Pianist No76 - February - March 2014

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No 76

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COLE PORTER Learn his magical NIGH GHT T AN AND D DAY’ ‘NI RACHMANINOV  Less  Le sson on on hi his s lu luxu xuri riou ous s  Etud  Et udee-ta tabl blea eau u in G mi mino nor  r 

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Pianist 76

CONTENTS

February - March 2014 The next issue of Pianist goes on sale 28 March 2014

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67 4 Editor’ Editor’s s Note N ote 4  Competition Three lucky winners will each receive a copy of this issue’s Editor’s Editor’s Choice CD – American Piano Concertos

6 Readers’ Letters 8  News London’s weekend-long piano festival at the Institut français, our new Piano Techniques Techniques app, remembering Bernard Roberts and Stan Tracey, da Vinci keyboard unveiled and more

12 Expert 12  Expert Talk  Artur Pizarro reveals reveals the techniques needed to play all the Rachmaninov oeuvre, Tim Stein gives advice on counting out loud in his Q&A column, and the PTA tells you where to place your upright piano in your home

14 András 14  András Schiff talks to Jessica Duchen and shares his views on classical music’ music’ss robust health, Beethoven Beethoven’s ’s humanity and the importance of good posture at the piano

18 How 18  How to Play Masterclass 1  Mark Tanner on pedalling to perfection

20 How to Play Masterclass 2 Graham Fitch on exercises to warm up with Don’t miss Graham’s online lessons! 

22 How 22  How to Play 1  Janet Newman Newman on the slow movement of Clementi’s Sonata op 25 no 5 (Scores page 49)

24 How 24  How to Play 2 Lucy Parham on Rachmaninov’s Etude-tableau op 33 no 8 Rachmaninov’s (Scores page 61)

27 The 27  The Scores  A pullout section of 40 pages of sheet music for all levels. Plus Tim Stein on his ‘Basics of Learning the Piano’ video lessons Don’t miss Tim’s online lessons! 

45 Beginner 45  Beginner Keyboard Class Hans-Günter Heumann’s Heumann’s fourth f ourth lesson: les son: e dotted quaver (dotted eighth note)

67 Cole 67  Cole Porter  A closer look at the sophisticated composer behind such witty songs as ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘You’re e Top’. Plus, learn his ‘Night and Day’ in this issue’ss Scores (page 52) issue’

70 Sergei 70  Sergei Rachmaninov  Why do people turn up their noses at this romantic Russian, whose music is full of searing melodies and sumptuous chords? Harriet Smith explores the man and the music

76 80 Subscribe 80  Subscribe today for just £4.50 an issue by Direct Debit and receive a FREE CD box set of Martha Argerich or Aldo Ciccolini worth £15.00

82 Noises Off  Neighbours  Neighbours complaining about your piano playing? Sound insulation and engineering can help keep the peace, as Inge Kjemtrup has learned

85 Sheet 85  Sheet Music Review Approachable Rachmaninov, eccentric Rachmaninov, ec centric Satie, Mussorgsky, duets and more

Pictures  from  from

86 CD Review Powerhouse Rachmaninov from Alessio Bax, an elegant live recital from Simon Trpčeski, but it’s Xiayin Wang’s disc of American concertos that ends up stealing the show in this issue’s reviews

88 Classifieds 88  Classifieds 90 Back 90  Back Issues

74 The 74  The Voice of Vienna Bösendorfer celebrates its 185th birthday in its hometown and unveils its 50,000th piano – the stunning, gold-decorated Opus 50,000. Erica Worth sees it

76 Second-Hand 76  Second-Hand Secrets Buying second-hand has become the next best thing. ere are auctions and dealers where you could find that vintage piano of your dreams, says Gez Kahan

Cover photo: © Roberto Masotti/ECM Records. Images this page: © Nadia F Romanini/ECM Records (Schiff); Tristan Jakob-Hoff (piano auction) Notice: Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyrighted material in this magazine, however, should copyrighted material inadvertently have been used, copyright acknowledgement will be made in a later issue of the magazine.

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Editor’s note

 W 

hat do we mean when we call something a ‘classic’? We mean that it’s timeless, that it holds its value, that it’s  worth its weight in gold, and that it’s revered by many.  We use the word ‘classic’ a lot when discussing cars, recipes, novels, movies. is issue is full of classics, from performers and composers to scores and instruments. Let’s start with our cover artist, András Schiff, who has just turned 60. Schiff is the epitome of a classic. He’s never been one to throw himself around the keyboard or show off – just listen to his thoughtful and restrained interpretations of Bach and Beethoven. It’s his unique talent alone that’s made him one of the icons of the piano world. This issue we home in on two classic composers: Sergei Rachmaninov and Cole Porter. Read Inge Kjemtrup’s article on Cole Porter on page 67 – the man oozed sophistication, but it’s his witty songs that are the real classics (learn his alluring Night and Day  on page 52). On page 70 Harriet Smith looks at Rachmaninov. He may have been sniffed at during his lifetime but today he is one of the most popular composers. Concert halls are full when his Second or Third Piano Concerto is on the programme. We have placed two Rachmaninov scores inside as a tie-in (there’s a ‘How to Play’ by Lucy Parham on the Etude-tableaux opus 33 no 8 as well). You’ll find other classics inside the Scores this issue. There’s a Bach Two-part Invention (one never tires of Bach and his inventions!), a Schubert German Dance, a movement from a Clementi sonata, a Liszt Romance and a Tchaikovsky delight.  When it comes to piano makers, there are some real classics out there, and within these pages we focus in on one of them – Bösendorfer. I travel to Vienna to witness Bösendorfer’s185th anniversary celebrations and the unveiling of its 50,000th model (see the pictures – a classic model harkening back to the firm’s great tradition, and dabbed in gold for good measure). If you want a classic piano of your own, but might not have the Bösendorfer budget, turn to our second-hand pianos article on page 76. You might end up with a vintage that hasn’t cost you the equivalent of your weight in gold. Finally, I am delighted to announce that we’ve just launched our first stand-alone app, Piano Techniques, in association with the classic maker Steinway. Read about it on page 9. The app might not be a classic quite yet, but in years to come, who knows? ERICA WORTH, EDITOR

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WIN A COPY OF THIS ISSUE’S EDITOR’S CHOICE CD  Answer the question below correctly, and you could be one of three winners to receive the American Piano Concertos CD from Chandos Records, featuring  Xiayin Wang playing Gershwin’s fabulous Concerto in F  What did Cole Porter’s grandfather want him to do with his life?  A: Become a scientist B: Take over the family business C: Become a composer  ENTER ONLINE AT WWW.PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM

Postcard entries are also accepted. Please send to Erica Worth, Editor, COMP PIA0101, Pianist, 6 Warrington Crescent, London W9 1EL, UK. Competition closes 28 March 2014. Quote PIA0101 and remember to put your name, address and telephone number on the postcard as well as your answer. Answer to the page 4 competition in Pianist No 74: B (fast octaves). Congratulations to the three lucky winners: Mrs Carol De Brikasaan (Northumberland), Ms Jackie Pugh (Sheffield), Mr Timothy Trelowen (Blackpool)

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Pianist www.pianistmagazine.com PUBLISHER  Warners Group Publications plc Director: Stephen Warner  Publisher: Janet Davison EDITORIAL 6 Warrington Crescent, London, W9 1EL, UK  Tel: +44 (0)20 7266 0760 Fax: +44 (0)20 7286 0748 Editor: Erica Worth [email protected] Deputy editor: Inge Kjemtrup [email protected] Designer: Nathan Ward ADVERTISING Gareth Macfarlane, Advertising manager  [email protected]  Natalie Tuerena, Advertising executive [email protected]  Tel: +44 (0)845 226 0477 Fax: +44 (0)845 226 0377

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 Readers’    Letters Get in touch WRITE TO:The Editor, Pianist, 6 Warrington Crescent, London, W9 1EL, UK OR EMAIL: [email protected] STAR LETTER wins a surprise CD. Letters may be edited.

STAR LETTER

Slowly does it Like Steven Osborne [cover inter view, Pianist  No 74] I have always found that t he fastest way to learn something is to play it slowly. I play a new piece or exercise t hrough very slowly, then I take individual bars, runs, etc. and work on that small portion of the work until I feel comfortable with it, trying to feel the depth of those few notes, listening to the beautiful sound of each individual note. is started when I was living in Montreal and studying for my Grade 9 Toronto Conservatory exam. During a visit to a music school in New York, my piano teaacher found herself waiting in a corridor full of studios. Next to her sat a nine-year-old boy. From the studio opposite came the sounds of very rudimentary exercises and simple bars being played very slowly. e boy said, ‘at must be some really little kid playing in there, ‘cos he can hardly play,’ and then boasted about his own prowess at the piano. Twenty minutes later the door opened and an elderly man with a head of grey-white hair slowly emerged – it was Arthur Rubinstein! e lad waited for ‘the student kid’ to emerge, but of course there was none. It was a learning experience for the boy, my teacher and myself. For me, the ‘small is beautiful’ slogan has long been joined by ‘slow is beautiful’. Rosemary Emmett, Christchurch

ank you for your thoughtful letter – an excellent reminder that the great players have always known about the importance of workings slowly from the outset. A surprise CD will be sent to you. The peerless Les Dawson I have been a firm fan of your magazine since discovering it way back at issue no 7. At last I have caught you! J’accuse! You are biased, partisan, you favour your favourites! To wit,you have featured jolly Jools Holland twice on the cover (the man is  mustard!), yet over the years never a mention of, for my money, one of the giants. I refer of course to the peerless Les Dawson. Why the glaring omission? Liberace, Victor Borge, Dudley Moore, all classic acts have been mentioned; you are remiss in not featuring the incomparable Les. What unique interpretations! Mere words cannot do him  justice. Seriously though, keep up the good work. Keith Park, Woolwich

English comedian, writer and pianist Les Dawson (1931-1993) was indeed unique and was much loved by British TV viewers. Should we decide to do another article like the mavericks article in issue 73, we’ll be sure to include him! Humidifier or not? I have an Estonia Studio Grand piano that sits in my front room, which is quite a large room  with a cathedral ceiling. Because it’s such a large room it is diffi cult to control the humidity. e summer months are fine – the hygrometer beside the piano reads between 45 and 55 without artificial help. But in winter the humidity can drop below 40, perhaps as low as 35. I have a standard floor-standing humidifier that doesn’t seem to help much and I wonder if one of the alternative ‘installed’ humidifiers  would be better, though I have to say I’m reluctant to have water pipes running around

inside my piano. I have the piano tuned annually but it probably needs more frequent attention, though not more than twice a year I think. Do you or any of your readers have an opinion on this? Graham Davidson, Aboyne We asked Keith Owen, a member of the Piano Tuners’ Association, to respond: In simple terms,  piano climate control systems consist of a heater and a reservoir of water. A switch attached to a humidity-measuring device operates either the heater if the humidity is high or gently evaporates water from the reservoir if the humidity is low. e relative humidity around the immediate vicinity of the soundboard is thus maintained at a stable 55 per cent and pitch fluctuations due to seasonal soundboard swelling and shrinkage are minimised. e system is typically mounted on the underside of a grand piano or behind the bottom panel of an upright; the effect should be localised to the piano irrespective of the conditions in the rest of the room. Properly mounted and maintained there should be no problem with the components containing water. Graham doesn’t mention how the room is heated. If it has underfloor heating, then he should turn it off under the piano if possible or put the piano on special mat (consult your tuner) to help insulate it  from the hot dry air. Is the pitch of the instrument being affected? A pitch swing no more than 10 cents on a newish piano isn’t really anything to worr y about. Regular tunings are a must; twice a year should be regarded as a minimum. He may also wish to consult a heating specialist to analyse the air in this room during the heating season. I claim no expertise, but I seem to remember that in rooms with high ceilings heated 6• Pianist 76

at floor level, a layer of hot air can be trapped at  floor level by a body of colder air sitting on top of it – a mini version of an atmospheric phenomenon known as a temperature inversion – and this would keep the colder, more humid air above floor level. is is good for human comfort, but bad for the piano. If the room were heated in a way that encouraged greater convection it might be possible to maximise the humidity around the piano. Beethoven’s Seventh Here’s a piece I wish you would feature for beginners: the theme from the Allegretto of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Perchance you could get Herr Heumann [Pianist ’s Keyboard Class writer] to do it – he remains one of the best teachers I’ve come across yet.  Alistair J Marshall, by email

You will be delighted to hear that Hans-Günter Heumann has made two arrangements of the  Allegretto for us: one for beginner level, the other  for intermediate level. We will be featuring them shortly, so watch this space! Searching for Witold Malcuzynski  When I was 13 years old and a pupil in a secondary school in Slough, the Head of Music arranged a series of monthly recitals, including one by a brilliant virtuoso pianist from Poland,  Witold Malcuzynski. Two things stand out in my mind from his performance. First, the stool that he was going to sit on was not to his liking and he pushed it away into the wings. Another stool was found for him. en, he sat down and played Chopin’s Etudes and Ballades, and finished with Chopin’s Sonata. His tone and expression were amazing, and this was my first introduction to the art of playing Chopin. I know very little about him and would like to know more as he had a great influence on my life. Leslie Wood, Cardiff 

Our CD reviewer Marius Dawn tells us that Warner Classics has just released an 8-CD box s et (Warner Classics 0192442) on Witold Malcuzynski, who was born in Poland in 1914 and died in Spain in 1977. ere is also a book, Great Concert Artists:  Malcuzynski by Roger Hauert and Bernard Gavoty. It’s out of print, but can be found second hand. ‘Yesterday’ – a song full of surprises Nigel Scaife, Syllabus Director at the ABRSM, read Elaine Gourlay’s star letter on Yesterday inside the last issue with interest. Yesterday  is in a major key, even if it has a sad-sounding minor key feel to it. Scaife makes another observation about the song: the tune is seven bars long! Now that’s also unusual.

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PIANO! 4-6 APRIL 2014 London’s newest piano festival gets into gear 

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A ‘RETIRED’ GRAND PIANO Back in Pianist  No 74, we went along to the Hamburg Steinway factory with top piano technician Ulrich Gerhartz to watch him choose a new Model D for London’s Barbican Hall. That new piano has taken its place at the Barbican, but it’s not quite the end of the story for the 1999 Model D that was replaced: it has found a new home at Parbold Village Hall, Lancashire,  where it has become an exciting addition to the Douglas Music Society recital series (the photo above shows the instrument being moved into its new home). It took nine months to raise the funds to purchase the Steinway, with £11,000 of the money provided by the local community. Nikolai Demidenko, one of the first pianists to perform on the piano in its new home, said that ‘this piano sounds like a mint-new Steinway (it has virgin new hammers), and during the next year it will open up and come to its full glory… I have no doubt that the people of Parbold will enjoy many outstanding performances on this top-class professional instrument.’ Upcoming recitalists include Paul Lewis, Anna Fedorova, Harry the Piano and John Lill, who said of the Steinway, ‘an outstanding instrument… with an extraordinarily wide tonal range.’ It seems the Barbican’s upgrade has turned into a big plus for Parbold! For more information about the series, go to www.parbolddouglasmusic.org 

For a second year It’s All About Piano!  returns to the Institut français in South Kensington with three days crammed full of piano events. Although Françoise Clerc, Head of Classical and Contemporary for Institut français music, who programmed the festival, stresses that there’s ‘absolutely no p articular theme’, there’s quite a lot of unknown French repertoire this year.  Among those performing some of these rarities are  Alexei Lubimov (his opening-night concert includes Satie’s Ogives ), Pascal Amoyel (with plenty of Alkan delights) and David Bismuth (with Alkan, Fauré, Franck, Chaminade and Saint-Saëns). Pascal Rogé,  with his wife and duo partner Ami Rogé, closes the festival with a programme of French four-hand works. (Pascal Rogé also gives a masterclass.)  Aside from all things French in the recitals, there will be continuous activity throughout each day with  workshops, film screenings, piano tuition and talks. Steinway’s Ulrich Gerhartz will reprise his t alk about the inner workings of the piano, while Jamaican-born storyteller Jan Blake presents a fairytale, ‘ The out of tune piano’, for children who will then be encouraged to try to tune a piano for themselves, under the  watchful eye of a piano technician. Blake also joins Latvian pianist Olga Jegunova for Peter and the Wolf  .  Young performing talent takes the spotlight when three students from the Royal College of Music team up with three students from the Paris Conservatoire to play music for solo, four hands, six hands, and eight hands. Other highlights include Pianist  contributor Lucy Parham in her Liszt Odyssey of Love  programme

 W !  A  FR EE PR IZ E DR  ceive a 

 y P ianis t  rea ders w ill ea ch re  T w o luck   ving them f ull a ccess to P A IR OF FR EE P A SSES gi 2014    All  About  P iano! , 4-6 A pril a ll events a t I t’s  For a chance to win email offers@institutfrancais.

org.uk with the subject line ‘It’s All About Piano’ or write to the Marketing Department, Institut français du Royaume Uni, 17 Queensberry Place, London, SW7 2DT. Please provide your full name, postal address and telephone number. Deadline for entries: Friday 21 March 2014. Winners will be notified immediately after the closing date. Pianist  magazine is media partner for the It’s All About Piano!  festival.

 with actors Martin Jarvis and Joanna David, a recital by harpsichordist Kenneth Wise and jazz concerts. ‘The philosophy behind the festival it is to make the piano experience more accessible – to bring as many people to discover as much repertoire as p ossible, and to engage families,’ says Clerc. ‘I want the pianists t o engage, to communicate and to talk to the audience. It’s all very casual.’ Some of the proceeds from the festival will go to the charity La chaîne de l’espoir, which supports children caught up in international conflict. To book tickets and for full programme details for It’s All  About Piano!, go to www.institut-francais.org.uk. The  festival box office opens on 3 February.

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Two Pascals at this year’s festival: Rogé (left) and Amoyel (right)

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IMPROVE YOUR PLAYING WITH OUR NEW PIANO TECHNIQUES APP Pianist  magazine, in association with

Steinway Hall London, is proud to present its first-ever stand-alone app: Piano Techniques. When you’ve read the articles, watched the lessons, listened to the music, your playing will be better! It doesn’t matter what level you are – there’s something here for beginner through to advanced players.  We’ve taken some of the best articles from the pages of Pianist  written by our expert pianist teachers. Topics include sight-reading, chords, memorising, starting from scratch, returning to the piano after a long break, fingering, a star interview with Lang Lang and more. You can even watch and listen to Lang Lang perform at the end of the interview. He’s playing the gorgeous Liszt Romance (featured inside this issue’s Scores on page 56).  Aside from the articles, the app boasts over 50 pages of scores of varying styles and levels. That’s 18 full pieces to learn. You can listen to all the pieces first, played by our house pianist Chenyin Li. Then there are some great videos lessons on some of the most important keyboard techniques – there’s nothing like watching the professionals demonstrate at the keyboard. Talking of videos, you can watch also a beautifully crafted film on the making of Steinway’s limited edition Arabesque piano designed by Dakota Jackson.  Just like Pianist , the Piano Techniques app is aimed at helping you improve. Download it today at the App Store on your iPad and watch your playing evolve!

WHEN COUNTING REALLY  COUNTS! If he was worried about counting, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls (pictured above  with Lucy Parham) didn’t show it during his performance of a movement of Schumann’s Kinderszenen . Balls was one of 13 keen but non-professional pianists  who had been persuaded by concert pianist (and Pianist  contributor) Lucy Parham to join her on stage this past December at London’s King Place. ‘There were no great gaffes, though many trembl ing hands,’ says Parham of the Kinderszenen relay. ‘Simon Russell Beale played with great style and Sarah  Walker was a virtuoso. Ed Balls did spendidly in the face of some considerable media pressure. New friends were made, to o. It was a shared camaraderie of fear!’ The other performers included Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger, actor Edward Fox, actress Niamh Cusack, Oldie  editor Richard Ingrams, author Conrad Williams and journalist Richard Godwin. It was ‘hugely inspirational,’ says Parham. ‘The hall was packed and everyone listened attentively to each performer – you could sense they were willing each player on. I felt it was a genuinely happy event, as I think th e audience did too.’

