new recordings!

Hi everybody! I just uploaded three recordings to YouTube. Rachmaninov’s Preludes in C minor and G sharp minor, plus Manos Hadjithakis ‘Conversation with Sergei Prokofiev’ taken from his suite ‘For a Little White Seashell’, op 1. I recorded them in Forum Auditorium in Taipei 2 weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them! Here is Prelude in c minor Op 23:7

Teresa Carreno

The mind of the performing artist must be as cultured as that of the composer. Culture comes from the observation of many things: nature, architecture, science, sculpture, history, men and women, poetry. I advise aspiring pianists to read a great deal of poetry!

Wise words from Teresa Carreno, one of the greatest lady pianists! As a child she met Liszt himself, who urged her to be true to her own individuality while pursuing her piano studies.

PIano technique

There is a technique which liberates and a technique which represses the artistic self. All technique ought to be a means of expression.

I’m currently compiling a book of favourite quotations by the great pianists of the past. This quote by Hofmann is one of my favourites! People get a bit hung up about technique, but really it is not the main thing to focus on; after all, if you are going out on a friday evening to meet a friend, you are probably not focussing on how the wheels of the bus go round and round…

Piano recital review: Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Works by Taiwanese Composers

Lynn Raley (centre) performed Contemporary Piano Works by Taiwanese Composers, at the Chai Found 101 Auditorium, Taipei on June 8th 2013. On his left, composer Tsung-Hsien Yang. On his right composer Chiu-Yu Chou.

Professor Raley is a former student of Taipei American School, who has been making a special study of contemporary Taiwanese piano music. For the past 12 months he has been  Senior Fulbright Scholar, and Visiting Associate Professor of Music at  the National Chiao Tung University.

The evening’s programme consisted of 8 works for piano solo by living composers, three of which were receiving their world premieres. Three of the works were dedicated to Professor Tsung-Hsien Yang at the Taipei National University of the Arts by his pupils to celebrate his 60th Birthday. A related score entitled “The Joy of Keys” was freely available on the night, containing three of the scores by Chiu-Yu Chou, Yuan-Chen Li and Ching-Yi Wang together with contact details. Great idea!

I particularly enjoyed Chiu-Yu Chou’s Fluid Ripples (2012), one of three World Premiere’s in the programme: like a Jeux d’Eaux for our climate-stressed era. The tremolos of Ching-Yi Wang’s Upon the Night, A Whisper of Sky brought to my mind Takemitsu meeting Xenakis, soft-hued poetry meeting harder-edged logic. Tsung-Hsien Yang’s Albumblatter from Sansui Shack occupied its space with the well-formed assurance of a composer who has found his path, like a Brancusi sculpture. Mei-Fang Lin’s Mistress of the Labyrinthsounded to be the most pianistically challenging work of the evening, the exposed left hand passage work at the opening might frighten any pianist of a lesser calibre than Lynn Raley: but here, as throughout the evening, technical difficulties were surmounted and the scores delivered with persuasion and assurance. The audience seemed most intrigued by the Sound of Silence by Chi-Tien Lee: the pianist’s tasks included plucking strings within the piano, plus humming! Now that was a fresh moment!  It was an evening which will linger long in the mind.

My criticisms are very few: the sound of the Kawai piano was slightly hard: a better instrument would have lent an extra degree of velvety atmospheric languour which some of the music called for. The page turning was slightly distracting, but admittedly it looked a nightmare of a job!

Meanwhile the attractive venue was full, lighting and ambience were very good, the bilingual programme notes were helpful. It is to be hoped that Professor Raley will record his performance on YouTube at the earliest opportunity so that these works can find a wider audience that they richly deserve. Hats off!

Review: Piano recital Lin Shuennchin,Taipei, 8th June 2013

 Lin Shuennchin appeared at the National Recital Hall at 14.30 to perform Liszt’s first piano concerto and Rachmaninoff’s second concerto – but without orchestra! Instead, with digital orchestra. O brave new world!

