Author Topic: Virtuoso piano technique (Read 24916 times)

Wowbagger · « **Reply #75 on:** 05 October, 2022, 07:25:30 pm »

I saw him in action at the Edinburgh Festival almost 20 years ago. He was conducting the East-West Divan Orchestra and the programme was changed at the last minute and they played Beethoven's 5th instead of a Tchaikovsky symphony.

It's never a mistake to spend an hour or so watching this wonderful video from over 50 years ago of 5 amazing young musicians in their prime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdXoER96is&ab_channel=JauTuChannel

andrewc · « **Reply #76 on:** 05 October, 2022, 07:40:14 pm »

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/104804-000-A/west-eastern-divan-orchestra-with-daniel-barenboim/

I listened to this earlier.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #77 on:** 06 October, 2022, 11:06:42 am »

Sad to hear this. Tragic really given he has been through this kind of thing once already with his wife.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #78 on:** 07 October, 2022, 04:54:03 pm »

I have just learned that Lars Vogt has died of cancer, aged 51. He was a tremendous pianist, taking second place at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990. About 4 years ago, Jan, her sister and I attended a concert at the Bridgewater Hall in which he played Beethoven’s 4th concerto. He had a very idiosyncratic style of playing, and at times seemed to be keeping time with his left foot and I was sure I could hear his heel making contact with the floor on occasions. During tutti passages, he turned and glared at the orchestra. I also noticed part way through that he had an iPad inside the piano, so no doubt some of his left foot activity was operating a Bluetooth page turner. There is an interview with him taken not long before he died, which I am about to watch.

https://youtu.be/zMV5gCmnMlk

andyoxon · « **Reply #79 on:** 07 October, 2022, 06:08:20 pm »

BBC Young Musician: Keyboard category finals. So good.

Category Final highlights. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cryd

(click to show/hide)

Wowbagger · « **Reply #80 on:** 12 December, 2022, 10:25:34 pm »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7NF6r4ywKE&ab_channel=HKUMUSE%E6%B8%AF%E5%A4%A7%E7%B9%86%E6%80%9D%E6%A8%82%E5%AD%A3

Like Lars Vogt, Angela Hewitt has an iPad in the piano.

andrewc · « **Reply #81 on:** 19 December, 2022, 05:28:10 pm »

An article by Barenboim on his early life. Sadly his planned January performance with the RLPO has just been cancelled.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/daniel-barenboim-early-lifefrom-concertos-to-cigars

In case you can't get past the paywall. https://archive.ph/uTrUx

hellymedic · « **Reply #82 on:** 19 December, 2022, 08:11:34 pm »

D saw Barenboim in action in Berlin, in 2018, I think.
Anne-Sophie Mutter was on the violin...

Wowbagger · « **Reply #83 on:** 19 December, 2022, 10:01:52 pm »

Thanks for that, Andrew! I doubt that it was false modesty that makes him say that Martha Argerich is/was a better pianist than he is. And what a way to start smoking!

Here's a video of the two of them playing a Mozart sonata for two pianos. Being a page turner for one or other of these giants is quite a daunting prospect!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iePyP2HOr8&ab_channel=sigma1024

andrewc · « **Reply #84 on:** 08 January, 2023, 12:03:24 pm »

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/daniel-barenboim-to-step-down-from-the-staatsoper-berlin

CrazyEnglishTriathlete · « **Reply #85 on:** 11 January, 2023, 09:02:07 pm »

Have tickets to see David Grielshammer play at Wigmore Hall Friday week. He pairs pieces from across the classic spectrum, because they were related in a dream. interested to see how he and I cope with Bach and Ligeti on the same programme as well as a host of other apparent conflicts.

Programme is Lully bookended by Janacek, George Crumb bookended by Beethoven, Bach surrounded by Ligeti, CPE Bach in between Satie, etc

andrewc · « **Reply #86 on:** 15 January, 2023, 09:37:58 pm »

Last night we were supposed to have Daniel Barenboim playing in Liverpool. Sadly he had to cancel due to his current ill health.

The replacement was Víkingur Ólafsson , I don't think we were short changed. Utterly breathtaking.

Schumann as the main piece & this as the encore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g4KUuCZsJA

https://www.artscityliverpool.com/single-post/review-domingo-hindoyan-and-v%C3%ADkingur-ólafsson-at-philharmonic-hall-1-2

https://twitter.com/gram63/status/1614395328727334914

https://twitter.com/BrendanEWK/status/1614554563973087233

Wowbagger · « **Reply #87 on:** 15 January, 2023, 10:26:04 pm »

Thanks, Andrew. I've just ordered the sheet music for the Organ Sonata no 4 Andante. Not heard it before and it doesn't sound impossibly difficult.

There was something about the quality of the sound in that video which I thought was especially striking: whether it was down to the voicing of the piano, the acoustics of the hall, or some jiggery-pokery in the recording/editing studio, I think the piano sounded more bell-like than any I've heard.

jsabine · « **Reply #88 on:** 15 January, 2023, 11:13:54 pm »

A friend gave me about three hours notice of a spare ticket, so I spent this afternoon at the Barbican - BBC Symphony, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto no 3, and Anna Federova (then followed by a Ukrainian symphony).

