In rehearsal the other night, the conductor asked us to play a particular chord (the next-to-last chord in the "Catacombs" movement of Pictures at an Exhibition) as though it were "loud, but far away." This struck me as interesting, because I then found myself not thinking "Okay, I should play this chord softly," but actually thinking I should play it "loudly, but far away." The distinction seems unusually fine, and it may not be something that a decibel meter would pick up, but I think the difference is rather striking in performance.
In The Art of Performance, Schenker also mentions that no two fortes are alike, just as no two pianos are alike. Speaking pianistically, forte can represent the full instrumentation of the orchestra and piano can represent more modest instrumentation; forte can represent a strong conviction and piano can represent an "intimate utterance" (39).
Many musicians tend to think of dynamics in terms of soft or loud, but I think that's only half the story. Schenker suggests--and I agree--that dynamics are more of a malleable psychological state, and that performers too often overlook this aspect of what dynamics tell us.
In The Art of Performance, Schenker also mentions that no two fortes are alike, just as no two pianos are alike. Speaking pianistically, forte can represent the full instrumentation of the orchestra and piano can represent more modest instrumentation; forte can represent a strong conviction and piano can represent an "intimate utterance" (39).
Many musicians tend to think of dynamics in terms of soft or loud, but I think that's only half the story. Schenker suggests--and I agree--that dynamics are more of a malleable psychological state, and that performers too often overlook this aspect of what dynamics tell us.