'Is Talent Enough?' Mitsuko Uchida starts the debate
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- BBT hosted a lively debate at Southbank Centre on 18 May 2013 as part of BBT Celebrated, marking 10 years of Borletti-Buitoni Trust. Here, Mitsuko Uchida gets the debate started. The full debate is now online on via this link • Borletti-Buitoni Trust... . Have a listen to panelists from the worlds of broadcasting, recording, concert planning and artist management, in response to Mitsuko Uchida and the vital question of how best to support young talent talent.
I totally believe her when she said "I would be playing music even if they did not pay me" Seeing her play is amazing!!
She is really a brilliant artist
agree
One of the best ♥️
That is an understatement.
thank you, very well said maestro uchida..." taste,talent,technique,charisma,character can be developed and aquired, but are not enough to make a musician, music is a vocation not a profesion, music should come from a strong deeply rooted urgency to have to express once deep emotions though music and nothing else."
That's true, but not only for musician, doctors are well i.e.
But I can't agree when she says "music and nothing else." That is just plain untrue, empirically. Mendelssohn was also a visual artist. The pianist and educator David Dubal also draws. I don't know why she says ". . . and nothing else", unless she's just being hyperbolic out of her own passion for music.
I think she is hyperbolic out of her passion for music. We all the musician are in fact. And forget for a while about your career and think you are a pianist, one part it's to achieve the technique to play, but this is only a part, after your skill you have an enormous task to make music from the score, the score it's just the skeleton, or a map for a trip. So when you have the skill to performance a piece of music you have to know many things, achieve the idea of the composer, study the harmonics progression, counterpoint, phrase and of course, make music.
True you need desire to do it, you must do it!!
@@bassmaiasa1312Mendelssohn wasn’t primarily a pianist or performer, though - he was an artist. Artists create music - musicians perform music. Some people are both, while other people are only one or the other.
I don't think you can fault Uchida for speaking honestly about what it means to her to be a classical musician. She's penetrated so deeply into the repertoire she plays, it's not surprising that the world of banks and technology and death metal does not interest her so much. Her extraordinary playing shows the success of that kind of absolute commitment and absorption for the music she plays, music which she knows full well most people don't care about.
1) Desire/Need to express yourself via music
2) Intellectual Ability/Intelligence
3) Technical Skills/Virtuosity
4) Character/Moral Compass
5) Charisma
6) Luck/Music Politics/Business (ie. we need a super sexy female or a handsome man to sell records! or we need to create a star from _____ market to increase sales!)
I agree.
I hope future parents continue to listen to classical at home and immerse the entire family in it. As Uchida says here, it must start at home first, then school. There is no other way. I see many parents today are forgetting and disengaging from it. The environment is all. May we never forget this unique gift to the world, and to human souls.
So encouraging and true. What an example to artists everywhere. Truly one of the greatest pianists of our time.
Makes me super motivated to play more, I have had it a bit rough lately, and unfortunately that affected my time playing the piano, but seeing Mitsuko just talk about it has given me the motivation I was searching for, thank you very much
What a great artist!
Thanks Mitsuko
She is a very friendly person! I talked to her after her concert.
What an incredible performer.
It is also something you are born with. You must have a born talent to paint/sing or have that art within.
"You must be lucky." I got to agree with her. I'm lucky to be hired by employers who love Classical music a lot and paid me decent salary to keep pursuing piano studies!
What a light and energy
i can add to her point on luck.... there's rarely pure luck (lottery winners)...... but luck is preparation meets opportunity.... if one does not prepare oneself then even the opportunity comes one cannot meet it because of under preparation.
its a vocation 1st formost
Uchida=Mozart
Fascinating how while speaking English, she has a European accent, but with the intonation of Japanese
Its weird to hear as an American, is that a german accent in there too or?
Germany is part of Europe... ;)
“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music”
-Rachmaninoff
4:11- Classical Music is an acquired taste.
(True, and too bad more people didn't have taste to begin with)
interesting to use the word taste as no one on this earth likes all of foods of every countries therefore what she said is correct, it's an acquired taste and there's nothing right or wrong about it....
