Newcastle under Lyme Festival

Earlier in the month I participated in 3 classes at the Newscastle festival- playing nocturnes by Frederic Chopin (F minor) and Nancy Litten and Franz Schubert's Hungarian Melody. An interesting afternoon - mainly teenagers competing, but it's always useful for playing experience (mine and theirs!). Here's Nancy Litten playing her nocturne - a certain influence of that Chopin Nocturne(!) I didn't dress up for my performance!..

I've been playing regularly at the Alberti piano group - which now has meetings on line and in person.

Here's my latest performance from the online meeting. Arnold Bax's Nereid - a watery tone picture very gentle with a few ripples (a nereid was a (one of many!) daughter of poseidon). I'll be playing the Schubert again at the Alderley festival in May.

Chethams

Last weekend I returned from a visit to the Chethams piano summer school - a useful few days listening to concerts and participating in lessons and workshops. I got some useful comments on my playing and here is my performance of John Ireland's 'In a May Morning' from his Sarnia - written in the Channel Islands in May 1940 just before he escaped the German invasion. Maybe I will look at more of his piano works?

Almost ready to record

I have a first go at recording my ARSM diploma programe tomorrow - I've done a few rehearsals already but tomorrow it is on a rather different piano, a Steingraeber piano at Shackleford's a local piano dealer. If it doesn't work tomorrow I have another morning booked, so I can choose the best recording for submission.

ABRSM Performance Diploma

I see I first posted about my intention to do the ABRSM diploma 10 years ago - it's still not done, but I'm getting to the point of asking for the date! Here's my thoughts from 2011 The programme has changed a bit since then (as have the piano teachers, though I'm now back with the same one as then),and I'm now doing the performance diploma which is slightly easier and intending to submit it remotely - here's the lineup

• Scarlatti Sonatas in C K 308 and 309
• Stravinsky Tango
• Chopin Mazurka in C# minor Op 50 No 3
• Scriabin Preludes Op 11 Nos 10 and 13
• Mompou Cancion e Danza no 6
• Rachmaninov Etude Tableau Op 33 No 3 in C minor

The last 2 items are my own choice, I see 2 items are the same as in 2011, hopefully here I've lived with them a good long time, hoping to submit in April. Here's a recent video of me playing the Stravinsky.

very chunky chords! A couple of rhythmic issues still to be addressed!

Two Op 1s!

An interesting day musically - piano meetup at z-arts - 4 Rachmaninov preludes by different players, a stunning Berg sonata (Op 1) I've never heard it live before and this was I assume an amateur playing it! Someone else played the first movement of the Beethoven Op 111 sonata- I played some Bach (fugue from WTC in G min we had a lot of that key from various people!) and then in the evening to the Northern chamber orchestra chamber evening with the Mozart clarinet quintet (played with the contrabass clarinet version) some Schubert songs for baritone acc by string quartet - including the Erlkönig (another Op 1!) and then the Schubert string quintet a wonderful performance. The string quintet was interrupted when the second violin's bow broke at the end of the scherzo, but a performance of intensity throughout. The baritone Matthew Sharp doubled as the second cello in the Schubert!

Here's Glenn Gould playing the Berg Sonata

Chetham's Piano Summer School

I've recently returned from a week at the Chetham's Summer School for Pianists. I've not been before and was treated as a unseasonal Christmas/birthday present from Beth.
It takes the form of a number of lessons with an assigned teacher - I was on the amateur course though I don't think there's a hard and fast division between that and the more skilled course. There are 2 or more (piano!) concerts every night and possibly a talk. There's workshops in the afternoons and you are assigned a practice room which I shared with 2 others though we never saw one of the people and clashes were not a problem. The practice piano was a little bright and I often found a teaching room that wasn't being used.

I booked late and being local I decided to attend as a non residential. This involved a lot of early morning travel and as the course was over the bank holiday and I was trying to use the train things were a little disruptive, also concerts often went on after the last train, so I missed some of these, though the days were very intensive so an early night was welcomed! My lessons were with Marta Karbownicka. I brought along a number of pieces that were in various stages and found the lessons of benefit in all cases - well apart from one where my playing and understanding of the piece just fell apart (the Fauré 11th Nocturne) but the Mompou, Scriabin, Ravel and even the Rachmaninov Etude that I've been given by my teacher - maybe as summer work - so was at an early stage - went well. There were also workshops with Marta. All the lessons and workshops are open so you can benefit from teaching from a whole range of very experienced, and in some cases, very well known pianists.