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Meet and greet with Lang Lang

THEIR TALENTS

Four musicians who died in 2013  As 2013 turned to 2014, the world marked the passing of four important musicians. Bernard Roberts, a pianist and much-loved teacher, died on 3 November. With a music critic father and a mother who studied with Egon Petri, Roberts gravitated to the piano, studying at the Royal College of Music and making his Wigmore Hall debut in 1957. Murray McLachlan, a friend and a colleague of Roberts at Chetham’s School of Music, writes that Roberts’ Wigmore cycle of all 32 Beethoven sonatas and subsequent recordings on Nimbus were highly acclaimed, the reco rdings ‘sought out for their fierce integrity, honesty, beauty of tone, characterisation and strength of structure.’ Roberts’ Nimbus output included Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier , which McLachlan rates especially highly. ‘Bernard was a deeply spiritual man and also a  warm-hearted friend who loved jokes, fun and joy,’ adds McLachlan.  Jazz pianist and composer Stan Tracey  died on 6 December, just short of 87 years old. Characterised as the ‘colossus of an independent-minded British jazz scene’ by the Independent , Tracey was central t o the post-war jazz life in Britain. The great  American players who came through Ronnie Scott’s club in London, where Tracey served as house pianist in the 1960s, recognised his talent and also provided him  with inspiration. Tracey composed his famous Under the Milk Wood  Suite during this time. Over time, this great improviser and performer would inspire the next generation of British jazzers and leave a legacy of memorable recordings. Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, best known for composing film scores including The Pianist and Coppola’s Dracula , died on 29 December, aged 81. Kilar graduated with honours from the State College of Music in Katowice. He was an avant-garde composer at the outset of his c areer, but his love for folk music and the mountainous terrain of his native region soon expressed itself in more traditional compositions. He once said that there was ‘nothing more beautiful than the solitary sound or concord that lasted eternally, that this was the deepest wisdom, nothing like our tricks with sonata allegros, fugues, and harmonics.’ Born in 1943, American pianist Martin Berkofsky , who died on 30 December,  was known as a champion of the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness and for resurrecting two-piano concertos by Bruch, Mendelssohn and Moscheles.  A motorcycle accident in 1982 motivated him to abandon an established concert career and devote his time to performing for free outside of concert halls and to raising money for cancer research.

Pianist  Editor Erica Worth caught up with piano superstar Lang Lang in November during his visit to Steinway Hall, London, to choose a concert grand for a recital series at the Royal  Albert Hall. As befits a globe-trotting superstar, Lang Lang was preparing to fly to Berlin (playing Mozart concertos with Barenboim), before returning to the UK for three Albert Hall recitals and a trip to St Peter’s College (Oxford) to receive an honorary fellowship. Lang Lang and Pianist ’s Editor have known each other for a while. ‘Lang Lang and I have had a special bond ever since he turned up at my door in the summer of 2001 to practise on my piano,’ says  Worth. ‘I remember it vividly: a happy smiling 19-year-old, who was practically unheard of and about to give his London concerto debut. He spent the whole day practising Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto. What more could a piano magazine editor want?’

DA VINCI’S KEYBOARD YAMAHA SCOOPS UP PRIZES

U1 SH Silent and Clavinova triumph Two Yamaha instruments received top honours at the 2013 Music Industries Association (MIA) Music Awards. The  Yamaha Upright U1 SH Silent Piano was awarded Best Acoustic Piano, while the industryleading Clavinova received the Best Digital Piano award for the fifth time. Yamaha’s Ghiyas Ali (left) is shown accepting the U1’s award at the ceremony, held on 3 December at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London. MIA is a trade association for t he UK music industry, and includes manufacturers, importers, publishers, retailers and supporting businesses. Music industry professionals and the g eneral public choose the nominees for MIA’s annual awards. Other 2013 awards included ‘Best Classical Music Instrument Shop’, given to the online merchant Presto Classical. 10• Pianist 76

CODE SOLVED Leonard da Vinci was an artist, engineer and architect, but the fact that he designed a novel keyboard instrument is less known. In November, Polish concert pianist and instrument builder Sławomir Zubrzycki gave the world premiere of Leonardo’s ‘viola organista’ in a concert in Krakow. The beautifully made instrument combines the expressive advantages of a bowed string instrument with the convenience and agility of a keyboard. Zubrzycki (pictured above with the instrument) was intrig ued by a friend’s story of a ‘claviolin’ or ‘hunched piano’ built in the 183 0s. He learned that the original design was Leonardo’s. ‘The instrument promised to be a revelation from the very beginning,’ Zubrzycki said. ‘According to Praetorius, the viola organista could play urban music , rural music; it could express various feelings, and even imitate the s ound of a drunken man. Many others tried to build it – with varying degrees of succ ess. One reason the instrument fell out of favour was its tendency to go out of tune – Zubrzycki used metal rather than g ut strings to fight this. It took him some three years and 5,000 hours to build the ‘viola organista’, but now he is playing music by CPE Bach, Marais and others, most written originally for the viola da gamba, a forerunner of the cello. It’s still a prototype, but Zubrzycki is satisfied. ‘If there is interest in this instrument, and the public acquires a taste for its specific tone, it would mean breaking the run of bad historical luck.’

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EXPERT TALK The pros share their views Q&A

with Tim Stein

”

I find counting aloud while playing my  pieces to be very difficult. Can you suggest a way in which I can improve this?

First of all, what is the importance of counting out aloud? Counting aloud helps to keep you playing in time. It is a bit like having your own external metronome. When you count inside your head, you end up following your own internal rhythm, and this is very unreliable unless your rhythm is rock solid. Most of the time you end up playing certain passages in time (if you are lucky) and out of time (if you are not). What you want to do is to make sure that you can train yourself to keep in time  whenever you practise.

When you count inside your head, you end up following your own internal rhythm, and this is very unreliable unless your rhythm is rock solid   As I’ve said i n previous columns, I think that counting ‘1 & 2 &’ aloud can be a little clumsy. I would always suggest counting out ‘Ta-aa’ (for minims), ‘Ta’ (for crotchets), ‘Ti’ (for quavers) and ‘Ti-Ke’ (for semiquavers) and so on. For example, a single line of crotchets would be ‘Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta’, and a line of quavers ‘Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti’.  Always practise hands separately at first, counting out individual bars very, very slowly, tapping or clapping out the pattern at the same time. Once each hand can be counted in time correctly, you can bring the hands together. Practise sight-reading exercises and your pieces in the same way, developing your sense of rhythm all the time. Try also playing different patterns from your music on the piano, playing the same notes one octave apart. Only when the timing is completely accurate, should you then start to play the music as  written. When your timing is more confident, you can continue to keep it in check by putting on your metronome, making sure that you are always counting in time. Go to www.pianistmagazine.com to watch Tim’s online piano lessons for beginners and visit Tim’s website at www.pianowithtim.com

WRITE TO:The Editor, Pianist, 6 Warrington Crescent, London, W9 1EL, UK OR EMAIL: [email protected]

PIANIST AT WORK

 Artur Pizarro The Portuguese-born pianist tells Erica Worth why he’s tackling all of Rachmaninov’s solo piano music in concert and on disc – and what makes it so challenging  You are about to play all of Rachmaninov’s solo piano music in concert. Why?  A certain masochistic tendency I have to bite slightly more than I can chew! All kidding aside, it  was time to discover all the Rachmaninov that we think we know but really don’t. I am finding out that the ones we don’t know tend to be the really interesting ones. I also thought that by the end of this project I would have a really good technique.  What’s it like to turn your mind and fingers to Rachmaninov only? Extremely daunting but gratifying. Now I know  what it’s like t o run hurdles. But the satisfaction of developing that runner’s high and the sheer inventiveness and beauty of the music involved are really amazing. I am in a world of great emotion, expression, sensuality and physicality. How have you programmed the recitals? I made six recitals work independently. e only themed one is the fifth, which is dedicated to the transcriptions. Sometimes the programming has to do with key signatures, sometimes with mood, sometimes events in the composer’s life.  What’s the hardest tec hnical challenge? One has to be agile. e fingers all have to be  very independent and very quick. One needs to know what Rachmaninov’s study of piano  was like. How did he develop his technique,  what exercis es did he do, how did he develop repertoire? is is crucial to feeling comfortable in his physical language. Stamina is also very important. And last but not least, mental control and organisation.  What do you think about Rachmaninov the composer in general? He is still underrated and very misunderstood, mainly because a very small part of his output is standard repertoire. He is a fascinating man, incredibly intelligent and cultured, and much more forward looking that he is given credit for.

To this day people have diffi culty understanding his later works – the Fourth Concerto, ird Symphony and the Symphonic Dances. e rhythmic and harmonic language is so rich, the melodic inventiveness is second to none and very few composers wrote so well for the piano.  What piano do you own?  You ready for this? By age: a 1780 Longman and Broderip square piano, an 1884 Broadwood concert grand, a 1890s Gaveau upright, a 1969 Hamburg Steinway D, a 1973 Petrof upright (my first piano), a 1990 Estonia concert grand and a 21st-century Yamaha N1 AvantGrand!  Anybody selling an airplane hangar cheap?  You are playing the Yamaha CFX fo r the run of the recitals. Why is that? e CFX has a tone quality that is slightly more transparent. It is more straightforward to deal  with all the multiple layers of Rachmaninov.  Also, Yamaha acti ons are some of the fastest and most effi cient available. is is crucial for Rachmaninov, who composed most of his piano  works on his favourite piano, a Blüthner.

 Artur Pizarro plays all of Rachmaninov’s solo works at St John’s, Smith Square, London (25 Feb,  2 April, 6 May, 24 Sep, 19 Nov, 10 Dec; www.sjss.org.uk); the Stables in Milton Keynes (23 Feb, 30 Mar, 4 May, 21 Sep, 16 Nov, 7 Dec;  www.stables.org) and also in Lisbon at the Gulbenkian Foundation. Pizarro will also record the solo works for Odradek Records.

UNDER THE LID

Top tuners and technicians from the Pianoforte Tuners’ Association (PTA) tackle your instrument queries I own a large upright piano. If I were to put it directly against the wall, will the resonance be less than if I pull it out slightly away from the wall? I had always thought the location doesn’t make a difference with uprights, but I am wondering if I should experiment with it a bit.

Because the soundboard is at the back of an upright piano, leaving a gap behind it will allow more sound to be reflected from the wall into your room, thus increasing the volume. Michelle Rudd MPTA 

12• Pianist 76

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INTERVIEW

 ANDRÁS

SCHIFF  at 

60 As he starts his seventh decade, has the famously outspoken Hungarian pianist mellowed? András Schiff shares his views on classical music’s robust health, Beethoven’s great humanity and the importance of good keyboard posture with Jessica Duchen 14• Pianist 76

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ow does music fit into our computerised, iPhoned, Interneted world? Te question  was much to the fore when I caught up with András Schiff at the Beethovenfest in Bonn.  And he was the one asking it. Te morning after a Beethoven recital in the composer’s native town seemed a good moment to take stock and to see how the Hungarian pianist – a living legend in the piano world – feels the musical  world has cha nged over the co urse of his career, which has itself just reached a significant landmark. Schiff spent his 60th birthday, on 21 December, at the Wigmore Hall, performing a programme consisting of nothing less than Bach’s Goldberg  Variations followed by Beeth oven’s Diabelli Variations. Following his performance, Wigmore’s director, John Gilhooly, presented him with the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal. Having trained in his native Budapest at the Franz Liszt Academy, Schiff has always carried some of the Hungarian tradition’s finest attributes – notably a fierce seriousness of purpose and zealous devotion to pure musical content. Béla Bartók remains a hero to him as both musician and human being – and it is interesting to hear, listening to Bartók’s own recordings, a remarkable similarity in tone to that of Schiff. He can seem, at times, to have stepped from another world, far removed from the high-tech obsessions of the 21st century. But although he has always had a reputation for not mincing his words, over the years his attitudes have mellowed somewhat; and rather than evincing pessimism about the state of the musical world today, he is determined to help put things right. ‘I don’t find that classical music is in the kind of crisis that people say,’ Schiff remarks. ‘Classical music is thriving.’ It is not only that his concerts are generally full. ‘Just go to the [BBC] Proms:  wonderful, interesting, adventurous programmes and a great audience. And recently I was in China and Seoul with concert halls of 3,000 people or more  where the average age was under 20. So there’s no shortage of young people.’ But where there is a crisis, he feels, is in quality, depth and comprehension. ‘Tere are more concerts than necessary and some not very good ones, and there is not enough discrimination between them. ‘Te younger audiences don’t have the same background and education as the older ones did. Tere used to be room in young people’s lives for language lessons, ballet lessons, music lessons. Tat doesn’t seem to be the case any more.

‘Te visual element is not irrelevant and that’s why some of us love live concerts. If I have to choose between a live concert and a studio recording, I choose the concert, because it’s unrepeatable. I remember all my great concert experiences – Annie Fischer, Rudolf Serkin or Sviatoslav Richter would  walk on stage and it was not theatrical. Tey just came through that door and somehow it changed the world.’ In our visually oriented society, the  visual element of performance has become too important, Schiff thinks, and in the wrong way. ‘So many young female violinists are marketed today like centrefolds from girlie magazines – it’s insulting to them. And people think that the choreography of conducting is more important than what they are listening to. A lot of performers have great choreography but very little depth or musical understanding.’  A particular bugbear is the way that performers not only throw themselves about while playing, but are somehow expected to. Te problem, he feels, is that it can be counterproductive, wasting energy that would be better focused on the music itself. ‘All the great violinists, like Heifetz or Oistrakh, made not one unnecessary physic al movement. oday the fiddlers are like snake charmers. Why can’t they just stay st ill?’ It’s the same at the piano: ‘Pianists like Cortot, Rubinstein or Horowitz – you scarcely see their hands are moving  while this w onderful music is coming out. Tey have a physical aura, but they are not moving around. I think a great part of the public today thinks that a musician who is not doing choreography is a boring performer. Tey want music to be dramatic: foam should be coming out of your mouth! But this could be cured with education.’ Schiff has become passionate about this side of his activities – his lectures and masterclasses at Wigmore Hall have  won enormous acclaim (they are on  Youube). ‘You have to talk about these things,’ he says. ‘Tey will not come automatically.’ He plans more – plenty more – and it’s our good fortune that the Wigmore, where he is almost an icon, is extremely receptive to his ideas. Speaking of icons, Schiff collects them. He is a great collector, both at and away from the piano. Apparently blessed  with a memory like an elephant, he has tackled complete series after complete series: Bach’s sets of keyboard works, Schubert’s sonatas, Brahms’s chamber music with piano, Mozart galore, a bevy of Bartók, a hatload of Haydn and, perhaps above all, Beethoven.

Changed by Beethoven Schiff’s adventures with the complete Beethoven piano sonatas began around ten years ago. He waited until he was 50 15• Pianist 76

Up close  ANDRÁS SCHIFF

If you could play only one piece in the whole repertoire from now on, what would it be? Bach’s Goldberg Variations. If you could play only one composer from now on, which one would it be? Bach. One pianist, dead or alive, you’d travel long and far to hear? Beethoven. One concert hall you love to play in? Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires. It’s really wonderful. But I could also say the Concertgebouw or Wigmore Hall. Any technical struggles? Everything is difficult. What would be your advice to an amateur pianist about how to improve? Always love the music first and don’t get lost in unnecessary technical problems. If you weren’t a pianist, what would you be? A cook. One person you’d love to play for? Schubert. One composer you’re not quite ready to tackle? Debussy. What other kind of music do you like to listen to? Ethnic music and jazz.

NEW! András Schiff’s Diabelli Variations CD was recently released on ECM New Series (481 0446, 2 discs).

to tackle them, but ever since has delved ever deeper into Beethoven’s world. Part of his big birthday celebrations include the release of a recording on  which he pl ays the Diabelli Variations twice: once on a fortepiano made by Franz Brodmann (brother of Joseph, the teacher of Ignaz Bösendorfer); and once on a Bechstein concert grand of 1921 formerly owned by the pianist Wilhelm Backhaus, on which Schiff has been performing the sonatas cycle in venues around the world. Nobody could live with Beethoven’s music for so long and emerge unchanged; for Schiff, that applies equally to his playing and to his personality. For the former, he says, ‘It enriches your sound. I find that the way I play Schubert or ▲ Mozart or even Bach has benefited from

INTERVIEW

ANDRÁS SCHIFF ON... POSTURE AT THE PIANO When I was young, I had a terrible posture. My nose was almost t ouching the keys. My first teacher, Elisabeth Vadász, took the attitude that I would grow out of it eventually and left me alone. But when I went to Ferenc Rados he nearly killed me; he said this is ridiculous! It was very difficult. Gradually I realised that if you want to play better and li ve longer, you have to find a good posture. For me, it is breathing that is vital. You must breathe naturally, like a singer. Pianists and string players often tend to forget the necessity of breathing and they can become very tense; then they get back pains and wrist pains and so on. U sually it can be sorted out through the breathing. I really think that, physically speaking, the less movement there is, the better. Also with conductors, I find that less is more. I don’t like conductors who mak e huge gestures. What for? That is unnecessary choreography! With pianists, the minute I see a st udent lifting his/her arm up t o the sky, I tell them: ‘No parachuting here.’ György Kurtág [the great Hungarian composer who taught Schiff at the Franz Liszt Academy, along with Rados] taught me t his in my first lessons. He said: ‘Be lik e a good boxer.’ Why a boxer? Because the closer you are to your body, the better and safer you are. Safety is not everything, but when you talk about sound, you have to be in control of the sound you are making, and that you can only make from the keyboard. The shortest way is the best way. Don’t waste time, don’t waste energy, but focus the maximum energy in the sound and in the music.”

it. I have a deeper knowledge of sound now, which I can apply in a certain dosage – you take some, you leave some, you never have to use all of it, but it is very good to have it at your disposal. And in a work like the Diabelli Variations this is very valuable, because you have to change within seconds, like a chameleon.’  Yet it is the humane, personal element of Beethoven’s music that has perhaps left the greatest impact. ‘He is the most humane of composers and I find the message is incredibly strong. It has also given me courage – politically,

has to make a living, support his nephew and pay his rent, so he is not living in an ivory tower. But in terms of his art, there are no compromises. Tis is a great lesson. Most people,’ he adds, ‘will come to Beethoven sooner or later. I’m very glad I didn’t do this too early, because now I am much more ready for it.’ For most people, one account of the Diabelli Variations would be challenge enough, without doing it twice on different types of instruments. Schiff says that his decision to tackle the Diabelli on contrasting pianos is part of his late conversion to an interest

‘When people say “don’t mix  politics with art” – that’s rubbish! Just look at Beethoven: not only the “Eroica” Symphony, but his whole attitude’ 

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too, as in my not-good experiences  with Hungary.’ Schiff has fe lt unable to return to his native Budapest in recent years, following vicious, threatening trolling in response to his outspoken stance on the rise there of racism, antiSemitism and the far right in recent years. ‘In relatively peaceful, undramatic times you recognise the need for civilian courage,’ he says. ‘Tere Beethoven stands like a light in a diamond. ‘When people say, “don’t mix politics  with art” – that’s rubbish! Just look at Beethoven: not only the “Eroica” Symphony, but his whole attitude.  Artistically, too, he goes against convention. He doesn’t give in, he doesn’t compromise, he doesn’t want to please. He’s interested in money, as he

in period-instrument performance, something that rather passed him by in the 1980s when it was at its height. ‘Te Brodmann is a fantastic instrument and it’s in perfect condition,’ he says. ‘Tis is rare. In the early music  world usually one sees new instruments made after old models; there are plenty of old instruments in museums, but they are seldom good enough to be played.’ In the 1970s Schiff made a recording on Beethoven’s Broadwood, which lives in the National Museum in Budapest, but  was in poor shape then (it has since been restored). Tis unfortunate experience served to deter him from trying early instruments again for a number of years.  With time and happier encounters, though, his attitude has transformed. 16• Pianist 76 75

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Andr ás Schiff  play s Bach & Beet hov en

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On this issue’s CD András Schiff plays Beethoven Bagatelle op 126 no 6, from his Diabelli Variations CD (ECM New Series 481 0446) and Bach’s Preludes and Fugues in C sharp min BWV 848 & D minor BWV 875, from the Well-Tempered Clavier  (ECM New Series 476 4827)

