Innehållsförteckning för 124 från Pianist

Like many of us who grew up in northern climes, I adore Spain. The Basque country of the north, with its meat-heavy dishes and the stunning Guggenheim museum of Bilbao; balmy Andalusia farther south, where orange trees line the streets of Seville and the Moorish Alhambra Palace stands above the hills of Granada; the quiet parks of Madrid and the nightlife that wakes up once midnight has struck… There is so much of Spain to explore – yet when it comes to music, how many of us can say we have looked past the headline names of Falla, Albéniz and Granados? Until now, this magazine has never featured a Spanish pianist on the cover, and so I decided it was past time to redress the balance with Javier Perianes. The…

On a Zoom call from his home in Madrid, Javier Perianes cuts a lively and amiable figure: chatty, helpful, on first-name terms from the off. I feel as though I have known him for years (not a privilege commonly granted by interviewees in my experience). And in a way I have: it was 15 years ago that I first saw him play, also via a small screen, under the genial tutelage of Daniel Barenboim in a series of Beethoven masterclasses released on film by EMI. Judging from previous interviews, it turns out that I was not alone in making my acquaintance with Perianes this way: not altogether fair on the creative personality of a pianist who has gone on to carve out a distinctive career for himself, documented along the…

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fugue No 1 in C Op 87 is rare in that it uses only the white notes on the piano, constructed solely from the seven different notes of the scale of C major with no accidentals. Virtually all music based on the major-minor tonal system moves from one key to another, modulating by use of chromatic notes and chords. Composers also use chromatic notes to add colour to a line by decorating it with lower neighbours, but this does not necessarily mean a change of key (the opening D# at the start of Mozart’s Sonata in A minor K310 is a case in point). A chromatic scale uses all 12 notes within the octave and can be fingered in a number of different ways. In this article I…

Key E minor Tempo Moderato Style Romantic Will improve your ✓Evenness ✓Hand balance ✓Understanding of Granados style Enrique Granados (1867-1916) needs no introduction. But much of his music does. Admittedly there are a few of his works that feature in pianists’ repertoire, but more often than not as encores. There is much excellent music waiting to be played more widely, from the highly pianistic Piano Quintet in G minor to the transcriptions of Scarlatti sonatas. Teaching was central to Granados’s life. It’s how he earned a living, and it’s a part of his legacy that deserves to be looked at more closely. The composer ran his own music school, the Academia Granados, as it was named from 1901 onwards. It’s worth thinking about what was important to him as a…

Melanie Spanswick’s playing tips: I love Spain! It’s a wonderfully diverse country with a warm Mediterranean climate, gorgeous cities and towns, and beautiful vistas. There’s a depth to the culture, and the music sparkles with energy and passion. Iberian Mist offers a less obvious Spanish vibe: its atmospheric and esoteric character comes from the calm, misty mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia. To capture this, keep all quavers completely smooth, even and rhythmical throughout, with the exception of the ritenuto at the end. The melodic material in the RH part would be effective with a slightly deeper touch: For example, in bars 1-3, the quaver Cs need a little more colour – but it’s the Bs which are the focal point, so ‘place’ them carefully. Similarly, in the…

Remembered now, if at all, as a pedagogue more than a composer, Le Couppey taught generations of French pianists at the Paris Conservatoire. Having studied there himself he took up his first post at the prodigious age of 17, was appointed professor of solfège in 1837 and continued to oversee the conservatoire curriculum, with its rigorous insistence on the establishment of a firm technique, until the year before his death. Among his many pupils were the composer Cécile Chaminade, celebrated soloists of their day such as Marie-Léontine Pène, and Marguerite Lartigue, the second cousin of Manuel de Falla, who became in due course the mother of Jacques Ibert. Playing tips: Keep the LH accompaniment light and secure, allowing for the RH melody to dance gracefully and impishly over it. Take…

Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega and Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla was one of Spain’s most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century – though the number of pieces he composed was rather modest. Serenata Andaluza was composed in 1900 and, being a fine pianist himself, Falla first performed it in Madrid that same year. Playing tips: Although the work covers a hefty nine pages, notice that there is a lot of repetition. The writing might also look quite challenging, but in truth, the notes fit very well under the hands. We suggest that you mark out the different sections before you begin, so that you gain an understanding of the overall structure. The melody, which first appears at bar 17, should be played a tempo,…

