Innehållsförteckning för 126 från Pianist

In a few weeks’ time I will fly to Ft. Worth, Texas, to attend the finals of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Held every four years, and celebrating its 60th anniversary, the competition has a distinguished track record of success in awarding its top prizes to pianists who have gone on to enjoy brilliant careers (among them Cristina Ortiz, Olga Kern and Beatrice Rana, all previous cover stars of Pianist). The competition was named in honour of the American pianist who – after a heated debate among the jurors – won Gold at the first Tchaikovsky Competition held in Moscow in 1958. The 23-year-old Texan captured the hearts of Russians and Americans alike: he became the first (and probably only) musician ever to receive a ticker-tape parade on his…

Scale work is an ongoing process from the relatively beginning stages of piano study through to conservatory level and beyond. The advanced pianist will have mastered all major and minor scales in single as well as double notes, plus an array of different types of arpeggios, in all inversions. The result will be an intimate kinesthetic knowledge of the keyboard (how a particular scale feels under the hand) and of all tonalities and key relationships, acquired and honed over the course of time. Whether we continue to practise scales depends on the individual; the great virtuoso, Shura Cherkassky apparently practised scales and arpeggios in every key every day! Some years ago I was invited to give a class on scales and arpeggios for a piano teachers’ association. There was one…

Key D minor/F major Tempo Allegro moderato Style Romantic Will improve your ✓Rhythmic stability ✓ Syncopations ✓Detailed practising Born in Louisiana in 1829, Gottschalk’s playing impressed both Chopin and Liszt when he toured Europe. His music, though, acquired worldwide acclaim. He was, arguably, the first American-born pianistcomposer whose use of melodic lines and rhythmic patterns from the Americas caught the attention of European audiences increasingly interested in ‘exotic’ sounding music. Gottschalk’s flamboyant lifestyle and early death at the height of his fame in 1869 cemented his reputation as a musician in a class of his own. Like most eminent pianistcomposers of his time, Gottschalk was a virtuoso. His music was based on his own (considerable) keyboard skills. There is no such thing as ‘easy’ Gottschalk, although the present Caprice…

This simple, atmospheric piece written by Mark Goddard is the perfect ‘warm-up’ exercise. To tie in with Pianist’s American themed issue, Count the pulse silently for a few bars before you begin. Establishing a calm, yet solid tempo is crucial. The RH melody should be shaped perfectly. The phrase markings indicate four-bar phrases. In order to understand the line of the melody, try singing it first. Goddard suggests depicting an empty landscape, as can be found in some barren desert areas of the US. Look closely at the technical tips. The score is free of dynamics. But the marking of ‘Placido dolce’ (calm and sweet) implies a soft dynamic. Do experiment – and listen to the recording for further inspiration. Make a small diminuendo at the end of the phrases:…

Along with John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, American composer George Whitefield Chadwick was a representative composer of what is called the Second New England School of American composers of the late 19th century. (The First New England School includes the late 18th- and early 19th-century composers). This characteristic little piece is No 6 from a set of character pieces called 10 Little Tunes for Ten Little Friends. Two other pieces from the set – The Cricket and the Bumblebee (No 6) and Now I Lay Me (No 2) – appeared inside issues 116 and 121 respectively. Read Melanie Spanswick’s step-by-step lesson. Alla zoppa ♩ = 1 08…

From 1921 onwards, American composer Amy Beach spent each summer as Fellow-in-Residence at the MacDowell Colony, a retreat for artists and musicians in Peterborough, New Hampshire, founded by Edward MacDowell’s wife in 1907. Among Beach’s first compositions written there, her two Hermit Thrush pieces Op 92 Nos 1 and 2, inspired by birdcalls were both, she claimed, ‘based on exact notations of hermit thrush songs in the original keys but an octave lower, obtained at the MacDowell Colony’. Their melody, she tells us, was provided by a ‘most voluble thrush’, the song notated and played back to him. The bird would apparently then answer, and a kind of conversation ensued. Cast in the sombre key of E flat minor, the piece is headed by a quote from a poem by…

The music of African-American composer and concert pianist Florence B. Price (1887-1953) is enjoying a well-deserved revival. To find out more about Price’s music I spoke with Dr Samantha Ege (below), the Lord Crewe Junior Research Fellow in Music at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. Dr Ege has extensively researched Price and recorded her music, including Fantasies Nègres, a set of four expressive and virtuosic solo piano pieces. Dr Ege was an undergraduate exchange student at McGill University in Canada when she first encountered Price’s music, the Fantasie Nègre No 1 in E minor. ‘It really caught my attention because there was something so familiar about her pianistic writing,’ Dr Ege recalls. ‘I could hear the influence of Liszt, Chopin and Brahms, these canonical giants, but I could also hear…

HOW TO PRACTISE MUSIC Andrew Eales Hal Leonard This diminutive book is shorter than an octave span, less than a fifth wide, and skinnier than a black key. It actually fits in my pocket. Let not its physical stature deceive you, though, for it is big on content. Over the course of 80 pages, Andrew Eales addresses the why, when, where, and how of practising, providing readers with plenty of ideas and practical advice in all these areas. Don’t expect pianocentric guidance, though, because the book is written for all instrumentalists; practice apps, ‘excellent sight-reading resources’, and ‘excellent material’ for improvisation are mentioned, for example, but you’ll need to find these yourself. Recommended to teachers and adult learners alike, and for younger learners, I’d also suggest Philip Johnston’s amusing book…

