InternationalPianoMayJune2015 PDF

International Piano
NO.31 MAY/JUNE 2015

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FERRUCCIO ‘Busoni The Visionary’
BUSONI by Jeni Slotchiver
COURTESY OF CENTAUR
Experts discuss
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– and more
MAY/JUNE 2015
NEW DISCOVERIES
Works by Roger
Sacheverell Coke
Plus:
GOLDBERG COLE PORTER
VARIATIONS FELICJA BLUMENTAL
Glenn Gould’s
KIRILL GERSTEIN
seminal recording
60 years on SIBELIUS
DOUBLE
05>
TROUBLE
077005
INSIDE
SHEET
Alice Sara Ott and Francesco
772042
Tristano explore the heady
MUSIC
world of four-hand repertoire
9
⌂ SEE PAGE 41
FANTASY IN D MINOR, K 397 BY MOZART
PIANO STREET INSTRUCTIVE EDITION
IP0515_001_cvr_CJ.indd 2 20/04/2015 17:42

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contents
20 48
© stephane-pauL charpentier-tity/Dg
© Louise Duchesneau
55 90
© Marco Borggreve
© tuLLy potter coLLection
Contents
20 Cover story 64 a broader palette 17 oNe to watCh 55 symposium
Alice Sara Ott and Unseen sketches by Célimène Daudet Experts discuss the
Francesco Tristano pianist Felicja Blumental great pianist, writer
19 diary oF aN and composer
25 New produCts 69 braiN mappiNg aCCompaNist Ferruccio Busoni
The latest gadgets Norman Doidge on his In which Michael Round
bestseller The Brain That samples the ‘Cor!’ factor 60 repertoire
31 saCheverell Coke Changes Itself The 150th anniversary
Simon Callaghan on his 28 CompetitioN report of the birth of Finnish
recording of Coke’s 74 reCordiNg The International Franz composer Jean Sibelius
Preludes and Variations Glenn Gould’s Liszt Piano Competition
Goldberg Variations 67 piaNo makers
48 explore the sCore 37 helpiNg haNds Gaza’s grand piano
Pierre-Laurent Aimard REGULARS How to select your
on Ligeti’s piano works first piano 73 take Five
7 letters Jazz pianist Jason Moran
52 high soCiety Your thoughts and 38 masterClass
The life and work of comments Developing rhythmic 78 reviews
song-writer Cole Porter awareness, by IP’s resident The latest CDs,
8 News tutor Murray McLachlan technology, films and
62 Festival report The latest updates from sheet music, plus
Creative programming at the piano world 41 sheet musiC recital roundup
the Printemps des Arts Mozart’s Fantasy in D
de Monte-Carlo 15 CommeNt minor, K 397, Piano Street 90 musiC oF my liFe
In defence of Liszt Instructive Edition Kirill Gerstein
May/June 2015 International Piano 3

IP0515_003_Contents_CJ.indd 3 20/04/2015 14:25
MOVE
BEYOND THE
BOUNDARIES
OF GENRE
CHOOSE LEEDS
COLLEGE OF MUSIC
Visit our next Experience
Day on Saturday 6 June at
1pm to find out more.
@LeedsMusic
www.lcm.ac.uk/experienceday
IP0315.indd 4 17/04/2015 16:55:30

Welcome Ivo Pogorelich’s Royal Festival Hall concert, part
Editor Claire Jackson
Sub Editor Femke Colborne
of the Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series, Contributors Michael Church, Colin Clarke
was the pianist’s first London solo recital since 1999 Andy Hamilton, Benjamin Ivry, Graham Lock,
Murray McLachlan, Jeremy Nicholas,
and the critics were out in force, pencils sharpened,
Guy Rickards, Michael Round, Eric Schoones,
ears pricked. Pogorelich told this magazine in Rebecca Schmid, Jeremy Siepmann, Joseph Tong,
no uncertain terms that this was not a comeback Cameron Watson, Stephen Wigler
concert (cover story, issue 29, January/February 2015). Head of Design & Production /
But it was, and everyone was fascinated to hear what Designer Beck Ward Murphy
Production Controller Gordon Wallis
this controversial pianist had been working on.
Advertising Sales Edward Croome
Edward.Croome@rhinegold.co.uk
A few pages into Liszt’s ‘Dante’ Sonata, my heart
Marketing Manager Frances Innes-Hopkins
sank. Pogorelich did not seem on top of his game;
Managing Director Ciaran Morton
he fiddled with the piano stool, employed extreme Publisher Derek B Smith
levels of rubato and lacked any sort of sensitivity in Printed by Latimer Trend Ltd, Estover Road,
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with sheet music – IP has discussed at length the Distributed by Comag Specialist Division
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places on pianists – Pogorelich remained buried in the pages, seemingly sight-reading International Piano, 977204207700507, is
published bi-monthly by Rhinegold Publishing,
the music. Schumann’s Fantasie in C followed, a drawn-out, expansive affair that saw 20 Rugby Street, London, WC1N 3QZ, UK
the Croatian pianist take a full 37 minutes over a work that usually lasts around 32. In Advertising
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myself included, finding the experience uncomfortable and pondering the pianist’s international.piano@rhinegold.co.uk
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every broadsheet – with the exception of The Independent – panned the recital, giving Sittingbourne, ME9 8GU, UK
it one-star (Guardian, Telegraph) and two-star (FT, Times) reviews. Poor Pogorelich. We No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
demand individuality and creative programming – but that on its own just isn’t enough. in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
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This is my last issue as editor of IP. After four years and 25 editions I am moving on of Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. The views expressed here
are those of the authors and not of the publisher,
to pastures new. It has been a great pleasure to work at the helm of this esteemed
PHOTO © PHILLIP NANGLE, NECKLACE FROM TATTY DEVINE
editor, Rhinegold Publishing Ltd or its employees. We

publication. May I take this opportunity to thank my colleagues at Rhinegold Publishing, welcome letters but reserve the right to edit for reasons
of grammar, length and legality. No responsibility is
advertisers, interviewees, agents, artists, distributors and contributors – but greatest thanks accepted for returning photographs or manuscripts. We
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EDITOR
© Copyright Rhinegold Publishing 2015

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letters
Letters
Write to International Piano, 20 Rugby Street, London, WC1N 3QZ, email
international.piano@rhinegold.co.uk or tweet @IP_mag. Star letters will receive SPONS OR ED By
a free CD from Hyperion’s best-selling Romantic Piano Concerto series H y PER ION R EC OR DS
RemembeRing RichteR – including Rudolf Serkin, Vladimir including one in 85 and another without
Dear IP, Horowitz, Claudio Arrau, Wilhelm bar lines).
When my copy of the March/April issue Kempff, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Reicha produced no more piano sonatas
arrived, I wasn’t entirely surprised that Shura Cherkassky, Emil Gilels and Jeanne- after 1805, but still continued to write
the magazine failed to include a 100th Marie Darré, all of whom I am lucky for piano solo. Two of these later works,
anniversary tribute to Sviatoslav Richter. enough to have heard in concert and all of published in the composer’s lifetime
It’s probably the case that IP’s writers whose recordings I also assiduously but not edited since, look particularly
and editors, who need to complete the collected. When I want to listen to interesting. One is the Variations on a
magazine nearly two months before many of the greatest masterpieces Theme by Gluck, which appeared in
it is mailed to subscribers, only of the piano literature – Beethoven’s 1815. In that same year, Hummel’s Op
remembered the anniversary when it ‘Appassionata’, Schubert’s ‘Wanderer’ 57 was published – a set of variations on
was too late to include an appreciation. Fantasy, Liszt’s B minor Sonata, the very same theme. Pure coincidence?
Richter was and remains my favourite Schumann’s C major Fantasy, I think not. The other is the 34 Etudes of
pianist. I loved him so much that, even Mussorgsky’s Pictures or Prokofiev’s 1820, which, though he does not make
though he toured North America only ‘War’ Sonatas – it’s usually the case that the comparison himself, could be Reicha’s
three times (in 1960, 1965 and 1970), I I listen to Richter rather than any of his take on Bach’s ‘48’. Each study is in two
managed to hear 12 of his recitals. But great predecessors and successors. I know parts, the second being a fugue or in the
while I never forget that 20 March was I’m not the only one who feels this way. style of a fugue.
his birthday, I also forgot that this was To us, he always remains alive. Michael Bulley
his 100th anniversary. The reason for Stephen Wigler
this is that many of us – even those who baReRe coRRections
are too young to have heard Richter RepeRtoiRe Rescue Dear IP,
in concert – do not think of him as Dear IP, There are a few factual errors in the recent
belonging to history. This is an update on my article ‘Search article on Simon Barere (‘Pearls of Sheer
In the dozen years or so up to Richter’s and Rescue’, which appeared in the Light’, March/April 2015).
death in 1997, as the Baltimore Sun’s January/February issue of IP. The article It is written: ‘Shehori remembers a
music critic, I wrote obituaries for many was about the first ever editions, published revealing incident at Carnegie Hall…’ In
of the great pianists of the 20th century last year, of two of the three Grandes fact, I relayed this story to Mr Johnson
Sonates for piano by Antoine Reicha as it was told to me by the great violinist
© Tully PoTTer ColleCTion
(1770-1836). The total has now increased Berl Senofsky in the year 2000. I could
to six sonatas, edited by me and published not have remembered it because I was not
by Symétrie of Lyon (see p8). The four new born when Vladimir Horowitz allegedly
ones are the remaining Grande Sonate walked out in the middle of Simon
in E major, a sonata in D from the same Barere’s performance of Mozart-Liszt’s
period, 1803-1805, and two in F from Réminiscences de Don Juan.
about 1800. This means that, including Secondly, when I described Simon
the Sonata in E flat, Op 43, published by Barere’s playing as ‘pearls of sheer light’, I
Henle, we now have modern editions referred to his amazing performances of
of all seven of the existing piano sonatas Liszt’s Gnomenreigen and not particularly
of Reicha’s maturity (three from his to the La leggierezza performance.
adolescence remain in manuscript and And finally, just to clarify Cembal
three, the Op 46, seem to be lost, apart d’amour’s ‘compilation’ statement.
from one movement). Cembal d’amour’s recordings of Simon
So what next for Reicha’s piano music? Barere include material from Barere’s last
Two short, experimental works from 1800- recording sessions in March 1951, only
1803 are in preparation, to be published a few weeks before his death (CD 114).
by Symétrie: Capriccio (unusual Those were never available before on a
modulations and lots of 47); and Harmonie compact disc.
(variations on a harmonic sequence, Mordecai Shehori

IP0515_007_Letters_CJ.indd 7 20/04/2015 14:36
news & events
news events
ToronTo Symphony cancelS performance by ValenTina liSiTSa
U
kraInIan-born PIanIst – but only if she kept quiet about the Ukrainian militia forces ‘subhumans’. Her
Valentina Lisitsa has had an circumstances: ‘toronto symphony is comments are often controversial, for
engagement with Canada’s toronto going to PaY ME not to PLaY because example she has compared governmental
symphony orchestra (tso) cancelled, I exercised the right to free speech [...] actions to those of nazi Germany.
allegedly because the soloist has expressed and they even threatened me against the situation in toronto became even
political views on the situation in Ukraine. saying anything about the cause of the more entangled when stewart Goodyear,
Lisitsa appealed to fans online and asked cancellation [sic]. seriously. and I thought the pianist whom the tso had recruited
them to ‘tell toronto symphony that music things like this only happen in turkey to step in for Lisitsa, announced that
can’t be silenced’. ‘If they do it once, they to Fazil say?’ [In reference to the turkish he would not be performing with the
will do it again and again, until the artists pianist who was convicted of insulting orchestra after all. ‘I found myself in the
are intimidated into voluntary censorship,’ Islam in comments published via twitter.] middle of a social media frenzy,’ Goodyear
she wrote. ‘our Lisitsa was born in kiev into a russian- wrote on his Facebook fan page. ‘Words
future will be bleak Polish family. she immigrated to the Us in of bile and hatred were hurled in my
if we allow this to the 1990s. Lisitsa was ‘spotted’ online and direction from all sides. suddenly I was
happen. Please stand now records for Decca. over the last year accused of supporting censorship, and
with me.’ she has been ‘living a double life’ as a pianist bullied into declining this engagement.’
Lisitsa claims and activist, and tweets under the nickname Lisista travelled to toronto with a view
that the tso nedoUkraïnka (‘sub-Ukrainian’), which she to find a space to play for her fans, minus
offered to cover her came up with after the Ukrainian Prime the tso. a church that had agreed to host
entire fee for the Minister arseny Yatsenyuk published a the recital pulled out, amid speculation
cancelled appearance statement calling the supporters of eastern that it had received complaints.
firST publicaTion of anToine reicha’S SonaTa in D

a
ntoInE rEICHa’s (1770-1836) movement. Well, that’s not quite right: will appeal to
sonata in D has received formal in fact, there are two fugues in the first 21st century
© tully potter collection

publication, over 200 years since it movement, and two of everything else, music lovers – it
first appeared in manuscript. including two 20-bar passages of insistent was this that first
all seven of the existing piano sonatas repeated quaver chords. drew bulley to
are first editions except for the Grande ‘the second movement is a Funeral the oeuvre.
sonate in E, which was first published March, that starts off in G major, but then, the sonata
in 1803, and the sonata in E flat op 43, in the trio section, marches off into all in D previously
published by Henle in 1971. sorts of keys. the finale is called La Folie, existed only in
the sonata in D was edited by Michael and that’s what it is: a mad whirlwind manuscript;
bulley and published by symétrie. bulley movement that alternates between a bulley put together a basic computerised
wrote an article about the publication of patter-song and a driving theme that version and worked with the publishers to
two of the three Grandes sonatas (1803) relentlessly ascends and descends the produce the final edition.
in the January/February edition of IP keyboard, finishing with 33 bars of little ‘We now have modern editions of all
(no 29). grasshopper-like D major arpeggios.’ seven of reicha’s piano sonatas that have
‘the sonata in D has so many different the work is likely to appeal to survived, apart from three pre-1790s ones
things there’s bound to be something to professional pianists and amateurs alike; from his adolescence,’ bulley explains.
appeal to every pianist,’ says bulley. ‘If you although there are some difficult passages ‘Maybe they will be done sometime, but
like playing fugues, for example, then, ten the technical level is not of the standard now we go on to other piano works by
years before beethoven tried it, reicha you’d find in, say, Liszt’s pianistic writing. reicha, some in manuscript, some in old
incorporates a fugue into a piano sonata the boldness of reicha’s musical ideas editions.’ the reicha revival continues.
8 International Piano May/June 2015
IP0515_08-09_News_CJ.indd 8 20/04/2015 17:47

news & events
Ronald StevenSon (1928-2015)
R
onald StevenSon, the his landmarks as a composer are the
composer and pianist best known song cycle Border Boyhood (with Peter
for Passacaglia on DSCH, reckoned Pears, aldeburgh 1971); Piano Concerto
to be the longest single-movement work no 1 (with the Scottish national
within the piano literature, has died. orchestra under Sir alexander Gibson,
Stevenson was a polymath composer, 1966); the violin Concerto ‘the Gypsy’
pianist and writer who will always be (commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin) and
remembered for his mammoth Passacaglia a Cello Concerto written in memory of
on DSCH, composed in 1960-62. Jacqueline du Pré (premiered in 1995 by
Paradoxically, this masterpiece was not truly Moray Welsh).
representative of the rest of his colossal on a personal note, I have never
output (toccata Press’s catalogue covered forgotten his kindness and generosity
78 pages and took three years to compile) when I was researching my biography
Scottish pianist and composer
but it is by far his best-known creation. of leopold Godowsky. We first met in
Ronald Stevenson
Stevenson was in the great line of 1972 at london’s Roundhouse during a
composer-pianists that includes liszt, rehearsal break for the world premiere
Busoni, Paderewski (his personal idol), ‘that my aesthetic belongs to two circles (at the Proms) of his Second Piano
Godowsky and Sorabji. he was an of composers who were satellites round Concerto ‘the Continents’ – the only time,
extraordinarily gifted pianist with an Busoni and delius.’ he named Peter incidentally, that any of his music has been
individual touch (and what a touch!) and Warlock, Bernard van dieren, and Sorabji. heard at the Proms. Somehow, when he
tone. For evidence, look no further than a one-time Marxist, his pacifism landed had a thousand other pressing concerns,
the two available recordings he made of him in gaol while his concomitant refusal he found time to answer my questions,
the Passacaglia. travelling the world as a to do military service led him to work in a and provide me with advice, names and
touring virtuoso, though, was not for him. colliery school in County durham. contacts as though there was all the time
It was too much of a sacrifice given his he was born into a working-class in the world. I learned afterwards that this
family and the need to sit and compose family in Blackburn, lancashire, but in was typical. I treasure the letters in his
music – which he did in his small study essence he was a true Celt: his father was idiosyncratic calligraphy, and especially
christened ‘the den of Musiquity’. a Scottish railway fireman, his mother a the dedication in the copy he sent me
his comparative lack of worldly, Welsh cotton-weaver. at heart he was a of Song in Gold Pavilions (the collection
commercial success seemed not to bother Scot. he spoke with a gentle Scottish burr. of his writings published by Sun Press):
him. he did what he had to do despite he had Scotland in his soul and, though ‘In unison of friendship and harmony of
limited interest from the powers that be a true cosmopolitan, he was a Scottish aesthetic’. Ronald Stevenson was unique.
in the musical world. While recognition composer. Since 1955, he made his home how lucky we were to have him in our
went to the likes of Maxwell davies and in West linton on the Scottish borders, midst. how sad his great talent was not
Boulez, he scoffed at their composition half and hour’s bus ride from edinburgh. more widely acknowledged while he was
techniques. ‘In Music Ho!, Constant Stevenson was composing and giving alive. his time will come.
lambert said that the way forward recitals from his early teens and at 17
in music was going to Sibelius, not began studies at the Royal Manchester Ronald Stevenson
Stravinsky,’ Stevenson once remarked. ‘he College of Music (now the RnCM) with b. 6 March 1928
was wrong, of course, but I think it would Iso ellinson who himself had been a d. 28 March 2015
have been a damn sight better if he had pupil of Felix Blumenfeld and alexander
been right.’ Glazunov. after graduating he spent six JereMy Nicholas
In many senses, Stevenson was born months in Rome studying orchestration
out of his time. the composer-pianist with Guido Guerrini at the Conservatorio
tradition had virtually died out with the di Santa Cecilia. Follow uS on TwiTTeR &
advent of recordings (although it is now In 1952 he married his long-time Facebook FoR exTRa newS,
making a comeback) but that was of no sweetheart Marjorie Spedding. anyone pReviewS, coMpeTiTionS &
consequence. he espoused unfashionable who knew Ronald also knew what a debt GiveawayS
causes, not only as an outsider but an he owed to her devotion and support
outsider who promoted other outsiders throughout his long career. With little @iP_mag
such as havergal Brian, Percy Grainger, money filling the coffers at times, it was
Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps
facebook.com/internationalpiano
norman dett, Bernard Stevens and John she who kept the Stevenson boat afloat
Foulds. ‘I feel very strongly,’ he once said, by her work as a district nurse. among

IP0515_08-09_News_CJ.indd 9 20/04/2015 17:47
c o m P e t I t Irounnsn, a
inwg
a rhdesa d s I g n I n g s &
UK USa Iyad Sughair
Iyad SUghaIr crowned SaeTbyeol Serena

ePTa UK wInner KIm wInS In dallaS
on 14 march at London’s conway Hall, saetbyeol serena Kim has won the third
some of the UK’s most promising young dallas International Piano competition,
pianists performed in the finals of the held on 11-14 march.
european Piano teachers’ association the event, hosted by the dallas
(ePta) Piano competition. nearly 300 chamber symphony (dcs), saw 19
players had taken part in first rounds, young pianists from nine different
which were scheduled from the autumn countries compete for the grand prize,
in regional centres as far apart as devon, which comprised $1,500 and a concert Saetbyeol Serena Kim
Belfast and newcastle. In February, engagement with the dcs during its
regional finals were held in cardiff, 2015/16 season.
London and manchester. Kristyan Benitez from Venezuela
the standard at the finals was claimed the second prize of $1,000
phenomenally high, and adjudicators for his performance of grieg’s Piano
Vanessa Latarche, ronan o’Hora and niel concerto in a minor, and Israeli pianist
Immelman were given a wide range of anna arazi took third place and a cash
repertoire to listen to. In the 15 and under award of $500 for her performance of
final, one performer from Leeds, tammas Prokofiev’s Piano concerto no 1. arazi
slater, tackled tippett’s second sonata, performed on a steinbuhler alternate-size
while the winner of the class, Lauren Zhang keyboard, making her the first person
© CLIVE BARDA
(a student at Birmingham conservatoire), ever to win a prize at an international
gave a breathtakingly agile, accurate and piano competition while performing an
idiomatic account of Scarbo from ravel’s alternate size action.
Gaspard de la nuit. not for nothing did one Finalists nathan ryland from the Us
of the adjudicators – in jest – ask to see the and Inyoung Kim from south Korea
performers’ birth certificates! both received honourable mentions for
after nearly six hours of intense and their performances of Prokofiev’s Piano
often thrilling listening, the overall concerto no 3 and saint-saëns’ Piano
winner was judged to be 21-year-old Iyad concerto no 2 respectively. Both receive a
sughair, a student at the royal northern cash prize of $400.
college of music in manchester, who saetbyeol completed her master’s degree Piers Lane
gave a deeply poetic performance of at the eastman school of music, where she
mozart’s intensely poetic B minor adagio. held an accompanying assistantship and Lane has a longstanding affiliation
Victor Lim, a student of graham scott served as the teaching assistant to enrico with the sIPca, having won the prize
in manchester, was awarded the angela elisi. she is currently pursuing an artist for the Best australian Pianist in the
rinsler Prize for his confident rendering diploma at the glenn gould school of the inaugural competition in 1977. He was
of the Bartók sonata. royal conservatory under marietta orlov. also one of its international jury members
other highlights included 17-year- in 2004.
old James ellis (winner of the 18 and commenting on his appointment,
under class) in Beethoven’s op 110 aUSTralIa Lane said: ‘I am absolutely delighted
to be appointed artistic director for
sonata and grainger’s In Dahomey
(Cakewalk Smasher), rowel Friers from PIerS lane To head the 2016 sIPca. I have had a long
northern Ireland in an attractive recital
of more modest grade pieces, and rhys
Sydney comPeTITIon association with the competition and
am looking forward to contributing
concessao (winner of the 12 and under Piers Lane has been appointed artistic to its refreshment and to taking it to
final) from the Purcell school in the director of the sydney International Piano even greater heights. International
finale of Beethoven’s ‘moonlight’ sonata. competition of australia (sIPca) competitions play a very significant
opportunities for future performances by for 2016. Lane is currently artistic director role in the development of young
some of these outstanding young pianists of the australian Festival of chamber pianists and their careers and also foster
will shortly be arranged by ePta. see the music, and will carry out his new role an interest in piano music among
website for full details: www.epta-uk.org. in addition to his existing position audiences, an important factor for the
Murray McLachLan during 2016. future of our art’.

IP0515_011_CompNews_CJ.indd 11 20/04/2015 14:37
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IP0315.indd 12 20/04/2015 17:08:44

educ at ion
FACULTY NEWS
IP presents the latest updates from international keyboard departments
FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA Hanns Eisler, Bidini will assume his duties raises the arm. You have to have tension,
Tyler Wottrich joins NDSU at the Colburn School in autumn of this but it’s the relationship between tension
Pianist Tyler Wottrich has joined the year. The endowed chair is the result of a and relaxation that’s important. Most
faculty at North Dakota State University $5m gift from pianist Carol Grigor. Bidini, people make the mistake of working
(NDSU). Wottrich studied with Gail who was born in Arezzo in 1968, came too hard.’
Olszewski, Lydia Artymiw and Gilbert sixth at the 1993 Van Cliburn International
Kalish, and has degrees in music and Piano Competition, which was won by his Dorothy Mavrich
mathematics from the University of compatriot Simone Pedroni. Having taught the piano for half a century
Minnesota. He has played with Ensemble at the Joliet Conservatory of Music, 40
miles south west of Chicago, Dorothy
Fabio Bodini Mavrich died in February aged 94. Mavrich
spearheaded a 1970s grassroots effort to
preserve the Rialto Square Theatre, a
local landmark, from demolition. Her
conservatory was across the street from
the Rialto, which was scheduled to be
destroyed to make room for a parking
© sv hoepcker
garage. Possessing America’s largest
hand-cut crystal chandelier and with
grandiose architectural references to
Tyler Wottrich the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, the Arc
de Triomphe in Paris and the Roman
ACJW, a partnership between Carnegie PIANISTS REMEMBERED Pantheon, the Rialto Square Theatre
Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Frank Glazer reopened in 1981 with a gala concert
Music Institute. At NDSU, Wottrich Frank Glazer, longtime artist-in- featuring pianist Victor Borge and
will build a graduate collaborative piano residence at Bates College in Lewiston, continues to thrive today.
programme and teach applied piano as Maine, died in January aged 99. He had
well as theory and analysis. given his last recital at Bates two months Joseph Alfidi
before. The subject of the 2009 biography American pianist Joseph Alfidi, who died
AINRING, GERMANY The Fountain of Youth: The Artistry in February aged 65, was a much-publicised
Ralf Halk to head Kulturverein of Frank Glazer (VDM Verlag Dr Müller), child prodigy who came third at the 1972
German pianist Ralf Halk has been Glazer studied with Artur Schnabel Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels,
named head of the Kulturverein (cultural in the 1930s. His New York debut ahead of Emanuel Ax. Among admirers
association) of Ainring in Upper Bavaria, was in 1936 at the Town Hall. He died of the young Alfidi’s playing was Arthur
Germany, near the Austrian border. Halk a month before his centenary, for Rubinstein, who particularly praised the
will use his keyboard experience to develop which he had planned a recital. Glazer young pianist’s LP of Rachmaninov’s Third
the local cultural scene. A resident of relished contemporary composers, Piano Concerto. In more recent years,
Feldkirchen, Upper Bavaria, Halk teaches favouring Copland’s Piano Variations, Alfidi taught at the Royal Conservatory of
piano, organ, coaching and conducting at Barber’s Excursions and Griffes’ Liège, Belgium.
the Musikum Salzburg. He was born in Roman Sketches. He studied anatomy,
Karlsruhe in 1968. the Alexander Technique and Otto Vera Gornostayeva
Ortmann’s The Physical Basis of Piano Touch Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA and Tone to conquer physical challenges of mainstay Vera Gornostayeva died in
Fabio Bidini inaugurates piano chair lifetime keyboard performance. Having January aged 85. Gornostayeva taught
The Colburn School in Los Angeles, survived quadruple bypass surgery at the Alexander Slobodyanik, Elena Gilels and
California has announced that the Italian age of 86, he told The Maine Magazine Dina Yoffe, among many others, and was
pianist Fabio Bidini will be the first holder in 2011: ‘I learned that if you can do it herself a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus. Her
of its Carol Grigor Piano Chair. Currently with one muscle, don’t do it with three. many recordings for Philips and other
teaching at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik I learned how not to tense a muscle that labels won international acclaim. 

IP0515_013_FacultyNews_CJ.indd 13 20/04/2015 16:58
Programme2015.ai 1 12/02/2015 16:55:48
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IP0315.indd 14 17/04/2015 16:55:41

CommeNt
The ‘tinny emptiness’ of Liszt

Jeremy Nicholas writes playing. Look at how the Second Piano
Concerto is characterised: ‘barnstorming
rare events indeed. A decade ago when
I was asked to write a book on the 50
in defence of franz rhetoric […] military rodomontade […]

played with a delicate, quiet tenderness
greatest composers, my cultured, music-
loving editor questioned my inclusion of
Liszt’s piano music that the notes didn’t really deserve […] the
tinny emptiness of the music.’ our critic
Liszt as a suitable subject. ‘Is he really a
great composer?’ he queried. ‘Certainly,’ I
would surely be aware of the A major countered. ‘No question. one of the most
Concerto’s originality and inventiveness. influential of the 19th century. Who would
‘B
So why not enlighten readers and point
efore the LSo Performed out that, for example, it is a work of
[mahler’s Sixth], they offered unique conception that was revised,
another piece of barnstorming honed and polished several times after its
romantic rhetoric in the shape of the initial conception in 1839/40 and was not
Second Piano Concerto by franz Liszt. to be published in its final version until
the soloist was Alice Sara ott, who despite 20 years later? or that its structurally
her sylph-like frame made the military ambiguous single-movement form is not
rodomontade of Liszt’s piece ring out unlike a symphonic poem (one genre
with heroic force. As if to prove that this among many invented by Liszt)? the ‘tinny
is not really her thing, she played the emptiness’ of Liszt’s labours as set forth
diffident opening pages with a delicate, in this bit of ‘romantic rhetoric’ has
quiet tenderness that the notes didn’t always remained popular with the public.
really deserve. All her efforts, and the And why has it attracted great pianists
deft accompaniment by the orchestra down the generations, among them
under conductor Gianandrea Noseda, ferruccio Busoni, emil von Sauer, Nelson
couldn’t disguise the tinny emptiness freire, Lazar Berman, Sviatoslav richter,
of the music. When ott came back on John ogdon, Claudio Arrau, Grigory
stage for her encore, she apologised for Ginzburg, Julius Katchen, Jorge Bolet
almost destroying the piano, and the and egon Petri? If it’s good enough for
limpid, graceful way she played the Second them, it’s good enough for me – and it
romanza of robert Schumann suggested should be good enough for any other
she was apologising for Liszt’s concerto music lover too.
d
as well.’ you put in his place if it were between him
the quote above is part of a recent ISdAIN for LISzt ANd hIS and someone else?’ ‘heinrich Schütz,’
concert review in the Daily Telegraph by music is, of course, nothing came the reply. I’m pleased to say I won
one of the UK’s leading music critics. It new. With the notable exception the argument.
is not untypical of the view of Liszt held of richard Strauss, the Austro-German Liszt was not only a great composer.
by him and others of a certain mindset. lot (mahler, Schoenberg et al), with I think he was one of the great men
their love and knowledge of classical their influential grip on the course of of the 19th century in any sphere. his
music is as deep and passionate as it is classical music, had little time for him. championship of struggling composers, his
wide and erudite, but they don’t get they viewed Liszt primarily as a virtuoso encouragement of the younger generation
Liszt. they get mahler all right. they get pianist and a superficial composer who (composers and performers) and his
Bach, Beethoven, Britten, Boulez and indulged in the near-criminal offence generosity in not charging his students
Birtwistle. these are the untouchables. of writing ornamentation for its own for lessons was musical philanthropy on a
Criticise them at your peril. Liszt, though, sake (the french and russians were more grand scale. how he managed to do what
is one of those composers who it is safe to generous: one can see the influence of Liszt he did in one lifetime remains baffling. his
sneer at or dismiss entirely. in the works of debussy, ravel, Glinka, achievements in any single role, whether
Let’s leave aside the improbability of Balakirev, rachmaninov, Lyapunov and pianist, composer, conductor, writer or
Alice Sara ott apologising for the concerto many others). right up until the 1950s, teacher, would have been enough for a
she had just chosen to perform. her Lisztian in some quarters he was viewed as a normal person. Quantity does not, of
credentials are well known and I doubt charlatan, a meretricious showman, a course, equal quality, but there is little
she would waste her time on a composer lothario whose music was empty, frivolous that is tinny or empty in the extraordinary
whose music she felt apologetic about and non-authentic. All-Liszt recitals were creative output of this genius. 

