Piano Journal Issue 121

JOU R NAL EUROPEAN PIANO TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION Ida Gamulin in conversation Piano Technique & Musical Artistry A focus on Chopin Recording the music of Roger-Ducasse Rachmaninov as a concert pianist NEWS & VIEWS - INTERVIEWS - REVIEWS THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL FOR PIANISTS AND PIANO TEACHERS ISSUE 121 AUGUST 2020 £3

JOU R NAL ISSUE 121 AUGUST 2020 Founder Carola Grindea CONTENTS 3 Editorial • A message from EPTA Germany Editor Murray McLachlan 4 Piano Technique & Musical Artistry by Barbara Lister-Sink [email protected] 7 Ida Gamulin in conversation with Murray McLachlan Tel: 01625 266899 1 2 On recording the music of Roger-Ducasse Editorial Consultant Nadia Lasserson by Patrick Hemmerlé [email protected] Tel: 020 7274 6821 1 5 Rachmaninov's performance style: Rachmaninov as a concert pianist by Angelina Kopyrina and Laura Ritchie Piano Journal Published by EPTA 1 8 The Originality of Schumann's Early Piano Works Designer/proofreader Helen Tabor helentaborcreative.com by Jui-Sheng Li Piano Journal 2 0 The rubato story - Chopin: Nocturne in E minor ISSN 0267 7253 by Paul Hoffman Published: Spring, Summer,Winter 2 1 European Piano Teachers' Forum: EPTA Spain Subscription for three issues: £9 - all subscriptions can now by Alberto Urroz with Nancy Lee Harper be paid online via the website: epta-europe.org The opinions expressed or implied, the methods recommended or advice given in the Piano Journal are not necessarily representative of EPTA’s views and therefore EPTA takes no responsibility for them. Appearance of an advertisement does not necessarily indicate EPTA’s approval of the product or service. The editor welcomes letters from members but reserves the right to edit them for publication. This product is copyright material and may not be copied in whole or in part for any purpose whatsoever without the permission of the copyright owner. Cover photo of Ida Gamulin: Ana Mihalic, Glorija 2 4 Variations on a Theme of Chopin by Michael Stembridge-Montavont 2 6 Analysis of Chopin's Etudes Part 2 Chopin's Etudes: Just how big are they? by Kris Lennox 3 2 From the Archives by Nancy Litten 3 4 Reviews 4 0 EPTA News 2

EDITORIAL HELEN TABOR A Message from EPTA Welcome to the Germany first exclusively online version With great regret, we have to inform you that the of Piano 42nd International EPTA Conference on the Journal. We have all been topic Beethoven 2020 - a theme with variations experiencing great difficulties cannot take place as planned from 30th October and new challenges for most of to 1st November 2020 in the Beethovenhaus Bonn. Until 31st the year. With everyone in the October, strict rules for events apply in Germany due to the profession suffering cancellations coronavirus pandemic, so only a few of the 200 seats in the of concerts, festivals, chamber music hall would have been available. In addition, it is masterclasses and summer not yet foreseeable which travel restrictions will apply in autumn schools, our worlds have changed. between the many countries whose EPTA associations are involved Online is everywhere. For EPTA, in the conference. it has been so sad to see the The Board of EPTA Germany still regards it as a great honour postponement of the European to host the International EPTA Conference on Ludwig van conference in Bonn, scheduled for May 2020 in Beethoven’s 250th Beethoven’s 250th birthday and we are thrilled with the many anniversary year. As we complete this issue 121 of Piano Journal, exciting offers of presentations from around the world that we there is news of a rescheduled online conference for the autumn - have received. We therefore decided to organise the conference as see the message below from EPTA Germany. an online event. We will set up a YouTube channel on our The trials and tribulations of lockdown in 2020, as well as the homepage, www.epta-deutschland.de, and ask all those who have more general ongoing build-up of postal expenses and practical been selected as speakers for the conference to send us their difficulties of international surface mail reliability, has combined contributions as a video. Of course, we hope that as many to make paper format for our beloved journal a thing of the past. presenters as possible will take advantage of this opportunity to However, the challenges of living with Covid-19 have led to send a signal in these difficult times that the international EPTA creativity and originality, and I hope you are pleased with the new can still work together to create something that suits the special enhanced features present in issue 121: hyperlinks in the text occasion. make it possible immediately to access material beyond the scope On the weekend of 31st October/ 1st November, we would also of any individual article, and the new format for the magazine like to offer a number of interactive live elements. We plan to use includes the added ‘fun’ feature of a sound as each page turns. the conference software “Zoom” for several discussion forums. Enjoy! The AGM will also take place separately for the EPTA presidents as Online only means it is possible for us to vastly expand the a zoom meeting. content of this issue. This is a great relief and happily we have We would be very happy if our Diabelli project (the joint now returned to an issue size that contains much diversity of performance of the variations by 50 composers on Diabelli’s waltz, material in a generous selection of articles. Readers will have which Diabelli published under the title Vaterländischer noted how much shorter the magazine had become recently. This Künstlerverein) could also be realised. Hence our question to all was not because of a lack of content - far from it: the EPTA contributors to the Diabelli project: Could you record a video with community has always had a huge potential for material in our the variations that you have selected and make them available to magazine. No, it was entirely because of the huge expenses us? We would then create a playlist so that participants can listen generated by 21st-century postal costs and printing that we had to to the pieces in context. severely limit pagination over the past year. The participation in the conference – whether as a listener or a Now that the scope of our online publication is greatly presenter – will be free of charge. increased, articles, news items, publicity material, books, music, We hope that with everyone's help it will be possible to design and concert notices from all the EPTA Associations are of course a somewhat different, but nevertheless exciting, content-rich extremely welcome for inclusion. Piano Journal has a unique international conference that unites us all. community of international readers, all united by a passionate We sincerely wish you all health, joy and wonderful music that love of piano and piano pedagogy, so please contact me as editor if helps and strengthens in this difficult time. you would like to offer material for consideration in future issues. Kind regards on behalf of EPTA Germany, We want to make Piano Journal as vibrantly international and all- Sigrid Naumann (Secretary) encompassing as possible. Heribert Koch (EPTA European President 2019/20) Our cover interviewee is Ida Gamulin from Croatia, a Jairo Geronymo, wonderful artist, pedagogue, artistic organiser and director as well Prof. Linde Grossmann, as a loyal and inspirational EPTA supporter. With features and Jens Hamer, articles on Rachmaninov as well as music from France and Marilia Patricio Germany, and contributions from the States too, this is certainly (members of presidium) one of the most varied and contrasted issues of recent years. Let Dr Rainer Lorenz (treasurer) us continue with even more enterprise and variety. Please do get in touch with suggestions and projects for future issues. Wishing everyone in EPTA a peaceful and safe summer and looking forward to meeting you all in person as soon as possible. Murray McLachlan, Editor 3

Lister-Sink: Silence before sound Piano Technique & Musical Artistry - Positively (or Negatively) Correlated? by Barbara Lister-Sink, Ed.D. Nadia Boulanger asserted, “Music is technique. It is the only aspect of music we can control…. one can only be free [musically] if the essential Iam a pastelist who loves to paint bearded irises. What, technique of one’s art has been completely mastered.”1 And as Reginald might you ask, does that have to do with the topic at hand Gerig stated in his encyclopedic Famous Pianists & Their Technique, – the correlation, if any, between technique and artistry? “There cannot be a truly great performance without a masterful physical Everything. You see, I am largely a self-made visual artist technique. It becomes the great liberating force for the pianist.” 2 But is a with spotty training in the fundamentals of technique. Even masterful technique essential for a great performance, or even a though I have a strong artistic concept, I have little confidence in good one? What is “technique” actually? What constitutes a my ability to realise that concept. So frustration is a frequent “masterful” technique? Is it just playing all the right notes in the companion. right place with appropriate style and expression? Likewise, over the last 50 years I have worked with Defining Technique innumerable serious pianists who felt a similar frustration. Their Arguably, technique has had as many definitions over the unsteady grasp of technique made it difficult to realise their centuries as pedagogues. And therein may lie a key to our high musical concept, so they could not perform to their highest injury rate and even to the reluctance to correlate technique with artistic potential. Many of these pianists have been sensitive, musicality. Historically, the pendulum has swung between seasoned, and even successful professionals who questioned their defining technique as what we play – scales, arpeggios, exercises, ability genuinely to command and control their playing technically. Perhaps not coincidentally, many also reported anecdotally a high rate of performance anxiety. 4

However, by the mid-20th century, unless we were willing to read reams of impenetrable scientific analysis, pianists were left to their own devices. A belief took hold that a more rational, science-based approach to technique would actually dull our artistry! So technique – rather than being essential to artistry – came under suspicion. An inexplicable lapse in critical thinking caused much of the piano world to believe that a scientifically informed technique was incompatible with artistic performance. Ernst Bacon summed up the trend in mid-century attitudes: “Learned books have been written on the physical aspects of piano playing… But while they stimulate and satisfy “scientific” curiosity, they help the student of piano no more than would an analysis of the larynx, the lungs, the diaphragm, and the sinuses, help the singer to sing. In aiming to enlighten, too much mechanical self-knowledge mostly confuses. Piano playing will never be a science. If it were, it would cease to be an art.”7 Sadly, this “either/or” attitude led to tragic consequences: such disavowal of the importance of a science-based approach to technique has most likely contributed to the plague of playing- related injuries worldwide. Fortunately, in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, pedagogues such as Taubman, Sandor, Fink, Grindea, Fraser and Karpoff, among others, have attempted to reverse this distrust of scientifically-informed technique. The field of performing arts medicine, and research in movement science, neuroscience, somatic education, etc., have contributed further to this movement toward a science-based definition of injury- preventive, artistry-enhancing – or as Gerig called it – “enlightened technique.”8 Lister-Sink: Iris No. 25 “Enlightened” Technique and Artistry Building on Gerig’s idea of “enlightened technique,” I define What is “technique” technique as the most efficient, well-coordinated use of the whole body, actually? What constitutes directed by the brain, in service to the highest standards of musical artistry.9 a “masterful” technique? With this definition in mind, we can begin to answer our original questions: is there a correlation between well- etudes – and how we play: high or low fingers, wrists, and benches; coordinated, injury-preventive technique and enhanced artistry? more or less arm “weight,” bent or extended arms? Consensus Does having such a commanding technique ensure high artistic continues to elude the piano world. standards? The answer to the latter question is “Not necessarily.” As I tell my students repeatedly, they can be technically free as a In the 18th and 19th centuries, developing piano technique – bird, and musically dull as a brick. An efficient, well-coordinated, carefully sequenced from the simplest to the most complex or even virtuoso technique will not ensure a high artistic notational patterns – was a top priority of famous teacher- performance. Nor will an inefficient, poorly-coordinated composer-performers, and especially the unfairly maligned and technique necessarily produce a lowered artistic outcome. Many brilliant teacher Carl Czerny.3 Throughout the mid-19th to early of our most gifted and expressive pianists have startling 20th centuries, it might be suggested that musical giants Chopin, deficiencies in their physical coordination. However, I do firmly Liszt, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Stravinsky built on believe that a well-coordinated technique can give the pianist far this stockpile of earlier exercises and motor skills. Their more tools for maximising artistry while promoting mental and technically demanding “etudes” were also musical gems, marrying physical command.10 Here are a few of the correlations: technique with art. Neurological, Physical and Musical Correlations with Paralleling this explosion of demanding technical etudes was a Artistry movement by Breithaupt, Leschetitzky, Matthay and the early Russian school, among others, to define piano technique using a 1. Neurological. Recent advances in the ability to measure quasi-scientific, but largely empirical and subjective approach. brain activity have informed – or corroborated – our teaching and These pedagogues believed that technique alone was worthless; its learning methods, leading to the creation of the field of function was to serve the highest artistic purposes. Josef Hofmann neurodidactics. The more efficient the coordination in a complex stated, “There is a technic that liberates and a technic which represses the motor skill, the less activity in the brain’s motor cortex: the pianist artistic self…It is perfectly possible to accumulate a technic that is next to is less distracted by excessive muscular activity from overuse or useless.”4 misuse of muscles (implicated in some studies in focal dystonia.) 11 We are able to attend more to listening and musical concept. In the 1920s, Otto Ortmann stirred up controversy by drawing More areas of the brain are available for listening, tactile and on physics, anatomy and acoustics in the first objective, scientific kinesthetic awareness, greater mental focus, and memory. Also, approach to analysing piano technique.5 Meanwhile, pianists such more “cortical real estate” will be available for our musical as Gát, Kochevitsky and Bonpensiere – echoing a growing interest concept, imagination and enhanced creativity. in neurophysiology – delved into the importance of the mind/ brain in controlling technique. Concurrently, Abby Whiteside 2. Physical. A well-coordinated technique optimises the entire focused on the pianist as athlete and on the importance of musculoskeletal system. It reduces stress on the spine and joints, sensing rhythmic movement throughout the entire body as constantly refreshes the muscles, deepens breathing, and improves essential to masterful technique. 6 blood flow to all parts of the brain and body, which in turn strengthens mental focus. Efficient breathing decreases negative BACK TO CONTENTS 5

