Being active in the social media, Piano Street’s Patrick Jovell entered and won pianist Stephen Hough’s Haiku contest on Twitter. As Patrick is a resident of Stockholm and the two-tickets-recital-prize was for a Hough concert in Sydney (on Liszt’s birthday the 22nd October, incidentally), Patrick asked Stephen for a fair trade: – My Twitter Haiku contest prize for a short interview with you at pianostreet.com/blog?
Stephen accepted…
Patrick Jovell: What would be more appropriate — one month after Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday — than to approach another international pianist who turns 50, today the 22nd of November?
Piano Street wants to wish you a happy birthday!
You recently came back after a tour in Australia. Can you tell us about what happened there?
Stephen Hough: Thank you! Recital tours tend to be very busy. When you’re playing with an orchestra there are preparation days, rehearsals, extra concerts, time to live in a city – but a recital is usually just one evening.
So there is more travelling (more hotels, more taxis, more flights) and more notes. To be on-stage for nearly two hours without any support is more challenging than playing with an orchestra, but it’s also much freer. You can take an interpretation in all kinds of spontaneous directions which is less possible when there are dozens of other musicians and a conductor sharing the platform.
PJ: You played sonatas by explicit pianist-composers; Beethoven, Liszt, Scriabin and yourself namely the Sonata “Broken Branches” (2010). Can you tell us about this trip from the past into the future?
SH: These sonatas were chosen more for their unusual (strange) forms than for their link as being by composers who were also pianists. None of them fit the usual mould. The 5th Scriabin and the Liszt are circular, one-movement designs, Beethoven’s Moonlight (quasi fantasia) begins with an improvisation in harmonic colour rather than melody or motive, and my own sonata is in sixteen short, broken-down but related sections. Nevertheless playing music by composers who really play the instrument does make a difference. Everything lies well under the hand, however complex the patterns might be.
PJ: Tell us about the Beethoven-Liszt-Scriabin-Hough connection, or affinity maybe?
SH: In addition to being ’strange’ all of these sonatas are intense and turbulent (if only sometimes an inner turbulence). They are pieces with alert, open eyes … uncomfortable … emotionally charged … poised on the edge.
PJ: Starting with Beethoven and his times and ending up in the present times, what will the future (in 50 years) look like from a composer’s and concert pianist’s perspective?
SH: wish I knew the answer to this question. I imagine, if things continue on their present trajectory, there will be fewer recital series as the years pass. This has been a pattern now for at least the past fifty years.
Electronic entertainment means that there is more to do now in our homes – we don’t need to go out to concerts to have fun; and the ease of easy music at the press of a button means that we don’t need to learn to play the piano anymore to hear music. In the past when a pianist came to town it was an opportunity for the keen amateur to hear and see something being done at a high standard with which he or she was struggling at home. That whole scenario has changed.
Only in China is there a possibility for this to be re-awakened. As far as new compositions … even less can be predicted.
PJ: You are known for your enormously broad repertoire. What will the next 50 years mean to you in terms of repertoire focus?
SH: I’m very happy to think of “the next 50 years” – here’s hoping! I will continue to learn new works which interest me, but my commitment to composition (and the writing of words) means that I have cut back a lot on further expanding my repertoire. There simply isn’t enough time and I have four commissions to write over the next few years (a 2nd piano sonata, a cello sonata, another song cycle and an orchestral piece). At this point in my life (halfway through!) writing music fires me up with greater enthusiasm than learning, say, Emil Sauer’s 2nd piano concerto or a set of etudes by an obscure 19th century Russian composer.
PJ: If you were obliged to write a 50th birthday Haiku to yourself; how would that sound?
SH:
Fifty years have gone.
But eighty-eight keys remain,
A life to unlock.
Are there any pianists out there who have never played studies by Czerny as part of their training? Probably not many. It is a fact that the technical and stylistic formulas necessary for playing the masterpieces of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and other classical composers can be developed by playing Czerny’s studies.
It is, however, a controversial issue, since many teachers argue that valuable practice time should not be wasted on such mechanical and artistically dry pieces when the same results can be achieved by practicing real music.
