Rafa Roca
My project
The huge amount of repertoire that we can find in classical music, might be the biggest fortune us pianists have, since it encompasses all the expressive and aesthetic needs for both performers and the audience. In fact, not only can we play the music written specifically for us, but we also have a never ending catalogue of transcriptions of music intended for other instruments, that have become standard pieces for piano solo recitals.
Despite this, something that I find dangerous for classical music is the sometimes seemingly unchallenged tendency to transform its halls into museums, were the same pieces are programmed time and again with rigid patterns. This is a danger that, in my opinion, has materialized in recent decades, in which we have seen a general stagnation in the ideas for recitals that soloists offer.
If we look back to the 19th century, when the concept of classical music was new and the pieces that have become masterworks were still being discovered, we will realize that the composers that we now hail as masters were also performers that took great risks in their careers to give voice to the music of the past that they considered worth to maintain, in addition to their contemporary’s music and their own compositions. The piano played an essential role in this process.
