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 year¹s 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 world¹s leading conductors, and her repertoire includes Bach, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók 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 year¹s Nobel Laureates, who attend with their respective parties. Also present are members of the Swedish Royal Family and guests of the Nobel Foundation.
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.
The sheet music of Burgmüller’s opus 109, 18 Characteristic Studies, has been published as Piano Street Editions together with recordings by Henrik Sandback.
This collection may be used as a sequel to the studies opus 100.
Each study challenges the player with a specific technical problem, inseparable from the main idea of the composition.
Like the earlier pieces, the Characteristic Studies are not concerned solely with technique – Burgmüller’s melodious and charming works always have a distinct musical appeal, and are also studies of character and mood.
*** MUSICAL HOLIDAY GIFTS FROM PIANO STREET ***
Recordings of six of the pieces by Burgmüller for you to enjoy!
UPDATE: THE RECORDINGS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR FREE.
Pictures at an Exhibition, one of Modest Mussorgsky’s most famous work, is a set of ten pieces originally composed for the piano.
The work is also well known in various arrangements with Ravel’s orchestration being the most recorded and performed.
Sheet music of the piano version is now available in urtext edition in the Piano Street sheet music library.
Project for a city gate in Kiev by Hartmann, the picture which influenced piece no 10
The complete work:
Promenade
I: Gnomus
II: The old castle
III: Tuileries (Dispute between children at play)
IV: Cattle (”Bydlo”)
V: Ballet of the unhatched chicks
VI: Samuel Goldemberg and Schmuyle
Promenade
VII: The market at Limoges (The great news)
VIII: The catacombs (Roman sepulcher)
IX: The hut on hen’s legs (Baba-Yaga)
X: The Bogatyr gate (in the Capital in Kiev)
Here is Evgeny Kissin playing Promenade, Gnomus and The Old Castle:
Fashinatingly, it is also possible to play it on the guitar!
Here Kazuhito Yamashita play the seventh piece, Limoges:
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: Für 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
This incomplete masterpiece was Bach’s last and greatest effort in the area of fugue writing and musical transformation.
In contrast with the earlier Well Tempered Clavier, this collection of fugues and canons all share not only the same key but also the same subject. Recent handwriting and watermark studies have shown that The Art of the Fugue was composed about ten years before Bach’s death, which of course only increases speculation as to why it was left unfinished.
Another matter of speculation is if The Art of the Fugue was meant as a keyboard or ensemble work, or as mainly an intellectual exercise, not meant to be physically realised at all. However, the fact that practically all of it is playable by two hands on the keyboard clearly suggests that Bach intended the work for the harpsichord or organ.
Sheet music of The Art of the Fugue is now available in the Piano Street sheet music library, edited for solo keyboard by Carl Czerny.
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
Wanderer Fantasy
Considered being his most technically demanding piano composition Schubert himself said “the devil may play it” about his Wanderer Fantasy, opus 15.
It was composed in 1822 and dedicated to Emanuel Karl Edler von Liebenberg, who was a student of Hummel.
Schubert’s Diabelli Variation
Schubert wrote one variation on the well known Waltz by Diabelli, which Beethoven based his 33 Diabelli Variations on.
Diabelli was known not only as a composer but also as a publisher. In 1819 he decided to publish a volume of variations made by several composers on a Waltz of his own.
Fifty composers responded with pieces for this publication. The idea was to make one each. However, Beethoven came with 33 and his were published in a volume of their own as 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli.
The above two works by Schubert and several other pieces have now been added to the Piano Street sheet music library, including two varation works and several smaller compositions.
See the complete list for this addition.
