The battle of the old and the new: today I sat in on Badura-Skoda's masterclass, he taught both modern and forte-pianists. After hearing one player from each instrument, and Badura-Skoda's comments on the fortepinaist, I thought to myself, what a wonderful and opportune postition he (B-S) is in, having equal respect from both modern and early musicians, and thus can diplomatize between the two. There was an overwhelming amount of modern pianists present, both teachers and students, not too many people showed up from my own department, the 'earlier' side. Clearly, those who went had one 'team' in mind, and it didn't occur to me while I was listening to his class, that he felt necessary to address the co-existence between the two instruments, and the common repertoire they share. What a rare opportunity, and what a waste of opportunity to bring understanding between the two. After all, what is the point of having these two instruments side by side, playing pretty much the same repertoire back to back, ignoring the parallel yet controversial relationship between the two?
He produced an amazing range of timbres on the fortepiano which was very captivating, but has a tendency to be a 'piano teacher', and likes to sit at the piano and talk and play to himself endlessly. His Spanish was surprisingly fluent and commanding, and I was happy to see a great number of people at this event.
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