10 extracts from: Heinrich Neuhaus, The Art of the Piano.

Of all available material involving the art of piano playing I have read, I must say that this book, has the best possible explanations regarding the most important and problematic issues of this art. 

Neuhaus as one of the founders of the “Russian Piano School”, was the guide of many great pianists, however there are 2 of them who really represent him: S.Richter, E.Guilels.

Both, Guilels and Richter, made their own path to successful careers, but more important than that, they provided the music world of that time, with live interpretations with a quality never seen before.

How did they do that? Heinrich explains on his book, that with both, he did not do too much, but the necessary work to let them understand that the music was already inside of them; having said that, that necessary work he mentions, was indispensable on their great performances.

With the rest of the students, “the mortals”, Heinrich explains that there is where the real challenge is. The 10 quotes I am transporting here, are focused to those pianists.

1.      I would like to represent here my own reflections about different elements of the piano interpretation, following the adopted order for the usual methodology:

A-      The Esthetic Image.  (The music itself)
B-      The Rhythm.
C-      The Sound.
D-      The different aspect of the technique.

2.       Every great pianist presents himself to the pedagogue as the atom without disintegrating to a physicist. It is necessary to possess to much tact, energy and intelligence, talent, and knowledge to decipher this complex organism. Is that precisely the goal that must be assigned, the methodologic reflection to mature and stop boring the authentic musicians.

3.       I suggest my students to study the piano work as an orchestra director study the music sheet; not just on its set, (this needs to be the first thing to do, otherwise the image would lack of unity) but on its details, decomposing the elements of the play to study, its harmonic and polyphonic structure, examining the essential, its musical line and the “secondary”, for an instance, the accompaniment.  Will consecrate a particular attention to the decisive “turns” of the composition, for an instance, if it’s a sonata, on the “bridge” to the second theme or the reexposure to the coda, in summary to the essential points of the formal structure.

4.       The precept “play with concentration, fast, strong, with depth and precision” is very effective. Adopting this work method, is indispensable to observe the following rules: look out that the hand, wrist, forearm, remain absolutely free, that they do not freeze, that they do not lose the potential agility and the perfect calm, only executing the strictly necessary movements. The economy principle is also applicable to every psychic-physical work. The pressure upon the keys its admitted only when the weight if the inert mass becomes to be insufficient to obtain the desired sound.

5.       As a result of my years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that these five notes (F# - G# - A# and B#) summary the first lesson of the “Chopin´s piano art” and these 5 notes should serve as basis of all method, to all heuristic of teaching. They are the touchstone, the egg of Colon, the grain of wheat that produces a miracle harvest. This little formula is equivalent to tens of volumes (Steinhausen,Breithaupt, Malvina Brei and many others). What is so appealing to me in this formula? We know that Chopin placed the student´s hand over these 5 notes; this position was to his eyes the most natural, the most comfortable, the most relaxing. The shorter fingers, first and fifth are located over the white keys, located below that the black keys occupied for the longer fingers, second, third and fourth.

6.       The Piano is a mechanic (delicate and complicated in high degree). The human organism should adapt to the instrument and, of this fact, the work of a pianist came to be on a certain way mechanic. The sound its obtained for the transformation of the driving energy of the hand on sound energy. The energy of the knock received for the key is in function of the strength (S) and the height (H) before it came down to the keyboard. The speed (V) of the hand at the moment of the stroke depends of (S) and (H).  These elements reunited, plus the mass (M) that is represented by the fingers, the hand, and the forearm, determine the energy received for the key.

7.        We know that liberty is a conscious need. From this, it is deducted that it is on the antipodes of the arbitrary, enemy of the anarchy as the cosmos is enemy from the chaos, or the order from the disorder.  Those who ignore the dialectical reflection and lack of practical experience of work, often confuse two diametrically opposed notions: Liberty and the arbitrary. This thesis applies to all work, and of course, to the acquisition of the piano technique.  Being the security the first condition to freedom, it is indispensable to obtain it.

8.        To whom music reaches the soul in a purely emotional way will always be an amateur. The one who feels it on a cerebral way, will be a musicologist or an investigator. The interpreter must know how to make the synthesis, capture quickly, and take conscience.

9.       Scriabin loved particularly the Pastoral Beethoven´s Piano Sonata op.28; its first measures, with its harmony slightly dissonant on the strong tempos that have something in common with the progress of the harmonic thinking of Alexandr. The work of Beethoven is rich on “predictions” of the posterior music. I always indicate my students the parts where he predicts Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Thaikovsky and many others. The 21 variations of the 33 Diabelli op 120, its very similar to Prokofiev, and in the scherzo of the last Quartet in F major op.135, we can hear something of Shostakovich. On the way, we evocate also the genetic phenomenon on other arts, for an instance the Prisoner of the Caucasus of Pushkin, Lermontov and many other poets.  

In the authors of different spirit, we can find very proximate harmonic and melodic turns, born from the spirit of the time and the historical evolution of music.

10.   The music before everything. This scream, thrown away for the poet Verlaine, in the poetic field, has echo on the music world: The poetry before all.  This poetry in which are printed all the great works, pictorial, literary, architectural, and musical.

Emmanuel.