Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabelwas an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th century's most respected and most important pianists, his playing displayed marked vitality, profundity and spirituality in the Austro-German classics, particularly the works of Beethoven and Schubert. His performances of these compositions have often been hailed as models of interpretative penetration. His best-known recording is of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas; recorded between...
NationalityPolish
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth17 April 1882
CountryPoland
It is not music's function to express rational necessities.
I practice in my head.
When a piece gets difficult, make faces.
Children are given Mozart because of the small quantity of the notes; grown-ups avoid Mozart because of the great quality of the notes.
Applause is a receipt, not a note of demand.
I know two kinds of audiences only--one coughing, and one not coughing.
Have I a secret about playing the piano? It's a very simple one. I sit down on the piano stool and make myself comfortable - and I always make sure that the lid over the keyboard is open before I start to play.
Great music is better than it can be performed.
Mozart is a garden, Schubert is a forest in light and shade, but Beethoven is a mountain range,
Practice in tranquility.
I am attracted only to music which I consider to be better than it can be performed. Therefore I feel (rightly or wrongly) that unless a piece of music presents a problem to me, a never-ending problem, it doesn't interest me too much.
The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides.
The sonatas of Mozart are unique; they are too easy for children, and too difficult for artists.
I always make sure that the lid over the keyboard is open before I start to play.