An efficient, well- coordinated, or even virtuoso technique will not ensure a high artistic performance. Lister-Sink: Iris No. 37 Conclusion mental stress and performance anxiety by providing sufficient Is there a positive correlation with technique and artistry? The oxygen to the brain, reducing hyperactivity in the amygdala, and answer is a resounding “Yes!” Especially if the technique is well- changing brain wave patterns. Less discomfort, strain, pain and coordinated and injury-preventive, and if we use it in service of the fatigue means increased concentration, a sense of well-being, and highest artistic standards. The aforementioned benefits – above all, greater command both physically and mentally. the musical – suggest we should focus our attention on developing technical models based on core principles of good biomechanics 3. Musical. A well-coordinated technique enables a broad and efficient coordination, and reliable means for teaching them range of dynamics – from the most subtle of pianissimi to resonant, successfully. Well-coordinated technique is a skill that pianists can non-strident fortissimi. Smooth, sequential coordination of the acquire, not only to help prevent injury, but most importantly, to whole arm, hand, fingers and body promotes a natural sense of enhance our ability to play with more compelling artistry. timing and rhythm. Increased aural sensitivity, tactile awareness, So perhaps it is time for me as a pastelist to deepen my muscular suppleness and joint mobility enable us to create more technical skills. If it enhances the artistic outcome, I am sure my diverse and subtle articulations. The ability to “differentiate” irises would agree! neuronal pathways from the brain to the fingers enables ease of voicing,12 and speed and facility are achieved without 1 Boulanger, N. (1958-1959). “Sayings of great teachers.” The Piano accumulation of muscle tension. We also are able to create Quarterly, 26 (Winter), 26. seamless dynamic gradations and smoother phrasing, as well as to 2 Gerig, R. (2007). Famous pianists and their technique. Bloomington, IN: widen and deepen our tonal palette. And, although studies in the Indiana University Press, 1. correlation between the piano and the body mechanism have not 3 Gerig, R. Ibid., 103-119. yet confirmed this, anecdotal evidence has strongly suggested 4 Hoffman, J. (1920). Piano playing with piano questions answered. since the late 1800s that a well-coordinated technique produces a Philadelphia, PA: Theodore Presser Co., 80-81. perceivable improvement in tone quality. At the very least, it 5 Gerig, R. Ibid., 412-413. enables the pianist to be more available to experiment with a rich 6 Gerig, R. Ibid., 464-472. palette of tonal colours. Finally, the enhanced ability to listen 7 Bacon, E. (1963). Notes on the piano. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse continually ensures that we are realising our musical concept. University Press, 77. 8 Gerig, R. Op. cit., 507-517. 9 Lister-Sink, B. (2015). A study of students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary method for teaching injury- preventive piano technique. (Dissertation: Columbia University.) Proquest, 373. 10 Lister-Sink, B. Ibid. 11 Doidge, N. (2015). The brain’s way of healing. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 173. 12 Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself. New York, NY: The Penguin Group, 122. Barbara Lister-Sink, internationally acclaimed pianist and acknowledged global leader in injury- preventive keyboard technique, is a graduate of Smith College, the Utrecht Conservatory and holds an Ed.D. from Columbia University. A Steinway Artist since 1977, Lister-Sink has performed and given workshops throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Her DVD Freeing the Caged Bird – Developing Well-Coordinated, Injury-Preventive Piano Technique won the 2002 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. Presently Artistic Director of the Salem College School of Music and Director of the Graduate Music Program, she has taught on the Eastman School of Music Artist Faculty and was keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A previewer for Oxford University Press, Lister- Sink was chosen by Musical America Global as one of America’s “30 Top Professionals of 2018” as an innovator, independent thinker, and visionary leader. 6

A Lifetimeʼs Devotion to Piano & Pedagogy Ida Gamulin in Murray McLachlan (MM): Tell us about your family, early conversation with years and your first musical memories. Murray McLachlan Ida Gamulin (IG): I was born in Split, a beautiful city on the Ida Gamulin has been President of EPTA Croatia since Adriatic coast in the heart of the Mediterranean, into a big family 2004. Her extensive repertoire ranged from baroque to of both Austrian and Croatian origin. There were no professional contemporary, and she is acclaimed for her appearances musicians in my family, but everyone could play an instrument with major symphony orchestras, as recitalist, chamber and music was part of our everyday life... like bread and water. My musician and recording artist. She has appeared solo and with earliest memories recall my grandmother Ida Strömberger singing orchestras in almost all European countries, as well as in Russia to me in the evening Austrian folk songs and beautiful melodies and the United States. She was awarded many prizes, including from Schubert songs. She was taking care of my musical education prestigeous Svetislav Stančić Prize at Yugoslav Music Artists from my first piano classes in Split to my first public concerts. My Competitions, Dame Myra Hess Award in London, Special Prize at family usually spent summer holidays in Jelsa on the island of Freiburg Festival and Milka Trnina prize, Croatian’s top cultural Hvar (Pharos), where my grandmother donated the organ to the award. local church. I remember playing Bach for hours locked in the church and fascinated by the timbres and colours of the sound. Ida Gamulin is a frequent broadcaster on both radio and TV. From that time on I began to have a magical obsession with Bach’s Her recording of Brahms F Sharp Minor Sonata has been music which continues today. I start every day with Bach to proclaimed the best recording performance by the USA Classical cleanse my thoughts, refresh my memory and keep my fingers Music Directory in 2005. Apart from her solo career, Ida Gamulin alive. has been full-professor at the Zagreb Music Academy. She holds regular master classes in Europe and sits on jury for international MM: Tell us about the beginnings of your piano studies piano competitions. and first teachers. My earliest memories IG: My first piano was a very bad instrument and I was already recall my grandmother thirteen when my grandmother bought me a new Challen piano. I Ida Strömberger singing remember trying the piano in front of my whole family with the to me in the evening first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. My reaction was quite Austrian folk songs and unexpected... I showed no joy or happiness but tears which could beautiful melodies from not stop. It was a natural reaction to the beauty of the sound that Schubert songs I had never heard before. I was always fascinated by the sound, and that fascination led 7 me from my first piano lessons to my studies in Zagreb under Prof J. Muray, who was the first assistant of the legendary Svetislav Stančić, founder of the Zagreb Piano School. His BACK TO CONTENTS

approach was very intelligent and analytical, and he also insisted MM: Tell us about your strong involvement with chamber on some technical exercises based on the Russian and French music. (Cortot) piano school, which helped to develop my finger technique. I was eighteen at that time and I expected to broaden IG: Apart from my solo repertoire, I played a lot of chamber my repertoire with some Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky or Scriabin music with my colleague violinist Goran Konchar, my future but surprisingly, he insisted on Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert husband. At that time he was on his postgraduate studies in and Brahms. Moscow under legendary Leonid Kogan and his wife Lisa Gilels. We played together the complete repertoire of Classical, Romantic Today I understand why, and I am so grateful that he had and 20th-century sonatas for violin and piano. That experience was patience with me, teaching me main postulates in music which for me as a pianist, invaluable. I became a musician!! Pianists are are like an Old Testament to any other music before or later. For always lonely, practising, travelling, recording, on stage... that’s why example, we worked on complete Preludes and Fugues by Bach, I recommend to all my students to play a lot of chamber music but at the same time also on Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis and and share that magnificent feeling of music-making with others. Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues. Now, I understand why, and I do the same with my students. MM: When did you first move away from home? IG: After finishing my Master’s degree in Zagreb I decided to MM: Do you have strong memories from your years of move with my husband to London. At that time, in the early study in Zagreb? eighties, London was the capital of the artistic, cultural and musical world. I had the unique opportunity to hear and meet IG: During my studies at the Zagreb Music Academy I worked artists from all over the world, piano legends as well as young occasionally with Rudolf Kehrer in Weimar and Yevgeny Timakin laureates playing most exquisite programmes. After having worked in Moscow, both prominent exponents of the famous Russian with excellent teachers I wanted to hear advice and suggestions piano school. Loose wrists, free elbows, use of light and heavy arm from great performers and artists whom I admired. I was lucky to were demands which I obeyed gratefully. So-called “Russian have had that opportunity during my four London years with repertoire” developed not only my technique but freedom of Stephen Kovacevich, John Lill, Alfred Brendel and Annie Fischer, interpretation and musical taste, through the Scarlattian pearl-like whenever she came to London. clarity of Prokofiev, orchestral piano sound and natural rubato in MM: It would be wonderful to hear more about your Rachmaninov to Shostakovich’s dark themes and Scriabin’s connections with Kovacevich, Brendel, Lill and Annie depths. Those were the most precious experiences in my late Fischer! teens, especially during my preparations for the Yugoslav IG: Stephen Kovacevich was very popular in Croatia for his Competition of Music Artists which gathered all Yugoslav pianists brillant recordings and piano recitals. I also remember him studying all over the world at famous music academies from conducting a concert with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Moscow to Berlin, Vienna, Paris and New York. My professor was and playing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. I worked with him very proud of me after winning the most prestigious Svetislav before and after my concert tours through the longer period of Stančić Prize in such a keen competition. time during my stay in London. As he also originates from the island of Hvar, I felt very close to him in a way. We worked on Pianists are always quite a large repertoire, not only Beethoven, although at that time lonely, practising, I played the three last Beethoven sonatas and Beethoven’s Fourth travelling, recording, Concerto. His advice was often of a practical nature, how to get a on stage... that’s why better sound or how to achieve maximum tempo and lightness at I recommend to all my the same time. He insisted on pianissimos in Beethoven G major students to play a lot of Concerto with no regard to loud orchestral piano. He also insisted chamber music on eruptive gradations, not controlled ones, especially in Liszt. After I returned to Zagreb I invited him to give a masterclass at 8 the Zagreb Music Academy although I knew he was not fond of that kind of teaching, but he accepted and students loved him. I still remember Alfred Brendel's Beethoven recital in Basel where I played with Goran the day before. That concert was part of his 32 Beethoven Sonatas Concert Series throughout Europe.