Frances Wilson gives some useful advice on preparing and attending. There are a huge number of attendees, maybe it's more useful to be residential so you get to know people more quickly especially over meals! I spent the last night with a room I requested during the course so I could hear all the last nights events - including the cabaret - which in some years has gone on until 1am - thankfully not this year!

I found that a lot of the larger workshops on the amateur course clashed with my lessons/teacher workshops so I missed on some of the experience on playing to larger groups but I was kept very busy. Before I went I thought that asking for a 2 hour use of a practice room was hopelessly ambitious. But lots of practice was done - with an absence of most other distractions and my playing improved. I also had useful discussions with Marta over repertoire for the ARSM diploma I'm hoping to take.

Maybe more reflections to be added - work in progress!

Adult Learners - North West

Last year I went to a day spent playing and listening to other piano and other instrumentalists. It was much enjoyed and I'm hoping to attend the one this July. They have a new website booking opens in a few weeks. As I'm playing at least one work with others, I need to get my booking in. Friends can also come to listen! This was my route into the Manchester Piano Meetup which is monthly but there also good things with this annual event.
Hoping this entry makes the website a little more visible to search engines!

Teaser Tuesday - Nov 13

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Alicia strides to the piano and begins the B minor Sonata. A shock wave wobbles through the room as the piano rings out, abruptly massive-toned. The American boy sits forward, chin on hands, watching her every move.

Adding another sentence to lead more than musicians in! Another teaser from our book group book of the month - Jessica Duchen's Alicia's Gift - the other teaser came two weeks ago, for me, a second read - an easy read after a few more involved novels!
And here's Gilels playing that movement:


I think the very start needs something less than a massive tone!

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 30

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

She is the music and the music is her. The piano is an extension of her. As she plays the sustained unaccompanied start of the slow movement, the mesmerised atmosphere deepens.

I felt it needed the extra sentence! This is a re-read of our book group book of next month (jumping the gun slightly!) - Jessica Duchen's Alicia's Gift a study of the stress of young musical genius - I last read it back in 2008 - and that's the Ravel piano concerto she's playing and on cue my music player's random play facility provides the music! And here it is:

Argerich is 70!

Yesterday marked the Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich's 70th birthday. Here she is at a rather younger age with Chailly playing part of the Rachmaninov 3rd concerto.
This is the slow movement (technically though the speed that the pianist has to go through notes makes it far from a rest for the soloist!). Then watch (at around 7:10) the speed and ferocity with which she attacks the last movement. Alas she has tended to stay away from the virtuosic parts of the repertory for many years - except for a small number of exceptions.
You'll find the other parts of the concerto in the associated items on youtube though getting them in hte right order is tricky - start here!

More thoughts on the diploma

A few months back (well June 2010), I blogged about my proposed programme for my attempt at the ABRSM piano diploma. I've thought a bit more and decided the Ravel Sonatine was a bit ambitious - well at least to do it in the next 12 months, so it has been dropped and the Debussy Sarabande from 'Pour le Piano' added instead, I briefly had some Fauré in with it as a Gallic pair of pieces but, at the moment, I've decided there's too much danger of hitting the time limit! So here's today's view of the programme:

• Scarlatti Sonatas in C K308 and K309
• Debussy Sarabande (Pour le Piano)
• Messiaen Vingt Regards No 2 - Regard de l'étoile
• Mompou Musica Callada XIII
• Brahms Op 116 No 2 A minor
• Chopin Mazurka C# minor Op 50 No 3
• Beethoven Bagatelle b minor Op 126

Here's Christopher Taylor playing the Messiaen Regard de l'étoile
and here is Richter with two versions of the Beethoven Bagatelle:
Ferocious playing - especially in the earlier performance, I don't think I'll quite manage that energy!
You'll see, if you compare with the previous blog post that I've swapped around the Brahms and Chopin as, I think, the bare octaves at the end of the Chopin will anticipate nicely the start of the Beethoven!
Just a matter of getting the notes under the fingers!

Music and Silence

In his Musica Callada, the Catalan composer Federico Mompou prefaces book 2 with the following comment:

It is difficult to translate and express the true sense of "Musica Callada" in a language other than Spanish. St John of the Cross the great mystic poet writes/sings in one of his most beautiful poems: "La Musica Callada, la Soledad Sonora"seeking to express a music which at the same time is the voice of silence. Music keeeps its own "Callada" voice, i.e. "that which is silent" whilst in its solitude making music.