Rather good. On the Third Programme on Tuesday, and on BBC Sounds for a month.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #89 on:** 15 January, 2023, 11:18:37 pm »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 15 January, 2023, 10:26:04 pm

Thanks, Andrew. I've just ordered the sheet music for the Organ Sonata no 4 Andante. Not heard it before and it doesn't sound impossibly difficult.

There was something about the quality of the sound in that video which I thought was especially striking: whether it was down to the voicing of the piano, the acoustics of the hall, or some jiggery-pokery in the recording/editing studio, I think the piano sounded more bell-like than any I've heard.

Hmm. the only copy I could find for piano was a transcript published by a company I'd never heard of, and I downloaded it to the iPad. It's harder than it sounds

and not helped that the editing has been a bit sloppy and it's not entirely clear which notes should be played exactly at the same time as others.

Photocopies of the original area available, in Bach's own had, but of course they are over 3 staves, RH, LH and pedals.

Legs · « **Reply #90 on:** 28 January, 2023, 09:22:25 am »

Mind. Blown.
https://youtu.be/_jxegEu0ZWI

Wowbagger · « **Reply #91 on:** 01 February, 2023, 09:03:10 pm »

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/01/i-was-swallowing-the-piano-whole-stephen-hough-on-life-as-a-prodigy-and-playing-for-jimmy-savile

Interesting extract from Stephen Hough's autobiography.

I was fortunate enough to see Stephen Hough play when he was (I think) about 12 years old. I was pres. of the Mus. Soc. at Poulton college, near Blackpool, and with the help of a Lancs Art Council (or some such body) grant organised a charabanc trip for fellow students to the Free Trade Hall where a concert featuring performances from lots of youngsters, mostly from Chethams or the Royal Northern College of Music, took place. I especially recall the two pianists. One was Francis Rayner, who played Beethoven's 3rd concerto, first movement. He was also a very strong chess player and I met him many years later when he was taking part in the British Championships in Eastbourne and gave a piano recital one evening. We discussed the finer points of Bach's prelude & fugue in B flat from Book 1, and whether one should use a pedal when playing Bach. He performed this piece at the concert, and it was the prelude and fugue I had chosen to play for my piano teaching diploma in 1981.

I had completely forgotten that Stephen Hough was the other pianist - he played a Mendelssohn concerto - until a couple of years ago when Jan and I were sorting out some boxes of historical tat. We found her old Creative Studies folder and in it was the programme for the concert which was, interestingly, on Valentine's Day, although I don't think we were a couple at that point. Stephen Hough and Francis Rayner were both named in the programme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvq8FM5rKoo&ab_channel=ClassicalArchivist is worth a look.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #92 on:** 03 February, 2023, 05:15:05 pm »

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/03/the-piano-channel-4-bake-off-for-pianos-the-spine-tingling-talent-show-that-makes-people-weep-with-joy

That could be worth a watch.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #93 on:** 05 February, 2023, 10:25:04 am »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8QyeIwdr4U&ab_channel=SW

Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, & Andras Schiff all playing together. Can't get more stellar than that.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #94 on:** 19 March, 2023, 09:59:15 pm »

Rubinstein Piano Competition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckMjJbsUc4Q&ab_channel=ArthurRubinstein

I've just had it drawn to my attention. Some scintillating playing.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #95 on:** 27 April, 2023, 10:22:24 am »

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/25/angela-hewitt-pianist-memory-muscle

Angela Hewitt on memory.

I ought to try to get to one of her concerts. She's inspirational.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #96 on:** 19 June, 2023, 12:45:12 pm »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEGnSfY8GbE&ab_channel=88KeystoCure

Pretty bloody impressive: 8 and 9 years olds.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #97 on:** 25 July, 2023, 09:19:41 pm »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypgfU_6nov8&ab_channel=LondonMozartPlayers

Perplexed by that: who is in charge of the performance? The pianist, Martin James Bartlett, gives no indication whatever that he is conducting from the keyboard, there is no sign of a conductor on the platform, and there's no mention of a conductor in the notes beneath.

I've seen MJ Bartlett, when he was obviously one of the top piano students at the Royal College of Music, in a master class with Andras Schiff and I though AS gave him a pretty hard time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTdpTHIgkc&ab_channel=RoyalCollegeofMusic refers

Edit: apparently when he was 17, MJ Bartlett won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award. That had passed me by. I've found another performance of this concerto at the RCM with MJB and Bernard Haitink.

andrewc · « **Reply #98 on:** 02 November, 2023, 12:17:30 am »

Tonight I had the pleasure of listening to the complete Goldberg Variations played live by Víkingur Ólafsson. Breathtaking, just a shame about the person who audibly opened a drinks can and the person at the end who applauded slightly too soon.

He must like the RLPO audience, he's coming back next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GSZkWd2vYg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GikMTOtI5DA

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9506827--bach-goldberg-variations

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/06/vikingur-olafsson-pianist-on-bach-goldberg-variations

Wowbagger · « **Reply #99 on:** 12 January, 2024, 07:27:00 am »

I have just learned that thespian Ian McKellen owns a Fazioli. I don’t know what his technique is like, but Angela Hewitt visited his house and hers is pretty good.