Creating musical 'truth': An interdisciplinary application of selected elements from Konstantin Stanislavski's acting 'system' to the classical pianist's selection, preparation and performance of music for solo recital

This interdisciplinary research draws upon selected theatrical principles from Constantin Stanislavski’s ‘System’ of actor training and applies them to the preparation of solo piano works for professional performance. Stanislavski’s own texts demonstrate shared artistic concerns between theatrical and musical performing arts in numerous cross-disciplinary references. These may be found even prior to his later work with opera singers at the Opera-Dramatic Studio. In this research, I apply particular theatrical techniques from the ‘System’ as a way to develop compelling musical interpretation of solo piano music. Pianists, like actors, can deepen their art by developing their own musical subtext for a work and building logical, expressive justifications behind dramatic shifts in musical discourse. Artistic work of this kind involves exploring the deeper motivations behind musical expression through individual, creative enquiry. Some of these ideas may have found corollaries independent of Stanislavski: Alfred Cortot’s editions and recordings of the music of Chopin for example, illustrate a sensitivity to musical narrative by finding expressive justifications for a score’s directives in analytical footnotes to his editions of solo piano repertoire and recorded realizations. My idea is to bring these selected concepts together in a more unified manner for the purpose of drawing out the dramatic relationships within instrumental works. The seminal writings of Stanislavski have already proved to be a reservoir of practical wisdom in a wide range of performance applications including modern dance, Chinese Opera and choral conducting. In particular, this research aims to bring Stanislavski’s aesthetic of artistic ‘truth’ to the context of preparing and performing solo piano music. In animating the ‘life of the human spirit’ of a role – an idea borrowed indirectly from Tolstoy – Stanislavski’s actors rely freely on a combination of intellectual, spiritual and physical resources to extend the limitations of their own personalities. ‘Artistic truth’ in a musical context is built through attention to the same inner and outer skills that peel back the layers of musical expression to find and communicate what a work “is all about.” This ‘truth’ works to eliminate doubts of technical and mental security in performance. It serves a deeper understanding of the work and of the composer while also reflecting the artistic development of the solo pianist at a particular point in time. The following ‘Elements’ from Stanislavski’s ‘System’ are adapted to create ‘artistic truth’ in an instrumental context: imagination; subtext; actions; truth; logic and sequence; given circumstances, justification; units and objectives, super-objective, tone; tempo-rhythm. A more detailed emphasis is placed on truth and actions. When working together, these Elements may combine to suggest a sense musical narrative, which in my view is a symptom of Stanislavski’s artistic ‘truth’.