When Performing...?

Question:IS it a concerto you have to memorize, or is it a sonata?
Alot of vidoes I have seen, if its sonata, they generally have the music in front of them, but a concerto no music...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: IS it a concerto you have to memorize, or is it a sonata?
Alot of vidoes I have seen, if its sonata, they generally have the music in front of them, but a concerto no music...

Nobody has to memorize anything.

Of course, it impresses the audience more if you have the thing memorized, and it eliminates page-turn problems.

And it is customary for the section players to have their music in front of them--even though in many cases for the old work-horse pieces in the repertoire they've probably got it memorized, more or less.

Now, the professional soloists will have a standard repertoire that they offer for recitals or concerts--and since they practice those pieces all the time, they'll get them into memory eventually. But if you retain somebody to play a piece that's not in their standard rep, then they're probably going to be reading from the score while performing.