IP0515_015_Comment_CJ.indd 15 20/04/2015 14:39
blossom communication
Khatia Buniatishvili András Schiff

Jan Lisiecki Grigory Sokolo
Menahem Pressler Daniil Trifonov
Morningside Music Bridge

at Mount Royal Conservatory
July 2-31, 2015
Calgary, Canada
An international
classical music festival
and training program
for the world’s best
emerging young artists.
Apply by Feb. 18, 2015
mtroyal.ca/musicbridge
SUPPORTED BY
IP0315.indd 16 17/04/2015 16:55:42

o n e t o wat c h
fugues and fishes

french pianist célimène daudet is an intellectually curious
musician on an adventure in counterpoint. By Claire Jackson
B
ach’s last mIghty, unfInIshed masterPIece performed by the remix ensemble casa da música. If that wasn’t
the Art of Fugue is something of a musical enigma. daring enough, the chosen venue was monaco’s historic aquarium.
the composer never specified that the work should be daudet, unfazed, was kind enough to speak to me on the morning
played on a solo keyboard instrument. the music, a deeply complex of the concert.‘I think the acoustic [in the Oceanographic museum]
exploration of counterpoint, may well have been intended as an is good for Bach because it is a little bit – [she searches for the right
exercise for the mind, rather than the fingers. Its relentless nature word] – resonant? like a church. But you won’t see the fish.’ (In fact,
ensures there is no light relief for the performer or listener; the I spent a very pleasant interval with the sharks.)
work expands like a dividing cell for nearly an hour and a half, until daudet’s performance was one of those special, one-off musical
it comes to an abrupt halt midway through the final, unfinished events that concert goers spend their lives searching for. It was
quadruple fugue. long and arduous but as our ears adjusted we experienced clarity
It’s a work that french pianist célimène daudet knows and beauty. daudet’s dedication, stamina and sheer technique
inside and out. daudet recorded the Art of Fugue three years ago were breathtaking. Perhaps there were shades of one of her
(en.celimene-daudet.com), before angela hewitt’s recent hit idols, glenn gould (even he did not perform the Art of Fugue).
recording for hyperion put the work back on the map. however, however, such musical marathons are not to everyone’s taste;
it wasn’t until a chance meeting with marc monnet, enterprising some audience members shifted in their seats, my neighbour
checked his emails (until his wife elbowed him in the ribs) and
there was the odd rustle and murmur. hewitt said of the Art of
Célimène Daudet performs The Art of Fugue Fugue that ‘its perfection is such that when I perform it, even the
at the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo slightest cough feels like a stain on a beautiful canvas’. she makes
an excellent point.
d
audet, 38, studIed at the ParIs cOnservatOIre
and is still based in that city, when she’s not travelling.
‘I had really good teachers but I don’t define myself
by a teacher,’ daudet says. this is probably the first time an
interviewee has not jumped to name-check a famous mentor; I
am impressed. daudet’s inspiration comes from elsewhere. ‘I learn
from my music colleagues,’ she says. ‘some pianists say that they
prefer to play just solo or chamber music, but I play fifty per cent
solo and fifty per cent chamber.’
to that end, daudet is about to embark on a major recording
© ALAIN HANEL
project for the fledgling label nomadmusic. ‘We are recording

the Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano. It’s an interesting
label as they are curious about new technologies; it’s a cd and
video recording.’ and is she happy to be filmed in performance?
artistic director of the Printemps des arts de monte-carlo (see pp62- ‘If it’s what people want then I say let’s do it,’ she smiles. ‘after
63), that daudet was given the opportunity to perform the work in that, I have a recital programme in asia where I’ll perform in china
its entirety. ‘Other directors are afraid and want little pieces of it,’ she and singapore.’
says. ‘some people say it is cold and dry. It’s not really written to be daudet is a quietly determined artist with a first-rate mind. like
performed – it’s very difficult for the pianists’ hands and it does not most touring pianists, she often has to cope with limited practice
feel natural. the goldbergs were written for keyboard but the Art time on the instrument itself, and has amassed various ways to
of Fugue is more like a monument, architecture. It’s a strange trip.’ study en route – mostly, she admits, ‘playing the music in my head,
the trip became even stranger under monnet’s careful with and without the score’. ‘It’s difficult to be alone and practising
curation. the Art of Fugue was paired with Anamorphoses, Johannes alone is really hard,’ she concludes. ‘Playing with another musician
schöllhorn’s abstract rendering of the Bach fugues, which was makes you more open minded.’ 

IP0515_017_OnetoWatch_CJ.indd 17 20/04/2015 17:45
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Sunday 7 June 2015 at 4.00 pm
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall Piano Festival
Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodríguez performs music by
Albéniz, Gershwin, Villa-Lobos, Lecuona, Moleiro, Ruiz, Astor 2015 Competition. The Sixth
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Photography by Antolín Sánchez
IP0315.indd 18 17/04/2015 16:55:43

d I a ry o f a n ac c o m Pa n I s t
Diary
of an
accompanist
In which Michael Round samples range of the cor anglais?’ he asks. mention
text-book answer. ‘oh no,’ is reply, ‘range
the ‘cor!’ factor d to d, one octave; all trills and tremolos
impossible. that’s what I tell young
composers. anything for a quiet life.’ recall
THURSDAY UnUsUal event: am donizetti concertino. foresee getting to countless ungrateful or unplayable piano
to accompany cor anglais auditions for know piece intimately – first two minutes parts from times past, and consider he has
top london orchestra. Ponder repertoire. anyway – before day is out. a point.
composers generally save the instrument day proceeds: donizetti prevails, lunch ends. Back to business. next two
for doleful/funereal atmosphere, so other selections including not sibelius’s auditionees arrive at once: first one has
anticipate day full of long notes, easy and Swan but saint-saëns’s, perfect for the thoughtfully brought unaccompanied
hopefully not too boring. instrument in terms of range and mood. warm-up pieces, leaving self free for
reach venue, meet panel, familiar Piano part familiar enough: ponder, as so prolonged backstage talk-through with
faces from own orchestral keyboard days. often, why arrangers (for any instrument) second, extremely pretty and gratifyingly
ask ‘How many victims, sorry, clients?’ simply copy original first piano part nervous. tlc session beckons, prematurely
‘fourteen,’ is answer. Blink. ‘and another without ever noticing that whole piece interrupted by panellist. ‘We need to hear
twenty tomorrow. and that’s just the ones should end on full G major chord rather previous player for tuning with piano,’ he
we’ve called: We had 200 applications than just two notes. fifth auditionee of day says, ‘Would you mind doing ravel with
altogether.’ Wince. so much talent is the first not to complain about reeds. him? you said you knew it. We’ve got a full
(presumably), so little available work. Wonder how many cor anglais players score.’ suddenly feel like auditionee myself.
scan orchestral extracts – am not required
to accompany them but interesting
nonetheless. Usual suspects, including Wonder how many cor anglais players consider
rodrigo (Concierto d’Aranjuez), sibelius
(Swan of Tuonela), stravinsky (Rite of Spring, alternative careers as reed-makers
prelude) – and ravel Piano concerto slow
movement; idly mention this to panel as consider alternative careers as reed-makers: final auditionee arrives. day has been
familiar warhorse from own concerto- demand presumably inexhaustible. kind so far, but come-uppance imminent:
playing days. also respighi (Pines of Rome scan day’s schedule: morning’s last- warm-up piece is Quartet (with string
finale), famous for oft-forgotten accidentals scheduled auditionee female, and well trio) by Jean françaix, composer notorious
at ends of very long bars, similar to places known for generous ‘cor!’ factor. secluded for high speeds and fast-moving complex
in Bach fugues exasperatingly familiar post-audition lunch à deux beckons. harmonies. Worse, auditionee only has
from piano lessons. sadly, has cried off, place being taken by score, not piano reduction. Poor choice
first auditionee offers donizetti afternoon candidate arriving early, ready in all: consider outright rejection, but
concertino, obvious choice among limited to play immediately, and emphatically auditionee also tearfully apologetic, and
repertoire but in fact poor audition piece male. lunch companionable nevertheless. very beautiful. cross fingers, and hope panel
IllustratIon © ursula round
since all in high register, where orchestrators compliment him on warm-up piece, will be either in very good mood or else fast
seldom write. Preliminary talk-through unremarkable sonata movement by Pierre- asleep. ‘ah,’ wide-awake panel tells me, ‘We
backstage (to ascertain tempo, etc) replaced max dubois but whose every en-route only want to hear her orchestral extracts. see
by painstaking selection of correct reed. tempo-change is dictated by cor, not piano, you tomorrow.’ deliverance. leave slowly,
Performance oK, though stopped (as totally eliminating risk of setting wrong hear auditionee start respighi. Wish had
expected) after two minutes. leave stage speeds in performance. ‘ah, the perfect had time to warn her of accidentals. too late
to rehearse with next auditionee, currently pianist-proof audition piece,’ he says. ‘took now, but never mind: another 20 potential
wrestling with reeds. Warm-up piece also me ages to find. and do you know the real ‘cors!’ beckon tomorrow. e

IP0515_019_Diary_CJ.indd 19 20/04/2015 14:40
c ov e r s tory
© Marie staggat/dg
IP0515_020-023_Coverstory_CJ.indd 20 20/04/2015 17:02

c ov e r s tory
In harmony
Pianists Alice sara ott and francesco tristano
seek to thrill as they embrace the provocative side
of four-hand repertoire. Rebecca Schmid reports from Berlin
A o
lIce sArA ott fIrst mAde could do what they wanted. It was a time tt ANd trIstANo met fIve
a name for herself as a precocious when people came together around the years ago at a conference in
virtuoso versed in core romantic creation of art – which is the ultimate london organised by deutsche
repertoire (issue 6, march/April 2011). dream. today, everything revolves around Grammophon, where both hold contracts.
However, in recent times she has entered money and time. It is important to make the two quickly became friends, attending
unpredictable collaborations. two years people aware of this message.’ each other’s concerts as often as possible.
ago, I found myself sitting on the floor of a realeased in september 2014, Scandale ott originally invited tristano to play the
converted swimming pool in Berlin as the has brought together two artists who Bach double concertos for a recording
German-Japanese pianist and luxembourg couldn’t be more different. ott is best project that never materialised. When the
native francesco tristano, both wearing known for playing music by composers two subsequently discussed the possibility
1920s-style fedoras, tore through a four- such as chopin and Grieg; tristano is into of a complete album for duo, The Rite of
hand arrangement of ravel’s La valse. Baroque and electronic beats. she plays Spring – which stravinsky himself arranged
the work would become the last track
on their recently released album Scandale,
a tribute to the impresario sergei
diaghilev, who famously commissioned ‘The breathing of the artist, the sound of the
provocative works such as stravinsky’s
The Rite of Spring. In this spirit, ott and pedal, the hammers inside the instrument –
tristano went the full stretch to market
the album (deutsche Grammophon 479
that is what is beautiful and individual’
3541). one image shows the young pianists
strapped to a concrete floor with pink
tape, both barefoot in tight black trousers a steinway; he plays a yamaha. But it is for four hands – the theme of 1920s Paris
and white t-shirts. exactly those contrasts that have nurtured quickly came to the table. But both agreed
When I meet 26-year-old ott in a café the partnership. that the programme wouldn’t be complete
in Berlin’s mitte district, she appears Before teaming up with tristano, ott without a contemporary work, since
less dangerous, wearing no make-up, an avoided public appearances in four-hand diaghilev revolutionised his era. enter
elegantly knotted silk scarf and a cream music, with the exception of one occasion tristano, a composer of both classical and
coloured sweater. ‘Nowadays it is much alongside her younger sister, mona Asuka electronic music, who penned A Soft Shell
more difficult to provoke,’ she says. ott. ‘We tried it once with a presenter,’ Groove Suite just for the occasion.
‘Nudity isn’t shocking. the only thing that she recalls. ‘It isn’t what we want, at As the title implies, it is a work driven by
still shocks people is criminality. Besides least for now.’ But the partnership with groovy rhythms, with interlocking textures
that, people have seen everything.’ ott tristano complements her solo career. evoking detroit techno. ‘It has a very four-
believes the art world today could learn ‘the funny thing is that when one plays on-the-floor feel,’ says tristano by phone
from the explorations of diaghilev with alone, there is a certain boundary where from Barcelona. ‘It is a nice counterweight
his troupe, the Ballets russes. ‘He gave his the body stops. But when there are two of to The Rite of Spring, which is highly complex
artists a free space that wasn’t dependent us, there is none. When one person goes and virtuosic. I wanted to write something ⌂
on commercial success. that means they higher, the other tries to go even higher.’ a little softer, a little easier on the listener.

c ov e r s tory
⌂ It maintains that dance feeling.’ ott also first is to trade the melody back and forth the music’s intimacy. the recording
believes the work is a perfect match, to create the repetitions and variations. captures ambient sounds both inside and
calling techno ‘the trend of our times.’ It But I decided ultimately to be the groove outside the piano. ott admits that while
was also the most challenging part of the machine – I play snare drum throughout she was sceptical when Arnalds’ request
project for her. ‘It’s a genre I like but had the piece, growing from a single note to an first arrived, his ideas ultimately convinced
no physical experience with,’ she admits. ‘I octave to a chord – and Alice plays all 17 her. ‘When one thinks back to the time
understood it in my head but didn’t know variations of the melody, sometimes by less of chopin, things were performed in
how to implement it. But Francesco was orthodox means. I wanted to have her really smaller spaces,’ she says. ‘there were
patient with me. I almost had a breakdown shine in the treble.’ ott considers the work no concert halls for 3,000 people, there
the day before the concert, and he said, demanding but also fun. ‘All the colours weren’t the instruments we need today
“Alice, I think you need a drink!”’ And are created by orchestral instruments, to fill such spaces, and they were certainly
then everything worked better. Now the beginning with the flute, then the clarinet, not all perfectly tuned. one heard much
piece is a part of me.’ oboe and everything else – it becomes more: the breathing of the artist, the
tristano, in turn, had difficulty easing more and more bombastic, and to play that sound of the pedal, the hammers inside
into the melodies of ravel’s La valse, a on the piano is a huge challenge. But when the instrument. that is what is beautiful
sardonic waltz that Diaghilev decided not we started rehearsing, we asked ourselves and individual.’
Although the project includes elements
of crossover, ott is quick to reassert herself
as a core classical artist. ‘the parts that I
© Stephane-paul charpentier/dg
contributed are just chopin on the piano,’

she says. ‘We did a lot of sound experiments,
but in the end I only play what he wrote,
so it’s not a new direction. Although I
very much respect my colleagues who
do crossover because I think it’s a way
of reaching a new audience.’ she is also
committed to new concert formats that
can attract uninitiated listeners: she and
Arnalds performed the concert premiere
of the chopin Project alongside DJ
acts during Deutsche Grammophon’s
yellow lounge album launch series at
the Konzerthaus Berlin last March, with
coloured lighting and electronic dance
music creating a brash prelude to the
album’s hushed sound worlds. ‘you all look
tired!’ she said through the microphone,
suggesting that the audience members take
a seat on the floor.
to stage, denouncing the work as a mere how we could change the colours so that it ott considers it the artist’s responsibility
‘portrait of a ballet’. While tristano takes builds into this incredible force at the end. to break down barriers and false prejudices.
the bass line, or second piano, in most of It is a very, very physical programme. We ‘there are often too many rules in concert
the programme with ott, here he plays wouldn’t be able to pull through without a halls: one can’t talk; many people think
the upper voice. ‘this viennese back- lot of espresso and chocolate.’ you have to get dressed up. It is so tense that
o
and-forth tempo bending has a different I can understand why young people would
feeling from steady groove,’ he says. ‘I love tt hAs Put herselF oN the think classical music is only something for
to play that cheesy melody.’ In a bold move line in another fashion with people who have money and knowledge.
that drew its share of scepticism from her most recent release, The that isn’t true. education comes with
the duo’s friends and colleagues, tristano Chopin Project. the album, on Deutsche listening and appropriation of knowledge
has also created an arrangement of Grammophon sister label Mercury classics, as one listens to more and more. It is of
ravel’s widely performed and sometimes weaves together the ethereal electronic course easier to communicate that in a
choreographed Boléro, which features as scores of Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds club setting, where the younger generation
part of the duo’s ‘scandale’ recital tour with arrangements of chopin as well as trusts itself to come in. I think that it is
(but isn’t on the record). straight performances of his piano music. the first step.’ the pianist believes that, if
‘there are essentially two ways to ott performs not on a steinway, but on old given the chance, classical musicians can
transcribe it,’ maintains tristano. ‘the bar pianos, an element she believes captures reach young listeners just like rock stars.

© Marie staggat/dg c ov e r s tory
‘When one person

goes higher, the other
tries to go even higher’
‘I mean, Liszt and chopin were wilder to understand it up here first,’ she says, I will be able to invest myself more to it
than the rolling stones,’ she says. ‘People pointing to her head. ‘I of course practiced in the future.’
can either connect to lyrics, or lifestyle or a lot as a child and don’t have to work Meanwhile, whenever possible, she
even the clothes of the artist. that is why on technique for hours at a time now. so takes time to enjoy her recently adopted
they listen to albums and go to concerts. much happens in the head and heart, and home city. ‘what I like about Berlin is that
Because what does one ultimately want the connection between them. that is nobody cares,’ ott reflects. ‘there are so
from music? to be moved.’ something I learned young.’ many cultures that one doesn’t stand out.
o
when away from the piano, ott prefers It is a good balance to all the jet-setting,
tt Puts her Ideas to work non-classical genres for casual listening when one is the centre of attention. For me
as a visual artist as well, posting – especially when her own instrument it is very important to have moments when
imaginative sketches on her is involved. ‘the worst is when you’re I can stand on the ground and be just like
twitter feed. while rehearsing with the invited to a dinner party and piano any other person, with all their flaws. you
London symphony orchestra last February, music is playing in the background!’ she can do that easily here. you’re just a small
she depicted herself in conversation with admits. ‘I lose my appetite. I am more into particle in this tangle of different religions,
the conductor Gianandrea Noseda, whose Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, tom waits, cultures and mentalities. It is always an
features she recreated with astounding Leonard cohen, also jazz sometimes.’ issue to arrange one’s schedule so that
accuracy: ‘where is Liszt?’ he asks since moving to Berlin three years ago, she there is time for new things. I am also not
from the podium. ‘Busy flirting!’ says a has engaged with both electronic dance someone who plays one hundred concerts
cartoonish figure, who conjures an image music and contemporary music. although in a year. I experienced that once, in the
of the composer surrounded by fawning she was exposed to composers such as negative sense. I think happiness means
ladies. the pianist considers drawing the kurtág and Ligeti at a young age and, in something very different for everyone, also
opportunity to do capture ‘a snapshot of 2000, performed a world premiere by in terms of career.’
the moment’, while also attributing the German composer wilhelm killmayer, she and with that, ott gathers her things
hobby to ‘hyperactive hands’. ‘whenever has yet to dive into 21st-century repertoire. and heads out onto the quiet street,
I talk on the phone, I notice that I’ve ‘there are so many great composers,’ her inconspicuous presence still difficult
scribbled something. My hands always she says, citing recent encounters, both to reconcile with the image of the
have to do something!’ while she dreams musical and personal, with esa-Pekka onstage artist. 
of taking a painting course, she believes salonen, Magnus Lindberg, thomas
her personality type is better suited to adès and George Benjamin. ‘the only Alice Sara Ott and Francesco Tristano bring
shorter-term activities. ‘the problem is problem is that one has to invest a lot of their ‘Scandale’ recital to the Queen Elizabeth
that I don’t have a lot of patience. I can’t time and energy because it is new territory: Hall on 11 June as part of the International
sit for ten hours at the piano, either. I have there are no clues, no recordings. I hope Piano Series at the Southbank Centre

16096 Steinway International Piano_Layout 1 17/04/2015 15:52 Page 1
“The Steinway is not only an

instrument, it is a work of art of the
first rank." Christoph Eschenbach
WWW.STEINWAYHALL.CO.UK
For information on Steinway & Sons pianos or to arrange a private appointment to visit
our London showrooms, please call 0207 487 3391 or email info@steinway.co.uk
IP0315.indd 24 17/04/2015 17:31:45

produc ts
Piano
world
Steinway has unveiled its new player piano system,
the Steinway Spirio, which brings unparalleled
reproduction of concert performances into living
rooms at the touch of a button. IP reports
S
teInway haS revealed one
of its most ambitious projects to date:
a modern-day player piano system
that makes ‘live’ performances by Steinway
artists available at the touch of a button.
Steinway has referred to the development
as ‘the company’s most significant product
innovation in over 70 years’.
although manufacturers such as yamaha
have offered in-built ‘self-playing’ options on
acoustic and hybrid instruments for several
years, Steinway had, until recently, resisted
the trend. with companies such as Mason
& hamlin offering to retrofit instruments
with Pianodisc – a system that enables
owners to control their pianos via iPads and
other devices – the demand for accurate
reproduction of performances is on the rise.
the new Spirio system – coyly dubbed
‘the world’s finest player piano system’ – the featured music will comprise a new with routine maintenance and occasional
will be available on select Steinway grand catalogue of recordings from Steinway’s updates, the Spirio system should last the
pianos, and promises to offer delicate enviable roster of 1,700 artists performing full life-time of the piano.
pedalling, subtle phrasing, soft trills and across a range of genres; the player system the system is currently available on three
thundering fortissimos. the system is will include contemporary music, classical existing piano models: Model B (Music
said to replicate the damper and keyshift and jazz. Crucially, the entire catalogue will room Grand, available worldwide), Model
pedalling with minute accuracy, following be provided to Steinway Spirio owners at M (Medium Grand, available in select US
the pianist’s depressions and releases no additional charge – a first for the player and Canadian markets), and Model o
smoothly and precisely over the entire piano industry. Steinway will also throw in (living room Grand, available in select
range of motion. Spirio will be in-built a complimentary iPad to wirelessly control european and asian markets). Pricing
specifically for Steinway instruments and is the Spirio system. is available upon request through local
therefore not available as a retrofit option. as with other player systems, the Steinway & Sons dealers and Steinway
the technology was created in partnership components do not affect the touch, sound & Sons retail locations.
with wayne Stahnke, an innovator in or outward appearance of the piano in
the field of contemporary player pianos. any way. the manufacturer claims that www.steinwayspirio.com

IP0515_025_027_Products_CJ.indd 25 20/04/2015 17:03
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PRODUC TS
The latest innovations for pianists and pianos

KLANGSPIEGEL
This rather unusual-looking construction is not a piece of modern art; it
is a sound reflector that is designed to move the sound in the direction
of the player. The idea is that the pianist feels in the midst of the music,
with a more intense sound experience.
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PIANO COVER
Bia Wunderer’s beautiful piano covers – or ‘capes’ –
draw on the artist’s love of colour and texture. They are
double-faced with a layer of cotton in between to give
body and weight; the outer layer is a combination of
silk and velvet. Bespoke designs can be created to suit a
piano lover’s requirements.
Bia Wunderer | biart@web.de
THE COCTEAU MODEL

Bösendorfer’s latest limited-edition release is an
ode to French artist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963).
The 12-piece series was showcased for the first
time at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt in April.
The Austrian piano makers
worked with Menton Music
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features a silk-screen image of
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SOLEMATE
It’s never too early to adopt best posture
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IP0515_025_027_Products_CJ.indd 27 20/04/2015 16:18
compet it ion r eport
LIFe WITh LIszT

Mariam Batsashvili has become the first woman to win the
triennial International Franz Liszt Piano Competition since its
inception in 1986. Eric Schoones reports from the tenth instalment
T
he TenTh Franz LIszT
‘Liszt’s music is Piano Competition, which ran
from 26 October to 8 november
not a circus act of in Utrecht, the netherlands, was
fortunate to find a winner like Mariam
fast notes and Batsashvili. her charismatic appearance,
natural and poignant interpretations
octaves. He is and varied tone quality enchanted jury
members and the many Liszt enthusiasts
such a profound who came to Utrecht. even as a child,
Batsashvili (born 1993, Georgia) dreamt
thinker and of a peripatetic life as a virtuoso.
philosopher’ having previously won first prize at the
International Franz Liszt Competition
for Young Pianists in Weimar in 2011,
she arrived in Utrecht accompanied by a
loyal fan club and natalia natsvlishvili,
her first teacher, who still coaches her. ‘I
will continue to study with her as long as I
can,’ says Batsashvili. ‘she knows me better
than anyone.’
Batsashvili is also studying with Grigory
Gruzman at the hochschule für Musik in
Weimar, where she now lives. ‘Weimar is a
great city. I feel happy there. You can meet
Liszt, Wagner, Goethe, schiller and Bach,
so to speak, on every street corner!’
although Batsashvili plays a wide
repertoire, Liszt found a special place in
her heart at a very early age. ‘I completely
fell in love with him. Playing Liszt is like a
necessity of life for me, and it really hurts
me to see that he’s so misunderstood. I hope
this will change because his music is not a
circus act of fast notes and octaves. he is
such a profound thinker and philosopher.
and his sonata, for example, for me, is a
Divina Commedia in music.’ Literature
being her other passion, she has now read
Dante’s magnum opus five times.
Batsashvili took not only the first prize
of €20,000 (which also comes with an
IP0515_028-029_Comp Report_CJ.indd 28 20/04/2015 14:44

compet it ion r eport
extensive career development programme)

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
and the press prize (€5,000) but also a new congratulates Batsashvili
prize – that of the junior jury (€1,500),
group of judges aged 12 to 18. For this,
the Liszt Competition joined forces with
the Young Pianist Foundation (YPF),
another important Dutch institution,
in a joint effort to help young, talented
pianists. Winners of the YPF Competition
played at lunchtime in Utrecht, while
a hundred students participated in
workshops conducted by jury members
including Paul Badura-Skoda and Leslie
Howard, using a wide range of historic
instruments that were on display during
the whole competition. This fascinating
exhibition had been sourced from various
collections in France, Germany and the to the programme of a piano competition
Netherlands, and included two Erards (exceptions being the Grieg Competition
from 1795 and 1828, a Graf from 1827 and in Bergen, Norway and the Honens
a Boisselot identical to the instrument Competition in Calgary), though quite a few,
Liszt used on his tours. Also on display notably the Van Cliburn, Hamamatsu and
was a Bechstein from the Liszt Museum Tel Aviv Arthur rubinstein, have included
in Weimar, and Liszt’s last Steingraeber chamber music with instrumentalists,
piano from 1873. Another rarity was the ranging from duo to quintet.
piano that Liszt, during one of his visits Gijsbertsen, recipient of the
to the Netherlands, played on for the Glyndebourne John Christie Award and
Dutch King Willem III. All this was made the Lieder prize at the International Vocal
possible by the opening in July 2014, after Competition’s-Hertogenbosch (now also a
years of delays and much discussion, of partner of the Liszt Competition), shared
the spacious Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht’s his impression of the finalists. ‘Peter
grand new concert hall. Klimo, who took second prize, was the
T
Peter
most relaxed, taking time for a coffee one
Gijsbertsen
HIS YEAr, THE CoMPETITIoN minute before we had to go on, saying,
continued its experiment with “If you don’t know it by now, it’s simply
new media. one innovation was to too late.” Mengjie Han [third prize] – the ability of the pianist to communicate.
announce the names of the 24 candidates who was the most risk-taking by trying That is very important. As a pianist, you
selected for the quarter-finals in a YouTube new colours – I liked very much. Mariam have to get along with conductors and
and Facebook film clip. Additionally, Batsashvili was extremely well prepared, orchestras and even if you only play solo
a special app for smartphones made it if perhaps a bit timid. But that is still to recitals, you still have to communicate
possible for Liszt fans worldwide to cast be preferred above the candidates who with the public.’
their votes for the audience prize. However, know exactly what they want, leaving no So might the competition just as well
the webcast shown in the hall on a huge room for dialogue.’ Gijsbertsen found a have had a violinist play some Liszt with
screen failed to add a more profound huge difference between the candidates the candidates? Gijsbertsen laughs. ‘You
experience to the music: the image was not and the specialised Lieder accompanists he know, singers might be the most difficult
synchronised with the live sound. usually works with. ‘They bring so much type of musician to work with, so perhaps
Another novelty in this year’s to a rehearsal; so many ideas, and they also it’s not a bad choice. And in collaborating,
competition was introduced in the take the initiative. Knowing the repertoire you can share the tension. It might feel
semi-finals. Candidates had to perform and the special collaboration between less like an examination. I think most
two songs by Liszt with soprano Maria singer and pianist inside out, they realise a candidates enjoyed that. They all did their
Estefanía Perdomo Nogales and tenor Peter singer is also searching, and that travelling best to really make music.’ 
Gijsbertsen. Gustav Alink, director of the together takes you further. But still, if you
Alink-Argerich Foundation, an independent are a great musician, you can do all that www.liszt.nl
worldwide information and service centre just by looking at the score.’ www.mariambatsashvili.com
for musicians and competitions, told me Gijsbertsen feels that adding the Lieder www.petergijsbertsen.nl
that a song accompaniment is rarely added to the competition is a good idea. ‘It shows www.alink-argerich.org

