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All comments by Richard Carnes

People are Talking: UMS Presents Sir András Schiff, piano:

The encore Saturday night was a transcription of Mozart’s Adagio for Glass Harmonica, K. 617a. The instrument, or at least one version of it, was invented by Benjamin Franklin.

In response to:
"
What was saturday feb 20 encore?
"
by karen mary park

People Are Talking: UMS presents András Schiff at Hill Auditorium:

I completely agree. A good pianist knows that a sustained chord at the end of a piece, and often a silence afterwards, are part of the performance. The pianist signals the end of the performance when he or she lifts both hands from the keyboard. This was a piano recital, not an opera..

Schiff held the final chord of the Diabelli Variations for a good minute, as if to say “Let’s see if you can wait till the appropriate moment to applaud.” In a recorded performance he holds the chord for just 6 seconds, and in fact Beethoven wrote it as a short chord without a fermata, albeit with pedal.

I also wanted a longer silence at the end of the Op. 111 movement. Applause hardly seems appropriate following this sonata (and after such a performance), and pianists have been known to request that applause be withheld after the work.

In response to:
"
Hi Bernard….I am having a hard time making out the various combinations and permutations of what happened that you are offering in your most recent message, so let me describe what happened from my point of view.

1) Mr. Schiff finished performing that work in its entirety.

2) Almost immediately upon reaching the final note of the work, an audience member in the back right of the main floor start clapping.

3) This one person’s clapping signaled to others that they should start the ovation and, thus, the entire audience started to clap.

In my personal opinion, it all felt wrong and forced to me. We were all robbed of that very special moment of collective silence and contemplation which is especially sweet after the reading of an epic work like the Goldberg Variations. We would have sat there together for a brief moment and made a connection amongst ourselves and Mr. Schiff as a result of what we had just experienced together.

I do sense that Mr. Schiff felt robbed as well…and that is how I interpreted what he was signaling when he threw up his hands and gave into the clapping. I can’t imagine what it must of felt like for him to be forced back to reality so abruptly after having just given that performance. (This is my interpretation…but it is an opinion and not based on anything that I know first hand.)

The most important lesson in all this is a reminder that a performer signals to the audience when that magic moment is over and it is time to applaud. Mr. Schiff was not given that option on this evening….and that was a bit of a bummer for me…and many others I spoke to.

I am told that the person who started the clapping was experiencing the performance by watching a score as Mr. Schiff played along. So, for that score-watching listener, when Schiff got to the last note of the score, it was time to clap.

Unfortunately, the performance isn’t always over when the last note is struck.
"
by Michael, UMS

People are Talking: UMS Presents Yuja Wang at Hill Auditorium [plus AUDIO]:

Encores:

Prokofiev, Toccata, op. 11

Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, transcribed by ??, possibly Gyorgy Sandor (former U-M teacher) or Michael Gurt (local talent), both of whom I believe have made transcriptions

Schubert-Liszt (I think), transcription of Gretchen am Spinnrade

Gluck, excerpt from Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his opera Orfeo ed Euridice, transcribed by ?

I liked the way Wang got to the encores immediately without making us beg for them.

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