I admire musicians like Paul Tortelier and Eric Heidsieck who perform the 2nd movement, Scherzo – Allegro molto, of Beethoven’s 3rd cello sonata, op. 69 (1808) without looking at each other, and they just complete or counter each other’s phrase. They converse while resisting fusion and identity; they are engrossed in their dialogue while retaining their distinct voices. Their intense synergy is an instantiation of my being friends with pianist Pantelis Polychronidis.
Our own conversation works like collaborative music making since we communicate deeply and yet directly. We have developed a dialectical way of listening and responding to one another as if we are performing together in public (and we often are). We cover all aspects of music making – reading, analyzing, rehearsing, performing, teaching, singing, dancing and so much more. In our dialogue full-fledged interpretation and performance merge: there is no “work” independent of our performance. In all this action, music making permeates everything and becomes world making.
Here is a Heideggerian title for a treatise on friendship as collaborative world making: Music and Time.
November 10, 2014
Piano Poetry Pantelis Politics 