BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Welcome to our series, What the Fact?!
Throughout 2018, we’re teaming up with talent at the Australian National Academy of Music to bring you informed answers to real questions and topics about your music career.
Ever wondered why you feel performance anxiety? What the deal is with tuning to 440Hz – or not? How to lead an orchestra? We’re here to tell you all about it.
Here, we chat with Berta Brozgul. The pianist will perform in the ANAM Prizewinners concert this week in the Melbourne Recital Centre Salon.
So what’ll the venue be like to play in? That’s what we’re here to explore.
In this WTF?! we explore venue – what makes one great, and how a musician can make it sound even greater.
Berta is a pianist who has performed in many a venue (and often with the added trouble of having her instrument permanently located in each one). But she can deal with it – she is an award-winning artist who has taken out prizes in the Australian National Piano Award (2014) and Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition (2015). That’s after she was a Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School student and won the Margaret Schofield Prize for Best Music Student in the State of Victoria (2007).
Wow.
Berta is a member of the Clarendon Trio, which won the ANAM Chamber Music Competition and is the only Australian ensemble to perform in the 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
Let’s hack venues!
Berta, thanks for the chat. First of all, what’s the best venue you’ve ever performed in?
I’ve been lucky to perform in a number of very special venues. However, if I were to single out two outstanding halls I’ve played in, they would be the Solitaer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Elizabeth Murdoch Hall in the Melbourne Recital Centre.
As a starting point, the surroundings of both these spaces are aesthetically spectacular, and it’s simply a joy to perform in a place which looks so beautiful and unique. From an acoustic perspective, every performer appreciates a venue which is responsive and which would appear to always give back what one gives to it – no more and no less.
I also love the freedom of performing on a big stage in a large hall.
You’re a pianist, so what do you expect of a venue in supplying you with an instrument appropriate to its space?
As a pianist, I suppose my first wish would be to be given a quality instrument which is responsive and regulated according to your needs. However, there is a certain amount of adaptability required to suit different venues.
It probably would be overbearing to have a full-sized concert grand piano in a small salon which doesn’t seat a large audience – and disappointing not to have a concert grand piano in a large space. But in the end, there are many other factors influencing your performance – specific repertoire and styles of music are also to be taken into consideration, as well as whether you are performing as a soloist or in a chamber group.
How much does venue affect the quality of performance, beyond the acoustics?
Again, it could depend on what you are performing, or what the format or focus of the performance is. If there are too many distractions in a venue, which is less than ideal, it could affect the quality of a performance as it would also be bound to affect the audience. [This] is one of the most essential influences on the concentration and commitment of the performer.
How can a musician check out a venue before an event to see if it’s the right fit for them?
Clarity, balance and sense of proportion would be important in considering the sound inside a venue – and a sense of sound which isn’t too dry or echoey.
What adjustments can musicians make so that they can tailor the venue to their needs?
In a venue which absorbs sound too quickly, there are some obvious small adjustments which can be made, such as opening the curtains, removing the piano lid, etc. The positioning of instruments could also play a role in how sound blends together and travels through. However, most of the adaptability in this respect would need to take place in the playing itself.
And similarly, how can musicians adjust their own playing to suit the venue?
Speaking from the perspective of a pianist, there are many adjustments one can make, which is of course reliant on much experience and practice.
In venues which are less than ideal, a first resort would be to exaggerate everything in terms of dynamics, voicing, use of the pedal and of course articulation. Also, in general with smaller venues one probably can’t always go to the same extremes as one could in a large hall, though hopefully one would also have the repertoire chosen accordingly to the venue and occasion.
Why is it important to play across different venues?
Diversity and experience are the most important things for any musician to have throughout their career. If one is challenged to the extreme, the result of a performance could unpredictably be satisfactory in a less than ideal venue; and alternatively, disappointing in a wonderful venue if one leaves it all to the quality of the venue and instrument.
In the end, it is a combination of taking all the right steps and having ample time to adapt to a venue beforehand, however difficult, which makes for a successful performance.
You’ll be performing in MRC this week. Why is this a venue that’ll suit the occasion?
We were very lucky to have been given this opportunity as a part of the prize for winning the ANAM chamber music competition in 2017. It’s a very intimate venue, which is of course perfect for chamber music. And it will be very interesting to experiment with two very different musical worlds – the Beethoven is joyful, feisty and lyrical, and all three instruments are constantly involved in musical conversation; whereas the Ravel demands the nth degree of nuance, finesse and the blending of colours and harmonies throughout.
It will certainly be a wonderful journey and a test for the venue and most especially for us. I can’t wait to perform there this next Tuesday!
Watch Berta perform in ANAM Prizewinners in the Salon with the Clarendon Trio. Expect works by Beethoven and Ravel from 6pm May 22 in the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Check back in soon for our next What the Fact?! with professionals in the music industry.
Featured image Melbourne Recital Centre by Rexness via Flickr CC-BY-SA-2.0. Image of Berta supplied – credit Pia Johnson. Emoji via APACHE – License 2.0.
