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Reporting from Warsaw — The stirring strains of Frederic Chopin’s music are reverberating across the world as music lovers celebrate the composer’s 200th birthday this year — from the château of his French lover to Egypt’s pyramids and even into space.
But nowhere do celebrations carry the powerful sense of national feeling as they do in Poland, the land of his birth, where his heroic, tragic piano compositions are credited with capturing the country’s soul.
“A superbly articulated performance … enriched by a magnificent orchestral accompaniment.”
At this year’s MIDEM, the international gathering of the music industry in Cannes, Ronald Brautigam accepted an award for his recording of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto (BIS-SACD-1792).
The MIDEM Classical Awards are bestowed by a jury consisting of representatives for the international music press and media, who selected Ronald Brautigam’s recording as the best concerto disc of 2009. Part of a cycle of Beethoven’s complete works for piano and orchestra, the disc also features a rarely heard early work by the composer, the Piano Concerto WoO4, for which Brautigam himself has made the reconstruction of the orchestral score.
Brautigam’s partners in this project, which will be concluded in 2010 by the release of Piano Concerto No.5 and the Choral Fantasy, are the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrew Parrott.
Nobel Media, in association with the Stockholm Concert Hall, present this year’s Nobel Prize Concert  an event of world class stature. The concert took place on 8 December as part of the official Nobel Week programme of activities.
Martha Argerich, headstrong, charismatic and technically brilliant pianist, was this yearÂąs soloist at the Nobel Prize Concert. Yuri Temirkanov, Music Director and Principal Conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmoni was
leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme comprised Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Prokoviev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet.
Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires in 1941, and had her performing debut at the tender age of eight. Her breakthrough came in 1965, when she won the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw. She has worked with most
of the worldÂąs leading conductors, and her repertoire includes Bach, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, BartĂłk and Prokoviev.
Ms Argerich is passionate about supporting young talent. The year 1999 saw the first International Martha Argerich Piano Contest in Buenos Aires, a competition that she founded and of which she is now the chief judge. She has also instituted the Martha Argerich Music Festival in Japan, with concerts and masterclasses.
The Nobel Prize Concert is held to honour the yearÂąs Nobel Laureates, who attend with their respective parties. Also present are members of the Swedish Royal Family and guests of the Nobel Foundation.
On Tour Now: Leif Ove Andsnes and Robin Rhode Reframe Pictures
The project Pictures Reframed, unites two strikingly original artists – pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and visual artist Robin Rhode in a collaborative performance which centres around Mussorgsky’s epic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.
Composed in 1874 Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition was experimental in its day and highly visual in its content. It is one of today’s most famous pieces of classical music, a work which has been visited and revisited by countless artists over its 130 year history.
Known for his bold “moving” creations and performance-based videos, Robin Rhode and Leif Ove Andsnes have together conceived a programme which brings together music and film in an evocative performance, featuring other solo works by Mussorgsky and Schumann, a new commission by Austrian composer Thomas Larcher and culminating in Mussorgsky’s masterpiece.
The concert will tour with 2 stage sets (Set 1 and Set 2). Set 1 comprises a large central screen above the piano showing the full video works and Set 2 includes additional still imagery by Robin Rhode on a number of other screens surrounding the piano.
Classic FM (UK) Has Announced its Children’s Hall of Fame
Radio listeners in the UK have selected Hedwig’s Theme by John Williams as the all time favorite in a new poll of children’s classics for station Classic FM.
The PA reports the iconic main theme song for the Harry Potter films was the winner, “with youngsters choosing it ahead of other movie scores such as Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean and E.T. But more traditional classical tunes by Pachelbel and Tchaikovsky figure highly in the list unveiled on the station.”
Classic FM has almost half a million listeners under the age of 18 and is releasing an album of Children’s Classics to tie in with the countdown on November 23.
Darren Henley, Classic FM managing director, said:
“This poll shows that age is no barrier to enjoying the world’s greatest music. Classical music is as relevant a part of people’s lives in the 21st century, whether they’re aged eight or 88.”
Children’s Hall of Fame Nos. 1-20
1. John Williams: Harry Potter
2. Howard Blake: Walking in the Air (The Snowman)
3. Sergei Prokofiev: Peter’s Theme (Peter and the Wolf)
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker)
5. Sergei Prokofiev: The Duck Scene (Peter and the Wolf)
6. Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Fantasia)
7. Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance Op. 39, No. 4 (Fantasia)
8. Johann Pachelbel: Canon
9. Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
10. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee
11. Leroy Anderson: The Typewriter
12. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Cygnets (Swan Lake)
13. Giacomo Puccini: ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’, Gianni Schicchi
14. John Williams: Flying Theme (E.T.)
15. Ludwig van Beethoven: FĂĽr Elise
16. John Williams: The Duck Scene (Peter and the Wolf)
17. Camille Saint-Saëns: Aquarium (Carnival of the Animals)
18. Johannes Brahms: Lullaby
19. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Scène from Act II (Swan Lake)
20. Aram Khachaturian: Sabre Dance
The Increasing Popularity of Piano Video Tutorials
These days, some people claim that you can teach yourself to play piano if you have the right course, the motivation, and the determination to follow through. Some people decide to study piano by downloading tutorials by an experienced piano teacher because they feel more comfortable by doing the learning at home. With some rare exceptions, you can’t just teach yourself to play piano without some kind of guidance.
