Después de muchas semanas sin escribir en el blog, por no tener apenas tiempo, hoy me dispongo a escribir éste artículo sobre pianistas, compositores e intérpretes.

No pretendo hacer un artículo tan genial como los de mi compañero Tetrasquel, solo dar mi opinión sobre ciertas composiciones que he escuchado últimamente, que no por primera vez.

En primer lugar, quiero rajar hablar sobre Richard Clayderman, pianista francés muy reconocido (y escuchado) generalmente entre gente que no tiene ni puta idea de música. Para definir la obra de Clayderman podemos utilizar el término “música de ascensor”, porque no existe un término mas exacto.

A éste pianista se le ocurrió la brillante idea (entre otras cosas) de hacer “versiones” de obras maravillosas de Chopin, Debussy etc., orquestándolas de una manera cutre y muy hortera. Para mas información, véase su album “En su piano sin control. Grandes éxitos”, y no, no es un chiste. El álbum se llama así.

Para demostrar ésto, os dejo su interpretación de la Sonata para piano número 14 (También llamada Quasi una fantasia, Op.27, Nº2, y mal llamada Claro de Luna), de LV Beethoven. Obra que todo el mundo conoce.

ADVERTENCIA: Es de muy mal gusto. SigoPensando no se hace responsable de los efectos derivados de la escucha prolongada de la siguiente interpretación. Si la quiere escuchar, es bajo su responsabilidad.

Ahora la gran pregunta: ¿Cómo es posible que éste hombre vendiese mas de 70 millones de discos?, yo aun no lo entiendo. ¿Por qué la necesidad de orquestar una obra de tal calibre?, ¿Está mejor orquestada?, en fin…

Por si no fuera poco, ha estropeado la obra mas conocida de la Suite Bergamasque de Debussy (ésto es imperdonable). Yo no me atrevo a buscarlo en YouTube, pero os dejo para los mas valientes un link a Spotify para que se os pongan los pelos de punta. Pulsar aquí.

Para compensar el mal trago que habrá pasado el lector tras la escucha de ésta abominable y horrísona interpretación, dejo La Interpretación de Wilhelm Kempff, que es de lo mejor que he escuchado:

La siguiente persona de la quería hablar es de Maksim, un pianista realmente interesante, porque al contrario que Clayderman, sabe interpretar a la perfección obras como la Hungarian Rhapsody nº2 de Liszt, pero también hace barbaridades como orquestar el Revolutionary Etude de Chopin de la peor forma posible.

Veamos un ejemplo de la fantástica -y difícil- interpretación de la obra de Franz Liszt:

Fantástica, ¿verdad?. Además de interpretar genial la obra, Maksim está muy cachondo. Pero mucho mucho.

Ahora veamos, de la mano del mismo artista, la interpretación de Revolutionary Etude, de Chopin. Vayan preparando los oidos:

Sin comentarios…

En breves haré otro artículo recomendando alguna obra de música clásica, pero tranquilos, no habrá sobresaltos.

Un abrazo a todos.

Ivo Pogorelich, pianista di eccellente talento, si esibisce sabato 28 novembre alle 19 (turno B) per la Stagione concertistica 2009-2010 del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari con il suo recital di pianoforte che prevede l’esecuzione di un programma che spazia dal romanticismo di Chopin (1810-1849) al brillante e virtuosistico Mephistowalzer (1883) di Liszt (1811-1886) ed al celebre Valse triste (1904) di Sibelius (1865-1957), per arrivare alle lunari atmosfere del raveliano Gaspard de la nuit (1908).

Il programma musicale prevede: Notturno in mi bemolle maggiore op 55 n. 2, Sonata in si minore op. 58 di Fryderyk Chopin; Mephistowalzer R 38 di Franz Liszt; Valse triste op. 44 (versione per pianoforte) di Jean Sibelius; Gaspard de la nuit di Maurice Ravel.

La Stagione concertistica 2009-2010 si avvale del contributo della Fondazione Banco di Sardegna.

Prezzi biglietti

platea € 35,00 (settore giallo), € 30,00 (settore rosso), € 25,00 (settore blu);

I loggia € 30,00 (settore giallo), € 25,00 (settore rosso), € 20,00 (settore blu);

II loggia € 10,00 (settore giallo), € 10,00 (settore rosso), € 7,00 (settore blu).

