From the International Musicians’ Seminar, Prussia Cove, we here present a clip from a Masterclass on targeting characters between movements.
Schiff also works on the disposition of form in order to rightfully serve the rhetoric qualities in Bach playing. In this particular Masterclass, András Schiff works with a student on Bach’s Second Partita for Keyboard, one of a set of six and the last group of keyboard suites Bach composed. As with the earlier French Suites and the English Suites, the Partitas consist of a series of dance movements but Bach’s skill and originality have now elaborated the hitherto straightforward dance forms and given thema richly polyphonic, almost orchestral texture. In 1731 these Partitas were collectively published as Clavier-Übung (”Keyboard Exercise”).
András Schiff is one of the great interpreters of Bach and a firm advocate of playing Bach’s keyboard works on the piano. As soloist he has performed and recorded many of Bach’s major keyboard works, and his recitals fill concert halls throughout the world.
Hans Liberg has received many international awards, the highest being an Emmy Award in New York in 1997 for “Liberg zaps himself”, produced by Ivo Niehe for Tros Television. In the same year he was also nominated for the Banff Television Festival in Canada and he received an honourable mention at the Golden Rose Festival in Montreux. In 1998 he hosted the Emmy Award Gala in New York, instead of Sir Peter Ustinov! Today his fame reaches far beyond the Dutch borders, attracting full houses all over Europe. Being the only comedian in their classical music programme, he even performed in the big hall of The Musikverrein in Vienna. The international character of his shows, his musical virtuosity, and his subtle humour make him a highly sought-after artist at large international galas.
The name Ivan Moravec (b.1930) is held in high respect by executants and connoisseurs.
The Czech pianist’s recordings for Connoisseur Society were notable for their audiophile quality and nearly all of them remain available, long after the LP era, on CD reissues. Moravec has also recorded for several other labels including Vox, Dorian, Hänssler, and Supraphon. In 1998 a 2-CD compilation of Ivan Moravec recordings was published as part of the landmark Philips series, Great Pianists of the 20th Century. He is described by New Grove as one of the finest Chopin interpreters of that century. In 2000 Moravec was awarded the Charles IV Prize, the Czech Republic’s most prestigious acknowledgement of service to humanity. That same year President Václav Havel presented Moravec with the Medal of Merit for outstanding artistic achievements. In 2002 Moravec was awarded the Cannes Classical Award for lifetime achievement.
Here we can listen to Moravec recording and discussing Chopin:
“Towards the Light”
– Director Oliver Becker’s Alexander Scriabin Documentary from 1996
This documentary on the unconventional life and ground-breaking music of Russian pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin sheds light on the mystical ideas which inspired him. He became consumed by a vision of a union of the arts, a coalescence of music, words, movement, light, colour and ideas , to create transcendent experiences. Contributors to his fascinating exploration of the composer’s life and work are musicians Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, Mikhail Pletnev and Scriabin’s daughter Marina.
In a live recording from the Amerikahaus, Munich, Friedrich Gulda reveals the versatility of his keyboard playing. On the clavichord he plays three preludes and fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (in A minor BWV 889, in C major BWV 846, in A flat major BWV 886) on the piano; his own re-working of Schubert’s song Der Wanderer, ending with Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau and a selection of his own compositions.
Watch the recital here: http://www.classicaltv.com/v530/friedrich-gulda-solo-flight
*** MUSICAL HOLIDAY GIFTS FROM PIANO STREET *** Free sheet music for the pieces in the above video
(click images to open in new window):
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC II no 20
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC I no 1
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC II no 17
Schubert: Der Wanderer
Debussy: Reflets dans l’eau
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) won first prize at the International Competition in Geneva in 1946. He began going on concert tours throughout the world.
Together with Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda, Gulda formed what became known as the “Viennese troika”.
Gulda had a strong dislike of authorities like the Vienna Academy, the Beethoven Ring of which he was offered in recognition of his performances but which he refused, and even faked his own death in 1999, cementing his status as the enfant terrible among pianists. Nevertheless, Gulda is widely
regarded as one of the most outstanding piano players of the 20th century.
His piano students included Martha Argerich and the conductor Claudio Abbado. He is also remembered as an accomplished jazz-pianist, musical thinker and avant-garde artist. Although most famous for his Beethoven
interpretations, Gulda also performed the music of J.S.Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel.
Stephen Kovacevich (born 1940), who has also been known as Stephen Bishop and Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich is an American classical pianist and conductor. He was born in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, to a Croatian father and an American mother.
He made his concert debut as a pianist at the age of 11; then, at the age of 18 he moved to London to study under Dame Myra Hess on a scholarship, and has been a London resident ever since, and is currently living in Hampstead.
As a soloist and conductor, he is probably best known for his interpretations of the core classical repertoire, including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Bartók. His international reputation has been built both on his concert appearances, renowned for their thoughtfulness and re-creative intensity, and on the highly acclaimed recordings he has made throughout his career.
In addition to his solo work, Stephen Kovacevich enjoys good relations with orchestras as a conductor and by directing from the piano. He has directed the London Mozart Players, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in this way. His chamber music partners have included Jacqueline du Pré, Martha Argerich, Steven Isserlis, Nigel Kennedy, Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Gautier Capuçon, Renaud Capuçon, and Emmanuel Pahud.
Beethoven: Sonata no 32 in C Minor, Opus 111
Stephen Kovacevich performs the first movement of Beethoven Piano Sonata No.32 in C minor opus 111 at the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival in 2004.