From another point of view, we do not only play music from the classical period these days. If you want to equip yourself with sufficient technical and musical skills to play, for example, Fanfares, one of the more frequently played études by György Ligeti, old Czerny may not be exactly what you need.
"Fanfares" from Studies Book 1 by György Ligeti
The main problems in the étude are:
1. Playing quick series of double-notes of various intervals in irregular patterns,
2. Synchronizing the irregular “melody” with a syncopated accompaniment,
3. Delivering a constant stream of eighth notes in such syncopated patterns for 11 pages without losing focus and “falling off the rope”.
Instead of Czerny, a better preparatory exercise for this piece could be the well-known Overworld Main Theme from the video game Super Mario Bros, composed by Koji Kondo. It contains the first two of the above-mentioned problems but in a more accessible format, while the third issue (focus/sustained attention) could possibly be practiced by playing the actual video game, aiming to go all the way through and beat Bowser without making a single mistake.
The Overworld Main Theme from the legendary video game Super Mario Bros.
The New Super Mario Series by Alfred Music Publishing
Last week, Alfred Music Publishing released officially licensed piano scores for the popular Super Mario Bros.™ video game series. This collection of 34 pieces contains the instantly recognizable melodies beloved by generations of gamers around the world, and is available in two versions: original transcriptions and easy piano arrangements.
From Koji Kondo’s iconic Super Mario “Ground” background music to the new Super Mario Wii™ themes, the dozens of pieces in these books represent two and a half decades of Nintendo video game favorites.
The easy piano arrangements are simplified to make them enjoyable for novice pianists, although the rhythmic complexity as well as the often un-pianistic melodic patterns makes them quite a challenge even for the intermediate level pianist. The “Intermediate-Advanced Piano Solos” book features note-by-note transcriptions for solo piano performance. Many of these are technically demanding, which makes them suitable exercises for both “serious” contemporary music as well as for various pop music styles.
Another source of Super Mario piano scores is the website mariopiano.com which offers “didactic arrangements” of all themes and sound effects from the original Super Mario Bros (1985).
These are also note-by-note transcriptions of the original 8-bit NES music where the didactic merits are in the form of well-crafted fingerings and that all pieces are notated in alla breve in order to facilitate rhythmic reading.
Let’s now look 100 years ahead. Will this be the typical opening phrase of a lesson with the 22th century piano teacher? “Let’s begin with the scales and then I would like to hear your Mario Studies.”
If so, what will the typical comment from the student be?
To celebrate Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday, the Liszt Competition Utrecht organized a unique concert at the Vredenburg Concert Hall. The organization made a huge effort to bring out the best of 25 years of Liszt Competition history: all nine 1st prize winners were gathered here to play some of their beloved composer’s less familiar works. Some pianists shared the stage with a colleague, some performed their pieces solo.
In historical order of the competition the prize winners were: Martyn van den Hoek (1986), Enrico Pace, Sergey Pashkevich, Igor Roma, Masaru Okada, Jean Dubé, Yingdi Sun, Vitaly Pisarenko, Masataka Goto (2011).
The concert began with two pianists who have performed together regularly in recent years. Martyn van den Hoek and Jean Dubé played Liszt’s arrangement of “Les Preludes” for two pianos. This composition originates from the composer’s Symphonic Poems, and is the third in a series of thirteen.
Some of these Symphonic Poems have also been published for piano solo, such as numbers two (Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo) and six (Mazeppa). This arrangement provided for (possible) intimate interaction between the two pianists. Taking over each other’s melodies, delicate timing in certain passages and simultaneous, instant change of pace are all part of making or breaking this performance. Fortunately, both pianists made it absolutely clear that their ideas were performed as one.
Being quite familiar with Liszt’s repertoire for the piano, hearing this version of “Les Preludes” was an experience of recognition. Many themes and gestures used by the composer are “quoted” from his other pieces such as the Sonata, his Piano Concerto no.1, some of the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the famous “Totentanz”. Funnily, one could say the same about his “Concerto Pathétique” S.258 (which in its turn is an arrangement of Liszt’s “Grosses Concert-Solo S.176/R.18)”.
