The relentlessly intricate architecture of the Goldberg Variations still engage scholars after hundreds of years, while the soothing, noble poetry and formidable technical demands of the piece continue to captivate players and listeners.
A number of legendary performances of this monumental work have been recorded on piano as well as on harpsichord and organ, two of the most popular and highly regarded ones by Glenn Gould (piano: 1955 and 1981).
Johann Nicolaus Forkel wrote in his Bach biography (1802) that the Variations had been commissioned by the Russian Ambassador to Saxony Count Kaiserling, who suffered from insomnia. Goldberg was a young musician, who according to Forkel’s (probably spurious) version of events, was supposed to play from the Variations during the Count’s sleepless nights to cheer him up a little.
The thirty variations do not follow the theme’s melody, but rather use its bass line. Every third variation is a canon at increasing intervals, but the final variation breaks this trend and offers up a so-called quodlibet, where a number of popular tunes (among them one that goes “Cabbage and turnips have driven me away, had my mother cooked meat, I’d have opted to stay”) are used to a humorous effect. After this the heavenly Aria with its elusive beauty returns to close the work.
Between 1981 and 1984 Leonard Bernstein recorded nearly all of Brahms´s orchestral works with the Wiener Philharmoniker to honor the 150th anniversary of the composer´s birth in 1983. As an example of the unique Zimerman/Bernstein collaboration, here´s the second movement of the second Piano Concerto in B flat major Op. 83:
Victory in a significant competition does not always guarantee a blooming professional career. In fact, as the number of competitions constantly expands, instances of this are becoming increasingly rare. Publicly expressing his reluctance to piano competitions and the increasing standardisation of the performer ideals, Krystian Zimerman’s actions are deeply thought out and carefully planned. As a result, they are fewer and farther between. Zimerman generally avoids the limelight, limits the number of live performances he gives and records relatively infrequently. As a result, each artistic endeavor he decides upon is awaited eagerly and closely watched. On April 27, Zimerman created a furor in his debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles when he announced this would be his last performance in America because of the nation’s military policies overseas:
“It is not just sound. The problem is that this content cannot be really be articulated in an objective, rational, scientific way — with words.
If it were possible to articulate it in an objective, rational, scientific way, the music would not be necessary.”
In the Masterclasses series with Daniel Barenboim, he speaks about what
it is and what it takes to truly play Beethoven. Lang Lang, a younger
colleague playing the Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Appassionata, gets
some intense advice on how to reflect on different interpretational aspects.
Alongside the second and third piano concerti, Rachmaninoff´s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” is probably among his best-known. It has frequently been used as theme music for motion pictures.
In the comfort of his own Villa Senar on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, which he designed himself to be reminiscent of his family estate, Ivanovka, in Russia, Rachmaninoff composed the Rhapsody in 1934.
Here is an excerpt with the excellent pianist Mihail Pletnev and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Dudley Moore (1935 – 2002), was an English actor, comedian and musician.
Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the hugely popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook.
His musical talent won him a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford and whilst studying music and composition there, he performed with Alan Bennett in the Oxford Revue. Bennett then recommended him to the producer putting together Beyond the Fringe, a comedy revue, where he was to first meet Peter Cook. Beyond the Fringe was at the forefront of the 1960s satire boom and after enormous success in Britain, it transferred to the USA where it was also a major hit. His fame as a comedic actor was later heightened by his success in Hollywood movies such as 10 with Bo Derek and Arthur in the late 1970s and early 1980s, respectively.
Moore was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award but lost to Henry Fonda (for On Golden Pond). He did, however, win a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. In 1984, Moore had another hit, starring in the Blake Edwards directed Micki + Maude, co-starring Amy Irving. This won him another Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy.
In addition to acting, Moore continued to work as a composer and pianist, writing scores for a number of films and giving piano concerts, which were highlighted by his popular parodies of classical favourites. In addition, Moore collaborated with the conductor Sir Georg Solti to create a 1991 television series, Orchestra!, which was designed to introduce audiences to the symphony orchestra. He later worked with the American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas on a similar television series from 1993, Concerto!, likewise designed to introduce audiences to classical music concertos.
In 1987, he was interviewed for the New York Times by the music critic Rena Fruchter, herself an accomplished pianist. They became close friends. At that time Moore’s film career was already on the wane. He was having trouble remembering his lines, a problem he had never previously encountered. He opted to concentrate on the piano, and enlisted Fruchter as an artistic partner. They performed as a duo in the U.S. and Australia. However, his disease soon started to make itself apparent there as well, as his fingers would not always do what he wanted them to do.
In June 2001, Moore was appointed a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (CBE). Despite his deteriorating condition, he attended the ceremony, mute and wheelchair-bound, at Buckingham Palace to collect his honour.
This clip is from the 1950’s-60s British comedy group “Beyond the Fringe. Dudley Moore plays a very funny but also musically ambitious parody of a Beethoven piano sonata based on very odd yet well-known thematic material.
In December 2007 American pianist Leon Fleisher reached a high point in a remarkable career when he was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in Washington, D.C.