Per informazioni

Biglietteria del Teatro Lirico

dal martedì al sabato, dalle 8 alle 14 e dalle 18 alle 20

telefono 0704082230 – 0704082249, fax 0704082223, biglietteria@teatroliricodicagliari.it;

www.teatroliricodicagliari.it;

prevendita www.vivaticket.it, call center 899.666.805.

A.M

un-sospiro – Painting, originally uploaded by NikHelbig.

Un Sospiro
2009 Nicole Helbig
Acrylics on Canvas

100 x120cm

Painting of lady with umbrella looking out to a stormy ocean.

Painting by Nik Helbig
See my website nikhelbig.com..

“Un Sospiro” = “a sigh”
This is a name given to Liszt piano piece Trois Études de Concert. It is a miss-name (imo), because the mood is more turbulent than a sigh.
And so is the miss-name of this painting.
Listen to this beautiful paino solo…

]]> http://worldofmusichome.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/in-paradisum/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:48:18 +0000 Cheryl http://worldofmusichome.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/in-paradisum/

Here’s a different perspective. In the hours and days that followed the horrific events of September 11, 2001, radio programmer listserves were jammed with the same single question that prompted similar urgent flurries of e-mails and phone calls among concerned colleagues internationally. We reached out for each other’s suggestions and insights on how to ‘get it right’ for our listeners.

As you listen to the radio in a time of unusual or extreme world events, you may not realize how much furious activity is happening on the working end of your radio to make it the best, most thoughtfully-created experience possible for you and everyone else in the audience. That’s just as it should be. You shouldn’t have to think about those things, that’s why we’re here.

When the world outside is suffering as it was that day in a conflicted mix of disbelief, disenchantment, raging anger, calls for retribution, and utter, inconsolable grief – it does call into question how any communication service can best respond to external events and serve its listeners. Arts-focused organizations, like music radio stations, take that concern a little further to see how they can possibly offer beauty and expressions of human achievement that transcend the awfulness to offer messages of hope and assuage the pain.

The single question on all of our minds that day was, “what are you playing”?

At the time I was working as a classical radio station music director in Southern California, and on September 11th alone – not to mention the many days that followed – I remember talking to friends and fellow programmers in places as far away as Minnesota, North Carolina, London, NY City, Colorado, and Alabama. Amid the more appropriate, if predictable, suggestions like Barber’s Adagio, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus and Lacrimosa, and Strauss’ Metamorphosen, came more unusual choices like Gorecki’s Symphony #3 (“Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”), Liszt’s ruminating Les Funerailles, and  and Puccini’s somber Crisantememi.

Personally, I always find that Dvorak’s Symphony #9 (“From the New World”) hits all the right chords of hope, solace, and forward-looking optimism that offer comfort in tough times. In fact I went home from work early that afternoon and laid on the floor near the stereo, closed my eyes and listened to all 9 recordings of that piece I owned, one after another. And Coltrane’s A Love Supreme lived in my car stereo for several weeks. That’s all I wanted to hear. It helped.

"In Paradisum" from Fauré's Requiem manuscript

Of all the suggestions and ideas that came from those conversations, only one piece of music was unanimously agreed upon as having just the right sound and feel for an occasion like the aftermath of September 11th. It was the Requiem, by Gabriel Fauré.

In many ways it is a conventional setting of the traditional Latin requiem mass…except that Faure omits the fiery Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”)/Lacrimosa sequence, and ends the work with the upifting Libera Me and In Paradisum – texts taken from the burial ceremony, not typically incorporated into the Mass itself. This is a Requiem about transcending into the light of afterlife and solace, not dwelling in the dark discontent of grief and loss and unreconciled faith.

This evening the Burlington Choral Society performs Fauré’s serene Requiem as the centerpiece of their annual fall concert, in a program that also includes Bach’s Wachet, auf! Cantata #140 and another of Fauré’s lovely choral favorites, his student composition the Cantique de Jean Racine.

Life is challenging. Take a deep breath and allow yourself to be transported to a place of deep peace and beauty for a couple of hours. In Paridisum, indeed. There is nothing like the Fauré Requiem.