IP0515_028-029_Comp Report_CJ.indd 29 20/04/2015 17:05
ANTHONY GILBERT
Sir Arnold Bax
Fand Music Press: The First Edition Publishers
Piano music Book
Four Pieces IDEALA: The collected
The Happy Forest poems and some early
love letters of Arnold Bax
In the Night (Dermot O’Byrne), edited
Legend by Colin Scott-Sutherland 50 years of piano music
Nympholept “[IDEALA] is truly a beautiful book
Two recent CD releases on the Prima Facie label
Salzburg Sonata and an extraordinarily important contain almost all Gilbert’s piano music:
Forthcoming first one” —Richard R. Adams
The Sir Arnold Bax Website CHIMES IN TIME (PFCD 013)
editions this Spring Pianist/composer Panayiotis Demopoulos
Scherzo
performs eight short poetic pieces, along with works
Suite and Variations on by Goehr, Ellis and himself
the name Gabriel Fauré
Fand also publishes
~
an extensive range of PIANO MUSIC by Anthony Gilbert
contemporary scores (PFCD 007)
Pianists Richard Casey and Ian Buckle
FAND MUSIC PRESS perform the 3 Sonatas and a range of shorter pieces,
www.fandmusic.com a disc voted among the Sunday Times Top Ten
contemporary releases for 2012
IP0315.indd 30 17/04/2015 16:55:45

ro ger sachev er ell cok e
Simon Callaghan pores over source

material in the British Library
British
brilliance
roger sacheverell coke (1912-1972) was an under-appreciated
composer during his career and deprived of posthumous fame –
until now. Jeremy Nicholas speaks to simon callaghan, who has
made a world premiere recording of coke’s Preludes and variations
T
he hIsTory of musIc Is of coke’s Preludes and, in the 1980s, he tells me. ‘several people had looked
littered with the names of alexander Baillie and Piers lane in at the scores and weren’t particularly
composers whose stars briefly shone the cello sonata No 2), nothing of his interested. and when I played through his
and were then extinguished. But what of extensive output appeared on disc until 24 Preludes I also didn’t get it. But then
those who laboured in obscurity during 2013, when em records released a disc of something a few months later made me
their lifetimes, without significant public the violin sonata in D minor with rupert go back and play them again – and they
recognition, and who have been deprived marshall-luck and matthew Pickard. somehow made more sense. a few other
of even posthumous fame? such a figure Now, a second disc of coke’s music is friends have had the same experience of
was the english pianist and composer about to be released. The enterprising the music not immediately opening up
roger sacheverell coke (1912-1972). British pianist simon callaghan has to them. on the other hand, there are
little of his music was (or, indeed, is) recorded the 24 Preludes, op 33-34 (1938 pieces that are immediately appealing
published. No commercial recording of and 1941) and 15 variations and finale and charming. his harmonic language is
anything was made during his lifetime. in c minor, op 37 (1939). It will be quite advanced and it took me a while. I
Though there were several broadcasts of callaghan’s fifth disc for the somm label. ‘I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. ⌂
his work (moura lympany in a couple was given the music by a friend of a friend,’ There’s a lot of detail that is reflected in the

IP0515_031-035_Coke_CJ.indd 31 20/04/2015 17:07
⌂ scores. For every note there are so many example, the similarly unhyphenated his friend) and he determined to become a
different details and sometimes conflicting Vaughan Williams). He was one of two concert pianist and composer. From then
dynamics for each hand or within voices.’ children, and the only son, of Lieutenant on, nothing but music mattered to him.
The family archive is in Chesterfield Langton Coke of the 1st Battalion Irish In 1933 a Torquay newspaper reporter
Library, dumped there when the house Guards, who was killed aged 36 in the first tracked him down at the Pavilion: ‘Seated
in which Coke lived was sold. ‘He only Battle of Ypres in 1914. Roger was just two at the grand piano with his flaxen hair
died in 1972 and yet these albums are years old and inherited the family estate. streaming over his face and eyes in a
disintegrating, just wrapped in paper, The Cokes can trace their family back “fine frenzy rolling”, he rehearsed the
tied with string and shoved into a box. in a direct male line for over 600 years. compositions he was due to play the
Eventually, they’ll simply be gone.’ The family home for centuries was the next afternoon […] Like most artistes of
So completely forgotten is Coke that handsome Elizabethan pile of Brookhill exceptional ability, he appeared extremely
reading the bare facts of his life, one Hall in Pinxton, Derbyshire. Here, Coke temperamental, and when I asked him
might be forgiven for thinking he was lived with his mother (née Dorothy Maye for some information about himself he
the invention of a romantic novelist or a Sacheverell Huntingford) and a detested finished off a crescendo with an impressive
mischievous critic (it has happened before). governess before being packed off to Eton. sweep of the keys, bounced off the stool,
First, the name: Coke is pronounced to It was after he left school at 18 that he grasped my hand, loaded me with a
rhyme with ‘cook’ (not, as you’d expect, heard a piano recording by the great Benno stack of literature and press cuttings, and
‘cloak’); and he is known as Coke rather Moiseiwitsch. It made a deep impression disappeared like some old-time magician.’
than Sacheverell Coke (unlike, for on him (Moiseiwitsch was later to become He studied the piano with Mabel Lander
(1882-1955), Moisewitsch’s assistant and a
fellow pupil of Leschetizky, who besides
‘He squandered the family fortune on his music. teaching Malcolm Sargent at some stage
also taught the piano to the young
There was no electricity, no running water except Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Coke
took composition lessons from Frederick
in certain places in the house, and the paint was Staton (and later from Alan Bush). Here
is Staton on his pupil, who had already
peeling off the walls’ (1935) seen the premieres of his first two
Roger Sacheverell Coke pictured

at his beloved Steinway
IP0515_031-035_Coke_CJ.indd 32 20/04/2015 17:07

Piano Concertos, the second of which,

dedicated to Mabel Lander, had been
broadcast in a performance conducted
by no less a figure than Dan Godfrey:
‘Here I had a pupil of undoubted ability,
perseverance, wealth, and an entire
disregard for anything that did not
appertain to music. I realised that Mr Coke
will go far. He came to me two years ago
for composition. Today he has composed
13 works. As a squire he is unorthodox.
He does not hunt or smoke or drink or
shoot, or carry out the traditional role
of a squire. His life is wrapped up in
the studio at Brookhill Hall, which has
been converted from some stables, and
fitted up with special panelling of wood. A page from the original manuscript Coke during his
of Coke’s Variations Op 37 school days at Eton
It is a magnificent place, and contains
a grand piano presented by friends.
S
Here he spends all his life.’ (Sheffield
Independent). The Sunday Mercury of O WHAT, I ASK CALLAGHAN, reviewer was educated and whether they
June 1936 confirmed that ‘Day after day, went wrong? ‘His music sort of had composed or performed themselves
he spends from morning till night in reflects his character. I spent months to see if they could be justified in being
his studio composing and playing […] trying to work out what his mental able to pass judgement. I also discovered
The social round has no appeal to him. disorders were. I thought at first he must a recording in the British Library of Coke
His only relaxation is playing hockey, be bipolar, because his music is all over performing and talking about his own
played on Saturday afternoon with the the place, in a strange sort of way. But I music. It’s about half and hour long and
lads of the village.’ learned recently from his niece that in was made in the 1960s at the Kensington
In fact, the ‘music room’ was fashioned fact he was a paranoid schizophrenic. He home of Montagu Cleave [1894-1993,
from the ‘commodious stables and harness was also gay – that side of his life was very a former soldier and an enthusiast for
room’ of Brookhill Hall, long disused much oppressed – and his family were the revival of the viola d’amore]. He just
and renovated by Coke’s mother for her not a hundred per cent supportive either. goes to the piano and plays a lot of his
son. She also bought him a Steinway at a The words of his niece were, “His family early pieces, particularly songs, which
cost of £600 (more than £35,000 in today’s endured his music”. Everything was going he had destroyed a few years previously.
money). Kitted out by BBC acousticians, against him. He paid Chappells to publish A lot of it is quite Chopinesque but very
the room could seat up to 300 people and three of his works. The rest of his piano imaginative – and the piano playing is
it was there that the first performances of music, at least 15 or 20 extant works, is great. Proper old school Rachmaninov
many of his works were given. either in manuscript or has been destroyed. style. He speaks in the most upper-class
Coke’s Symphony No 1 in E minor, He sold the family Chippendale chairs accent you can imagine. Everything is
Op 13 was premiered in January 1935, and some trees on the estate to put on his “delightfully this” and “frightfully that”.
conducted by Henry Wood. His Symphony opera in London. He just squandered the Actually he finishes by saying, “Now let’s
No 2 was dedicated, with permission, to family fortune on his music. His niece have a spot of tea, shall we?”’
B
Rachmaninov (Coke visited Lucerne in remembers visits there. There was no
1936 to meet him). In 1939 Coke was the electricity, no running water except in ESIDES COKE’S REvERENCE fOR
soloist in the broadcast premiere of his Third certain places in the house, and the paint Rachmaninov, there are references
Piano Concerto with the Bournemouth was peeling off the walls.’ to his empathy with Bax and
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by With Brookhill Hall decaying Sibelius. Colin Mason, who contributed
Richard Austin. He gave several recitals at around him and his mental condition the essay on Coke to the fifth edition of
the Wigmore Hall and, in 1940, founded deteriorating, Coke became more and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
his own Brookhill Symphony Orchestra, more reclusive. ‘The most interesting Musicians, wrote: ‘His music, which reflects
which gave performances of symphonies part of the archive,’ reveals Callaghan, ‘is his sympathies for Mahler, Bruckner and
by Bruckner, Mahler and Rachmaninov. two albums of press cuttings – reviews Rachmaninov, is written with considerable
His most ambitious work, a two-hour of concerts – meticulously labelled in his accomplishment in a mainly pre-Debussy
opera based on Shelley’s The Cenci, was own hand, and sometimes annotated: idiom.’ So how would Callaghan describe
performed at the Scala Theatre in London if he didn’t like what some reviewer Coke’s musical language for the piano ⌂
under the baton of Eugene Goossens. had said, he would find out where that and its development from the early

IP0515_031-035_Coke_CJ.indd 33 20/04/2015 17:07
Jocelyn
Burton
World renowned silversmith & designer
Telephone: 0044 (0)207 405 3042 Email: info@jocelynburton.com
www.jocelynburton.com
IP0315.indd 34 17/04/2015 16:55:47

⌂ Chopinesque pieces? ‘An initial, amateur pianist. I’ve always been drawn to that porcelain made on the family estate in
response might be “random”,’ he considers. repertoire (not that Coke’s music, despite the late 18th century. The local council
‘In places, in a slightly less discreet way than his friendship with Rachmaninov, is like took over Brookhill Hall, refurbishing it
even Schubert might do, he just decides, his). Then there is the idea of trying to get as a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts.
“Right, we’ll just have this chord now.” It something out from this closed being that Then, in 1970, he was given a commission
seems to be a stream of consciousness at he was in so many ways. I felt an empathy by the flautist Christopher Hyde-Smith
times, going from one style or character with that, enough to explore the music. and his then wife Maria Robles to write a
to another. The colour of the harmony is It’s also written by someone who was trio for flute, harp and viola; the BBC also
almost Scriabinesque. It’s intoxicating. obviously a good pianist. It generally lies commissioned a string quartet. Things
Interestingly, the Variations, which came under the hands well.’ appeared to be looking up; but it was not
after the Preludes, are more normal, in a With a fair wind, there may be more of to be. Coke’s poor health prevented him
way. Some of the Preludes are really simple Coke to come. Callaghan has unearthed from completing either work. He had
and don’t stray away from the home key enough music for a second volume of long been a heavy smoker in order to try
very far at all. Then there are others where solo piano music. He also has the score and suppress his schizophrenia, and 100
it’s difficult to hang on to anything, as of the Piano Trio in C minor, Op 32 and cigarettes a day had taken their toll. He was
though he’s thinking out loud. Perhaps the only copy in existence of the score of cycling into the village for more supplies
that’s why he was not more successful: the Piano Concerto No 3 in E flat, Op when he had a heart attack. He was found
he was trying, with all his respect for 30 (1938). Somewhere, there are scores of at the side of the road and died without
Rachmaninov, to write in a style that didn’t three further piano concertos, three piano regaining consciousness. 
sound like anybody else.’ sonatas, much chamber music and many
What drew Callaghan to Coke? What songs (the orchestral works include two Sincere thanks to Simon Callaghan for allowing
made him invest a huge amount of concertos for solo soprano). IP to share his research into Coke’s life.
time in resurrecting these lost scores Towards the end of his life, Coke
and researching his life? ‘I am in that disappeared from the public gaze (he seems Callaghan’s recording of Coke’s Preludes Op
category of pianist who has great respect never to have had a romantic attachment), 33 & 34 and Variations and Finale Op 37 is
for Rachmaninov both as composer and selling family possessions, including fine out on 5 May on the Somm label
Callaghan says he feels

an ‘empathy’ with Coke
© ben ealovega

IP0515_031-035_Coke_CJ.indd 35 20/04/2015 17:10
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IP0315.indd 36 21/04/2015 09:51:47

HELPING H A NDS
Selecting your first piano can be a daunting

task. Murray McLachlan offers some pointers
Guide for first-time piano buyers

L
ET’S BEGIN BY NOTING THE amazing casework: lift up the top front maintain their reliability after purchase.
contrast between electronic digital half of the piano and look inside. Is it dirty? Think of the PTA as something similar
instruments and acoustic pianos. Can you see the hammers? Or can you only to similar to the AA, or RAC. Piano
They are two completely different things. see a long strip of wood?’ technicians are much more than tuners.
The glorious possibilities afforded by According to Lyons, if you are purchasing They help to maintain instruments and
Casios, AvantGrands and other brands a second hand instrument it is important sustain their lifespans. Just as you would
of electronic piano can certainly inspire to consider the following: expect to do more than pour petrol into a
pianists at all levels and ages, but ultimately, • If you can see the hammer heads, car in order to maintain its life span and
if you want to play the piano, then you are they marked or cut? health, so you should do more to a piano
need to own one. • Are the keys chipped? than tuning it twice a year.
It is all too easy to assume that piano • Is there excessive side-movement?
teachers are the best people to ask for • Do the keys return after being played?
advice on which piano to purchase, Do they feel heavy? Is their return slow or
but sadly, musicians tend to be rather sluggish? Are they light?
naïve when it comes to the anatomy of Once you have provisionally decided
instruments. It is frightening just how on a particular piano, it is helpful to ask
few pianists actually know about the for the professional opinion of a reputable
inner workings of the instruments they tuner. Ask a piano expert to check out the
play. So it is probably safer to gravitate regulation. How much felt is left on the
towards piano tuners and technicians for hammers? Are the hammers the correct
advice. They are far more qualified and distance from the strings? Do the hammers
generally less biased than many a retailer check off at the correct distance? Do the
in favour of one make over another. With dampers lift at the correct time when
this in mind, I spoke to Peter Lyons, piano the key is depressed? Do the dampers lift
technician extraordinaire and resident simultaneously and are the damper springs
tuner at both the Bridgewater Hall and the correct strength throughout?
Chetham’s school of Music in Manchester. Lyons identifies some crucial questions
Because most first-time buyers do not have that an expert will consider when assessing
the budget or the space to even think of a piano:
trying to obtain a grand piano, let’s limit • Have the loop chords perished?
our consideration to upright instruments • Are the bridle tapes the correct length Peter Lyons, resident piano technician
(a word of warning: so-called ‘baby’ grands for the optimal returning of the at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and
tend to be far inferior to substantial hammer? Chetham’s School of Music
upright instruments). • Is the key depth correct?
‘There is no such thing as a beginner’s • Is the touch weight correct? Let’s conclude by remembering that you
piano – only good instruments and • Is the piano serviceable? get what you pay for. If you pay a couple
bad instruments,’ Lyons says. ‘I know • Has previous remedial work been of hundred pounds for a cheap piano
it’s difficult, but don’t buy with your completed to a high standard? that is set up badly, then unhappiness and
eyes. Listen hard – does it make the sound Lyons belongs to the Piano Tuners frustration will result. In the piano world,
you want? Are any notes ringing on? Is Association (PTA; www.pianotuner.org.uk) and instruments that are worthy cost quite a
the piano at concert pitch [A440Hz]? If is a verified technician. PTA members are lot, but the dividends of a good investment
not, why? Don’t accept the excuse that the tested for a minimum level of competency will be a lifetime of inspiration from
tuner isn’t in until next week. If necessary, and can be confidently hired not only to a reliable instrument that will never let
go back next week. Don’t be thrown by help choose reliable pianos but also to you down. e

IP0515_037_HHands_CJ.indd 37 20/04/2015 17:12
m a st ercl a ss
S
enSItIve lIStenIng leadS to approach at all levels. It is easy to apply
a sense of ‘inner rhythm’, which means dance internally while practising baroque
feel the total immersion on a physical level
with the notes. all music breathes, and
movements such as gigues, gavottes
and Courantes from Bach’s French and
PULSe when you have good ‘inner rhythm’ there is
more space and time to cope with awkward
english Suites, or even in the simplest of
pieces, such as the Minuet from the anna
technical demands. Sustaining the pulse Magdalena Bach notebook (see example).
o
does not necessarily mean rigid adherence
to one metronome marking. Many great F CourSe, tHe relatIonSHIP
concert artists fail to sustain one consistent between piano playing and dance
metronome speed for more than a few bars is a voluminous subject, and while
(sometimes for even less in slow movements). I would never say it was vital for all would-
However, this ‘failure’ is in fact success; be interpreters of Chopin’s Mazurkas
refusal to be corseted to a metronome to literally learn the steps of the Polish
means that it is possible to enjoy the space dance, it would certainly do no harm to
between the notes. Sensitivity to this is what do so – provided it is remembered that
‘inner rhythm’ is all about. do try to set a Chopin was not writing background dance
metronome as you listen to performances on music in his magnificent masterpieces for
disc of the viennese classics (I am thinking solo piano!
of masters such as Brendel, Serkin and arrau In considering rhythmic vibrancy, it
here in particular), and notice how they do should always be remembered that subtleties
not sustain any one tempo for long. Clearly, are impossible to notate accurately, and that
it is the ability to breathe and mould the consequently it is incorrect to become a
music’s shape from within that gives the servant to the text when dealing with dotted
external appearance of literal rhythmic rhythms not only in the Baroque period, but
uniformity. Superficial and obsessive also in the Polonaise rhythms of Chopin, and
metronomic accentuation in performance even in the famous dotted quaver motif of
inevitably results in interpretations that the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. ‘giving and taking’
sound machine-like and dull. in terms of rhythms on a small scale, as well
I
as on the larger scale of eight and 16-bar
n MuSIC InSPIred By MotorIC phrase structure, will always have to come
drive, rhythm would seem to be a from an inner connection with the musical
Convincing more simple issue. In fact, it can be
extremely difficult to block out human
motivation of the piece in question rather
than from written instruction. In addition,
rhythmic awareness weaknesses when tackling toccatas by it is wonderful that such an important
Prokofiev, debussy or whoever. all too issue as rhythmic freedom is impossible to
comes from a often, the music begins to lose its requisite notate exactly, because the lack of precise
‘space’. I do not advocate an icy cold, instruction on the published text means
profound sense unemotional rendering of any music: it is that there are many, many possibilities of
of energetic more fulfilling to engage in dancing and
conducting to improve inner rhythm than
execution. ultimately, it is the performer’s
ability to convince that will determine
involvement with it is to merely practise your playing with how successful a particular ‘rhythmic
a metronome. liberty’ is, and such success comes from
the music that is one way forward is to feel the music as profound love of and connection with the
a dancer might. When tackling a motoric music itself.
being played, writes
t
piece such as Bartók’s famous allegro
IP’s resident tutor Barbaro, it is very helpful to internalise
the throbbing pulse, the primitive,
He d Major Fugue SuBjeCt
from book one of Bach’s The Well-
Murray McLachlan percussive excitement that gives the style Tempered Clavier gains its entire
its charismatic appeal. try ‘bouncing’ the personality and character from the way
pulse of the music within your torso as you in which performers choose to tackle the
sit at the piano. Feel the internal ‘swing’ of dotted quaver rhythms in the opening
the music. By exaggerating physical gestures subject. there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ over
and then continuing with them as you whether or not the player chooses to double
play, you will have learnt how to ‘internally or single dot these notes, though of course
dance’ with the piano. I recommend this stylistic consistency is extremely important.
IP0515_038-039_Masterclass_CJ.indd 38 20/04/2015 14:54

m a st ercl a ss
However, it is vital that the numerous sustained and held throughout. There can are implied. The possibilities for bending
presentations of this strong rhythm are be no room for ‘clipping’ or extending of and enjoying rhythmic flexibility here
presented with watertight strength and silences here, and there is little difference are enormous, and authority will always
clarity throughout, whatever decisions between rhapsodic waywardness and arise if the player can feel conviction and
are taken. structural cohesiveness. inevitability within himself as he plays.
In the slow movement from Beethoven’s On the subject of rhapsodies, Liszt’s To reproduce the ideas of a teacher or
Sonata in E flat, Op 7, the rests are as vital to Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C sharp a recording here cannot lead to success
the character and musical intelligibility of minor demonstrates that it is very wrong unless the performer is literally able
an interpretation as the notes themselves, to be literal with the printed page in terms to ‘dance’ internally to the rubatos that he
so it is essential that they are extremely well of rhythm when dance or folk elements has created. 
Example: Minuet from the Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook

IP0515_038-039_Masterclass_CJ.indd 39 20/04/2015 17:17
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IP0315.indd 40 17/04/2015 16:55:51

international
SHEET MUSIC
Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor, K397
Piano Street Instructive Edition
About the music

The D minor Fantasy K397 is one of Mozart’s best-known piano PIANO STREET’S INSTRUCTIVE EDITIONS
works and innumerable pianists have found it an extremely You do not need to be limited to one specific edition of a
rewarding piece to play. In terms of musical interpretation, piano composition when going through the various stages of
it is a considerable challenge even to the most advanced and learning. Depending on your own level of experience, you may
experienced musician, but due to its relatively modest technical need fingering, pedal markings, practice and performance tips,
demands, intermediate or moderately advanced pianists may also or perhaps the opposite – a clean Urtext score. Piano Street’s
tackle it. Instructive Editions are designed to support you in the beginning
The work starts with a quiet, sombre introduction. Both stages of the learning process, helping you approach a new piece
this and the singing Adagio that follows belong to Mozart’s in a structured, intelligent and efficient way.
darkest moments. The repeated E and the heavy, chromatically Each Instructive Edition comprises two different publications: a
descending octaves of bars 20-22 take us to the gloomiest regions Practice Guide and a Practice Score. The Practice Score (see overleaf)
of the human soul. This character continues until bar 55, where includes printed advice on technique and musical interpretation, as
the mode changes to D major and the surprisingly joyful second well as detailed fingerings – often with alternatives for small hands –
part begins. and pedal instructions, including half-pedal markings.
K397 was first published after Mozart’s death and the The Practice Guide consists of: a brief introduction to the
manuscript is lost. In the first edition, the piece ended at piece, with basic analysis and some historical background; a
the fermata in bar 97. In the Breitkopf & Härtel edition that few easy preparatory questions and exercises, encouraging you
appeared a few years later, ten concluding bars in D major to look through the score and get to know it in a relaxed but
appeared, probably composed by the editor, August Eberhard observant manner, even before you start practicing; a list of the
Müller. This ending has been republished in practically every main technical and artistic challenges of the piece, to give focus
edition ever since, and is included in the vast majority of and clearly defined goals to your work; plus a detailed practice
recordings of the piece. Mitsuko Uchida was the first major artist plan, with short exercises guiding you through the technical
to record an alternative ending, returning to D minor and the features of the piece in a logical sequence of small steps.
arpeggiated chords of the beginning. The Piano Street Edition
offers a shorter version based on that same idea. Examples of Piano Street’s Practice Guides can be downloaded at
www.pianostreet.com/instructive
IP0515_041-047_SheetMusic_CJ.indd 41 20/04/2015 14:57

educ at ion
Delving deeper
The ruhr Piano festival has launched a new online project,
explore the score, in which Pierre-Laurent aimard offers insight
into Ligeti’s piano works. Michael Church reports
T
he PIano eTudes of GyörGy now, the Ligeti etudes are among is an exercise in oral communication: ‘It
Ligeti have become a benchmark the works featuring in a new online will contain everything you cannot find in
for virtuosity, so it’s salutary to be project run by the ruhr Piano festival. the score.’
a
reminded of their origin. Writing in the explore the score is dedicated to the
liner notes for Pierre-Laurent aimard’s propagation of modern music, and the Imard sees LIGeTI’s InTeresT
sony Cd series of his piano works in 1995, section on Ligeti will include video in neuroscience and motor
Ligeti made it clear that he was motivated tutorials led by aimard. nobody on intelligence as one of the keys to
by his own inadequate piano technique. the planet is better placed than aimard understanding the virtuosity he demanded.
he drew a parallel with Cézanne’s trouble to teach Ligeti’s work: the hungarian Ligeti’s passion for ethnomusicology is
with perspective: the apples and pears in composer dedicated two etudes to him, another key; the composer was fascinated
his still-lifes seemed perpetually on the encouraged him to premiere six more by the music of other cultures, and when
point of rolling away, and his table cloths and declared that in his view aimard’s the musicologist simha arom introduced
had the rigidity of plaster models. ‘But what interpretations were definitive. him to the rhythmic world of the Pygmies
wonders Cézanne accomplished with his speaking of his eight-year collaboration of the Central african republic, things
harmonies of colour, with his emotionally with Ligeti, aimard describes his job fell into place in his mind. What he had
charged geometry, with his curves, volumes as having been to ‘help new pieces come been groping towards, they had already
and weight-displacements! That’s what I into existence’, and says his aim now is to found: patterns of motion independent
would like to achieve: the transformation of pass on everything he has learned to the of european metric ones, plus what he
inadequacy into professionalism.’ next generation of pianists. This new project called ‘the possibility of gleaning illusory
melodic/rhythmic configurations – heard,
but not played – from the combination of
two or more real voices’. he was also excited
by the possibilities in ‘the simultaneity of
symmetry and asymmetry’. and it was
to explore these ideas that aimard came
to share the stage at the Châtelet in Paris
with a group of Pygmies from the aka
tribe, juxtaposing polyrhythmic Pygmy
pieces with Ligeti etudes. aimard now
looks back on this encounter as a life-
changing experience.
even he admits that the challenges of
this music can seem to be on the border
of feasibility: ‘finding a technical answer
to Ligeti’s new structurings is the player’s
task. and with, for example, the sixth
and 12th polyrhythmic etudes, you have
to use controls quite different from the
traditional ones you use for the voices of
IP0515_048-049_Ligeti_CJ.indd 48 20/04/2015 15:05

educ at ion
a Bach fugue.’ Are these controls in the
brain, or the fingers? ‘They are both in the Aimard and Ligeti on a boat on the Bodensee,
going to La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
brain and in the physical contact. You have
to find a synthesis.’ How far is the brain
consciously in control? ‘One dimension
helps the other: the muscular and auditive
memory helps the memory in the brain.
And when we become conscious of that
process, we can extend our control. It’s a
matter of intelligent virtuosity.’
T
He InITIAl sTAge Of THe
ligeti project focuses on two pieces
of music: Musica Ricercata no 1
and etude no 13, known as ‘l’escalier
du diable’ (‘The Devil’s staircase’). The
first of these pieces – strongly influenced
by Bartók and stravinsky – contains only
two tones plus their octave transpositions,
but it requires a lot more virtuosity than it
The composer and pianist study
might seem to do at first glance.
a score during a train journey
We see Aimard filmed from three angles,
and we can control the way the score
moves, with each the bar shaded blue as it
is played; we can also break off to watch
masterclasses dealing with knotty points
in the score. All the interactive tricks you
could wish for are woven into this clever
piece of pedagogy.
And Aimard’s commentaries, which
start with an account of how this etude was
conceived as ligeti found himself pedalling
uphill during a sudden and violent storm,
are highly illuminating. ‘The wish of ligeti
was to feel this immense effort, to feel the
useless effort, the effort in vain. And he
really wants the interpreter to share with
exist. And that invites us to find a sound work. ‘This piece is almost unbearable to
‘Ligeti was extreme, his that is almost beyond comprehension.’ play, and it should feel unbearable.’ 
compositions are The warp and weft of ligeti’s rhythmical
asymmetries is demonstrated by Aimard www.explorethescore.org
extreme, and we have with brilliant clarity: ‘He wants to create
a rhythmical anxiety. And at the end of Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s Ligeti project
to be extreme’ this infernal process, he asks us to play at launches in May via Explore the Score and
eight-f. This is not just to play twice or three features interactive scores of Musica Ricercata
times louder, as at the end of a Brahms or No 1 and Etude No 13, ‘L’escalier du diable’.
the listener his own fight in trying to play Rachmaninov concerto, it is an invitation to German and French translations will be
it. ligeti was extreme, his compositions are use a sound that will not be seen as beautiful available in due course. Explore the Score
extreme, and we have to be extreme. In our in the traditional acoustic sense.’ A sound, also covers Stravinksy’s Petrushka and Douze
loudness, in our commitment, and also in he stresses, that seems distorted. ‘It is also an Notations by Boulez, among other works.
the distance, when there is a distance. for invitation to find a way for the interpreter to
instance, the two very soft bell-like chords go beyond his own borders.’ Ultimately, the Aimard will perform Ligeti’s Piano Concerto
in bars 33-34: ligeti wanted to have them piece should result in a collapse that expresses on 25 June at the Aldeburgh Festival with the
sounding like echoes of bells that don’t the cataclysm at the end of this extraordinary London Sinfonietta and George Benjamin