Concerto Pathétique was performed later that evening by two other musical friends, in fact two pianists who are both regular guests at all the major concert halls in The Netherlands: Enrico Pace and Igor Roma.
Having collaborated since 2002, playing this relatively unknown work together was a joy for both themselves and the audience. Enrico Pace, the “funny man” of the two, walked on stage with an enormous curly wig on his head. Now that he has otherwise lost quite a bit of his wild haircut from the 1980s, the audience instantly got the joke. Pace took on the role as conductor behind the piano, and led the piece with great confidence and virtuoso gestures.
Yingdi Sun talks to Piano Street's Alexander Buskermolen about his experiences of Liszt's music
Because this composition originated from another piano (solo) piece, you can hear that compared with the arrangement of “Les Preludes”, Liszt found it less difficult to maintain the great pianistic elements. The techniques used here were written with a deep understanding of the instrument, very different from the “translation” of an orchestra to a single instrument.
Other “quotes” that passed by were “Un Sospiro” S.144/3 and the “Reminiscences de Don Juan” S.418.
The fact that a pianist who performs Liszt will “meet the orchestra” sooner or later was also underlined when I asked Mr. Dubé what makes a Liszt pianist good:
Jean Dubé: “Obviously the works of Franz Liszt are technically quite demanding, so the pianist should possess a proper technical level and kind of virtuosity. On the musical side you should always consider the piano as an orchestra and try to find the orchestral colours in the instrument. When studying the works of Liszt I always involve his orchestral music to get a good perspective in terms of sound quality and colouring.”
The last piece played before the intermission was the “Danse Macabre” S.555 as transcribed from Camille Saint-Saëns’ orchestral work. The perfect man for the job was the youngest of the prize winners on stage: Vitaly Pisarenko. His technical capabilities were overwhelming and made his performance one to remember. The most remarkable aspect of his playing is his articulation. Although many of the passages in the Danse Macabre are very fast, all the notes came out crystal clear and highly rhythmic. If you ask me, this is how the composer himself would have played this work: virtuoso with a sense of style and a great eagerness in his relationship to the piano.
For all of our (young) readers who want to become Liszt-like “piano lions” like the prize winners from the Liszt competition, I’ve asked some of them about their first experiences with the composer. Maybe this will help you on your way…
Jean Dubé: “I got to know Franz Liszt through his Petrarca Sonettes, La Campanella and his Transcendental Studies. At first I was a bit hesitant about studying these difficult scores, but after some hard work it turned out that playing his compositions came quite naturally to me. It was, of course, years later that my former teacher encouraged me to participate in this Liszt Competition. “
Yingdi Sun: “I was ten years of age when I first played a composition by Franz Liszt. It was one of his etudes, I believe “Mazeppa” (S.100). It’s a Chinese tradition to start building a perfect technique at a young age, and of course the music of Franz Liszt is perfect study material for doing so.”
Igor Roma: “I discovered Liszt’s music at a relatively late age, I think I was 18 years old when I started studying his music. The main reason for this late start was that my unfamiliarity drew me back from these difficult scores. So I started off with his lyrical and highly romantic works such as “Liebestraüme”, the “Consolations” and the “Années de Pèlegrinage”.
Masataka Goto: “The first piece by Liszt that I played was number eight of his Transcendental Studies, “Wilde Jagd”. I was approximately 14 years old when I learned that piece.”
Mr. Roma had some extra advice for all the pianists who have never played Liszt before, especially if you’re not used to page after page filled with thousands of little black notes:
Igor Roma: “It all depends on the technical abilities of the young pianist. For the really young ones/less experienced pianists, the “Children’s Etudes” are quite rewarding. For the pianists who have a solid basic technique I’d recommend studying the “Consolations”, which are both musically and technically very interesting. In the end technique is everything in the service of Liszt’s musical ideas.”
