when you next hit the keyboard, all you have to do is continue the motion (in a different direction!) rather than stop and restart the arm, hand. And it flows better. (Looks a bit gay, though . . . .!)

Arrogance and not accepting that others have to start somewhere or start later in life and thus dismissing them as losers as they can't play to a certain standard.

Would someone who performed like this put you off?

Take away all the flamboyancy and the clothes etc and Liberace is actually an extremely wonderful and talented pianist who can play anthing of any kind be it blues, classical, boogie woogie, you name it. My piano teacher cannot even play jazz.

I think with some pianists, you have to look deeper and really listen to their playing ability and forget about the wild hand movements etc. But with this pianist, it was all an act of showmanship and I thinnk thats what the type of audience who could put up with all of that liked.

http://youtu.be/R2BdoPTGc64

well yeah some pianists do it deliberately as part of their entertainment. but in jazz most guys are moving rhythmically with the music if they do it

There's a difference when it's an act vs when it's natural. Excess body movement isn't needed technique wise, as you can see here, with Oscar Peterson playing some blistering solo:



Notice he's smiling and barely moving his head or body, yet those fingers are fast. I really don't care what kind of movement someone does, as long as the music is good. and besides I listen to audio rather than video more, unless it's a live show.

This. Whatever makes a performing artist comfortable in their zone is what they should do. That turf belongs to the artist, and while critics may criticize on that level, their criticism is entirely irrelevant.

adultpianist, I have read your post, here:

subject: what would put you off a pianist?

I went to see and hear Helene Grimaud play Brahms and although she is an excellent pianist, she sways aroud on her piano stool which seeing her do in person I found kind of off putting a bit. It was also mentioned by the critics afterwards who did a write up of the concert last night. I kept thinking why cant she sit still. She started swaying on the orchestras introduction to the concerto. To be honest, it looked a little odd.

__________

What a wonderful post. I will address the specifics of your post, but first I want to tell you a few little stories.

When somebody phoned me about a ski weekend and asked me about the beds. That told me that they would not like the beds or anything that happened that weekend because they had high standards or they were (politely spoken) a complainer. I instantly said that the beds were terrible and that they would end up with a sore back and the springs would dig into their rib cage during the night while they slept. I also suggested they would not enjoy the weekend. You see, if you know anything about skiing - it is about being in the outdoors in the snow - and be you 18 or 80 - your body would ache not because of the bad beds, but because you skied all day playing your heart out and you were beyond tired at noon - but you skied until it got dark and then headed down the hill for dinner. When you hit the bed to sleep you didn't feel how bad the beds were because you fell asleep within a second and woke up the next morning with all your muscles aching but it was not the bed - it was because you used all your muscles all day and they needed time to recuperate. So the beds do not ever matter!

When you open the door in the morning, you have to remind yourself that you live in an imperfect world so that when you see imperfections, you can put them in perspective. Some of the reasons that people drink alcohol is because they can't stand the imperfections of other people.

Of course, I don't know how old you are. If you are a young person - under the age of 40 or 50 as opposed to 50 and 100 - being old - then when you are looking for a friend, a lover, a partner in business, a partner in marriage, etc. you look very closely at the person for all the things that are good in the person - and that is what is expected - but if you are an old person, you only worry about the things that are bad about the person - and there is a reason for that. As an old person - you have lived a long, long, long, time and during that long - long time you realized that every person you ever knew had imperfections - lots of imperfections - the closer you looked at them - but here is the secret - when you only look at the imperfections - you do so to decide what imperfections you can live with - because if you can live with their imperfections then you will like or love working or being with them because they are as close as you are going to get to perfection in a person. cheers, for that part.

now, about the woman swaying on the piano stool (toofunny) You see, I understand that some people with a classical inclination are fussy. You see, when I used to go to jazz and pop concerts the performers - men and women - young and old - were performing with body parts being exposed in the extreme gyrated all over the stage and not remotely confined to a piano stool - and the house (concert) was packed to the rafters and then some - everybody was enjoying themselves and nobody was complaining about anything.

I rest my case,

cheers, for a better day.

people who see or hear people who are better usually try to learn what that person has to offer - no matter how small - and people who see or hear people who are "less-better" usually sit politely and say nothing but appreciate their struggle and remember the day or the time - when they were "less-better", too. (politely spoken)

3B12PSW

"and people who see or hear people who are "less-better" usually sit politely and say nothing but appreciate their struggle and remember the day or the time - when they were "less-better", too. (politely spoken)"

Great article you wrote there, Michael. But that last part isn`t usually true. Musicians are typically "dog eat dog" and are totally contemptious of those of lesser caliber than they see themselves to be. Which of course, isn`t what they always are. . . .but if they`re quick witted and clever, people accept them for that and forgive their other failings. To their face, that is!

Of course, nobody here is like that . . . . are they?

I find the star gazing or rather rafter watching and other theatrics very distracting. I have a very simple solution which allows me to enjoy the wonderful music, I shut my eyes. Simple as that, problem solved. If you enjoy watching, then open your eyes. Otherwise, just leave the musician alone.

I agree with that part. You should do whatever helps you perform to the best of your abilities, period, and it's the audience's problem to deal with it.