‘Tis, in combination with the Backhaus Bechstein, gave me an opportunity to make a case for challenging the listening habits of the public, because I think people are not very curious anymore,’ he says. ‘Tey listen to everything played on a Steinway – they don’t even ask if it’s a good Steinway or a not-so-good Steinway. Not all Steinways are equally good, just as not all pianists are equally good – and I don’t drive, but probably not even all Mercedes are equally good! o me the Steinway is very much like the Mercedes of pianos: everybody plays it. But in the world of cars,’ he adds, a tad sardonically, ‘it is better because there are some alternatives.’ Chopin proves the point, he adds. ‘If Chopin was given a modern Steinway piano he’d be horrified. He was a very slender, slight figure – he was even uncomfortable with the Erard because it  was more athletic, something that Liszt liked to play. Chopin preferred the very light action of Pleyel. And it changes the nature of the music. I was astonished  when I first played Chopin on old Pleyels by how natural it sounded, how the whole inner balance of the music sounded, especially the bass, which is very transparent and light.’ Nor is it only about pianos that he has some serious questions. ‘Why should we play music in concert halls with 3,000 seats if composers wrote it for a little living room and ten listeners?’ But what about that big birthday? Schiff says he would like to take a little more time off – ‘a six-month sabbatical every five years’– and he deserves breathing space to enjoy his home near Florence, where he and his wife, the  Japanese violinist Yuuko Shiokawa, have some olive trees and that collection of icons. But retirement? Not likely. Schiff looks set to enchant, inspire, challenge and surprise us in his inimitable way for many more years to come. n

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Fancy footwork 

PEDALLING WITH PURPOSE Pedalling can make or break your performance, so use it judiciously. No matter what you are playing, you can create magic with the pedals. Pianist and teacher Mark Tanner reveals how to do it

D

uring the piano’s early development, its builders must have had a field day experimenting  with pedals of dizzying complexity and strangeness. Among the novelty pedals were a ‘urkish’ or ‘Janissary’ pedal, and various ‘moderators’, while yet others sported bells and cymbals. Quickly however, common sense prevailed, and composers of piano music from the later Classical period onwards homed in on just two pedals – the ‘sustain’ (or ‘damper’) and ‘una corda’ [see Foot Notes, page 19]. Mozart’s fortepiano boasted a kneeoperated sustain lever, which created a pleasing effect – earlier models had a somewhat impractical hand stop – and although none of the variously functioning pedals Beethoven came across would have achieved anything like the impact we enjoy on our modern instruments, who could countenance playing the first movement of the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ without pedals?  As piano music gradually moved away from an essentially linear, contrapuntal texture that emphasised clarity and articulation above all else towards a richer, chord-based approach, piano builders, composers and performers such as Clementi worked tirelessly to improve the instrument’s ability to sustain and project sound. It is surely no coincidence that the height of the Romantic period coincided with the evolution of the modern piano. Te days of pedal-worship have mostly passed, though interestingly, some modern Fazioli grands possess a fourth pedal, a so-called ‘half-blow’, which permits a softer dynamic without any resultant tonal change; it operates rather like the left pedal on an upright, not  like the una corda on a standard grand (more on that later).

consider other more refined applications. In order for a succession of chords to  join up seamlessly there needs to be a fractional overlap, which is achieved by playing each new chord a split-second before  a change of pedal, i.e. the dampers must be lifted from the strings in order for the notes to continue vibrating. I often demonstrate this using a little exercise you can try yourself: play a chord in the middle of the piano, and then depress the pedal before lifting the hand off the keyboard. Next, silently replace your fingers on the same notes (i.e. without sounding them) before lifting the pedal; repeat this process of ‘swapping’ from hand to foot several times until the chord has died away. Now try this: depress the sustain pedal, then play a loud chord in each hand using the very extremes of the instrument and count how many seconds the overall sound lasts – surprisingly long, isn’t it? Te equivalent exercise on a fortepiano would result in a far shorter duration. You will doubtless also have noticed that the notes in the bass register outlive the higher ones by some considerable margin. Do the same exercise again, but this time shift the right hand down one octave – you’ll discover that these treble notes now last a little longer than before, but are still far shorter-lived than the bass notes. Continue the progression

5 

TOP TIPS

FIVE TOP TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE PE DALLING

1

Pedal with the ears, not with the feet! It’s best to err on the economical side.

 2 

At first, practise without sustain pedal, achieving what you can by means of finger-pedalling and legato fingering – then gradually ‘stir in’ pedal to taste.

3

Consider the effect of pedals in combination. Cultivate halfpedalling, flutter-pedalling and sostenuto refinements in music from the Romantic period onwards.

4  5 

The room will do some of the pedalling for you.

Sustaining interest

Broadly speaking, there are three valid reasons for using the sustain pedal: to achieve a more resonant quality, to assist  with legato when absolutely necessary, and to help create atmosphere. I’ll start  with legato pedalling and move on to

Don’t rely on the composer/editor to spoon-feed you instructions for pedalling; use your best j udgement.

18• Pianist 76

Concert pianist, teacher, writer and festival adjudicator Mark Tanner has also published over 30 volumes of compositions, arrangements and editions for Spartan Press, pitched at Grades 1-8. He edited the complete piano works of Peter Wishart (Edition Peters) and John McLeod’s epic Haflidi’s Pictures  ( Europa Edition). Two pieces from his 11-volume piano series Eye-Tunes  are on the current London College of Music syllabus. His new Scapes  series is an evocative 4-volume collection. Find out more at www.marktanner.info

down the keyboard so that by the time the right hand has arrived at the central ‘tenor’ register the difference in duration is somewhat less marked.  What we learn from this is that we need to be aware of the unequal  impact pedalling has on the overall sound –  we cannot simply assume a uniform effect will result, unless of course both hands happen to be operating in the same register of the instrument. Tis can work to our advantage, especially in Romantic and more contemporary repertoire, where a pedal note/octave frequently needs to be sustained in the bass while harmonies requiring both hands are changing higher up. o demonstrate this, play a loud octave C in the bass, taking your left hand away directly after the pedal has been depressed. Begin slowly adding a succession of randomly chosen major and minor chords high up the register with one or both hands, but as you change each chord, effect a swift up-and-down change of pedal so that the dampers hardly have a chance to smother the previous chord; if you manage this well you should hear the bass notes remain largely intact  while the harmonies benefit from the pedal changes: we call this half pedalling . Flutter-pedalling  (a rapid ‘fluttering’ up-and-down deployment) is a useful variant since it permits a finely graduated effect – I use it when I  want sounds from different registers to

MASTERCLASS merge in and out of each other, rather the texture can become irretrievably as an orchestral piece would achieve, or muddled, causing the ear to miss the  when aiming to make a soft final chord music’s subtler harmonic scheme. If you dissolve a niente   – ‘to nothing’. find yourself automatically shoving your Mark Tanner’s tips for finding pedalling e modern piano has crossboot down every time both hands are perfection in 3 of this issue’s scores stringing, which allows the bass strings actively engaged, then you might want to benefit from more of the soundboard to consider easing off or you’ll end up Tchaikovsky ‘In church’ from Album for the Young op 39  while aiding the instrument’s overall producing the same effect in everything sympathetic vibration. e down side you play; in short, use pedal when you [Scores page 36]: Try pedalling together the groups of four quavers in the first part of the piece, thus creating a more pleasing, is that notes played in the lowest bass need it, and only  when you need it. sonorous effect. Change pedal deftly thereafter to ensure the register sound muddy and indistinct. is would be a good point to  With the addition of pedal, the effect properly introduce the una corda (UC) harmonies emerge cleanly. The tonic pedal introduced at bar 32 invites half-pedalling, so that the upper chords connect clearly becomes even more ghastly (unless this pedal, which can also greatly add to the while simultaneously permitting the bass notes to murmur away happens to be the effect desired by the pianist’s array of special effects. But, as player in music by Prokofiev or Ravel,  with the sustain pedal, guard against mysteriously. Tempting though it may be to apply UC from bar 29 (the first of the pp  markings), I’d delay this precious effect until bar 45. for example). To demonstrate this point, its overuse – I have encountered many play a loud A minor chord in the left players suffering from th e affl iction I hand using the very bottom note of the affectionately call ‘left-foot-itis’ in an Cole Porter ‘Night and Day’ [Scores page 52]: Cole Porter keyboard with pedal depressed. en understandable attempt to keep the was a master song-smith – and there wasn’t much he didn’t know about harmony and structure. A surprising amount is make a fist and play a random cluster neighbours from banging on the wall. chord somewhere in the same register Furthermore, many pianists find their achievable within the hands in this intelligent arrangement by John and compare the two effects – you’ll left foot involuntarily inching towards Kember – indeed, the more you can do without  the feet, the more distinctively the underlying beguine rhythm will be. As always, hardly notice any difference! is is why the UC whenever they encounter a pp composers no longer consider writing effect marked in a score. Keep in mind notice where the harmonies change. In this particular arrangement music that needs to emerge clearly in the less desirable aspects of UC – a the hands remain fairly centralised in the keyboard, but guard against an overly one-dimensional effect in your playing. the bass (though Mozart would quite thinner, more fragile tone. On some happily have done so on his five-octave instruments you can end up with more straight-strung Viennese fortepiano). percussion than tone. Indeed, Chopin Liszt Romance [Scores page 56]: The rule of thumb here e amount  of pedal to use is very cautioned against using too much UC, is to change pedal a split-second after the start of each bar, i.e. where the harmonies tend to change. This will only succeed much a context-led issue – needless to urging players to thread in the effect at say, an overly heavy-footed approach a later stage once they have honed the if you subdue the accompaniment and voice out the melody rarely finds favour in earlier keyboard touch control needed to produce a light conspicuously. Resist the temptation to park at the barlines in this piece, though ensure you trap all of the bass notes. From bar 38 music. Ironically, Debussy, whose music cantabile with the fingers. particularly requires pedal, declared that I mentioned earlier that when the onwards the music picks up in intensity, and this is where you’ll notating pedal in scores was futile left pedal is depressed on an upright notice a gradual widening of the space between the hands (and hence the possibility for your newly honed half-pedalling technique). because so many variables are operating piano the action moves nearer to the simultaneously. For this reason, we strings – it’s a bit like foreshortening In the penultimate bar you’ll need to pedal every chord. Take your should pay attention to the wider the follow-through of a tennis shot, time, and consider UC for the final four bars. harmonic implications of a piece hence its name, ‘half-blow’. On a grand alongside its stylistic features when piano the operation is somewhat more assessing where and how much pedal to sophisticated, causing the whole action final accoutrement to the modern grand employ. I often practise without pedal to shift sideways and forcing the hammer piano patented by Steinway in 1874) is (regardless of repertoire), so that its to strike only one or two strings (una a simple enough concept – play a chord application in a performance or corda of course meaning ‘one string’), in the middle of the piano, then depress recording feels a little like adding a thus creating an ethereal, other-worldly the pedal and experiment playing notes bunch of fresh herbs to the final stages effect. Experiment with shades  of UC in the higher or lower registers. You’ll of cooking a casserole. It’s far easier to – it’s not just a case of ‘on’ or ‘off’, a achieve some mesmerising effects, with add pedal when a drier acoustic demands fact not overlooked by Beethoven. multiple possibilities for articulation it than to suddenly have to reduce it in His indication to lift the UC ‘little and sound-layering by this handy a vibrant venue; besides, you’ll have by little’ in the slow movement of the means of ‘selective sustain’ pedalling. nowhere to hide if you’ve been Fourth Piano Concerto (1805-6) was, Examples of pieces in which you might camouflaging ineffective fingerwork with incidentally, the first-ever such marking. consider employing Sostenuto include a heavy foot! For these reasons I favour  When the two pedals are used in Liszt’s Consolation No 3, Rachmaninov’s the expression ‘pedal with your ears’ – for combination, the effect can be truly Prelude in C sharp minor and Debussy’s if it sounds good, it is  good! However, magical, but don’t imagine that all La cathédrale engloutie , but the closer following on from my advice regarding special effects depend on fancy footwork. you look, the more opportunities for it cantabile (in Pianist  No 75), it is vital For example, in Ravel’s ‘Ondine’ from you will likely find; in my experience FOOT NOTES that you assess pedal according to where Gaspard de la nuit , I like to silently pianists either use it too much or not  A quick guide the audience is seated, not  from your hold down a fist-full of notes lower at all. e prolific composer-pianist vantage point at the keyboard. down the instrument while playing the Ronald Stevenson (who celebrated his Right pedal poignant recitative-like passage that 85th birthday last year) is revered for Sustain or sustaining occurs just before the final thunderous Pedalling for atmosphere his enterprising use of all three pedals pedal; also known as the Impressionistic and colouristic pedal cascade arrives. By this method I get a simultaneously. Implausible though damper pedal effects are, perhaps surprisingly, menacing, partly pedalled effect without it may seem, it is possible to evolve a frequently waiting to be prised out of  jeopardising the tune’s clarity. technique of exchanging pedals between Middle pedal repertoire from the late Classical and at just leaves the middle pedal (not the feet and even depressing two pedals Sostenuto pedal Romantic periods; they are certainly to be confused with the ‘practice’ pedal  with one foot – probably best avoided if on some uprights, which causes a piece not exclusively the province of Debussy you are wearing stilettoes, though. ■ Left pedal and his contemporaries/successors. But of cloth to enter between the hammers Una corda (UC) or apply your Impressionism with a fine and the strings). ough a certain In the next issue, Mark Tanner talks soft pedal brush, don’t roll it on too liberally or mystique surrounds it, the Sostenuto (a about memorising.

PEDAL PUSHING

1

2

3

19• Pianist 76

  play  HOW TO

Warming up with  TECHNICAL EXERCISES Technical exercises can improve your playing, but where do you start and which ones do you choose? Teacher and performer Graham Fitch helps you raise your technical game at the piano

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Graham Fitch is a pianist, teacher, writer ike an athlete, a musician should have a technical regime, a tailorand adjudicator. He gives masterclasses and made selection of exercises and/or studies based on specific aspects of technique. Many professionals begin their practice this way, workshops on piano playing internationally, and is in high demand as a private teacher knowing that daily repetition keeps reflexes active and automatic, in London. A regular tutor at the Summer as well as developing or maintaining stamina. e exercises might be of one’s own invention or might draw on existing material such as Brahms, School for Pianists in Walsall, Graham is also a tutor for the Pian o Teachers’ Course EPTA Pischna, Dohnányi, Liszt, Tankard or Harrison. It’s worth varying the (UK). He writes a popular piano blog, exercises from time to time to keep engaged mentally. Broadly speaking, we can break down the exercises into the following www.practisingthepiano.com. general categories: Stretching exercises (extensions), Five-finger exercises Graham demonstrates everything (such as Hanon), Finger independence, Scales and arpeggios, Double notes, on these pages in his video lessons Chords, Octaves, Other exercises (relaxation, trills, repeated notes, leaps, etc.). (filmed at Steinway Hall, London) It is a very good idea to include stretching exercises in your regimen. on the Pianist   website,  When selecting exercises, be very careful of those that overdo the stretch www.pianistmagazine.com. between individual fingers, especially the fourth and fifth fingers, or you risk injury. Adapt any published exercise accordingly, and decrease the span for small hands. It is how we do the exercises that matters, and the same 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 exercise may be beneficial or damaging depending on how your practise it. I like the stretching exercise given by Adele Marcus, which uses a fivenote diminished seventh chord. Holding down the chord, slowly lift up each finger in turn as high as possible – not curved but pointing straight up. 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 etc etc. Feel the stretch before bringing the finger down swiftly into the key, landing on the fleshy pad. Marcus suggested repeating each finger four times, e exercise is normally given in diatonic form in C major, but for it stretching the thumb by swinging it slowly round in a circle before playing (see my video demonstration). to be of any real value, practise it in any key, using the given fingering.  Another good stretching exercise is based on a four-note chord of your  Actually, the whol e of Hanon can be transposed. Why? When you play, you are constantly making micro adjustments within the hand and arm to choice, to be played with the fingers but not the thumb. If your hand is large enough to cope with a common chord, use that and play through all the accommodate the topography of the keyboard. Being able to adjust your inversions. If that is too much for you, a seventh chord may be more suitable: hand to different positions in this way makes you a more skilful pianist!  You can also do Hanon exercises hands separately and rather slowly using only the thumb and second finger, and then thumb and third finger. is turns the exercise into a workout for the thumb, encouraging mobility and 5 4 3 flexibility. More advanced players (and those with a large enough hand) may 2 also try thumb and fourth, and even thumb and fifth. Again, transposing HOLD 2 the exercise gives greater value. 3 4 5

Five-finger freedom

Do this exercise hands together, with flat fingers. Starting with the fifth fingers, play each note of the chord until you reach the second finger, holding down each finger after you play it. e thumb hangs off the edge of the keyboard. As you hold the chord, feel the grip in the fingertips and consciously loosen the muscles of the arm so that the arm dangles freely. Slowly make several large circles with the thumb to give it a stretch, clockwise then anti-clockwise. Vary the chord shape to get a different stretch. Try this:

It is possible to do five-finger exercises wisely, with the finger motions coordinated with the rest of the arm to achieve a very specific result. Let’s take the most basic of five-finger patterns, used by Hanon and others:

 We pianists need to make sure the wrist is flexible, free and mobile. Using a five-finger exercise is a good way to develop the muscular activity and sensations. Let’s take the first Hanon exercise from Book 1 as an example.  With the naturally curved finger in contact with the key, allow the wrist to drop into the first note from a high to a low position in a controlled, smooth and rhythmical motion. As the wrist falls, the key descends and the note sounds from the weight of the hand (there is no articulation from the finger). Holding this first note with the cushion of the finger remaining gently in the bottom of the key, allow the wrist to return to its high position. e wrist can rise up as high as is comfortable as long as the fingertip remains in contact with the keyboard. Do not allow the wrist to drop much below the parallel position (level with the arm) as this can result in strain and tension. e range and speed of the motion is the same on the upstroke as the downstroke – one continuous motion with one movement leading to the next. Carry on by repeating these steps with the remaining notes of the pattern, until each finger has played. For the next stage of the exercise, you can now use the upstroke rather than waste it. So, drop down into the first note and as the wrist rises up allow the second note to sound, and so on. If the finger is in contact with its key (and firm enough), the key will go down as the wrist rises up. To complete the exercise, the upstroke can now take in three notes (thus we

20• Pianist 76

MASTERCLASS

move down, up, up, up, etc.). (See my video demonstration on the Pianist   website, www.pianistmagaz ine.com). Exercises focusing on gaining independence of each finger from the others are indispensable for skilful piano playing. Tese exercises having nothing to do with muscularity or strength as such, but with switching off all sympathetic responses in the fingers that are not playing so they can rest passively on the surface of the keyboard rather than curling into the palm of the hand or sticking up in the air. I like to use the first six exercises in Dohnányi’s Essential Finger Exercises , starting with Exercise 2 (either in C major or transposed into other keys) before working through Exercises 3 to 6, and ending with Exercise 1. As a supplement, you can use Exercises 34 to 64 from Aloys Schmitt’s Preparatory Exercises  opus 16. Any exercise along these lines will do the job provided the holding finger rests gently at the bottom of the key and the active fingers play from and release to key surface (and no higher). Here is my own exercise using Chopin’s five-finger position, a very natural position for the hand:

to play each chord using a staccato from the fingers (pulling the finger tips towards the palm of the hand without allowing the arm to join in the pull), holding onto the last chord in each key before the next set: 5 3

4 5

5 4

4 5

5 4

3 5

 3

etc. (minor, then transpose chromatically)

Having worked with single held notes, we can progress to combinations of two held notes. If you are using Schmitt’s exercises, Nos 65 to 110 are g iven in C major but they can be modified to any five-finger position. For more advanced players, the Brahms Exercises Nos 15 and 16 deal with holding down one finger while the other fi ngers play, but they require mobility in the  wrist. A lateral movement is essential, to avoid cramping and possible injury.

Tere are so many exercises for double notes and octaves. If I had to pick one double note exercise, apart from scales in double thirds, I would suggest the following, transposed through all the keys. Notice the pattern is major, minor, diminished, then dominant of the next key. Te important thing to remember is to align the arm with the pair of fingers that is playing, and this involves tiny lateral adjustments in the wrist: 3 1

major

Arpeggios, octaves and double notes

Some of the world’s great pianists do not feel warmed up unless they have gone through all the scales and arpeggios daily. Tis might involve simply playing them through in some sort of order (chromatically, through the circle of fifths, etc.) but there are other solutions depending on the level. Intermediate players might play one octave slowly and firmly, then (without stopping) play two octaves twice as fast, three octaves in triplets then four octaves in semiquavers (thus four times as fast as the original one-octave scale). Advanced players might experiment by playing all scales with the fingering of C major, or using successive fingers from thumb to fifth regardless of the pattern of black-and-white keys. I recommend including arpeggios in your daily warm-up routine. If time is short, a two-octave span is fine, and a good plan of campaign is to select a given note and play as many arpeggios as you can generate from that note in a continuous loop, changing one note at a time. Tis will involve inversions in different keys, which include the chosen note. Here is an example beginning on C (use the same pattern with the block chords in bars 3-6):

If you want, carry on with dominant sevenths (although you will have to change more than one note at a time with each new arpeggio). One of my very favourite exercises is to play common chords in all inversions, major then minor, through all 12 keys. Do this hands together, two octaves apart, consciously releasing effort between each chord. I like

minor

1 3

dimin ished

dominant

(etc.)

