Piano Street's Classical Piano Blog

A much longed-for documentation of the pianist and piano pedagogue Hans Leygraf’s methodology is now to be found on two DVDs (a Finkernagel & Lück production 2006, 366 minutes approx. Region code: 0). These recordings, made among a selected few of his students in Salzburg, extends from the appropriate way of touching the keys to interpretation of the music as illustrated by practising compositions of Bach, Chopin and Schubert. The DVDs (in German) come with English, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, Corean and Japanese sub-titles.

DVDs Contents

The first disc is concerned with basic fundamentals and mechanics, whilst in the second students are seen developing their own preferences while still remaining totally aware of piano touch at all times.

DVD 1:
1. Greeting
2. Chopin: Prélude C minor. Relaxation, armweight, hand concentration
3. Bach: Invention C major. Key contact, finger activity
4. Bach: Invention D minor. Combined finger and arm motion
5. Bach: Invention F major. Increased finger activity
6. Chopin: Prélude E minor. Melodic expression and harmonic accompaniment
7. Chopin: Prélude B minor. Melodic expression and harmonic accompaniment
8. Chopin: Prélude C minor

DVD 2:
1. Bach: French suite C minor I-III. Individual interpretation
2. Bach: French suite C minor IV-VI. Individual interpretation
3. Chopin: Nocturne F minor. Emotional freedom through conciousness
4. Schubert: Moment musical No 6 A flat major. Professor Hans Leygraf teaching himself

On DVD 2, part 4, Leygraf teaches himself and comments accordingly:

“In conclusion I myself work on the Moment musical in A-Flat Major by Schubert. With my comments I explain the tasks I’ve set myself. For studying a composition it is of importance to me first to analyse the piece, then to read the score in order to get an idea about the musical content (the way a conductor reads a score), and only afterwards to sit down at the piano and to practise. I’m demonstrating that kind of work in this session.”

Excerpt on staccato from DVD 2, part 2 (Bach’s Air from French Suite no 2):

The DVDs (Euro 45 + shipping and handling) can be ordered through e-mail:
info[at]leygraf.com

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Professor Hans Leygraf was born in 1920 in Stockholm as the son of German-Austrian parents. He studied piano in Stockholm with the Schnabel-student Gottfrid Boon, and with Anna Hirzel-Langenhan in Switzerland. After the war he performed throughout Europe, including the Soviet Union, USA, and Far East. He had appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in London, Hamburg and Munich, with the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra under conductors like Blomstedt, Celibidache, Dohnanyi, Dorati, Ehrling, Fricsay, Gielen, Kempe, Sawallisch, Solti, and Szell.

Leygraf taught in Innsbruck, Darmstadt, Stockholm, Hannover and Berlin. From 1972 – 1990 he was a full professor at the Musikhochschule Mozarteum, Salzburg, where up to 2007 he had an international class for highly gifted students.
In Leygraf´s recent discography we find a selection of Haydn Sonatas (2 CDs) recorded in the 1960ies and in 2007 on the DB Productions label, and released during last year (2008).

/patrick

“The more I play, the more I am thoroughly convinced that the pedal is the soul of the piano. There are cases where the pedal is everything”
Anton Rubinstein

Two interesting books on the use of the piano pedals have been added to Piano Street’s new Special Content page.
The books are downloadable as e-books in pdf-format.

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Guide to the Proper Use of
the Pianoforte Pedals

This legendary guide appeared in Russia in 1896 originally written by Bukhovtsev, a student of Anton Rubinsteins brother Nikolay at the Moscow Conservatory.

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Possibilities of Tone Color by Artistic Use of Pedals

One of the leading pianists of the late 19th century explores in a warm and non-academic style the subtle tone colorings made possible through combinations of touch and pedal. Many inspiring points of views and advanced special techniques such as “pedal-crescendo” and “pedal-diminuendo” are covered in detail.

/nilsjohan

Daniel Barenboim is not the only one to have successfully had the complete Beethoven sonatas on his agenda lately.

A Grammy nominee for “Best Classical Album (Without Orchestra)” for the second volume of his Complete Beethoven Sontata recordings for ECM, András Schiff began in 2004, a series of performances in Europe in which he explored the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in chronological order – a project recorded live for ECM New Series, to be released in eight volumes in 2009. Garrick Ohlsson performed the whole cycle at eight concerts at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland in 2005 and at Tanglewood in 2006. He will release the last volume in his Beethoven series during 2009 on the Bridge label. Notably, volume three was awarded a Grammy for “Best Classical Instrumental Soloist (Without Orchestra )” in 2008.