A personal tip from Maestro Igor Roma for more advanced students:
Igor Roma: “In any major piece by Franz Liszt, the deep understanding and communicating of the work comes from thorough study and mental development. I’d advise anyone to just set aside the composition for a few months or longer and take it back, in order to change perspective. In the end you’ll master the composition technically and you’ll find the time and space to really concentrate on the musical gestures.”
Saint Francis preaching to the birds
After the intermission more less-familiar works by Franz Liszt were played. The 2005 prize winner Yingdi Sun played the highly religious “first Légende, St. François d’Assise: La predication aux oiseaux” S.175/1.
This first Légende tells the story of Saint Francis preaching to the birds. The birds, according to the legend, sat silently listening as the Saint held a sermon. Only after the sermon ended were the birds released from their spell to fly away.
Yingdi Sun has all the tools needed to create a hypnotic atmosphere in the hall. His touch is very delicate with trills as smooth as silk. Athough this piece is much more introverted than his second Légende, it’s not as dark and obviously virtuoso. It turns out this first Légende is actually one of Sun’s favourite Liszt compositions, as he told Piano Street when asked which works by Liszt he considered too infrequently played:
Yingdi Sun: “For me the piece I played tonight, the first Légende: St François d’ Assise ‘La prédication aux oiseaux’ (S.175) is such an underrated composition. It has many beautiful characters and introverted but very meaningful gestures. Another composition I like and that isn’t played very often is Liszt’s “Büch der Lieder” (S.531)”
Other pianists answered the same question:
Jean Dubé: “There are actually many pieces I consider underappreciated and which I’d love to hear more, a lot of them were composed later in Liszt’s lifetime. One is his “Berceuse” (S.174). “Schlaflos” (S.203) is another composition I love to play in concert.”.
When asked why these pieces have remained so unexplored, Jean Dubé answered:
“Many of these pieces, especially the later ones, are quite difficult to understand. They were composed in a very dark period of Liszt’s life. This introverted, depressed attitude is always present and difficult for the performer to fully comprehend.”
Igor Roma: “I have the feeling that many of the later pieces by Liszt are highly underrated. To name one in particular: ”Reminiscences de Simon Boccanegro”. Simon Boccanegro is a very special opera by Verdi that Liszt transcribed for the piano.”
And more!
Some of the pianists gave us another peek into their world full of Liszt…
What role did the music of Franz Liszt play in the development of your studies and career?
Yingdi Sun: “After becoming acquainted with Liszt at a young age, I kept playing and learning new compositions all the way through my teenage years and my time at the conservatory. I’ve noticed that I “grew from one piece into the next”. After my first couple of pieces I started to learn the b minor sonata, some of the Petrarca Sonettes and of course his Hungarian Rhapsodies. Being a music student at that time, I had to play many different composers as well. Even in recent years, after winning the Liszt Competition in 2005, I have kept on playing many different composers such as Brahms, Ravel and Beethoven. Logically, Franz Liszt has a prominent position in my life.”
Igor Roma: “I began to realize that even though I “met” Liszt at a late age, I really liked the physical and poetic attitude of the composer. In other words, I felt really at ease with the kind of sound and piano technique playing Liszt requires. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to play of course!”
Why did you decide to enter the Liszt Competition specifically?
Jean Dubé: “I entered the competition twice. The first time was in 1999, the second, and more successful, time was in 2002. In the years between the two I gained a lot of experience and matured in my way of playing and understanding Liszt’s music. In these years I played almost only Liszt. Luckily, he is a composer who comes very naturally to me, so the choice to enter this competition was in a way obvious. The reward you get from winning this competition is enormous, the organiz34w really makes’ an effort to let you play on may stages throughout the world, a unique opportunity to boost your career!”
Igor Roma: “I decided to enter the Liszt Competition in particular because of my special and most of all natural connection to the composer. I thought this competition would suit me well, and it did!
Masataka Goto: “Ever since I started to play the piano at the age of four I loved the music of Franz Liszt. Later I realized this music demands a very energetic approach. I thought it would be very useful to learn as many of his pieces as possible at a young age. Entering a competition that’s all about Liszt gave me the perfect push to do just that.”