For me, the best resource for double notes is Moszkowski’s School of Double Notes  opus 64. Te second part is a series of exercises without parallel in their usefulness. As a student, I was required to play Bach’s wo-Part Inventions in double octaves. Scales in octaves and/or some of the exercises from Kullak’s Te School of Octave Playing  opus 48 would be equally useful. Occasionally practise the thumb line alone (aiming for lightness and mobility) and the outer line (somewhat slower and firmer). Tere are special exercises you might need to develop a particular technical skill – an extended arpeggio pattern, for example, for looseness in the arm and mobility in the shoulder. If you are struggling with p olyrhythms, you might decide to play scales with one hand in 2s and the other in 3s.  When practising any exercise, remember to keep fully engaged. Concentrate on the sound you are producing and notice the sensations in your hands, arms and body. Te single most important thing about exercises is not which ones you do or how many you do, but how  you do them. n Next issue Graham talks about the skill of practising.

21• Pianist 76

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RACHMANINOV

 Etude-tableau in G minor op 33 no 8 The most approachable of the complicated Etudes-tableaux, this wistful piece needs the drive and precision to avoid oversentimentality, explains concert pianist and teacher Lucy Parham  Ability rating

Advanced

Info Key: G minor empo: Moderato Style: Late Romantic

Will improve your Sense of melodic line of fingering 3Finger strength 3

3 Choice

Composed in 1911, around the same time of the first set of Preludes, Rachmaninov’s Etudes-tableaux represent a different and often more complex challenge for the performer. Tis melancholy and haunting piece comes from the first set of Etudestableaux opus 33. While this one, in G minor, is not the most technically demanding of the set, its wistful character is difficult to capture and the performer must avoid making it overly sentimental. It is the pearl in the set. Rachmaninov himself never specified what each picture of his Etudes-tableaux was, preferring the performer to create and imagine their own scenario. ‘I don’t believe in the artist that discloses too much of his images. Let them paint for themselves  what it most suggests,’ he wrote. Te mood of this piece is immediately obvious – lonely, lilting and dreaming outer sections encase a technically brilliant short central section. So the central section is where I’d suggest that you begin. Bars 25-30 are well worth getting into your fingers before you begin studying the piece. We will cover this passage later but it is a good place to focus the start of your study! Tis opening phrase provides the basis and motif for much of the piece. My suggestion for fingering for the opening left hand (LH) figure is 2-52-1-3-1-2. It should be elastic rather than metronomic, yet always retaining stillness. Keep your hand close to the keyboard and try to envelope the notes like a glove – definitely no prodding here! When the right hand (RH) enters in bar 2, try to grade these three B flats to make a small crescendo.

  n    i   e   t   s   n   r    A   n   e   v    S    ©

In 2014 concert pianist Lucy Parham presents Sheaffer Sunday Matinees (Composers in Love) at St John’s, Smith Square, London, comprising all four of her words and music programmes. On 1 Feb she performs Rêverie  (Debussy) with actor Robert Glenister at the Worcester Theatre. Her Nocturne  CD (with Samuel West and Harriet Walter) is now available on the Deux-Elles label. For further details, visit www.lucyparham.com.

note of the bar can be played by the LH. Similarly, in bar 4, try playing the D on the second beat in the RH rather than the LH. Little tricks like this can make this piece more manageable for those with small hands. Look out for all possible opportunities! Make a perfectly judged decrescendo into bar 4 and sink into the cello line in the left hand. It’s an echo of the melody. At bar 6, the RH melody rising to the C minim in beat two of the next bar 7 is very important. Sink into this note and listen to the quality of the tone as it fades. Note the importance of the LH D to D in bar 8 (beginning of bar), giving this downward slur a sense of pathos. In the second half of bar 9, the RH takes over the melody that the LH had as a single line in bar 4. Tis time it is augmented with chords – but focus on a steely top fifth finger. And pass the melody over smoothly to the LH in the second half of bar 10. Tis is a real duet and you should feel each part ‘speaking’ to the other. Te colour that the A minor minim chord (RH) in bar 11 provides is critical as it takes us away from the tonic and provides a totally different feeling. Roll the chord gently, easing into bar 12. Once here, focus on the thumb of each part on each beat of the bar – passing the melody from right to left, as indicated. In the second half of bar 13, the LH is in a higher register, giving this a more ethereal feel and melting into the  p at bar 14. Te sense of line and drive from bars 14-17 is very important. In bar 15,

use your RH semiquavers to help the crescendo with added clarity and energy from the LH semiquaver triplets. You

 Learning Tip Start learning this piece from bars 25-30. This section is well worth getting into your fingers before you begin the rest.

should arrive decisively on the LH C semibreve of bar 16, following it with similar energy in the RH as this is the climax of this first section. Te chords in bar 18 should be like heartbeats. Tey are heartbeats, but  with a still and frozen feel to them. Keep your hands close to the keys here and try not to make a ritardando, however tempting. In bars 19-24, try practising the RH chords by leaving out one part (one finger) at a time. Tat is, try playing the chord without the fifth finger, then without the thumb, then  without the middle finger – build it up part by part. Keep your wrist flexible to ensure it is bump free. Te LH in these bars is particularly important – give it weight and sonority and, in bar 23, make the LH semiquavers really shaped and melodic. Pay specific attention to the top B (onto the A   quaver) and use the last three semiquavers of bar 23 to ease gradually into bar 24. Once you have arrived, the LH F accent should resound like a bell. It is now necessary to change the touch of the RH (from the ‘veloce’ onwards) to a perlé touch. Tis involves plucking the key with the fingertip, rather than simply depressing it. Imagine you are scratching the notes out of the keyboard! From bars 26-30, the LH descending line is crucial. Te accents are important as they ‘point’ (highlight) the descending LH line clearly. Fingering here can be tricky. I would suggest some tricks! For instance, the third beat of bar 26, when the RH D and LH F come together, you could play both in the RH. In bar 27, the first three notes of the first beat can be taken in the LH (with a 5-2-1), and similarly the first three notes in the third beat of that bar. Tis also works in the first beat (first three notes again) of bar 28.

In bar 3, try to keep the melody seamless even though you are dividing it between your hands. On the second beat of this bar, you can take the E in the semiquaver run with your RH to avoid a large stretch. Also, the last 24• Pianist 76

LEARN MORE WITH OUR VIDEO TUTORIALS im Stein (top) continues his series on the basics of playing the piano. Perfect for beginners and for those returning to the piano after a long break. im presents you with three lessons with issue 76. Te first is about the basics of learning to play chords correctly. In his second lesson, im goes into further depth with regards to chord playing, teaching you how to voice your chords. His third lesson is about strengthening the left hand. Te left is usually the weakest, so it needs extra care and practice. im demonstrates on the Roland HP-507. Graham Fitch (bottom) continues his Masterclass series – this time on the importance of warm-up exercises. He suggests warming up with some existing exercises by the well-known composers (showing you how it’s done), plus he comes up with his very own exercises. Graham’s lessons come to you direct from Steinway Hall, London, where he demonstrates on a concert grand Model D

WATCH MORE VIDEOS ON THE PIANIST  WEBSITE, AND IN EVERY ISSUE OF THE DIGITAL EDITION

www.pianistmagazine.com

 WARM-UP EXERCISE

BEGINNER

Right and left hand melody  Over the course of the next several issues of Pianist  we will be presenting exercises for the beginner composed by our new Keyboard Class contributor, Hans-Günter Heumann. The more advanced pianist will find that these pieces will serve as good  warm-up and sight-reading exercises.

q = 144-168

RH has the melody. Dig deep into the keys and make sure to phrase the four-bar melody (high point being the dotted minim F).

     2

Nice simple key of C major (no accidentals!).

This exercise is for gaining a feel and understanding of the melody line in both hands. You will need to use your ear and feel the phrasing, making sure that the melody sounds out above the other hand’s accompaniment. Take a look at the technical tips within the score. Hans-Günter Heumann

        mf                  p 

LH to be softly played. It has to be quieter than the RH.

1 2

 Make sure to lift the hand for the crotchet rests.

1 3

Use a down/up motion for the slurred pairs of notes. The emphasis is always on the firs t note.

5

  

      5 4



       

 mf 

      

    

Even if the RH might seem ‘easy’, you can still shape the sets of dotted crotchets to correspond with the shaping of the LH melody. 5 3

    p            4

1 5

The C note has to sound out, as it needs to be held over two bars.

The roles are reversed now, so make sure that the RH is much quieter than before. 9

1 4

5 2

      

5 1

      

The LH has the melody. It has to sound out above the RH . Make sure to phrase the 4-bar melody, with the dotted minim F being the high point.

13

         © 2013 Schott Music Limited, London

          Use a down/up motion for the slurred pairs of notes. The emphasis is always on the first note. 28• Pianist  76

Lift the hands off from the piano at the same time at the end.

    

 Make sure you strike the LH C is strongly enough so that it sounds out over two bars.

 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)

TRACK 1

BEGINNER

Minuet in C K6 Mozart composed short pieces from the very early age of six, including this one, which  was originally a sonata for keyboard and violin. The French dance form in triple time  was much in fashion in the 18th century. The piece is simple and elegant, comprising two parts made up of eight bars each. The key changes to the dominant G major at the end of the second line (note the F sharp), but it quickly reverts back to C major This piece is a great exercise for slurs. Feel the down/up of the wrist on each pair, with the emphasis always on the first note.

again a little later. These short early pieces are perfect for the beginner and they still include enough technical issues to tackle. This is great for getting acquainted with slurs, for example. Even if you need to take your hands of the piano for the rests and for the end of phrases, still keep them close to the keyboard. Take a look at the technical tips within the score.

It’s good to get used to changing fingering on repeated notes, as below for the Ds. Doing this will also help stop the = 108 fingers from tensing up.

Moderato 1

3

1

3

2

Even if there are no dynamics marked on the score, try to pencil some in. For example, bars 3 and 4 could do with a bit more volume than bars 1 and 2.

2

3

1

1

3

2

2

Key of C, even if there’s a brief modulation to G major at bar 8 (spot the F sharp). 3

5

LH plays the accompaniment role throughout. Try to keep in time .

5

3

1

2

5

2

4

The LH also has many slurred notes.  Make the down/up movement.

2

4

1

3

1

3

2

2

2

3

2

4

1

Play the below six quavers legato (join the notes). Prepare the third finger to pass over the thumb (fourth and fifth notes).  

5

3

2

2

1

3

1

5

Tail this phrase off nicely in both hands with a slight diminuendo.

2

2

3

1

5

2

5

Play the crotc het notes with a detached quality to them.There’s no need to join the notes (i.e . to make them legato). Notice the fingering of the thumb on the black note F in bar 10. One can actually place thumbs on black notes!

9

1

3

3

1

3

2

1

1

1

5

5

5

2

1

3

2

1

1

4

5

Three pairs of slurred quavers here. That means down/up three times! 13

2

1

3

2

4

 And again, prepare the third finger to pass over the thumb (the D to the C). 3

5

1 2

3

5

3

2

1

3

2

2

3

In the RH above, 2nd finger to moves silently on to the G.

5

 

1

2

2

3

2

1

5

1

2 5

 Again, all the LH crotchets to be played detached. Not staccato, mind. Just slightly detached.

29• Pianist  76

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

TRACK 3

BEGINNER/ INTERMEDIATE

German Dance D783 No 5  Alongside his more serious works, Schubert composed about 400 ‘lighter’ pieces such as this lively dance, from a volume of 18 German dances and two ecossaises written in 1823-4. In Pianist  No 73 we presented the second dance from this collection. Playing tips : At the beginning of the piece, you’ll see there are accents over the third quavers in the RH. You do not need to exaggerate them. In fact, wherever you see these accents, they should be subtle – they are there to make you feel the lilt of the dance. In

the first half, feel the phrase move towards bar 8. A gradual crescendo will surely help.  And then the next eight bars are a kind of downward resolve. Keep the RH fingers smooth, even and well articulated. Every note counts. The LH jumps from bass note to a higher-up chord. Make sure the hand is ready over the chord a split second before. Pedal tips : Pedalling is quite simple in this piec e, with one pedal change per bar. Add pedal when notes are secure.

= 152 3

3

3

legato

1 3 5

 4

1 2 5

5 4 3

1

4 3 1

5 3 1

5

3 2 1

3

1

2

2

2

cresc.

sim.

5

8

5

4

1

5

13

4

5

5

1 2 4

4

1 2 4

5

1 2 4

5

1

2

3

1 2 4

1 2 3

1. 4

1

1

1 3 4

32• Pianist  76

5

2

1 3 4

4

3

1 2 5

2.

3

WATCH CHENYIN LI PLAY THIS PIECE AT PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM

 Johann  Joha nn Fried Friedric richh BURGMÜL BURGMÜLLER LER (18 (180606-187 1874) 4)

TRACK 4

BEGINNER/ INTERMEDIATE

Ballade, No 15 from 25 studies of progressive difficulty  op  op 100

Burgmüller is little known today, today, but in his time he was highly regarded – Schumann compared the German-born composer to Schubert. Indeed, there is some Schubertian charm in many of Burgmüller’ Burgmüller’ss works, not least in this piece. Its delicate, dance-like character reminds us that Burgmüller also composed for the ballet. Playing tips : The tempo is fast, Allegro con brio, but don’t let that put you off! Start by practising very slowly s lowly and increase the speed over time. You will will need light, nimble nimb le fingerwork – and it will help to keep the fingers close to the keyboard. Notice how

 Alle  Al le g ro co n br io

the LH has an important role – almost right from the start it is the melody. Take Take note of all the phrase markings too. We do suggest you watch Chenyin Li perform this on the Pianist  TV  TV channel. Remember to keep the wrists supple – this will ensure a bounce and lightness of touch which is required. At bar 31, a more lyrical section appears, so make sure to phrase the RH beautifully. Bar 87 sees the hands playing in unison at last – a great ending! Pedal tips : Pedal not needed. This has to sound crisp.

= 104

5 3 1

misterioso

4

1

1

5

3

7  4

4

1

3

14

3 1

2 1

cresc.

5

 22

5 1

1 5

1 2

4 1

1 4

5

3

2

1

3

1 3

5 3

5 2

1 3

1 3

2

1

2

33• Pianist  76

3

5

WATCH WA TCH CHENYIN CHENY IN LI PLAY THIS PIECE AT PIANIST PIANISTMAGAZINE.C MAGAZINE.COM OM

 Johann  Joha nn Frie Friedri drich ch BURGM BURGMÜLL ÜLLER ER (1 (1806 806-18 -1874) 74)

TRACK 4

BEGINNER/ INTERMEDIATE

Ballade, No 15 from 25 studies of progressive difficulty  op  op 100

 31

1

5

1

3

1

1

3

dolce

cresc.

1 3 4

1 3 5

poco rit.  39

4

4

1 2

 47 

3

1

2

1 2 4

2 4 5

2

4

4

1 2 5

4

1

animato

1 2

1

2

3

2

cresc.

1 2 4

53

4

1 3

2

1

4

5

1

5 3 1

dim.

2

3

1

61 4

3

5

34• Pianist  76

4

1

2

WATCH CHENYIN LI PLAY THIS PIECE AT PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM

 Johann  Joha nn Fried Friedric richh BURGM BURGMÜLL ÜLLER ER (18 (180606-187 1874) 4)

TRACK 4

BEGINNER/ INTERMEDIATE

Ballade, No 15 from 25 studies of progressive difficulty  op  op 100

67 

1

4

3

73

3 1

2 1

cresc.

1 2

79

4 1

5

3

2

1

3

1 5

1 3

2

1

1 4

2

3

5

1 3

1 3

87  4

dim.

1

91

5 2

4 2

dim.

2 4

2 5

35• Pianist  76

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)

TRACK 5

INTERMEDIATE

Young op 39 In Church, No 23 from  Album for the Young  25

4

3

1 5

2 5

5

4

 31

4

5

5

 37 

5 2

3

4

4

5 4 2

4

2

sim.

 42

 47 

5

5 2

2

4

5 4

2 1

2

1

 perdendosi  perdendo si

sim.

37• Pianist  76

4

3

 Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)

TRACK 6

INTERMEDIATE

Two-Part Invention No 10 in G BWV 781 The 15 Two-Part Inventions BWV 772-786 date from 1720 and were only published in 1801 after Bach’s death, along with the companion Three-Part Inventions BWV 787-801. These pieces were composed for Bach’s pupils, not least his son Wilhelm Friedemann, yet are anything but dry and pedagogical. Playing tips : Practise this piece really slowly and totally in time (using a metronome might help). Feel the flowing pulse – 9/8 is three beats in the bar. It feels good for the fingers though – like a real workout! The more beginner/intermediate pianist may

Moderato

= 100

 want to leave out the trills. For those wanting to trill, read Graham Fitch’s article on trills that appeared inside issue 75. We suggest practising in short phrases, making sure to get the trills spot on each time you go over a phrase. We have given suggested fingerings for the trills and we have written out the notes above/below the trill sign too, in order to help. Everyone’s hands are different though, so try different fingerings. Pedal tips : There are no markings, and pedal is not a necessity. Light dabs of pedal, here and there are fine. It should sound like there’s no pedal at all.

GF GF 3 2 3 2

1

2

4

5

5

5

1

5

1

2 3 2 3

5

CBCB

 4

5

3

2

7 

2

232

2

5

4

1

3

5

2

5

4

1

3

5

1

3

1

2

4

1

1

4

GF G

232

1

3

4

3

2

5

2

2

2

F EF

10 3

3

3

121

121

DC D

GF G

3

2

1

38• Pianist  76

4

3

1

 Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)

TRACK 6

INTERMEDIATE

Two-Part Invention No 10 in G BWV 781 13 4

3

2

1

2

1

3

3

5

3

4

4

1 2 1 2

3

DC DC GF GF

16

3 2 3 2

2

1 2 1

BCDCDC

 20

1 5

BAB

 A B C B C B

1 2 3 2 3 2

1 2 3 2 3 2

5

5

5

 24 5

1

1

2

5

2

2

5

3

3

4

 27 

2

1

5

2

4

2

5

3

1

2

4

1

3

1

3

3

3

2

1

2

1

1

1

4

5

5 39• Pianist  76

3

2 5

4 1

3

1

2

1

3 1

 30

2

1 2 1

4

2

CBC

 Anatoly LYADOV (1855-1914)

TRACK 7

INTERMEDIATE

Mazurka op 57 no 3 Though an excellent pianist and a noted teacher at the St Petersburg Conservatoire,  Anatoly Lyadov is thought to never have realised his early promise. He was plagued by self-doubt and overwhelmed by the likes of his former teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. However, Lyadov left some exquisite pieces for piano, such as this one. Playing tips : This mazurka is reminiscent of Chopin, but with a Russian flavor to it. Make ample use of rubato, but only sta rt working on that once the notes are secure.

The RH is definitely the trickier part to master, as you will see – it winds its way all over the keyboard. Lightness of touch is also required. And notice all the accidentals. The LH plays a supporting role, but must always provide a solid 3/4 pulse underneath the melody. There needs to be an improvisatory feel to this piece, as if it’s just one fleeting moment in time, and then it’s gone. Pedal tips : Suggestions have been marked on to the score.

 Al le grett o con amarezza 2

4 3

3

1

5

5

1

rubato

5

1

4 2

2

2

2

cresc.

1 5

1 3

4

10

rit. 15

2

poco più mosso

5 1

1

40• Pianist  76

5

5

4 1

HANS-GÜNTER HEUMANN

A Z E R T Y

B E Gzerty INNERS XXXX (XXXXX)

KEYBOARD

CLASS

LESSON 4: THE DOTTED QUAVER / EIGHTH NOTE

Over the course of the year, Pianist  will be covering the most basic stages of learning the piano through a series of Keyboard Class lessons written by Hans-Günter Heumann, the author of The Classical Piano Method  (from Schott Music). This fourth lesson will help you become familiar with dotted notes.