WATCH IAGO NÚÑEZ PLAY THIS PIECE AT WWW.PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM Born in Catalonia, composer Antonio Soler’s works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his many mostly one-movement keyboard sonatas which constitute a very important, quite underrated contribution to the repertoire of that period. Even if Soler was born four years after Scarlatti’s death, he’s never received the acclaim that was bestowed upon the Italian composer. Playing tips: This is a great finger workout! Not to mention all those repeated notes. As is customary in Baroque writing, the performer can add extra ornaments here and there. The score features editorial dynamics – but experiment, as they aren’t set in stone. A steady pulse is necessary, though take a quick breath now and then (e.g. at…

EMAIL: editor@pianistmagazine.com WRITE TO: The Editor, Pianist, Warners Group Publications, The Maltings, West St, Bourne, PE10 9PH. Letters may be edited. One happy returnee Pianist issue 123 – you have saved my life! At 16 I could play anything without a care in the world. Chopin Polonaise in A? No problem! Skip forward to a life where I was travelling, with no piano. In my 40s I did have a glorious Steinway grand, but more travelling ensued, again without a piano. I am now 76 and there has been a gap of 30 years with no music. Six months ago I bought a decent digital and tried again. Fingers ok, motivation good, memory zero! Despair. That’s until issue 123 fell through my letterbox. I now feel inspired. I may not…

While ultimately the challenge for pianists is often to do with hand assembly, it certainly makes sense for us to divide up the specific difficulties posed by a piece of music at regular stages along the learning journey. In fact, it’s never too late to be working hands separately, however long you’ve been learning a piece – even in the hours leading up to a performance or exam. Hands separate practising sharpens the focus and often gives us a salutary reminder of what isn’t yet sounding quite as accurate or evenly controlled as we’d like it to. While it may be tempting to leap intrepidly into the more problematic areas of a piece hands together, delayed gratification is a key element of effective learning. A problem halved… … is a…

LESSONS FROM THE EXPERTS MELANIE SPANSWICK is a pianist, writer, teacher and composer. As an author, she is published by leading publishing houses, and has written a three-book piano course for those returning to piano playing; Play It Again: PIANO (Schott Music). Melanie teaches the piano at Junior Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Eton College. As a composer, her music is published in the renowned Edition Schott Composer Series. Read Melanie Spanswick’s lesson NILS FRANKE is Dean of Higher Education at the University Centre Colchester, UK, having previously held posts at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and the University of Reading. He has recorded for Warner and Brilliant Classics. Nils specialises in historical performance pedagogy, with a particular focus on 19th-century pianist-composers. His editions are…

Key A major Tempo Mouvement de Habanera Style Impressionist Will improve your ✓Rhythm ✓Pedalling ✓Flexibility of tempo Claude Debussy was a marvellous miniaturist and a master of detail. His three movement work Estampes, which was completed in 1903, is widely recognised as one of the composer’s greatest solo piano works. ‘La Soirée dans Grenade’ is the central piece in Estampes and if you’re not familiar with the other two works (‘Pagodes’ and ‘Jardins sous la pluie’), I would highly recommend immersing yourself in the whole set. This piece is one of my favourites to play in public. It requires the performer to cast a spell over the audience and take them on a five minute visit to Granada. I always find this a challenge (especially on a tricky piano) but…

This well-known theme comes from the opera Carmen, one of Bizet’s most celebrated works. It was premiered in Paris in 1875, the year of Bizet’s death. With its inspiration coming from a Cuban dance, the Habanera comprises two parts, each 16 bars long. The first, in D minor, offers a sweet theme, which is often syncopated and makes use of chromatic descending notes. The second part, in D major, is more resolute. As one might expect, the accompaniment throughout is given to the LH. You’ll see that the LH’s rhythm is the same from beginning to end. Make sure to balance the LH against the RH melody, keeping it light so the melody can be heard. Rhythmic stability is essential in this adaptation (practising hands separately at first should help).…

