In classical music, it seems very important that a musician always plays exactly what’s written down on the sheet. In master classes, the soloist is instructed down to the smallest detail how to perform a piece. This results in a high degree of uniformity in: tone, and interpretation. You rarely hear truly daring interpretations, which is a shame because it takes a bit of the adventure out of the music. Everyone starts to sound similar, and it’s also still those same old pieces as well; count your losses.
If you look at the world of famous piano stars who trade places on the big stages for example, you see very few who still write adaptations of famous pieces. Arkady Volodos is one of the few who truly adapts masterworks, and he is himself a master at it, by the way. Check him out; improve your life!!
Adapting a piece requires considerable theoretical knowledge, and many soloists only have a very limited theoretical background. Few know exactly what they’re playing. They can make the notes sound beautifully, but they don’t know that they are in fact moving from the three chord, via the six chord, to the moldur, to the dominant, and then resolving back to the tonic. “Why would that be necessary?” you might ask. Well, if you don’t know what you’re playing, it’s like reading a fairy tale in a language you don’t know. You can learn how it should sound by taking diction lessons, but you don’t actually understand what you’re saying. You don’t know the meaning of the sounds. You don’t understand the musical function of a certain harmony. Like being a bird watcher who doesn’t know the word ‘sparrow’, and has to say instead: ‘The light brown shaded bird with the slightly darker stripes here and there, with the very unremarkable call.’
In the past, theory was a part of piano and violin lessons. And composing, improvising, and arranging/adapting were standard study material in the lessons on the instrument too. Because it’s important that you put it into practice on your violin or your piano. If you only take theory lessons and don’t do anything with it in your playing afterward, it’s of little use.
In my opinion, it’s this rigid attitude that is slowly breaking down classical music. The adventure is gone. The repertoire is less varied, and so is the playing. But we’re not gonna let that happen!
That’s why we’re going to commit sacrilege this week. We’re going to adapt a piece by the composer that is closest to most people’s hearts, and quite radically too! Bach is up. “You have to aim high,” my grandfather always said.
See my vlog for the piece and the detailed explanation:
*** Find the arrangement of Bach’s prelude here: