Chapter 15

Indeed the French school is very much different than I would have imagined. My old impression about the French school piano playing and their music is the extreme vagueness, lightness and blending. Obviously they aren’t all true. Or should I say, they approached such effect in a way that’s totally opposite to how it sounds like. The French school emphasizes the suppleness, but the lightness is not attained by the ‘getting loose’ technique, however the opposite ‘stiff fingers’. The vagueness is obtained by a very exact execution in key touch in order to get the precise voicing and tone color out of the instrument. The blending is not by overusing the pedal but listening to the room’s acoustic and varies the pedaling at each different venues. Having the knowledge of these is influential to one’s approach towards French music.

I prefer Debussy’s way of thinking fingerings than Long’s. I think the composers’ fingerings might have its own insight about the music, but I don’t think the same fingering is applicable to everyone as hand size and shape varies.

Cortot’s and Long’s piano method seem interesting for study. I also heard Cortot’s edition of Chopin’s work brings special insights to the music. However I never see any of them in print actually. Are they already not in print or they’re only popular in Europe?

I suspect Debussy is a person with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), if not entirely, some symptoms of it. The way he decorated his work room and how he reacted when ‘untidiness’ happened point to this assumption. It’s actually fun and interesting to know these composers’ more human side. I like Ravel the most ever when I saw him being the last in class.