Daniel Barenboim and Chris Maene: Current Trends in Piano Performance

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of searching for the variability of performing interpretations in the performing arts of the present time. The reasons for the transformation of interpretation solutions and the emergence of “mirror” variants in the context of the development of modern communication technologies are highlighted. The concept of interpretation of a musical text is presented on the basis of B.V. Asafiev’s typology, reflecting the degree of disclosure of the artistic idea depending on the creative plan of performance, as well as the chosen principles of reproduction of the author’s text. The variability of interpretative approaches and their synthesis are outlined in Charles Munch’s ideas as an addition to B.V. Asafiev’s basic system. A certain exhaustion of performing resources in the main complex of musical expressive means, in particular in the sphere of dynamics and tempos, was recorded. This served as an impulse to search for new solutions, among which the developments of modern piano construction are worthy of attention. The search for new timbre possibilities of the instrument has become a reserve of variability and one of the conditions for improving the art of performing. The pianist, conductor and social activist Daniel Barenboim and piano maker Chris Maene are linked to this trend. Amid the total proliferation of electronic keyboard musical instruments and developments in the field of digital sound, a new acoustic concert grand piano produced under the Barenboim-Maene brand was presented to the public in 2015. The idea of creating the instrument stems from the demand to update the timbre characteristics of the sound of musical compositions from the late 18th and early 19th centuries — the main concert repertoire of D. Barenboim. The appearance of the Barenboim-Maene grand piano is in line with the main trends in the performing art of the present time, in which two main vectors are clearly visible: academic concert performance and historically informed performance.

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