at a recital. Or a mini-recital. This one is just 30 minutes of music, as requested by the Minnesota Orchestra as part of my audition. So the question becomes: how much can you, or should you, pack into 30 minutes? I have accepted an invitation from a colleague to play through my 30 minutes at his house, in front of other colleagues and students. There’s something about a non-paying audience that ups the ante. Somehow, if people are paying, you can gauge their commitment: “I’m playing well enough to earn their $25!” But this audience will be small and critical. They won’t pay anything, but I will owe them plenty for caring enough to show up.
So what is the worst, if you must prepare for it? Actually, part of practicing is trying to improve your “worst” so that even if it happens, it’s not that bad. I’m playing 4 pieces the day after tomorrow, and I can imagine the worst for 2 of them. It’s the other 2 that worry me. This used to be the way with every piece for me. I would remember the best playthrough and hope that I could recapture it in performance. Now I tend to remember the worst and assume that it will come back to roost. The truth is somewhere in between, most likely halfway in between.
I must thank Akiko, once again, for encouraging me to do this playthrough in the first place. By doing it nearly two weeks before the event in Minneapolis, I give myself a chance to reflect. Plus, as I’ll be recording it, I can listen and judge for myself. As Akiko knows, each performance is followed by a list of things that I “should have done”. Hopefully, after Friday night, I can do those things, and my experience in the Twin Cities will be the better for it.
Beethoven: Sonata No. 10 in G, I
Bach: Sonata No. 3 in C, II: Fuga
Ysaye: Sonata No. 6 in E
Tchaikovsky: Valse-Scherzo