Song-like Purity

In the autumn of 1972, Perahia stood out in the fourth "Leeds International Piano Competition". The subsequent concert tour in the UK was a great success for the young pianist. It was also a great success for an American who was only 25 years old. CBS, one of the leading American classical music labels at the time, quickly signed an exclusive contract with him and called him "the successor to Horowitz". , Serkin, Gould and others."

So when Perahia traveled to various music cities across the European continent to showcase his talents for several months, everyone had high expectations for him, and he did not disappoint his audience. In fact, his words and deeds cannot be connected with the image of the winner of the game at all. For example, after Perahia's premiere during the Vienna Music Festival in 1974, Wolfgen Schleiber wrote: "Seeing his appearance, I can't help but discount him. He is small, like a 16-year-old boy." "He's a 16-year-old kid, and he still has the lazy look of a 16-year-old." But the young American in front of the piano magically revealed his neat and mellow tone and striking agility, and people had no choice but to forget about it. Stereotype, calm down and look at his concentration and intensity in mastering music, Karl of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Schumann once jokingly described Perahia's two hours of "exerting himself with such deadly earnestness" as draining his energy, "as if he had just been informed that he was about to lose the ability to adjust the timbre."

Musical Performance

In fact, Perahia's identity as a solo musician. At that time, his musical performance was completely different from the lively, enthusiastic, and present-oriented portrayal of a 20-year-old husband. Instead, he used the purest and most focused attitude possible to perform well-received musical works. His audience, Herbert quoted from The Times at the time: "When listening, you should not pay attention to the performers and composers, but only to understand the music, the organization of sounds and the structure of the work, so that you can understand what music is."

Inherited from an old-traditional Spanish Jewish family, the pianist maintains complete authenticity in the character of his performances, a quality undoubtedly inspired by his teacher Serkin and his colleagues in Marbo. Luo was influenced by his chamber music playing partners. When I met him in the 1980s and had a brief conversation, ranging from small talk about music to the fundamental elements of interpretation, he summed up his aesthetics in one sentence: "The first commandment of every musician should be to The performed work remains faithful"

Being "faithful" to Perahia

means three things: first, to convey the content of the music clearly and accurately, to convey it. Transformed into sound, the emergence of clear melody lines is more important than dynamic extremes or timbral effects; secondly, it means exposing the inner life of the work, turning the arrangement of pure notes into a singing melody, systematically laying out For the entire movement or work, the first task of each performer should be to uncover and describe the ideas and emotions hidden in the work. "The most important thing is to let each work create its own feeling"; thirdly, for Perla Shia could not imagine turning the infrasound to dominate, even for one or two pitch lines, just to achieve a surprising effect; experimenting with beats for the sake of creating novelty and following the line; or experimenting with beats. Make it "interesting" and perform the work in a different structure. However, he is also tired of seeing music as just a reflection of a series of moods. "Music can be interpreted in so many ways in terms of emotional expression!" For young pianists, this interpretation concept is more unusual and difficult. achieved. It requires musical maturity and sustained thoughtfulness. "The golden mean is not easy to find," as stated in a German music monthly published by Perahia, but it is difficult to create the power to incite.

Goals

Even as a young pianist, one can see how decisively he achieved his goals in his early recordings, the most influential of which none more so than the complete recording of the complete collection of Mozart's piano concertos, his first large-scale recording project.

This is a work that appeared before the early recital recordings of Schumann, Chopin, and Mendelssohn (not only were they all made in the United States, but the entire recording work was completed at the Music Library in Washington in February 1967) . In the Romantic music, Perahia's rhythm, clear timbre and impeccable technique attracted his fans, but when it comes to music that requires effort to color and shape the situation, his performance was excessive. There is a suspicion of "classical mode", and it even sounds a bit dull at times.

Personality and musical style are perfectly matched

However, in terms of Mozart recordings, Perahia serves as soloist and conductor of the British Chamber Orchestra. Personality and musical style are perfectly matched. These recordings have great Most of them show Jean's clarity and elasticity, excellent command of atmosphere, and he also powerfully demonstrates the work's "inherent drama" convincingly. The perfect balance, unity and internal logic displayed in Mozart's so-called "march-style" concerto collection are even more impressive, and the themes of these pieces require quiet moments where other players often tend to amplify the volume and go too far. The problem with emphasis. Piano Concerto No. 25 (K503) is one of the last recordings in this series, and he also used it in a gentle way. Integrate bright chords and intersecting theme melody to achieve the overall smooth state of the song. Completed in 1786, Mozart's concerto performance in Vienna is even more dazzling, and the way the performer directly conveys the clear outline, even in the most beautiful and arresting moments, does not forget to maintain the overall composition of the work. of harmony.

Perahiapin’s exquisitely conceived melodic arc also made him a very convincing Beethoven performer. The complete recording of Beethoven's piano concertos, conducted by Haitink with the Great Hall Orchestra, can be said to be one of the best reference versions of the same music after digital recording. In terms of solo performance, he recorded in 1989 "32 Variations in C Minor" Wo080 is a unique and interesting recording. Composed in late 1806, the piece was difficult to shape because of its refined notes and great diversity among the variations. However, Perahia's gentle performance style steadily maintains the smoothness of the large melody line: he balances some unavoidable speed changes, and even in the most changing connection parts of the variations, he can slide smoothly and close to the major key. The distance between the variations and the minor key variations is completely natural and invisible.

The same interpretation style was also used in Mendelssohn's "Solemn Variations" composed in 1841. Not only classical music, but also romantic music masterpieces played an important role at the beginning of his performance career, but his performance did not lean towards any one side, and occasionally touched on the music of the twentieth century. In 1980, he recorded a Bartok album, which included Bartok's "Sonata" written in 1926, as well as the improvisation "Hungary" written at the same time as "The Strange Manchurian Official" and two "Violin Sonatas" Peasant Song".