Final night we attended a performance by the Seattle Symphony of Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto. If you have ever seen the film Shine, you understand how daunting this piece is to a concert pianist. It’s a 40-plus minute workout, consisting of 30,000 specific records, most of which may have to be performed-often at lightning speed-in a particular purchase; with nuance, dynamics, and passion; real time; from memory; right in front of a discerning audience of thousands of individuals, and an even more discerning orchestra and conductor.
Are you able to state “pressure”?
The soloist, Kirill Gerstein, performed brilliantly.
Exactly what does it decide to try do that? What does it simply take to execute at your best when it matters many? Whenever all eyes are on you, and objectives are high?
One of the keys, as it works out, would be to perhaps not think about the records.
A musician …