Which particular aspects of Liszt’s music stand out to you personally and respond to your qualities as a musician?
Yingdi Sun: “I feel there’s a strong connection between the music of Liszt and Beethoven. I find it especially useful to study their late works. I think the main difference in the way both composers used the entire keyboard is in the balance between the different registers. Beethoven, being deaf at that period in his life, was clearly struggling to find the balance in dynamics and use of different areas of the keyboard. Franz Liszt, although more introvered at the later point in his life, found a better balance in these same aspects. I personally feel more connected with Liszt’s approach to the piano than Beethoven’s.”
How has winning the Liszt Competition influenced your choice of repertoire over the years? Are you expected to play Liszt all the time?
Igor Roma: “In a year such as this, THE Liszt year, concert organizers obviously expect me to play a lot of Liszt pieces. Any other year I like to play as many different composers as possible, especially post-romantic and 20th century composers. Also, I don’t feel like an expert on Liszt, or on any other composer for that matter.
Masataka Goto: “When I entered the Liszt Competition this year I played the first Ballade, a piece that’s not often performed. I think it’s a wonderful composition! I’m not a very big fan of his later works, maybe this will come later. For now I love playing his highly energetic compositions.”
The concert’s finale was an arrangement for five pianos and nine pianists of Liszt’s orchestral work, the Rákóczi-Marsch S.652b. Again Mr. Pace took on the role of conductor and led the rest of the pianists towards the final notes of the evening: a great ending of a great birthday concert, not only for Franz Liszt, but for all those that were present that evening. Thank you Liszt Competition Utrecht!
By Alexander Buskermolen, The Netherlands
Competition performances by prize winners:
Jean Dubé’s live performance of Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 during the semi-finals of the Liszt Competition in 2002 (with his own cadenza):
Play Video: Enrico Pace in his semi-final in 1989 at the Liszt Competition Utrecht: The Don Juan paraphrase a.k.a. Réminicences de Don Juan
Play Video: Igor Roma in the final stage of the Liszt Competition Utrecht in 1996: Totentanz
Play Video: Vitaly Pisarenko in his final stage of the Liszt Competition in 2008: 1st Piano Concerto
About the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition
The International Franz Liszt Piano Competition is held every three years in Utrecht. This event has a reputation as one of the world´s most prestigious piano competitions, and is also known for the thorough and professional support it offers young musicians.
The Competition is entirely devoted to the piano works of Franz Liszt. This exclusive approach and the Competition’s programme of extensive career support, as well as the many international concert engagements it makes possible for its Prize winners, have given the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition a unique profile.
The 3-D Piano Method is a 6-DVD series on piano teaching and playing, produced by artist-teacher Fred Karpoff. It attempts to describe the graceful, efficient usage of the whole body to play the piano in three-dimensions, as opposed to tenets such as “making all the fingers the same length,” “thumb-under” scales, “high” fingers, and using opposable muscles simultaneously, with curled fingers.
In The 3-D Piano Method, these are replaced with concepts such as the Quiet Hand, Rotational Mobility of the Hips, Continuous Alignment Adjustments in three-dimensions (up-down, in-out, and lateral), the Throw, the Vibrato Technique (for playing repeated chords, octaves, and tremolos), Three-Dimensional Shaping, and Released Fingers.
Piano Street’s Patrick Jovell got the opportunity to interview Fred Karpoff, creator of the 3-D Piano Method:
Patrick Jovell: Thank you for letting us preview your thorough pedagogical project, the 3-D Piano Method. We would also like to congratulate you on receiving the 2011 Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award for your work, by the Music Teachers National Association.
We have learned that one of the catalysts for creating 3-D Piano was that you suffered from a piano-playing injury that led to an overhaul of your whole piano technique — something that included collaboration with a physiologist. Can you tell me about your initial thoughts after making the decision of starting from scratch so to speak.