Listening to Alfred Brendel live on stage was, for me, the turning Russian repertoire point in my “thought and afterthoughts” about live performances. developed not only my His emotional impact on the audience (and me) was so technique but freedom captivating in a sense that for a long time after the concert you of interpretation and could still feel the electric atmosphere and live character of some musical taste parts he played. His Beethoven recitals in the Queen Elizabeth Hall were also a part of that concert series. I was so grateful and Elizabeth Hall recitals, my career developed rapidly. I got thrilled when he invited me to attend all his rehearsals during the invitations through the Zagreb Concert Management for recitals recital series, especially because they were also the recording in the Franz Liszt Academy, Rudolfinum, Auditorio Manuel de sessions for his second (or third?) edition of Beethoven sonatas. Falla and Unisa Concert Hall, appeared at the Janáček, Varna, I learned so much about recording in the hall after carefully Freiburg, Dubrovnik and Spoleto Festivals and toured throughout preparing the piano with the highest possible creative the ex-Soviet Union and Europe with my husband. One of my concentration, in comparison to the evening concert without favourites was a concert with the Talich Chamber Orchestra in microphones and motivated by the audience. After that Lichtenstein’s Palace in Prague with Jan Talich conducting Mozart experience I never recorded in the studio again but always in the KV.414 and giving the world premiere of Tu mar de mi alma by hall with natural hall acoustics. Alfred Brendel came to Zagreb a Croatian composer Berislav Shipush for piano and strings. I often few years after my return, with the BBC crew recording a film played thematic or one-composer recitals: Bach recital (Jesu, Joy of about his life. Not many people know that he actually started to Man’s Desiring, Italian Concerto, Chromatic Phantasy and Fugue, play the piano in Zagreb with Sofia Dezelich, where he moved Partita in E Minor); Beethoven recital (Tempest Sonata, Waldstein with his family as a young boy. I found some photos in the Sonata, Sonata Op. 110); Brahms recital (Two Rhapsodies, Op. 119 archives from his first public concert in the Zagreb National and F sharp minor Sonata); Schubert recital (Hungarian Melody, Theatre as well as some letters which his mother Ida regularly Three Piano Pieces Op.Posth, Sonata in B flat); Italian Capriccio sent to Miss Dezelich about his successes after they left Zagreb. (Scarlatti, Bellini and Rossini); and a Russian programme with He sent me later with thanks a five-CD box set of Beethoven Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons and two Prokofiev Sonatas. My chamber Concertos with Simon Rattle which he preferred to all other music concert programmes included almost all Piano Quintets recordings (especially the fourth concerto). with the Zagreb String Quartet, Jan Talich String Quartet (Prague) and the Budapest String Quartet (Budapest), Arias and Romances I met John Lill after one of his memorable recitals in Zagreb. by Russian composers with the Bolshoi Theatre bass Aleksander His highly intelligent and intellectual pianism and vast repertoire Kisselev and Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Beethoven, Debussy, fascinated me long before I met him in person. His observations Schubert and Shostakovich with my husband Goran Konchar. to my playing, especially of Beethoven Op. 109, were guidelines in my future work on late Beethoven. Op. 109, 110 and 111 are much MM: Tell us about your return home and love of teaching. more than just piano sonatas and it was definitely him who IG: Expecting our first child we both decided to return to offered me the right answers to my questions and wanderings. Zagreb (1986) and were soon appointed assistant professors at the Therefore I was very sorry when he refused to come on the jury of Zagreb Music Academy. Goran also became a member of the Zagreb the Svetislav Stančić International Piano Competition because at String Quartet which he has been leading for the last 30 years. At that time he was too busy playing many concerts in the States. the same time I devoted more time to our daughter Ljerka Elizabeth, and that was the main reason why we both decided to Annie Fischer never came to Zagreb but I met her in Budapest stop with our chamber music concert tours in the future. where I played Dora Pejacevich’s evening with the Budapest String Starting a teaching career I was glad and ready to share my Quartet. During my stay in London we met many times whenever experiences with my first students, getting much more satisfaction she came for a concert and it was quite often in the early eighties. with their progress and success than with my solo concerts. Some I still remember the day when she decided not to travel anymore... of them have continued with their careers abroad and some became and she never came to London again. I still have her Budapest devoted and caring teachers. I am very proud of my students. address that she wrote in my notebook with trembling letters: Szet Istvan Park 14, Budapest. That was our farewell! MM: Though it is distressing to remember, can you tell us a little about some of your deeply impressive artistic work Our sessions usually lasted four to five hours with intervals during the war years from the 1990s? when I could play to her almost whole recital programmes on a beautiful Bechstein piano in the flat of our mutual friend from IG: During the five years of the tragic and most absurd war in the British Council. She liked the way I played Bach, and insisted 20th-century Europe, in Croatia (1999-2004), both Goran and I on long lines, natural rubato and singing legato in all Romantic played many humanitarian concerts abroad. pieces I played. I still remember her words interrupting my playing: “Donʼt enjoy the music you are playing but listen to what The life in shelters was a nightmare for both of us especially is coming out from the piano... let the audience enjoy!!” During because in the meantime our second child, son Lovro, came into intervals she gave me many useful pieces of advice for rehearsals the world. It was very difficult and stressful to explain to our with orchestra, practising on tour, dealing with agencies and children why this war had started. It was a horrible time. planning interesting recital programmes. She was a very warm and caring person and I still remember many things she told me about I was especially sad later when I heard that Annie Fischer had managing both life, family and career together. Today I am proud died in Budapest during the war in Croatia and I did not even to have a beautiful and talented daughter, Ljerka Elizabeth, both know. Thatʼs why I hate wars! cellist and composer, a laureate of the Kabalevsky International Competition for Composition, and son Lovro, a young architect One particular memory is playing a concert in aid of victims of graduated in Vienna where he has been invited by his university Dubrovnik in St. Martin-in-the-Fields with Stephen Kovacevich, professor to continue his career in a Centre for Global Martha Argerich and Alex Rabinovich. It was actually Stephen’s Architecture, the winning Austrian team for the Biennale in idea to collect some financing for Dubrovnik, a magnificant Venice. My grandmother Ida would be so proud! ancient city where he played many times. MM: What was the most significant turning point in your BACK TO CONTENTS professional career? IG: After winning the Myra Hess Award, followed by a successful South Bank debut in 1983 and two later Queen 9

Svetislav Stančić International Piano Competition 2014; Vladimir Krpan, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, Ida Gamulin, Naum Grubert, Dmitry Bashkirov, Liquing Young, Philip Fowke, Eliso Virsaladze. 10

MM: How did EPTA Croatia re-emerge after the war years? Starting a teaching career IG: During the war, cultural and concert life in Croatia stopped I was glad and ready to and in my opinion that was the right moment to revive share my experiences with hibernating EPTA Croatia and give her a new start. As the new my first students president, elected in 2004, I tried to gather as many new young members as I could according to the circumstances. I continued own interpretations. The most important achievement in the with two major international piano competitions in partnership development of young artists is when they succeed in captivating with the Zagreb Concert Management; Svetislav Stančić the audience with their interpretations and individuality. Sadly International Piano Competition in Zagreb and Dora Pejacevich many of them never succeed. International Piano Competition in Osijek, inviting the most prominent pianists and teachers onto the jury, including Dmitry MM: What are some of the things you encourage your Bashkirov, Eliso Virsaladze, Philip Fowke, Gjörgy Sándor, Jerome students to try and participate in? Rose, Eugen Indjic, Naum Grubert, Karl-Heinz Kammerling, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Sebastian Benda, Murray McLachlan, Diane IG: During every academic year I stimulate my students to Andersen, Dina Yoffe and many others. I also started the EPTA apply for various auditions or Young Artists Concert Series in laureates Concert Series in all Croatian cities and abroad, smaller concert halls or salons. They should prepare a professional presenting young Croatian prizewinners from both competitions. CV, photo and good programme for such an occasion. Only very MM: Your recording career is extremely impressive and organised and ambitious students succeed in doing it alone has been widely acclaimed. Can you tell us about your first without my help. All others, sometimes the most talented ones, CD and how your discography developed from there? behave like “moonwalkers”, expecting someone else to do this IG: My first digital debut recording (Abbey Road Studio, work. London 1985) for EMI/Mava label with Prokofiev Sonatas got an excellent review in Gramophone by Lionel Salter. In the same year I Today, it is much more difficult for young musicians to start recorded the First and Sixth Partitas by Bach (CBS Studio, their career without winning some competitions, because concert London) for Yugoton. That was the beginning of what is, to date, a agencies and promoters want only big names and young stars on 35-year-long collaboration with Yugoton, latterly extensively with their lists...audiences too. Croatia Records. Additionally I have recorded almost the complete piano oeuvre of Dora Pejacevich, as well as major works including MM: I know that Croatia has suffered since lockdown not Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, Brahms’ F sharp minor Sonata and his only with Covid-19 but also with a terrrible earthquake. Tell Op. 119 pieces, There is a Schumann Carnaval, Bach Italian Capriccio us about some of your experiences since March. with Scarlatti Sonatas and also some Italian music: Bellini’s Sonata in G and Rossini’s Sins from Old Age. I’ve enjoyed a lot of variety, IG: Since the lockdown started in Croatia, all cultural events and I recall also Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto and Tu mar de mi have been cancelled, concerts, masterclasses, competitions, even alma by Berislav Shipush with the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra. music schools and academies closed their doors and piano lessons There is another recording of the Dora Pejacevich Piano Quintet continued online. But as it was not enough, a few days later, on with the Zagreb String Quartet and Miniatures for violin and 22nd March, there was a disasterous earthquake in Zagreb which piano with violinist Jan Talich. There is a Schubert CD with the destroyed the old centre of Zagreb, its churches, concert halls, D960 Sonata in B Flat, Three Piano Pieces op.posth and cultural institutions, universities and thousands of homes. After Hungarian Melody. Finally there are four CDs of Croatian this shock I was healing my PTSP with Beethoven although composers with music dedicated to me. EPTA’s Conference in Bonn has definitely been cancelled. MM: Your wonderful EPTA competitions are extremely popular and widely respected internationally. Tell us about I was planning concerts to mark my 35th anniversary, and 15 your involvement with the competitive piano world. years of leading EPTA Croatia, but obviously in 2020 everything IG: Although I was not fond of competitions myself, I always has to be cancelled. It is a terrible pity! advise young pianists to apply for competitions and attract attention being different and imaginative, not only competitive. I BACK TO CONTENTS like sitting on the juries, listening to devoted young musicians from various piano schools showing at the same time their own cultural, social and musical heritage. I would prefer to listen to more of their own compositions, improvisations and chamber music than always the same competition programmes. Sometimes I am very unhappy with the results which could be totally different with some other jury members, but that’s life! MM: As a teacher, do you have strong principles on the development of young fingers and hands? IG: Regarding the development of technique in general, the question is what is “technique?” It is not possible to work on technique apart from music, because technique is not just speed and accuracy. Good technique is complete freedom of movement in service of the sound and maximum intensity. MM: How do you try to encourage imagination and creativity in your students? IG: To become a good musician every pupil has to broaden their horizons in many ways through the educational system, knowledge and understanding of musical thoughts to build their 11