Dotted Quaver / Dotted Eighth Note The dotted quaver (dotted eighth note) has the value of three semiquavers (three 16th notes). The dot extends the duration of the eighth note by half its value:

Finger Fitness Exercise In this exercise, play the dotted quaver and semiquaver figure (dotted eighth and 16th figure) precisely against the steady flow of semiquaver notes (16th notes). Aim to play it accurately in both hands.

Toreador Song

(see page 48)

On the final page of this lesson, we present Hans-Günter Heumann’s arrangement of the Toreador Song from Bizet’s famous opera Carmen. There are several dotted figures throughout the piece, as you’ll discover.

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) Country: France Period: Romantic Works: over 100

Georges Bizet was a child prodigy who learned to read music at the age of four, could play piano at the age of six and began studying with Gounod and Halévy at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine. He wrote his first Symphony in C major – perhaps his most beautiful orchestral work – at the age of 17. In 1857 he was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome. After winning this prize, Bizet composed several operas, but apart from The Pearl Fishers, they did not receive much acclaim. However, his orchestral suite L’arlésienne, named after the stage work for which he provided incidental music, became widely known. Bizet’s most famous work – the opera Carmen – was first performed on 3 March 1875, but unfortunately its composer did not live to experience its great success.

45• Pianist 76

PLAGE

HANS-GÜNTER HEUMANN KEYBOARD CLASS

A Z E R T Y (XXXXX) Piano Concerto No 21 in CXXXX major zerty K467 (second movement)

PLAGE

A

 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) arr. Hans-Günter Heumann

du faux texte Bella terra et mari civilia externaque toto in orbe terrarum saepe gessi, victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus peperci. Externas gentes, quibus tuto ignosci potuit, conservare quam excidere malui. Millia civium Romanorum sub sacramento meo fuerunt circiter quingenta. Ex quibus deduxi in colonias aut The lovely second movement of this concerto is known to many people for its use in the 1967 film Elvira Madigan. remisi in municipia sua stipendis emeritis millia aliquanto plura quam trecenta, et iis omnibus agros adsignavi aut pecuniam pro praemiis militiae dedi. Naves cepi The theme includes several dotted figures. sescentas praeter eas, si quae minores quam triremes fuerunt.Bella terra et mari civilia exte rnaque toto in orbe terrarum saepe gessi, victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus peperci. Externas gentes, quibus tuto ignosci potuit, conservare quam excidere malui. Millia civium Romanorum sub sacramento meo fuerunt circiter quingenta. Ex quibus deduxi in colonias aut remisi in municipia s ua stipendis emeritis millia aliquanto plura quam trecenta, et iis omnibus agros adsign avi aut pecuniam pro praemiis militiae dedi. Naves cepi sescentas praeter eas, si quae minores quam triremes fuerunt.Bella terra et mari civilia externaque tot.

46• Pianist 76

HANS-GÜNTER HEUMANN KEYBOARD CLASS

A Z E R T Y XXXX (XXXXX)

zerty

Turn over the page to play an arrangement of the Toreador Song from Bizet’s Carmen. Hans-Günter Heumann continues his beginners series in the next issue. To find out more about Heumann, go to www.schott-music.com

47• Pianist 76

PLAGE

HANS-GÜNTER HEUMANN KEYBOARD CLASS

Toreador Song

A Z E R T Y XXXX (XXXXX)

PLAGE

zerty

A

du faux texte Bella terra et mari civilia externaque toto in orbe terrarum saepe gessi, victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus peperci. Externas gentes, quibus tuto ignosci potuit, conservare quam excidere malui. Millia civium Romanorum sub sacramento meo fuerunt circiter quingenta. Ex quibus deduxi in colonias aut remisi in municipia sua stipendis emeritis millia aliquanto plura quam trecenta, et iis omnibus agros adsignavi aut pecuniam pro praemiis militiae dedi. Naves cepi sescentas praeter eas, si quae minores quam triremes fuerunt.Bella terra et mari civilia exte rnaque toto in orbe terrarum saepe gessi, victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus peperci. Externas gentes, quibus tuto ignosci potuit, conservare quam excidere malui. Millia civium Romanorum sub sacramento meo fuerunt circiter quingenta. Ex quibus deduxi in colonias aut remisi in municipia s ua stipendis emeritis millia aliquanto plura quam trecenta, et iis omnibus agros adsign avi aut pecuniam pro praemiis militiae dedi. Naves cepi sescentas praeter eas, si quae minores quam triremes fuerunt.Bella terra et mari civilia externaque tot.

48• Pianist 76

 I S S  ’ T M  N  N  O  O  D  I C L E A R T

TRACK 10

 E  C O L E R  T  P O R G E  PA  6 7

Cole PORTER (1891-1964)

INTERMEDIATE

Night and Day 

 Ask most people to name a Cole Porter song, and they’re likely to cite Night and Day .  With its compulsive one-note opening relaxing into a compelling melody, the song was a hit from almost the first moment it was sung, by Fred Astaire in the 1932 musical Gay Divorce  (Astaire, and the song, appear in the 19 34 Hollywood version, Gay Divorcee .) Playing tips : When it comes to interpreting this classic, think ‘lazy’. It has to have a really relaxed, effortless feel (even if you are working hard to create that!). Don’t rush,

and never allow it to get too loud. When it comes to such tricky bars as 26, 48, 64 etc , remember to keep the wrists supple. Don’t attack the chords. The chords always have to be phrased and full of movement. Think of the top line a s a melody. Pedal tips : See the markings in the score. You can use ample pedal, and that will help  with the legato sound that you need. Read Inge Kjemtrup’s article on Cole Porter on page 67.

Moderato con moto — ad lib.

Beguine tempo

poco rit.

 = 114

5

sim.

9

cresc. poco a poco

13

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 .    d   e   v   r   e   s   e    R   s   t    h   g    i    R    l    A  .    d   t    L   c    i   s   u    M   r   e    b   a    F    f   o   n   o    i   s   s    i   m   r   e   p   y    b    d   e   c   u    d   o   r   p   e    R  .    S    B    8    6    W   n   o    d   n   o    L  ,    d   t    L   a   c    i   r   e   m    A    h   t   r   o    N    l   e   p   p   a    h    C    /   r   e   n   r   a    W  .    A    S    U  ,   p   r   o    C   c    i   s   u    M    B    W    0    1    0    2    ©   t   n   e   m   e   g   n   a   r   r   a   s    i    h    T  .    A    S    U  ,   p   r   o    C   c    i   s   u    M    B    W    2    3    9    1    ©   r   e    b   m   e    K   n    h   o    J   y    b    d   e   g   n   a   r   r    A  .   r   e   t   r   o    P   e    l   o    C   y    b   c    i   s   u    M  .   y   a    D    d   n    A   t    h   g    i    N

TRACK 10

Cole PORTER (1891-1964) Night and Day 

INTERMEDIATE

17 

 21

sim.

 25

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 33

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TRACK 10

Cole PORTER (1891-1964) Night and Day 

 37 

 41

 45

 49

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INTERMEDIATE

TRACK 10

Cole PORTER (1891-1964) Night and Day 

53

57 

61

poco rit. 65

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INTERMEDIATE

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)

TRACK 11

INTERMEDIATE/ ADVANCED

Romance S169 accentato assai e sempre rubato 17 

2 1

1

3

4

5

2

 21

4 2

5 1

 25

3

2

4 1

 28

rinforzando

4

 31

poco rit.

4

2

1 5

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1

2

2

1

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)

TRACK 11

INTERMEDIATE/ ADVANCED

Romance S169

 34

più ritenuto a piacere

dolce armonioso

2

4 5

5

1

più agitato

 37 

 smorz.

 40

4

4

4

4

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5

 43

4

4

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3

 46

3

1

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4

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4

4

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)

TRACK 11

INTERMEDIATE/ ADVANCED

Romance S169

 49

cresc.

1

4

4

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4

2

4

1

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52

2

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1

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55

1

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5

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1

1

TRACK 11

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)

INTERMEDIATE/ ADVANCED

Romance S169

63

ritenuto

66

più ritenuto

69

72

75

2 1 2 5

2 1 5

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Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)

TRACK 12

ADVANCED

Etude-tableau in G minor op 33 no 8 9

11

dim.

13

15

cresc.

18

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Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)

TRACK 12

Etude-tableau in G minor op 33 no 8  21

dim.

poco rit.  23

LH

 25

veloce

cresc.

LH

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LH

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ADVANCED

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Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Etude-tableau in G minor op 33 no 8

 28

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rit.

5

 30 2

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1

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3

4

1

 32

 34

Tempo I

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66• Pianist 76

POPULAR PIANO

COLE PORTER Just one of those things  Cole Porter’s songs are full of wit and charm, with a hint of thwarted passion – a lot like the man himself, writes Inge Kjemtrup

S

ophisticated, luxury-loving,  witty, emotionall y repressed: these  words describe not only a typical song by Cole Porter but could also be applied to the composer himself. Porter’s public image was of an urbane sophisticate wearing a silk dressing gown, who pours cocktails for his smart-set friends in his chic Manhattan apartment before sitting down at the piano to play his newest songs. Certainly this image fits with a composer who wrote songs with titles such as ‘Use Your Imagination’, ‘ You’re e Top’ or ‘Anything Goes’. But Porter wasn’t born in New York City – or in any other big city, for that matter. He was born in the small town of Peru, Indiana on 9 June 1891. His family was wealthy, the money having been made by his grandfather, J.O. Cole, a landowner and businessman.  J.O. Cole’s daughter Kate had defied her dominating father by marrying the mild-mannered Fenwick Porter, a druggist, but the old man was determined that his grandson would take over the family business. However, the boy did not show prodigal talent in business. His gifts  were musical, and he began piano lessons age six and then violin lessons. His father played the piano and sang, and shared his love of fantasy books such as Treasure Island  with his son,  whose imagination was further stirred by the fact that Peru was the winter home of several circus companies (elephants walked through town). e young boy was closest to his mother, Kate, who was devoted, ambitious and convinced of his musical genius.  As a child, Cole Porter was shy, un-athletic and physically unassuming, but he soon discovered that prowess at the keyboard was a sure-fire way to win friends. If his grandfather’s entrepreneurial spirit manifested itself in him at all, it was in his strategic

deployment of ‘ribald’ songs about teachers for friends at the private  Worcester Academy in Massachusetts or  writing catchy football songs to impress fellow students at Yale.  At Yale, Porter took English as his major subject with music at his minor – a providential combination for a future song composer who wrote most of his own lyrics. By the end of his studies at  Yale, he had co mposed more than 100 songs, written his first musical comedy, Cora , and toured with a musical revue, e Pot of Gold . To appease his grandfather, he started at Harvard Law School in the autumn of 1913. He lasted there just a year. Porter made his way to New York City, boarding at the Yale Club where he penned the score for See America First   in 1916. It was a terrible flop.  With peculiar timing, Porter sailed for Europe the next year, just after the US entered World War I. It’s not clear  what he actually did in the war. Later in life he spoke of his activities with an ambulance unit; other times he claimed

PLAY

‘NIGHT & DAY’

TURN TO PAGE 52

– was entirely one of convenience, but McBrien disagrees. He argues that the two were truly devoted to each other and notes that just before he met Linda, Porter had composed the heartfelt ‘Tired of Living Alone’. Linda gave her husband the steady, albeit nonsexual, companionship that he needed. ‘I Love Paris’

Paris was an exciting place to be in the 1920s, and Linda and Cole Porter were at the heart of it, rubbing shoulders  with Picasso, Braque, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Milhaud, Diaghilev,  Arthur Rubinstein, society hostess Elsa Maxwell… the list goes on. For most of the next 20 years the Porters followed their smart-set friends around Europe, living for a time on the French Rivieria and then on the Venice Lido, helping to make both those places fashionable.

‘Cole Porter created a world. It was a between-the-wars realm of drop dead chic and careless name-dropping insouciance. And it was a sexy place to be invited’ to have been in the French Foreign Legion. According to a thoroughly researched biography by William McBrien, the evidence is ambiguous. In 1919, Porter was living in Europe  when he me t the American society beauty Linda Lee omas, and they married that year. Some think that their marriage – between a wealthy woman  who had just ended an abusive first marriage and a man who was a private, but sexually adventurous, homosexual 67• Pianist 76

 With financial independence, Porter had the means to polish his art, even studying harmony, counterpoint and orchestration for a period at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Alan Jay Lerner once wrote of Porter that he ‘seemed to spring like Jupiter from Minerva’s head – all made.’ But this is based on the fact that while Porter was in Europe forming his style, the other great songwriters – Kern, Rodgers, ▲ Gershwin, Berlin – were in America,

POPULAR PIANO seeing their music succeed – or fail – on Broadway. Tough he also wrote for shows, in the US and in Europe, for many years Porter did not to achieve the kind of success that his in Pan Alley counterparts had. rue, he had a hit  with the sentimental ‘Old Fashioned Garden’ from Hitchy-Koo of 1919 , and he wrote a song for the comedian Fanny Brice, ‘Hot-House Rose’ (1926), but for some time the big break eluded him. ‘Let’s Do It’, written for La revue des  Ambassadeurs   at the Parisian Café des  Ambassadeurs in 1928, was one of the first songs to contain all the elements of classic Porter. It has a pulsing, catchy melody, and the lyrics are lively and full of not-very-hidden double entendres: ‘Birds do it / Bees do it / Even educated fleas do it / Let’s do it / Let’s fall in

It was said that Astaire didn’t recognise the tune as a classic and struggled to find a dance to fit – hard to believe  when one views the elegant dancing of  Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the film. Porter’s contemporaries knew how good the song was. Irving Berlin wrote to Porter in 1933, ‘I am mad about “Night and Day” and I think it is your high spot. You probably know it is being played all over, and all the orchestra leaders think it is the best tune of the year – and I agree with them.’ On the ocean of success that Porter sailed on in the 1930s, the highest  wave came wi th the 1934 musical  Anything Goes . Te list of that show’s songs includes ‘I Get A Kick out of  You’, ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘ You’re the op’. Anything Goes  also firmed up

‘I am mad about “Night and Day” and I think it is your high spot. You probably know it is being played all over, and all the orchestra leaders think it is the best tune of the year – and I agree with them’ -Irving Berlin to Cole Porter, 1933 love.’ Little wonder that the song was banned from American radio stations for several years. ‘Night and Day’ may be the perfect example of Porter’s art (try it for yourself in this issue’s Scores, page 52). Te song starts with a repeated single note – Porter was said to have been inspired by the dripping of a downspout – over which the singer intones: ‘Like the beat-beat-beat of the tom-tom /  when the jungle shadows fall / like the tick, tick, tock of the stately clock / as it stands against the wall / like the drip, drip, drip of the rain drops / when the summer showers through / a voice  within me keeps repeating you, you, you…’ Ten the almost unbearable repetition ends as the richly harmonic melody starts: ‘Night and Day, you are the one / only you beneath the moon or under the sun.’ New York imes  critic Alan Rich  wrote of Porter’s music, ‘Te emotional power of a Porter ballad likewise comes only after the song has insinuated itself into your consciousness by the utter, beguiling ingenuity and meticulousness of its overall s hape,’ and that’s never been more true than with ‘Night and Day’. Fred Astaire was the first person to sing ‘Night and Day’ in the musical Te Gay Divorce   (1932) and again in the film version, Te Gay Divorcee  (1934).

the connection between its star, Ethel Merman, and Porter. Other songs from Porter’s golden age include ‘Begin the Beguine’, ‘Just One of Tose Tings’, ‘Love for Sale’, ‘In the Still of the Night’ and ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’.  As one commentator wrote of Porter’s music of the 1930s, ‘In a way no other songs of the period quite did, Porter created a world. It was a betweenthe-wars realm of drop dead chic and careless name-dropping insouciance.  And it was a sexy place to be invited.’ Hollywood soon called, and in 1935, the Porters moved out West, after he signed a three-year contract with MGM. He loved the Hollywood high life and was a night owl who composed best in the wee hours of the morning. Te inspiration for his lyrics (he inserted the names of famous friends and current trends in many songs) may have been the nightclubs and parties he frequented, but the hard work late at night brought it all together. In 1937, while visiting friends, Porter suffered a horse-riding accident. Te horse rolled over him, fracturing his legs, damaging nerves and causing health problems that plagued him ever after. But ever one to hide his personal travails, Porter later claimed that he  wrote some of the lyrics to ‘At long last love’ while waiting to be rescued. 68• Pianist 76

Porter with television host Ed Sullivan

 While he enjoyed further success in the next few years with shows and films such as Leave It to Me  (1938), DuBarry was a Lady  (1939) and You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) and songs like ‘Ev’ry ime  We Say Goodbye’ and ‘Don’t Fence Me In’, it was the start of a less-productive decade for Porter. He was back on form in 1948 with Kiss Me Kate , a musical based on Shakespeare’s Te aming of the Shrew . It is full of glorious tunes – ‘So in Love’, ‘Always rue to You in My Fashion’, ‘oo Darn Hot’ and ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ among them. And as was rarely the case with Porter’s musicals, Kiss Me Kate  had an intelligible plot and dialogue to match the songs. Tough he never again reached the heights of Kiss Me Kate  before his death in 1964, Porter did write more, not least the score for a film with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly from 1956 called High Society . Tis  would seem to be a subject near and dear to Porter, though the standout song is one of the most unadorned that he would ever pen: ‘rue Love’, a song that has been covered by everyone from Dean Martin to George Harrison and Elvis Presley. It’s a good reminder that even as this Midwest-born sophisticate made the world his oyster, he gave back with his matchless catalogue of  wonderful songs. n

Anything Goes More Cole Porter to explore

Here are three great Cole Porter collections from Faber Music:

Cole Porter Platinum Collection ISBN: 978-0-571-52799-1 (FM 52799) Te Best of Cole Porter  ISBN: 978-0-571-53109-7 (FM 53109)  Make It Easy: Cole Porter  ISBN: 978-0-571-52593-5 (FM 52593)

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available from all good music retail outlets: find out more by talking to your local retailer, or contact [email protected]. 69• Pianist 76

HISTORY

SERGEI A RACHMANINOV 1873-1943  Dismissed as a composer of gushing melodies, Rachmaninov wrote compelling, gorgeous music that truly deserves its continuing popularity, argues Harriet Smith, who looks at his life and times

70• Pianist 76 74

ll his life Rachmaninov was caught between two places. He  was musically active in the 20th century, yet his music very much stands as a glorious summation of the Romantic 19th. He was a Russian from the tips of his toes to the top of his head, yet he spent more than a quarter of a century in exile from his beloved homeland. He had a triple career as pianist, conductor and composer, yet he all too rarely had the opportunity to step onto the podium once he left Russia. He was the greatest pianist of his time (some would say of any time), yet he  was bedevilled by a profound self-doubt. ime and again he took the advice of others when he should have believed in himself, so terrified was he of boring people. When he was performing his Corelli Variations he would excise passages if he felt the audience was getting restless. And he ruthlessly slashed at scores that needed no slashing – from the piano sonatas to the Tird and Fourth Concertos. Tere’s a fundamental dislocation about Rachmaninov that colours everything. As he  wrote in 1939, ‘I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing, and I cannot acquire the new. I have made intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me. Unlike Madame Butterfly [probably a reference to Stravinsky] with her quick religious conversions – I cannot cast out my musical gods in a moment and bend the knee to new ones.’ Born in 1873, Sergei Rachmaninov grew up in a comfortable, relatively privileged background. On the advice of his older cousin Alexander Siloti (recently returned to Russia after studies with Liszt), he went to study with Nikolay Zverev at the Moscow Conservatory, who had taught Siloti prior to his Lisztian adventures. So off the young Sergei  was packed, aged 12, for a regime where failure was not an option. Along with a handful of other gifted piano students, he lived in Zverev’s apartment for four years and developed from a raw talent to a highly accomplished musician. Crucially, Zverev also gave his pupils a thorough grounding in other art forms, recognising the importance of an all-round education rather than simply a musical hothouse. However, Rachmaninov and Zverev fell out when the teenager persisted in his aim to be a composer rather than a pianist. By the time he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, aged 18, he already had his First Piano Concerto under his belt. Te story from that benchmark is hardly straightforward, however, with the famous creative impasse that arose after the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony in 1897. Tat  was not the fault of the composition, but rather due to a drunken Glazunov on the podium. Other works suffered similarly: the First Sonata, for example, was premiered not by the composer but by Konstantin Igumnov, a very fine artist but not necessarily temperamentally attuned to Rachmaninov’s music. Again, the premiere was very badly received and, though the composer played it a few times in Russia subsequently, it then disappeared from view, only to be resurrected in far more recent times by pianists such as Nikolai Lugansky.

