Why Don't More Classical Musicians Impro?

Occasionally by accident :sunglasses:

I fundamentally disagree, but to be fair, I donā€™t think many people can improvise sufficiently coherently. Plus I think some thought is required as to the type and form of the impro.

Iā€™d add that if I were ever put in the position of auditioning for a senior mofo, I would want to include improv in the audition.

Me too, but only since a significant portion of them would end up as church musicians, teachers, rehearsal pianists etc where such skills could come in handy. On the concert platform it adds exactly nought to the pianistā€™s likelihood of success.

Only because itā€™s not part of the standard defined skillset. Iā€™ve got to say that Iā€™ve improvised on demand for other musicians (and once at a wedding!) and the response has been very positive.

Yes but thatā€™s exactly where it fits!

*zpontaneouzly improvized :doc::sunglasses:

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Also fits in a recital programme if done well and tastefully.

The only reason Iā€™ve not done yet it at the full piece level is because I donā€™t do many recitals and when I do they are usually for testing out sheeyatz I plan to record.

I consider improv my greatest pianistic strength, therefore I actually should be doing it.

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Anothah way of looking at it. Go back 50 years.

ā€œOh look, da Ziff iz including impro tonight, daim, I wonā€™t go nowā€ā€¦

said NOBODY EVER.

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Hahah tru obzerve da youtube viewcount ov hiz BBC impro vz da BBC rappah 6 or polo 2 :sunglasses:

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Yeah, and dat iznā€™t even a propah impro, itā€™z just a warmup /88 tezt.

Watching him impro on tunes must have been utterly mindboggling.

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Hahah tru when tiz on precumpozed tunez tiz GENSUI

but harzhly da free improv ztyle romanian fant not quite az wikid IMO

Ztill wikid partz but I prefah when tiz an eztablizhed gensui tune lyk da valze trizte , dvorak zlavonic zheeyat etc.

Or da ZTRAUZZ sheeyatz.

Da romfant iz a crazy, crazy rec. Only man in history who could have done that.

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For the record I strongly doubt even this is a free improvisation. Even his BBC warmup, there are recordings from several years before that when he ā€œimprovisesā€ again and yet parts of it is near identical to BBC. These things surely grew from improvisations, and some were eventually finished enough to work as standalone pieces/paraphrases, but since you can trace the bloodline of them as it were I donā€™t think anything we have from Cziffra is truly a spur of the moment free improvisation. Itā€™s rather a peek in to his WIP portfolio.

Yeah, Iā€™d agree, but the changes over time are probably just fine tuning. We have the testimony of professional musicians who were quite flabbergasted at what he could do.

Anyway, Iā€™m absolutely convinced there is room for something like this.

Bit of a :zif: tribute impro, but I recall da TM getting absolutely flamed on 88zt many years ago for posting an impro under such a description, so Iā€™m hesitant about calling it such. Itā€™s completely spontaneous, in fact I think thatā€™s totally obvious from the way I havenā€™t quite worked out what Iā€™m doing (and am playing by rote) until about a minute inā€¦

And I think that the sort of rep I play is a far better surrounding for improz like this than :nigga:zonz.

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Tru diz an unreleazed rec from da 70z

and da original romanian fant iz from da 50z

Free improv? :sunglasses: to clarity wut I meant wuz dat da material iz mo hiz own, and not dat great IMHO cumpared to quazi-improving on eztablizhed great themez

I agree.frankly, a full blown composition or orchestral work transcription would be far more worthwhile den an impro

Liszt, sure.

Chopin was not known for full on improve, but he did embellish his own written works

I think this whole question embodies one of the bigger problems with classical music. People go to a concert, sit in silent veneration of sum mofo curating (Iā€™ve chosen that word deliberately) op 111 or da pimpzon, and if it was decent they think theyā€™ve undergone some profound spiritual experience.

I think, and this is of course a very personal view, that the most profound 88 experience Iā€™ve had is the better :zif: ztrauzz fantz, which move me not only with visceral excitement but with the sheer exuberance of the playing. I can listen to them over and over in a way I categorically could not with eg a pimpcomp round of 6 pimpzonz. I can barely make it through one of them :brahmz:

I think the view that you venerate classical music, then ā€œenjoyā€ it through the veneration is utter sophistry. Iā€™d rather enjoy it, and spontaneous creation is far more interesting to me than curation :brendull:

Of course, da impro mofo haff to know wut heā€™z doing!

Hahah I may be a bit cuntroverzial here but

I wud pozz ratha hear a CHOP improv den a PIMP improv :sunglasses:

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:pimp: v :zif: impro cuntezt.

Ultimate showdown :sunglasses:

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