On recording the music of Roger-Ducasse by Patrick Hemmerlé 12

The selection process which decides if a composer is going to “make it” is drastic. Indeed, it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a composer to be played past the first performance, never mind 100 years after he died. In 2019 I issued a CD of music by the French composer I am not making the claim that Roger-Ducasse should be Roger-Ducasse. If you have never heard of his name compared with J. S. Bach; this would be absurd. I am saying the before, you are not alone; few people have. When I sieve of history is actually very fine, and that although we may be mention his name in conversation, it is not rare to hear, safe in assuming that major figures are going to be recognised, you mean Paul Dukas, the composer of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. To which accepting the opinions of the cognoscenti without questioning I have to say, No, Roger-DucaSSE, you must pronounce the S, which you may mean bypassing composers who could greatly enrich our would not in Dukas, not if you are French that is. At this point my lives as musicians and performers. interlocutor will usually have the blank look which betrays total ignorance, and quite possibly total lack of interest. For a long time, I have been looking for these marginal figures: composers who really have something to bring to the table, but After all, is not history always right? Out of the thousands of that for some reason most people seem to be only dimly aware of. composers we can see on a website like imslp.org, how many do A defining moment happened when I was in my early twenties. I we actually know? 0.001%? The selection process which decides if wanted to know if Switzerland had produced any composers of a composer is going to “make it” is drastic. Indeed, it would be value apart from Honegger, so I opened a music guide and read easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a about a certain Frank Martin, of whom I had never heard. He was composer to be played past the first performance, never mind 100 warmly praised so I decided to give him a go. I went to the music years after he died. And there is sense in this. After all, the idea of library of the conservatoire in Paris, where I found a recording of playing the music written by someone born long ago in a different his oratorio Golgotha. I put it on and almost immediately the hairs culture, different aesthetics, a different set of values, is altogether were standing on my head. I was bowled over; this was a puzzling. The strange thing is not that we forget most composers, masterpiece of the first order, and a week earlier I didn’t even rather the strange thing is that we actually play the music of some know the name of the composer. This triggered not only a lifelong of them long after they should normally be expected to have passion for Frank Martin, but also an insatiable desire to see if passed their sell-by date. there were more of these obscure geniuses that for inexplicable reasons have been left by the wayside. In time, and with the help The theory is that we grant exception when composers manage of the internet, I came to gather quite a collection: people like to transcend the boundaries of time, place, culture and values Franz Schmidt, Allan Pettersson, Leevi Madetoja, Hugo Alfven, all described above, and write music which still has the power to symphonists of the first order. I also stumbled upon mavericks, speak to us when in all reasonableness it shouldn’t. people whose music was too strange ever to be widely known, but whose eccentricity delighted me: names like Rued Langgaard or So, if we accept that playing Mozart, Chopin or Debussy Matthijs Vermeulen spring to mind. I also discovered that an already is something of an anomaly, is there a sense in bringing obscure Czech composer called Vitezslav Novak wrote one of the back to light composers who seem to have failed the history test? most ambitious works for the piano in the early 20th century. Nearly an hour long, called Pan, it is a vast hymn to nature. When We could answer this question by arguing that if Mendelssohn I played it in Prague, the Czechs were greatly surprised that the had been that pessimistic, he would never have put on his historic work was so good, and that it was a Frenchman who played it. The performance of the Matthew Passion, kicking off the Bach revival work hadn’t been played there for over 40 years. which persists to this day. Bach in his lifetime was already writing music which was out of fashion, and, apart from a small group of Being French, I also realised that the early 20th century had a musicians such as Mozart, Beethoven or Chopin, who were aware lot more to offer than Debussy, Ravel and Fauré. So, I performed of his genius, studied him and played his music, he was by and the music of Maurice Emmanuel, Déodat de Séverac, Abel Decaux, large a forgotten figure, not nearly as well-known as his son Carl Vincent D’Indy, Jean Cras. And Roger-Ducasse. He was, like many Philipp Emmanuel. others, a name I had once seen and that was spoken of with some warmth in a music magazine. But this was the prehistoric time Being French I also when if you wanted to play a composer who was not mainstream, realised that the early you had to order his music, and this was sometimes complicated. 20th century had a Then internet happened, and with it imslp.org, which totally lot more to offer than revolutionised our access to music. The name Roger-Ducasse came Debussy, Ravel and Fauré back from a dusty corner of my memory, and I checked to see whether he might be there. Again, as with the Martin, I remember a moment of pure joy. Even the most cursory glance told me that beyond reasonable doubt this music had so much to offer and was almost tailored to appeal to me. For one thing, it is B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 13

quintessentially French, and since I have lived in England now for competition, he was recording for BIS the complete piano works more years than I can count on both hands, my interest in French of Skalkottas. When, over a plate of chips, he asked what I would music has grown. I do not miss my country but being away from it like to record for him, I didn’t take him very seriously. I talked made me conscious of being French, and the music written by my about Roger-Ducasse, whom he didn’t know anything about, but compatriots is a way to connect to this part of me. Roger- told me he trusted me, and that we should do it. I thought no Ducasse’s music is also quintessentially polyphonic, and nothing more about it until I got a phone call a few months later: I have a delights me more on the piano than trying to make clear intricate slot for you in 2 weeks’ time, and we have a wonderful Bechstein piano that polyphonic lines. I could happily spend my life playing Bach would be ideal for this music; are you free? I thought, this chap has never Fugues; the more voices thrown at me, the better. So, with this seen a line of Roger-Ducasse if he thinks I can put together a full Roger- music, written more often than not on three staves, where the Ducasse programme in a fortnight. I pushed for more time, but the score looks like the Amazonian forest, I feel at home. I also love a Bechstein wouldn’t wait. In the end we compromised. I recorded challenge, and with Roger-Ducasse I have met my match. He half the CD, and asked for a few months to do the other half, of writes music that is probably quite playable for a species of human which I hadn’t yet learned a single note, so that this album was being with two brains, and 20 fingers on each of their three recorded in two sessions, nine months apart, miraculously on the hands. For where we are at in evolutionary terms, he is borderline. same instrument. To tackle a work by Roger-Ducasse is to accept the necessity of spending many hours with a score and trying to find a way to It remains one of the highlights of my life as a pianist, the one make possible the impossible. recording of mine that I can still listen to with pleasure, and that gives me the satisfaction of having done something worthwhile. I accepting the opinions of won’t claim that his music is for everyone. Roger-Ducasse’s music the cognoscenti without is full of paradoxes. He is a kind of French Max Reger if that is questioning may mean not too offputting. On the one hand he has the charm and bypassing composers who elegance of his teacher and friend Gabriel Fauré; he can also could greatly enrich our conjure up a magical sound world which is often reminiscent of lives as musicians and Debussy. On the other hand, there is in him an almost perverse performers need to make life difficult. For the interpreters, as we have seen, but also for his audience, and therefore, for himself. Roger- I am not here talking of “horizontal” virtuosity, by which I Ducasse is incapable of the slightest compromise. Debussy wrote mean the speed of execution as can be seen in an Etude by his Etudes, but he also wrote Clair de Lune, Fauré’s late style is Chopin or Liszt. Roger-Ducasse’s concept of virtuosity is vertical. notoriously difficult to grasp, but every music lover will have He has probably the same number of notes per minute in his enjoyed his Elegy as a teenager. Once we have loved a relatively andantes as Chopin has in his prestos. Only the notes are piled on easy work by a composer, a sort of pact is created; we feel we can top of one another in a way that seems to defy the most trust them. Roger-Ducasse does not do this. He only has works elementary concepts of physiology. So, one has to be pragmatic, which are marginally less difficult. On my CD, these would be the and sort out the problems one by one. Which hand should play first Barcarolle, closely modelled after Chopin’s, and possibly the what? Can my left hand come to the rescue of my right which is second of the Arabesques. The rewards one gets from listening to in a tight corner and could use some help? This chord is too big; him I feel are immense, but one has to make an effort, perhaps should I break it or spread it? How do I manage to keep the main even an act of faith, gambling that this composer really may have melodic line going when I have so many secondary voices which something to tell us worth the investment he demands. But this keep forcing me away from it, and only one pedal? Most of the aloofness is not a miscalculation, it is actually an integral, even a solutions involve some sort of compromise, and sometimes it is deliberate part of Roger-Ducasse’s identity. He wanted people to hard to let go. During the recording sessions I remember doing make the effort and preferred not being played at all than extra takes for one section of the second Barcarolle where I realised compromising in any way with his artistic standards. He probably that if I really stretched my hands to capacity and moved quickly suffered from this, but he was quite prepared to accept the enough from one position to another, I could just about play the consequences. He used to say, probably with some bitterness, that second theme without having to break the chords, which always music was not written to be played, and I rather suspect that the frustrated me. In concert it would be too risky, but in two or three technical challenges are designed to keep performers at bay unless takes, I managed it, and it does sound much better that way. In they feel prepared to give him a great deal of time and energy. His the third Barcarolle I went a step further, I managed to play a 14th, fate is unlikely to improve much in a world where we are between my third finger and my elbow. Again I had to do a few increasingly looking for immediate gratification. But if you are a takes, because the section is pianissimo and my elbow, which is not lover of French music, and if you are stimulated rather than trained for this kind of thing, tended either to crash on the keys, scared by a challenge, then Roger-Ducasse’s music is for you. He is not play at all, or play a cluster. But the musical gain is undeniable. really the Mr Darcy of French music: slightly misanthropic and not easily tamed; his acquaintance, once secured, will bring you an This recording was a long-standing project. Well before I even abundance of riches. Tempted? dared to hope I might one day record a CD, I thought that if I ever did, a Roger-Ducasse album would be high on my priority Patrick Hemmerlé is laureate of the list. Then, a few years later, I won a competition in Paris, and international competitions of Valencia, things changed. On the jury was a Greek pianist/sound technician Toledo, Epinal, Grossetto, and more recently who was soon to create his own label, Melism. We got on well the CFRPM in Paris, where his because, like me, he had a passion for undiscovered repertoire. At interpretation of Villa-Lobos’s Rudepoema the age where pianists normally battle in international raised a great deal of interest. His repertoire 14 includes some of the largest works in the piano literature, as well as some of the rarest. His recent recordings show him to be an artist of penetrating intellect, sensitivity and energised enthusiasm. He was trained in Paris at the Conservatoire (CNR), under the tuition of Billy Eidi. He has also had lessons with Ventsislav Yankoff, Eric Heidsieck and Joaquín Soriano.

