Analysis of Expressive Intentions in Piano Performance

To interpret, from the Latin interpretâri, literally means to act as a mediator, to negotiate. In the western classical tradition, the performer is the mediator, the intermediary between the composition and the listener. Such mediation allows different degrees of freedom. Each musician interprets the musical sign translating it into sound, but thanks to the freedom he is allowed to exploit, he can communicate, at the same time, his own expressive intention to the listener. This research tries to establish if and in which measure a specific expressive intention is communicated and which amount of freedom the performer has at his disposal in this mediation. With this purpose, we analysed several interpretations of the same excerpt, each one characterized by a different expressive intention to establish how the performer modified the performance parameters of his instrument. By means of sonological andlysis, we found some parameters, which permit to characterise different performances of the same piece.