Piano Street's Classical Piano Blog

Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire is among the truly great living musicians, and his remarkable musicianship continues to captivate the critics and charm the musical world. Winner of the Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2007 for his Brahms Piano Concertos. Nelson has a special affinity with Debussy’s music and his magical style perfectly suits these luminous works key French piano repertoire, including the famous Children’s Corner and Clair de lune. Recording this Debussy repertoire for the first time on CD, Nelson Freire s soulful interpretation of these expansive impressionistic jewels of the 19th century is eagerly awaited.

“Nelson Freire, the legendary Brazilian pianist and longtime musical partner of Martha Argerich, turns to Debussy. In the accompanying notes he confesses to a special empathy for Debussy and you will be hard pressed to find a recital of comparable warmth, affection and finesse. Here, there is no need for spurious gestures and inflections; everything is given with a supreme naturalness and a perfectly accomodated virtuosity that declare Freire a master pianist throughout. When have you heard ‘Voiles’ given with a greater sense of its mystery or witnessed playing throughout Book 1 of the Préludes more delicate, rapt and precise? There is lightly worn fantasy and expertise in ‘La sérénade interrompue’ and the direction Profondément calme (dans une brumedoucement sonore) is distilled into something close to perfection. Always Freire ‘evokes rather than spells out’ and has one every heard a more subtle or engaging way with ‘Dr Gradus ad Parnassum’ (from the Children’s CornerSuite). Clair de lune, added, as it were, as an encore, is dreamy and magically remote, making you long for further Debussy from this artist. Decca’s sound is warm and brilliant.”
– The Gramophone Classical Music Guide

Debussy Pr̩ludes book 1 РNelson Freire

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Debussy Preludes, sheet music to download and print:

Link to Amazon

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 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

Lesson 1:

Lesson no 53

The complete set of DVDs can be ordered here.

We keep working on adding more four hands piano music. This is what has been added today:

Johannes Brahms:
Liebeslieder Waltzes Opus 52a
Liebeslieder Waltzes Opus 65a
This means that we now have the complete works for four hands by Brahms in our online library.

Claude Debussy:
Six Antique Epigraphs
Small Suite
Prelude, Cortège et Air de Danse
Prelude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune (for Two Pianos)