Fred Karpoff: Yes, it’s true that one of the reasons I wanted to produce the DVD series was to assist those who are facing what I went through. My own injury came when I was a doctoral student at the Peabody Conservatory, as I was preparing to embark on the competition circuit. I increased my practice time to six or more hours a day. Under this stress, I developed tendonitis, bursitis, and other inflammation. It was a terrifying time until I began working with a Feldenkrais practitioner. I was led through a series of whole body exercises, including shoulder and hip circles, leg and back stretching exercises. This work helped me to move more fluidly and gave me hope that I was on the right track. After several weeks, I began to feel better. And that’s when I realized the importance of integrating whole body movement into piano playing. Soon I was taking piano lessons with Yoheved (Veda) Kaplinsky. She showed me new ways to play with optimal coordination, to use only the required muscle activity at the appropriate time. Later I also studied Tai chi and the Alexander Technique.
PJ: We know that the 3-D Piano Method was created by somebody (you) who performs at a high professional level, very conscious of pedagogical goals and with a rear-view mirror perspective. What kind of obstacles can you avoid by using the 3-D Piano techniques in your training?
FK: This is one of the most exciting features of the series. It offers pianists a method to improve their technique with less risk of injury. It contains detailed analysis of over seventy-five pianistic elements, ranging from basic foundational elements like sitting position, alignment and free fall, to advanced concepts such as arpeggios, octaves, trills and scales. By carefully demonstrating each element and providing step-by-step exercises that are easy to review, the viewer is given instruction not only on how to avoid injury but also how to employ the whole body in a fluid manner. This, in turn, provides viewers with guidance on how to fully express their musical intentions, to focus on freeing the imagination and the search for greater meaning within their music.
PJ: In the videos we see you teaching college-level pianists. When do you recommend teachers integrate your ideas into their teaching? Do the suggested techniques primarily apply to students that have played for many years with a lot of technique and habits already developed?
FK: It is very gratifying that the series is being used at all levels of instruction. The ideal is to integrate healthful, well-coordinated pianism from the very beginning. At a recent teacher’s convention in Texas, several teachers recounted how they have been getting excellent results using the 3-D Piano Method with children under ten years old, and as young as five. It is similar to ice skating or gymnastics: the earlier one learns the basic, fluid biomechanics, the easier it is to advance to higher levels of accomplishment. Teachers using 3-D Piano report that they are able to do more actual “teaching” instead of “correcting.” Most of us were taught paradigms that run counter to natural movement. For example, “Make all the fingers the same length,” “Hold the thumb under the palm during scale playing,” or “Keep a coin balanced on your wrist while you play.” These maxims are seriously detrimental to one’s prospects of mastering the piano. Each of these calls for unnecessary muscle activity, usually through the continuous co-contraction of antagonistic muscles. This is akin to having the skater or gymnast told to curl her toes during all movements.
PJ: There are a vast number of books and multimedia on the subject of how to play piano from world-renowned pianists and pedagogues sharing ideas and methods over the years. Can you say that The 3-D Piano Method represents a school or tradition in the sense that it is based on already discovered ideas?
FK: There is no question that in the age we live in, the ‘borders’ of schools and traditions are becoming more blurred—that is, since information travels so much more quickly today, there are more opportunities to integrate elements of piano-playing that were previously exclusive to a particular ‘school’. There is no question that the 3-D Piano Method is rooted in a wide variety of traditions. Some of these include Matthay, Whiteside and Sandor. Other important influences are Karl Ulrich-Schnabel, Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and my own major teachers, Ann Schein, Robert Weirich, and Veda Kaplinsky.
PJ: You meet a lot of students at different levels and with different skills and personalities. What kind of problems do you frequently encounter? What challenges are likely to show up among aspiring young pianists of today?
FK: I believe the greatest technical challenge for students at all levels is achieving optimal coordination—playing with minimal effort to produce the maximum results.
