Performing Form: A Dialogue between Performance and Analysis

What happens when a pianist who is not a trained musicologist, and a composer with a background in musical analysis, discuss the piano music of Schoenberg? In this article, Pina Napolitano and Hugh Collins Rice explore that dialogue. Their main focus is the Klavierstück Op.33b. They discuss the relationship between the performance and analysis of key passages, and their impact on the perception of form. From this discussion moves to Op.33a and three of the Op.23 Klavierstücke. The authors discover analysis and performance to provide intriguingly complementary and enriching perspectives. Passages which had clear analytical explanations were often problematic in performance; conversely music which was difficult to interpret analytically could be entirely natural for the performer. The authors conclude that these differences are not problematic, but combine to enhance their respective experiences of the music.