Rachmaninov’s repertoire was a mirror of his own romantic personality Rachmaninov in 1916; charcoal sketch by Leonid Pasternak (1862–1945) Rachmaninovʼs performance style: Rachmaninov as a concert pianist by Angelina Kopyrina and Laura Ritchie, University of Chichester Rachmaninov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892. He had begun his career In November 1911, the first time Rachmaninov had performed a as a pianist, but became increasingly inspired by work by another composer in public, he performed Tchaikovsky’s composition. In fact, Rachmaninov’s final examination First Piano Concerto in B flat minor op.23 in Kiev. According to Martyn (1990), after that concert Rachmaninov never stopped his led him to think that his career could be made entirely as a appearances as a virtuoso pianist in public. composer: As a composer-pianist, Rachmaninov’s interpretations always “The board had granted me a “5 plus,” the highest rating, and Tchaikovsky represented a deep understanding of musical structure and had added three plus signs to this mark – over it, below it, and beside it. were a disciplined display of a carefully-constructed craft. His It was decided that in the early autumn I should enter Taneyev’s first-year approach to composition was fundamental to his performance counterpoint class, and thus my fate as a composer was, as it were, officially and how he interpreted music; he was not only a professional sealed.” (Riesemann, 1934, p. 18) pianist, but also a performer with a composer’s point of view. Rachmaninov talked about the benefits of being a performer and Initially, Rachmaninov performed as a pianist very rarely. a composer simultaneously and confirmed the importance of the Usually he played his own compositions, as part of recitals communication between these “creative minds” (Maine, 1936): featuring a mixture of performers. Rachmaninov found, though, that this balance of composition and performance did not provide enough income. His financial circumstances meant If you are a composer you have an affinity with other composers. You can that Rachmaninov had to start his career as a concert pianist. make contact with their imaginations, knowing something of their problems and ideals. You can give their works colour. What matters is, they (composers/ B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 15

Rachmaninov was Crociata (1973) states that the most important aspect of struggling to perform performance preparation for Rachmaninov was to define the and compose at the climax “point” for each composition. Next, according to Crociata, same time Rachmaninov would define the structure of the “culminating point”. Rachmaninov explained this process to a poet and friend Marietta performers) had the creative mind and so were able to communicate with other Shaginian in a personal conversation: minds of the same order. (p. 14–15) “Maybe at the end or in the middle, it may be loud or soft; but the Fortunately, recordings of Rachmaninov performing his own performer must know how to approach it with absolute calculation, absolute compositions survive and these allow the listener to discover his precision, because, if it slips by, then the whole construction crumbles, and the performance style and artistic interpretations. Several researchers piece becomes disjointed and scrappy and does not convey to the listener what and authoritative musicians (some of whom were his friends, must be conveyed.” (p. 6) music critics, and scholars) provided critical musical analysis and reminiscence of hearing his live performances. These records make The main influence for Rachmaninov’s performance style was a significant contribution to the understanding of Rachmaninov’s Anton Rubinstein, as he was the first concert pianist in Russia; “In practice of performance. the outward appearance of Rubinstein there was something that impressed everyone, without exception, in an unusual degree. Especially striking was his Chasins (1957), who was Rachmaninov’s close friend, resemblance to Beethoven, in consequence of which Liszt fondly called him mentioned his unique, rhythmically-sustained pulse and “his way ‘Van the Second’” (Walter, 1919, p. 11). In the opinion of the music of orchestrating chords with special beauty through individual distribution critic Rafael Kammerer (1966) Rachmaninov’s performance art of balance and blendings” (p. 45). He also noted that Rachmaninov’s resembled Anton Rubinstein’s. Particularly in musical phrasing, playing was full of “melodic eloquence” and “dramatic virtuosity” (p. 45). Rachmaninov highlighted and emphasised the inner melodies and These aspects of Rachmaninov’s performance style are reflected voices. Rachmaninov first saw Rubinstein perform on stage when in the notation of almost all his own compositions for piano, he attended Rubinstein’s “Historical Recitals”1 and the impact of and for performers this has become a characteristic feature of these recitals on Rachmaninov’s artistry remained through his Rachmaninov’s music. Medtner, who was a well-known composer entire life. (Norris, 1980). and Rachmaninov’s friend, believed “his [Rachmaninov’s] sound is never neutral, impersonal, empty” and that this unique pianistic touch In Rachmaninov’s lifetime, critics admired Rachmaninov and was achieved through “incomparable intensity, flame and the saturation considered him a great virtuoso; in the opinion of John Gillespie of beauty” (Holmes, 1990, p. 115). Rachmaninov’s live performances he was “a spectacular pianist equal to any of the leading twentieth-century involved an incredible unity of the whole musical composition. virtuosos” (Crociata, 1973, p. 8). His technique and virtuosity serve to clarify the artistic images for the listener. Rachmaninov’s pianistic art includes melodic Rachmaninov’s success as a concert pianist had begun to expressiveness, extraordinary virtuosity, a stable rhythmic pulse: provide him with a significant income. “his rhythm, like his sound, is always included in his musical soul – it is, as it were, the beating of his living pulse” (Brower, 1926, p. 1) and orchestral In 1925, he became the second highest paid musician in colours which come out of the music harmonies. All these qualities the United States of America, after Paderewski. As a pianist, of his performances are combined with his absolutely unique touch. Rachmaninov had built an outstanding reputation across Western Europe and the USA. He had an established repertoire, which he Despite the complexity of Rachmaninov’s performance style, continued to increase during his professional performance life. his playing was simple, refined and noble: “So big were his musical However, Rachmaninov was struggling to perform and compose at thoughts, so aristocratic his instincts that he ennobled whatever he played” the same time. During what is considered his immigration period, (Schonberg, 1987, p. 391). The simplicity with which Rachmaninov when he left Russia and established himself in America (1918– played his music was completely astonishing: “Sovereign style, a 1943), Rachmaninov dedicated more time in his creative life to his combination of grandeur and daring, the naturalness and the giving of his performance career than to composition. In correspondence to his whole self” (Schnabel, 3rd April, 1943). According to Kammerer friend Swan (Piggott, 1978) Rachmaninov wrote: (1966), Rachmaninov’s repertoire was a mirror of his own romantic personality; it included his own compositions foremost, but “With all my travels and the absence of a permanent abode, I really have he also performed pieces by the traditional Classical/Romantic no time to compose, and, when I now sit down to write, it does not come to me era composers Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, very easily. Not as in former years” (p. 84) Mendelssohn, Schubert, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Borodin. As for more modern compositions, Rachmaninov’s favourites were Historical Background: Rachmaninov’s performing arts the early works of Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel, as well as his heritage contemporaries Scriabin and Medtner. The phenomena of the “Russian piano school” is acknowledged Norris’s book (1980) provides information about Rachmaninov’s by the contemporary music world, even though an official term practice regime, as told from the point of view of his family. Norris or formal definition of this teaching/learning method has never describes Rachmaninov’s cousin Sophia Satina’s recollection existed. Its influence was apparent through the 19th and 20th that Rachmaninov’s daily practice regime was a constant four to centuries, as well as among modern-day performing pianists. six hours a day, starting with one hour of scales and individual Rachmaninov was one of the most remarkable representatives of finger exercises. Norris describes every aspect of Rachmaninov’s this performance tradition. performance style as being characterised and dictated by discipline. Rachmaninov’s technique represented rhythmic In 1838, both the Irish composer John Field and the German control, an exquisite legato and freedom in complicated textures. pianist Adolf von Henselt came to Russia’s capital city, St. Also according to Norris, when Rachmaninov was preparing the Petersburg: “they established their musical roots in Russia and amassed composition for performance his considerations were: “You must enormous power and influence, creating a Russian culture that would influence take the work apart, peer into ever corner, before you can assemble the whole” generations of pianists and piano teachers to this day” (Ponce, 2019, p. (p. 555). 1 Anton Rubinstein presented seven different programmes in 1886, 16 designed to exhibit the scope of piano literature, featuring works by William Byrd, John Bull, Jean Rameau, François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, C. P. E. Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Carl Maria von Weber, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Muzio Clementi, John Field, Ignaz Moscheles, Adolf Henselt, Sigismund Thalberg, Franz Liszt, Mikhail Glinka, Mily Balakirev, Piotr Tchaikovsky, César Cui, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Antol Liadov and Nicholas Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein, before 1894 After Liszt and Thalberg retired, the position of “world’s greatest pianist” was unoccupied (Schonberg, 1985). Anton Rubinstein was Anton Rubinstein was the the first Russian musician who gained international recognition first Russian musician as a concert pianist. Rubinstein’s performance practice came as a who gained international result of his meeting with Chopin and Liszt during his concert recognition as a concert tour in Paris, 1841. He was charmed by their differing performance pianist styles. To the point of Josef Hoffmann, who was Rubinstein’s pupil, his method of teaching contains the use of an imagery approach, 161). This was a significant event as there was not any existence of no liberties with music score and no demonstration at the piano Russian conservatories or renowned teachers in the international (Gerig, 1974): performance music society during the 17th and 18th centuries.2 Henselt had a distinguished lineage, having studied with Johann “He explained, analysed, elucidated everything that he wanted me to know; Nepumuk Hummel, who was an Austrian composer and virtuoso but, this done, he left me to my own judgement, for only then, he would explain, pianist, in Weimar, Germany, in 1832 for few months. Henselt would my achievement be my own incontestable property” (p. 295-296) was also known to Franz Liszt, who admired his playing: “he was known as a formidable virtuoso performer, admired even by Liszt” (Martyn, Rachmaninov’s art of performance was inherited through the 1990, p. 364). Subsequently, Rachmaninov was noted to appreciate first generation of the Russian professors: Field, Henselt and Henselt’s considerable contribution to the development of the Villoing via Clementi and Hummel to the central figure of the Russian piano school (Gerig, 1974): Russian piano school: Anton Rubinstein via Liszt and Chopin. “it was not until the second half of the 19th century that a school of Bibliography/References Russian pianists began to achieve international recognition. And when the Russians finally came into their own, they took over the piano scene.” (p. 288) Brower, Harriette Moore, “Modern Masters of the Keyboard”, New York: F.A. Stokes Co., 1926 John Field was a world-renowned founder of the piano Chasins, Abrahm, “Speaking of Pianist”, 1957. Re-published by Alfred nocturne, and represented the pedagogical tradition of Muzio A. Knoff Inc., New York, 1958 Clementi, his teacher. Field’s student Alexandre Dubuque – “the Crociata, Francis “The Piano Music of Sergei Wassilievitch Rachmaninoff”. most fashionable teacher of the day” (Martyn, p. 364) – taught the Piano Quarterly 21.82, 1973 French immigrant Alexandre Villoing, who was Anton Rubinstein’s Holmes, John L., “Composers on Composers”, Westport, Conn., teacher. According to Gerig (1974), from 1862 onward Villoing was Greenwood Press, 1990 the most respected teacher in St. Petersburg. Kammerer, Rafael “The Golden Art of Sergei Rachmaninoff”, American Record Guide, 1966 2 Rubinstein brothers (Anton and Nikolay) established St. Petersburg Maine, Basil. “Conversation with Rachmaninoff”, Musical Opinion 60, (1862) and Moscow conservatoires (1866) 1936, 14-15 Norris, Geoffrey. Rachmaninoff. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, MacMillan & Co., London, 1980, 550-558. Piggott, Patrick. Rachmaninoff. Faber and Faber, London, 1978 Riesemann, Oscar von. Rachmaninoff’s Recollections, London, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1934 Schonberg, Harold. “The Great Pianists: from Mozart to the Present”, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, 1987 Schnabel, Artur, posthumous tribute to Rachmaninoff. The New York World Telegram, 3 April, 1943 Walter, Victor. Reminiscences of Anton Rubinstein. The Musical Quarterly, Oxford University Press, January 1919, 11 Angelina Kopyrina is a multiple prize 17 winning classical pianist in several UK and European competitions. She has performed at the Barbican Hall, Dukes Hall, St. Martin- in-the-Fields and Turner Sims. Angelina is studying a PhD at Chichester University, where she is researching “Rachmaninov’s piano sonatas: author’s editions and challenges of interpretation”. Laura Ritchie is Professor of Learning and Teaching at the University of Chichester Conservatoire where she leads the PhD provision. She trained as a classical cellist, and has since authored music, teaching, and psychology publications, devised curricula, and is course leader of the ESTA PG Cert Teaching. BACK TO CONTENTS