So how is it that the music of Rachmaninov,  who was one of the greatest pianists of all time (Arthur Rubinstein described him as a god) fell so profoundly out of favour? And not  just among gossip-mongers and the bitchier elements of the music world, but in print too: the damning article in the 1954 edition of the hugely influential Grove Dictionary of  Music and Musi cians , published 11 years after Rachmaninov’s death, bears scrutiny: ‘As a pianist Rachmaninoff was one of t he finest artists of his time; as a composer he can hardly be said to have belonged to his time at all… His music is well constructed and effective, but monotonous in texture, which consists in essence mainly of artificial and gushing tunes… e enormous popular success some few of Rachmaninoff’s works had in his lifetime is not likely to last, and musicians never regarded it with much favour. e third pianoforte Concerto was on the whole liked by the public only because of its close resemblance to the second, while the fourth, which attempted something like a new departure, was a failure from the start. e only later work that has attracted large concert audiences was the Rhapsody on a eme by Paganini …’ Now of course this was the 1950s, a decade of hardline modernism that brooked no dissenters. But still… ‘gushing’? Was this damning summation simply a product of its time or was this something else. A suspicion, perhaps, that if something was popular then by its nature it was also tainted – that if something had mass appeal then it must be corrupt in some respect? Certainly that would fit in with the insularity that went with such radical creative acts as Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke  or Boulez’s Le marteau sans maître . ough let’s not forget that in that same decade, in 1958, one of the most seminal Rachmaninov moments occurred  when Van Cliburn won the first Tchaikovsky Piano Competition playing Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto and Rachmaninov’s ird – and garnered an eight-minute ovation in the process.

Out of step Even during his lifetime, Rachmaninov had to put up with a lot of flak. is, from Paul Rosenfeld writing in e New Republic   in 1919, is not atypical: ‘Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto is… a little too much like a mournful banqueting on ham and honey… in all the music of

Inside this issue’s Scores  • Etude-tableau in G minor op 33 no 8 (p61)  • An arrangement of Variation No 18 from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini  (p42) Chenyin Li plays both pieces on this issue’s CD 

‘I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing, and I cannot acquire the new. I have made intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me… I cannot cast out my musical gods in a moment and bend the knee to new ones.’ -Sergei Rachmaninov, 1939 Rachmaninov there is something strangely twice-told. From it there flows the sadness distilled by all things that are a little useless … he is still content with music that toys with the pianoforte. … He writes pieces full of the old astounding musical dislocation. …there  was a day, perhaps , when such work served. But another day has succeeded to it. And so, Rachmaninov comes amongst us like a very charming and amiable ghost.’ Note that ‘ghost’ reference again. Creative beings out of step with their era always suffer, no matter what the medium. History is littered with figures who, it turns out, were simply not in step with contemporary thinking but whose greatness is abundantly clear when viewed from a historical perspective. ere’s so much more to this composer than the piano concertos – great though they all are in the different ways. In fact, for all that Rachmaninov claimed he couldn’t update his style, in the Fourth there’s clear evidence of him taking in what was going on around him and then adapting it into his own musical language so that it still sounds immediately Rachmaninovian. It was only with his centenary, in 1973, that the world at large began to delve further than the Second and ird Concertos and the C sharp minor Prelude. Figures such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and André Previn, both as conductors and pianists, played a vital role in his rehabilitation. But even today, in some circles there is still a suspicion that to like Rachmaninov is somehow a bit tasteless. Much better to name Schubert or Bach as your musical gods than this arch-Romantic. Steven Osborne, one of the finest interpreters of his music around today, 71• Pianist 76

has an interesting explanation as to why he divides opinion: ‘Compare Rachmaninov’s music to Schubert’s and it seems to me clear that the latter contains much greater complexity of emotion… as a result, there are very many ways of understanding his music, depending on how one balances these conflicting elements.  With Rachmaninov there i s one element  which dominates: a sense of melancholy… Correspondingly there is less ambiguity to the music… Rachmaninov expresses more profoundly than almost anyone else what it means to feel hopeless, to long for what is unattainable; the depth of feeling is, to me at least, unquestionable. is helps me to make sense of the antipathy some have towards Rachmaninov’s music. e more ambiguous a piece of music is, the more likely we will feel personal meaning in it. If, however, we are directly confronted with a rather depressive musical world, it is understandable that some  will find that threatening, self-indulgent or else simply uninteresting.’ en there’s the questio n of the sheer diffi culty of this music: even the stuff that sounds tenable (and not too fast!) can conceal myriad problems. It doesn’t help that Rachmaninov possessed one of the biggest hand spans in all music. And he  wrote for himself. ere’s no concessio n to those  with a less than ironclad technique, but the abundant virtuosity is absolutely never there just for the sake of it. Just try and find a passage that merely shouts ‘look at me’ – you’ll fail because he didn’t work like that. Even in a piece such ▲ as the underrated and underplayed First Piano

HISTORY

10 key Rachmaninov recordings Harriet Smith selects the Rachmaninov you won’t want to miss Sergei Rachmaninoff (10 CDs RCA) An indispensable starting point, with Rachmaninov interpreting his own music along with seminal recordings of works by Chopin, Schumann, Beethoven and Liszt. Piano Concerto No 2 Sviatoslav Ri chter, Warsaw Ph ilharmonic Orchestra/Stanislaw Wislocki (DG The Originals) A classic account of the Second Concerto: demonic, poetic and so alive that most other readings sound pale by comparison. Piano Concerto No 3 Martha Argerich, Berlin RSO/Kirill Kondrashin (Philips) A live account that, when it belatedly emerged 13 years after the concert, wowed with its stream-of consciousness vision; pianist and conductor react to one another to searing effect. Piano Concerto No 4 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Philharmonia Orchestra/Ettore Gracis (EMI) The recording that put the Fourth Concerto on the map has never been bettered. Piano Sonata No 2 in B flat minor Vladimir Horowitz (first CBS version) Horowitz first brought this work to a wider audience, combining Rachmaninov’s two versions of the work with his own amendments – with the composer’s blessing. Moments musicaux Lazar Berman (Deutsche Grammophon) A vividly reactive 1975 performance, by turns intimate and virtuoso, by this Soviet pianist. Complete Solo Piano Music Howard Shelley (Hyperion) A groundbreaking set for the modern age from a Rachmaninov player of rare finesse and absolute seriousness of intent. Selected Preludes Sviatoslav Richter (Deutsche Grammophon) This great Rachmaninov interpreter wipes the floor in vividness and reactiveness. Variations on a Theme of Corelli/Four Etudes-tableaux Mikhail Pletnev (Deutsche Grammophon) Performing on Rachmaninov’s own Steinway, Pletnev well understands the nature of the composer, and imbues these works with effortless virtuosity and an abundant humanity. Preludes, Opp 3 No 2, 23, 32 Steven Osborne (Hyperion) From the famous ringing opening of the C sharp minor Prelude to the affirmative rocking chords that close the last of the opus 32 Preludes, this is a treasurable set.

THREE CHEERS FOR RACHMANINOV! 3

Pianist team

members on the allure of the romantic Russian

Graham Fitch I can’t imagine anyone not liking Rachmaninov’s music. It’s just so gorgeous and its message speaks so directly from his soul. I love to play the Second Concerto, the Etudes-tableaux and of course the Preludes. Students bring Rachmaninov’s music to me all the time, and I am constantly impressed by how beautifully he wrote for the instrument. Because Rachmaninov was a first-rate pianist himself, he wrote fabulously for the instrument, and his music lies very well under the hands. It is true that he had large hands, and there are an awful lot of notes in much of his music, with full t extures and what appear to be big stretches. Te stretches can often be negotiated by taking a note or two with the other hand or by judicious use of the pedal. Apart from skilful use of the pedal, Rachmaninov’s music demands of the pianist an immaculate control of often-dense textures, chord voicing and a sense of timing.

Lucy Parham Tere is probably no greater concerto opening (for the pianist) than the start of the Second Concerto. Rachmaninov is very clever because he gives you five pages to warm your fingers up whilst the orchestra is playing the most glorious melody. Te piano is barely audible under the might of the orchestra but as the soloist you have a chance to ‘settle in’. I adore the First Concerto too. It is sadly underplayed (in favour of Nos 2 and 3) but it is a masterpiece. I remember the first time I played the Second Concerto at the Royal Festival Hall, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: it was one of the most exciting moments in my career! Te Second became one of my most frequently played concertos. It will always have a special place in my heart. David Lean was quite savvy when he chose to use it in Brief Encounter , as it perfectly captures the mood of that film.

Erica Worth I have so enjoyed playing Rachmaninov. I learned quite a few of the Preludes. Te opus 23 no 4 in D major is a real tearjerker – and if you really get into the ‘zone’, it’s all-engulfing. It’s not that   hard either. Every time I play it, it reminds me of the beauty of Rachmaninov’s music – those heartbreaking harmonies, those searing melodic lines, the melancholy mixed with nobility. Practising Rachmaninov is great for voicing chords, getting your ear to understand those weaving inner melodies and trying to make a work ebb and flow yet be ‘whole’ – not to mention that you have to create a  wide palette of colours. My teacher at Manhattan School of Music, Constance Keene, was a fantastic Rachmaninov teacher. It obviously rubbed off on me! Sonata, which is prodigious in its demands even by Rachmaninov’s standards, the virtuosity is secondary to the musical argument: it is there simply to express what needs to be expressed. In that respect he has a lot in common with Chopin, a composer he revered.

Rachmaninov for today So what’s the key to all this: how do we get to the heart of a man so full of conflict? How can  we interpret this composer’s music in a cynical 21st century very different from his own world? Tere are no simple answers, but it is worth bearing in mind is the essential tautness of Rachmaninov’s compositional approach: there’s never any sense of profligacy in his music. But nor is his music indestructible, and the further  we get from the Romantic ethos and era, the less naturally we can tap into his mindset, either as players or as listeners. Tere is, for instance, something of a bad habit among modern pianists to equate profundity in Romantic music with a slowing down. Yet if you do that to the great winding melodies of the Second and Tird Concertos you end up with something frayed, unsupportable, broken up.  You lose the narrative and the sweep that makes those melodies so special. Not only that, but it’s not authentic. It’s striking, isn’t it, that in the case of Baroque or Classical music, we pay such close attention 72• Pianist 76

these days to fidelity to the composer, something that has fundamentally changed our notion of  what these composers are about. But similar efforts with music of the later 19th century are much thinner on the ground. Except that in the case of Rachmaninov there’s a vital clue that sheds wondrous light on the interpretation of his music: his own recordings. Listen to his way  with the concertos and the decades of excess and stuck-on emotion are swept away. Here is passion, sweep, line (what line!) and energy – tons of it. Tere’s also that magical sound, that singing line, something that surely started life not in the piano music but in the songs. Here, too, the nobility of Rachmaninov is revealed and that, perhaps above all, is what this composer is all about.  And it’s these qu alities that keep the composer’s music not only alive but a veritable bestseller in concert halls all over the world. A great melody is, so Rachmaninov proves, timeless, which is  why a work such as his Second Piano Concerto became so effectively immortalised in films as varied as Brief Encounter , Te Seven-Year Itch and, in more recent times, Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter .  And it’s equally a pparent that Rachmaninov has had the last laugh: those miraculous melodies and that gut-wrenching melancholy outliving the hard-nosed experimentalism of the 1950s and 60s, and demonstrating once and for all that we are as in need of the emotionalism of his music today as ever we were. n

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The voice of Vienna Pianist  Editor Erica Worth goes to the

Austrian capital to meet Team Bösendorfer as they celebrate 185 years of piano making and unveil their 50,000th piano – the stunning Opus 50,000

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am always happy to visit Vienna. Te Austrian capital is an inviting, alluring city that calls out to those in search of culture and all things connected with the senses. Just look at what it’s produced: Mozart, Klimt, Sachertorte, Wienerschnitzel, Stefan Zweig, the Strausses, Freud, the New Year’s Day Concert… I could go on. So to Vienna I returned once more, in October last year, as part of a small group of journalists and technicians taking part in the day-long 185th anniversary celebrations of another of the city’s great assets – Bösendorfer. It was a busy day: a press conference in the morning at the Musikverein, followed by a trip to the factory in Wiener Neustadt and then a gala anniversary concert in the Musikverein’s Brahms-Saal, during which Bösendorfer’s new Opus 50,000 piano was to be played. Bösendorfer styles itself as the oldest premium piano manufacturer in the world, and the Austrian piano manufacturer has long taken pride in a small production output that focuses on perfection. If you consider that Bösendorfer was founded in 1828 and only built its 50,000th piano (the Opus 50,000) last year in 2013, that’s a small number of pianos being produced. In 2008 Bösendorfer  was purchased by Yamaha and some were concerned that the tradition might fall by the  wayside. At th e press conference, Bösendorfer Managing Director Brian Kemble reassured us about the relationship between the two great piano makers: ‘My perspective is that it’s great to share information. Yamaha is very useful for their experience. But the Bösendorfer just doesn’t sound different from the Yamaha – the construction is different too. When I had  visitors a couple of years ago, they said that  Yamaha doesn’t seem to have done anythi ng. I said that Yamaha has done exactly what they said they’d do: not change things!’  Also speaking on behalf of Bösendorfer that morning was concert pianist Valentina Lisitsa,  who chose the instrument as her piano of choice at her last Royal Albert Hall appearance. 74• Pianist 76

She spoke of the unique sound – ‘Der Klang, der berührt’ (‘Te sound that touches you’), to use the Bösendorfer slogan. ‘Bösendorfer has the unique, different sound,’ Lisitsa said. ‘Not only a special voice (it talks, it sings), but it carries a special tradition – a historical heritage. For me to be a torchbearer for this tradition makes me very proud. Bösendorfer is a part of whom I am. Te day before yesterday I played the 280 on stage in New  York City. It was important t hat Bösendorfer  was with me on s tage.’

‘The Opus 50,000 took a very long time to make and also to think about’ -Bösendorfer MD Brian Kemble

 Another pianist keen to praise Bösendorfer  was Paul Badura-Skoda. Te Aus trian pianist is now well into his eighties, but agile enough to play Schubert’s ‘Rosamunde Variations’ Impromptu in the evening concert. ‘It is not the loudest piano on the earth but it has the most beautiful singing tone when I play Schubert,’ Badura-Skoda enthused. ‘Tey have not tried to make the sound louder or more sensational. Tere is still that good Austrian Bösendorfer sound – the historical sound of Schubert and Beethoven. What has changed is that it is more playable and more responsive to the fingers, so that it’s more pleasurable to play.’ Tat’s an interesting observation, given that Bösendorfer has recently modified the geometry of its Renner-made actions to improve the responsiveness of touch. ‘What makes this piano different is that it does not  try to make the piano loud!’

Top row, left to right: Bösendorfer MD Brian Kemble receives a gift from Frank Lee of Tom Lee Music, Hong Kong; Valentina Lisitsa after her performance; Paul Badura-Skoda accepts the applause

Badura-Skoda continued. ‘e sound might not develop so quickly. It comes a little slower in milliseconds, but it lasts generally a little longer, particularly in the higher register.  Another feature is the equal quality of sound production from the lowest to the highest.’

Gold standard  After hearing the Bösendorfer team talk about the instrument, it was time to finally see and hear the Opus 50,000 for ourselves. Even though it had been two years in the development stage, this piano was literally fresh out of the factory. ‘It was only finished four to five days ago,’ Kemble revealed. ‘e Opus 50,000 took a very long time to make and also to think about.’ e semi-concert grand 225 model is a handsome-looking instrument inspired by two neo-classical pianos built for the 1867 World’s Fair in Paris by, respectively, Danish architect eophil Hansen and designer Anton Grosser. Celebrating these two instruments and the special anniversary, the piano features extensive amounts of gold – the cabinet has gold leaf mouldings, while the frame is completely covered in gleaming gold leaf that was appl ied by hand. en there are handcrafted 24-carat gold-plated female figures – caryatides – on the front. Four veneers are used on the c abinet: burr French walnut, French walnut, pear wood and maple. e colour is a rich golden brown.  Jazz pianist Marialy Pacheco improvised on the Opus 50,000 for us – it sounded good and I  was looking forward to hearing it again at that evening’s gala concert.  At the factory, we were t aken on a  whirlwind tour through one room to another, from the first stages of sourcing the wood to the final regulation and tuning [For more about the factory, see Gez Kahan’s article in issue 58]. I observed two young French pianists weigh up three Model 225s to find the perfect one for the Yamaha Artist Services Centre in Paris. e chosen piano will be used in concerts and festivals throughout France. I’ve been around this impressive factory before, but I hadn’t seen the selection centre,  which opened in 2010. Here, in a huge room, it was hard not to be overwhelmed by the

number of pianos laid out to try. I couldn’t resist running my fingers over the keys either, especially when I came across three Imperials in a row. e middle one was my favourite (just in case anyone at Bösendorfer is taking notes at this point). Returning to the city centre after the factory visit, we were reminded that Bösendorfer still has a presence in the city,  with the Stadt Salon shop in the Musikverein, the Bösendorfer Saal in Mozarthaus (a small concert hall), and a service and short-term hire facility that boasts a rental fleet of more than 20 instruments.  After a brief repose for coffee and cake, we made our way to the evening concert, where Lisitsa, Badura-Skoda, Pacheco and others artists (including a ballet ensemble) performed Schubert, Liszt, Chopin and more. e concert ended with the Janoska Ensemble playing an electrifying version of Monti’s Czardas . e first half was performed on the flagship concert grand Model 280; the second half on the Opus 50,000. It was all very celebratory,  with Kemble addressing the audience in what sounded like impeccable German. My contacts at Bösendorfer told me that after the gala, the Opus 50,000 would tour the world, probably making its way to the Frankfurt Musikmesse in March. Oh, and it’s for sale, at an impressive, but understandable, price tag of 550,000 Euros (it is one of a kind, mind). ose looking for a more modest model can find Bösendorfers around the world, including seven selected showrooms in the UK. At Yamaha Music London, for example, there are currently two uprights (the 120 and 130) and three grands (155, 170, 185) on the showroom floor. ere are also the two new upright and grand ‘silent’ models, made specifically for Europe. Vienna has always held a special place in its heart for Bösendorfer, along with Klimt, Mozart and Sachertorte, and even with a change of ownership, the future looks bright for this legendary Austrian maker. ■

Pianos in progress: scenes from the Bösendorfer factory in Wiener Neustadt

To find out more about Bösendorfer, and to find a stockist, go to www.boesendorfer.com, or see listing of UK dealers on page 5 of this issue. 75• Pianist 76

MAKERS

Second-hand secrets 

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Whether you go to a piano shop or an auction house, buying a second-hand piano might be right for you, says Gez Kahan, who offers an overview of what to expect

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f wishes were horses, as the saying goes, then beggars would ride, and if they were new grand pianos, Pianist   readers would be riding on cloud nine. But we all have to cut our cloth, especially these days. So let’s start by cutting out the word ‘new’. at could be the key to making your wish come true.  With what’s been happening to the economy over the past few years, no one should be surprised to learn that the market for second-hand pianos is buoyant. But that’s not just because money is tight. ere’s also been a cultural change. Conspicuous consumerism, even among the  well-off, tends to be frowned upon and make-doand-mend suits both the current climate and the green agenda. e result is that people who might not previously have considered buying a used instrument are now open to the idea. Of course there’s always been a brisk trade in used instruments for beginners. Many parents, nervous about splashing out too much until they can be sure their kids will take to the piano, want to minimise their risk. at’s understandable, though they should be careful to ensure that the piano they get is fit for the job, which many old pianos aren’t (see boxout below). Buying a duff piano is, in fact, probably the easiest way to put your child off. But the second-hand piano market is about much more than beginner pianos. For those looking to buy cheap with at least some chance to check it’s not a pig in a poke, there are auctions (see boxout, page 78), though that won’t suit those who want the security of a warranty and after-sales care. But most customers for secondhand pianos will go to their local retailer – and  what they’re looking for is not so much a cheap piano as value-for-money.