Sheet music to download and print:
(free Silver Membership needed)
Watch the complete recital at Medici TV: http://www.medici.tv/#/movie/27/
Program:
Beethoven – Two Sonatas (op 110 and op 111) and two Bagatelles
Schubert – Ländler
Schubert: Impromptu in G flat major, opus 90 no 3
Extract from Stephen Kovacevich’s masterclass on two of the Op 90 Schubert Impromptus. Full DVD will be shortly available from www.masterclassfoundation.org
Together with Lang Lang and Yundi Li, Sa Chen (born 1979) is considered as one of today’s most important Chinese pianists and a veritable international sensation. Originally a student of Professor Dan Zhao, China’s most eminent piano teacher, she won first prize in the 1994 China International Piano Competition and fourth place in the 2000 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warszaw and a prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition.
Furthermore, she was a third place winner in the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She has continued her training with Joan Havill in London and Arie Vardi in Hannover where she now resides.
For decades people who were fortunate enough to see and hear esteemed pianist Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982) perform left concert halls spellbound.
Rubinstein went for the soul of the audience as he wrapped his soaring and spirited playing around each listener. His magnificent interpretation of Chopin remains without equal. Biographer and music historian Sachs first heard Rubinstein play in 1959, but it was not until 1986 that he seriously considered writing a biography of Rubinstein. Not having primary source material from the musician’s first 53 years was an obstacle (Rubinstein’s papers were destroyed or lost when the Germans occupied his house during the war), but Sachs had the full cooperation of Rubinstein’s wife, Nela, and access to a huge amount of source material that had accumulated after the Rubinsteins came to the United States. Since in his memoirs (My Young Years and My Many Years), Rubinstein occasionally changed some dates and facts, Sachs realized an added necessity of thoroughness in his research. The resultant biography “Rubinstein – A Life” is definitive and belongs on the shelf alongside those memoirs.
From the treasure caves of the Russian television, we have here a live rendition of Chopin´s Barcarolle Op. 60, one of Rubinsteins most beloved pieces and also frequently mentioned in his memoirs:
This was a part of Amnesty International’s ‘The Secret Policeman’s Ball’, filmed in 1979 and also starring such notable talent as John Cleese, Billy Connoly, Michael Palin, Peter Cook. The Secret Policeman’s Balls is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started out in the mid-1970s primarily as comedy galas featuring popular British comedic performers and later expanded to include leading musical performers.
Pianists post-Liszt, however, blended improvisation with playing from memory so that “Performing a composition by heart fostered the impression that interpretation could have the freedom and spontaneity of an improvisation, but linked to music of greater complexity and–implicity–quality” (from After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance by Kenneth Hamilton, 2008).
While there’s some element of improvisation (interpretation is probably a better word to describe it) in all performances of classical piano music, pianist Gabriela Montero takes this to a different level by taking requests from the audience and improvising her show. Gabriela Montero’s extraordinary ability as an improviser, rare in the classical world, is fast becoming her trademark. From her first contact with a piano, Gabriela Montero has always improvised and she decided to make it public at the behest of Martha Argerich who told her not to be afraid whether people would find it improper or not.
Following her critically acclaimed Rachmaninov, Chopin, de Falla, Scriabin, Liszt recital disc and her Bach and Beyond improvisational album for EMI Classics, Montero recorded a CD of Baroque improvisations at London’s Abbey Road Studios in June 2007. Gabriela takes some of the best known Baroque themes, including Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major, Albinoni’s Adagio, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Boccherini’s Minuet and Handel’s Water Music, and brings to her classy improvisations the same passion, poetic musicality and sense of structure that she brings to classical works. And as The New York Times reported following one of Gabriela’s improvisational evenings, “no matter how complex the variations, the original melody always emerges triumphantly from a musical tapestry that might weave blues, jazz, tango and Debussy into a multihued framework.”
Gabriela Montero was born in Caracas, Venezuela and performed in public for the first time at the age of five. Three years later, she made her concerto debut with the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship from the Venezuelan government to study in the United States. Despite winning a number of competitions, including the Bronze Medal at the 13th International Chopin Piano Competition, Gabriela kept her improvisational skills under wraps until Martha Argerich heard her and was “ecstatic,” giving her a ringing endorsement: “I have rarely come across a talent like Gabriela’s. She is a unique artist” as well as personal encouragement. Montero says, “Martha persuaded me that it was possible to combine my career as a serious ‘classical’ artist with the side of me that is rather unique.”
Gabriela performs live improvisation sessions via her website twice monthly – for further details visit http://www.gabrielamontero.com.
Together with Lang Lang and Yundi Li, Sa Chen (born 1979) is considered as one of today’s most important Chinese pianists and a veritable international sensation. Originally a student of Professor Dan Zhao, China’s most eminent piano teacher, she won first prize in the 1994 China International Piano Competition and fourth place in the 2000 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warszaw and a prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition.
While there’s some element of improvisation (interpretation is probably a better word to describe it) in all performances of classical piano music, pianist Gabriela Montero takes this to a different level by taking requests from the audience and improvising her show. Gabriela Montero’s extraordinary ability as an improviser, rare in the classical world, is fast becoming her trademark. From her first contact with a piano, Gabriela Montero has always improvised and she decided to make it public at the behest of Martha Argerich who told her not to be afraid whether people would find it improper or not.