The program starts at 7:30 this evening, at the North Avenue Alliance Church (901 North Avenue) in  Burlington.

After thrilling to her brilliant perfor-mance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, the audience in Seoul was in no mood to let Valentina Lisitsa leave the stage.  They called her back for no less than four encores, each of which reveals a different aspect of her artistry.  Her first encore was by Franz Liszt, who was himself an admirer of Grieg’s concerto.

“La Campanella”                        by Franz Liszt

“La Campanella” (“The Little Bell”) is the third of six “Grandes Etudes de Paganini” by Liszt, all of which are based on compo-sitions by the great 19th-century Italian violinist and composer Nicolo Paganini, and all of which are notoriously hard to play.  This kind of knuckle-busting difficulty is Valentina Lisitsa’s bread and butter, but as we will see in a moment, she can also play with exquisite sweetness.

“Traumerei” by Robert Schumann

“Traumerei” means “Dreaming”, and this piece is as different as possible from the virtuoso showpieces that Valentina Lisitsa is known for.  She plays it beautifully, and it was this performance more than any other that convinced me of her artistry.

Vladimir Horowitz, for whom “Traumerei” was a signature piece, once related the following incident as a gentle reminder to anyone who might think that slow, lyrical music is easy to play.  A young virtuoso once came to the famous piano class of Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna, and upon being asked to play, stunned everyone with a phenomenal display of virtuosity.  The most difficult music seemed to flow effortlessly from his fingers.  He kept this up for quite some time without as much as a drop of perspiration on his brow.  When he had finished this astonishing performance, someone wistfully asked that he play a simple piece by Schumann, such as “Traumerei”.  Obligingly, the young virtuoso complied, and after four bars he was perspiring profusely!

Prelude in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff

The attentive reader may recall that this prelude was featured on this blog in September in a memorable performance by Emil Gilels.  It is unmistakably Russian in character, and very majestic.

“Fur Elise” by Ludwig van Beethoven

Valentina’s fourth and final encore was Beethoven’s well-known “Fur Elise”.  You will hear some surprised laughter as she begins to play, as the audience was undoubtedly expecting one of her trademark virtuoso encores, not a student recital piece.  What they got instead was a thoughtful, poignant rendering of this hackneyed Bagatelle, one that demonstrates just how beautiful it can be when played by a true artist.

You can learn more about Valentina at her website: valentinalisitsa.com, and will find many more examples of her playing at her YouTube channel: youtube.com/valentinalisitsa.

By Franz Liszt. Also known as “Sospiro”. Played by Claudio Arrau.

Primera parte de dos podcasts relatando nuestro reciente viaje a la capital de Hungría.

En este episodio les contamos sobre:

• Nuestro vuelo low cost. El cambio de moneda. El transporte desde el aeropuerto al centro.
• El trafico de vehículos y las dificultades para los peatones, sobre todo para personas con movilidad reducida.
• Les contamos también sobre la arquitectura de Budapest, sus jardines, cafeterías y hoteles.
• Los horarios comerciales, tan distintos a los que conocemos, resultan un poco incómodos para nosotros y dejan un buen hueco de tiempo vacío entre las 6 de la tarde y la hora de cenar.
• Los espectáculos son una muy buena alternativa para llenar estos huecos: nosotros fuimos a la Ópera de Budapest a ver Los hermanos Karamazov. También pasamos unas horas muy agradables en Rudas, los baños turcos más antiguos entre los muchos que hay en Budapest.

Otras temas que comentamos en este podcasts: Ruinas romanas y micro-apartamentos de la época comunista todo en la misma zona. Música y conciertos. Parques y jardines.

Antes de irnos de viaje creamos un blog informativo, llamado Danubio 2009, donde fuimos recogiendo información y enlaces útiles para este viaje. Ahora hemos hecho alguna entrada nueva y también hemos colgado unas pocas (de momento) fotos en una cuenta especial de flickr creada para este viaje.

El fragmento de música húngara que nos acompaña se llama Csárdás y pertenece al grupo de música popular Cifra. También les proponemos otro tema de música libre, en este caso es Liebestraum #3 (Liebesträume, o ‘Sueños de amor’ de Liszt Ferenc, para los húngaros, o Franz Liszt para los austríacos y el resto del mundo.