She is very elegant and very true. I have the utmost respect for her. The level of her expression and her layering the topic is impeccable.
If I may be so bold, I think she is pretty strict about her first criteria. There are numerous talents in history, both geniuses and hard workers, who exceed in multiple areas such as art, music, literature etc. as well as philosophy whose questions are the result of innate human instinct to think about everything which no doubt relates to human creativity/imagination and most importantly linked immediately to human intellectual ability and resulted in today's scientific endeavors which derived from the capacity of this brain.
So while human brain is most efficient and reaches its full potential when working in one course of study, it seems pretty uncertain whether that specific human is born with an innate urgency for only one area or multiple. The end result of course is to be molded or not by this urgency but this at the same time goes hand in hand with level and direction of infant's initial years of encounter with the outside world and then the aspect of toddler's guidance, all environmental experiences and perspective of parents (which are all a portion of that individual's luck) and finally that grown up individual's own efforts with his/her constructed psychological state; all encircled by sheer luck. You may say that all that I've written is linked only to that person's life after birth but the truth is all I've written is actually linked to whether that person will be able to blossom that innate urgency or not. Tough conditions or ideal conditions both may have negative as well as positive effects on this journey but this doesn't change the fact that this person carries that innate urgency which sometimes erupts suddenly but it also should be accepted that there are many situations in which this unlocked potential bides it's time or else never ever surfaces.
So in my insolent opinion, this seems to be an extremely complicated subject to accept a definitive principle.
Excuse my over the line thoughts and thank you for your time.
she is badass. you can see and hear how focused she is and how damn hard she has worked in her life. she is totally badass.
"Being a musician is not a profession but a vocation" my new life motto...
MITSUKO UCHIDA IS THE BESTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a fascinating personality!
I think one of the profound "luck" moments for her career was when she was able to record the Mozart concertos and sonatas. Previous to her recording those landmarks, she was known for her Chopin and Debussy. Her contract to record Mozart came out of nowhere, and the rest is history as she's now one of the greatest interpreters of the classical period.
I think that is actually very true.
She is the only pianist I know who talks a lot.
Alistair Crane In another language not her native one and one she learned later than childhood. It's probably her third language after German, since she first lived in Austria after leaving Japan.
Being eloquent and passionate in another language (beyond basic communication needs) is a feat as an adult.
+Alistair Crane Dang Thai Son too.
+lohphat Haha... Her speed and intonation is very "German", but her ending accent is very "British".
Angela Hewitt. Glenn Gould.
Andras Schiff!
The smoothness of Mitsuko...there's no way you can get confused when she plays Mozart's piano sonatas or concertos, you just feel it's her...and all these abilities are far beyond any of the items she counts in this interview.
I believe Mozart has one of his best performers ever.
Mitsuko, you certainly have character!
It's stunning... that the insights of the greatest musicians of today are captured and let loose on the inter-webs. Thank you BBT & UA-cam for this posting. This was fantastic - and I agree with Mezzotenor, that I'd love to hear her talk about ... well ... anything she dam pleases. What a brilliant artist.
Charming person!
The work should often match the talent and in many cases, exceed the talent. I've enjoyed listening to her points and it's okay to disagree with them. She shared her personal views and left us to take them how we wish. Beautiful interview, indeed.
Ich finde, sie hat damit vollkommen recht.
Die klassische Musik muss man fühlen und dabei Spaß haben.
Man muss nicht der beste sein und die schwierigsten Stücke spielen es kommt nur auf ein gutes Gefühl am Klavier an und dann geht der Weg von alleine weiter!
Although she expresses a bit differently from the the way I do, we are saying essentially the same thing: talent is love plus time.
All seriousness aside for a second - She's dead accurate about the banks being loony! :D
She herself is perhaps the best illustration of her central point: She clearly has a deep desire to COMMUNICATE with as many people as possible, even acquiring the ability to do interviews in various languages. I wish there were a way to pose more questions to her, because I want to hear more of her thoughts. She was a well chosen participant in this forum.
I'm glad she said luck was involved. A lot of people discount the importance of being born into the right circumstances and meeting the right people at the right time when it comes to being discovered.