On the stage: a Steinway concert grand with either side two huge loudspeakers; plus a pianist in the most handsome dinner jacket one has seen in a long time.

Every pianist learning a concerto faces a basic problem: how to practice at home without the orchestra. (For any reader unfamiliar with the process, one solution is to find a fellow pianist willing to learn the orchestral reduction, and then to practice with them on a second piano. Then, more recently a range of CDs became available called Minus One (eg Beethoven 3rd Concerto minus one) which contain orchestral playing without the soloist. The difficulty here is that the soloist and orchestra are likely to have slightly different ideas on tempo.)

Professor Lin has been working on an innovative new solution since 2007, a digital orchestral simulation such that the soloist can choose in advance and preset the tempo for different sections. Dynamics and expression can also be preset. He has already tried this out in public for about 10 concerti. This will undoubtedly be extremely useful for the next generation of soloists and students wishing to practice at home with orchestral accompaniment. The potential value is enormous.

So how did it sound in concert? The orchestra was deafening in the ff sections such as the opening of the Liszt concerto, and a simple adjustment to the volume setting would have helped. The orchestral sound quality itself was slightly artificial sounding, like an early digital piano. But the synchronicity of pianist and orchestra seemed fine – the small number of moments of unhappiness between soloist and orchestra could have been because of performer’s nerves – it was hard to tell.

Whilst the programme notes did have excellent stylistic analysis of the music, they gave very little information about how this digital system operates: “The orchestra sound Dr Lin manufactures is by Steinberg Nuendo as the platform and East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra as the VST instrument.” Eehh? I wanted to know basic information, such as how exactly does the pianist pre-programme the orchestral tempo/dynamics? how much computer knowledge would  a soloist need to operate this system? If it is for sale, how much does it cost? If it is not for sale yet, when is it likely to reach the market, etc etc.

As a public event it slightly fell between two stools: neither a demonstration of a prototype (since that would require some verbal explanations, and perhaps commercial marketing), nor quite a concert (since the details such as the volume of the orchestra etc did not seem to take into consideration the enjoyment of the audience). There may be alternative and more appropriate forums outside the concert hall.

It is highly praiseworthy that Professor Lin tackles such demanding works on stage with courage and skill, and is a pioneer of innovative technological techniques for the benefit of the musical community.  Very good, but no cigar – yet!

Piano arrival!

Two minutes of musical happiness!

Two minutes of musical happiness encapsulated right there! 

No need to ask any questions, just sit back and enjoy! 

Stephanie Chou piano recital review 樂評：周佳臻狂放舞指鋼琴獨奏會

A very satisfying recital last night (28 April 2013) by Juilliard-trained Taiwanese pianist Stephanie Chou at the recital hall of the National Concert Hall.
The audience was a good size, the Steinway piano in excellent condition with a fine acoustic. The performer was well-presented in a flaming red dress and high-heels, and demonstrated good stage manner (happily avoiding the exaggerated mannerisms that were on display the previous evening in the concert hall by the Labeque sisters). The programme notes contributed by the performer were in Mandarin only, and my wife reports that these were helpful.
The opening number was the rarely heard G minor Sonata op 22 by Schumann. (The work opens with Schumann’s ‘Clara’ theme, the same descending motif which opens the great Fantasy in C.) This was a very confident and exciting presentation, with clear phrasing, well shaped and admirably well-prepared. Even in the face of awesomely complex technical challenges such as the coda of the fourth movement, the pianist kept her cool and delivered the goods. Brava!
Poulenc’s 'Hommage to Edith Piaf' is another rarely heard gem, and this received contented and spacious playing with many dreamy moments. Ravel’s 'Jeux d’Eau displayed perfectly controlled pedalling, with the pianist’s virtuosity excelling in the rapid sections on display, and a distinguished control of soft shadings. The fearsomely difficult 'Alborada del gracioso' perhaps needs just an extra ounce of carefree mastery to throw off the crisp rhythms with nonchalance, but the famous glissandi came off perfectly.
In the second half, we heard the teacher of Ravel, Gabriel Faure, whose delicious 5th Nocturne was given a warm performance, the swirling arpeggios of the middle section calling for controlled pianism, which was mostly delivered. The programme ended with Chopin’s great third sonata. What a big programme!
My only criticism is that, from where I was sitting at the back, there was a slight lack of volume in the climaxes of the music. This may have been the acoustics, but I suspect some technical weakness in the 4th and 5th fingers of the right hand: perhaps if these fingers could sink downward into the piano more - it would help to add extra volume at the top, allowing the bubbling sections to ‘sizzle’ more hotly whenever required. This extra electricity will further enhance engagement with the audience.  But despite this complaint, it was a very impressive and enjoyable recital.