IP0515_048-049_Ligeti_CJ.indd 49 20/04/2015 15:03
TRAnScRiPTionS
F o R T W o P i A n i S T S
nlo ad at
r dow et
ble fo
cHAn 10863
.n
lshop e
a
avail
now ssica n 2015
thecl e date: 1 Ju
a
as
cD Rele
Launch concerts
19/05/2015 Arsenal, Metz (FR)
26/05/2015 Showcase – Atout Livre, Paris (FR)
13/06/2015 Wigmore Hall, London (GB)
05/09/2015 Les Solistes à Bagatelle, Paris (FR)
STAY IN THE KNOW

New releases • Reviews • Special offers • Artist features
www.chandos.net
www.theclassicalshop.net
(24-bit studio masters, lossless, MP3)
Bavouzet - International Piano.indd 1 16/04/2015 21:00
IP0315.indd 50 17/04/2015 16:55:56

f e s t i va l s
DuBlIN eveNt
musical insight. Above all, she has been
recognised as an artist who balances all of
these talents with undeniable flair
turNs three
and virtuosity. lim created a sensation
in the music world when, in 2010, she
performed the complete Beethoven Piano
sonatas over eight consecutive days in
Paris. these extraordinary concerts were
A
to pave the way for ongoing success: when
Now in its third s the summer quIckly

approaches, the Piano Academy
she recorded the complete cycle for emI
classics the following year, she became
year, the Dublin of Ireland is busy preparing for

the third Dublin International Piano
not only the youngest interpreter to ever
record these masterpieces, but the first
International Piano Festival and summer Academy on 25
July. Founded by husband-and-wife team
and only classical pianist to debut at
number one on the Billboard classical
Festival and summer Archie chen and rhona Gouldson-chen
in 2013, the event invites advanced piano
chart and on the us, Netherlands and
canadian itunes charts.
Academy is going students from all over the world to come to
Dublin to take masterclasses and seminars,
space in the piano festival programme
is limited to 16 participants and for the
from strength to perform in an exciting concert series fortunate students who gain admission, an
and work with some of the most highly exciting week of learning, performing and
strength, with exciting regarded pianists and prestigious tutors exploring lies ahead. e
plans afoot for this

in the world. this year’s faculty comprises
edmund Battersby and evelyne Brancart www.pianofestival.ie
year’s instalment
from Indiana university Bloomington, Official trailer: https://youtu.be/8FxlqngDi7o
lance coburn from the royal Irish
Academy of music, artistic director Archie International Piano was a media partner of
chen himself and guest artist hJ lim. the Dublin International Piano Festival and
lim is a pianist of extraordinary Summer Academy in 2013 and 2014. For
imagination and vision; an artist who has further information on media partnership
won praise for her refreshing interpretations opportunities, contact Edward Croome:
and for the intellectual depths of her edward.croome@rhinegold.co.uk
Artistic director Archie Chen in performance at the

Hugh Lane Gallery during the inaugural festival
© evan duning

IP0515_051_Festivals_CJ.indd 51 20/04/2015 17:19
in r et rospec t
© Tully PoTTer ColleCTion

High
society
Benjamin Ivry reflects on the
life and work of jazz pianist
and songwriter Cole Porter,
an artist whose melodies
are forever preserved in the
popular consciousness
IP0515_052-053_Cole Porter_CJ.indd 52 20/04/2015 15:07

in r eT rosPec T
T
o LoVers oF THe american in a love affair was the pianist and singer (1925-2007), sometimes dismissed by
popular songbook, cole Porter (1891- Leslie Hutchinson (1900-1969), a cabaret critics as merely a decorative pianist, was
1964) represents effortlessly elegant headliner in the 1920s and 1930s. Grenada- emotionally earnest in his 1959 album
melodies, yet his lifelong relationship with born, Hutchinson, known as ‘Hutch’, made Oscar Peterson Plays the Cole Porter Songbook
the piano shows to what degree pain and several recordings of Porter songs, including (Verve), which includes such standards as
suffering played a role in his achievement. I’m a Gigolo, Night and Day, Let’s Do It and I Love Paris and Love for Sale. By contrast, art
every four years, the american Pianists the plaintive What is this Thing Called Love? Tatum (1909-1956), in multiple recordings
association selects a cole Porter Fellow in The polished Hutchinson outdoes Porter of Night and Day, seemed to bring Porter
Jazz, awarding a young pianist a two-year in vocal elegance and matches him in into a private, obsessive language of endless
fellowship worth around £60,000. aaron idiomatic keyboard polish. arpeggios. when Duke ellington (1899-
P
Diehl won this distinguished title in 2011, 1974) played Night and Day, his powerful
and a new recipient will be announced orTer wroTe music THaT compositional genius rethought the basic
later this year. This continued recognition communicates with rare delight melodic elements of the song, redefining
seems appropriate for Porter, who died on player pianos. The finely honed the original even more than the best jazz
just over half a century ago. scion of a invention of the music seems to correspond piano performances typically do.
wealthy indiana family, Porter occupied six to mechanical virtuosity, especially as Porter’s music attracted not just these
bedrooms on the 33rd floor at new York’s performed by top performers who made olympian recreators; there is the blunt
waldorf-astoria Towers. His 1907 steinway piano rolls for the ampico and Duo-art bonhomie of Dave Brubeck (1920-2012)
piano, nicknamed ‘High society’, may still companies, including Philadelphia-born on the cD Anything Goes: Brubeck plays
be seen in the lobby. adam carroll (1897-1974) and Frank milne Cole Porter (columbia records), the spiffy
Porter’s career began when his devoted (1888-1959), a scotsman who emigrated to party-going joy of marian mcPartland
mother insisted he begin piano and violin the us in 1905. These skilled pianists focused (1918-2013), a pianist who matched Porter’s
lessons at the age of six. He disliked the on the wide palette of sound available on a gregarious nature, and the assertive and
sound of the violin, despite initially having player piano, often adding further elaborate peremptory pianism of Bobby short
superior skill on that instrument. when in
the 1930s he recorded a gaggle of his songs,
accompanying himself at the keyboard with During service in the French Foreign Legion
elegance and breezy lightness, Porter was
performing in the salonnier tradition of the throughout the First World War, Porter had a
French composer reynaldo Hahn, who also
made debonair recordings of his own work.
portable piano designed to carry on his back for
Pianos accompanied Porter everywhere
in life. when he entered the worcester
impromptu performances for fellow soldiers
academy in massachusetts in 1905, he
brought along his own upright piano. chords to an already produced roll to (1924-2005). others turned Porter into
During service in the French Foreign enhance the sonic palette – more than philosophical images of themselves,
Legion throughout the First world war, two hands could do in a single rendition. such as Bill evans deconstructing All of
he had a portable piano designed to carry sometimes four-handed performances were You into meditative fragments, roland
on his back for impromptu performances also recorded, and this quasi-orchestral Hanna (1932-2002) making So In Love into
for fellow soldiers. Porter’s songwriting result suited Porter exquisitely. whether oneiric drift, and Keith Jarrett (born 1945)
stardom arrived in the late 1920s, and his intended for steinway or mason & Hamlin turning the ironic Miss Otis Regrets into an
life was celebratory until a 1937 horse-riding player pianos, these piano rolls could be unexpectedly poignant lament. Diverting
accident, which led to dozens of operations. played at varying speeds to accommodate a comic song to express bittersweet regret
in constant pain for the rest of his life, the singing and dancing. is in the best tradition of the hijacker’s
wheelchair-bound Porter continued to Perhaps the most dazzlingly emotional art of jazz. a world away from either
compose, having his piano placed on blocks recording of Porter’s music is one from 1951 sturm und Drang or co-opting and
so that he could ‘roll up to the keyboard’, by Bud Powell (1924-1966) of Just One of altering the composer’s original intent
as the associated Press noted. only in 1958, Those Things, a ferociously adamant musical are the recordings of Teddy wilson (1912-
after the amputation of a leg and other statement. equally hectic and only slightly 1986), which are more in the nature of
physical problems, did Porter stop playing less emotive is a 1955 performance It’s All the quintessentially graceful Porter of
the piano. Right with Me by erroll Garner (1923-1977), renown. Listening to wilson’s renditions
This tragic end is foreshadowed in in which matters of affection are treated of I’ve Got You Under My Skin or Just One
hauntingly bittersweet tunes about the with brusque, percussive decisiveness. of Those Things, we reflect on how, as a
agonies of love, coupled with an irresistibly Jazz pianists took Porter’s songs as a pianist and songwriter for pianists, cole
zesty, sometimes bawdy wit in other personal mise-en-scène for expressing Porter created a ‘swellegant, elegant party’
numbers. one object of Porter’s affections their own life woes. even oscar Peterson indeed, of lasting artistic inspiration. 
May/June 2015 international Piano 53

IP0515_052-053_Cole Porter_CJ.indd 53 20/04/2015 15:07
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russian tradition Handle

Zlata Chochieva is currently a hot topic in piano circles.
she talks to Jeremy Nicholas about rachmaninov, competitions
and studying with Mikhail Pletnev
witH
Z
lata ChoChIeva was born In MosCow. she has
been playing in public for 25 of her 30 years, and is a seasoned
artist whose first two recordings (one of rachmaninov, one
of Chopin) have won unusually ecstatic reviews. Chochieva, it would
jury members. but then I stopped about three or four years ago. I
couldn’t find any reason to play in competitions any more. If you
have brave ideas, the competition world doesn’t work.’
nevertheless, it was through a competition that Chochieva
care
appear, is about to come into her own. at present, she makes her
home in salzburg, where she moved three years ago. In between
made contact with Piano Classics. ‘In 2010 I won the agropoly
Contest in Italy and they offered me a contract. I recorded the
Dorothy taubman’s methodology
concerts, she occasionally teaches at the city’s Mozarteum University. rachmaninov Chopin variations and the First sonata, pieces that – which teaches how to make music
‘everything started when my brother began to study the piano,’ are not played that often. rachmaninov and Chopin are two
she says. ‘My mother didn’t want to leave me alone so I went to composers who are very special to me, very close to my soul. My next without fatigue, pain or injury – has Edna Golandsky was one
transformed pianists’ lives the world

listen to his lessons. he is five years older than me. since I was quite goal is to record all the etudes-tableaux, which we will do this June. of Dorothy Taubman’s key
collaborators and went on
an ambitious child, I always wanted to do the same as he did. his I wish to find my own rachmaninov, to get closer to his own
to co-found the Golandsky
over, writes Audrey Schneider
teacher at the Flier Music school was a brilliant musician but she interpretation and style.’ Institute in 2003
had no experience of teaching a young child – I was four and a half. last year, she played
but she tried, and in less than a year I appeared on stage playing two rachmaninov’s second Piano
pieces from tchaikovsky’s Children’s album. after that I played in Concerto and rhapsody on
F
concerts quite often. My first competition was in 1993, when I was a theme of Paganini in the
eight. I won first prize playing the last two movements of Mozart’s tchaikovsky Concert hall or the Past eleven years, advanced age, many younger pianists utilises almost invisible hand and arm
Concerto no 17 in the Great hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It in Moscow with the russian musicians, teachers and students have been sidelined in their 20s and 30s, motions to facilitate movements of the
was after that I decided to become a professional musician.’ national Philharmonic under from all over the world have gathered purportedly because of ‘overpractising’. fingers across the keyboard, eliminating
Chochieva’s mother is a pianist and her late father was, she says, ‘a the brilliant young ben annually at Princeton University in new taubman (1917-2013) and her colleagues overuse or forced misuse of fingers alone
very creative person. he played double bass in a jazz group. he had Gernon. ‘I should love to Jersey, Us, for a seven-day symposium on quickly realised that many of these for power, speed and covering distance.
an amazing memory, very good ears and was very talented. I was record all the rachmaninov the taubman approach. the methodology problems were due to misuse, not overuse. taubman’s combined understanding of
C
surrounded by music as a child.’ her disc of the complete Chopin concertos one day, of course! appeals to a broad range of pianists – from human physiology and the mechanical
etudes, recorded last February, is dedicated to her father’s memory. amazing music – and not seasoned professionals and dedicated onsIDerInG the sUBtletIes possibilities of the piano yielded a system
w
completely discovered yet, in teachers to gifted amateurs – all of whom and complexities involved in of totally economical motion.
t
hen ChoChIeva was 14 she was InvIted to my opinion. I think I can find come together to share the fascinating playing any instrument, it is easy
play with Mikhail Pletnev’s ensemble, the russian something new there because pedagogy and artistry of Dorothy taubman’s to understand why many physical problems he taUBMan aPProaCh has
national orchestra. ‘we played the rimsky-Korsakov I think today’s interpretations unique technique. have previously defied detection: most undergone scientific validation
Piano Concerto. then he offered to teach me. he had only two go rather in the same although awareness of musicians’ movements are minuscule and some aren’t studies and emerged as ‘the only
pupils – me and sergei basukinsky – and it was an amazing direction. we should take injuries increased during the last two even visible. Most traditional training movement retraining approach with
© AlenA BerezinA
experience.’ she studied with Pletnev from 2000 to 2003. ‘I believe the composer’s recordings decades of the 20th century, the roots was based on observation of the visible, any non-anecdotal evidence of efficacy
he is the last of the three greatest russian pianists, with horowitz into account more. they’re of the problem are as old as the art of with disregard for what was operating with regard to repetitive stress injuries’
and rachmaninov. It’s my dream to follow this line. and maybe extremely important. he was performing. In the late 17th century, underneath. taubman’s approach, on the (W Pereira et al, proceedings of the 13th
Michelangeli. I find them quite similar. they follow the same such an outstanding pianist.’ physician Bernardino ramazzini was other hand, was in line with nobel Prize- triennial Congress of the International
direction, in my opinion – especially with the sound. of course this season, Chochieva is presenting a programme of scriabin the first to describe ‘cumulative micro- winning hungarian physiologist albert ergonomics association, vol 4, pp384-
they’re very different, all four of them, but their sound and their (sonata no 2 and the ‘black Mass’ sonata) and rachmaninov trauma’ as the main cause of ‘occupational szent-Györgyi’s assertion: ‘Discovery 386, 1997).
approach is really very close. anyway, Pletnev was my first and my (the complete etudes-tableaux and Chopin variations). ‘but,’ she disease’. We know that some of the most consists of seeing what everybody has seen edna Golandsky is the person with
biggest influence. he helped me with my technique, my sound and enthuses, ‘Mozart is also very important to me and I recently played revered pianists of the past suffered and thinking what nobody has thought.’ whom Dorothy taubman worked most
musical ideas. he encouraged me to have brave ideas.’ a programme in salzburg of two fantasies and two sonatas, and also pain, sporadically or constantly: Clara In essence, taubman’s approach closely. taubman wrote: ‘I consider her
Paradoxically, Chochieva became a serial winner on the one of the concertos. so I think at present it’s important for me to schumann, Paderewski, scriabin, explains how the fingers, hand and arm the leading authority on the taubman
international competition circuit (ten in all) – an arena that, by stay in salzburg!’  schnabel, rachmaninov and Glenn Gould should function in order to make music approach to instrumental playing.’
and large, does not look favourably on ‘brave’ pianists. Chochieva all cited discomfort throughout their without fatigue, pain or injury. this together, they established the taubman
concurs. ‘exactly. at one time, I was playing in competitions almost Zlata Chochieva’s latest recording – Rachmaninov’s Variations on a careers. and although the likes of arrau, prevents problems from occurring in Institute in 1976, where pianists could
every year. It’s good to have that kind of experience. You build Theme of Chopin and Sonata No 1 – is available on Piano Classics rubinstein, horowitz, horszowski, earl the first place and provides retraining come together for one to two weeks to
⌂
your repertoire and it’s nice to play in front of great musicians, the (PCL0047) Wild and Jorge Bolet all played well into pathways for those already injured. It pursue intensive study. the institute was
March/April 2015 International Piano 17 March/April 2015 International Piano 49

IP0315_17_OnetoWatch_CJ.indd 17 17/02/2015 13:33:50 IP0315_48_50_Taubmann_CJ.indd 49 17/02/2015 15:55:01
music & au t ism music & au t ism
J
amIe does not communIcate conception of Jamie’s concerts 11 years
Beyond Ogawa hosted the first Jamie’s Concert

at Kawasaki’s Symphony Hall in 2004
verbally, cannot make eye contact, is
hypersensitive to musical sounds and
is extremely particular about his diet.
ago. ‘I realised that if Janice calmed down,
Jamie was easier to handle. so I decided to
help Janice, not Jamie. Without looking
the notes From babyhood, Jamie took no pleasure in

listening to music, finding it an intrusive
and unpleasant sensory experience, and
at me, he told me that he didn’t like
me interfering.’
ogawa realised how restricted a lifestyle
he would never accept any food cooked Jamie’s parents were obliged to lead: ‘they
Pianist noriko by ogawa. ‘to this day, Jamie won’t eat

rice – not even a single grain. It’s a signal
could not go out very much, not to dinner,
not to a film. Jamie would get upset if
Ogawa is expanding of cooking by me, an outsider in his home.’

ogawa explains that Jamie, in many
he was left alone for an evening with a
stranger.’ she identified that the loneliness
her Jamie’s Concerts senses, rejected her. ‘He always knew that
I was not his mother and I was not his
and stress of parenting an autistic child
could be partly assuaged through the
series for the parents sister.’ ogawa tells me this not with a sense
of sadness, but in wonderment of Jamie’s
healing power of music. ‘What about
a concert during the day, while Jamie
and carers of people emotional intelligence and integrity:
‘so many mothers carry this sorrow: my
was at school? He comes home at three
so I designed a concert to start at 11am.
there’s a lot of crying, but much laughter
too. sometimes music can permeate more
with autism. autistic child doesn’t look at me. does he
know I am his mother? I can tell them that
the important thing for me was not to
compromise artistic standards in any way.
than words. I strongly believe that this
couple of hours of mutual understanding
she tells Duncan yes, they do know. Jamie knew so clearly I wanted proper repertoire, nice clothing and high-quality music gets through to
what Janice was to him – his mother. I and a high standard of performance. parents and carers, and eventually to the
Honeybourne about was a lodger from another country, and he By doing this, I could help parents and, children themselves.’
her personal
knew that. Jamie was the one who knew, indirectly, the autistic children themselves. It is a devotion that has led to ogawa’s
more than anyone else in the family.’ But I leave the children to decide whether appointment as a cultural ambassador
connection to a ogawa desperately wanted to help Jamie, they want to come themselves. For Jamie, with the nas. Jamie’s mother was the first
but wondered how. then she noticed a the sound is too much, but some autistic person ogawa rang to share the news of
complex condition pattern in Jamie’s response to his mother’s

mood. ‘When Jamie had difficulty sleeping
children can’t get enough music.’
the first Jamie’s concert took place at the
her new role. ‘Janice knows what a strong
impact Jamie has made on my life. I’m not
he would run around and take books off muza Kawasaki symphony Hall in autumn playing the piano simply to be successful;
2004. ‘I was laughed at in the beginning,’ he’s given me more than that. It may not
recalls ogawa. ‘many people couldn’t be visible to an outsider what is going on,
understand how such an idea could help but I am pioneering a way of thinking, an
Ogawa with Jamie in 1994,
A
shortly after his diagnosis autistic children and their parents.’ then acceptance not only of those who have
utIsm, In Its mAny And keep an open mind to the strengths, Jamie was born; a long-awaited son. a special needs educationalist leapt to autism themselves, but of those close to
varied expressions, remains a weaknesses, struggles and insights of everyone was very happy.’ ogawa’s defence. ‘she stated that what them who live and care for them. It’s a
much misunderstood condition. each individual. needs are complex, ever Ogawa had always been attuned to I was proposing was not rubbish. Her kind of healing, in a way.’ 
the autism spectrum is vast, ranging from changing and all consuming, and so are the sensitivities of the human condition. endorsement opened the door.’
those who exhibit impressive recall in a the demands made on families and carers. ‘since I was a teenager I’ve had this fantasy Jamie’s concerts have since taken place Duncan Honeybourne is a pianist whose
specific topic but struggle to engage with noriko Ogawa knows this better than of being a psychiatrist,’ she admits. A regularly in Japan, and in 2010 ogawa life and career have been shaped by his
colleagues’ small talk, to the entirely non- most, and that’s what led her to launch friend with autism had given her an launched the series in the uK. now, Autism Spectrum Condition. He has given
verbal individual who displays little or no a special series called Jamie’s Concerts, insight into the workings of the autistic thanks to a new partnership with the talks on a wide range of autism-related
engagement with the outside world. with its roots not only in Ogawa’s mind, a framework she quickly recognised national autistic society (nas), Jamie’s topics and promotes the understanding of
the confusing realities of autism scintillating pianism, but also in a far in Jamie’s behavioural patterns: ‘I realised concerts are set to expand in this country. autistic spectrum conditions.
are always infinitesimally subtle and, more human experience. Jamie wouldn’t turn around when we ogawa was announced as a cultural
H
within a loose-fitting framework, each called his name, and he got stressed very ambassador for the society in september The next UK Jamie’s Concerts are in
person is different. the media carries AvIng wOn tHIrd PrIze easily. Jamie was unique in many respects. and her new role will be formally launched Manchester on 22 April and London on 5
a constant stream of real-life stories at the Leeds International Piano He fascinated me no end.’ in april. the society will help to promote May. There will also be an evening concert
that enrich public awareness, but Competition in 1987, Ogawa It was Ogawa who first suggested to Jamie’s concerts and get more parents and to raise awareness of Jamie’s Concerts and
society’s growing familiarity with the found lodgings with a musician couple Peter and Janice the reason for Jamie’s carers involved. launch Ogawa’s role as a cultural ambassador
concept of autism can foster a set of named Peter and Janice. ‘After I got uniqueness. ‘when Jamie was two-and- shelves; we’d watch him do it. the more the concerts can be moving: ‘the for the NAS at Eaton Square on 9 April. For
stereotypes that inhibit broader curiosity, the prize, I had lots of concerts and needed a-half, I sat them down in the lounge. I Janice tried to stop him, the worse it got. audience members feel a connection more information, visit
discovery and understanding. If you a place to live,’ she tells me over lunch told them to go to the doctor, because I When we had a cup of tea and calmly through shared experiences,’ says ogawa. http://uk.jamiesconcerts.com
think you know what it’s all about, at a cafe in wimbledon village. ‘Ben believed he was autistic.’ A diagnosis of watched him, Jamie seemed to relax and ‘there is an extraordinary understanding
it’s all too easy to make a quick judgement Kaplan [Ogawa’s teacher] introduced me severe autism followed and life for Jamie’s things got better.’ ogawa’s observation in the room, as mums and dads exchange Donations to Jamie’s Concerts can be made
and, most devastatingly of all, harder to to Peter and Janice. A few years later parents changed immeasurably. was a vital ingredient in the eventual stories and meet other parents and carers. at www.justgiving.com/noriko-ogawa1
24 International Piano March/April 2015 March/April 2015 International Piano 25

IP0315_24_25_Autism_CJ.indd 24 17/02/2015 09:31:58 IP0315_24_25_Autism_CJ.indd 25 17/02/2015 15:50:20
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IP0315.indd 54 21/04/2015 09:34:03

SYmPoSIum
c ov e r s tory
A TITAn ABroAd
As a pianist and composer, Ferruccio Busoni bestrode the
musical world like a Colossus. Yet he baffled many, and eluded
more. Jeremy Siepmann joins seven eminent advocates to
explore the challenges he posed
JEREMY SIEPMANN: Though he was WOLF HARDEN: It happened for

one of the most celebrated figures of me when I was 16 and studying the
his day, Busoni’s star, amazingly, is still arrangement of the Bach Chaconne. And I
in the ascendant. Gathered here to too was deeply impressed. I became curious
discuss him are some of his foremost about this composer-pianist-teacher-reader-
– and most authoritative – champions, writer-painter. Today I’m still fascinated by
from the UK (Peter Donohoe, Murray the vitality of his music, the outstanding
McLachlan), the US (Garrick Ohlsson, seriousness of every note he composed
Jeni Slotchiver), Germany (Wolf (nothing, even in the early pieces, is written
Harden), Italy (Carlo Grante) and just to impress), and by his personal life.
Canada (Marc-André Hamelin). Wolf In music, I’m fascinated by what he did
Harden has recorded the complete as a teacher (his Klavierübung should be
piano works, Jeni Slotchiver is well a must in every music school) and as a
on her way to doing likewise, and conductor. And last but not least, I’m
Carlo Grante and Murray McLachlan fascinated by the personality of the man, as
play most if not all of the repertoire. I’ve learned it from the biographies and his
What, then, attracts them so to Busoni letters: the man who loved to laugh (many
(and while we’re at it, how did they people described him as ‘Homerian’), who
get hooked)? couldn’t live without a big city and big
dogs – most photos of him feature a (very
JENI SLOTCHIVER: As a young musician big) dog!
I was stunned by the exquisite pianistic
peter donohoe © sussie ahlburg
writing, the strands of hauntingly familiar GARRICK OHLSSON: For as long as I

THE PANEL (clockwise melodies, woven ghostlike throughout the can remember, I’ve been infused with the
from top left):
Peter Donohoe,
stream-of-consciousness texture, the wealth lore and music of Busoni. I never had any
Carlo Grante, Wolf of harmonic colour, the textural variety, idea that this was unusual. By the age of
Harden, Garrick and the magical effects when fingers took 12, I’d played the Christmas Sonatina and
Ohlsson, Jeni
Slotchiver, Murray to keyboard. The writing was definitely was learning Bach from Busoni editions.
McLachlan and 20th century, the emancipation of the At 13, I began to study at Juilliard with
Marc-André Hamelin
dissonance was obvious, but here was a the eminent Sascha Gorodnitzki, who ⌂
master contrapuntist as well. informed me that the Busoni-ised opening

