When you play something, your heart must be in the music for best results. At least this applies to Romantic period works; thinking of Bach and Haydn doesn't quite demand the same sort of emotional intensity as Dvorak or Saint-Saens - even though Saint-Saens is at the period where conventional distonic harmony starts to get rather strained. 20th Century works go on a case-by-case basis and I'm pretty sure my Debussy is without a doubt my best piece - ever - played. At least it is, now, after all those half-standard performances when I thought my understanding of it was sufficient for performance but it wasn't. Now I'm not too sure on that issue. Probably needs some re-practising as I haven't touched it for so long... and "so long" being a few months, I'm rather astonished at what professional musicians do to make their pieces performable in a matter of weeks. It's a lot more effort than I'm putting in now and that means I'll just have to put in more. Of course, being in consistent contact with the music helps alot. Which is an option not open to me as I'll have no choice but to go on a two-month hiatus for BMT in 4 weeks' time.


Episodes 4, 5, and 6 of Star Wars were just watching interesting lightsaber action and maybe taking note of familiar tunes. Now after watching episode 3 on TV, I find I'm more moved by the music than anything else - and for that matter, I consider the sound of Darth Vader's breathing part of the music - it's too important a motif to classify as mere talk.


Times have changed. People have changed.