Descargar MP3 (48:44 min. 22,4 MB)

His Bach is worse than his bite!

The cadenza is also totally priceless.

This venue has recently been added on Expopedia, the tradefair service finder. Visit our website for more information.

Liszt Ferenc Conference and Cultural Centre
Liszt F. U. 1.
9400 Sopron (Hungary)
More information about Liszt Ferenc Conference and Cultural Centre …

Oui, oui, les Feuilles Mortes se ramassent à la pèle mais en musique classique aussi, on les ramasse.

Inspiré par la chute des susdites feuilles, j’ai été jeter un coups d’oeil dans le répertoire classique pour faire la nique à Joseph Kosma, Yves Montand et tous ceux qui ont sussuré cette chanson fameuse. Ne croyez pas pour autant que je n’aime pas cette rengaine.  En vérité, elle me touche toujours mais laissons de la place aux obscures, aux sans grades.

Je vous fais grâce de toutes les feuilles et feuillets d’album: il y en a des bennes de semi-remorques. Par contre, j’ose vous présenter quelques feuilles qui, vous le remarquerez, passent par tous les états.

Feuilles jaunies, miniatures pour piano de Nicolai MIASKOWSKI       Première étape                                            

La Feuille morte, élégie pour piano de Franz Liszt      Suite du processus

Les Feuilles Mortes, mélodie pour voix et piano d’Anatoly NicolayevichALEXANDROV         

Feuilles mortes, pour piano de  Claude  DEBUSSY 

Les Feuilles tombent,  mélodie de Fryderyk CHOPIN    Conséquence

Je vous laisse en compagnie de cette végétation languissante. Qu’elle puisse remplir vos pavillons de leurs froissements mélodieux.

William Kapell died on October 29, 1953 when the DC-6 on which he was returning from a concert tour of Australia flew into King’s Mountain, just 16 miles south of San Francisco Airport.  On this – the 56th - anniversary of his death, I am pleased to honor his memory and share his artistry with readers of these pages.

William Kapell was born in New York City on September 20, 1922.  He began taking piano lessons at age 7, and his early teachers included Dorothea Anderson La Follette and Olga Samaroff, with whom he studied first in Philadelphia and later at Juilliard.  In 1941, he won both the Philadelphia Orchestra’s youth competition and the prestigious Naumburg Award, and at 20 he embarked on his concert career.

Initially, he was best known for his performances of the crowd-pleasing concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and especially Khachaturian.  As Virgil Thompson wrote after his death, “It was only in the last two years that he had gained real access to the grand repertory of the piano, to the concertos of Mozart and Beethoven and Brahms and Chopin and to the suites of Bach and Debussy, and that he had been genuinely successful with that repertory.”

“The deepening of his art in these last few years was recognized,” writes Michael Kimmelman in the New York Review Of Books.  “Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatagorsky became anxious to record with him.  When Jack Pfeiffer, the RCA producer, called him in California one afternoon to ask whether he knew the Brahms D Minor Violin Sonata because Heifetz wanted to record it the next day, Kapell said yes, then stayed up all night to learn it.  [The italics are mine.]  The recording, exultant and showing great feeling, was made in Hollywood in 1950; it explains why Heifetz said he could never forgive Kapell for dying young.”

I have that record, and it is glorious.  But what kind of talent is it that can learn overnight – and to Kapell’s exacting standards – a piece as profound and demanding as Brahms’ third violin sonata?  For a recording with Heifetz, no less!

Harold Schonberg wrote in The Great Pianists, published in 1963, that “Many American pianists of the postwar generation have the potentialities to develop into major artists, but as yet it is a little early to make any predictions.  The most promising of all, William Kapell, died in an airplane crash in 1953.  Kapell had won a Naumburg Competition award, and he went on to impress an international public with a spectacularly honest technique (never any bluff or cover-up), a forthright musical approach and a fierce integrity.  His playing had that indefinable thing known as command, and he was well on his way to being one of the century’s important pianists when his plane from Australia went down shortly before arriving in San Francisco.”