(my translation from the French)
Here's no 26 from the set of 28 pieces:

Jeunes filles au jardin

Stephen Hough playing Federico Mompou's Jeunes filles au jardin:
I'm currently learning this piece, I see that Jordi Masó repeats the 'big tune' (a wonderful marking of 'chantez avec la fraîcheur de l'herbe humide) as does Hough - but in my edition (Salabert) there's no repeat mark - is this repeat common practice or is my edition faulty? To add confusion Masó plays the repeat 2 bars before the final 'Calme', Hough one bar before that tempo change - it could be a memory slip by Hough in view of the live performance. Does anyone have another edition of this work with real repeat marks? If so where are the markings? - it seems a pity to let that tune go without the repeat!
[Later]Thanks to a tweet from Stephen Hough - the composer plays the repeat in his own recording - there is only the Salabert edition of the work.

Arabesques

.. on "An der schönen blaune Donau" Here's a closeup version of the impossibilities of this fun transcription of J Strauss' Blue Danube played by Sim Keng Boon.

There are versions of this played by Lhevinne, Bolet and Wild on youtube but they don't have the video! There's also an even more close up version here played in a sitting room on an upright! That one comes in two parts but you get a very good idea of the difficulties it's a slow performance though and make it look easy - the one above is 9 minutes as against 16 - well it is just slightly difficult, make sure you stay for all of the above video!
Was this the piano transcription that Tom (of Tom and Jerry) played after 4 lessons? There doesn't appear to be a Yuja Wang performance of this around - she'd probably eat it for breakfast!

Simplicity

Emil Gilels playing the Bach/Siloti prelude in B minor. Rapt simplicity - but it is not easy!!

Piano Diploma Programme thoughts

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about entering the ABSRM Piano Diploma exam which has as its main component, a 35 minute recital (with programme notes!). There's a long list of repertoire to choose from but you can choose up to seven minutes of your own selection. At the moment the recital looks like this:

• Scarlatti Sonatas in C K308 and K309
• Ravel Sonatine
• Messiaen Vingt Regards No 2
• Mompou Musica Callada XIII
• Chopin Mazurka C# minor Op 50 No 3
• Brahms Op 116 No 2 A minor
• Beethoven Bagatelle b minor Op 126

I like this there's a split between Spanish/Gallic and the more Germanic styles, from major to minor, there's a central hunk of Catholic mysticism and the Beethoven acts a bit like an encore. The Scarlatti Sonatas are very simple, at least in mood and would play me in nicely so the flashy Ravel acts as a good counterbalance. The Mompou and Beethoven are my own choices. It's a mite under 35 minutes. I've put this programme on Spotify and if you have that installed you can listen here - not played by me!
The only snag at the moment (so far!!) is whether the Ravel Sonatine (especially the last movement) is too ambitious, I'll give it a try but I'm wondering about a fall back position which replaces the Ravel with the Debussy Sarabande from the suite Pour le Piano, which I was already working on and (to keep some sort of classical/modern sonata and to prevent it becoming too bitty) inserts either the Beethoven Op 90 or 54 before the final item - needs further thought by me especially as it would then be pushing towards the time limit but reactions, here, are very welcome!

Yvonne Loriod

The death of Yvonne Loriod was announced on Tuesday(here's a link to Roger Nichols' obituary - the widow of Olivier Messiaen and a wonderful pianist, here she is playing a movement from Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux a huge work - difficult - yes just a bit! - this is Le Traquet rieur - the Black Wheatear.

Mois de Mai. Belle matinée ensoleillée. Le Cap Béar, au-dessus de Port-Vendres (Roussillon). Falaise rocheuse, garrigues, mer bleu saphir et bleu Nattier, argentée de soleil. Joie de la mer bleue. Chant du Traquet rieur.

Litany

I was playing at the Alderley Edge Music Festival today - didn't win anything but the person who won the 20/21 century class gave a rapt performance of the first movement of this work which was previously unfamiliar to me:

Toru Takemitsu's Litany - written in memory of Michael Vyner. The video shows the score making it easier to follow.

Jeunes filles au jardin

I've not put up a classical piece for a bit, so here's a wonderful performance of Mompou's 'Jeunes filles au jardin' a sort of merger between de Falla and Ivor Novello.

It has the wonderful Satie-esque performance indication of 'Chantez avec la fraîcheur de l'herbe humide' (Sing with the freshness of damp grass). I'm currently learning it...

WInter Wind

As Spring seems to be here, let's hark back to the cold with Samson François playing 2 Chopin Studies - Op 25 no 5 and 11 (the second being popularly called Winter Wind)

Hat tip to 'SG' on rec.music.classical.recordings.
I think 'Paul Procopolis' was a Barrington Coupe invention which the you tube poster is gently recalling.