The Originality of Schumannʼs Early Piano Works by Jui-Sheng Li Schumann’s concept of “originality” can be found in his paths of his predecessors like Bach, Beethoven and Schubert, resistance toward the trends of his time, his yearning to whose music he thought possessed “true essence.” express a sense of individuality in his works, and his use of musical quotations to express his political viewpoint. Plantinga states that “His [Schumann] foremost demands of During the 1830s, the concert halls in Germany mainly featured the music of his time, to be sure, are the familiar requirements touring piano virtuosos such as Bertini and Thalberg. The public of the 19th-century esthetic: originality, a personal mode of particularly enjoyed this fashionable, commercially-oriented expression, or to use Schumann’s own language, ‘fantasy,’ the style of music. The music scene was full of flashy arrangements ‘characteristic,’ and the ‘poetic’ – all qualities that for Schumann of foreign operatic tunes played by the virtuosic pianists, and the eluded precise definition, but that he believed were the most market was also dominated by those touring pianists’ repertory important attributes of music.”3 Schumann did not want his works (Plantinga 1966). In addition to those virtuosos, Schumann to be lumped with those “distasteful imported music” that did not was very opinionated about the Italian opera culture. In his meet his esthetic expectations: not having canonic composer’s contribution to Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1835, Schumann legacy, Bach in particular, and not having enough national identity. criticises: In other words, Schumann sought to distinguish himself from his contemporaries and the commercial trends, which led him to The so-called romantic or “fantastic” school, as it is also establish his own voice. called by its adherents, has acquired a sister. Italian papers now call the school of Rossini “romantic” as opposed to Standing out as a unique individual was one thing; making the classic, or old-Italian. Will the most recent romantic of one’s music being heard and appreciated in 1830–40s Germany Germany and France acknowledge their Italian namesake?1 was another struggle in itself. Barthes (1986) suggests that “… In the face of certain trends influenced by foreign culture, the intent of making someone listen [to music] intimately… Schumann was under severe pressure as a German composer. [this intimacy] has a certain amount of egotism involved.” This In Schumann’s View of “Romantic,” Leon Plantinga says that “it was can be seen in Schumann’s Kinderszenen, throughout which he particularly against the ascendancy of this style [the imported inserted rather unusual dynamic expressions. Among his thirteen trend], Schumann informs us, that the musical romantics in movements, his uses of fortes are disproportionate: no. 6 ‘Wichtige Germany waged war.”2 Throughout his life, Schumann sought Begebenheit (The Knight of the Rocking-horse)’ has forte and tirelessly for his idea of “true essence in music” and further fortissimo indications, no. 11, ‘Fürchtenmachen (Frightening)’, has avoided imported musical culture, particularly operatic works and a brief section that is marked forte, and the remaining movements the corresponding transcriptions for piano. In contrast, Schumann are all in piano or pianissimo expressions. This seems to have continually developed his expressive qualities by following the the effect of drawing in the listener closer to the music both physically and emotionally, which relates to Barthes’ comment on Schumann continually Schumann’s intimacy. developed his expressive qualities by following the In addition to his use of soft dynamics, Schumann sought paths of his predecessors creative ways of delivering intimacy. In his article, Timothy Taylor (1990) asks “in the last movement of Schumann’s Kinderszenen, 18 op. 15, why is it titled as “Poet Speaks,” not “Composer speaks?” Taylor concludes that Schumann personified himself as a poet to narrate music, allowing him to insert his raw emotions. Overall, Schumann’s insertion of his personal, vulnerable and intimate sense of individuality was perhaps what made Schumann’s music marketable.

Schumann’s “originality” lies in his battle against the trends of his time Praised as “a musician of Schumann’s innovation also lies in the extensive usage of quotations in his works. In integrity and depth” (New York his music, one may notice his frequent tendency to “self-quote” melodic passages in his Concert Review), pianist Jui-Sheng later compositions. In addition to quoting his own musical ideas, Schumann also adored Li is currently on the artist roster of incorporating literary elements. In Motives for Allusions, Christopher Reynolds states that, the Lincoln Center Stage and “For literature, references and allusions to works by earlier writers have been held to be the pursuing a Doctor of Music degree hallmark of German Romantic culture, a characteristic that became more pronounced as the at McGill University’s Schulich body of canonic works expanded.”4 In the case of Schumann, his uniqueness is manifested in School of Music under the guidance his intellectual choices of literary inspirations in his music. Among all the works, the musical of Professors Kyoko Hashimoto and reflection of Jean Paul’s Flegeljahre in Papillons, Op. 2 and the structural mirroring of The Life and Roe-Min Kok. Opinions of the Tomcat Murr in Kreisleriana, Op. 16 came to the fore. The musical quotations in Schumann’s works, according to Heinz Dill, can be categorised into three levels. The first level is that the quotations may be musical fragments from other composers (e.g. Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte quoted in the last movement of the Second Symphony in C and in the Fantasy in C). Secondly, the quotations maybe the whole form or songs (e. g. the Grossvatertänz, grandfather song in the last piece of Papillons and the first and the last pieces of Carnaval; the Marseillaise, French anthem, in Faschingsschwank aus Wien, and in the song “Die beiden Grenadiere”). Lastly, Schumann uses quotations from his own works. For example, in the movement “Florestan” from Carnaval, there is a phrase from the introduction of Papillons that suddenly appears. Similarly, in the third piece of Davidsbündlertänze, a segment from “Promenade” of Carnaval is quoted.5 It is crucial to mention here that Schumann was not an active politician, but he voiced his perspectives enthusiastically in many of his writings. As severe restrictions were placed on public speech and assembly in the western and predominantly Catholic regions of Germany in the 1830s, many people reacted in irregular ways by inserting secular idioms into reading and singing to insult the authority (Brophy 2007). Schumann voiced his opinions not only through the articles in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (General Music Newspaper) and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal of Music), but also through his music. I view that part of Schumann’s ‘originality’ lies in how he makes allusive quotations and chooses certain musical inspiration to compose from in order to express opinions toward the regime. Schumann was especially inspired by commedia dell’arte, the traditional Italian form of entertainment, and he employs commedia personae in his imaginary masquerade, Carnaval. Carnaval means “carnival” in French, and its literal meaning is “farewell to meat.” Carnival is the only occasion throughout the year that people could veil their identity by wearing masks and costumes; it allusively entails ‘the chance to turn the society upside-down.’ The art form commedia dell’arte was developed from the carnival tradition in western Europe and it has continuously served composers as a source of musical inspiration (Zvara 2002). In this aspect, Schumann’s Carnaval may have served as a vehicle for him to express his opinions towards the political authority at that time. In a similar manner, Schumann uses the idea of “mask” in his Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26, where he quotes the French anthem Marseillaise, to creatively voice his political views. In Schumann and His World, Larry Todd argues, “In the case of the Faschingsschwank aus Wien (yet another type of Carnaval), the reason for the quotation of the Marseillaise is not too difficult to discern: here Schumann is indulging in a bit of political humour, offering a pointed jab, as he unfurls the French tricolours, at the repressive regime of Metternich’s Vienna.”6 Marseillaise symbolises that the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchies. In the case of Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Schumann presumably implies that people, who were under the repressive and conservative regime of Metternich, should take similar initiatives as their French counterpart. In conclusion, Schumann’s “originality” lies in his battle against the trends of his time – the touring piano virtuosos and the distasteful opera culture that he deemed “distasteful.” He also uniquely sought ways to insert a sense of individuality, as well as ways to express political opinions musically. In Carnaval, Kinderszenen and Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Schumann’s resourcefulness in utilising different materials to convey his autochthonous voice through music is ground-breaking. 1 Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, XXXVII (1835), 100. 19 2 Leon Plantinga, “Schumann’s View of ‘Romantic’,” The Musical Quarterly 52, no. 2 (1966), 228. 3 Leon Plantinga, “Schumann’s View of ‘Romantic’,” The Musical Quarterly 52, no. 2 (1966), 225. 4 Christopher Reynolds, Motives for Allusion: Context and Content in Nineteenth-Century Music (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003), 167. 5 Heinz Dill, “Romantic Irony in the Works of Robert Schumann,” The Musical Quarterly 73, no. 2 (1989), 176. 6 Larry Todd, Schumann and His World (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2014), 81. BACK TO CONTENTS

Trheubato story - Chopin: Nocturne in E minor by Paul Hoffman There are musicians and critics who disapprove of this personal touch of the performer, who want only the written text to be When depicting the musician as the artist who plays presented “as it is”. with passion and expression, tempo rubato is an important issue. And a difficult one for sure. To me that’s simply not possible; gradations may differ but we Because, in its very essence, it can only be an all have an inner guide or clock which sets our pace as we play a individual, personal way of playing. Which makes it difficult to judge. piece. Call it a congenital tempo rubato ;-) . Or simply character. Describing rubato as a way of playing where one deviates from the basic tempo makes it almost sound like playing wrongly, not It’s something you may come across when playing together keeping the tempo. But then that’s what it actually is: to free with another musician. When both of you play “right” (i.e. not- yourself from the strictly metronomic tempo, slow down or wrong) but still your sense of timing is different, you don’t accelerate a bit or even insert a small pause. breathe together. Which makes it hard to tell the story. Over time, So, why then is a pianist praised for playing such a beautiful when playing together many, many times your playing “locks” rubato? And why are we appalled when someone plays “far too with the other. You walk together. much rubato”? What does rubato do with the music? Why do we do it? Also as a listener it may take some time to “get the story”, and In my opinion it’s simply a way of telling the story. Compare it not only regarding tempo rubato. When I first heard Teodor with giving a speech or a lecture: you want to take people by the Currentzis with his musicAeterna orchestra performing Mozart’s hand and guide them to the word or sentence that you think the Requiem in Salzburg(!), it sounded very strange to my ears. Tempi, most important to convey. How do you do that? You can of course accents, phrasing, not to mention his use of dynamics in short use dynamics, raise your voice or whisper. But you may also motives: all different than what I was used to. But very expressive, regulate the speed at which you arrive at the point you want to so it made me curious. When I re-listened a couple of times I make. Speed up to get attention or slow down to rise expectations. eventually got “in sync” with his performance, started to love the Or hold your breath for just a second before “le moment suprême”. intensity. The latter makes me think of one of Arthur Schnabel’s famous quotes: “The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the Check him out anyway; this is a bit controversial but highly pauses between the notes - ah, that is where the art resides.” interesting young conductor with both a vision and a mission. Though tempo rubato is not exclusively used in music from the Romantic Period it seemed obvious to me to record Paul Hoffman was something from Chopin: Nocturne in E minor, op. 72 no. 1. The born (1959) in a line of opus number was given posthumously; it is actually his first (church) musicians. It was Nocturne, written in Poland before his moving to Paris. Listen to quite clear: Paul, too, was the young Chopin: https://soundcloud.com/bechsteintapes/sets/ to become a musician, a bechstein-tapes-chopin/s-IwCWZYe3EVO pianist. Classically trained, When rubato is about telling a story, it’s about your way of from his teens he also got telling the (composer’s) story. Seducing the audience to join you. involved with jazz and pop After thoroughly studying the composer’s sheet music and music. Last year Paul practising it, listening to recordings, after doing research into started the online music more aspects of the piece: historical context, relation to other blog Bechstein tapes, an compositions etc. When you feel really prepared you tell your endeavour to share his version of the story. The way you understand it, the way you hear thoughts on, and it inside. Which doesn’t mean that one cannot learn tempo rubato enthusiasm for, playing from teachers or other pianists; on the contrary: a good role classical piano music. Visit model can help you to find and shape your sense of timing. www.bechsteintapes.net 20 for more blogs.