Indeed to be a musician is a privilege, the most noble kind of vocation (even though I am not a professional musician, I am corporate technologist). Music shapes our souls and is the outlet of our deepest feelings. Mitsuko is one of the greatest of all great musicians that shape our souls and help us understand our deepest feelings. Wish her a long long fulfilled life!
By her definition we'd have to count out Alfred Brendel.... He writes poetry too.
I'm sorry for I cannot express this in some fancier words but her speech is freaking funny. She straight out said what she wanted to said and didn't care about how to make the listener agree with her. Yet I still can't disagree =))
Of course. Mozart is a prime example of this. His father exposed him to some of the finest musicians and composers in Europe during his tours, and he learned vigorously from them. Ones mental state is equally important regarding self-improvement.
People often attribute ability to heredity. Although, even if there was some genetic basis for ones ability, it will most likely be a miniscule influence.
that opinion comes from a woman that really plays Bach without understanding it...
A strong work ethic married to a little talent will get you further in life than lots of talent with a poor work ethic will. It's useless having talent if you don't work at it.
I went to music school with some very talented musicians who sang on their talent alone. They never worked their technique but always knocked it out of the park...got the good roles...sang well always....but never improved much. I was so envious of them. Years later, I ran into the most talented friend I had at the time. He's no longer singing.Great instrument, not much drive. I'm still singing for pay all these years later.
She may be the most interesting, most articulate person in public life today. To pay attention to her words lifts your spirit as well as your understanding.....magnanimous!
You should hear Uchida speak german, fluently and with great confidence.
*People are born with musical talent.* There must be an early and inherent facility between mind and fingers and ears so that the music can be realized. Otherwise, I mostly agree with Dame Mitsuko’s assessment. I’m a developmental psychologist and a classically trained musician, so obviously I’ve thought about the manifestation of talent.
I love this woman. She doesn't speak a word of BS and gets to the bottom of it every single time.
If music is the focal point and achievement...and not the expression of life itself...we are now in a philosophical discussion, not a discussion about music at all. Felix Mendelssohn was a painter and a composer. Mozart painted..and I am quite sure that many other composers could do fine arts beyond just their musical abilities.
I understand your point. So the lesson of Mitsuko interview is our context have to clear when we compare a musician, singer, painter, designer, sculpture, actor or cooker because even they have skills in some different or same ways but each of them are also the artist !
Cutting right to the core. She is exactly right in every single sentence she uttered.
She is the SUPER BEST with Emotions. Mozart.. Is hard with new personality but she does it best better than all. May even be more personal than Mozart.... We don't have Him recorded so we don't know.
"Being a musician is a vocation"--- very true -- I would adapt that to say "Being an artist at what you do is a vocation".
What are you then if your a dedicated pianist and composer yet you have the desire to draw, and write poetry?
Can passion and desire lead to talent?, that is my question
I dont quite buy it. Her playing is enough, certainly, being of immense brilliance. But there is an encrustation of meaning, a certain triteness, to her views about the social dimension of music education, production. The honesty, and it is a salvific one, is in her musical performance, not so much in her other remarks.
Well, i agree with her, there's very little that one is born with and a whole lot that is acquired from hard work, sitting in a piano alone, dreaming to achieve what she's achieved. Being a musician really is a privilege. Also, about the fact that the problems of the world don't concern her, i believe most of u didn't hear that she said they don't concern her bcuz she has nothing to add to those matters
ピアノは、仕事なら、９０パーセントの力で、100％の素晴らしさをだしましょう。高価な演奏能力を身につけて欲しいって。
Beautiful video, thank you. I think Maestro was talking about focus and presence when she says "music and nothing else". I think this is true for music and the performer. I'm not sure if it has to be so, as others have commented some musicians have dabbled in other arts. I suspect that to be a performer requires a single mindedness and that's what Mitsuko is expressing here.
She’s wonderful!
She is magic . Whenever one sees her speaks she is 100 % engaged . I think one would have to be terrifically accomplished to become a student of hers. She mentins Pierre boulez .I am waiting for the day she records 2nd sonata!
how about expressing your emotions through various media? if one of them is music, does it make you a non-musician?
