Concert pianist: We need to talk about anxiety
Daily Comfort ZoneFrom a guest essay by Jonathan Biss in the NY Times:
In 2015, when I broke my arm and needed to cancel several weeks of concerts, no one suggested to me that I shouldn’t tell the truth about why. A few years later, when I was suffering from acute anxiety and had to cancel engagements, no one suggested to me that I should reveal why. A physical impairment was an unfortunate fact of life; a psychological one was beyond the pale.
This is not a good state of affairs….
Read on here.
I loved Jonathon’s Beethoven lectures through Curtis online.
Paywalled. As are all NYT articles.
Try this: https://archive.is/. Copy the URL into the box. Works to move beyond most paywalls.
What a wonderful, intelligent and articulate article by Jonathan Biss. Thank you for taking us to it.
An interesting and obviously heart-felt essay, with much to ponder in it. Personally, I’d say I hear little to nothing of Schumann’s mental challenges in the Piano Concerto, but much them in the Violin Concerto, particularly the opening measures which seem to find so much difficulty in stating flat out what should be (and ends up being) a coherent and promising opening theme, as if the composer felt more comfort in his trotting-in-place accompaniment than in the theme itself. If anything the Violin Sonata No. 3 has even more of this sensation — and hence is little played (this is the sonata where two movements were taken from the jointly composed “F.A.E.” Sonata written as a party piece for Joachim).
As for Jonathan Biss’s contrast between telling the world about a broken arm and not being forthright at all about anxiety attacks, I’d only point out that it is not just a matter of stigma attached to the one and not the other, but the severely practical (from the standpoint of symphony programmers and recital sponsors) aspect that a broken arm has (hopefully) a date when full recovery can be proclaimed and performances can safely be booked and go on as slated, versus issues of anxiety where permanent and reliable recovery is hoped for but uncertain, enough that making retaining an artist for the next season something of an unsure bet.
But he’s come forward and set it in a (very) open forum, which takes guts.
Performance anxiety kept Vladimir Horowitz off the concert stage for many years.
It was performance fatigue – not performance anxiety – that compelled Horowitz to retire for what became a 12 year hiatus from performing.
That’s a long, long rest from fatigue.
Jonathan Bis is a very fine pianist.
The report in the NYT should be a “gift” article for those of us who have cancelled subscriptions for political reasons.
lol are you serious or sarcastic? I can’t tell
The NYT inches one step closer to the National Enquirer with each passing day.
Subscription cancelled many years ago. NYT has promoted the most nonsensical extremes of the woke perspective for years.
Real media is long form. Joe Rogan has set the bar. Kamala will not appear on his show because she doesn’t have more than 15 minutes worth of word salad available, and she can’t repeat what is already a repetition. When President Trump wins on Tuesday, America can finally rest assured the country will continue. The southern border has been no border under the Harris/Biden White House. Alas, former Vice President Biden might not digest the latest reports until January.
Elon Musk will soon buy CNN. There will be an uproar. Ted Turner will not be happy. America needs this transition to get back on track.
I would not be surprised if Beethoven would have agreed.
This article is about Jonathan Bis, not your political opinions which are irrelevant to the discussion.
There are many political viewpoints. I am not specific because it’s none of your business. And I am not sarcastic. I only wish to read what Jonathan Bis has to say. I admire him, immensely. His Beethoven series on the internet was enlightening and wonderfully presented.
A very perceptive article. I suspect there are many more artists who continue to perform despite a similar deep-rooted anxiety. I recall Dame janet Baker stated in one vdo that she gave up opera so relatively early in her cereer because she could no longer handle the nerves before going onstage.
I know of another example of a singer whom the older generation will recall – the bass-baritone Michael Rippon. Michael came to visit me some time around 1984. He asked if it would be a good idea to accept an invitation to become Head of Voice at the new Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. As a leading recording artist alongside many of Britain’s major artists and conductors and a singer with several opera companies, I asked why he would give all that up to move as far away as Hong Kong. “I just cannot handle the nerves” he replied. He found himself panicking every time he waited to go onstage. It got to the point where he felt he could no longer continue that career.