Friday’s (8/18) Pacific Standard (Santa Barbara, CA) includes Tom Jacobs’s interview with pianist Stephen Hough, who recently led a master class at Music Academy of the West. “Q: There’s an argument that … listening to Mozart or Brahms provides access to emotions that we’ve largely lost touch of in this era of constant distraction. A: Music helps us find our way into that inner world.… You can glance at a painting, but if you listen to a five-minute-long piece, it forces you to be in that space for five minutes. Also, it teaches discipline—a word that too often has negative connotations, like you’re being rigid. Q: Do you feel there is a latent desire on some people’s part for more demanding material? A: I think young people like a challenge. They like to go on long trips and climb high mountains…. It doesn’t matter if you win a race if it’s not a difficult one! Q: Is this elitist thinking? A: … ‘Elite’ can mean something that’s difficult to do…. We have no problem with elitism in sport…. There’s room for everything—but that includes the late quartets of Beethoven. Not everyone is going to get it, but let’s not say, ‘It’s too difficult to present to people.’ It isn’t.”
Posted August 21, 2017