András Schiff was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953. He began piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász and continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados; he also studied with George Malcolm in London. Recitals and special projects take him to all of the international music capitals and include cycles of the major keyboard works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Bartók. Schiff has established a prolific discography, including recordings for Teldec (1994-1997), London/Decca (1981-1994) and, since 1997, ECM New Series. Recordings for ECM include the complete solo piano music of Beethoven and Janácek, a solo disc of Schumann piano pieces and his second recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations. He has received several international recording awards, including two Grammy Awards for “Best Classical Instrumental Soloist (Without Orchestra)” for the Bach English Suites, and “Best Vocal Recording” for Schubert’s Schwanengesang with tenor Peter Schreier.

Recital reviews – Schiff
The Independent: Beethoven Sonatas / Schiff, Wigmore Hall, London
The New York Times: Beethoven Sonatas, With Fire and Finesse

Schiff´s London lectures on Beethoven’s piano sonatas in May 2006 were exceptionally well received and sold out.
You can listen to them all here:
Introduction by Guardian
Schiff’s lectures on the 32 Sonatas by Beethoven

Since his triumph at the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, American pianist Garrick Ohlsson has become established worldwide as a musician of extraordinary interpretive power and prodigious technical facility.
Although he has long been regarded as one of the world´s leading exponents of the music of Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson has an enormous repertoire that encompasses virtually the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson is noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. Mr. Ohlsson’s concerto repertoire alone is unusually wide and eclectic, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to 20th-century masters, and to date he has at his command some 80 works for piano and orchestra.

Recital reviews – Ohlsson:
The New York Times: One Pianist, Two Sounds and a Single Composer
The Boston Globe: Marathon man

The New York Times asked Garrick Ohlsson to share his insights into Beethoven’s sonatas. In this series of features recorded in the WQXR studios, Mr. Ohlsson takes listeners on a journey through each of the sonatas, playing excerpts and talking about the music and the composer:
Garrick Ohlsson on Beethoven’s Sonatas

/patrick

This legendary manual in both English and German documents principles and techniques of the legendary piano teacher Theodor Leschetizky, who taught Paderewski, Schnabel and many other great pianists.

The book devided into two parts begins with explanations of hand and finger positions and proceeds to discussions of the touch; diatonic and chromatic scales; trills, chords and arpeggios, double notes, thirds, sixths and octaves.
The second part focuses mainly on musical performance, offering advice on playing Bach and Handel, rhythm, pedaling, melody, practice techniques and musical culture.

This book is now available as a downloadable e-book within our Gold membership from the new Special Content page.

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The Polish pianist, teacher and composer Theodor Leschetizky was from an early age recognized as a prodigy, and after studying in Vienna with Carl Czerny and Simon Sechter he became a teacher at fourteen. By the age of eighteen he was a well-known virtuoso in Viennese music circles. Besides performing, he became a very influential piano teacher, first at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which he co-founded with Anton Rubinstein, and subsequently in Vienna.

/nilsjohan

Whether you live in Texas or Tokyo you can now find the world-famous orchestra and its musical partners – Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle as well as renowned guest conductors and soloists. The video platform will be accessible to the public at www.berliner-philharmoniker.de.
In the first live broadcast on Jan. 6, the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle will present a special concert featuring Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony and other works.

Audiences in the Digital Concert Hall will be able to hear approximately 30 concerts live every season. After the concert, the live recording can be retrieved from a video archive. Documentaries about the orchestra’s work will also be available.

For our Piano Street Blog readers the following concerts with piano soloists might be of particular interest.

January 11 – Murray Perahia in Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto
February 13 – Schumann’s A minor Concerto with Pianist-in-Residence Mitsuko Uchida
May 10 – Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto with Lars Vogt
June 6 – Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand i D major with Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Sir Simon Rattle, chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker: “When the idea of the Digital Concert Hall occurred to us, I was immediately certain that this is the way of the future. I believe it is a marvelous thing for both the orchestra and the public. Furthermore, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to welcome far more people to the Philharmonie than before.”

Remote-controlled cameras deliver high-definition recording quality, while State-of-the-Art encoding technology transfers images and sound to the Internet.

One one of the originators of the Digital Concert Hall idea states: “Our primary concern is to achieve presentation and broadcasting quality that meets our artistic demands. We have installed excellent recording and studio technology in the Philharmonie in order to record our concerts as authentically and vividly as possible.”

Music critics said it would help to secure classical music’s place in the multimedia world and has the potential to widen the audience from a few hundred to millions around the world.

It will cost €9.90 to watch a single live concert, or have 48 hours access to one from the archives. However, there will also be a season ticket for €149, offering unlimited access to everything.

Berliner Philharmoniker – Digital Concert Hall

/patrick