Chasse Neige... (2)

Can you believe it? I started looking at the score today! To be honest, I had practiced the piece many years ago but I always hesitated to play it in public for the reasons exposed yesterday. But this time, I have a feeling that something might come out...
Yet one can immediately see that this study requires very special technical skills - especially in order to achieve good and even tremolandi. I also realised that I need to learn the score by heart asap - you risk playing too many wrong notes otherwise.
I am quite curious to see what will come out of this...

By the way, the best performance of the piece I 've ever heard is by Kissin. Unfortunately, I could not find it on youtube; it's an extraordinary recording, one that really goes beyond a "good" or even an "excellent" performance. Kissin does so many interesting and original things and in such a persuasive way. The way, for instance, he achieves the chromatic "wave-effect" around the middle of the piece, is quite unparalleled. I do admire him just for this 3 minutes recording...

Chasse Neige...

I've just listened to an excellent rendering of my beloved etude by Lizst. It's by Berezovsky and it's a live recording from his recital in Roque d'Anthéron (I must say I don't really like this hall). What I liked in this performance is the sustained pathos, the inner energy and the vast richness of his sound-palette. Especially towards the end of the study (last page), one can really sense this infinite, unbearable nostalgy.


I so much want to play this etude; yet it requires such an emotional sacrifice that I am not sure I can offer! Technically it is hard, of course (though not the hardest of the set). But, interpretation wise, I believe it's one of the most difficult. It's one of these pieces one can study forever... (it does sound a bit hopeless, doesn't it?!!)

Concert in Maldon - Essex UK

I am writing this in Tiptree, a village in Essex-UK, where I am staying with some good friends. Yesterday, Frank took me to a very good concert which happened in St Mary's Church, in a beautiful village called Maldon. The concert was part of the "4th Maldon Festival of Arts", and featured the Pegasus Baroque and the Choir of St Mary's performing works by Purcell, Bach and Handel. The highlight of the evening was the Dixit Dominus HWV 232, a wonderful and very demanding work in 8 parts. I copy from the program: "The work requires extraordinary virtuosity from every performer; singers and players alike, and it may be that Handel was simply experimenting to see just how far his musicians could be stretched".

It was such a pleasant surprise to hear this choir, masterfully directed by Colin Baldy: they were singing with passion and joy and they seemed to so much enjoy making music! (I could actually see them smiling!) From a musical point of view, I think they really did their best to face this most challening score. I think that the tempi were a bit on the presto side (especially in Gloria Patri). But the result was an exciting and explosive sound which reverberated around the thick walls of this old church.

The program included also Vergnugte Ruh by Bach (an interesting cantata). I shouldn't forget to mention the accurate and sensitive performance by the young solo counter-tenor Raffaele Pe. He seems to have a very promising career ahead.

In England there are so many wonderful oportunities to hear good music. I really miss that in Greece, I must say. In the UK one can hear music of the highest calibre even in the most remote village of the country...

Paraphrase for piano on the Intermezzo Sinfonico (Cavalleria Rusticana)

Well, I must say I really enjoyed doing this video-recording!

It is indeed a wonderful piece of music and I always thought that all piano transcriptions made so far (at least to my knowledge) seemed to be lacking something, and not to "work" for the piano.
So I made an attempt to write my own transcription, taking the decision to take some freedom with the score, in order (as I explain) to make it sound like a pianistic piece. This, in my view, should be the aim of every transcription... Not easy and very challenging!

Whether this particular one is a success or not, is really up to you to decide!

Here it is:

Shostakovich: Jazz Suite Waltz 2 (Suite for a Variety Orchestra)

At the end of a tiring day, this music set me in a good and relaxed mood... Shostakovich has written some really superb music, and I am particularly fond of his piano music - especially his 48 preludes & fugues; I was actually fortunate enough to perform three of them.

The interesting thing about this Suite is that, although it is generally known as "Jazz Suite no 2", the actual and correct name is "Suite for a Variety Orchestra". The material comes, to a great extent, from another work - a soundtrack written by S. in the 1950s. So, this is mostly recycled material, but it is obvious that S did not just copy the music but developed it in a most creative manner.

This particular waltz (probably the best part of this suite) has a particular ligthness and elegance but this is not the clue to its success; the secret, I think, lies in the melodic line - it has a natural charm, I mean, it comes out so effortlessly, as if no other melodic path or choice is conceivable.

And again, the eternal question - where does a melody come from?

Which hidden force brings it to light?
What kind of instinct "decides" on the way the melodic line will follow?
And what makes one melody more succesful than another?...

Concert in Athenaeum - May 2011

I don't quite know why I got so stressed about this concert. Maybe the reason is that I had so little time to practice - in the end I only managed to practice a maximum of 2 hours daily. (I remember now my RCM days, when I had all the time of the world and I used to practice 4-5 hours a day...).
My program consisted of:
i. Schumann - Kinderszenen, op. 15.
ii. Rachmaninoff - Prelude in F sharp minor, and Etudes Tableaux 0p.33 no 4, and op. 39 no 1 and 6.
iii. Bach - 2nd English Suite in A minor
iv. Prokofiev - a selection of small pieces, including a transcription of "Romance" from Lieutenant Kije.

As an encore, I played a wonderful transcription by Egon Petri, of a Bach's cantata ("May the Sheep Safely Graze").

Around 40 people came, most of them friends and colleagues, and the atmosphere was warm and cosy. It's so strange, one is really stressed the days before the concert, but normally on the day of the concert itself all intense feelings seem to die down. So, when I actually sat on the piano (a beautiful Steinway), I felt quite relaxed.
The concert hall is located in one of the nicest areas of Athens - Thisseion, just opposite the Acropolis, in a street that is now fortunately pedestrianised.

All in all, I think it went ok. Best performance was possibly Prokofiev (I realised once more how at ease I feel with his music despite its technical difficulty).

No more concert in the near future! But I am looking forward to a couple of recordings I'll make for youtube... So... stay tuned!

Let all mortal flesh keep silence...

Holy Week, the deepest and most beautiful week of the year is approaching! In the Orthodox Church, there is such a vast richness of hymns, music, meanings. If only I could even give a hint of all that - but, alas, it's not possible.

Musically speaking, the best example of the profound beauty of so-called Byzantine music is a hymn sung on Great Saturday morning. I think it's an ancient hymn. Here are the words:
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly-minded, for the King of kings, the Lord of lords, will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food. Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way, the Principalities, the Authorities, the Cherubim with countless eyes, the six-winged Seraphim, veil their faces to the presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry: Alleluia

The best version (known to me) is written by Iakovos Protopsaltis and it is sung by the Hellenic Byzantine Choir (directed by Lykourgos Angelopoulos). It's such a moving hymn, especially when put in the particular context of the day and time it is sung. On the other hand, the music is not sentimental, yet it conveys with great power and solemnity a spiritual intensity which, to me, goes beyond feelings.


I know that this music seems very strange to those who are not familiar to its sound. But it's worth spending some time discovering it. And this particular hymn is a very good introduction.