Finding Fialkowska I have just finished reading a book called A Note In Time, written by the pianist Janina Fialkowska. This memoir is full of many wonderful stories, and there’s one particularly moving chapter where she talks about having had cancer in her left arm. Her right arm was still fully functionable, so she arranged many of the left-handed works (among them the Ravel Left Hand Concerto) for the right hand. She performed them with many orchestras, too. As far as I understand, with left hand only works, it’s the thumb that usually carries the melody, and even if it might seem hard at first, the thumb can create a good strong tone. So it makes sense. However, if you were to do the reverse, and play these left hand…

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 published…

Key E flat minor Tempo Molto lento Style Late Romantic Will improve your ✓Depth of tone ✓Rubato ✓Phrasing American composer and pianist Amy Beach was born in 1867 and died in 1944 at the age of 77. Her dates are very similar to those of Rachmaninov, and much of her music shares an inner melancholy with the Russian composer. Although she is most widely known for her Gaelic Symphony, more recently many of her other compositions are being more performed. (Indeed, this magazine has seen a few of her easier piano pieces featured.) The fast, rippling bird-call motifs will need a very specific touch – a jeu perlé touch – which requires the performer to almost ‘scratch’ out the notes with very bent fingertips This gem of a piece certainly…

Gottschalk’s compositions stand out as something spicy in the mostly bland dish that was American music in the mid-19th century. The music has a touch of ragtime, a dollop of the West Indies, a hint of Latin and a splash of Chopin. Gottschalk, a sophisticated virtuoso, was a showman who well understood that his audiences loved a bit of sentimentality. This piece, translated into English as ‘O my Charmer, Spare me!’ makes that abundantly clear. It starts out easy, but…! Gottschalk’s advice (1862) for playing this piece stressed the need to be rhythmically accurate: ‘the characteristics of mingled sadness and restless passion which distinguish the piece would be utterly lost were not the accuracy of each changing rhythm fully sustained.’ The composer further underlines the need to adopt a flexible…

Contemporary piano music at all levels includes a vast number of pieces in popular style written either with syncopated rhythms or with figurations that come alive when ‘swung’. When music places rhythmic stress on weaker beats or parts of the beat we have syncopation. When we have two-part pulse divisions – pairs of notes in each beat that are played consecutively with alternating long then short notes – we have swing. Both can cause distress and frustration when pupils have not developed an internal sense of pulse (they tend to panic if strong beats appear less forcefully). Therefore, it’s vital to cultivate a strong sense of pulse and infallible rhythmic coordination via clapping exercises from the earliest stages if confidence and flair is to be achieved. Set the metronome at…

The basic physics tell a useful story. There’s vagueness as to what constitutes a baby grand, but in my experience it’s anything between 150-160cm in length (4ft 9in-5ft 2in). The shorter a grand piano, the smaller the soundboard and the shorter the speaking length of the strings. This means less depth and flexibility of tone and less dynamic capability. A full-length concert grand is around 9ft in length (280cm), which most homes can’t possibly accommodate physically or acoustically, and so compromises must be made. Early pianos were straight strung, with every string from bass to treble running in a straight line to the end of the piano. In an overstrung piano the copper-wound bass strings run over the straight treble strings at an angle, enabling greater length. This demonstrates how…

Our hands should always feel relaxed and natural when playing the piano. The more at ease our hands and fingers are, the more supple and manoeuvrable they will be. With efficient practice, our actions become consistent and the musical outcome more dependable. Key to this is the approach we take to changing hand positions as we move more adventurously around the keyboard. But before tackling this, it’s good to feel ultra secure repeating a single chord. To get a basic sense of what’s going to be happening here, form a relaxed fist and turn your wrist upwards or towards you, then slowly open and close the fingers as though you are gently squeezing a sponge ball. Centring the hand At the piano, simply allow the hand to settle on a…

Key C major Tempo Alla zoppa (in syncopated style) Style Late-Romantic Will improve your ✓Rhythm ✓Articulation ✓Pedalling Sis Tempy’s Story was written by the American Late-Romantic composer George W Chadwick (1854-1931). He was a member of the Boston Six, also known as the Second New England School, – a group of composers based in New England and acknowledged by many as being pivotal in developing an idiomatic American style. Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine and Horatio Parker were the remaining five members. [Scores by all, bar Parker, appear inside this issue.] Notice the unusual tempo marking, Alla zoppa. This literally means ‘limping’ or ‘halting’, and, taken in the context of music, refers to syncopation. The meaning of syncopation is a temporary displacement of the regular metrical…

On these pages, Pianist covers the most basic stages of learning through a series of lessons by Hans-Günter Heumann. To complement Graham Fitch’s masterclass on scales, which also appears inside this issue, here are two simple exercises for scales practice. G major scale With its one key-signature accidental of F#, enjoy getting to know the G major scale in both hands. Keep the touch even. The fingerings will help. E minor scale The harmonic E minor scale contains the key signature accidental of F#, plus a sharpened 7th (D#). The melodic E minor scale comprises both these accidentals, but with the addition of a sharpened 6th (C#). Hans-Günter Heumann continues his series for beginners in the next issue. To find out more about Heumann, visit www.schott-music.com…

MARTIN JAMES BARTLETT Rhapsody: Works for piano and orchestra by Rachmaninov and Gershwin. London Philharmonic Orchestra/Weilerstein Warner Classics 0190296434334 Martin James Bartlett rhapsodises on our behalf for some exhilarating if ultimately wearing listening, starting out with Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody. It’s a belting opening without compromising orchestral detail, though the occasional dynamic change sounds contrived. A colourful performance of panache and vividness, overall (Variation 18 is opulent), if not without subtlety and piano/orchestra integration. The LPO’s clarinettist makes much of the opening glissando to launch a reading of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue – using Ferde Grofé’s 1942 symphony scoring – that tries a little too hard to be jazzy: overthought from the pianist and with the conductor exaggerating effects. The remaining tracks find Bartlett alone in short pieces by these composers…