And, in my experience, here are the most pervasive obstacles to optimal coordination: An overly digital approach characterized by misuse of antagonistic muscles (especially flexors and extensors); misalignment (especially ‘twisting’ or ‘swiveling’ of the hand); and continuous ‘grasping’ with the thumb while playing. All of these are extremely common, and all of them impede the graceful, fluid movement that is necessary for mastering the piano. I recently worked with a terrific pianist on both books of the Brahms Paganini Variations. The playing was technically excellent but the rhythm was not vibrant enough and the tone was not sufficiently warm. This was the result of too much held tension, particularly co-contraction of opposable muscles. By moving away from a more ‘digital’ approach and integrating whole-body movement, he was able to free his body and to liberate the spirit of the music.
PJ: If you were to create a sequel to the 3-D piano, what would you address and why?
FK: What is unique about the 3-D Piano Method is that it is interactive. There are hundreds of teachers worldwide working with the series to supplement their instruction in their studios and classrooms. Many of these teachers report using the series as a kind of partnership where 3-D Piano supports their teaching without superseding it. As we look into the future, we see many ways to build upon this principle of interaction with new technologies. We plan to offer live webinars and workshops that will lead to teacher certification. We are in the process of translating the series into several other languages.
PJ: Piano Street is thankful for the opportunity to speak to you, and for letting us preview the 3-D Piano DVDs and study guide.
The 3-D Piano Material
With 280 minutes of video and a 84-page workbook to guide the review process, the total experience for the viewer normally ranges from 2 to 12 months. Over 75 pianistic elements are covered in the series and are detailed in the study guide.
Throughout the series there are mini-documentaries of Karpoff working with twelve of his students. The opening units present essential information for pianists of all levels, including foundation elements, basic three-dimensional movement, sound quality, and chord ensemble. These lay the groundwork for the more advanced concepts that follow, such as arpeggios, octaves, tremolos, repeated chords, trills, scales, and pedaling.
Today, October 22 2011, marks the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt, the greatest piano virtuoso of his time, inventor of the modern piano recital and one of the most influential composers of the 19th century.
Piano Street here presents a collection of material and links to resources for you to enjoy in order to commemorate the great Franz Liszt.
Happy birthday, Franz!
Consolation no 3
Liszt’s six Consolations were inspired by a set of poems of the same name by the French author and literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.
They were composed in 1849-1850, in the beginning of Liszt’s most productive period, when he had only recently abandoned the concert stage, persuaded by his lover Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein to concentrate on composition.
The most well-known piece in the set is No. 3, clearly inspired by the Nocturnes of Chopin, who had died in October 1849.
Earlier this year we ran a survey among our members, asking which piano pieces they consider the most enjoyable and beneficial. Hundreds of piano students of all levels, teachers and pianists have submitted their answers and the results of the survey will be published later this year.
When looking at only Liszt music, the result coincides with the download statistics from Piano Street’s sheet music library:
There are four of Liszt’s piano pieces which are significantly more popular than his other pieces. The Consolation no 3 (above) is one of these four, but our question to you is:
Which are the other three pieces?
Note that the correct answer is based on preferences of Piano Street’s members, which does not necessarily reflect the view of a general public.
Send your answer to webmaster@pianostreet.com (use subject “Liszt Challenge”) before October 31.
Among those who submits the correct answer we will draw five winners who receives a 1 Year Piano Street Gold membership (value $47).
UPDATE
The correct answer is:
La Campanella, Liebestraum no. 3 and Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
Winners: Judith Lanham, Luis Manuel, Brian N, Minh Anh Nguyen Vu and Dick Hill
Join the celebration: Send your greetings to Franz or share you comments, favourite Liszt-links or personal thoughts about Franz Liszt and his music in a blog comment!
/nilsjohan
Dreamer, poet, radical, and visionary, Franz Schubert was a composer who stood between worlds. In his short life, he wrote music as epic as Beethoven and as perfect as Mozart; music that could bubble with life and joy and yet probe the darkest depths of the human soul – or distil both experiences into pure, haunting beauty.
Schubert’s music defined the Romantic age and Paul Lewis’s sought-after performances are coming to define the way our age hears Schubert. In barely a decade, Lewis has emerged as one of the great musical thinkers of our time, and his relationship with Schubert is at the very heart of his artistry. Now, at the climax of a two-year exploration of Schubert’s late piano music, Lewis tours the world with a series of concerts that explore the full range of Schubert’s mature genius; from deceptively simple miniatures to such groundbreaking romantic masterpieces as the Wanderer Fantasy and the late piano sonatas.