IP0515_055-059_Symposium_CJ.indd 55 20/04/2015 15:10
symposium
⌂ of Bach’s C minor Partita was completely century piano music. He talked to me a lot use of harmonic language: key structure
unacceptable to 1963 jury sensibilities. about the works and writings of Busoni, and the symbolism therein, combined with
However, he did have me learn the Liszt- and I became fascinated by the man and his his technique of free polyphony and free
Busoni Campanella that year. I played the music. But I can’t say I was exactly hooked. tonality; the seventh is his use of borrowed
Second Sonatina in 1966. And that same We ended up deciding that I would play fragments; and the last is his inventive use of
year I heard the Cleveland Orchestra with the Elegies, and I’ve continued to try to like the pedals. Busoni conceals his methods of
George Szell and pianist Pietro Scarpini them ever since. It was the Piano Concerto, transformation. This is an important aspect
at Carnegie Hall giving what may have though, that fired my enthusiasm most of of the piano writing. The compositions
been the New York premiere of the Busoni all, and still does. But I think we’re going sound timeless and the metamorphosis is
Concerto. I was completely knocked out by to be talking about that later, so I won’t say invisible – startlingly so. We’re often not
the more-than-Tchaikovsky first entrance any more about that just yet. sure how a beautiful melody has become
of the piano and the ensuing virtuosity, transformed through an extreme range of
beauty and over-the-top grandeur. JS: How would you describe his piano moods, and now presents a completely
music to someone who didn’t know it? different emotional experience. On the
MURRAY McLACHLAN: His music has subject of free polyphony, his harmony
everything – and all presented with white- SLOTCHIVER: I rather like his own can sound very traditional and at the same
hot integrity, nobility and truth. There’s description, from 1922: ‘My style takes time it disarms us by defining the term
nothing of the charlatan here, never everyone aback. Too young for the old, ‘other-worldly’. This also accounts for the
feeling of timelessness and formlessness in
his compositions.
HARDEN: Like Liszt, Busoni was one of

the most intelligent and successful of all
piano composers: everything he wrote
for the piano fits the instrument – even
the transcriptions of his own works (the
chamber orchestra version of the Berceuse
is incredible; full of beautiful colours and
touching chords. But even on the piano,
it remains fascinating music). Today, most
people who speak about Busoni are thinking
of the later Busoni, after the ‘turning’
marked by the Elegies and the Second
Violin Sonata. I think this isn’t helpful to an
understanding of the whole Busoni. Liszt
was a huge influence on the young Busoni,
but more important was the influence of
Brahms and, of course, Bach and Mozart.
Busoni didn’t regard composition as a fixed
statement – even the writing of notes, after
all, is a transcription of ideas. That’s why
anything pretentious. Just beautiful music, insufficiently mindless for the young, there wasn’t so much difference, for him,
all the more passionate and exciting for it constitutes a clear-cut chapter in the between his ‘original’ works, his Bach (and
avoiding the musical equivalent of instant disorder of our times. It will hold its other) arrangements, and the transcriptions
gratification. It’s music that continues to own better, therefore, with subsequently of his own works. To get an impression of
touch you, to stretch the imagination, take fluctuating later generations.’ this, I suggest everyone study the Fantasia
you to spiritual and emotional heights on JS Bach, an amazing hybrid between the
that are all the more elated for not having JS: I like that too. But how would you Bach cantatas and Busoni’s own expression.
appeared to be there at all on first, second or describe it? This is one of the most heartbreaking pieces
even third re-hearings. of music I know.
SLOTCHIVER: I generally describe
PETER DONOHOE: I first came across eight traits. The first three are Busoni’s McLACHLAN: You can forget about
Busoni’s music in the late 1970s when I was compositional triumvirate, Bach-Mozart- classifications as we think of them for
approached by a University of Birmingham Liszt; the fourth is his preoccupation with all other composers. You have to take
lecturer – John CG Waterhouse – to prepare bells; the fifth covers the pre-eminence he transcriptions, performance editions,
a recital programme based on Italian 20th- gives to long lyrical lines; the sixth is his ‘original compositions’ variations and even

symposium
descriptions of Busoni’s own performances

as being one and the same thing – part of
‘He spurned any short cuts. For him,
the ‘oneness of music’. He wanted music
to rise above egotistical classification and
art was a quasi-sacred endeavour’
pigeonholing. What you get with Busoni is Murray Mclachlan
similar to the visions Faust conjures up in
the Parma scene of Doktor Faust; the image
of Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt or Bach will
be there, but it will also have the features hill, he spurned any short cuts. For him, art of all, you need to be in very good physical
of Busoni. He seems to have taken the was a quasi-sacred endeavour. If you want to condition. At the end of the Toccata’s
whole universe of music and used his chief be a Busoni disciple, you need to respect the ‘Preludio’, for instance, the crossover of
vehicle of expression, the piano, as a means struggle he went through in order to arrive the hands spans four octaves. Even with
of exploring it. where he did. long arms, it’s hard to stay in control!
And an absolute must is that the hands be
OHLSSON: As some colleagues have MARC-ANDRé HAMELIN: Part of the well trained in extensions. The chords are
pointed out, with Busoni’s name on a answer lies in the very peculiar harmonic often spread very wide (and arpeggiation,
programme, you never know what style language he adopted in his later works especially in the Organ Toccata
or musical language to expect. It could be (which are also his most significant). transcriptions, is strictly forbidden). Most
anything from a transcription/arrangement He was constantly pushing boundaries. of his compositions are written in a very
to neoclassicism to full-blown Romantic This often resulted in uneasy, unusual polyphonic style, so you need great clarity
to atonality. Also, Busoni, for all his atmospheres, far from anything that to show the geometry of the music. And
demonic pianism, didn’t play or compose could be reasonably described as being ‘in as Jeni has said, he was also fascinated by
to the gallery. He was too advanced, too popular taste’. I find no end of fascination the use of the pedals – all three of course
patrician and ‘artistic’ to write applause in this kind of language, but sometimes – and indeed, their proper use can be
lines. Sometimes the public doesn’t know it puzzles even me; one example is his absolutely decisive.
what to make of his enigmatic music, with Tanzwalzer, which I find perfectly charming
its seriousness and frequent soft endings. until the last two pages, which for no McLACHLAN: You need to have
apparent reason start exploring rather enormous hands and great dexterity for
JS: Why does he remain so little known? strange areas which make, to my mind, most of the major works. You need to hold
a disappointing close to an otherwise large structures together, have a huge range
SLOTCHIVER: I think it bothers a lot lovely piece. of colours and be able to orchestrate as
of people that Busoni didn’t belong well as to colour. If you play from memory
to any school or movement, hence the JS: What are the major challenges he the polyphonic demands can make the
misconception that he had ‘no discernable poses to the pianist? task very onerous. You also need great
style’. He was the first formidable 20th- rhythmic discipline, and ‘lateral thinking’
century composer to inherit all styles. SLOTCHIVER: You can’t be just a with regard to choices of fingering. You
His compositions are a synthesis of past pianist to interpret and perform Busoni. need to be able to ‘compose’ within the
and future – and his incorporation of new He’s constantly asking us to experiment; very sparsely marked scores. Compared
experiments often leaves listeners confused. to orchestrate, to investigate, to colour, with other composers, Busoni often gives
to experience. A formidable physical fewer indications of dynamics, articulation
HARDEN: Another problem, perhaps, technique is only the beginning. One also and so on.
is the sheer length of some of his needs the visionary capacity to sense and
compositions: the Piano Concerto is respond to new textures, sonorities and CARLO GRANTE: Busoni’s piano
about 75 minutes, the Elegies as a cycle expressive demands. This isn’t music for writing, although ‘fitting the hand’ very
last around 40 minutes, the Fantasia the athlete alone. Quiet and mysterious well, actually uses rather few keyboard
Contrappuntistica 30 minutes plus. On the undulations might pose obvious problems patterns, though there are many sequences
other hand, many pieces average around 10 for the hands and arms, but without a and reiterations. But the latter often span
minutes or shorter, so who knows. vital imagination, they can’t convey the the 12 tones in a peculiar way, covering
sheer beauty of Busoni’s compositions. diverse triadic harmonies (with apparently
McLACHLAN: He certainly didn’t make Besides the obvious physical difficulties, the same contour throughout) in a short
things easy for himself. He assumes that Busoni searched for a pure ‘celestial’ music, span of time. Often the texture is multi-
listeners have an erudition that encompasses which could convey the feeling-state of the layered, more in terms of sonic planes
knowledge of ETA Hoffmann and Bach’s ‘essence of music.’ than of pure counterpoint, but the music
The Art of Fugue, and so on. He never must nevertheless sound crystal-clear and
compromised. In his enormous struggle to HARDEN: Busoni forces the player to transparent. The performer’s task, rather
extremes in every aspect of pianism. First than ‘expressing’, is to ‘convey’ ideas in a
⌂
push his proverbial boulder to the top of the

symposium
⌂ symbolic manner, capturing the listener’s his goal. He regarded the free, fantasia GRANTE: His mastery of form does have
own intuition of what’s hidden, or hinted sections of Bach’s Organ Toccatas as among those archetypes of theme and section
at, in the music. the greatest moments in all of Bach. formation typical of the German classical
tradition, but some are a direct derivation
JS: To what extent (and how) did he SLOTCHIVER: Busoni’s architecture had of Italian opera’s sectional organisation of
expand the boundaries of virtuosity? to serve the ideas within. As he matured, arias, recitatives, and so forth. But Busoni’s
the forms became increasingly economical, proportions are often philosophical, as
McLACHLAN: In all directions! You only enabling him to say so much with so perceived subjectively by his inner eye. His
need to look at the (unabbreviated) version little. That’s his genius. When he rewrote own judgement relates more, I think, to
of the Klavierübung to see this, to see the his Variations on a Chopin Prelude, his conceptual proportions than metrical ones.
way in which he takes already existing main revision was of the form itself. He
material and adds additional exercises, condensed the material and intensified JS: The most performed and recorded
new transcriptions and etudes. In terms the contrasts by changing the keys, and of all his major works is the huge
of arpeggios alone, and his transcendental altering the hard, formalistic structure. concerto for piano, orchestra and male
fingerings, there’s so much that’s new with
Busoni. With the Fantasia Contrappuntistica,

for instance, we have polyphony as never
before. Busoni’s late works moved virtuosity
forward uniquely, by compressing it. In works
such as the Perpetuum Mobile and the Third
Sonatina, the athletic prowess is all the more
demanding for requiring extreme economy
of technique.
SLOTCHIVER: Absolutely. Perhaps the

most essentially challenging aspect for
the pianist is the ability to convey a vastly
profound state of feeling with very few
gestures. With Busoni, light compositions
are shadowed, while dark compositions
contain some hidden joy or serenity. In
these very subtle ways, too, he expanded
the boundaries of virtuosity.
HARDEN: Busoni came up with an

entirely new and individual conception
of piano sonority, combining a very ‘full
handed’ texture – like Brahms in his
Paganini Variations and Second Piano
Concerto – with a Lisztian ‘technicolour’
including some amazing orchestral effects
(the Third Elegy, for example, has a very
difficult tremolo which comes close to
a perfect illusion of strings and wind).
He also demands a perfect feeling for
distances: almost always, you have to
control the entire keyboard. Sometimes, I
think, he really reaches the outer limit of
human capabilities on the piano.
JS: Could he, among many other

things, be described as a master of
expressive structure?
MCLACHLAN: I think that’s a very

perceptive way of putting it indeed. It was

symposium
chorus, which all of you have performed the time – more than demonstrated the century, but certainly one of its irresistible
and most of you have recorded. Two Herculean hurdles that pianists are faced and stunningly impressive flawed ones.
questions: how representative is this with in this vast drama. It’s a very mature
of Busoni and why, as well as the most work, but also the work of a young man, JS: Busoni was a Protean figure: a multi-
played, is it also the most reviled? Even with youthful excesses still notable in the faceted genius whose achievements
that great Busonian Alfred Brendel has musical discourse. But I deeply loved this regularly produced stunned incredulity.
described it as ‘monstrously overwritten’. monster of a piece, and I simply had to Even the most dispassionate account
play it. It’s been interesting to see how it of him could arouse a measure of
OHLSSON: Given what Busoni is trying divides listeners; those who love it place it suspicion, or at least circumspection.
to achieve in this hyper-late-Romantic, among the greatest musical creations ever As all our guests have testified, Busoni’s
Gurrelieder-Zemlinsky-Mahleresque written, while others are apt to ridicule artistic integrity was as incorruptible
sprawling work, I have to disagree with what they see as hyper-bloated indulgence as his artistry was incomparable. Today,
our distinguished colleague. Part of the – there’s just very little middle ground! I appropriately, we’ve concentrated mainly
problem might be the gargantuan nature suspect the work has a much better chance on his art and influence as a composer
of Busoni, who himself contained worlds, of succeeding in the listener’s mind if – appropriate because this is far and
not the least of which is being fully and all preconceptions of a piano concerto away his greatest legacy. But for many,
genuinely both Italian and German in are set aside. All five movements differ irrespective of their response to him as a
an age much less homogenised than considerably from traditional moulds, composer, he was also by a wide margin
our own. I don’t see how he could have structurally speaking, and the addition the most transfiguring and illuminating
written the concerto in a more modestly of a chorus in the last movement, which performer they had ever heard. His
concise way and still achieved its range and more often than not causes derision, was to recordings are few and unrepresentative.
grandeur. The concerto is representative Busoni the only conceivable way to wrap The truest clue, however, to the
of Busoni the heir of Liszt and the heir things up in a suitably meaningful way. If splendour, the nobility, the sheer
of all late Romanticism, especially with the work is listened to with a symphonic immensity of his pianism lies not in the
reference to the Brahms concertos, perspective rather than that of a concerto, paucity of sounds that he left us but in
particularly No 2, criticised in its own it stands a much better chance and will the vast quantity of notes that he wrote.
day as being overwritten; too symphonic, unobtrusively reveal its many beauties. There, and only there, do we find the
too chamber-like and too much of a whole man. 
piano obbligato. DONOHOE: It’s a fantastically extravagant
and all-encompassing work, and I really IP is delighted to offer one lucky reader a
McLACHLAN: People complain about love playing it. That said, it’s not without complimentary set of Jeni Slotchiver’s 3-CD
the ‘pastiche’ nature of this huge work, is its longeurs. The third movement collection ‘Busoni the Visionary’, recorded
but I always remind them to look at the is around ten minutes too long for its on the Centaur label. To be in with a chance
enormous unifying force that is the piano own good, and I could very happily do of winning this fantastic series, please
part! It functions not as an egotistical without the overblown and over-written email competitions@rhinegold.co.uk, citing
barnstorming device at all, but rather central section, which goes nowhere. But ‘Busoni’ in the subject line. Good luck!
as a latter-day continuo instrument. As that doesn’t detract from those uniquely
it accompanies, comments, fills in and beautiful sections that surround it.
weaves around textures, it presents a voice The Parsifal-style nature of the first main
that’s entirely Busoni’s. And it stands as section (after the long introduction) is one
a unique testament to his phenomenal of the most movingly beautiful passages
understanding of the instrument, and in the entire concerto repertoire. The
the way in which he could move pianism opening tutti and the coda of the first
forward. Look, for instance, among many movement are sublimely moving,
other things, at the fantastic scale writing; the opening piano entrance is quite
the amazing runs and cascades of colour. astonishingly impressive and magisterial,
and the development is uniquely electric
HAMELIN: I discovered the concerto in in its emotional surge and direction. But
1983. When I think back, I can easily relive the only movement about which I have
my first impression of the opening tutti no reservations at all is the extraordinary
and my immediate sense of wonder that fourth movement – All’Italiana. Nothing
this profoundly beautiful music wasn’t in the piano concerto repertoire comes
better known and played more often. near it for the controlled building of
Four minutes in, with the piano entrance, excitement, the sheer animal uninhibited
I got a partial answer. A later examination ludicrousness of it! So, perhaps not the
of the score – almost unobtainable at greatest piano concerto of the early 20th

r epertoir e
Notes from Finland

this year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of
finnish composer Jean sibelius, a remarkable artist whose
piano works deserve greater praise, writes pianist Joseph Tong
© Mika TakaMi, wiTh kind perMission of The

ast summer, as Part of my among other items on display, I was Whereas Kyllikki marks the end of
research for my sibelius disc for fascinated to see the original upright piano sibelius’s national romantic period, The
the Quartz label, I came across a (complete with candelabra) which sibelius Trees (1914) is a fine example of his later,
recording of the Japanese pianist Izumi used for his practice from the mid-1870s highly cultivated piano style. Impressionist
tateno performing sibelius on the onwards, as well as an autograph score of and expressionist influences are detectable
composer’s steinway at ainola. the beauty the opening bars of Finlandia. in these exquisite nature-inspired
and originality of the music aroused In this article, I will restrict myself miniatures. the fragility of the gradually
my curiosity and I quickly set about to writing about the repertoire on the unfolding right-hand melody suggests the
acquiring scores – a mission that resulted Quartz disc, which I will also be performing long-awaited flowering of the mountain
in a rewarding voyage of musical discovery. in an all-sibelius solo piano recital at st ash (When the Mountain Ash Blooms), while
arriving at ainola early one morning John’s smith square this spring. With the absolute steadfastness of the pine
during the July heatwave, I was thrilled the possible exception of the early sonata tree (The Solitary Fir Tree) was at the time
to be given special permission to play in f major of 1893, Kyllikki op 41 (1904) interpreted as a symbol of finland standing
the composer’s beautifully maintained is probably sibelius’s most significant firm against russian influence. Within the
steinway. to feel the keys under my fingers large-scale piano work of more than one third piece, The Aspen, there is a growing
was both humbling and exhilarating. movement. there is no complete certainty harmonic ambiguity and an increasingly
Later the same day, I took a train to of its connection with the Kalevala, the inward-looking expression. of particular
Hämeenlinna, the birthplace of sibelius finnish national epic, but it can nonetheless note are the tremolo passages, perhaps
(the house where the composer was born be seen as a triptych portraying Kyllikki depicting branches quivering in the icy
on 8 December 1865 is now a museum). and her three successive states of mind. breeze, and the mournful ‘cello’ theme with
its sparse accompanying chords. The Birch
is the most energetic piece of the set, the
favourite tree of the finns, which ‘stands so
white’. the rich tenor register is the natural
home for The Spruce’s slow waltz theme,
answered by an equally poignant melody
in the soprano before the sudden, dramatic
arpeggiations of the risoluto section recall
the inner determination and strength of
The Solitary Fir Tree.
C
omPoseD In tHe years 1916-17,
The ainola foundaTion, Jarvenpaa, finland
The Flowers op 85 is an
© Mika TakaMi, wiTh kind perMission of
indispensable companion set to

The Trees. Bellis (daisy or daisies) is music-
box-like in style, using the white keys of
the piano and tiny, pinpointed staccatos to
depict perhaps a cluster of daisies sparkling
in the spring breeze. Oeillet (‘Carnation’)
is more overtly romantic, a beautiful waltz
with a brief minor variation and whimsical,
decorative passages in the upper melody. Iris
Joseph Tong pictured has a more improvisatory feel and serious
outside the home of Jean Sibelius
character, with its nuanced, leggiero runs
IP0515_060-061_Repertoire_CJ.indd 60 20/04/2015 15:12

r epertoir e
Sibelius’s Esquisses (1929) are the last

pieces that he composed for solo piano.
Remarkably, these were not published until
1973 and are still not very widely known.
Written towards the end of the composer’s
last active creative period, they explore
modal tonality and other compositional
devices such as tonal meditation (for
example in Forest Lake) while reflecting
an increasingly personal response to
nature, coupled with a bold, more radical
approach to harmony. For me, the most
© Mika TakaMi, wiTh kind perMission of The
striking of the set are Forest Lake and

ainola foundaTion, Jarvenpaa, finland
Song in the Forest. Beyond the immediate

pictorial associations there lurks a darker,
more disturbing undercurrent and blurred
edges are perhaps what the composer had
in mind when considering the important
role of the sustaining pedal in both pieces.
Finally, Spring Vision has a deceptively
straightforward opening but its restless
Tong is given a rare opportunity Animoso theme also suggests that a feeling
to play Sibelius’s original Steinway of springlike optimism may be no more
than fleeting.
T
and delicate trills, while No 4, Snapdragon, pauses, sighing motifs and extremely he mOST SuCCeSSFul ANd
has a rhythmically taut opening theme delicate, pianissimo winding melodies. frequently performed of Sibelius’s
and later reveals some Schumannesque Its companion piece is remarkable for its orchestral transcriptions is his
accompaniments and harmonic sequences. sharp dissonances and waspish humour, celebrated version of Finlandia Op 26
Campanula begins with a succession of together with nimble right hand tremolo (1899-1900). In addition to virtuoso
reverberating bells in the form of split effects (in tenths) resembling string- semiquaver flourishes, double octave
octaves in the treble, later conveying a crossings on the violin. cascades and swirling arpeggiations,
more nostalgic mood through ruminative The Five Romantic Pieces Op 101 (1923- Sibelius also uses the different registers
arpeggiations and expressive appoggiaturas 1924) reveal a richer handling of the of the piano to great effect in recreating
before ending poignantly with distant, piano and Sibelius’s growing preference something of the warmth of the string
repeated bells in the top register. for orchestral sonorities, with occasional sound in the hushed, cantabile ‘hymn-
The first of Sibelius’s three Sonatinas similarities to the Sixth Symphony. The theme’ and its subsequent development.
Op 67 heralds a noticeable change in opening Romance was written in a suitably There is also something irresistibly spine-
style. It opens with a joyful, sparsely tender, heartfelt vein as a reconciliation tingling about launching into Finlandia’s
harmonised theme and expresses a wealth gift to his wife Aino. Chant du soir, on the powerful opening chords, complete with
of musical ideas, through pithy two- other hand, is more succinct and less lavish menacing tremolos, on a full-size concert
part writing and other extraordinarily in texture and harmony, though no less grand, and the translation of the tone poem
economical means. The work’s slow touching in its overall effect. A serenely to the sound world of the piano seems to
movement is particularly beautiful and unfolding Andante introduction to Scène work very successfully.
provides its emotional core. The quirky lyrique gives not a hint of what is to come; Whatever the underlying reasons for
and pianistically challenging finale a rapid, polka-like Vivace which rattles the relative neglect of Sibelius’s piano
is characterised by some unexpected along in a violinistic fashion. Burlesque is music, I hope that this year’s anniversary
harmonic diversions, an agitated minor full of swagger and comical touches such celebrations will prompt a resurgence
key melody in the left hand set against a as teasing harmonic twists and hilarious of interest in this rich seam of repertoire
recurring, somewhat unsettling broken ‘crushed-note’ chords, closing with a light- which spans virtually the entire period of
octave accompaniment in the high register. hearted, scampering coda. Calm is restored Sibelius’s creative life. 
The two Rondinos Op 68 (1912) are with the dignified and beautifully crafted
also distinctive and notable in a stylistic Scène romantique, in which Sibelius shows Joseph Tong will perform an all-Sibelius
sense, similarly dating from Sibelius’s his mastery of the miniature forms and solo piano recital at St John’s Smith Square,
period of ‘modern classicism’. The G sharp paces the moment where the imagined London, on 13 May. His recording of the same
minor Andantino is full of questioning reconciliation occurs to perfection. repertoire is available on the Quartz label

IP0515_060-061_Repertoire_CJ.indd 61 20/04/2015 15:13
f e s t i va l r e p o r t
Modernism in Monaco
Monte-carlo’s Printemps des arts is a case and whose style is anything but conventional.
Monnet’s raison d’être is to abolish musical
study in careful curation and creative preconceptions; his programmes are curated
thematically and bring seemingly disparate
programming. Claire Jackson pays a visit ideas together in a creative and energising
way. For example, this year saw the
Monte-carlo Philharmonic orchestra
M t
perform Franco Donatoni (1927-2000)’s Duo
onaco Is PerhaPs best he FestIval Was establIsheD pour Bruno – a seldom-heard excursion into
known for its yachts, luxury 31 years ago, at the insistence colour experimentation boasting a score
boutiques and fast cars. an of Princess Grace, who had the so large it barely fitted on the music stand
independent state that borders the French foresight to see that the microstate would – paired with sibelius’s second symphony.
riviera and Italy, it is a playground for the benefit from a new cultural project. since similarly, pianist célimène Daudet
wealthy; it boasts the highest number of then, the event has attracted some of the performed bach’s The Art of Fugue – in its
billionaires per capita in the world and is a most notable names in the piano industry: entirety (see p17) – coupled with schöllhorn’s
haven for oligarchs and nouveau riche. With Daniel barenboim, Maria João Pires, contemporary rendering of the same work.
low rates of unemployment it is a world Ivo Pogorelich and Murray Perahia. the Monnet’s programming is composer-
removed from the rest of europe. Its palm festival has taken place annually with the centric; to this end he personally selects
tree-lined streets and Japanese-inspired exception of 2005, when the event was artists who share his vision and who will
rooftop gardens lend an air of exotica. Day- called off due to the death of Prince rainier champion lesser-heard – and often less
trippers and weekenders come here for III. royal patronage continues through to commercial – repertoire. ‘the problem is
a good time, to gamble, to sample haute the present day; Princess caroline smiles that programming is linked to the industry
cuisine, to take the jet for a spin. When the out from the festival programme booklet and agents – and I want to go around
invitation came from Monaco’s premiere and members of the royal family are in the agents,’ he smiles. ‘I do not want to
classical music festival, the Printemps des regular attendance at concerts. promote the image of artists because this
arts de Monte-carlo, judgements were but those expecting a beethoven cycle or is the job of agents; I want to promote the
duly made: it would be a fun but frivolous schumann recital might be disappointed. work itself – this is what it is about.’
affair of smash-hits and frothy melodies. enter the enterprising Marc Monnet, who has While this is indeed laudable, it is a risky
Well, never judge a book by its cover. been the festival’s artistic director since 2001, business model: the auditorium rainer III
© JM eMporte
Students from the Nice Conservatoire and Monaco

Academy perform in the Auditorium Rainer III
IP0515_062-063_FestivalRep_CJ.indd 62 20/04/2015 17:21

f e s t i va l r e p o r t
© JM eMporte
© olivier roller
Florent Boffard juxtaposed Bach and Schoenberg Seeking excellence: artistic director Marc Monnet
‘i do not want to promote the image of artists because this is the job of
agents; i want to promote the work itself’
was half empty for the excellent Donatoni/ hall’ performances held in the Auditorium Monaco. Monnet is a big admirer of the
Sibelius concert. But in such a tiny state Rainer III, this year’s festival featured BBC Proms and its £5 ticket scheme (at
this is to be expected, and, as Monnet events at the newly built Yacht Club, the the time of writing we are yet to discover
points out, this is a coastal venue, with aforementioned casino, the cathedral whether the new Proms director has been
audiences thinly spread across Nice and and an aquarium. Previous instalments able to protect this offering for 2015). I
neighbouring towns. A full house is more have featured concerts in people’s homes, joke that Monnet could have applied for
likely at the Monte Carlo Casino. That’s not on a steam train to Cannes and ‘surprise the directorship in London. ‘Well, we
to say that the festival isn’t keen to attract concerts’ where audiences had no idea who bring the BBC here instead,’ he laughs,
more visitors; Monnet has introduced pre- they were going to hear or how they would reminding me that the BBC Symphony
concert lectures and encourages artists to get to the concert venue. Orchestra performed at the festival during
M
talk from the stage. ‘Most festivals are too the second weekend.
formal,’ he says, ‘I want to empower the ONNeT hAS MADe Outside the concert hall, the city is
audience.’ Festival Printemps des Arts de decorated with promotional flyers and
A case in point was the Bach-Schoenberg Monte-Carlo a destination for flags advertising the festival – although
recital given by the pianist Florent Boffard local musicians. ‘I gather young musicians the passing viewer would have to look
at the Beaulieu-sur-Mer Casino (yes, really). to integrate them into the festival,’ he hard to find out more about the event. ‘We
Boffard explained the similarities between explains. ‘There is always a concert free of want people to be curious,’ Monnet says,
the writing styles and went on to juxtapose charge for the conservatories to attend and ‘and to question’. This year’s logo shows
Bach’s French Suite with Schoenberg’s pieces participate in.’ We are talking on a Saturday a faceless person in concert dress, staring
for piano Op 23. On paper this appearance afternoon, having just watched students into a stage light. The same image adorns
rather simplistic, but in performance, and from the Nice Conservatoire and Monaco the festival’s homepage, and the viewer
alongside the musical examples expertly Academy perform in the Auditorium must click around in order to investigate
demonstrated by Boffard, it made complete Rainer III. The programme was a mix of further. As with the concerts, the idea is
sense. Towards the end of the concert, new works and unusual transcriptions, to encourage active participation. ‘For me
Boffard played Bach and Schoenberg works including Bach piano concertos BWV 1063 everything is important,’ says Monnet, ‘No
without a break and the sound worlds had and BWV 1065 arranged for three and detail is too small.’ Later, as I eat my dinner
never appeared so close. four pianists respectively. It was inspiring on a placemat boasting the same image,
Despite the menacing fluorescent to see so many students in the audience; at one of the festival’s partner restaurants,
stage lights and background sound from it is exactly this sort of engagement that I speculate whether the picture represents
the casino, the unusual venue added Monnet is keen to foster. As well as the the citizens of Monte-Carlo, Grace Kelly
another level of interest. ‘Location is very student concert, the festival offers tickets or even Monnet himself. Like Monaco,
important,’ agrees Monnet. ‘It’s all to for as little as €10, which does seem appearances can be deceptive. e
help people adapt the way they listen to extraordinarily reasonable, given the
music.’ As well as the standard ‘concert comparative expense of everything else in www.printempsdesarts.com

IP0515_062-063_FestivalRep_CJ.indd 63 20/04/2015 17:22
FeliCJa Blu Men Ta l
A broader palette
a collection of previously unseen sketches by pianist
Felicja Blumental (1908-1991) have shed new light on her
relationships with the people she met and performed with,
as Femke Colborne discovers
T B
he polish-Brazilian pianisT discovered in an attic room by Blumental’s luMenTal was Born in
Felicja Blumental (1908-1991) was daughter, annette Céline, when she was poland and studied in warsaw
not only a distinguished musician, packing to move house last year. Céline before fleeing to Brazil with her
but also a talented visual artist. she enjoyed initially discovered a large collection of her husband, the violinist Markus Minze,
painting flowers, but also sketched many mother’s drawings in 1996, five years after to escape the growing anti-semitism in
of the prominent musicians she worked she died, but this latest discovery includes europe. she enjoyed a lengthy career as a
with, including Carlo zecchi, heitor Villa- 20 previously unseen sketches. concert pianist, appearing with some of
lobos and Marian anderson. she always Céline, who is 75 and now lives in Tel the great european orchestras, including
visited art galleries when on tour and had aviv following a successful international the philharmonia, royal philharmonic,
personal connections with many of the career as a singer, says: ‘My mother first london philharmonic and london
most famous artists of the time, including started drawing in school, where she would symphony orchestra. she was a pioneer
Tsuguharu Foujita and Kees van Dongen. create caricatures of teachers. Then, as a of unusual repertoire, including the
now, a collection of previously unseen professional pianist, she would sketch on music of Brazil, and was greatly admired
sketches by Blumental have shed new the back of programmes during concerts by 20th-century composers including
light on her talent as an artist and her – often drawing in the dark. i very rarely Villa-lobos, lutosławski and penderecki,
relationships with the many prominent saw her draw because she did it so quickly, who all dedicated works to her. Today,
people she met and performed with. The so i was surprised to find the first batch of her recordings can be heard on the Brana
drawings, which include portraits of John sketches – and even more surprised to find records label.
ogdon, helen Keller and Josef Krips, were a second collection.’ Blumental had no formal artistic training
but took part in life drawing classes and
often painted at night. she produced
drawings of many famous musicians,
such as Marian anderson, eileen Farrell,
edwin Fischer, wilhelm Backhaus, arturo
Toscanini, ernest alexandre ansermet,
Victoria de los angeles, Marguerite
long, Guiomar novaes, ida haendel and
Beniamino Gigli. at times, she drew hastily
on random pieces of paper – invitations,
catalogues, and concert programmes – but
she also sketched in small albums, which
she carried in her purse.
Céline says: ‘i never saw her resting. she
was always practising, reading or painting
– she would never just go for a walk or talk
on the phone. she was so eager to learn – i
remember her learning the Busoni piano
Concerto, even though she never even got
John Ogdon Josef Krips to perform it. she never stopped.’
64 international piano May/June 2015
IP0515_064-065_Felicja Blumental_CJ.indd 64 20/04/2015 17:26