Images, opposite page: Steinway restoration at Piano Workshop (middle top, bottom left), a Blüthner being restored at Handel Pianos (remaining images); above: old and new p ianos in Handel Pianos’ showroom

‘You can buy a new piano for £2,000,’ says Derek Love of Piano Workshop in Reigate, ‘but a much better one second-hand for the same money.’ He generally has around 80 pianos in stock, of which half will be new and the rest used. Don’t imagine that means a pile of dusty old uprights competing for attention with shiny new models. ‘ey range from pianos made in the 1900s to instruments that are only a coupl e of years old. We do all the necessary restoration, which for some may mean a lot of work including restringing,  whereas for others all that’s required is tuning and the regular maintenance that goes along with it.’ Love concentrates on well-known brands with a good reputation. ‘Yamaha, Grotrian Steinweg, Kawai, Bechstein, Steinway… those are the types

of brand we generally take in for second-hand sales. We encourage customers to try both new and used pianos to find the piano that really  works for them. And we offer the security of a five-year guarantee with our second-hand instruments.’ at’s a common theme among piano shops selling used instruments. Handel Pianos, of Sunningdale, near Ascot, generally offers a  warranty of between three and 10 years. ‘We specialise in second-hand,’ says Handel’s Chris Lovell. It’s the big brands he flags up first: Bechstein, Blüthner, Steinway, Bösendorfer and the like, with prices at the high end running into tens of thousands of pounds. ese instruments have often had a lot of work done to bring them ▲ up to scratch. ‘We can do the restoration work

WHEN A BARGAIN ISN’T A BARGAIN Caution: Here be dragons Remember the days when pubs were chucking out pianos to make way for electronic organs or piped music? A fair few families were doing the same back then, as that piano candelabra was unlikely to complement a G-plan suite and wall-to-wall carpeting. Everyone knew of a friend of a friend who’d picked up a fine German upright for a song, given it a quick tuning and dusting, and it was good as new. Maybe such things did occasionally happen, but not half as often as urban mythology would have us believe. The reality was more prosaic. You might pick up an old upright at a knock-down price, but the chances of it being playable were miniscule. The felts would be solid, the strings rusty, the pitch well below concert tuning and the action stiff. The cost of getting instruments like that up to any semblance of respectability would dwarf the purchase price. The

piano trade (with right as well as self-interest on their side) hated them, and warned against the resuscitation of pianos that were no use for trained pianists and, worse still, risked putting off learners. The spectre of the useless used piano still exists. You can bid for a piano online, for instance, and pay a small fortune to ship it, sight unseen, from the other side of the country only to find you’ve bought some expensive rubbish. Odds are very good that any real bargains have already been snapped up by dealers, and most of what is left is the dross they wouldn’t buy. In fact, though your local shop may take an old piano in part exchange for a new one, as often as not it will go straight on the scrap heap. Only buy second-hand instruments that have been approved by a qualified technician and, preferably, come with a guarantee.

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   )   p   o    h   s    k   r   o    W   o   n   a    i    P    (   t   t   o   r   r   a    P    R   m    l   o   c    l   a    M    ©   ;   s   o   n   a    i    P   n   o   t    l    i   m   a    H    h   t    i   w   n   o    i   t   a    i   c   o   s   s   a   n    i    d   t    L   s   o   n   a    i    P    l   e    d   n   a    H    ©

MAKERS

in our own workshop, and we’ll even replace the soundboard if necessary. We’re fortunate in where  we are, because there are a lot of big houses in the area that can accommodate a grand.’ Lovell reckons to have around 25 grands on show, but he sells uprights too. ‘We do a lot of the English-made Knights, Welmars and Bentleys – they may have 1970s-style cases, but they’re a better piano than many modern Chinese-built instruments. And then there are the Yamaha U1s and U3s too.’ Restoration drama

GOING, GOING… GONE

Feeling adventurous? Then perhaps a piano auction is for you The long-established UK specialist, Piano Auctions Limited, holds four sales per year at Conway Hall in London. Its largest catalogue ran to well over 100 items, over half of which were grands of various makes, ages and sizes. The rest included uprights, square pianos, curios and oddities, and piano stools. Notably there were nearly 40 Steinways. The guiding principle at auctions is ‘caveat emptor’. ‘We don’t work on the instruments before the sale,’ says the valuer, Richard Reason, ‘so some are suitable only for dealers, often abroad. Some of our pianos might be no more than a couple of years old and in showroom condition. Then there will be turn-of-the-(20th)-century Steinways, a lot of which might need work. ‘You don’t get a tuning, a guarantee or delivery, but unlike a lot of auction houses we do offer advice and jolly honest advice too. We listen to what the customer wants and advise accordingly. And sometimes that advice, to someone who wants more security, is to buy from a shop. ‘Our attendance is around 50:50 dealers to private buyers,’ he adds. ‘We like the mix of both. Some private buyers bring a restorer with them – we have technician advisers there but you can take experts or teachers along.’ Manchester has a specialist auction house too. Britannia Piano Auctions was set up just over a year ago by Peter Wilson, a jazz musician who had long been buying and selling pianos on the side. ‘I’d been going to auctions for years personally and I saw a market for pianos, putting 35-60 instruments in one place with viewing days before the auction itself. If you want to buy privately you can spend a small fortune travelling round to try out potential purchases. An auction means you only have to make one journey.’ Britannia holds four auctions per year, and sees an average attendance of about 50 people, fairly evenly split between private buyers, education and the piano trade. ‘Each sale will have a range of grands and uprights, and a mix of modern, older, reconditioned and completely original instruments – and even sometimes square pianos or similar.’ The September 2013 auction even featured an instrument all the way from Las Vegas. Liberace’s Pompadour Piano, which had been owned by a piano collector, went to a private buyer. As is usual at auctions, items are sold ‘as seen’ but Britannia does have technicians on hand on the viewing days, and buyers are welcome to bring their own advisers. And here’s a first-hand account: Tristan Jakob-Hoff, who bid for (and won) a 1968 Steinway Model B at Conway Hall this December, said: ‘It took me nine months to find a piano I wanted to bid on, but the wait was definitely worth it. I’ve ended up with a first-class instrument in beautiful condition, and it only cost me a fraction of what a new one would have.’

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Up in Manchester, Forsyth Brothers also tends to have 20-25 grands in its second-hand department, plus around 40 uprights. Some of them come in as part exchange, but Forsyth also buys in stock. ‘Every one that comes in has a proper Forsyths “MOT” and we sort out whatever needs to be done,’ says Paul Cowperthwaite, who runs the department. ‘e selling prices, naturally, reflect the amount of restoration work involved – and before we do anything, we have to ask whether the piano is even worth rebuilding.’ Variety is the spice of the second-hand piano market and every instrument is presented on its own merits. At the time of writing, among the ‘pre-owned’ Steinways and Schimmels, the Forsyth website is showing a Berdux upright. ‘I’d never come across the make before,’ Cowperthwaite says, ‘but it’s a brilliant instrument, a wonderful restored antique piano.

Images, opposite page: Auction at Conway Hall, Yamaha’s certificate of authenticity, Millers of Cambridge showroom. This page: Steinway technicians at work

‘People who prefer older pianos are generally looking for more piano for their money,’ he adds. ‘Or perhaps they’re after something special, second-hand but restored as new.’ at, he says, is where a dealer’s knowledge and technical expertise (not forgetting the dealer’s warranty) come into their own – buying second hand in the private market ‘is a minefield’. Even the professionals have to be wary. Barry Robinson, the piano specialist at Millers of Cambridge, won’t take just any piano, especially as the company offers a five-year warranty and interest-free credit on second-hand sales. ‘We hunt for the right piano so we minimise the restoration work and therefore keep the price right,’ Robinson explains. ‘We get a lot of very good pianos from people downsizing, and many of our second-hand pianos are quite new – under ten years old. Our customers,  whether they’re buying for t heir kids to learn on, or trading up, need to know the piano will last.’ Robinson tells of a dealer who ordered a

container-load of cheap second-hand pianos (of a very reputable make) from abroad only to find that they were so cheap because they’d passed their play-by date, and reconditioning wasn’t economically viable. It’s not only the dealer who loses out in that case. ink of the potential damage to brand value. Safeguarding one’s reputation, even in the second-hand market, is one of the reasons that Steinway & Sons takes such care over its restored pianos. ‘Initially when taking a piano in part exchange or buying it second-hand we’ll assess how much work we have to do,’ explains David Widdicombe, Technical Services Manager at Steinway’s London showroom. ‘We’ll replace moving parts, including the action. We’ll decide  whether we keep the existing soundboard – if not, it goes back to Hamburg and is put back  just like a new piano, and will have a similar life expectancy as a new piano. ere’s often a business case for replacing rather than repairing. From buying in to being out on the showroom floor takes two to three months at a minimum – much more if it goes to Hamburg.’  At around 75–80 per cent of what the equivalent new model would cost, restored Steinways are not that cheap, and it’s generally the vintage styling and the finish, rather than the cost, that attracts. And Steinway makes the point that these are ‘restored’ as new, not ‘used’, and come with a five-year warranty.  Along similar lines, Yamaha has rece ntly inaugurated its own scheme. ‘We buy in our own second-hand pianos under the Approved Used  Yamaha scheme,’ says Charles Bozon, director of  Yamaha UK’s acoustic di vision. ‘ey are sourced in Japan, and then brought up to standard in a specialised workshop. We offer a five-year  warranty, and they’re sold via authorised dealers.’ e pianos themselves tend to be U1 and U3 uprights from the 1980s [the new U1 SH Silent just won ‘Best Acoustic Piano’ at the MIA Awards this past December; see this issue’s News], and lots of them come from private owners. ‘e reason behind the scheme is to try to stop dodgy pianos coming into the 79• Pianist 76

marketplace and harming our reputation, so we have to be selective about which ones to take into the scheme,’ Bozon says. ‘Prices are generally a little below half what a new one would go for – but of course the new versions of the U1 and U3 are better spec’d, and being brand new will require much less maintenance.’ Second-hand, then, doesn’t have to mean second-class. As long as you buy carefully –  which generally means buying from a dealer who offers a guarantee – you can feel confident that not only are you getting a good deal but also you’re getting a better instrument than you’d expected. And isn’t that what you’d wished for in the first place? ■

CONTACTS Britannia Piano Auctions www.britanniapianoauctions.com Forsyth Brothers (Manchester) www.forsyths.co.uk Handel Pianos (Sunningdale, near Ascot, Berks) www.handelpianos.co.uk Millers of Cambridge www.millersmusic.co.uk Piano Auctions Ltd www.pianoauctions.co.uk Piano Workshop (R eigate) www.pianoworkshop.co.uk Steinway & Sons www.steinway.co.uk www.steinway.com Yamaha www.uk.yamaha.com www.usa.yamaha.com

   )   s   n   a    i   c    i   n    h   c   e   t   y   a   w   n    i   e   t    S    (    i    d   n   u   m   s   a   r    T   y   n   o    T    ©   ;    )   s   n   o    i   t   c   u    A   o   n   a    i    P    (    f    f   o    H     b   o    k   a    J   n   a   t   s    i   r    T    ©

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P E R S O N A L S PA C E

 Noisesoff  

What to do when neighbours complain about hearing your piano? Don’t panic! Give sound engineering and insulation a try, says Inge Kjemtrup, who shares her own tale of acoustical challenges

 L 

ike many musicians, I have experienced ‘noise disturbance problems’, as my local council euphemistically calls it. I have caused  noise disturbance by  playing music and I’ve suffered  noise disturbance (most memorably through a downstairs neighbour’s love of her booming stereo). ere is always a temporary solution for the neighbourly sound wars – call the landlord, bang on the floor, placate the neighbour with a bottle of wine, promise to stop practising at 10pm, move away – but the core of the problem remains:

how can you take control of your home sound environment? My most recent skirmish in the sound  wars came when a hand-addressed envelope dropped through my letterbox, not long after I moved into a new flat. Was it a greeting from one of my new neighbours? Well, sort of. ‘Dear neighbour, welcome to the building!’ the note began. A good start. But then: ‘Sorry we haven’t had a chance to meet you yet, but we have noticed your music…’ Uh-oh. I had recently become a homeowner after years of renting, so I felt ready to

82• Pianist 76

Acoustiblok soundproofing material being installed

take things in hand. I went over to meet the neighbour, who was friendly, but puzzled by my need for regular practice: ‘Couldn’t you just hire a studio?’ e neighbour was right about one thing: a calm home sound environment is crucial to well being. ‘Has a pleasant sound environment’ may never appear on an estate agent’s list of amenities, yet  we surely all prefer living somewhere  with a low-level background noise that isn’t regularly disrupted by hammering, loud music or planes. Likewise, it’s nice to live where you can make noise to your heart’s content. You don’t want to feel self-conscious as you practise,  worrying that a neighbour hates your every sound. And let’s face it – pianos can generate some serious volume. One person with an in-depth understanding of the issue of sound transmittal and pianos is Dawn Elizabeth Howells, owner of Peregrine’s Pianos in London. Peregrine’s sells Schimmel, August Förster, Samick and other piano makes, but its valued-added service is its acoustical expertise. I discover that expertise for myself  when I visit Peregrine’s. e shop is located on a busy corner – cars, cabs, lorries and emergency vehicles whoosh by constantly. But when I walk in and close the heavy white steel door behind me, the outside noise vanishes. ‘I can’t help notice that we’re here on this very busy road and I’m not hearing very much of it at all,’ I tell Howells in amazement. ‘Well, you shouldn’t really hear anything , because we’ve got sound insulation on the windows, which is nine millimetre laminated glass on the outside, five inches air space with sound-absorbent lining, and then nine millimetre laminated glass inside,’ she replies. ‘It’s all

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sealed; it’s airtight. You get the light in, but you don’t get any sound at all.’ e front door, which Howells accurately likens to a refrigerator door in terms of how hard it is to open, also plays a role in ensuring quiet. e door has two magnetic strips, which lock at different places. ‘When the door is closed, you have an empty air space in between,’ she says. ‘It does mean that when you close the door, the two magnetic strips close and seal so that it’s very hard to open. But it is 40 decibels sound reduction just in this one door. e base of the door also has a lining, a rubber insulation strip that falls down  when the door is closed and locks at the bottom so that there is no sound coming underneath or around the edge of the door. is is not the thing you  would put in your own sitting room, but if you’ve got a home studio, this is a very good way forward.’ e door, installed by IAC Acoustics, costing around £2,000, is also not cheap. Howells ushers me into the showroom, which is crowded with pianos. In transforming a rundown café into a showroom and three studios, her goal was to make ‘the ultimate environment for musicians to work in.’ If you buy a piano at Peregrine’s, you can get advice about how to best adjust your home environment for the new piano. ‘We work with our customers to find solutions for all these different issues, and when specialist engineering is required, we can organise that as  well,’ says Howells. Types of noise

 All sounds are not created equal, and how your sound problem is sorted depends very much on what kind of sound it is. Anyone who has lived somewhere with another living space above will be familiar with ‘impact sound’, which is sound made by people (or pets) moving around and making their floor and your ceiling vibrate. ese boots are made for walking, sang Nancy Sinatra, but you’d be a lot happier if she and her boots didn’t decide to move in upstairs. Pianos can also create impact sound: the waves from the piano can impact the floor and make it vibrate, transmitting the sound

A SOUND SOLUTION?

SILENT PIANOS

In part because they offer a quick fix to sound issues, silent pianos have been becoming very popular. A silent piano is essentially an acoustic piano that can be converted, usually with the flip of a switch, into a digital instrument that can be played with headphones, making a sound audible only to the player (though anyone within earshot may notice the physical clattering of the keys). What this burgeoning new class of pianos aims to do is to give you the best of both worlds: the action and feel of an acoustic instrument with the on/off control and the silence of a digital instrument. Silent pianos can be purchased with the technology fully installed at the factory or added aftermarket. Yamaha’s Silent Piano system, profiled in Pianist  No 71, is one of the best-known systems, and is also used in the Kemble and Bösendorfer models, which are part of the Yamaha family of instruments. Bechstein has its Vario system while Schimmel has its TwinTone sound-muting feature. Two well-known aftermarket systems are PianoDisc’s QuietTime and Gabor. For some pianists, the silent piano is a compromise too far, but for an increasing number of pianists, the silent piano is the way forward.

In the next issue Gez Kahan will look at the growing market for silent pianos. to the rooms below. ‘Airborne sound’ is transmitted through the air and then passes through walls or floors. e quarrelling couple next door, a blaring television or your piano playing are all examples of airborne sound.  Working out what c an be done is the territory of specialists such as acoustical engineers and consultants. ey will help you determine what an improved sound environment might be like and how, and if, your sound-free ambitions can be realised.  As part of the acoustical work on my flat, I hired acoustic consultant Simone Longo. e tool kit he brought  with him included a sound meter and spectrum analyser. Longo visits a client’s home to analyse the sound, working out which kind of frequencies (high, medium, low) are emerging from the background noise. Longo explains, ‘Every environment has a background noise – a “noise floor” – and people tend to tune into specific noises that annoy them.’ Longo analyses and take samples of the sound environment,  with and without the offending noise, and then compares the two. After the site visit, he writes a report making a list of recommendations. Blocking the problem

Once you start trying to explore your sound issues, you may be forgiven for thinking there as many sound products and solutions as there are problems. Again, the type of problem

83• Pianist 76

The type of sound will determine the solution: airborne sound (left), impact sound (centre) or flanking sound (right)

 will determine the solution. Howells is careful to make a distinction between sound insulation, which is designed to stop sound transmittal, and sound engineering, which means modifying the space itself to avoid letting sound be transmitted out.  After analysing the sound source, transmittal pattern and frequencies, you (or your acoustical consultant or architect) can devise a detailed plan to block out, or at any rate ameliorate, the unwanted sound. In most cases, you  will need to add acoustical materials to your walls, ceilings or floor. You may also find you need to replace or insulate your windows or doors. e good news is that acoustical materials and techniques continue to develop. At one time, adding sound insulation to a room meant building out some 10 inches into the room, in effect building a room within a room. Today, thanks to dense but less thick materials such as Acoustiblok or the products from Sound Reduction Systems, that loss of space is often down to a few inches. In my own case, the  wall with the 3mm acoustical lining (by Acoustiblok) also has a built-in bookshelf in front of it, so I feel the loss of space less keenly. For floors, sound insulation can help diminish the impact sound that is being generated by your piano. Installation of a ‘floating floor’ starts with a heavy-duty rubber underlay, which is put down on ▲ top of the floorboards. A tongue-and-

P E R S O N A L S PA C E groove wooden floor is placed on top of that, but, importantly it is not screwed into the floor, but rather sits, or floats, on top of the rubber. A carpet can go on top of that. When I walk across a carpeted floating floor at Peregrine’s, I can feel the floor flex. Howell stresses that it’s important to choose a lightweight synthetic carpet, as a thick  wool carpet will absorb a lot of high frequencies from a piano. Peregrine’s also sells special caster cups that go underneath each leg and can make a difference with how a piano’s sound is transmitted downwards. ‘Most pianos have casters that are quite dense, and they can transmit a lot of sound through a very small area on your floorboard, which is the very  worst scenario,’ says Howells. ‘If you place a caster cup, you are immediately transporting vibrations from that piano over a large area of floor.’ Ceilings and walls are handled somewhat differently than floors. In both instances, the surface is torn down to the studs. e space between joists is filled with a heavy-duty material that’s like loft insulation, which is then lined by a rubber matting that is stapled or screwed into the bottom of the joists. Steel resilient bars are then fixed to the ceiling joists, and on those, acoustic plasterboard is screwed on. ‘Resilient bars mean that the structure of the floor can move but the plasterboard,  which hangs directly below, is not directly coupled to the floor joists, so if there’s any movement of the ceiling, those sound waves are not transmitted into the floor joists,’ says Howells. e acoustic plasterboard is followed by a high-density plasterboard and plastered. One key thing to remember, Howells says: ‘When you sound-insulate a ceiling, you can’t run cables through it or you’ll be spoiling your sound insulation. e only thing that has to go on the ceiling is the fire system.’ One thing that holds people back from adding sound insulation (and from insulating their homes at all) is the fear that the air circulation will be poor once the insulation is installed. ‘As soon as you seal a room, you do need a ventilation system,’ says Howells. ‘Bringing fresh air in means you need a conducting fan, and normally that means bringing air in through filters, otherwise you’re just going to bring dust and dirt in from the outside. If you’re bringing air in from outside, you bring it in through a silencer.’ Such a ventilation system, like the one at Peregrine’s, will require adjustment so that cold air doesn’t come in to upset your piano’s tuning. ‘We have a thermostat and a heating element within our system, so that when the air outside gets very cold, the air we’re bringing in is of the same temperature as the rest

