It’s audition season at my university and, if this year is like previous ones, very few of the applicants will be strong sight-readers. Without question, it’s challenging for most teachers to regularly incorporate sight-reading during lessons, what with technical studies, theory, musicianship, and repertoire—let alone harmonization, transposition, improvisation and other keyboard skills. But since one [Read more...]
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For many years, it was believed that today was Edward MacDowell’s 150th birthday, but the evidence points to it actually being his 151st. MacDowell was the first American composer of international stature, although it seems increasingly rare to hear his music today. For several years, I championed his beautiful Sonata Eroica, and recorded it along [Read more...]
Chris Foley was my wife’s accompanist when they were both doctoral students at the Eastman School of Music. Chris maintains an outstanding resource, The Collaborative Piano Blog. The info is not only for collaborative pianists, however–for example, this series of articles 31 Days to Better Practicing contains a cornucopia of ideas that are sure to [Read more...]
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As we drove up, the clashing sounds of two out-of-tune upright pianos greeted us. We were fifteen minutes late, but Rebecca, my wife, and I were the only ones who seemed to notice. We got out of the truck and entered a two-room building where thirty students were waiting for me to present a master [Read more...]
A terrific article by Stephen Hough thoroughly sums up the advantages and disadvantages of performing with the score, including a revealing letter by Liszt: Read article
PermalinkHere’s a great link: the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in several complete live performances. I was especially delighted to hear SPCO’s concertmaster, Steven Copes, playing the Brahms Violin Concerto. I was fortunate to play chamber music with him a few years back at the Skaneateles Festival.
PermalinkSteve Swayne’s New York Times article on the neglect of two important American composers really struck a chord with me since one of them, Samuel Barber, played such a critical role in my life. When I was a junior in college, my teacher assigned Barber’s Piano Sonata and this powerful piece has been a core [Read more...]
PermalinkCheck out this scary film of Anderson and Roe performing their own arrangement of Schubert’s Erlkonig at the Steinway factory. The playing is fantastic, and the video extremely creative—and spooky.
PermalinkDeutsche Grammophone and Decca have put together a fascinating compilation of Liszt repertoire, a 2-CD set entitled “Liszt: Wild and Crazy.” Performances by renowned artists from 1959-2008 are featured, and samples are available. I was especially impressed by Richter’s Feux Follets, and was reminded how I’ve never heard a more powerful rendition of “Les Preludes” [Read more...]
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“The secret of rhythmic playing” [I pause briefly, for emphasis], “is to be as late as possible while still playing in time.” This is a maxim I have repeated hundreds of times. In fact, it is the only verbatim quote I knowingly use in my teaching. And I credit my source: Leon Fleisher. Although he [Read more...]