Born in Madrid, Santiago de Masarnau (known also as Santiago Masarnau y Fernández, Santiago Fernández de Masarnau or Santiago Masarnau) was a Spanish pianist, composer and religious activist for the poor. He abandoned his original intentions of a career in engineering and went to study music in Paris, where he became acquainted with Cramer, Monsigny, Rossini, Paganini, and Mendelssohn. He also became a close friend of Alkan (as evidenced by an exchange of letters extending over 40 years). Alkan dedicated his Trois Etudes de Bravoure Op 16 to Masarnau. Playing tips: This adorable waltz, full of charm and grace, needs a light touch. With the RH part, we suggest some serious, slow practice – especially when working on the recurring trills. The LH part is less challenging, but the semiquaver…

Mateo Albéniz was born in the Basque region of northern Spain. He was unrelated to Isaac Albéniz but he was the father of Pedro Albéniz, a Spanish pianist and composer. Mateo composed masses, vespers, motets, and other church music as well as works for the harpsichord and fortepiano. The work by which he is best known today is the Sonata in D, of which a popular transcription for guitar has been made. Playing tips: Mateo Albéniz might have been born some years after Scarlatti died, but the resemblance to the Italian composer’s Baroque keyboard style is evident from the outset. Rhythm needs to be spot-on throughout; start out by practising slowly, making sure that the playing is clean and error-free. The fingerings for the LH repeated notes (see bar 15)…

DON’T MISS LUCY PARHAM’S LESSON ONTHIS PIECE La soirée dans Grenade (‘Evening in Granada’) is the central piece within Debussy’s three-movement suite, Estampes. It uses the Arabic scale and mimics guitar strumming to evoke images of Granada, Spain. At the time of its writing, Debussy’s only personal experience with the country was a few hours spent in San Sebastián de los Reyes near Madrid. Despite this, the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla said of the movement: ‘There is not even one measure of this music borrowed from the Spanish folklore, and yet the entire composition in its most minute details, conveys admirably Spain.’ Read Lucy Parham’s lesson. Mouvement de Habanera Commencer lentement dans un rhyhme nonchalamment gracieux…

Freixas’s Diu que una rosa… is a beautiful miniature, which couples together the simplest of accompaniments and an exquisite rose-petal melody. Hands separate practice will allow the LH to gently murmur away with its open fifths and grace notes, almost without having to think about it, as though it’s being strummed on the open strings of a guitar. The tune needs a perfumed quality – careful, independent practice will help – until it could almost sound like someone humming in the room next door. Falla’s Serenata Adaluza will benefit from a good amount of sectional practice before attempting to combine these into one. Once the LH has gained the freedom to move lightly and rhythmically – often covering wide intervals – one objective will be to find ways of presenting…

Key A minor Tempo Moderato Style Late Romantic Will improve your ✓Phrasing ✓Rhythm ✓Legato touch Spanish sculptor, painter and composer Narcisa Freixas (1859-1926) was born in Barcelona. She studied the piano with Juan Bautista Pujol, who numbered Enrique Granados among his pupils. Freixas published collections of Catalan songs and nursery rhymes, and she also implemented a musical education programme for school children. The title of the piece, Diu que una rosa…, means ‘They say that a rose…’. It stops right there, as if the start of a poem. The piece, which exudes a colourful exotic charm, comprises a simplistic melody in the RH and an almost continuous two-part accompaniment figure in the LH – the latter decorated by repeated acciaccaturas. The tempo suits crotchet equals 69-72 bpm. Let’s begin with the LH.…

On these pages, Pianist covers the most basic stages of learning through a series of lessons by Hans-Günter Heumann. This time it’s an exercise for repeated-note playing. Inside this issue there are some scores that feature repeated notes – albeit, the harder pieces such as the Soler and Mateo Albéniz Sonatas. Nevertheless, there’s no time like the present to start getting used to the technique! Ludwig Schytte Etude Op 108 No 10 Keep the repeated-note fingers close to the keys and ready for attack. Don’t tense up the wrist. Start out slowly. Hans-Günter Heumann continues his series for beginners in the next issue. To find out more about Heumann, visit www.schott-music.com…

Written for the younger, less experienced pianist, Granados’s Stories of the Young comprises ten contrasting pieces – some poignantly lyrical, some spirited and lively. Being appealing to the ear as well as the fingers, they have been popular with Pianist readers (Nos 2, 3, 5 and 7 have appeared in past issues). All the pieces bear descriptive titles – such as ‘La mendiga’ (the beggar girl) and ‘Canción de mayo’ (May Song) – but here, for No 6, Granados just gives us the marking Lento con tenerezza (very slow, with tenderness) at the start. Playing tips: Singing tone and good phrasing are key elements for making a successful interpretation. Follow the phrase markings and notice the subtle changes in tempo and dynamics. Be as tender as you can! Pedal tips:…

