Modern concertgoers haven’t faintest idea what they are hearing, pianist laments

ONE of the world’s leading pianists has despaired that today’s average concertgoer “has hardly the faintest idea about what he is hearing”.

In a forthcoming memoir, Sir András Schiff says modern audiences cannot tell the difference between outstanding and poor performances. One chapter appears as a “letter” to Robert Schumann, as if he is updating the great German composer on “how our musical world understands” his music some 200 years on.

He tells him: “I fear you would not feel at home in the musical life of today. It’s true that the number of concertgoers has risen dramatically all over the world, but unfortunately the quality and general culture of audiences has diminished in equal measure.

“The average listener of today has hardly the faintest idea about what he is hearing. He neither knows anything about new music, nor can he differentiate between outstanding, moderately good and poor performances. Two days or so after the concert, he reads the opinion of a so-called ‘expert’ in the local paper and adopts it as his own. And with few exceptions, these reviews have sunk to an alarmingly low level.”

In another chapter, he observes that the public was in the past much more likely to play an instrument, take part in chamber music and be able to read a score: “That’s no longer part of middleclass education … No one was ever born with good taste, but education and training, as well as the fact that music lovers also played, were important for the development of listening and for leading to higher standards.”

The Hungarian-born musician with a home in Britain has been showered with awards. The Telegraph described his recent Schubert recording as “simply stellar”. Another critic wrote: “Who can know what listening facilities

Schubert has in heaven? But if he were able to download this album I think he would be tickled pink.”

It has been said that Sir András has “no pianistic equal in terms of humility to the music, or imagination in its performance”.

His memoir, titled Music Comes Out of Silence, will be published by Orion Books on April 2.