Cortot on the effects of hearing his teacher's playing

The young Cortot wrote of Risler's playing:

"I immediately felt myself engulfed by the music; it was not just a matter of what

he was playing, but also his charm, his faculty to reveal - to communicate the

incommunicable. His unique way of making music overwhelmed me, it entered into

me, into my very flesh. Risler presented to me a magical world, which previously I

had only known as an onlooker. He opened my soul to the appreciation of a music

that was born of spontaneous inspiration. His feeling for orchestral colour was

something that I had never associated with the piano. From that moment I

understood how the vocation of the interpreter could transcend the metier of the

pianist, I knew... I could see... I believed, and I was clear in my vision."

 Well, through the miracles of YouTube, here's Risler himself performing Beethoven.

 

John Eliot Gardiner on the limitations of the printed score

Wow! A whole page about a classical musician in today's International Herald Tribune !

Keeping Bach in His Blood, by Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim, April 9th 2013

.... The watershed goes back to the 1920s, when instrument technology changed and continuous vibrato became the norm. Around the same time, the freedom of the interpreter began to be curtailed by composers demanding exact adherence to an ever-more-precisely notated text.

"It represents the absolute break of the tradition from Monteverdi to early Stravinsky, whereby the interpreter has freedom to use gesture and rhetoric and passion to articulate, vary and embellish what's written down, Mr Gardiner said. "If you think about it, the written page of music is so limiting".

...

MK: or, as someone else has said, "Music creates notation. Notation does not create music."

Great sense of rhythm! Goldenweiser and Ginzburg.

Rhythm is elusive. If you play just like a metronome it can sound just like a robot.
Rhythm should have a lusty sense of vitality, like a horse breathing, in a positive sense!

The best two pianists for rhythm that I have heard in recording are Rachmaninoff and Percy Grainger. The two have some genealogy in common: despite living half-way round the world from each other, they had related teachers (in Russia and Australia respectively)  brothers Pavel and Louis Pabst. Here is a two-piano piece by Rachmaninoff, dedicated to Goldenweiser, and performed by Goldenweiser with the astonishing pianist's pianist Grigory Ginzburg.
If you find your finger or toe tapping along, conducting in time with the music, you know that the performers can indeed say "I got rhythm!"

PS aficianados will find great interest in this interview with Ginzburg tucked away in the internet...
 interview with ginzburg.pdf

True music making!

Celllist Jacqueline du Pre shows how to make music in this short clip: at first she is playing Mozart politely on the piano, and chatting with her husband Daniel Barenboim, but you can start watching around 1:05 when the room practically catches fire as she switches to her cello and plays Brahms.

What a natural relationship with her instrument, while her heart shines through and connects with the audience. The re-creative art was alive and well with her during her all too brief career.

I remember her in London in the late 1980s visiting (haunting?) the Royal College of Music, in her wheel-chair, crippled by multiple sclerosis, when speech was a problem, attending concerts and after concert parties, breaking our hearts...