Improvisation

The following transcription of Gabriela Montero's interview describes some of the difficulties of improvising in the classical world, her roots as a musical storyteller, and her critical attitudes towards her being a creative artist as well as a concert pianist.

NL: Why is improvisation considered to be such a novelty today and why don't we hear more of it?

GM: Well.. strangely, it's become a very rare act to see classical musicians improvise in classical style. In the last years it's really been more common to see it in the Jazz idiom, but, when you look at history and you look at how composers and performers develop their musical language, it was very much through improvisation you know, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Liszt, these were all great improvisers, great composers and great performers. And, it's very funny that instead of evolving in time to become more creative and more avant-garde and more ground-breaking as artists, we've actually become more timid in showing our personalities and our characters and our story-telling through composing or improvisation or performing in the classical field.

NL: Why do you think that is?

GM: You know, I think it has to do with, somehow the pressure of careers or the imaginary sort of limitations that people impose on themselves, when the more interesting artists are the ones who've been able to manage and evolve and thrive in not just performing but also composing; because it's a very immediate language and one that they can also use to convey the now, the present, and who we are as people today.

NL: You describe improvisation as composing in front of an audience.

GM: Well, you know, it's something that's very natural, that's been a part of my life since I was a little girl. The beginnings of my life at the piano, when I was only a month old had everything to do with improvisation. I would always sit down and tell my stories and my own little emotional vignettes through improvisation, and I thought it was something that was a part of everybody's life, because it was just the most natural relationship with the piano for me - to tell stories like that.

NL: Do you think everybody has the ability to improvise?

GM: I think like with everything in life we have our strengths and weaknesses. I do think improvising is an ability, a talent, it's neurologically something different that happens in the brain, and this is a very interesting subject and one that I've had some research done on.. It's fascinating to see how the brain behaves when you're improvising, or when I'm improvising, when I'm playing a written piece. I do think it's a talent, if you want to call (it) that..

NL: You've made improvisation a really big part of your career, but it's actually turned out to be a double-edged sword for you. Audiences love it when you do it, but there's been a risk of mistakenly getting labelled as a crossover artist. What is that all about?

GM: Well, it's a sign ot the times really because, when you think about it, I'm one of the most old-fashioned performers out there, because I'm very much in the tradition of the 19th century performer-composer-improviser. I think it's just because there are so few of us that do it on the concert platform that you become an oddity, and the way that the business is set up, people pigeon-hole you and they have to find a label for you. So if you improvise, you're too creative or too free to be a classical concert pianist - which is absolute nonsense. I mean to be able to improvise and create only enhances your ability to view the score of another composer and to bring it to life. So, I think it's just a matter of perception all of that (will be) changing with my new path as a composer...