I was introduced to Kapell’s playing in 1964 through an RCA Victor album entitled “The Unforgettable William Kapell”.  This record includes the Khachaturian Piano Concerto, a lovely interpretation of Evocación by Albéniz, the 18^th variation from Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and a performance of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz that is sheer wizardry.  In my opinion, this performance comes as close to pianistic perfection as it is possible to do.  Never has the indefinable “command” referred to by Schonberg been more in evidence.  Regarding this performance, Tim Page of the Washington Post writes that it had “all the energy and the manic wildness of Horowitz, but it also [had] a sort of cool intelligence and a formal understanding which… wasn’t always in the Horowitz recordings.”  He goes on to say, “I would very, very quickly name it one of the most extraordinary piano recordings I have ever heard.”

The following clip is the only known video of Kapell.  It is from Alistair Cooke’s TV program “Omnibus”, and includes a sonata by Scarlatti, the Nocturne in E Flat by Chopin, and an arrangement for piano by Emilio Napolitano of an Argentine folk song, “Gato”.

Claudia Cassidy, the famously acerbic critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote in her tribute to Kapell, “He was, this smoldering, passionate young pianist, generous, lovable, deeply gentle of heart.  I loved his playing above all other playing, and this can scarcely be a secret to anyone who has read this column.  So not for myself, but to tell you what he was like, now that he is gone, here is a part of one of his last letters:

Why do you think playing in Chicago always is some sort of test for me? … Music isn’t enough.  Performers aren’t enough.  There must be someone who loves music as much as life.  For you, and remember this always, those of us with something urgent to say, we give everything.

“Kapell gave, and I am eternally grateful that I was here to listen.”

This was the October 29^th performance with Carlos Acosta as Crown Prince Rudolf. A brief discussion of the story appears in my review of an earlier performance with Johan Kobborg as Rudolf. Certainly Kobborg was very good, but Acosta was arguably better, portraying Rudolf’s angst with emotional restraint and superb physicality. Tamara Rojo as his mistress Mary Vetsera was prettily seductive, and their pas-de-deux at the end of Act II writhed with passionate intensity. Rudolf’s wife was very well danced by Iohna Loots, and Countess Marie Larisch was well performed by Mara Galeazzi. Last time, Laura Morera took that role, but on this occasion she was Mitzi Caspar, the courtesan, and danced beautifully. This ballet has a large cast of soloists, and I won’t list them all, but I did particularly like Ricardo Cervera as Bratfisch.

Liszt’s music, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery, came over very well under the baton of Martin Yates. The designs by Nicholas Georgiadis are still fresh and entirely in keeping with the story, and the whole cast worked well together in reviving this Kenneth MacMillan ballet. As the programme noted, it was on this same day 17 years ago that he died back-stage at the Royal Opera House — his creative talent is sadly missed.

à Toulouse
le samedi 7 novembre 2009 à 20h30

A l’initiative de l’Association France-Turquie de Midi-Pyrénées, les pianistes turques Ilgin Aka et Gülden Teztel, professeurs au Conservatoire d’Etat de l’Université d’Istanbul, proposent un programme réunissant Mozart, Schubert, Bizet, Debussy et Liszt dans le cadre de la Saison de la Turquie en France (juillet 2009 – mars 2010).

Création : elles interprèteront une œuvre du compositeur turc, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, intitulée “Cinq gouttes” en l’adaptant au piano à quatre mains.

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Entre los días sábado 31 de octubre y miércoles 4 de noviembre, el Instituto Superior de Música y la Secretaría de Cultura de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral organizarán la décima edición del festival Musicalia, un evento que ha ganado un lugar relevante dentro de la programación cultural santafesina.

En esta ocasión los conciertos se desarrollarán a las 20.30 horas en el Paraninfo de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral y en la Sala Mayor del Teatro Municipal “1° de Mayo”, presentando -como tradicionalmente ocurre, un variado repertorio que reunirá lo mejor de la escena local e invitados de renombre nacional.

Desde sus inicios, en el año 1999, el ciclo se ha caracterizado por ser un festival inclusivo, de todos los géneros y estilos, en el que conviven las expresiones de las músicas académicas con las del campo popular, promoviendo actuaciones de calidad que denotan un alto compromiso técnico y estético.

A lo largo de una década, el festival ha propuesto en cada edición una programación de alto nivel artístico, con conciertos que se extienden a lo largo de toda una semana en el mes de noviembre. Festejando este décimo aniversario, los conciertos de Musicalia 2009 serán con entrada libre y gratuita. La actividad cuenta con el auspicio del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Santa Fe.