“Lewis’s approach was understated, always letting the infinite succession of melody unfold naturally. The music was allowed to speak for itself without the imposition of overly self-conscious interpretative detail. What emerged all the more clearly as a result – particularly in this sympathetic acoustic – was an acute sense of Schubert’s extraordinary harmonies, as well as the crucial milestones in his tonal landscape. The con moto movement of the Sonata in D major, D850, by turns gently lyrical and passionate, found Lewis at his compelling best, realising Schubert’s song-like nature and, with it, some of the heartbreak.” (The Guardian)
Listen to Paul Lewis play Sonata no 19 in C minor, D. 958:
The piano master classes of Franz Liszt 1884-1886,
Diary notes of August Göllerich
by August Göllerich
Indiana University Press, 1996, ISBN: 0253332230
Göllerich was student, secretary and companion to Liszt during the musician’s last two years (1884-86). The diary contains the dates of the master classes, lists of performers and the works they performed, and some general thoughts and reflections on the master pianist/composer.
Basing his translation on Jerger’s 1975 annotated German edition of Göllerich’s diaries, the editor Zimdars has added annotations, a glossary and two appendixes about Liszt, one a sketch by eminent pianist Jose Vianna da Motta. Though many of the entries are brief, some give wonderful insight into Liszt’s teaching style, mercurial personality, philosophy of performance and thoughts about contemporary pianists and composers. The book makes interesting reading and furnishes valuable knowledge of the piano literature taught and performed at the time, much of which is considered passé today. Zimdars’s glossary is one of the most important sections of the book; it provides brief biographical information about dozens of famous and unknown pianists of the time.
There is very little technical advice in this book. If you were a student of Liszt, you had a good technique as a matter of course. Liszt seems to focus more on expression, tempo, and clean playing. Technique is not the purpose of this book. Göllerich records Liszt’s performance suggestions and for that this book should be read by all serious pianists. Liszt provides invaluable suggestions in interpretation, and suggests how the composer may have wanted his piece performed. Since he heard many pieces performed by the composers themselves (Chopin, Schumann, etc), his advice should be respected. Also, since Liszt was taught by Czerny — who was taught by Beethoven — his suggestions for the performance of Beethoven’s works are absolute gold.
– My Twitter Haiku contest prize for a short interview with you at pianostreet.com/blog?
Last week, Alfred Music Publishing released officially licensed piano scores for the popular Super Mario Bros.™ video game series. This collection of 34 pieces contains the instantly recognizable melodies beloved by generations of gamers around the world, and is available in two versions: original transcriptions and easy piano arrangements.
Another source of Super Mario piano scores is the website 
The organization made a huge effort to bring out the best of 25 years of Liszt Competition history: all nine 1st prize winners were gathered here to play some of their beloved composer’s less familiar works. Some pianists shared the stage with a colleague, some performed their pieces solo.
The 3-D Piano Method is a 6-DVD series on piano teaching and playing, produced by artist-teacher Fred Karpoff. It attempts to describe the graceful, efficient usage of the whole body to play the piano in three-dimensions, as opposed to tenets such as “making all the fingers the same length,” “thumb-under” scales, “high” fingers, and using opposable muscles simultaneously, with curled fingers.
There are four of Liszt’s piano pieces which are significantly more popular than his other pieces. The Consolation no 3 (above) is one of these four, but our question to you is:
Schubert’s music defined the Romantic age and Paul Lewis’s sought-after performances are coming to define the way our age hears Schubert. In barely a decade, Lewis has emerged as one of the great musical thinkers of our time, and his relationship with Schubert is at the very heart of his artistry. Now, at the climax of a two-year exploration of Schubert’s late piano music, Lewis tours the world with a series of concerts that explore the full range of Schubert’s mature genius; from deceptively simple miniatures to such groundbreaking romantic masterpieces as the Wanderer Fantasy and the late piano sonatas.
