Poets of the Piano - Contrasts is a video-recital featuring pairs of works with something in common, and something in contrast. The program is arranged chronologically from Bach to Rachmaninoff, and was presented as a Youtube premiere by Chatham Friday Musicale on March 19 2021.
After a long year of no live concerts many people in classical music turned to online video production, and I was one of them. This video represents a year of learning a lot about filming and editing techniques. While a friend introduced me to the editing software, I produced this entire project myself, at the piano and at the computer.
I believe that music never fully “speaks for itself” because we always hear or experience it in a context. Music would not exist without people to play and hear it. Even in a conservative concert hall, with stoic players dressed in the most muted, inexpressive black outfits, the atmosphere of the hall and the surrounding audience adds to the experience. It is not the music “speaking for itself,” it has a context.
So to that point, my goal was to create an atmosphere for this entire recital, that was unified, but still had multiple dimensions, and that was not just a flat presentation of music on a screen. I wanted a feeling and visual style that could hopefully draw people in, to hear the music and experience it on a deeper level, which is not easy when watching on the computer or phone.
The darkness of much of the screen, ornamented by the brilliant gold & red colors inside the piano and my floating hands and face, is the unified style. I believe it looks very striking, when watching on the phone.
Since the recital is ordered in pairs, I wanted each pair to have a different look and feel from the others, so the camera angles and the editing styles change throughout. The Bach celebrates and has fun with the contrapuntal style, the Schubert highlights the dialogues and different voices within the music, the Chopin is very nocturnal and seen from an intimate angle, the Debussy is Impressionistic using blur and strange overlay effects, and the Medtner & Rachmaninoff are meant to be fast-paced dramatic editing.
Finally, this recital is treated as a live performance. While there is a lot of editing, there is no splicing or patching, each piece was recorded as if live, in one take. I sincerely hope you enjoy this musical and visual effort. - Nathan Carterette, March 2021