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Pianist Gabriela Montero revives the art of improvisation

Times Online – UK

On the eve of her Edinburgh Festival debut, a fascinating story on a fascinating personality: “Making it up as you go along might work well in the worlds of experimental theatre, freeform jazz, or when you’re caught pilfering biros, but in the world of classical music improvising went the way of Beethoven at around the same time Beethoven went. Chopin dabbled, Liszt doodled, but now, even if ornamentation is cherished in Baroque performance or toyed with in cadenzas, most soloists prefer the security of jotting down a few bars before they put a shoe on stage. Not so Gabriela Montero, the 38-year-old Venezuelan concert pianist who is reviving this neglected art…”

Resuming two years later, she won the Bronze Medal at the 1995 International Chopin Piano competition, but it was only after a tipsy pub improvisation for the legendary pianist – and now her mentor – Martha Argerich in 2002 that Montero regained her musical spirit.

In Essen’s woody concert hall it is obvious that this “spirit” is what has drawn her audience. Montero tosses out frenetic Chopin and Liszt, but the atmosphere livens when, glass of wine in hand, she banters with a group of flag-waving Venezuelans calling for improvisations amid a sea of sedately rowdy Germans. Requests for Elvis and the Pink Panther follow until someone finally responds to Montero’s plea for “a tune from Essen” with a hearty mining song, which Montero elevates into a slow, touching eulogy.

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“In Warsaw, when Chopin was growing up, the social scene was extremely active, and anyone who wasn’t sick  would go to dance parties almost every night. And the star of these events was usually Chopin, because he was both a great dancer himself – and he played for all of the other dancers. He would usually improvise at one of these events . . . sitting at the piano and playing for hours, coming up with mazurkas, waltzes, and ecossaises. (pron “eh-koh-SAY”) Nobody dances ecossaises anymore, but these are the types of dances that Chopin would have improvised at a party, and if he really liked it, he’d then go home and write it down.”

Hear Arthur Greene perform Chopin’s Three Ecossaises, Op. 72 (1826)

• Download sheetmusic for Three Ecossaises, Op. 72 by Fryderyk Chopin