Los conciertos

La apertura de Musicalia 2009 estará a cargo el sábado 31 de octubre del dúo formado por la pianista rusa Svetlana Emyasheva y la reconocida soprano santafesina Susana Caligaris, quienes compartirán el escenario del Paraninfo de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral.

El domingo 1° de noviembre el festival se mudará a la Sala Mayor del Teatro Municipal “1° de Mayo”, para recibir al prestigioso Cuarteto de cuerdas de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, únanimente valorado como una de las mejores formaciones musicales de nuestro país.

El lunes 2 Musicalia volverá al Paraninfo con el “Concierto a la carta. Festejando los trescientos años del piano”. en el que pianistas de la región rendirán tributo a dicho instrumento, interpretando un singular repetorio que mezclará composiciones de Bach, Liszt y Strawinsky con temas reconocidos de nuestro rock nacional (de autores como Charly García o Luis Alberto Spinetta) pasando por el floklore de Atahualpa Yupanqui y las canciones infantiles de María Elena Walsh.

El martes 3 actuará también en Paraninfo la Orquesta de Cámara del Instituto Superior de Música, con la dirección de graduados de esta Casa de Estudios.

El cierre de la décima edición del festival estará a cargo, el miércoles 4, del Coro de Camara del ISM, acompañado de alumnos de guitarra y piano de la institución.

La musique, c’est l’émotion extériorisée.

Une chanson, une symphonie, une ballade, un mix… quelle qu’en soit la forme, la musique est toujours source d’émotions, qu’elle soit catalyseur ou créatrice.

C’est pourquoi je publierai chaque post musical sous le nom d’une émotion, qui sera soit celle que me fera ressentir la chanson, soit celle qui m’a fait écouter cette chanson.

Ca ne sera pas forcément celle que vous ressentirez, mais stfu noobs c’est pas vous qui postez. Le but n’est pas d’associer une chanson à une émotion, simplement de vous faire (re)découvrir un morceau, un album, un artiste. L’émotion associée n’est que le titre, et ma signature personnelle sur la chanson.

Voilà pour la petite intro, maintenant passons aux choses sérieuses.

“Amour”… c’est tout ‘abord le titre de ce morceau : “Liebestraum n°3″, dans la langue de Molière “rêve d’amour n°3″.

Mais “Amour”, c’est surtout l’essence même du morceau ;  “amour”, c’est ce que nous fait ressentir chaque note, chaque silence, chaque petite milliseconde de cette échappée digne d’Aphrodite… Les doigts s’envolent, les touches dansent, et s’élance une mélodie divine.

Les deux premières notes annoncent la tonalité du morceau : la sensualité de cet enchaînement Mi bémol-Do sur une dominante de La bémol, avec un arpège en arrière plan, c’est le romantisme qui s’annonce à grande voix. A un début calme et délicat, s’accroche une montée en puissance doucereuse, latente, soutenue… les mains s’égayent, les doigts frôlent le clavier; et la mélodie, pure, claire, nette, soyeuse, s’élance vers les cieux, en une magnifique Ode à sa divine inspiratrice.

Puis, comme un rêve, le toucher miraculeux s’affectue: c’est l’amour, c’est Cupidon, c’est Orphée et Eurydis, c’est un Ré-Ré dièse sur une tonalité de Si, en écho avec l’intro, c’est la quatre-vingt quatrième seconde du morceau, c’est la Transposition.

Et LA, Liszt nous livre son génie le plus profond, les accents de bohême, l’influence des Grands du 18ème…Les notes déferlent et prennent en ampleur, et tandis que les doigts s’affolent, les touches se rencontrent et se brisent. De cette alchimie naît, auréolée d’une magistrale splendeur, la magnificence d’un virtuose et d’un pianiste, d’un compositeur et  d’une époque; La, dans ce fouillis de notes, La, dans cette sueur d’artiste, La, dans les sonorités suaves d’un piano, on peut entendre la puissance de l’amour, son appel sans merci et son charme irrésistible ! Ce n’est plus luxe, calme et volupté ; cette invitation au voyage c’est vers les rivages de la tempête qu’elle nous entraîne , elle nous prend le coeur et le fait virevolter au gré de la mélodie.