FelicjA Blu Men tA l
Blumental often sketched on concert

programmes, as with this drawing featuring
Italian conductor Carlo Zecchi
D
uring her concert tours,
Blumental and her husband
‘I never saw her resting. She was always practising,
would often visit
studios and galleries, forming personal
artists’ reading or painting – she would never just go for
relationships with painters. During these a walk or talk on the phone’
encounters, Blumental would sit for a
drawing or painting, and would draw the
artists in return. her boldly expressive céline says her mother’s affinity for the latest instalment takes place in May
technique captured the essence of the unusual repertoire was born of necessity. and includes performances from russian
artists who fascinated her, and her portrait ‘even today, there is discrimination against pianist Antonii Baryshevskii, winner of
of the 80-year-old Kees van Dongen even women pianists,’ she says. ‘At that time, the 2014 Arthur rubinstein international
earned a compliment from the artist, it was quite impossible, which is why Piano Master competition, and British
which he wrote on the drawing itself: ‘it is she went into unusual repertoire. When pianist robert Markham, who will take
me without being me.’ she auditioned for one manager in the us, part in an event dedicated to the French
though she has few memories of her he said, “if you put her in a tuxedo, we poet Victor hugo.
mother drawing, céline does remember will take her.” When she recorded an all- ‘i want to carry on her idea of doing
the moment when she sketched deafblind chopin disc for Decca in the 1950s, she unusual things,’ céline says. ‘Many
activist helen Keller. ‘she and her teacher was told a few months later that it couldn’t musicians like to draw or paint: Pavarotti,
Polly thomson came to Brazil to give a be published because it would compete caballé, schoenberg and many more. it
lecture in a library and my mother took with rubinstein.’ can be a hobby to relax, but you can also
me to see her,’ she recalls. ‘i was a bit lazy céline now runs an annual festival learn from it. Music is a kind of painting,
as a child, so she took me to try and inspire dedicated to her mother at the tel Aviv in a way, and i think it is very important
me. My mother was a prodigy – it came Museum of Art, featuring visual arts, for young musicians to go to museums and
naturally to her – but i was not like that, lectures and poetry readings as well as galleries because painting can teach them
partly because of my asthma. she told me, music in a bid to reflect Blumental’s love something about the colour and contrasts
that is an example of willpower.’ for the whole spectrum of art forms. in music.’ 
May/June 2015 international Piano 65

IP0515_064-065_Felicja Blumental_CJ.indd 65 20/04/2015 17:26
ICA Classics International Piano Half Page.indd 1 07/04/2015 13:30:30
IP0315.indd 66 MO_1_BORder.indd 1 25/01/2013 12:01:53

17/04/2015 17:09:53
Pi a no m a k er s
Gaza’s grand piano

BBC radio 4’s ‘Crossing Continents’ strand recently reported the
restoration of Gaza’s only concert grand piano. The instrument’s revival
brings respite from the daily grind of survival, writes Michael Round
T
he mere menTIon of ‘Gaza’ undertook the work, aided by two carefully: singing is permitted as part of
in a news bulletin almost guarantees Palestinian apprentices – part of the music a teaching process (in the programme,
feelings of despair among caring fund remit and itself a most hopeful sign we heard nine-year-olds chanting ‘eng-
listeners, of pity for its beleaguered for the future. lish, ar-a-bic, Sci-ence, math’) but singing
B
inhabitants – and melancholy speculation purely for pleasure is not allowed. music-
that if there were any easy solutions to this uT The PureLY meChanICaL school piano-lessons, under the inspired
middle east problem, even the politicians work is by no means the end of the teaching of russian pianist Yelena Lidawi,
would have thought of them by now. all story. Periodic wars with Israel have did take place, but discreetly hidden away
the more welcome, therefore, was reporter long been discouragement enough from in the corner of a red Crescent building.
C
Tim Whewell’s upbeat story, in BBC radio thoughts of anything beyond basic survival
4’s ‘Crossing Continents’ strand, about the – but with the rise of the Islamist militant LaIre BerTranD anD her
discovery and resuscitation of what turned movement hamas since 2007, public apprentices completed the
out to be Gaza’s only concert grand piano. entertainments of practically any kind have restoration work – astonishingly,
The piano, a Yamaha three-quarter, had attracted increasing official disfavour. perhaps – in just ten days. In a district
been housed in the nawras Theatre in where 100,000 homes have been
northern Gaza, a building refurbished at destroyed by war and where half the
© BBC
great expense as part of a leisure complex available water is undrinkable, some

but severely bomb-damaged during last might have questioned the relative worth
summer’s war with Israel. The piano of spending time and resources on such
itself survived, partly through its very an apparently cosmetic issue as repairing
construction – people are rumoured to a piano. But residents, thoughtful and
have taken shelter under the resilient articulate in interview, confirmed that
frameworks of grand pianos during World any opportunity for music-making lifts
War Two air raids – and partly because it them, even if only temporarily, out of the
had been presciently cushioned by all the Live music-making, even singing and daily grind of sheer survival.
spare packaging the theatre owner could dancing, is considered haram – forbidden We heard snatches of a gala concert given
lay his hands on. But general damage, plus by God. unfathomably, recorded music, via by Lidawi’s pupils, a heart-warming climax
years of previous disuse, had rendered it all mP3, is considered acceptable, as is wedding to the courageous efforts of everyone
but unusable. music performed in the streets. But live concerned. It may take audiences another
The piano had ‘disappeared’ for several performances – especially in front of paying 20-30 years ‘to learn how to listen’, as one
years and was rediscovered only two audiences – are considered ‘different’ interviewee put it, but this single gesture
years ago by Khamis abu Shaaban, the and liable to be officially cancelled at has been a priceless way to raise the morale
administrator of Gaza’s music school, and short notice. It is thought that ensemble of every one of Gaza’s 1.8 million residents.
Lukas Pairon, the founder of music fund, a music making and dancing, with their Gaza is by no means the only place
Brussels-based charity that seeks to donate opportunities for male-female proximity, needing music fund’s help. a haunting
instruments and train local musicians in might engender ‘wrong thoughts’. photo in michela Wrong’s book In the
areas of need. The ministerial line is that Islam itself Footsteps of Mr Kurtz shows one of the last
The Gaza piano restoration was financed had never declared music to be haram – the grand pianos left in Kinshasa, capital of
by Daniel Barenboim, already famous for idea came solely from reactionary elders the Democratic republic of Congo. Its tail
courageous arab-Israeli co-operations and ultra-conservative parents. nervous rests on a broken chair, the leg having gone
such as the West-eastern Divan orchestra. teachers wishing to introduce singing in missing. The photograph dates from 2000:
french piano tuner Claire Bertrand the classroom nevertheless have to tread what progress there, I wonder? 

IP0515_067_PianoMakers_CJ.indd 67 20/04/2015 17:25
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IP0315.indd 68 17/04/2015 16:55:59

musIc meets scIence
Mapping
‘The left side is the sequential side: short connections and many cross connections; the right side is more
comprehensive: longer connections that go deep into the emotional brain and link more to the body’
I
t Is a sunny afternoon at
the university of toronto campus.
I am sitting in a windowed music
room that overlooks an athletic field.
the brain
as I wait for norman Doidge to arrive,
I can hear the sound of children playing
outside. ‘a riveting, essential book’,
‘beautifully written’, ‘a masterfully guided
tour through the burgeoning field of
neuroplasticity’, ‘a hymn to life’: reviews
of The Brain That Changes Itself have been
uniform in their praise. Doidge’s book is
a very human account of the new view of
brain science. the old view, which saw the
brain as mechanistic and rigid with set,
Cameron Watson dissects neurons localised geography, has yielded to the
new science of neuroplasticity: the brain
and notes with norman Doidge, as a voracious, active participant, adapting
and changing with new environments and
author of New York Times bestseller new stimuli. for musicians – and pianists
in particular – reading between the lines
The Brain That Changes Itself yields intriguing possibilities.
⌂

IP0515_069-071_Notes & Neurons_CJ.indd 69 20/04/2015 15:20
MusIC MEETs sCIENCE
payzant explores Gould’s infamous

Norman Doidge ‘centipedal complex’ and cites Arthur
Koestler: ‘When we exercise a well-practised
skill the parts must function smoothly and
automatically – they must never occupy
the focus of attention. The paradox of the
centipede is a consequence of the hierarchic
organisation of the nervous system which
demands that the highest centres should be
occupied with the task in hand conceived
as a whole, and leave the execution of the
component sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks
to the sub-centres, etc on lower levels of
the nervous system.’ I ask Doidge what he
thinks of that. ‘I think that’s pretty sound,’
he replies. ‘The description of how the brain
works is correct. There is a part of the brain
called the “basil ganglia”. It’s a group of
cells. In general, what they do is contribute
to automating simpler movements or
thoughts. After learning with close, focused
⌂ Norman Doidge enters. From the very side. In studies on violinists, the more they attention and practice, movement becomes
beginning, I sense that I am in the presence practised, the larger the brain maps were automatic. At a certain point you may
of a high-functioning, sensitive individual for the left hand [motor cortex]. But the conceive of a certain mood or path that
and a kind and generous gentleman. ‘You neurons and maps that respond to string might govern a very long segment of a
were a musician-poet,’ I begin. ‘I’d like to timbres [sensory cortex] also increased.’ piece and how the phrases connect to each
A
think that I still am,’ he interrupts with a other. The brain divides complex tasks into
chuckle. ‘How did poetry cross over into ‘BrAIN MAp’ Is A FOrM OF pieces and you may learn in “chunks” and
neuroscience?’ ‘It didn’t,’ he replies. ‘I’m just complex neurological organisation, play it back in “chunks” but there are other
a curious person. When I was very young, showing a part of the brain that higher-level metaforms that can put things
I was taken to the conservatory and given processes a function. Brain maps are not into a unit.’
piano lessons, though my real love became only topographically organised, mirroring I suggest a situation: imagine two very
the guitar. I do think I have a musical soul. physical, spatial reality, but also tonotopically different pianists and two very different
For me, it’s not a question of either/or. organised. In musician-speak, this means performances. One exudes exactitude and
Music, science and poetry are all wonderful that the brain maps of fingers one to five proficiency, a kind of ‘going-through-the-
things. Experts, the guild mentality and are physically arranged in that orientation motions’ impression; the other transcends
human territoriality keep these things and the sensory brain maps of pitches are the instrument, projects a sense of event,
apart. On an ideal day I’d be jumping from organised, in the brain, like a keyboard. of vision, of future and past awareness such
one to the other.’ I take a stab at a conceptual leap. There that the arrival of plangent moments feels
‘Can you explain,’ I ask, ‘what happens to are brain maps for individual fingers, but inevitable. ‘Well, to summarise,’ Doidge
the motor cortex when someone undergoes let’s say I have, inside of me, a complete responds, ‘the issue comes down to the
musical training? In the past, the received Beethoven sonata movement. [I demo the hemispherical question. some neurological
wisdom asserted that the motor cortex first two pages of Op 110 with commentary circles are now insisting that the right-left
(controlling the movement of limbs, and relating to what is conscious forethought dichotomy is rubbish. They are wrong.
located at the front of the brain) and the and what becomes automatic ‘motor- The issue is more nuanced now, but the
sensory cortex (processing the senses, and memory’.] I turn to Doidge. ‘Is that also a differences are still valid. The left side is
located to the rear) were radically divided up ‘brain map?’ Norman shoots me a look as the sequential side: short connections and
and isolated.’ ‘That’s not quite true,’ he says. though I am messing with him. ‘I’d have many cross connections; the right side
‘Music is a motor/sensory experience. There to think about that. There’s probably a is, indeed, more comprehensive: longer
are actually some sensory cells embedded in “metamap” that sketches out much of the connections that go deep into the emotional
the motor cortex. You press a key down on Beethoven sonata. The beauty of music is brain and link more to the body.’ He
one note, listen how loud it is and then, say, that we don’t often stand, as we do with pauses, then continues. ‘part of the
lighten up on the next one intentionally: visual media, on top of it and look down problem with the whole world, as far as I’m
that is a constant motor/sensory feedback on it panoptically. It’s more that we go concerned, is that it’s way too left brained.
loop. You can study the effect of musical through it – and it goes through us.’ Left-brain technologies are taking over
training from the motor side or the sensory In Glenn Gould: Music and Mind, Geoffrey and actually amplifying the left brain
70 International piano May/June 2015

musIC meeTs sCIenCe
tendencies of already too left-brained I put it to doidge that axiom no 3 seems the hands together,’ I ask, ‘is that a third
people! When you see a player who’s playing to emphasise the importance of the initial, brain map, or just a digital synchronisation
very technically, who is just brilliantly critical learning stage and making sure of the two maps?’ ‘I think it’s probably
skilled at sequences and exactness but that the grasping of data is clear and not a third thing,’ norman considers. ‘It’s
missing some soulfulness or heart or prematurely hurried. ‘Plastic change seems natural for the two hemispheres to work
emotion, when all is said and done, you best driven by close focused attention together. However, in a piece like this,
can miss the sense that it is a human being and if you do something very quickly whenever you do a radical dissociation
playing, with a history as a human cultural [prematurely] it is very hard to give it close, of the two hemispheres, it’s a mental
creature, playing the music to other people focused attention, certainly in the learning act.’ I go on to show how pianists might
of a similar history that’s part of a whole. phase. If you are speeding it up, it really only ‘bundle’ and practise it in chords to stabilise
That sense must come from right-brain, counts as serious practice if you can pay the positioning.
right-side activity – if your performing attention to every single detail while you With this drill, I suggest, it seems that I
artist lacks that, then you will have a are speeding up. That raises the question: am flirting with neuronal danger. by firing
brilliant digital performance, and yet it can you speed up the function of attention? them together and possibly wiring them
won’t move you.’ Is that trainable? The question, I think, of together, am I risking merging my brain
I
interest to pianists is when do you shift maps? norman thinks not. ‘because plastic
n doIdge’s book, a number of from this period of deep focal attention – change is not instantaneous, this “flirting”
‘axioms’ (my terminology) are going very slowly, differentiating the brain with simultaneity does not take over the
presented: 1) the ‘monday effect’; 2) ‘use maps – to playing the piece in real time and deeper, established maps but becomes a
it or lose it’; 3) ‘muddy in, muddy out’; 4) pressing the automatic button?’ “meta-programme” that is synchronised in
‘neurons that fire together wire together’ axioms no 4 and no 5 are at the heart play with the sequence of notes. It makes
[‘Hebb’s Law’] and 5) ‘neurons that fire of understanding neuronal behaviour and, a lot of sense that this drill would work
apart wire apart’. understanding these
concepts can enhance and guide the day-
to-day tasks of any pianist. The ‘monday ‘In studies on violinists, the more they practised,
effect’ is based on studies of motor skills
training. In these, subjects were trained the larger the brain maps were for the left hand’
in the use of braille for six months, from
monday to friday, resting at weekends. The
subjects were ‘mapped’ weekly, every friday ergo, how we practise. We aspire to power, because positioning is one of the crucial
and every monday. friday maps showed a speed and virtuosity – so we train and drill. components in learning how to do that.’
pattern of rapid expansion immediately Care should be taken to keep brain maps The concept of simultaneous ‘meta-
after practice but ‘stubbornly returning to differentiated yet organised tightly and programmes’ is in line with doidge’s total
baseline each monday’. However, monday efficiently. Practice should also be a process view of the pianist. ‘This is my speculation
maps showed an opposite pattern. ‘They of calming ‘parasitic muscular function’ – and a thousand white lab rats did not
didn’t begin to change until six months down to the ‘appropriate few’. In studies, die for this. as a general principle, large
into the training; then they increased ‘the trained neurons fired more quickly in swathes of the brain’s cortical real estate go
slowly and plateaued at ten months.’ response to sounds, processed them in a into supporting any individual act we do. a
ultimately, the success of the skill correlated shorter time and needed less time to rest huge amount of my brain is involved in any
with the monday maps and the changes between firings. Their signals were clearer. simple act – shaking hands, for example –
made were ‘more stable’. It seems clear faster neurons were more likely to fire in so, when I imagine you learning that very
that if a pianist wants to absorb something sync with each other, becoming better team complex passage, all the parts of your brain
significant or change in a fundamental way, players, wiring together more and forming spontaneously work together because the
intense but ‘gapped’ work is part of the groups of neurons that gave off clearer and brain tends to work holistically.’
long-term solution. more powerful signals.’ However, stress, The afternoon wanes; the light is low and
axiom no 2 is largely self-explanatory. fatigue and hurried or poor preparation can the children are gone. It’s clear that, from
‘If we stop exercising, the brain map space undermine this training and the work fails. this moment on, my thoughts will not be
is turned over to the skills we practice at the extreme end, the result is what is the same. e
instead. You must practice one activity known as ‘focal dystonia’: the unintentional
to make sure its brain map space is not lost merging of brain maps. accounts of this Thanks to Dean Don McLean, Karen Doidge
to another.’ further, when a ‘bad habit’ condition are sobering. The tale of gary and the University of Toronto Music and
[poor fingerings/hand position?] takes graffman is particularly poignant. Health Research Collaboratory
over a brain map, ‘each time we repeat I demonstrate the first 12 bars of Chopin’s
it, it claims more control of that map ‘Winter Wind’ etude. a staple of piano www.music.utoronto.ca
and prevents the use of that space for practice is practising hands separately, www.themusicalbrain.org
good habits.’ especially in the initial stages. ‘When I put www.normandoidge.com

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IP0315.indd 72 20/04/2015 17:10:02

ta k e fi v e
present since 1989, when, in his early teens, he first heard a thelonious
Monk record and realised ‘it had rhythm that felt similar to the hip-
hop I had been listening to’. Born in Houston, texas, in 1975, Moran
began studying classical piano at the age of six, but felt no emotional
connection to the music. Hearing Monk, he understood how the piano
could relate to his everyday life. as he later explained to nPr’s sara
Fishko, he told himself, ‘you should pay attention to this.’ Initially he
pursued his new interest by tracking down the jazz albums sampled
on his favourite hip-hop records; later he moved to new york, studied
with veteran Jaki Byard at the Manhattan school of Music, and also
worked with another of his piano idols, andrew Hill.
M
oran’s FIrst tWo aLBuMs as Leader,
Soundtrack to Human Motion (1999) and Facing Left (2000),
were well received, but it was his third release, Black Stars
(2001), featuring his trio the Bandwagon plus guest saxophonist/
flautist sam rivers, that gained most plaudits. Critic Gary Giddins
thought it ‘brimming with wonder, urgency, and here’s-mud-in-your-
eye elation’. He later nominated the album’s The Sun at Midnight as
the year’s outstanding track, thanks to its winning combination of
rivers’ bold flute and Moran’s ‘spiky, luminous elaboration’
JASON
these early records featured a diverse selection of composers,
from Björk to ravel to duke ellington. Moran’s fourth disc, the solo
MORAN
Modernistic, further underlined his eclectic tastes; there were pieces
by afrika Bambaataa and robert schumann, although its most
exhilarating track is James P Johnson’s stride classic You’ve Got to be
Modernistic, which Moran reworks in a series of cut-and-splice forays,
while somehow preserving the original’s rhythmic exuberance.
Graham Lock suggests points His next three albums found him experimenting with sampled
voices (The Bandwagon), paying homage to the blues (Same Mother)
of entry into Jason Moran’s and collaborating with conceptual and performance artists (Artist
in Residence). In 2007 he began work on a multimedia project to
recording catalogue commemorate a historic thelonious Monk concert: In My Mind:
Monk at Town Hall, 1959, toured europe and the us and was filmed by
L
director Gary Hawkins. the project didn’t make it to Cd, but Moran’s
ast year, Jason Moran toLd onLIne JournaL 2010 album Ten, marking the Bandwagon’s first decade together, did
Film Music Magazine: ‘a big part of what I do as a jazz musician include a scintillating version of Monk’s Crepuscule with Nellie. Its frisky,
is […] to reconceptualize history and make it somehow resonate skew-whiff logic prompted critic Kevin Whitehead to label it ‘jazz
in today’s society.’ though he was discussing his score for Selma, ava cubism’; Moran, he said, ‘fragments and reorders parts of the melody
duVernay’s recent Martin Luther to make us hear it from a new angle’. Ten also boasted Gangsterism
Take Five: King biopic, the comment throws Over 10 Years, from Moran’s series of compositions initially inspired by
Jason Moran light on his entire career. His 2014 Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting Hollywood Africans, a critique of racial
1. The Sun at Midnight, from Grammy-nominated disc All Rise stereotyping. as in many Moran pieces, it has a kernel consisting of a
Black Stars (Blue Note, 2001) reimagines Fats Waller’s music terse, catchy rhythmic figure, a recurring nub around which the trio’s
2. You’ve Got to be in the context of a contemporary interplay pivots and swirls with engaging intensity.
Modernistic, from Modernistic dance party, transforming songs Moran has appeared as a sideman with a wide range of artists,
(Blue Note, 2002) like Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Jitterbug from saxophonist Greg osby to violinist Jenny scheinman,
3. Crepuscule with Nellie, Waltz into a stylish mash-up of (to extending his virtuosity into all corners of jazz. In 2008 he
from Ten (Blue Note, 2010) quote Down Beat) ‘hip-hop, funk, joined veteran tenorman Charles Lloyd’s quartet, and the group’s
house, r&B, and some afrobeat languorous take on Monk’s Ruby, My Dear (from their 2010 Mirror
4. Gangsterism Over 10 Years,
grooves’, topped off with ‘compact Cd) provides an intriguing contrast to the Bandwagon’s jinking
from Ten (Blue Note, 2010)
stride keyboard breaks and soul- Crepuscule with Nellie. He’s even more restrained and sensitive on
5. Birdsong, from Lost in a
jazz urbanity’. drummer Paul Motian’s Lost in a Dream set, especially on Casino
Dream by Paul Motian Trio
All Rise may be an extreme and the lovely Birdsong, where his spare, delicate playing elicits a
(ECM, 2010)
example, but Moran has been hushed beauty, its timeless quality another way of bringing past
forging links between past and and present together. 

IP0515_073_Take5_CJ.indd 73 20/04/2015 17:27
recordIng
,
Gould 's GoldberG
Variations
Benjamin Ivry
assesses the
importance of
canadian pianist
glenn gould’s
seminal recording of
the Bach goldberg
Variations, 60 years
after the record was
first pressed
S
Ixty yearS ago In June, at
the columbia 30th Street Studios
in new york city, recording history
was made. a slight 22-year-old canadian
pianist, glenn gould (1932-1982),
recorded Bach’s goldberg Variations.
released in January of the following year,
the recording would be a bestseller. a
meltingly lyrical, fizzy, impatiently zesty
reading full of an appetite for life, gould’s
1955 version of the goldbergs (he would
rerecord the work in a more solemn vein
in 1981) still charms. So eagerly propulsive
was the pianist that he eschewed many
repeats, shaving down the performance
time to around 38-and-a-half minutes, or
about half of what is required to perform
this work with most of the repeats and less
precipitous tempos. gould’s condensed
version of the goldbergs was ideal for the
1950s, the impatient baby boom decade in
a bustling america inhabited by Mad Men.
If placed in historical context, gould’s 1955
IP0515_074-077_Recording_CJ.indd 74 20/04/2015 17:28

recordIng
goldbergs might no longer appear to be what to play, Busch joked, ‘The goldberg The same is true of another recording
an isolated, miraculous one-off, as they are Variations,’ which Serkin proceeded to from 1942 of the goldbergs, by the
still branded by some fans. play, although minus most repeats so that chilean pianist claudio Arrau (1903-1991).
gould’s goldberg recording was his the encore lasted 45 minutes. Serkin likely Unreleased until 1988 (rcA), Arrau’s
first commercial studio release, before studied the goldbergs with his Austrian goldbergs exude this sensitive artist’s grave
his music making was compromised by teacher richard robert (1861-1924), who compassion, part of the humane quality
ever-encroaching eccentricities. The 1955 prepared an edition of the piece. Around the of his best performances. An oft-reprinted
goldbergs retain the pristine aura of a time Serkin recorded them, the goldberg anecdote in an early biography of Bach
first attempt. The American pianist-critic Variations were still a rarity. He once played by Johann nikolaus Forkel states that the
Harris goldsmith described gould’s style them in 1918 after a seminar by Arnold goldberg Variations originated when
as a combination of ‘swooning sensuality’ Schoenberg, and Schoenberg confessed count Keyserling, an insomniac, sought a
and ‘ecclesiastic rigor’. that he was unfamiliar with Bach’s score. musical work to divert him from sleepless
exploring the artistic context of Yet this was fully four years after Ferruccio nights. whether or not this is true, Arrau’s
gould’s achievement underlines its Busoni (see p55) had published a heavily cut genuinely therapeutic approach is like a
singular impact, even if space limitations and altered edition of the goldbergs for use doctor with a gentle bedside manner leaning
necessitate omitting some versions of by modern pianists. over the keyboard, rather than a dazzling
value. gould’s 1955 goldbergs are first and In 1933, the Polish harpsichordist virtuoso striving to amaze listeners.
foremost surrounded by other recordings wanda Landowska released a recording By 1942, Arrau was already a veteran of
of the goldbergs played by gould, a June (now on eMI 5 6720) of the goldbergs, but performing Bach on piano, having given
1954 cBc broadcast from Toronto and Landowska’s instrument, a built-up Pleyel, series of concerts two decades before of
a 1959 recital at the Salzburg Festival sounded like a shaved-down piano, not far Bach’s solo keyboard works, leading up to a
(Sony). These two performances, less removed from gould’s own much-loved 1935-36 Berlin cycle in 12 recitals, offering
radically contrarian than his 1981 studio
remake (Sony), reflect the bonhomie of a
young man asking for audience adulation.
The French philosopher Vladimir ‘To many others the tone of the piano is
Jankélévitch distinguished virtuosity from
exhibitionism on the basis of the former’s
preferable to that of the harpsichord and let’s not
power to charm, and gould’s ineffable
charisma, despite his excesses, is akin to
forget we are talking about an hour and a quarter
star power or stage presence, a performing of music – hand on heart, can you listen to the
arts-related mystery.
harpsichord that long?’
T
He InTerPreTATIon wAS In
stark contrast to that of rudolf
Serkin (1903-1991), who had recorded chickering grand. naturally, Landowska’s Bach’s complete Klavierwerk. If Arrau’s
the work long before gould appeared version spoke to many pianists. one such Bach was a statement of the heart, then
on the scene. Serkin’s record was made was Minneapolis-born eunice norton rosalyn Tureck, whose first of repeated
in about 1928 in Stuttgart and preserved (1908-2005), a student of Myra Hess, recordings of the goldbergs was in 1947
on welte-Mignon piano rolls. Serkin was Tobias Matthay and Artur Schnabel. for Allegro/everest, celebrated intellect.
a similar age to gould at the time of his winner of the 1927 London Bach Prize, Tureck’s later recordings of the goldbergs,
own first recording. His goldbergs reflect norton performed widely, including a in 1957 and 1988, are exceedingly
a chaste, pensive philosophising, not unlike 1920s Bach recital in Berlin about which deliberate, approaching Samuel Beckett-
the meditative recordings that Serkin’s son the musicologist Alfred einstein wrote, like stasis, but vastly informed about the
Peter Serkin (born 1947) would make of ‘[norton’s] Bach is played as Bach would music itself.
this piece. Serkin’s reading has an austere have wished to hear it.’ After marrying, certainly, the remarkable glaswegian
quality and does not play to the audience norton settled in Pittsburgh in 1942 to pianist James Friskin (1886-1967), in his
as gould’s early effort does. Yet Serkin raise a family, whereupon she made the 1956 goldbergs for Vanguard classics,
could be a mischievously extroverted wit, first of several private recordings of the is historically informed without ever
as Stephen Lehmann and Marion Faber’s goldberg Variations, which are now attempting to play as fast as humanly
Rudolf Serkin: A Life (oxford University available on YouTube. Unmannered and possible, as did the young gould. Friskin, a
Press, 2003) notes. In April 1921 in Berlin, natural, these performances do not strain mild-mannered teacher at Juilliard, played
the teenage Serkin performed Bach’s Fifth for effect or seductive power. They are the goldbergs in new York in a 1925
Brandenburg concerto led by Adolf Busch, laudably focused inward, towards the recital. A student in London of edward
who suggested that the soloist play an encore music itself and not the impression that dannreuther (1844-1905), himself a pupil of
⌂
in response to audience enthusiasm. Asked the performance might make. Ignaz Moscheles, Friskin was firmly based

