Jascha Heifetz and John Coltrane were right!

“If I miss a day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days of practice, my audience notices it.” This often-recited quote has been attributed to many different artists including the Classical Violinist Heifetz and the master Jazz Saxophonist Coltrane. I’m feeling it today. I had 9 days off from practicing the Beethoven. Ive been on a well-needed vacation and giving concerts.

I sat down to play one of the sonatas and i am leaving frustrated. I am reminded that Beethoven’s music can be technically very difficult and can also be very easy technically, the emotional depth and intellectual thought that goes into interpreting Beethoven is something that I will need to work daily to maintain. My focus was lacking and my 2 hours of practice had more frustration than accomplishment today. Dont get me wrong, there were still some nice moments but the philosophical detail was lacking today. Oh well, we will always have our bad days.

I listened to Claudio Arrau play Chopin, Beethoven and Debussy this past week. Wow! this man has both emotional and intellectual RIGOR. One of my new heroes next to Barenboim. His poetry at the piano is beautiful and inspired. More to come this week.