Enfin, les vagues se calment, le fleuve reprend son long cours, et le morceau se termine, en finesse et en douceur, sonnant comme la fin d’un rêve, ou comme un conte pour enfants dont l’ultime phrase serait : “et ils vécurent heureux pour le reste de leur existence”…

Le génie ne connait pas de limites, Liszt nous en donne ici la preuve.

Et si vous voulez la meilleure version enregistrée du morceau (à mon goût) , jouée par Evgueny Kissin, pianiste génial dans le vrai sens du terme, c’est par ici.

It’s quite a nice feeling sitting in front of a Liszt etude that I played a few years ago with a completely different perspective. It’s been long enough, so even though I can hear the piece in my head, my fingers need to relearn it.

As I was sitting at the piano today working through the notes, I noticed that I was raising questions about details in the music to myself, as Stefani would do during a lesson. I came to this realization and was so thankful for all the lessons I’ve had in this past one year.

The lessons have helped me in ways more than what my mother calls “bringing out the musical emotions”. It is true that at the university level, one should already have the techniques to learn pieces on their own, and the obvious reason is just like why professional tennis players still need coaches – the teachers listen and critique.

But for me personally, I’ve been exposed to different ways of approaching new music. Learning to be an analytical musician is a turning point in my music career. And by that I meant taking pieces apart and experimenting for more effective practices. It’s really important to learn music quickly. Last spring, I found myself with 11 new pieces all at once and had a recital lined up for four of those pieces two weeks later. Maybe I am crazy to do things like that to myself, but Yvonne told me once that the biggest challenge graduate school level throws is the expectation of handling a lot of music in a short period of time, so there you go.

And despite the occasional clashes with the teacher here in Paris, I am still thankful at the end of the lesson each Tuesday. I am learning new ways to keep my fingers physically in shape and of course, a new set of approaches to learning and practicing new music. Last week was the first time in my life when I felt like my hands were not big enough*. Go figure.

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* My hands are relatively big compared to most of the girls I have met.

On Saturday evening internationally renowned pianist Jin Ju performed several compositions on seven different pianos to appreciate the evolution of the instrument. Pope Benedict XVI went on to say ” music is a part of all cultures, accompanying all peoples….music arouses emotions difficult to communicate…music can become a prayer”.

I’m still waiting for the editing report on my first novel, a psychological thriller set in the English countryside.   That’s one of the things in trying to get a book published  – you end up spending ages waiting each step of the way.  For me, the waiting is the worst bit.  It feels long and drawn out, and I tend to get impatient and worry about what might happen next.  

In the meantime, without having a definite time frame to work in, I don’t think I can continue with the most recent novel (another psychological thriller set near the Dorset coast), so I’ve made extensive backup copies of the first fourteen chapters and hope to return to the story sometime next year.  I’m working on something entirely different while I wait for the editor’s report - my student days at Dartington College of Arts in Totnes, Devon, where I studied music and classical piano.  

I’m also spending a lot of time at the piano, playing works by Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg and Liszt.

For many of you, this video will serve as an introduction to the pianist Marc-André Hamelin, who was born in Montreal in 1961.  Hamelin is an extra-ordinary virtuoso who has performed and recorded much of the less well-known repertoire, including many works that less technically gifted pianists would not even attempt.  Yet, as this video demonstrates, he plays with a musical feeling no less exceptional than his technique.

“Un Sospiro” translates as “The Sigh”.  We read on Wikipedia that this etude by Liszt “is a study in crossing hands, playing a simple melody with alternating hands, and arpeggios.”  It is also exceptionally beautiful, and though the image quality in this video is not especially good, the sound is excellent.

Though no one should be placed in the position of following Marc-Andre Hamelin, I am happy to present a second performance of “Un Sospiro”, this one featuring my favorite young pianist, Szuyu Su, whom I introduced last month playing Prokofiev’s “Harp” prelude.  Rachel, as she likes to be called, is a little older in this video, perhaps 9 years old, and I don’t feel like I’m going out on a limb at all in predicting a brilliant concert career for her in the years ahead.

If you would like to see more of Rachel, you can see all of her YouTube uploads (54 at latest count) here: http://www.youtube.com/user/yw1935