recordIng
⌂ in keyboard tradition, yet his goldbergs, today would be considered a harpsichord serkin was still in his teens – even younger
recorded when he was around 70, retain version of this work (gustav Leonhardt, a than gould – when he recorded his first
an appealing freshness, somewhat paragon of the more historically accurate goldbergs, the resulting performance has a
reminiscent of the joyous recordings of approach on the harpsichord, recorded his spacious, sage maturity.
other Bach works by the American pianist own first version of the goldbergs in 1953). whereas rosen and serkin looked
and teacher Arthur Loesser. Another stylistic paragon was the to the future, the soviet pianist maria
o
english harpsichordist and pianist Yudina (1899-1970) in her 1968 goldbergs
ne modern PIAnIst who george malcolm (1917–1997), whose (Philips) was more of a blast from the past,
might lay claim to even more 1963 goldbergs (Baroque music club) with uneven, at times self-consciously
eccentricity than gould was are marvels of grace and lucidity, like provincial, playing. nor did tatiana
André tchaikowsky (1935-1982), who everything malcolm recorded. choice of nikolayeva (1924-1993) who left no fewer
notoriously bequeathed his skull to instrument apart, it is hard to imagine any than five recordings of the goldbergs from
London’s royal shakespeare company pianist not gaining valuable insights by 1970 to 1992, escape a certain stodginess.
to be used in a production of Hamlet. listening to harpsichordists as sensitive as A different kind of retrospective sound
(It was finally put to use when david Leonhardt and malcolm (or more recently, was provided by wilhelm Kempff in
tennant played the melancholy dane). Pierre hantaï (born 1964). Yet András 1969 (deutsche grammophon) when he
tchaikowsky would regularly pull schiff (born 1953), in cd booklet notes recorded the Busoni edition. the result
audacious musical stunts: at one concert, to his third recording of the goldbergs is an undeniably elegant and Apollonian
he improvised an endlessly percussive, out- reading, but goldberg devotees may miss
of-style Bartók-like cadenza to a mozart many of the notes they are accustomed to,
concerto until the unnamed conductor peculiarly excised in the 1914 edition.
g
shouted ‘enough!’ and made the orchestra
play loudly to cut the soloist off. After ouLd’s PremAture deAth
lengthy rcA recording sessions in 1957 for in 1982 followed not long after
his goldbergs, tchaikowsky rejected all 87 his 1981 goldberg rerecording,
takes, sinking the project. he tried again which included some repeats, a sombre
in 1964, this time for columbia records, reply to his own younger self. the future of
and was successful, although he enjoyed great performances of the goldbergs was
recounting to friends how at one point soon reaffirmed by pianists who exulted
during the Paris sessions, a dog silently in the sheer digital wonders of the piece.
walked into the studio, urinated against his they included grigory sokolov (born
piano, and then departed. Like gould in 1950; melodiya, 1982) and András schiff
1955, tchaikowsky omitted repeats, but his (decca, 1983). schiff would follow with
rendition is highly skilled and truculently two further recordings, each possessing its
Gould made two studio recordings of
persuasive, evocative of the bumptious Js Bach’s Goldberg Variations; the first, from own excellence.
Bach who indulged in street brawls with 1955, is deemed the most significant some less widely feted pianists have
peccant musicians. also recorded goldbergs of lasting
In earlier days of performing baroque quality, including the romanian Andreï
music, some harpsichordists (including (ecm, 2001), stated: ‘to many others the Vieru (electrecord, 1985), a reading of
Landowska and the American ralph tone of the piano is preferable to that of philosophical weight; Bruno canino
Kirkpatrick) also played piano in concert. the harpsichord and let’s not forget we are (ermitage, 1993), an appealingly bel canto
when the goldbergs were recorded on talking about an hour and a quarter of Bach; the Finn risto Lauriala (born 1949;
heavy Landowska-style harpsichords, music – hand on heart, can you listen to Alba, 1993); moscow-born ekaterina
pianistic experience informed the resulting the harpsichord that long?’ derzhavina (born 1967; Arte nova, 1994), a
interpretations. this is especially true even in jest, schiff surely could not have bewitchingly elegant version; the American
of the czech-born Israeli harpsichordist forgotten malcolm, his mentor and former edward Aldwell (1938-2006; Biddulph,
and pianist Frank Pelleg (1910-1968), a piano duo partner in mozart. other top- 1996), uncommonly understanding,
Landowska epigone who was exceptionally ranking pianists, too, have wasted no words idiomatic; and Andrea Bacchetti (Arthaus
devoted to Bach. Indeed, he changed his in dissing the harpsichord as an instrument, musik dVd, 2006), a brainy reading.
family name from Pollak to Pelleg, which but recorded their own goldbergs on the these efforts, alongside those of schiff
is the hebrew translation for Bach (the piano, informed by great harpsichord and especially the magisterially heartfelt
german word meaning ‘brook’). Pelleg’s versions. they include the Americans Peter recording of murray Perahia (sony, 2000),
dramatic, vital goldbergs, recorded serkin (born 1947; on rcA, 1965) and should make piano lovers wonder if gould’s
in 1959, have been transferred to cd charles rosen (1927-2012; sony, 1967). the all-dominant position as interpreter of the
(doremi) although they are massive and latter’s recording is a bubblingly urbane, goldberg Variations has not unfortunately
monumentally out of style in terms of what pristinely intellectual discourse. Although overshadowed a number of fine artists. 

2015_04_International_Piano_International Piano 07/04/2015 17:07 Page 1
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IP0315.indd 77 17/04/2015 16:56:04

reviews Recital roundup
Royal Festival Hall Ivo Pogorelich, 24 Feb; Maurizio Pollini, cooper chose to trace the parallel paths of chopin and schumann
17 March between 1836 and 1846, placing the former’s Barcarolle and e
Wigmore Hall Piers Lane, 30 Dec; Garrick Ohlsson, 6 Jan;
flat nocturne alongside the latter’s Humoreske, and schumann’s
Imogen Cooper, 13 Feb; Antonii Baryshevskyi, 2 March
novelletten op 21 alongside chopin’s f minor fantasy. she let
Regent Hall Niklas Oldemeier, 9 Jan
their styles play off each other illuminatingly.
Antonii Baryshevskyi arrived at the wigmore trailing clouds
A
of glory after winning first prize in the Arthur rubinstein
s we fIled In to heAr Ivo PogorelIch At the International Piano Master competition in Israel last year, and
royal festival hall, a strange-looking tuner in a workman’s his programme looked interesting. first up were three scarlatti
cap and overalls was giving the piano a final brisk once- sonatas, but he played them crudely loud; then came ligeti’s
over, testing it for balance in the tricky bits of schumann’s op 17 Musica Ricercata, played ditto – first-time listeners would have had
fantasy, which we were about to hear for real. or was it…? Yes, no idea of the poetry lurking within its severe contours. then we
indeed it was: the croatian maverick was leaving nothing to chance got three chopin Mazurkas, followed by three of Messiaen’s Vingt
with his long-awaited comeback concert, even though he had been regards, to be rounded off with a smudged and charmless account
hotly denying (in this magazine) that he had ever been away, and of schumann’s second sonata. until this boy learns that playing
that this was a comeback at all (issue 29, January/february 2015). loud and fast isn’t the only thing in life, and that programming
he looked statuesque and dusty, like a figure brought out of must make musical sense, he won’t get much further.
a tomb, and the way he played his first piece – liszt’s Après une But what a pleasure to hear niklas oldemeier at the salvation
lecture du Dante – suggested that both he and it were inhabiting Army’s concert hall in regent street. his account of Brahms’s
a mausoleum. however, he built a formidable momentum, with handel variations needed more time to marinate in his mind,
the central section singing powerfully. the schumann was frankly but the Bach Prelude and fugue with which he began had a
a disappointment – it didn’t sound like schumann at all, limply measured grace, and in his confident hands Beethoven’s op 101
drifting rather than driven by excitement – and the Petrushka sonata in A was spacious and persuasive, with great delicacy in the
movements that followed came at a mechanical pace and an almost shading and phrasing. to liszt’s Sonetto 104 del Petrarca he brought
unrelieved triple-forte. flawless virtuosity. this British pianist is still only 21 and his future
But with Brahms’s herculean Paganini variations, he suddenly looks bright.
found his old voice, revealing vivid new characterisations at every Michael chuRch
turn and delivering a wonderfully persuasive account of the whole.
some people had left in dismay at the interval, but for those of us
who stayed, this performance marked a brilliant return to form.
A big welcome back, then, for this player who has faced down his
inner demons.
M
AurIzIo PollInI AlwAYs keePs us on the edge
of our seats: now 73, he needs more time than he used
to for his notorious nerves to settle. his mind still works
like lightning, but his fingers don’t always quite keep up, and they
didn’t in his rendition of Kreisleriana, where the textures were
sometimes frankly muddy. But for schumann’s Arabeske op 18 he
found a wistfully singing tone, and he played chopin’s Preludes
– his youthful calling card – with all the brilliance one could
wish, subtly varying the colour of the slow pieces in minor mode,
bringing fire and fury to the fast and virtuosic ones and making
the atmospheric contrasts stand out in high relief – the dark and
stormy skies of no 22 were rain-washed clean by its successor.
finally enjoying himself, he gave us three magical chopin encores:
the ‘revolutionary etude’, the d flat major nocturne op 27 no
2, and the third scherzo; his phrasing had a notable refinement,
which has always been his trademark.
Meanwhile, other veterans were distinguishing themselves, each
in their own particular style. garrick ohlsson marked scriabin’s
centenary by delivering a massive collection of that composer’s
piano music with authority. Piers lane played some slightly
underwhelming rachmaninov, but went on to remind us what a
superb schubertian he is with a noble performance of the d959 ivo Pogorelich gave a mixed
recital at the royal Festival Hall
sonata in A which climaxed in a blaze of magnificence. Imogen
IP0515_078_RecitalRU_CJ.indd 78 20/04/2015 15:36

REVIEWS Film & technology
Bloody Daughter Entrada Piano Technique

Stéphanie Argerich www.entradapiano.com
Switzerland/France, 2012, 95 minutes
UK-wide cinema release 1 May
The prospect of a film about Martha Argerich Several years ago, it gave me great pleasure is a fabulous way for students and teachers
will have pianoraks salivating copiously like to recommend a series of DVDs on basic to feel less lonely and to immediately gain
a certain proverbial mutt. But those intent to advanced pianism entitled The 3-D responses to issues that could otherwise
on beating a path to their nearest box office Piano Method. Created and presented have remained unresolved for long periods
for a banquet of musical titbits will find little by American-based pianist-teacher Fred of time.
sustenance here. In this respect, there is more Karpoff, a former student of Yoheved Clearly, the site is at an early stage: it was
to be gleaned from Georges Gachot’s Evening Kaplinsky and Leon Fleisher, it provided launched at the recent Music Teachers of
Talks, or even Argerich’s brief appearance in sensible advice that could be applied to North America (MTNA) conference on 22
João Moreira Salle’s biodoc of Nelson Freire. playing at any level. Whereas many courses March. But I feel that it has the potential to
Instead, this is a film about the enigma that in piano technique fail because of poor really make a positive difference in the lives
fiercely private Argerich presents to those presentation and/or overly simplistic and of teachers in particular.
around her and the (at times indefinable) repetitive content, Karpoff stressed the Rather than replacing the standard
bonds between mother and daughter – importance of liberating the entire body one-to-one lesson, Entrada could very
director and co-subject Stéphanie Argerich. and producing healthy playing that utilises easily be used in that context to enhance
A blend of unflinching cinéma verité and the whole body. the messages given by teacher to student:
participatory documentary, this is a subtle Karpoff has now moved on from if a teacher wants to make a big technical
film, difficult to categorise. By weaving home 3D piano to produce this new online point in a lesson, they could firstly show
movie footage she shot as a child with more piano course, which is an extremely the concept in the traditional way.
recent film crew sections, Stéphanie invites glamorous, sophisticated and ambitiously Secondly, a viewing from Entrada could
the viewer to share remarkably intimate comprehensive resource for teachers, illustrate the point already made, followed
family moments: time spent with father students, accompanists, amateurs – indeed, by an attempt from the student to play,
Stephen Kovacevich, Argerich’s pre-concert anyone who is involved in piano playing! possibly doing a new movement on a work
jitters, and the unglamorous, gruelling So what do you get? For the basic surface rather than at the piano. This could
elements of an itinerant musician’s life. monthly subscription of $9 there is a be followed up by the student practising
There are moments of humour library of resources with excellent nugget- at home, and then returning to the next
(meditations on Martha’s outsize feet, sized topics suitable for beginners upwards. lesson for progress to be monitored after
Stéphanie and her sisters’ unorthodox Avoiding stiff ness is clearly of paramount regular checks online via Entrada to
upbringing), but the film is also tinged importance, and it is wonderful that review the video initially shown in the
with melancholy. We truly feel the director Karpoff ’s approach never overwhelms piano lesson.
wrestling with the weight of her titanic by offering too much information at one Karpoff has already been awarded
artist-parents and her struggle to find time. In the library, there is an overview the Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy
herself. This alongside fleeting glimpses of page for each unit. There are clever Award for The 3-D Piano Method, and
Martha’s battle with cancer, lost love – and resources whereby the score-text is also there seems every likelihood that his latest
the curious tale of an abducted daughter… included, as well as the facility to invert a online venture will lead to further success
In the end, Argerich senior remains particular exercise automatically so that it and recognition.
an enigma. Rather than showcasing her can be used by the other hand. At the end MURRAY MCLACHLAN
mother as a firebrand piano ‘goddess’, of each section, the user is asked to review
what daughter Stéphanie captures with progress either by inputting ‘come back
tenderness and acuity is that she is, lest we later’ or ‘completed’.
forget, very mortal – a human being. Funny, For $18 per month, users of Entrada gain
tender, painful; a fascinating debut by a access to all levels of videos. Also included Follow International Piano
talented filmmaker to watch. is the masterclass library and access to the on Twitter:
@IP_mag
LEANDRO FERRACCIOLI monthly webinars. Interaction with others

IP0515_79_Revs_CJ.indd 79 20/04/2015 15:39
The CDs featured in this issue of IP are available to purchase via
Rhinegold’s new astore. We’ve put these titles into one handy location,
REVIEWS CDs meaning you don’t have to spend time searching for the products you want.
Visit www.rhinegold.co.uk/astore and look for ‘May/June’.
Albanian Piano Music Mozart Keyboard Music, Vol 5&6 cool, almost chaste tone that some may
Works by Tonin Harapi, Feim Ibrahimi, Sonata in A major, K 331; Six Variations think too ethereal, but it falls lightly on the
Kozma Lara, Alberto Paparisto and others on ‘Salve tu, Domine’ in F major, K 398; ear and Bezuidenhout deploys its subtle
Kirsten Johnson (pf) Romanze in A flat major, K Anh 205; 12 colours to fine efffect. (The instrument has
Guild GMCD 7257/GMCD 7300, Variations in B flat major, K 500; Sonata in also been superbly recorded.)
148 minutes (2 CDs) C major, K 309; 12 Variations on ‘Ah, vous Mozart’s own relationship with the
 dirai-je, Maman’ in C major, K 265; Sonata fortepiano played a significant role in these
in E flat major, K 282; Adagio in F major, K early keyboard works. K 279-284 are almost
US-born, UK-based pianist Kirsten Johnson Anh 206a [A 65]; Sonata in B flat major, certainly the first pieces he composed
has already shown considerable enterprise K 281; 12 Variations on ‘La belle Françoise’ specifically for the fortepiano rather than
in recording music by Arthur Foote, Amy in E flat major, K 353 the harpsichord; the Stein fortepiano he
Beach, Hermann Goetz and Heinrich Kristian Bezuidenhout (fp) played in 1777, which so impressed him,
Schulz-Beuthen. Here, she turns her Harmonia Mundi HMU 907529.30, very likely inspired the new expressive
attention not just to a neglected composer 142 minutes (2 CDs) possibilities he explored in K 309 and
but to a whole neglected area, a country  K 310. He lavished care, for example, on
little known and rigidly controlled. the dynamic contrasts in K 309’s Andante,
Under president Enver Hoxha, composers Mozart Keyboard Music, Vol 7 which, he said, was a portrait of his pupil
were allowed to study abroad – provided Nine Variations on ‘Lison dormait’ in C Rosa Cannabich. The unprecedented
they posed no threat to the state. However, major, K 264; Sonata in A minor, K 310; Six emotional turmoil heard in K 310, which
foreign music composed after 5 March Variations on ‘Mio caro Adone’ in G major, many people believe reflects Mozart’s grief
1953 (the death of Stalin) could not be K 180; Sonata in D major, K 284 at his mother’s death, pushed the
studied, and all new Albanian compositions Kristian Bezuidenhout (fp) instrument’s expressive capabilities to
had to be approved by the League of Artists Harmonia Mundi HMU 907531, 73 minutes the limit. It pushes the performer too,
and Writers before being performed  and Bezuidenhout doesn’t stint on the
publicly. Works like Beethoven’s Seventh sonata’s depth of feeling; he conveys the
and Eighth Symphonies, Grieg’s Peer Gynt Kristian Bezuidenhout has chosen to Allegro maestoso’s pounding intensity
and Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances were not present his survey of Mozart’s keyboard and the desolate Andante cantabile with
even premiered there until 1967 – and music in a curiously irregular order. While total conviction.
Kirsten Johnson herself premiered Maple the overall direction is a reverse He’s also adept at teasing out the delights
Leaf Rag while touring in the 1990s. chronology, from late works to early, there to be found in less challenging works – the
The first disc in this duo is called are several puzzling anomalies, particularly charming rococo formality of K 281’s
Këngë (‘Songs’) and the second Rapsodi. with the dispersal of sonatas that are Andante amoroso, for example, or the
Both discs open and close with toccatas: usually grouped together, such as K cheeky grandeur of K 284’s last-movement
their Bartókian language and rhythmic 279-284 (1774-1775), K 309-311 (1777- variations, which Mozart thought sounded
freedom pervade both discs. Various 1778) and K 330-333 (1782-1783). Volumes ‘absolutely great’ on the Stein fortepiano.
Themes and Variations elsewhere reveal 5 and 6 have K 331, K 309, K 281 and K The standalone sets of variations were
folk origins favouring minor keys; other 282; Volume 7 has K 310 and K 284. (Their often display pieces, improvisations on
waltzes and marches approach the companion pieces are scattered across the popular arias and songs, designed to show
commonplace, perhaps fearfully obeying earlier volumes, except for K 279 and K off Mozart’s virtuosity. Bezuidenhout
the diktat that ‘the people should like them 280, which have yet to appear.) Other solo meets this challenge too. His skill at
and be encouraged by them’. Some recall works, chiefly sets of variations, are exploiting the Walter’s light action, brisk
music composed by Chinese committee interspersed between the sonatas in a articulation and instant decay ensures even
under Mao Zedong. similarly semi-haphazard fashion. such a familiar piece as the 12 Variations
Kirsten Johnson’s performances on these But I suspect even the most obsessively on Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman sounds
well-filled discs are effortlessly musical. Her logical of listeners will forgive such exceptionally fresh and sparkling. And in
booklet notes alone would be priceless to discrepancies once they hear the discs, so its lovely 11th variation Adagio, his
ethnomusicologists and students of politics enchanting is the sound-world sensitive touch and perfect timing confirm
in music; for further information, consult Bezuidenhout has created. him as a true poet of the fortepiano.
her website. Bravo, bravissimo – or Since Volume 3, Bezuidenhout has GRAHAM LOCK
whatever the equivalent is in Albanian. played a 2009 Paul McNulty copy of an
MICHAEL ROUND 1805 Anton Walter fortepiano, tuned to an
unspecified unequal temperament. It has a
IP0515_080-083_R_CDRevs_CJ.indd 80 20/04/2015 17:29

REVIEWS CDs
Vijay Iyer Trio Break Stuff Aho Works for Solo Piano: 19 Preludes; Three Glass Glassworlds, Vol 1: Glassworks:
Vijay Iyer (pf), Stephan Crump (bass), Small Piano Pieces; Two Easy Pieces for I. Opening; Orphée Suite (arr Barnes);
Marcus Gilmore (drums) Children; Sonatina; Solo II; Piano Sonata Dreaming Awake; How Now
ECM 470 8937, 71 minutes Sonja Fräki (pf) Nicolas Horvath (pf)
 BIS SACD 2106, 73 minutes Grand Piano GP677, 79 minutes
 
This CD is not an invitation to destroy
things. Vijay Iyer likes his trio recordings to This disc was recorded in the presence of Somehow, the objectivity of the sound
illustrate a theme, and this one is all about the composer, and it is worth noting that of a piano suits the music of Philip Glass
the break. For Jelly Roll Morton, who Fräki has written a doctoral thesis on Kalevi perfectly. Certainly that’s how it seems in
famously declared, ‘Without breaks […] Aho’s piano music (inevitably, perhaps, she Nicolas Horvath’s expert performances on
you can’t play jazz’, the break was a brief provides her own booklet notes). this, the first of a series of Glass recordings.
interval for solo improvisation. For Iyer, Aho, who studied with Rautavaara, has The Opening from Glassworks (1981)
too, the break is ‘a span of time in which written only six pieces for piano, so this exudes calm in its echt-Glassian
to act’, but he also extends its meaning disc represents his complete works for the construction. The programming is
into a broader principle of aesthetic instrument so far. He wrote the Preludes impeccable here, with the first movement
regeneration. ‘We tend to make music out (1965-1968) as a teenager and originally of the Orphée Suite, The Café, at once
of breaks,’ he says in the CD booklet, intended to pay tribute to Chopin with a immediately related to Glassworks but
explaining how these recent trio pieces total of 24, but finally settled for 19. There more external, more ragtime. The suite
grew out of snippets taken from earlier is great depth in Aho’s simplicity of is a transcription of music from the Glass
works for larger ensembles. You break up writing, even at this early age, and Chopin’s opera of the same name, a retelling via
the old to break out the new. influence is audible every now and then. Cocteau of the Orpheus myth.
Iyer, Crump and Gilmore have been Bach is also there, and indeed, No 16 is If the delicacy of Orphée’s Bedroom
working together for more than a decade modelled on one of the Two-Part is as heady as the most Impressionist
and move with a rare unity of purpose. Inventions. It is difficult to imagine a more perfume, it could hardly stand in higher
They probe the music’s secrets, its intimate committed interpreter, or one better contrast to Orphée’s Journey to Hell, a
intricacies, drawing the listener into a equipped, than Fräki. nightmarish tone poem that immediately
thrilling, labyrinthine shadow-world where If the Sonatina of 1993 is impressive makes clear the composer’s affinity with
everything is in constant flux. I love the for its Bartókian ruggedness, the film (one is reminded of his awe-inspiring
fugitive lyricism that flits through Starlings uncompromisingly modernist Solo II soundtrack to the 1931 Dracula). The sheer
and Geese (both derived from Iyer’s Open (1985) is a work of pure genius and beauty of the melodic line of Orphée and
City project), and the shape-shifting should be far better known. The tempering the Princess is stunning in this performance,
impetus that drives Hood, Taking Flight and beauty of the final pages extends its while Orphée’s Return finds myth morphing
Break Stuff, one rhythmic impulse breaking expressive scope massively. The Piano into fairytale.
into another. The trio swings hard every Sonata (1980) is deliberately extremely Dreaming Awake (2003) is a world
which way: South Indian mridangam technically taxing. Stunningly conceived premiere recording, in itself making this a
rhythm impels Mystery Woman; a version of and stunningly executed by Fräki, it is mandatory purchase, and Horvath projects
Coltrane’s Countdown takes inspiration surely one of Aho’s finest works. A mere the music’s energy perfectly. The much
from West African drumming. There’s also 14 minutes in duration, it encompasses earlier (1968) How Now comes up against
an astute cover of Monk’s Work, and Iyer’s a world of emotions. stiff competition in the shape of
solo take on Billy Strayhorn’s Blood Count Sonically, this is one of BIS’s finest piano Schleiermacher (Dabringhaus). Influenced
(his final composition), which is recordings. As a monument to one of our by Indian raga and gamelan as well as jazz,
appropriately stark yet tender. GL most stimulating living composers, it is How Now is a virtuoso piece in which the
invaluable. COLIN CLARKE piano seems to transcend its own
boundaries and where the sustaining pedal
transports the listener to whole new worlds.
Horvath in no way loses out to
Schleiermacher. Volume 2 is eagerly
awaited. CC

REVIEWS CDs
The Art of Magda Tagliaferro Medtner Piano Sonata No 10, Sculthorpe Complete Works for Solo Piano
Works by Albéniz, Chopin, Debussy, Hahn, ‘Reminiscenza’, Op 38 No 1; Piano Sonata Tamara-Anna Cislowska (pf)
Mompou, Schumann No 12, ‘Romantica’, Op 53 No 1; Piano ABC Classics 481 1181 CD, 158 minutes (2 CDs)
Magda Tagliaferro (pf) Sonata No 13, ‘Minacciosa’, Op 53 No 2; 
Heritage HTGCD 277 Ein Idyll, Op 7 No 1
 Alessandro Taverna (pf) Peter Sculthorpe, who died last year, is
Somm SOMMCD 0142 regarded as Australia’s leading composer.
It is difficult to think of a more irrepressible  He created what seems to be a distinctively
virtuoso pianist than Brazilian-born but Australian sound-world, referencing
Paris-based Magda Tagliaferro (1883-1986). Medtner’s 14 piano sonatas have been fairly Aboriginal and other folk traditions – most
‘Such swagger and sensuality drenched in well served on disc, with sets (in various apparent on the later pieces found on disc
exotic lyricism,’ enthuses the sleeve-note degrees of completion) available by Hamelin two of this excellent survey.
writer, evoking a boundless zest and joi de (Hyperion), Fellegi (Marco Polo, download The early works, indebted to the
vivre. Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Thibaud, Casals only), Tozer (Chandos), Paul Stewart (Grand discovery of Debussy’s Preludes in a Hobart
and, most of all, Cortot were among her Piano), Milne (CRD), and many more. They music shop in the composer’s native
admirers and her friends included Ravel, were composed between 1902 (the F minor Tasmania, are no more than interesting. The
D’Indy, Poulenc, Milhaud and Rubinstein Sonata, Op 5) and 1937 (Ein Idyll, Op 56). mature Sculthorpe appears with the Sonata
– a belle époque indeed! The three recorded by Alessandro Taverna of 1963, magisterial and with a sense of
Those of us lucky enough to have heard on this beautifully engineered disc are from massiveness, despite its relative brevity. The
her will not forget her Wigmore Hall recital late in the sequence, comprising the Sonata gorgeously atmospheric Night Pieces (1971)
given when already in her 90s and virtually No 10 in A minor (‘Reminiscenza’), from contrast with a subsequent period in which
blind. Sporting a dazzling belisha beacon 1920, and the Sonata No 12 in B flat minor the composer’s lifelong interest in the
hair-do, she stormed through Chopin’s final (‘Romantica’) and Sonata No 13 in F minor music of other cultures, especially Japan,
Etude with unfaltering command. (‘Minacciosa’) from 1930. was expressed through experimentation. In
Reynaldo Hahn’s glittering and romantic The ‘Reminiscenza’ and ‘Minacciosa’ are Koto Music I/II and Landscape – pieces
Piano Concerto, dedicated to Tagliaferro both single-span works, in these vivid composed in 1971-1976 – the pianist delves
and conducted here by the composer, was interpretations around the 17 and 18-minute inside the piano, accompanied by pre-
an ideal gift for a pianist who revelled in mark, while the ‘Romantica’ is in four recorded tape.
music of a facile but endearing charm. She substantial movements, the outer Andante The second disc features Sculthorpe’s
is gentle and assuaging in Schumann’s F con moto and Allegro non troppo almost most intensely personal music. He
sharp minor Romance and even when nine minutes apiece, the central Scherzo and composed at the piano – confiding that
compared with iconic performances by Meditazione five minutes each. Their ‘my [inner] ear was never the best’ –
Michelangeli and Anderszewski of the character is completely distinct: the and his pieces are not virtuosic in the
‘other’ Carnaval (the Faschingsschwank aus ‘Reminiscenza’, as its title suggests, is wistful, conventional sense. He re-used a handful
Wien), she more than holds her own. almost nostalgic in atmosphere; the of melodies or ‘songlines’, as in Djilile
Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu, too, is ‘Romantica’ is more extrovert and (1986), based on an Aboriginal song from
given with a truly extaordinary dexterity and emotionally volatile; and the ‘Minacciosa’ is Arnhem Land. Simori (1995) develops
rhythmic aplomb. Her Mompou may not darker than the others, the harmonic writing songs from Papua New Guinea’s Simori
have the transcendental sheen of Volodos’s more advanced. (Medtner considered it his mountain people, featuring chant-like
recent Gramophone Award-winning disc, ‘most contemporary composition’.) incantations and drones.
but Tagliaferro reminds us of Goethe’s Arguably, these are the three finest of the The five-movement Riverina (2011),
dictum that it is when working within limits 14, or at least of the later sonatas, and named after a region of New South Wales,
that genius declares itself. Debussy’s Jardins Taverna catches their differing moods with is unapologetically programme music. The
sous la pluie and Toccata provide a whirlwind consummate skill. His range of touch and first and second movements, Looking Back
finish, telling us once more of a pianist tone is beguilingly wide and he seems and The Wiradjuri Presence, feature birdcalls,
whose name somehow slipped off the radar equally at home with each of them, as does the final movement, Thanksgiving.
and who has been insufficiently recognised. whether in the mellifluous writing in the Before his death, Sculthorpe closely
BRYCE MORRISON quieter sections of the ‘Reminiscenza’ and supervised this fine recording with
‘Romantica’, or in the vibrant dance of the Tamara-Anna Cislowska, who proves a
latter’s finale and the whole of the highly persuasive interpreter.
‘Minacciosa’. With excellent sound, this is a ANDY HAMILTON
highly recommendable release. GUY RICKARDS