Number 1 indeed.Passion,love and necessity first.These three things are the basis for any artistic talent in my opinion.Everything else is an extension of that,whether its the technique,the hard work,the intellectual complexity,the charisma.Everything comes from that fire,that spark and passion.Talent means great love and necessity for your Art.The greatest talents throughout history did not have special powers or anything,they only had a greater LOVE for their art than most people.And to quote Mr Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”
While I've been told I have great talent, I haven't dedicated enough effort to fully develop it. I feel like I've fallen short of my potential. Success isn't just about talent; it also requires hard work and dedication, especially music.
She is an amazing musician so I hate to be this dismissive but this is nonsense, and quite elitist. All speculation like this is. Music is for everybody, we can argue the merits of what we think is good and bad, but that is just subjective opinion. Also a bit sad because it implies there is a correct and incorrect way to play and listen to music. Although I am a bit odd in that regard because I know music theory but hate it for the fact that the concept of harmony is bias. "harmony" - "agreement of ideas, feelings, or actions, or a pleasing combination of different parts", this implies that if you enjoy disharmony you are wrong (and yes I know it is implied and not stated). Yet whenever I say this I get people chiming in saying I don't understand. I absolutely do, I get the science of what create the sounds music theory describes as harmonious, it's the fact the terminology is not correct. It has inherent bias within it.
There are for instance many old Japanese instruments that were created to make a dissonant sound. Yet in my opinion there is a certain beauty to it, overly clean, overly taught and in my opinion emotionless singing (looking at you Justin Beiber👀) is aweful. The dissonance in some instruments in my opinion makes them more harmonious, and yet music theory tells me I would be wrong to suggest that. Again, it doesn't state it literally but it is implied by the usage of the word "harmony". I know I've just gone off on one, but it just drives me crazy that music still has these elitist concepts and barriers. Music is an art and should remain as free as possible, it should bring people together, nonsense about "is talent enough" or what is an insistence to use antiquated theory only pushes people further away.
"If you want to express yourself by writing a poem, you are not a musician". I had to go back and listen again, to be sure I heard right. This is a terrible thing to say. She could add "In my opinion". I agree that the image of the musician or artist does not tolerate being connected to other forms of expression than that which is the main field of the artist, but that is about image and marketing. I find this statement very offensive.
What a beautiful person and talent. Very interesting and wonderful woman.
not sure i agree with he about only needing to express yourself via music. Richter loved painting and Brendel - writing poetry...
"... and everyone can argue about everything else" ... haha, lovely.
No. Talent alone isn't enough sadly. You only have to look at all the child prodigies who have wowed everyone at say 16 but then gradually gone into obscurity, or who have burned out by 25 through overexposure.
As well as talent, you also need poise, presence, personality but most of all - feeling. You have to play pieces with feeling and not just play them robotically, as audiences can tell if a pianist is just playing something well rather than interpreting it or feeling their way through it.
Just amazing
“If you want to paint, then you are not a musician”. I guess Mendelssohn wasn’t a musician then.
You can apply these principles to almost anything. That’s what I’ve done …. which ? Tennis!
Talent may not be enough, but it's quite necessary. I haven't heard any great players without it.
Not to disagree with Dame Mitsuko, certainly, but to add a few words: Love, of Music, but also of self, of life, of the audience; secondly Perspective. From these two other words flow; Dame Mitsuko’s modesty gives her Grace and proportion (not everyone has it); with Clarity she focuses on the particular while still mindful of the whole (few do this). Above all, the Joy of her soul comes through her playing.
I agree with you. (And I'm so pleased that Marc Andre Hamelin is ruled as he has no charisma at all!!)
important to understand that raising the kind of pianist she's talking about is becoming more and more impossible
可能なら、海外の言語に疎い日本人の私のような者のために、日本語の字幕をつけて欲しいです。
It's odd when people of different races look so much alike, but doesn't she bear a striking facial resemblance to Stephen Fry?
oh my god, now that i actually think about it.. YES!