Peregrine’s Pianos in central London might look quaint, but that heavy white door blocks the sound of a busy road

of the environment so we don’t suffer dreadful convection currents.’ In a city centre or other less-then Alpine-fresh environments, there are other advantages to having a ventilation system in your environment. ‘If you put your grand piano in a normal room and you open the window, you bring in all this dust, which you don’t really want on your soundboard,’ says Howells. ‘is ventilation system gives you the chance to clean out all the dust and dirt before the air comes into your property, so that you don’t have to dust the pianos as much and the whole property is much cleaner.’

situations. e firm makes acoustical materials of various types that are appropriate for different situations. Don’t forget that the point of all this fuss and bother is to make sure you can play your piano in a positive sound environment. ‘We all need a fresh, clean, clear sort of sound when we’re  working,’ Howells says. ‘ We don’t want to stifle the sound of the piano. My technicians can come into your home and adjust the regulation and obviously soften the hammer felts so that we can reduce the amount of sound that’s actually coming out of your piano, but  we’d rather not do that.’  As for my own sound issues, two years later, after several consultations and much construction, the issues have largely been sorted. Along the way, I have discovered that there are both miracles and limitations in what can be done to improve the sound. I have also learned that you can never make background sound disappear entirely, unless you move to a remote mountain peak. Even then, the sound of airplanes and of nature’s cacophony  would likely intrude. People who have been to the anechoic (non-echoing) chamber at the IRCAM Centre in Paris tell me the experience is disturbing: there’s no noise, so you can only hear your heartbeat and the sound of blood coursing through your veins. So I am resigned to living with some noise, but I savour being able to practise knowing that I’m preserving my neighbour’s peace of mind, and my own. ■

Making peace with noise

Even after sound insulation is in place, you may still need some sound engineering to perfect the environment. For instance, to cut out low f requencies, Howells has had low-frequency sound absorbers installed, galvanised boxes with a rock wall lining and small holes in the front. ‘e sound waves go into those little holes and they bounce backwards and forward within the box which is about four inches deep,’ she says.  Another problem that can be addressed by sound engineering is standing waves. Howells explains, ‘When you’ve got parallel walls in a room, if you’ve got a low frequency with the same  wavelength as the distance between the  walls, you set up standing waves – high and low pressure points, which can drive you absolutely mad every time you play a certain note.’ Sound deflectors, which are curved surfaces added to a straight  wall, can help by sending the sound  waves off in different directions rather than going back and forward. If this also sounds rather daunting, I suggest looking at Sound Reduction Systems’ website (see box, right) for further ideas of what you might expect in terms of sound insulation and engineering for a variety of common 84• Pianist 76

SOUND CONTACTS Acoustiblok www.acoustiblok.co.uk www.acoustiblok.com IAC Acoustics www.iac-acoustics.com Institute of Acoustics (UK) www.ioa.org.uk Simone Longo, acoustic consultant www.nmsacoustics.com National Council of Acoustical Consultants (North America) www.ncac.com Peregrine’s Pianos, London www.peregrines-pianos.com Sound Reduction Systems www.soundreduction.co.uk

R E V I E W  S H E E T

MUSIC

An illuminating Mussorgsky Pictures, approachable Rachmaninov, eccentric Satie and duets are among the treasures in this issue’s round-up from Michael McMillan MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition Bärenreiter ISMN: 979-0-00654190-4

RACHMANINOV

DUETS

CHOPIN 24 Etudes; 19 Nocturnes Alfred ISBN-10: 0-73909861-6 (Etudes); -9859-4 (Nocturnes)

The Boosey & Hawkes Solo Piano Collection: Rachmaninoff  Boosey & Hawkes ISMN: 979-0-06012390-0

Evolving Blues Adrian Connell Edition Dohr ISMN: 979-0-20209802-8 Home and Dry  Brian Chapple Chester Music ISBN: 978-178305-155-7

Tis is Bärenreiter’s attractive new If you want to play Rachmaninov Tese new, inexpensive editions of edition of this treasured Russian but you find his music too difficult, Chopin’s Etudes and Nocturnes If you don’t read the preface before masterpiece. For those not familiar you have three options: 1) Go ahead  were put together by the late Willard you start playing Evolving Blues ,  with Pictures at an Exhibition, and play his music anyway, badly, Palmer. Both collections contain you will reach the end of the third Mussorgsky subtitled the work ‘A 2) Keep improving until you’re  just a one-page introduction to the page and wonder where on earth the Remembrance of Viktor Hartmann’, ready to tackle his music or 3) Play pieces, a one-page index and then rest of the music is. Having made as it consists of ten pieces inspired easier arrangements of his music. the music itself. A CD containing this error myself, let me reveal that by his friend’s drawings, all cleverly Readers who plump for option 3 performances made for Naxos by Idil the composer’s intention is for the linked together by short transitions  will be interested to learn about this Biret is included with the book. As performers to add their own variants. that depict the composer’s promenade new collection of 29 intermediate- much as there is to admire about the Beginning with eight staccato Gs, around the exhibition. Tere are level (Grade 5-7) arrangements of effort that has gone into producing the music gradually increases in minute differences to other modern Rachmaninov’s music. Favourite these good quality, budget-priced complexity by mutating its rhythms editions that you probably would not themes have been drawn from the products, you might prefer to spend and thickening its textures. wo notice unless you were specifically composer’s diverse choral, operatic, a little more to play from editions in pages later, the process ends, and it’s looking for them, but all ambiguities vocal, concerto, piano solo, duet and  which the types etting of the music is over to you. Te idea of the title is and editorial decisions are listed in the symphonic output, and arearranged more pleasing to the eye (e.g. Wiener perhaps more interesting in concept critical commentary at the back of the in this volume through the excellent Urtext), editions that preserve than in its realisation. volume. Eight pages of introductory handiwork of Hywel Davies, Chopin’s fingering and contain a Brian Chapple’s Home and Dry  is a text illuminate the history and Nicholas Hare, Christopher Norton critical commentary (e.g. National collection of ten one-page duets well performance practice of the music, and Alfred Richter. You may not Edition), editions that include the  written for beginners around Grade  while six of Hartmann’s drawings recognise all the themes, and some posthumous Nocturne in C sharp 1, with both parts equal in difficulty. are printed to illustrate Mussorgsky’s arrangements don’t work as well as minor (e.g. Henle) and editions that Tere is some charm and titles such inspiration. No fingering or pedalling others, but don’t hesitate to try it if also feature the 3 nouvelles études as Fiesta Siesta   and Dark Alleyways  are included. you picked the third option above. (e.g. Peters). reflect the music’s character. GERSHWIN

SATIE Satie Schumann U rrtteexx t

AAllvaegnro t- dher-m n ièolrles P en s ée s Opus8 Allegro in b minor op.8

G.HenleVerlag

IS

979- -2 1 -11 91-

1181 480 rinted

in

ermany

H 111

Gnossiennes;  Avant-dernières Pensées Bärenreiter ISMN: 979-0-00652933-9 (Gnossiennes) Henle ISMN: 979-0-20181181-9 (Pensées)

16.05.2012 10:49:55

If you come across a performance instruction like ‘arm yourself with clairvoyance’, you’re probably reading a Satie score. Such phrases are scattered around his Gnossiennes . Bärenreiter’s edition here has seven Gnossiennes, but some editions carry just the first three (since Satie didn’t name the fourth to sixth), some six, and a few (e.g. Peters, Salabert) now print the seventh, retrospectively designated a Gnossienne  by Satie. Tere are no fingering or pedal markings, but there’s a useful glossary of the French terms. Te  Avant-dernières Pensées   (‘Nextto-last thoughts’) are slightly easier (Grade 3-4) than the Gnossiennes . Originally called ‘Strange noises’, the three short pieces are dedicated to Debussy, Dukas and Roussel. ypically abstract, they appear in Henle’s edition here with fingering and a translation of the absurd prose.

THE EASY GROOVE PIANO BOOK

Three Preludes – 1 piano, 4 hands Arranged by Eugénie Rocherolle Hal Leonard ISBN: 978-1-47688941-2

Eugénie Rocherolle is an American composer who has written many collections of easy to intermediate piano works. Tis volume is the latest addition to the Eugénie Rocherolle series from Hal Leonard that already includes several collections of both original solos and arrangements of well-known music. For this new volume, Rocherolle has taken Gershwin’s three preludes for solo piano, thinned out their textures, transposed the second and third preludes into more manageable keys, and cleverly divided the music between two pianists at one piano. Parts are equal in difficulty (about Grade 4-5) and both contain plenty of melodic and rhythmic interest that will motivate learners around this level. In sum, this is enjoyable material for those preparing for piano festivals, concerts and recitals.

Philipp Moehrke Advance Music ISMN: 979-0-20630043-1

A PERFECT 10 10 winning solos in 10 styles Melody Bober Alfred ISBN: 978-0-73909840-0 (Bk 1); -9841-7 (Bk 2); -9842-4 (Bk 3)

Tere are rich pickings here for those Each of these three volumes contains looking to learn and play grooves in six pieces by Melody Bober, a popular disco, funk, house, Latin, pop/rock  American composer of educational and soul styles. Philipp Moehrke music, and four other pieces by has written a number of short (two composers from the past such as to eight-bar-long) grooves in each Burgmüller, Bartók, Gurlitt, ürk of these styles, and presents them and Lully. Te first book is essentially in different versions of increasing  written in five-finger positions, the complexity, from easy to advanced second book is almost Grade 1 and levels. Each one can be heard on the the third is around Grade 2. Many accompanying DVD, but to get the of the pieces in the first two books full benefit of the DVD, you do need come with a duet accompaniment to to know how to loop an MP3 track be played by the teacher, and all the using additional software. At the music is highly patterned, making end of the volume, there are about them easy to learn. Te music in ten longer play-along songs. At just these books is most likely to appeal under £30, this book is expensive, to those beginners who are still at but it constitutes a useful learning an age where they’re happy to click tool for readers looking to discover their fingers in the middle of a piece. and play short groove patterns, and Te Perfect 10   series can be used for teachers looking for alternative as supplementary material to any modern material to try in their standard piano method (there are two lessons. Groovy! additional volumes as well).

85 76 85•• Pianist Pianist  #13

REVIEW

CD

Marius Dawn surveys the recent releases, giving top marks to Xiayin Wang’s American concertos and Alessio Bax’s powerhouse Rachmaninov Pianist  star

★★★★★

ratings

★★★ A fine release

Essential – go get it! ★★★★ Really great ★★ Average ★ For specialists only

Editor’s

ALESSIO BAX Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies. A selection of preludes, melodies and more Signum Records SIGCD264

CHOICE XIAYIN WANG

★★★★★

Gershwin: Concerto in F; concertos by Barber & Copland Royal Scottish NO/Peter Oundjain Chandos CHSA 5128

 American Piano Concertos.

 America is not a country associated with great Romantic piano concertos in the European tradition. No swashbuckling tunes à la Rachmaninov and no full-on virtuosity in the style of Liszt. Few will know the Liszt pupil Edward MacDowell’s sugary-sweet Piano Concerto No 2 (1890), probably the only  American concerto in the line of Tchaikovsky. One has to arrive at 1925 before one comes across American piano concertos of any lasting value. However, the three American concertos on this splendidly recorded and masterly performed new release from Xiayin Wang are undoubtedly masterworks of the highest calibre. Gershwin’s only fully-laid out piano concerto boasts several recordings, but this one, not only because of the razor-sharp orchestral playing, is among the very finest. I was impressed by the rhythmic drive in the knotty Copland, the least approachable of the three. Barber did not compose a piano concerto until 1962 (string players had a glorious violin concerto and later a cello concerto) and it’s a shame that this work is rarely performed in the concert hall these days. Hence this new digital recording is a real treat. e concerto is full of harmonic subtleties and brimming with tenderness, though not at all easy to play  well. Wang performs the soulful second movement Canzone with real beauty – reason enough for making this disc a clear first choice. NICK VAN BLOSS

STEPHEN HOUGH

Chopin: Sonata No 3 in B minor; 24 Préludes op 28 Nimbus Alliance NI 6215

★★★★

★★★★★

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 2; plus solo piano works Sinfonia Varsovia/ Alexander Vedernikov Mirare MIR 200 ★★★★

Here is Rachmaninov playing on the Mercedes level. Highly polished, secure, and ultra fast when needed.  Just listen to the devilish chord progression of the Prelude op 23 no 2, where Bax accelerates into the last pages and you can feel the pressure in your back. ankfully, he can also drive with all the delicacy we associate  with the Rachmaninov melodic filigree in the slower preludes. e Kreisler arrangements give Bax the chance to charm, and early rarities like the early E major Melodie are played with sovereign elegance. If some listeners might feel out of breath trying to keep up with some of the faster passages, rest assured that Bax never runs out of steam.

Tchaikovsky’s Second Concerto isn’t scored as elegantly as the First, and it needs a leaner more transparent approach than found here. So three stars only for the Sinfonia Varsovia and its heavy-handed conductor, but a full five stars for the pianist. Nothing can scare Berezovsky, who plays the robust first movement with force and security. His dialogue with the violin and cello in the intimate second movement is bliss, and he has all the necessary fireworks in last movement. A true triumph. e rest of the CD includes a bewildering selection of Tchaikovsky piano pieces that we should view as a series of encores after a fantastic evening in the company of a master pianist.

LANG LANG

MIKHAIL PLETNEV

Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos 1 &2 Mozarteumorchester Salzburg/Mark Wigglesworth Hyperion CDA67961 ★★★★

BORIS BEREZOVSKY

Pletnev in Person.

Prokofiev: Concerto No 3; Bartók: Concerto No 2 Berlin Philharmonic/ Simon Rattle Sony Classical 88883732262 ★★★★

Works by Beethoven, Bach/ Busoni, Chopin/ Liszt,Tc haikovsky, Schubert Onyx ONYX 4110 ★★

e recordings on this disc were not Nick van Bloss has much competition Early in his career, Stephen Hough Bartók’s Second needs a meaner and meant for release. As Pletnev says in in the repertoire he’s chosen for this made a recording of the Second more ruthless pianist than Lang Lang the booklet, he played the music once disc – I stopped counting when I Brahms Concerto that was received – not that he has the slightest problem to get a feeling for the piano. So these passed 100 versions of these Chopin enthusiastically. at version had playing the horrendously difficult are chips from the workbench. It is  works. However, he need not fear all the qualities we associate with piano part. On the contrary! But it a bouquet of Beethoven, Bach and being designated to bottom rank, Hough from pearly  pianissimos  to is a toothless Bartók where it should Chopin garnished by Tchaikovsky and as his fingers don’t let him down in big round  fortissimos . In this latest have teeth, and all wrapped up in the Schubert. Was it a good idea to release the faster préludes and in the ird CD, many of the same qualities are luxurious orchestral accompaniment. this? From a musical perspective, no, Sonata’s hectic last movement. Van present, especially in the dancing e Prokofiev ird fares better, and because of the tempo fluctuations and Bloss can produce a beautiful singing last movement rondo of the No 2, is executed with wit and rhythmic the improvisatory approach. However, tone in the introvert préludes and in  while No 1 is Brahms the young man drive. Lang Lang provides a full, for the chance to hear a pianist showing the deeply original slow movement trying to conquer the world. Sadly, sonorous piano tone while Rattle us what a piano can do with tone, of the Sonata. All in all this is a Hough is let down by an orchestra and the Berliners chase him like a colour and sound, it is fascinating. Chopin release that he can be proud simply lacking in gravitas. Surely our  jaguar after its prey. An impressive  Just promise you will never play any of. Yet in all honesty, it is diffi cult pianist wanted to offer up a slimmer recording, but one that makes the of the pieces like Pletnev, or you will to say that this recording is one that and fitter Brahms and his tempos, Prokofiev sound kinder than it should get scolded by your teacher – not for  will wipe out the memory of so many far from being extreme, point in be. e skilful packaging provides a making the gorgeous piano colours, other recordings made by pianists that direction. Nevertheless, Hough’s bonus DVD showing us exactly what but for pulling the composers around  who have Chopin in th eir blood. unmistakable talent shines through. like circus animals. a charming fellow Lang Lang is. 86• Pianist 76

RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC

SIMON TRPCESKI

MITSUKO UCHIDA

 ˇ 

At Schloss vor Husum 2012: Works by Fauré, Hahn, Szymanowski Glière, and more – from various pianists Danacord DACOCD 729 ★★★★★

For over 25 years this North German festival has presented lesser-known piano music. is annual snapshot disc from the festival contains piano playing of the highest calibre and features rarely heard pieces by Liszt and Fauré, arrangements by Liszt and Granados, and piano gems from Joseph Marx, Adolf Gutmann and Chabrier. Previous releases have included heavyweights such as Hamelin and Milne, but this time the standouts are the less-famous Joseph Moog, an up-and-coming young pianist of tremendous charisma, and the outstanding Soa Gülbadamova,  who is given the longest playing time. For lovers of the piano byways, this long-time series is worth seeking out.

Recital of Schubert, Bach and Liszt, Wigmore Hall, 18 March 2012 Wigmore Hall Live WHLIVE0058

ASHLEY WASS

Waldszenen op 82; Piano Sonata No 2 op 22; Gesänge der Frühe op 133 Decca 478 5393

Bach to the Future. Works by Beethoven, Berg, Barber, Busoni, Bach/Busoni, Bach/ Kurtág Orchid Classics ORC100033

★★★★★

★★★

★★★★

ose who left the Sunday papers behind on 18 March 2012 to venture out to London’s Wigmore Hall for Simon Trpčeski’s recital were in for a treat. Luckily a microphone made it possible of us to share that moment of elegant pianism centred on Schubert and Liszt. e often-bombastic ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy is kept in a firm leash, while the preceding 16 German Dances are kept light-footed and simple. Trpčeski lets his hair down in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 followed by two fine encores, not least the Schubert/Liszt ‘Ständchen’. If some can dig more emotion out of the reflective Liszt Petrarca Sonet, it certainly doesn’t take away a memory from this extraordinary live concert.

Few pianists can fully capture the is inventive recital has Bach as the many sides of Schumann’s music. e thread weaving through pieces such as abrupt melodic lines and repetitive Busoni’s arrangement of the Chorale patterns so often found in his piano Prelude ‘Ich ruf’ and the fugue of the music leave many pianists in a state Barber Sonata. Wass sees Bach not as of limbo, finding it hard to get things the dry Baroque harpsichordist but flowing. Uchida provides a classic as a fully romantic hero, and in the example here in the Second Sonata, Kurtág arrangements, where he is at rushing through each movement his most convincing, he shows us how and allowing little time for contrasts Bach can even sound contemporary. in colour, phrasing and tempos. e Not a man to play on sentimentality, late Gesänge der Frühe   is Schumann  Wass keeps to a strict, rhythmic at his most intimate and with her Bach in the long Busoni Fantasia. ‘pulling around’ style, Uchida does His rhythmic steadiness comes to not allow the music to speak for itself. greatest advantage in one of the very Uchida has played charming Mozart, best versions of the four-movement monumental Beethoven and some of Barber Sonata I have heard. For that the best Debussy playing, but with alone (listen to the last movement 7/8 Schumann she has found a challenge. fugue), he receives four very big stars.

Keyboard Skills for Reluctant Pianists Sue Anderson

Chetham’s International Summer School & Festival for Pianists

A crash course in increasing practical confidence at the piano.

Artistic Director: Murray McLachlan

Music Teacher: July 2007

Part One: 14–20 August 2014 Part Two: 20–26 August 2014

Content includes

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• basic harmony at the keyboard

Boris Bermann, José Feghali, Margaret Fingerhut, Peter Frankl, Carlo Grante, Thomas Hecht, Leslie Howard, Eugen Indjic, Dorian Leljak, John Lenehan, Leon McCawley, Murray McLachlan, Daniel-Ben Pienaar, Artur Pizarro, Jason Rebello, Ashley Wass.

• scale playing made easy • how to simplify accompaniments

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• 30-week sample timetable

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87• Pianist 76

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