REVIEWS CDs
Röntgen Piano Music, Vol 1: Suite in Four The Salzburg Recital Mozart Piano Sonatas Trifonov Live Works by Chopin, Scriabin,
Movements, Op 7; Variations and Finale on a K 280/K 189a and K 332/300k; Chopin 24 Liszt and Medtner recorded live at La
Hungarian Czardas, Op 25; Three Romances, Preludes, Op 28; encores by Scriabin, Fenice, Venice and Fazioli Hall, Sacile (both
Op 32; Buiten, Op 65 Chopin, Rameau, Bach 2010) and Carnegie Hall, New York (2013)
Mark Anderson (pf) Grigory Sokolov (pf) Daniil Trifonov (pf)
Nimbus Classics N 5918, 71 minutes DG 479 4342, 109 minutes (2 CDs) Deutsche Grammophon DG 479 3795,
  145 minutes (2 CDs)

The more I hear of Julius Röntgen’s music, This is a release of Grigory Sokolov’s
the more I like it. His music has been going performance at the 2008 Salzburg Festival This is actually two discs in one box from
through a much-deserved rediscovery in (the same year he failed to come to two companies (one Decca, one Deutsche
recent years, initially fuelled by CPO’s London’s Barbican because of new passport Grammophon). The all-Chopin CD 2 is the
pioneering issues of several of his rules). Recitals by Sokolov are to be Decca release. The first four items of this
symphonies and concertos, followed by two cherished, as this release so conclusively disc reveal a pianist unafraid to mix familiar
(so far) enchanting discs of his string trios shows. It was quite a decision to put not with less so; to extract a single Etude (Op
on Champs Hill plus the start of a series just two Mozart Sonatas together for the 10 No 8 in F major) and set it against a
devoted to the violin music from Toccata first panel of the programme, but two larger expanse. So it is that the teasing
Classics. Now comes the start of another Mozart Sonatas in the same key (F major). Rondo à la mazur, in a wonderfully fluent,
series from Nimbus, devoted to his piano Yet Sokolov makes it work beautifully – spontaneous performance, is set against the
music – and what a treat it is. immediately it is apparent that one is in the Op 18 Grande valse brillante in a reading
These four works are spread throughout presence of greatness. Sokolov’s playing that mixes delicious hiatus with a properly
his career, from the early Suite in Four implies no other avenue of interpretation is leggeiro touch.
Movements of 1873 (written when he was 18) conceivable; in addition, his accuracy is The Etude is light and technically
to the ten-movement suite Buiten (‘Outside’, stunning. The polyphonic aspect of K 332 is amazing but perhaps not fantastical, very
1919) composed when he was in his 60s. The beautifully rendered, while its first much a study through and through:
Suite shows why Röntgen was considered a movement seems to have a supernatural deliberately so, perhaps, to contrast with
compositional prodigy. It is a remarkably amount of space in which to breathe, but the Andante spianato that follows. Perhaps
assured work, showing what he had learned without any sense of undue lingering. The only Zimerman (Deutsche Grammophon)
at the feet of Reinecke. The Variations and slow movement of this Sonata is a proper cuts closer to the heart of the matter, but
Finale on a Hungarian Czardas (1885) is more Adagio, but the beauty of Sokolov’s tone Trifonov has an easy fluency.
impressive still, in places reminiscent of late (so perfectly caught by the recording), The three Mazurkas Op 56 act as an
Beethoven, the overall result strongly coupled with his limpid, bitter-sweet eloquent preface to a fine Chopin Third
appealing and intellectually satisfying. phrasing, makes this a transcendental Sonata. Here, the twilit, gentle first
Alternative sides of his creative character experience; the brightness of the finale movement and the mesmeric Largo, with
are displayed in the slightly later Three enables perfect balance. Anyone who its finely judged sense of light and shade,
Romances of 1904, with their more fully doubts the greatness of Mozart’s sonata speak of a maturity one rarely associates
expressed Romanticism, and the almost output needs to hear these performances. with the concept of the super-virtuoso.
Impressionistic suite Buiten, dedicated to Maurizio Pollini gave a Royal Festival But the real riches of this set lie in the
his great friend Grieg (Röntgen completed Hall performance of the Chopin Preludes Carnegie recital (CD 1). The Scriabin
the Norwegian’s Second Quartet) but earlier this year. It is fascinating to compare Sonata Op 19 finds Trifonov playing as if he
imbued by Dutch folk music. the two approaches: Pollini is intensely breathes this music, his articulation
Mark Anderson is a pianist new to me intellectual, almost deconstructionist, miraculous, only eclipsed by his projection
but his playing here is a revelation, both in whereas Sokolov finds the perfect balance of the very soul of the music. His Liszt
its own regard and as a vehicle for between emotion and intellect. Sokolov’s Sonata S 178 is one of the finest, and
Röntgen’s music. His tone and touch are shadings of phrase are quite remarkable (try absolutely in the tradition of the likes of
wonderfully varied and he seems equally at No 4, the E minor), his technique Lazar Berman. The infernal side of Liszt is
home in the earlier works, with their impeccable, his grasp of texture and detail to the fore, yet there is lyricism aplenty.
dependence on Classical and early second to none (the ravishing No 23 in F Trifonov is an unstoppable force here; he is
Romantic models, as he is in the more major). The encores are typically eclectic: more reflective in the account of the
overtly Romantic later works. Nimbus’s Scriabin and Chopin meet Rameau (Les Chopin Preludes that follows. A flighty
sound is exemplary. Highly recommended. Sauvages) and Bach. A remarkable release. Medtner Fairy Tale is a great encore.
GR CC CC

REVIEWS CDs in brief
CHOICE
Domenico Scarlatti Ombre et lumière: actually the Three Caprices of 1836, which Scriabin Piano Concerto in F sharp minor,
18 sonates pour clavier Op 20; Medtner Piano Concerto No 3
Anne Queffélec (pf) lasts over 20 minutes and includes some in E minor, Op 60
Mirare MIR 265, 77 minutes wonderfully inventive writing. Shelley Yevgeny Sudbin (pf), Bergen
 captures the tissue-thin delicacy of the Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Litton
BIS SACD 2088, 63 minutes
central Allegro grazioso well; his

Anne Queffélec says she chose the 18 performance of the G minor Sonata is a fine
sonatas on this disc ‘out of passion’, and her one, but, written in 1821 when Mendelssohn A fascinating coupling, and apt since 2015
approach to performing them is ‘that of a was only recently a teenager, the piece is not marks the centenary of Scriabin’s death.
lover, not a specialist’. She is certainly the composer’s greatest. There remains Great performances of Scriabin’s concerto
enamoured with Scarlatti’s music. In 1970 plenty to enjoy, particularly the Midsummer have been few and far between: Ashkenazy
she devoted her recording debut to his Night’s Dream-like fantasy and lightness of clearly has a soft spot for it, for recordings
sonatas, a brave move at a time when they the Scherzo and the Scherzo à capriccio. exist of him as both soloist and (on another
were still little known, and she has COLIN CLARKE occasion) conductor. The main problem
continued to champion his work ever since. here is that Sudbin does not appear to be
She takes a few liberties with the sonatas fully connected with Scriabin’s mode of
Chopin Impromptu No 3, Op 51; Ballade No
here, ignoring their original arrangement 4, Op 52; Berceuse, Op 57; Three Mazurkas, post-Chopinesque expression. The technique
in pairs (or devising her own), and Op 50; Polonaise, Op 53; Piano Concerto No is fine and strong, but in the final analysis
occasionally dispensing with repeats, for 2 in F minor, Op 21 this performance does Scriabin’s fine piece
Nelson Freire (pf), Gurzenich Orchestra
reasons she outlines in the CD booklet. The Cologne/Lionel Bringuier no great service. Similarly, Sudbin’s Medtner
music itself sounds gloriously alive, every Decca 478 5332, 66 minutes Third is trounced by Demidenko’s award-
sonata a bold, incisive vignette, from the  winning account on Hyperion, where the
flamenco-inspired flourishes of K 420 to latter sounds appreciably more spontaneous
K 27’s poignant lilt. Queffélec plays them Nelson Freire’s innate musicality and fine (and is also caught in a finer recording). CC
with all the love she can muster, bringing technique guarantee playing of the very
an extra degree of brilliance to what she highest order in whatever he touches.
calls Scarlatti’s ‘lessons of light’. GRAHAM LOCK Recorded in 2013, all these performances Courtney Pine: Song (The Ballad Book)
Zoe Rahman (pf), Courtney Pine
carry a Freire characteristic: the impression (bass clarinet)
of going straight to the heart of the Destin-E 777102468X, 53 minutes
Mendelssohn Complete Piano Music, composer, certainly the case in the 
Vol 5: Etude in F minor; Scherzo in B minor;
Scherzo à capriccio; Three Caprices, performance of the first piece Impromptu
Op 33; Piano Sonata in G minor, Op 105; No 3. Freire’s understanding of the drama According to UK jazz icon Courtney Pine,
Lieder ohne Worte, Book IV, Op 53; of Chopin is remarkable: listen to how the ‘there is nothing like performing in a duet
Lied in F sharp minor
Howard Shelley (pf) bass in the Fourth Ballade carries a weight for bringing out the intimacy of great songs’.
Hyperion CDA68098, 65 minutes of expression that lifts the performance. Odd, then, that this CD should be credited
 The spectacularly delicate Mazurkas give to Pine alone. While he chose the songs –
way to a ‘Heroic’ Polonaise that is not as ten of his favourite ballads, from Amazing
While there is much to admire in this dynamic as some (Pollini, for example), nor Grace to Come Sunday – it seems ungracious
release, there is also the prevailing as fervent as others; but in compensation to deny Zoe Rahman a joint credit, given
hectoring feeling that Shelley does not there is the tremendous rhythmic control that duets require two people. Pine seems to
quite capture the true essence of and a sense of the work’s trajectory. The favour a surprisingly attenuated, edgy bass
Mendelssohn. The Italian pianist Roberto concerto is beautifully shaded by Freire, with clarinet tone. This can make listening hard
Prosseda, whose Mendelssohn recordings the Cologne orchestra in fine form, work, as can the disc’s limited range of
are on Italian Decca, conveys a passion and immensely sensitive to the pianist’s rubato. tempos and textures. Rahman contributes
understanding in the music of this Freire himself in the booklet acknowledges sensitive support and some attractive solos,
composer that Shelley, charming though his debt to fellow Brazilian Guiomar Novaes, but her own releases, where she has more
his playing is, narrowly misses. This is the and the two indeed share a common freedom, are the place to hear why she is one
fifth of six volumes. The largest work is attention to detail. CC of the UK’s finest young jazz pianists. GL
IP0515_084_085_CDsinBrief_CJ.indd 84 20/04/2015 16:03

REVIEWS CDs in brief
CHOICE
Dohnányi Complete Piano Music, Vol 3: intensely beautiful sound world. Etude No for two pianists (and sound projectionist),
Ruralia hungarica, Op 32a; Variations on a
Hungarian Folksong, Op 29; Three Pieces, 63 is a 17-minute waltz with complex it marked his turn away from the ‘intuitive’
Op 23; Gavotte and Musette; Naila Waltz; interwoven rhythms most pianists would musics of the mid-1960s and initiated the
Two Waltzes of Johann Strauss struggle to read, let alone play. There are post-serialist ‘formula’ works that would
Martin Roscoe (pf)
Hyperion CDA68033, 79 minutes smaller, untitled studies here too – Nos 68, occupy him until his death in 2007. In
 64 and 65 are around the two-and-a-half- Mantra, the ‘formula’ is a 13-note melody (a
minute mark, and they pack a powerful 12-tone row plus the initial note repeated at
Martin Roscoe’s Dohnányi series on musical punch. CLAIRE JACKSON the end), which then undergoes a series of
Hyperion is a remarkable venture, and one repetitions, expansions and contractions at
clearly born of love for this composer. different levels of speed and scale. The
Dohnányi’s recordings of his own music are Mozart Piano Sonatas in D major, K 576; pianos are also modified by ring-
G major, K 283; F major, K 332; B flat major,
instructive (they were issued on APR), but K 570; C major, K 330; B flat major, K 333; C modulators, in a constant to-ing and fro-ing
Roscoe is an enlightened interpreter. major, K 545; and E flat major, K 282; Rondos between consonance and dissonance. The
Contrast Dohnányi’s 1956 recording of the in D major, K 485 and A minor, K 511; Gigue resulting music is playful, inventive,
in G major, K 574; Fantasia in D minor, K 397
sixth movement of Ruralia hungarica with Marc-André Hamelin (pf) dramatic; a colourful array of semi-exotic
Roscoe’s: Dohnányi is darker; Roscoe lingers Hyperion CDA68029, 155 minutes (2 CDs) sounds. It’s given a fine performance here
more, but is just as convincing. The textural  by Knoop, Chadwick and Armstrong,
delineation of No 4 is stunning. In the sharper and more engaging than the rival
Variations, Dohnányi’s reading is more A rather disappointing release. While version on Naxos. GL
convincing as a totality, but Roscoe finds a Hamelin’s playing throughout this twofer
welcome depth at times; and Roscoe actually exudes superb clarity of texture and
seems preferable in the Gavotte and Musette, articulation, these performances appear Rzewski The People United Will Never
Be Defeated!
where the composer sounds rather rushed in rather studio bound. The more technically Corey Hamm (pf)
comparison. Roscoe certainly has the challenging passages are certainly Redshift Records TK431, 57 minutes
equipment for the paraphrases that end the despatched with no hint of a problem; it is 
programme, given here with not only Hamelin’s level of immersion with the
jaw-dropping assurance but plenty of wit. CC music that is in question. While he can In the endearing liner notes to this
present the listener with charm or glitter, it recording, Corey Hamm, a piano professor
is the power of the simple gesture that at the University of British Columbia
Sorabji Transcendental Studies 63-71
Fredrik Ullén (pf) eludes him. In the Rondo in A minor, School of Music, describes how he first
BIS BIS-1853, 79 minutes Hamelin gives us a nicely limpid sound, discovered the cult work, recorded by its
 but is too interventionist. The other ‘extras’ dedicatee Ursula Oppens. It marked the
again reveal inconsistency of delivery: the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the
This is the fourth volume in Swedish Gigue, K 574, is hectic rather than quirky. music, which culminated in a performance
pianist Fredrik Ullén’s ongoing series of Of the Sonatas, it is K 333 that works best, in front of the composer at an event to
Kaikhosru Sorabji’s Transcendental Studies, with a real sense of desolation to the slow honour Rzewski’s 70th birthday, in 2008.
the first complete cycle to be recorded by movement. CC There is stiff competition on the recording
one soloist. Sorabji (1892-1988) was not one front – Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion),
for bitesize formats: several of his piano Ralph van Raat (Naxos) and Rzewski
Stockhausen Mantra
works last five to six hours. The Etudes, Mark Knoop, Roderick Chadwick (pf), himself (various), to name a few – but
which reference Liszt’s cycle, are thought to Newton Armstrong (electronics) Hamm is a worthy advocate. Based on a
be the largest collection in the repertoire, Hat [now] ART 190, 69 minutes Chilean resistance song, the variations are
dwarfing even Alkan’s output. In this  grouped into a series of six interlinking
volume we find Sorabji at his most cycles. Hamm handles the twists and turns
expansive, having explored typical Stockhausen once described Mantra as ‘a – not to mention highly complex technical
structures in earlier Etudes. Ullén is a musical miniature of the unified macro- demands – with aplomb. There is no
superb interpreter of this difficult and often structure of the cosmos’. Composed in 1970 cadenza in this interpretation. CJ

IP0515_084_085_CDsinBrief_CJ.indd 85 21/04/2015 12:25
REVIEWS Sheet music
Sideris Fairyland in Treble for Piano Kapustin Piano Sonata No 11, Op 101 Birchall Daily Expressions
Four Hands Schott ED 21868 EVC Music Publications
Editions Musica Ferrum ISMN 979-0-001-19815-8 ISBN 978-0-9931316-1-5
ISMN 979-0-801 164-63-6
The mercurial 21st-century rise in Paul Birchall is known as a composer for
This quaint and charming anthology of popularity of Kapustin (born 1937) television and theatre. This new publication
original duets from Greece takes as its continues apace with the welcome emerged from an extraordinary challenge
starting point the idea of an experienced appearance of a volume of his music from which he set himself: to compose a piece
player collaborating for inspiration and the prestigious publishing house Schott. every day for a whole month, and to begin
guidance with a beginner pianist in duet Prior to this new issue, Kapustin’s the process in each case via improvisation.
playing. As such, the concept is sound and wonderfully crafted music was available On the evidence of this attractive selection
proven to lead to progress (Stravinsky’s only in editions from A-RAM Moscow of accessibly written intermediate pieces,
famous duets on one piano exploit this or as computer downloads. his stylistic approach is popular and
principle effectively and have stood the test For those who have not encountered contemporary. Seven pieces are offered,
of time!). What makes Nikolas Sideris’ Kapuustin’s music before, it can best be with each day of the week providing a title.
collection especially memorable, though, is described as ‘written-out’ jazz that has been In this respect, Birchall is following in the
the extra musical ingredients included in nurtured by the composer’s classical footsteps of the late Richard Rodney
the package – exotic, quirky and training (he was a student of the legendary Bennett, though Bennett’s charmingly
memorable fairy tales to go with each piece, pianist-composer-pedagogue Alexander wistful Seven Days a Week is a much more
and some really charming pictures, too. Goldenweiser in Moscow). Nowadays, serious, classically centred work.
Moreover, there are useful performances on Kapustin’s Etudes, Sonatine and Preludes It would be very easy for a classically
the internet of the pieces in the book that are frequently taken up by talented students biased musician to be patronising about
are easily accessible. The 11 pieces in the at conservatoires around the world. Daily Expressions, in that the music is
collection hail from computer games. For The Sonata Op 101 differs considerably extremely repetitive and not always as
instance, The Two Violins was composed for from Kapustin’s most popular pieces. detailed in terms of articulation markings,
an unreleased game, The Forgotten Element, The intriguing title of ‘Twickenham’ may pedalling and dynamics as it could be. But
from Indiestone in 2006. Stylistically, to my be a homage to the Kapustin society and there is so much to be gained from this
ear, it sounds like film music. The King and its Home Counties base. Its melodic cells style. Students who take up this music –
the Dragon has a captivating repetitive are not as immediate and tuneful as one and I hope they will – should be
rhythmic quality to it, while The Bold Barber may expect. Lasting around 15-17 minutes, encouraged to add their own dynamics and
(originally scored for the anti-war short it is a substantial work with a first articulation markings. If security and
game What Goes Around Comes Around in movement of symphonic proportions. But fluency needs to be developed for both
2009) is charmingly melancholic and it reveals its secrets with familiarity and technique and sight-reading, then this
evocative. An interesting addition to the repeated playings-listenings (there are music will prove invaluable.
catalogue for teachers who need material to recordings already out there on YouTube). The music here would be terrific for
inspire co-ordination and listening skills As with all Kapustin, the music ruthlessly Grade 5 pianists, who still tend to lack
from elementary players of all ages. exposes approximate pianism and requires subconscious awareness of pianistic
fail-safe reliability in terms of double note patterns. The broken chord
playing, scales, clarity of left hand accompaniments, subtle variations in
figurations and so on. The second rhythm, figurations split between the hands
movement is particularly dark and (Sunday), slowly paced octave repetitions
secretive. Both it and the final movement (Monday) and jazzy chords (Wednesday) will
seem almost cinematographic in character, all prove fun to learn and play as well as
breaking off in mosaic style almost as building up confidence and control at a
though a camera is quickly moving from level of development where these are
one scene to another. essential if progress is to continue apace.
IP0515_86-87_R_SheetMusicRevs_CJ.indd 86 20/04/2015 15:59

REVIEWS Sheet music
Thompson Soliloquy for Piano Liszt Sonata in B minor Kleeb Jazzy Piano
Fand Music Press Bärenreiter Urtext BA9650 Bärenreiter BA 10627
www.fandmusic.com ISMN 979-0-006-53990-1 ISMN 979-0-006-54423-3
Peter Thompson was born in 1955 Liszt’s great Sonata, completed in 1854, The German-Brazilian composer Jean
in Peterborough and has written a is a cornerstone work in the repertoire and Kleeb has an interest in world music.
significant corpus of music, including has been championed by scores of pianists In this attractive collection of accessible
a cello sonata and six string quartets. over many generations. Inevitably, the result and only moderately difficult pieces,
His four-page ‘Soliloquy’ for solo piano of this extreme popularity has been that the emphasis is very much on mainstream
is intriguingly crafted, with strikingly many mannerisms, eccentricities and jazz idioms, fused at times with classical
original harmonic and contrapuntal deviations from Liszt’s intentions have structures and, at times, with a refreshing
movement that takes your fingers, if not crept into interpretations. This is a great injection of Latin American rhythmic
your ears, by surprise. pity as it can mean that pedallings, patterns. Three pieces inspired by
The colours and textures are articulation marks and even changes in baroque suite movements (Preludio,
orchestrally charged – yet the effects tempo not written by the composer can be Courante and Passacaglia) are admirable
are achieved without bombast or excess. taken on board by everyone and considered for their craftsmanship. The Preludio
This is beautiful, wistful music which ‘authentic’. It is as though a consensus is particularly wistful, beginning
makes considerable use of motivic develops over how certain passages should exclusively on the white notes and
variation techniques in only 112 bars. be articulated and shaped. including some gently understated
The music sounds like an orchestral This new edition comes as a welcome rhythmic syncopations.
transcription and though it looks antidote to ‘tradition’. It has a Spartan, Swing accompaniments are evident
awkwardly laid out for piano, it is in economical and lean feel because it refrains throughout the anthology of 12 pieces,
fact a pleasure to play through, especially from including anything editorial in terms which also includes some rather
at the sustained chordal climaxes towards of extraneous pedalling, fingering and sentimental arrangements of popular
the end. articulation marks. The result may leave songs such as My Bonny Lies Over the
Post-Grade 8 players in search of inexperienced players feeling rather Ocean and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
something different but not outlandish unsupported as they struggle to come to More impressive perhaps is the set of
could really enjoy this, a quietly terms with some of the most challenging ‘Jazzy Variations’ on the third movement
original piece that will give tactile pages of piano music in the repertoire, but of Brahms’s Third Symphony. These will
as well as aural pleasure. I look forward for the rest of us there will be a feeling of make all music lovers smile with delight.
to becoming familiar with more music relief: erasing fingerings, pedal markings I also greatly enjoyed the Greek rhythms
from this under-rated composer. and even phrasing has a great cleansing present in Beatinha and the lugubrious
influence on the notes. This edition intensity of Agua e vinho. In sum, an
restores the text to a form that Liszt himself intriguing mixture for pianists from
would have recognised (sources used are Grade 6 upwards. Worth exploring.
mainly the autograph and the first edition) MURRAY McLACHLAN
and so is of great value. I do recommend
that it is used in combination with other
editions as it can be extremely stimulating
to take on board the thoughts and ideas of
pianists of the calibre of Emil Von Sauer
(editor of the old Peters edition and a
student of Liszt). Warmly recommended,
bringing the erudition and thoroughness
of approach that we have come to expect
from Bärenreiter.

IP0515_86-87_R_SheetMusicRevs_CJ.indd 87 20/04/2015 15:59
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The CDs featured in this issue of IP are available to purchase via
Rhinegold’s new astore. We’ve put these titles into one handy location,
meaning you don’t have to spend time searching for the products you want.
Visit www.rhinegold.co.uk/astore and look for ‘May/June’.
Music
of my life
Kirill Gerstein gives us a peek
into his record collection
M
Y FASCINATION WITH of the playing. This is not playing for Busoni
© MARCO BORGGREVE
Busoni started when I was glory, or playing to the gallery. It’s also Complete recordings
about ten years old. I read this very exposed, which is not an easy thing Naxos 8.110777
big Russian book on him, which I found to do. If I had to pick one that epitomises Rachmaninov
captivating. When I came to the US at the Rachmaninov in that period, it is his Complete recordings
age of 14 or so I sought out his recordings. own Fourth Piano Concerto. There RCA 88843073922
These were made in London in 1922. It’s is such distillation of desperation and
important to distinguish between these homelessness and, as the Germans would Kreisler
Complete RCA recordings
and the many piano rolls he made – the say, Sehnsucht [‘longing’] – not just in the RCA 09026 61649 2
[Bach-Busoni] Chaconne, the Chopin piece but how it’s played.
Prelude or the Feux follets – where there’s Fritz Kreisler is one of the great violinists Chaliapin sings Boris Godunov
a lot of doubt about the authenticity of and also one of the great music makers. Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus
the performances. Despite the fact that Perhaps because everyone is now so & Orchestra/Vincenzo Bellezza
Guild 2206
he hated the recording process – ‘the Serious (with a capital ‘S’), his work tends
gramophone,’ he said, ‘was a devilish to be dismissed as lighter fare. But if one Keith Jarrett
invention without the devilish spirit’ – listens carefully, the mastery, intelligence The Cologne Concert
and the fact that it is not like hearing him and the emotional and physical sense of ECM LC 02516
play in concert, the acoustic discs, and the timing and sound manipulation is the
Liszt Rhapsody especially, give a glimpse very highest level of virtuosity – no less
of the Faustian in piano playing: this kind virtuosity than [Jascha] Heifetz, a different and singing. There’s no one like him today.
of bending of the metal and wood into kind of virtuoso. If one says, ‘What am I The giants have gone.
air and fog and mist. To me it becomes going to put on that will give me pleasure?’ The 1975 Keith Jarrett Cologne Concert
like a mirage, an illusion that arises from then one turns to Kreisler. His recording is one of the best-selling jazz albums of
the piano. This is the prime example of of the Grieg Sonata with Rachmaninov all time. It’s a cliché to choose it in a way
the performer as illusionist. Every time – especially the second movement – is a because it is so popular and because he has
I hear these recordings it enriches my masterpiece of music-making from a great done so many other things that are equally
appreciation of them. violinist and a great pianist. valid and important. But just as Liszt
It’s interesting that so many pianists I chose Chaliapin because I think his declared ‘the recital is me’ and established
from, let’s say, different denominations and innate talent is very much rooted in folklore, the concept of the solo recital, one could
sects agree that Rachmaninov’s recordings in the people. It makes the repertoire he say that this too is a seminal step: a solo
are outstanding. I joke that every time sings seem drawn from the ground, from concert of improvised piano pieces. It’s
I return to listen to them they play even the earth. This is not, in the best sense, not just the sound of the music but the
better than before! The recording doesn’t conservatoire-educated singing! This is fact that he is not really concerned with
change – but we do. I don’t mean only from the land. His voice, his personality and the boundaries between classical and jazz.
the recordings of his own music – that’s the artistic and musical choices he makes It’s just wonderful music that happened on
a no-brainer – but also the Schumann – it all comes from the fields. He sings a just that one occasion. e
Carnaval, the Chopin B flat minor Sonata, phrase and it seems that he is the phrase – INTERVIEW BY JEREMY NICHOLAS
the miniatures. Pretty much everything not even that he composed the thing, but
he touched is of interest. Besides the that he is what he sings.Particularly on the Kirill Gerstein’s latest disc, featuring music
golden sound, incredible mastery and Godunov tracks, you can sometimes barely by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, is out now on
talent, what comes across is the honesty distinguish between declamatory speaking the Myrios label
IP0515_90_MusicOML_CJ.indd 90 20/04/2015 17:32

Sunday 14th – Tuesday 16th June 2015
Birmingham Conservatoire’s ‘British Piano Festival’
Adrian Boult Hall and Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire,
Birmingham City University, Paradise Place, B3 3HG
A three-day British Piano Festival hosted by Sunday 14th June at 7.30pm

John Thwaites, Head of Keyboard, and leading
Adrian Boult Hall,
British pianist, Mark Bebbington, featuring talented
students and guest artists including the Primrose Birmingham Conservatoire
Piano Quartet. Following their ‘Outstanding’
recording of these works
Showcasing rarely-performed and contrasting (International Record
Review) on SOMM, a unique
works by Bridge, Howells, Holbrooke, Bowen,
triple-bill of sparkling and
Ireland and Ferguson, the event also provides an energetic 20th century
opportunity to hear contemporary composers such piano concertos:
as Anthony Payne – the Birmingham premiere of his Gordon JACOB
new Piano Quartet, evocative instrumental pieces Concerto No.1 for piano and
by Ian Venables, and Robert Matthew-Walker’s string orchestra
dramatic Fantasy-Sonata: ‘Hamlet’ (Piano Sonata
© Rama Knight
Malcolm WILLIAMSON
No. 3) Op. 34. Concerto No.2 for piano and
string orchestra
Doreen CARWITHEN
Concerto for piano and string
orchestra
Mark Bebbington, piano
The Innovation Chamber
Ensemble
(strings from the CBSO)
Richard Jenkinson,
conductor IRR Outstanding logo 2
“Passionately played, rewarding and

a delightful listen.” International Record Review
IRR
OUTSTANDING
Birmingham Conservatoire in association with

Archery Concert Productions
Primrose Piano Quartet Sofia Sarmento
Tickets available on the door and through www.eventbrite.co.uk

Further information: www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire www.archerypromotions.co.uk
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IP0315.indd 91 17/04/2015 16:56:08
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150416 - International Piano - ZIOS - Dresden.indd 1 14/04/2015 16:31:33

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International Piano

NO.31 MAY/JUNE 2015

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NO.31 MAY/JUNE 2015

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May/June 2015 International Piano 5

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May/June 2015 International Piano 7

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The ‘tinny emptiness’ of Liszt

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May/June 2015 International Piano 15

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May/June 2015 International Piano 21

contributed are just chopin on the piano,’

22 International Piano May/June 2015