DON’T MISS NILS FRANKE’S LESSON ONTHIS PIECE Concert pianist and composer Enrique Granados wrote piano music, chamber music (a piano quintet, a piano trio, music for violin and piano), songs, zarzuelas (spoken and sung scenes), and an orchestral tone poem based on Dante’s Divine Comedy. Many of his piano compositions have been transcribed for the classical guitar. His six-piece suite, Goyescas, which is based on paintings of Francisco Goya, became one of his most famous piano works (No 4, The Maiden and the Nightingale, appeared in issue 96). This beguiling piece, entitled El Caminante (The Wanderer), is the third of Granados’s Six Expressive Studies. Listen to Chenyin Li’s performance… and you’ll be hooked! Read Nils Franke’s lesson.…

Virtuoso pianist, composer and conductor Isaac Albéniz was one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era. Transcriptions of many of his works, such as Asturias (Leyenda), Granada, Sevilla, Córdoba, Mallorca, and Tango in D, are important pieces for classical guitar, though he never composed for the instrument. His rarely-performed four-piece suite, The Seasons Op 201, was composed in 1892. Playing tips: There are many different playing styles to master in this tricky but effective piece. At the start, the two-bar staccato quaver passages in both hands require a light, bouncy touch; notice how the hands and fingers barely need to move. Yet just two bars later they are required to dart all over the keyboard – and in a legato fashion, too. At bar 9, make the most of…

How can interpretive flavour be stimulated? Is it possible to transform bland, generic performances of music from three contrasting periods so that they no longer sound monochrome but rather emerge as though realised by three totally different instruments? My emphatic answer is ‘Yes’! As far as personality, character and interpretive variety is concerned, as teachers we have a huge duty to inspire – drawing out possibilities from our pupils’ fingers that they may well not have considered. I often say that the ability to mimic accents and sounds is an invaluable one for pianists to possess (always allowing for caution lest one offends anyone!), but in order to start with an organic development of characterisation, it is necessary to begin with the printed text of the music in front of…

Sonatas by Antonio Soler, student of Scarlatti. Two of the finest are in C minor and F sharp major. Sonatas by José Blasco de Nebra, José Herrando, Francisco Courcelle and Mateo Albéniz (no relation to Isaac Albéniz) which are not overly complicated. Tres Estudios o Caprichos (Three Studies or Caprices) by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga. From the early 19th century, a vast number of piano works were composed, published, studied and performed in Spain. Many of these are in a salon style, pleasurable to play and accessible to many pianists. Composers include Nicolás Ledesma, Marcial del Adalid, Juan María Guelbenzu, Santiago de Masarnau, Carlos Vidiella, Joaquín Malats, José María Usandizaga, Vicente Costa y Nogueras. Beginning around 1860 and continuing well into the 20th century, Spain enjoyed a glorious period of…

What’s the point of playing scales and arpeggios? Students often respond that they need to learn scales and arpeggios because examining boards assess them. So why do examining boards test them? The answer to this is not, as one student facetiously opined, to abuse candidates. It is because scales and arpeggios help to promote good fingering habits, improve evenness in both tone and rhythm, develop coordination, enhance one’s sense of keyboard geography, and elevate understanding of musical keys. Scales and arpeggios have been used by pianists for hundreds of years to reap these benefits, and their appearance on exam syllabuses reflect their importance as a core part of one’s technical education. Two of the most widely used examining boards – ABRSM and Trinity College London – publish their set of…

SEONG-JIN CHO Chopin: Concerto No 2 in F minor Op 21; 4 Scherzi. LSO/Gianandrea Noseda  Deutsche Grammophon 4860435 Seong-Jin Cho won the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, the first South Korean pianist to do so. His achievement places him in the august company of pianists including Martha Argerich (1965) and Krystian Zimerman (1975). Is he in their class? Not on the strength of this disc. He’s still only 27 – and so has years to mature – but for now Cho is a glittering virtuoso who seems to find Chopin’s pianistic writing, with its dramatic flourishes and emotional contrasts, an irresistible showcase for his fleet fingerwork. Musically, he has little to add to our appreciation of these works. He canters through the Scherzi and is capable of such string-busting…