A child prodigy, Fleisher began studying the piano at age four, gave his first public recital at eight, and at nine was taken under the wing of the legendary Austrian pianist and teacher Artur Schnabel. Fleisher made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux in 1944, and he ensured his place among the top pianists of the day when he won Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in 1952. Thereafter, he was much in demand by orchestras, concert promoters, and record companies. Especially notable was his series of concerts and recordings featuring the concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.
In early 1965 Fleisher began suffering from a malfunction of his right hand: the ring and little fingers curled uncontrollably to his palm. The problem was diagnosed in 1991 as focal dystonia, a condition related to repetitive-stress syndrome, which not infrequently affects musicians. Undaunted, Fleisher focused his energies on teaching and conducting. Eventually Fleisher began performing left-hand pieces for piano. (A number of such works—including compositions by Maurice Ravel, Sergey Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten, and Paul Hindemith—were written for Paul Wittgenstein, a gifted pianist who lost his right arm in World War I.) In addition, Fleisher commissioned or inspired new works from William Bolcom, Lukas Foss, Gunter Schuller, and several other notable composers. During his years of affliction, Fleisher sought relief in numerous treatments, including brain surgery; in the mid-1990s he discovered that occasional injections of Botox (botulinum toxin used as a muscle relaxant) combined with Rolfing (a type of massage therapy) ameliorated the condition. Fleisher returned to two-hand performance in 1995; his right hand steadily improved, although he did not abandon the left-hand repertoire. In 2004 he played a triumphant return recital at Carnegie Hall, and he made his first solo two-hand recording since the 1960s. A short documentary film by Nathaniel Kahn about Fleisher’s persistence, Two Hands, was nominated for a 2007 Academy Award.
Igor Stravinsky characterized Prokofiev as the greatest Russian composer of his day. Prokofiev was also an excellent pianist, and often performed his own works.
Some of his solo piano music performances were recorded for HMV in Paris in 1935, and he was also soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra in the first recording of his third piano concerto, recorded in London on the HMV label in 1932. These recordings are now available on CD on the Pearl and Naxos labels.
In this encore from a recital at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest in 2005, a young Hungarian ”rising star” pianist and Steinway artist Adam Gyorgy displays his sensitive interpretation with a steady yet lively rhythmic sense of repetition, cultivated contrasts and lovely clarity of articulation.
The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London is arranging a Dame Myra Hess Day on the 25th of November (2008). This annual event honours Dame Myra Hess who initiated, directed and performed a series of legendary concerts at the National Gallery during the Second World War.
This year’s concerts will take place in the Barry Rooms (Room 36), where the original concerts were also held. UK-based international pianist Piers Lane is the artistic director of the Myra Hess concerts, and the arrangement is supported by The Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation.
During the war years and the blitz, Dame Myra Hess organized over one
thousand concerts at the National Gallery. The Gallery had removed all
the paintings, keeping just one on display each month, and thousands of
people (many not regular concertgoers) came to listen, be inspired, and
possibly garner a little hope from these wartime concerts.
The concerts were a cultural oasis for thousands of Londoners during a time when the concert halls and theatres were otherwise closed. For Myra Hess, the concerts were a wonderful opportunity to “give spiritual solace to those who are giving all to combat the evil”.
Legendary English pianist Dame Myra Hess (1890-1965) studied at the Royal Academy of Music. She made her London debut in 1907, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under Sir Thomas Beecham.
She first appeared in the United States in 1922.
Her playing was acclaimed in terms of both its virtuosity and poetic sensitivity.
Hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but had a wide repertoire ranging from Domenico Scarlatti to works by contemporary composers.
In this rendition of the first movement of Beethoven´s “Appassionata” Op. 57 from 1945, her modern sense of drive and virtuosity, which never overshadows the poetic vision of drama and contrast, is clear for all to hear.
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 -1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered among the most commanding and individualistic piano virtuosi of the 20th century, alongside names such as Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter.
Along with Ferruccio Busoni, he is often described as the most important Italian pianist ever.
He obtained his soloist’s diploma at the age of fourteen, and was immediately launched into his concert career. His extraordinary talent was recognized instantly and in 1939 he won first prize in the prestigious Geneva International Competition, under a jury headed by Ignaz Paderewski. His importance as a key figure among 20th-century pianists was confirmed when Cortot said:
“Here is a new Liszt”.
Michelangeli built a reputation as much on the frequency of his cancellation of concerts as on his piano performances.
He recorded for Deutsche Grammophon between 1971 and 1989, including four Mozart and three Beethoven concerti with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Carlo Maria Giulini. The Beethoven recordings are from live television broadcasts.
Heralded by critics and fellow musicians as one of the outstanding pianists of his generation, Argentine-Venezuelan pianist Sergio Tiempo has quickly risen to international prominence since his debut in 1986 at age 14 as part of the “Great Pianists” series at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
He now appears regularly in recitals and with orchestras in the great concert halls of Europe, North America, South America and Japan.
The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London is arranging a Dame Myra Hess Day on the 25th of November (2008). This annual event honours Dame Myra Hess who initiated, directed and performed a series of legendary concerts at the National Gallery during the Second World War.
During the war years and the blitz, Dame Myra Hess organized over one