Either way, with some planning ahead and some consistency, you can teach yourself how to play piano from video tutorials, by following each tutorial and lesson.
“Clair de lune from Scratch” is a YouTube piano lesson series designed to teach absolute beginners who have never played the piano or read a note of music before. Combining old-fashioned pedagogy with cutting-edge technology, pianist Hugh Sung breaks down Claude Debussy’s masterpiece into small, manageable portions, with each lesson comprising a highly focused, 5-10 minute video that uses the piece itself to teach the basics of music notation and piano technique.
“Pianist Hugh Sung’s online piano lessons are a refreshing example of multimedia and virtual interaction at its best, especially when he breaks every rule.” – Helsinki Times
Piano Street Urtext – Sheet music to download and print
Artist Luke Jerram has put together street pianos installations in various cities.
The initiative comes as a reaction of a creative individual to the general rule, prohibiting anyone to play music in public places without special arrangement – no matter how skilful you are at playing your piano or how popular your music is with the audience.
Any musician would have been stopped immediately by security outside the City of London and Sing London festival.
Birmingham
In 2007 artist Luke Jerram installed 15 streetpianos across Birmingham, UK for the public to play. In just 3 weeks 140,000 people across the city played, listened and connected with one another.
Jerram said “Questioning the rules and ownership of public space ‘Play Me I’m yours’ is a provocation, inviting the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment.”
SĂŁo Paulo
13 pianos have been installed in SĂŁo Paulo. Luke Jerram reported that many of those who stopped at the pianos had never played a real piano or even seen one.
Sydney
30 Street pianos were set up across Sydney for the Sydney Festival 2009. A website (www.streetpianos.com was set up for the public to upload and share their films, photos and stories of the pianos being played.
London
In June – July 2009 30 Play Me, I’m Yours painted pianos by Luke Jerram were installed across London “like a creative blank canvas” for members of the public to play. The painting on each paino was chosen to suit it’s location.
The project was produced by Sing London and City of London Festival at a cost of ÂŁ14,000. A music license had to be obtained for the location of each piano.
Bristol
15 Street Pianos were located in and around Bristol in September 2009.
On September 13, Russia’s Sofya Gulyak was awarded the 1st prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first woman to achieve this distinction in the history of the competition.
She returned to Leeds on Saturday 14 November to perform Mozart Piano Concerto No 18 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. As well as the prestigious Leeds competition, Sofya Gulyak has won prizes at the William Kapell International piano competition (USA), Maj Lind Helsinki International piano competition and the Tivoli piano competition (Copenhagen). She studied at Kazan’s Special Music College for gifted children, Kazan State Conservatoire,
Italy’s Piano Academy and the Royal College of Music in London.
Chinese pianist, 22-year-old Yuja Wang thrilled international audiences with her opening performance alongside conductor Claudio Abbado at the Lucerne Festival on August 12.
“Last year, when Claudio Abbado saw me playing Franz Liszt´s Sonata on French television, he compared me to talented female pianist Martha Argerich and then sent me an invitation to cooperate. In March this year we had our first cooperation and this is the second one”, Wang explained.
Usually, musicians who work with Abbado are well-known masters such as Maurizio Pollini. However this year Abbado made an exception. Yuja is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon. For her debut recording, titled Sonatas & Etudes, released in the spring of 2009, she presented a program of sonatas including Chopin´s “Funeral March”, Liszt´s Sonata in B minor, Scriabin´s Sonata no. 2, and etudes by Ligeti.
Wang continues: “The piece was chosen by Abbado and I think it is quite suitable for an opening concert. It is a vivid and exciting work in which the soloist and orchestra play their own strong roles during the performance. It demonstrates the charm of the orchestra while revealing the delicate sound of the piano. When we were on the stage, there was a wonderful interaction between the orchestra and Abbado”.
Of the five piano concertos written by Prokofiev, the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, has garnered the greatest popularity and critical acclaim. The concerto radiates a crisp vitality that testifies to Prokofiev’s inventive prowess in punctuating lyrical passages with witty dissonances, while maintaining a balanced partnership between the soloist and orchestra. Unlike the examples of piano concertos set by many of Prokofiev’s Romantic forebears, the orchestra rises above subsidiary accompaniment to play a very active part in this work.
Prokofiev began work on the concerto as early as 1913 when he wrote a theme for variations which he then set aside. Although he revisited the sketches in 1916-17, he did not fully devote himself to the project until 1921 when he was spending the summer in Brittany. Prokofiev himself played the solo part at the premiere on 16 December 1921 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock. The work did not gain immediate popularity and had to wait until 1922 to be confirmed in the 20th century canon, after Serge Koussevitzky conducted a lavishly praised performance in Paris. The first Soviet performance was on 22 March 1925, by Samuil Feinberg, with the Orchestra of the Theatre of the Revolution under Konstantin Saradzhev.
Prokofiev himself made the first recording of the Piano Concerto No. 3 in 1932 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Piero Coppola. The recording was made at Abbey Road Studios in London and is the only recording that exists of Prokofiev performing one of his own piano concertos.
1st movement:
On September 13, Russia’s Sofya Gulyak was awarded the 1st prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first woman to achieve this distinction in the history of the competition.
