Bel Canto on the piano: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The art of Bel Canto on the piano is a magical skill, a rare achievement, one of the
last secrets of the great romantic pianists. Bel Canto needs sublime control of the key
and sound; fluid and caressing movements; perfect, almost overlapping legato; a
cornucopia of overtones ranging from murmuring parlando to iridescent vibrato; a
domineering diva for a right hand and a shy and submissive maestro for the left.
For the melody to sing in Bel Canto style, the timing of counterpoint and attention to
bass line have to be sacrificed. In order to sing Bel Canto, one bends all forms to the
whim of the melody.

Great for much of Liszt, Chopin, or Rachmaninoff.

Not so good for Beethoven, Brahms, or Berg.
Quite terrible for Mozart, Ravel, or Stravinsky.
That intoxicating distortion is only appropriate for a fraction of the repertoire. All the
rest of music needs constant attention to at least two voices; Melody and Bass line.
Most music should be played with a singing, dynamically connected tone, but that
must include imitating the art song voice, the classical aria, the string quartet, string
sections, winds, and even some brass. And in both hands.
In the worst case you will witness the misuse of ugly, i.e. exaggerated and
inappropriate, Bel Canto - cantato stronzato - and in the wrong repertoire. An
unfortunate and fundamental misunderstanding of stylistic sense and artistic
sensibility.

Chopin is imitating the female beautiful singing voice on his piano music in the
melody. thus Bel Canto.

The Singing Line

Let’s look at what is involved in the production of a
legato cantabile melody line in your typical Chopin
Nocturne, for example. Chopin modelled his piano
style on the bel canto tradition of Italian singing, and
aimed to make a percussion instrument sing by
replicating the intonations, colourings and timings of
the human voice. The greatest players do indeed
make the piano sing but they do it by illusion. This
is the whole point! It is achieved not by science but by
having a sound in your head before you play and then
allowing your body (hands, fingers, arm – whatever) to
assist you in realising this sound.
I like to feel that in playing a legato cantabile melody
that my arm acts in a similar way to the singer’s
steady stream of breath. My hand, fingers and wrist
are an extension of my arm and in order to engage
the arm and wrist, I use a flatter finger (playing on the
pads or cushions rather than the tips). Rather than
using striking movements of my fingers from the
knuckle joints I use stroking movements – sometimes
this feels like a gentle squeezing, and may involve
sliding in and out along the length of the key. The
sensation is of clinging to the keyboard with finger
pads like those of a gecko, combined with a floating
and malleable arm.