European Piano Teachers’ Forum EPTA Spain by Alberto Urroz and Nancy Lee Harper in Madrid, which was very successful in terms of public interest. EPTA Spain presented the committee and had a seminar of piano The origins of EPTA Spain can be traced to November pedagogy with Aida Gavrilova, a masterclass with Ana Guijarro, 1991 when the distinguised pianist–pedagogue Rosa and a very interesting workshop with Dr. Zaragoza about heart María Kucharski officially formed the national activity while performing. The latter tested Alberto Urroz’s live association. Born in Barcelona in 1929, she was a performance of some virtuoso Spanish music during that evening. Spanish pianist with a Polish background who studied at the Academia Marshall (Granados School). Later, she studied with Since then, EPTA Spain has continuously attracted new Tomás Andrade de Silva, Lazare Levy, Walter Gieseking and members. Although the committee has changed, the people Willhelm Kempff, in Madrid, Paris, Saarbrücken and Italy. She involved in the organisation since 2017 has remained the same and eventually settled in Madrid where she was very active as a concert that has enabled EPTA Spain to be ready for the next demanding pianist and pedagogue, promoting piano masterclasses with such challenges such as organising the 43rd International EPTA pianists as José Francisco Alonso, Aquilles Delle Vigne, Alberto Conference in Madrid in 2021 (see below). Portugheis and Edith Pixht-Axenfeld. She was the professor of the Royal Enfantes. She also was author of several new books about In 2017, Alberto Urroz was appointed EPTA Spain President and piano pedagogy that she introduced to the musical circles. Her Ana Guijarro was honoured and cheered as Honorary President by Madrid studio in Conde de Aranda Street became the headquarters all members. Along with them, Pablo López de la Osa continued of EPTA Spain. Many young pianists were helped to develop their as Secretary and Paloma Molina as Treasurer. All joined the careers in different ways. newcomer Marcela Linari as Vice-president. EPTA Spain’s main activity is focused on improving piano pedagogy through the organisation of courses, workshops, forums, contests, competitions, congresses, concerts and festivals that value teaching work. We aim to improve the education and development of professionals and their students, and also of all pianists and amateurs who feel the need to enrich their careers and lives by sharing knowledge and helping other professionals to develop. Fig. 1. Nancy Lee Harper (left) with Rosa María Kucharski Fig. 2. EPTA Christmas Concert 2019 organised in collaboration with Fundación at the 2005 EPTA Conference Più Mosso at the Museo Romántico. Unfortunately, EPTA Spain had a difficult time after Kucharski’s BACK TO CONTENTS passing in 2006. The pianists involved somehow couldn’t make things work efficiently. In 2012, Alberto Portugheis during one of his visits to Spain managed to gather some well known and some young Spanish pianists. These included Ana Guijarro and Alberto Urroz who were one year later respectively appointed President and Secretary of the “reborn” EPTA Spain. They have remained in the Committee until now. Their first step was to organise a much-needed presentation 21

EPTA Spain is the meeting place for all artists, professors, The EPTA Spain Competition is focused on encouraging young editors, promoters and fans related to the piano world, as well as pianists, giving as many prizes as the jury considers. There are no reinforcement, motivation and impulse for young professionals limits to the prizes. The pianists are granted, in any case, with a who seek to make their way through this exciting and wonderful Diploma and some positive remarks about their playing. instrument. The association has been organising National Piano competitions where young students are offered the possibility of sharing their piano performances, first of all, with a pedagogical purpose being assessed by a prestigious court jury and giving them the opportunity to play in important rooms like the Museum of Romanticism in Madrid or the frequents collaborations with the Più Mosso Foundation. Some the adjudicators include Ana Guijarro, Nadia Lasserson, Luis Ponce de León, Javier Herguera, Mariana Gurkova, Pablo López de la Osa, Martín Martín Acevedo, Marcela Linari, Paloma Molina, Aida Gavrilova, Alberto Urroz and Luís Pipa. Fig. 6. Some winners from EPTA Spain Competition. Many wonderful and in some cases extremely talented young pianists have been already awarded with different prizes. Some of the younger winners with already noticeable careers are Carla Román and Adam Bidi (below). Fig. 3. Jury members Nadia Lasserson, Marcela Linari and Aida Gavrilova of the last Certamen de Piano EPTA España with some of the first prize winners at the Shigeru Kawai Hall in Madrid. In June 2014 and 2015, EPTA Spain organised a successful Piano Competition for young pianists which took place in Hazen at the Yamaha headquarters in Las Rozas. Since then, the EPTA Spain Competition has run successfully. In 2016, it moved to the Shigeru Kawai Hall in Madrid. Fig. 7. Ana Guijarro and Alberto Urroz with EPTA First Prize Winner Carla Román after her impressive debut at Scherzo Great Pianists Series. Fig. 4. II Certamen EPTA Spain. Juries Martín Martín Acevedo, Marcela Linari and Ana Guijarro with some of the winners at Hazen Museum in Las Rozas. Fig. 5. II Certamen EPTA Spain. Juries Martín Martín Acevedo, Marcela Linari Fig. 8. Alberto Urroz with prizewinner Adam Bidi. and Ana Guijarro with some of the winners at Hazen Museum in Las Rozas. As a result of this succesful Competition, Epta Spain had to add 22 an older category to its contest which was in the first editions just for young pianists up to 10 and up to 14 years old. Finally, in 2018, the Competition opened a new category up to 18 years.

Fig. 9. Madrid Shigeru Kawai Piano Competition Closing Ceremony at the Fig. 11. Poster of upcoming 2021 EPTA Congress. Manuel de Falla Hall - Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid: (from We can already announce that the Madrid Conference left to right) Luis Clemente, Kawai Spain President; Alberto Urroz, Jury Chairman; Harrison Herman, First Prize; Hirotaka Kawai, President of Kawai; “Connecting Continents and Traditions” will take place at the Raúl Canosa, Second Prize; Mauricio Vallina; Ana Guijarro, Director of the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music from 9-12 September 2021. Madrid Royal Conservatory; Alberto Portugheis; Hitoshi Kobayashi; Luís Pipa. Madrid Royal Conservatory is the oldest Conservatory in Spain and has a glorious history since it was founded in 1830 by Queen As a natural development, in 2019, EPTA Spain took the Artistic Maria Cristina of Spain. Some of its impressive alumni includes Direction of the First Shigeru Kawai Madrid Piano Competition Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Alberto Jonás, Joaquín Turina, for pianists from 16 to 25 years old. This has been the first piano Rafael Frübeck de Burgos and Teresa Berganza, among others. The competition ever with the name of the City of Madrid and was library and museum have treasures such as Sarasate’s Stradivarius sponsored by the prestigious Shigeru Kawai Company in Japan and about 20,000 composers’ manuscripts. All the lectures and among others. One of the special features of the competition was recitals will take place in the Conservatory which is located that the prize winner would be directly selected into the Shigeru in an impressive spot next to the Reina Sofia Museum (where Kawai Piano Competition in Japan with no preselection. The visitors can admire the famous Guernica by Picasso) and just a few Competition is open to pianists from or residents in Spain and steps away from the impressive Prado Museum and the Thyssen Portugal. 15 young pianists applied and only three went into the Bornemisza Museum. EPTA Spain has organised also a special final which took place in the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music. concert and dinner reception on 9 September 2021, at the Royal Hall of the Casino of Madrid, which is the oldest Private Cultural Club in the city and one of the most beautiful clubs in the world (it has nothing to do with a real casino by the way). It is famous for its cultural heritage and quality and the exquisite food of its restaurant services. The impressive building (casinodemadrid.es) from 1836 never leaves anyone unmoved. Fig. 10. The Royal Superior Conservatory of Music of Madrid. Fig. 12. Royal Hall of the Casino of Madrid. Alberto Urroz was the President of the Jury along with Luís EPTA Spain has chosen the Conference’s topic “Connecting Pipa, President of EPTA Portugal, Alberto Portugheis, Vice- Continents and Traditions” as a reflection of Spanish Music and President of EPTA UK, the Cuban pianist Mauricio Vallina, and Culture in general which has had an important impact on Western maestro Hitoshi Kobayashi representing the Shigeru Kawai Piano Civilisation and from America to Asia. It is as well an invitation to Competition. The competition was extremely successful and EPTA become immersed into the influences that music and pedagogy Spain is very honoured that the first prize winner in Madrid, the from all continents have had on Spanish music and education. young Spanish-Australian pianist Harrison Herman, had a most All this information will be shown soon on our webpage www. successful path in Japan getting into the finals and winning Second epta-spain.com, which is now being renovated to show all the Prize among winners of many important piano competitions information of the Madrid EPTA Conference in 2021. around the world. BACK TO CONTENTS In addition to these activities, EPTA Spain has also organised many interesting workshops and master classes like Aida Gavrilova’s Seminar Do you want to be a “virtuoso” professor?; Nadia Lasserson’s workshop Piano Needn’t Be Lonely; or the masterclasses of Arrau’s long-time student, Pilar Leyva, and Presidents Ana Guijarro and Alberto Urroz. Currently, EPTA Spain is working on the Young Pianist Contest and especially on the 43rd International EPTA Conference which will be held in 2021 in Madrid. It is a great honour for EPTA Spain to host this wonderful conference for the very first time. EPTA Spain is working very hard to make a great and most successful conference to host pianists from all over Europe and the rest of the world, trying our best to make them feel at home and enjoy the cultural, livable and beautiful city of Madrid. 23