She has never claimed to be a great pianist. She says every time she is asked that she simply is a pianist who really enjoys it. She puts everything into her work and interpretations, and weather or not you like them is simply a matter of taste.
Sorry, I differ. I paint, write, and I also sing opera. It is $$ that has stopped me from going further musically. But she is a brilliant artist.
being a pianist can be a curse
pete chan I dont see how, unless you're envious of acoustic guitarists playing wonder wall getting all the girls :P Please evaluate
The curse is pianist are never satisfied with their performances because we only hear our mistakes.
pete chan Ah, now I understand, altough as someone who plays both violin and the piano, I dont think that is a problem exclusive to pianists :p
I would like to know for what? Is talent enough for what?... The author of this debate question is certainly talented at being ambiguous. However, if what is only being discussed is that being a successful Musician means being rich and famous, (which it is in most peoples belief systems = b.s = bullshit). Then no, talent is NOT enough. There are other factors. These points are made in this video. Why all this debate over talent this, talent that, she is this, he is that though. Let us focus more on the Human Being. What makes a talented human being? Is it not those other factors Mrs Uchida speaks of? Character, Ethics, Morals. The great Pandit Nikhil Banerjee said the same thing.
You = ♟
Me = ♔
Are we understood?
Brighton DeChienne I do not and will not stand under you! Your stating you are a Queen. You are confused much. Males are kings, not Queens. You want to make the statement that you are far superior than me? You are clearly arrogant. True talent cannot reside where arrogance reigns.
This filmed address by Mitsuko Uchida is the starting point for a public debate, Is Talent Enough? at Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 18 May at 11am. It’s one of many events 17-19 May to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT). Mitsuko Uchida is a founding patron of BBT and will be leading a whole host of former BBT award winners in three concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Attendance to the debate, masterclasses and late night concerts are all free - come along!
Yes it's true.. It's not as impressive in this day and age to draw inspiration purely from close minded geekiness and devotion. She's describing the blissful musician, who takes on music as a life vocation.. As opposed to an intellectual or spiritual one.. Who's almost always more leisurely but sees it nothing other than a domaine or technology of expression
Magnificently and cleverly put forward. Thank you. For those of us who are looking for the real meaning, accent is nothing but a flavor :)
Character like Mozart... :)
+Jazzy Joe did you know Mozart? please introduce me to him
+Onur Özer Listen to his Music! You'll get know him well. Not personally - he's dead - but spiritually.
+Jazzy Joe good Point ! you're right man
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I think it is such a shame that so many comments on this video express negative emotions. This woman is so full of positive energy and love.
The simple fact that she concluded that "everybody can argue about everything else", shows how true and open she is. And that's how every musician should be, truthful and open.
But, no fear.. I do really agree with everything she said.
Hats off to this musician.
Uchida's discourse is as brilliant and insightful as her performances-- which are among the valuable treasures of the current era. i would also add hard work and concentration which is inherent in what she stated but i would bring this to the fore as well as the intellectual abilities which she highlighted--You must have the ability to absorb the classical repertoire,
Hear Hear...perfectly articulated...thanks Mitsuko...
Geniuses are born, not createt. AMAZING
This thinking is so limited. When you apply your process of "how to play it" to other forms (painting, writing, pottery, calligraphy, theatre) its all good and all the same, but it's only that you don't have time for all of it when you have a big range. An artist's success depends on more than neverending determination, ingenuity and thinking outside the box. IMO, most important to success is that the artist must have nothing or no-one getting in his way, and talent, seemingly, has almost nothing to do with success, Talent only has everything to do with brilliance.
Not a profession but a vocation
❤❤❤..Wonderful.... YES.....
She is wonderful .... Thanks million ....
Classical music was metal nefore electricity
I realize that she qualified this as her own opinion before the beginning of her statement, but I cannot disagree more with her first point that if you have a drive to create using media other than music then you're not a musician. Not everyone is willing to put themselves in a box. Especially not highly creative people.
Uchida is the pianist I admire the most.
She is so kind and shine
Well, I respect her like I respect Marie Curie. But not her accent...
you prefer her to speak Japanese or German?
it's really amazing that you can listen to people like this
She is such an inspired woman to me! i love her