Variations on a theme of Chopin by Michael Stembridge-Montavont manuscripts, including one of the drafts made by the composer for his own piano method, Cortot was in direct contact with many No great pianist of the last hundred years has devoted former students of Chopin: ‘My teachers’ generation put me in more time, thought and space to the exploration of direct relation with the golden age (Grande Époque). Through piano technique than Alfred Cortot. Michael Mme Camille Dubois, Mathias and Decombes, I knew Chopin.’ Stembridge-Montavont reflects on one of the most valuable of his many publications. The major influence in the ‘Rational Principles’, Les Principes Rationels de la Technique Pianistique (The Rational of course, is Chopin and Principles of Piano Technique) is a series of exercises compiled by his teaching Cortot in 1928, aimed at devising a piano method around the works of Chopin. He had already published some of the 76 Like Chopin, who described his Études as exercises for his own volumes of study editions devoted to the masterpieces of Chopin, use, Cortot admits to a similar motivation: ‘You must realise, that Schumann, Liszt, Weber and Mendelssohn. Among them are those I devised this method to correct my own weaknesses. Let it be of the Chopin Études Op. 10 (1915) and Op. 25 (1916), as well as said in passing that it has enabled me to make the most the 24 Préludes (1926). From a purely technical point of view, significant progress. But one has to devote a good hour to it each these volumes are the most useful of the entire series. In many morning’ (Gavoty: Alfred Cortot, Buchet Chastel, 1995). He does, respects, the Rational Principles are a distillation of these earlier however, make concessions to different hands and individual study editions, and Cortot reminds readers that specific exercises technical problems. For example, the section on finger stretches is had already been recommended in these. While the study edition divided into two sections, one for pianists with long fingers and of the Études tended to concentrate almost exclusively on one for those with short fingers. In his introduction to the providing solutions to technical problems, later editions were Rational Principles, Cortot notes that one of the major advances in written also to stimulate the pianist’s imagination, as well as the piano teaching of his time was the substitution of a mindless providing advice on overcoming technical difficulties. For Cortot, and long-winded repetition of a difficult passage by a logical one inspiration for the Rational Principles is the Age of the analysis of the difficulty. He devised an axiom which prefaces the Enlightenment and particularly the influence of Jean-Philippe Rational Principles and all the study editions: ‘Travaillez, non point Rameau. He considered that the best contemporary pianists, in le passage difficile, mais la difficulté qu’il contient, ramenée à son terms of the subtlety and range of colour in their playing, were principe élémentaire’. (‘Not to practise the difficult passage as those who had embraced as the basis of their technique the such, but to isolate the particular difficulty it presents, reduced to simple, clear and modest rules of Rameau given in his essay ‘de la its fundamentals.’) Later on, he says, ‘it is the manner in which Méchanique des doigts sur le Clavessin’. Cortot believed that well- one practises the exercises, not their content as such, which meaning teachers and the most talented pupils had been mistaken confers on them their special value.’ This recalls a well-known in overlooking these rules at the expense of an orchestral colour French teacher’s adage that ‘all exercises are beneficial so long as where any sound was permissible. He also felt that qualities one practises them in the right way’! As Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger originally considered as essential in Rameau’s time were now notes in his book Frédéric Chopin: Esquisses pour une Méthode de Piano regarded as secondary. (Flammarion, 1993), this axiom of practising – trying to isolate the inherent difficulty in a passage rather than repeating it ad The very title Rational Principles could be seen as a throwback nauseam – is reminiscent of Chopin’s teaching. For Tellefsen, one to the Enlightenment, in which Cortot attempted to clarify and of Chopin’s most important pupils and in some respects the methodically rationalise the whole problem of playing the piano. torch-bearer of his method, ‘The object of the exercises is not to In that sense, the Rational Principles could be considered an learn to play this or that particular passage or passages, but to encyclopædia of piano technique in the manner of Diderot. Cortot form the hand into a fine and accomplished instrument capable had a direct link with the ‘Clavecinistes’ tradition passed on to him of playing all comparable difficulties that derive from a model by Louis Diémer, one of his teachers at the Paris Conservatoire. exercise.’ He reiterates: ‘It is not the exercise, per se, that one Cortot said of him that his playing was chiefly characterised by practises, but the development of the hand by means of it.’ Cortot the clarity of a Claveciniste. The fingerings suggested by Cortot in the study editions often reflect this tradition. The major influence in the Rational Principles, of course, is Chopin and his teaching: ‘All the compositions of Chopin are of value in the education of a pianist, for no one has made more of the resources of the instrument and at the same time in a more musical way.’ As well as acquiring many original Chopin 24

divides the technical problem of playing the piano into five singing’ (Chopin – Pianist and Teacher, as seen by his pupils, Jean Jacques categories. His aim in the book being the principle of each Eigeldinger, Cambridge University Press, 1986). Compare also difficulty practised in isolation: (1) Evenness (égalité), their views on the position of the arm. Cortot: the arm must independence and mobility of the fingers – without any follow a ‘ … natural line, avoiding any awkward angles which displacement of the hand. (2) Passage of the thumb (scales/ might paralyse the muscles in the forearm and hand.’ Chopin: ‘A arpeggios). This section is largely drawn from Cortot’s analysis of supple hand; the wrist, the forearm, the arm, everything will the Chopin Étude Op. 10 No. 8. (3) Double notes and polyphonic follow the hand in the right order.’ The importance of fingering is playing. (4) Finger stretches. This section is partly an expanded yet another point in common, which Cortot probably acquired version of the technical analysis of the Prelude by Chopin Op. 28 from his contacts with former pupils of Chopin, as well as his No. 5. (5) Wrist technique. Here, Cortot stresses the importance of acquisition of many original Chopin manuscripts. In the study the wrist and the idea that it is the wrist that drives the fingers. editions he includes Chopin’s own fingering, although he often He takes the analogy of a motor car where the motor propels the suggests alternative fingering as the best solution. The most wheels rather than the other way around. This category includes a valuable aspect of the study editions could be seen as the section on playing octaves taken from Cortot’s analysis of the fingerings Cortot suggests. This brings to mind Chopin’s remark: Chopin Étude Op. 25 No. 9. Included in the Rational Principles is an ‘The key is to know how to finger properly’ (‘le tout, c’est de savoir assimilation of the extensive, though not exhaustive, list of piano bien doigter’) – an idea taken to its logical conclusion by a compositions rated in terms of their level of difficulty and the celebrated French piano teacher, who did not charge for his particular technical difficulties they present in relation to the five lessons as such, but charged a fee for each fingering he gave! technical categories he devised. In these, the piano works of Witness the fingering Cortot suggests for the Chopin Étude Op. Chopin are considered to be the most useful from a technical and 25 No. 6 in double thirds, below. musical point of view. Cortotʼs selection of fingerings, for the Etude Op. 25 No. 6 in Double At the end of the book, Cortot gives one final piece of advice. Experience has shown him that the best way to encourage progress Thirds, bars 5 and 6: in piano students is for them to study a work well above their level of playing. One should not, however, insist on a perfect However, it is clear that Cortot in his own playing often took performance of this piece and it should be renewed frequently. On another fingering altogether, as observed by Thomas Manshardt in the other hand, one should insist on an irreproachable performance Aspects of Cortot (Appian Publications & Recordings, 1994). This has of all works at or below a particular student’s level of playing. In been confirmed to me by other Cortot pupils. It brings to mind a 1936, well after he had written the Rational Principles, Cortot saying of Cortot’s: ‘One must be intelligent to use an example as a acquired, as mentioned, the manuscript of sketches for a piano source of inspiration; and very stupid to copy it.’ (‘Il faut être method by Chopin at an auction in London. He subsequently intelligent pour s’inspirer d’un exemple; et très sot pour l’imiter.’) analysed these drafts in his book Aspects de Chopin (Albin Michel, 1949). As quoted by Eigeldinger, Cortot admitted to Paul Roës that In some ways, Cortot’s approach to playing the piano can be the method envisaged by Chopin was diametrically opposed to his seen as an intellectualisation in the French tradition of the whole own. In fact, there are many similarities between the two. problem, characterised as ‘je pense donc je fais’ (I think, therefore I do). Cortot writes: ‘There are no insurmountable physical One similarity lies in the division of the technical difficulties obstacles to playing the piano if the nature of the difficulty is involved. Chopin distinguishes three types, from which all others clearly defined and one appeals to reason and logic.’ In a letter to follow. To simplify, Chopin analyses: (1) Scales (both chromatic Chopin, his father writes: ‘You know that the mechanics of piano- and diatonic). It appears that Chopin envisaged the writing of playing occupied little of your time and that your mind was busier exercises based on trills in this category of difficulties. (2) than your fingers’ (Eigeldinger, 1986). Having said that, the use of Arpeggios – the paradigm for Chopin being the arpeggio of the a non-intellectual image – poetic or not – to aid artistic diminished seventh chord, but this category apparently includes interpretation was widely used by Cortot in his teaching and is all possible leaps (sauts). (3) Chords and polyphonic playing. much in evidence in the study editions. Eigeldinger comments that Chopin’s analysis was a radical And to end, one final quote from Cortot: ‘Il faut posséder la simplification of the technical difficulties. The same could be said technique pour l’oublier et la mettre au service de l’interprétation.’ of Cortot. A second similarity is the emphasis on the importance (‘You must have the technique before you are able to forget it and of the wrist. Cortot writes: ‘ … the role of the wrist in producing use it to interpret.’) the quality and subtlety of sound cannot be underestimated.’ For Chopin: ‘The action of the wrist is analogous to taking breath in Following studies with Jean Micault (Alfred Cortot’s former assistant), Michael Stembridge-Montavont has organised piano courses for the past twenty years inspired by the pianistic ideas and ideals of Alfred Cortot. https://www.cortotheritage.com/alfred-cortot-1877-1962/ This article originally appeared in the September/October 2004 issue of 25 Piano Magazine, edited by the late Jeremy Siepmann and is represented here with the kind permission of the author who retains copyright. BACK TO CONTENTS

Analysis of Chopin’s Etudes Part 2 Chopinʼs Etudes: Just how big are they? by Kris Lennox ‘Big’ is a commonly-used word in describing a piece of music. It is also relatively subjective, and frequently employed to describe various aspects of a work. A ‘big’ work could be a long work, a busy work, a technically difficult work, an emotionally demanding work – plus many more subjective descriptors (and any combination of the above terms). From a technical perspective, ‘big’ is not a very precise term. However, we could isolate each aspect of what makes a work ‘big’, and analyse accordingly. In this article, we’ll look at how ‘big’ Chopin’s etudes are in relation to perhaps the most obvious metric: note count. Opp. 10 & 25, Note Count In playing Opp. 10 & 25, the pianist is performing just under 46,000 notes: Combined Note Count 45,709 Op. 10 46% Op. 25 54% Op. 25 is the bigger set (full data/values will be provided in forthcoming book releases on the topic). ‘Is the above figure a large number of notes to play?’ makes for an interesting question. An answer makes sense when we compare works/sets of works (in much the same sense: we know that running 100m in 15 seconds is (relatively) slow as we know that running 100m in under 10 seconds is fast). For perspective: Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata involves the performance of roughly 8,500 notes – almost the same count as the first five works from Chopin’s Op. 10 (this figure certainly adds weight/merit to the work involved in performing the great sonatas – especially when we consider that the Moonlight is not a ‘note-heavy’ Beethoven work). Which is the Biggest Work? Opp. 10 & 25 combined, works ordered from largest-smallest note count: 26

Very interesting to see the final three works of Op. 25 are the largest works: a testing finish for the pianist, requiring much mental and physical stamina. These three works alone represent 20% of the entire playing involved in Chopin’s etudes. Considering the above fact: if a pianist is performing Opp. 10 & 25 at, say, a piano competition, should adjudicators consider weighing 20% of the overall mark to the final three pieces? …Does something being ‘bigger’ mean more weight should be given? Is an artist awarded more merit for painting a large canvas than a small canvas as a product of their having to paint more? How should quantitative vs. qualitative decisions be made when dealing with music performance? Should they be made? Many interesting questions arise from the data – questions that could influence not only teaching & learning – but also adjudicating – for future pianists. The above chart should prove very useful in deciding which works to teach students. Inherent technical & artistic difficulties aside: on the basis of note count, Op. 10 No. 6 is certainly a good place for students to begin on their journey with the Chopin Etudes. Op. 10, in isolation: Op. 25: Per-Hand Note Count Considering the previous article on Chopin’s Studies (“Left vs. Right” (Piano Journal, issue 120, April 2020)), we could combine its principle with this article and yield a more granular level of detail by isolating RH/LH note count. Opp. 10 & 25 combined, RH note count: As can be seen, Chopin’s Winter Wind etude involves the most RH work (and by a considerable margin). B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 27

Op. 10, RH note count: Op. 25, RH note count: Again, very revealing (and useful). Curiously, in both sets No. 9 involves the least RH work, and No. 10 involves the second-most RH work. Considering the earlier conversation on the sheer weight of Op. 25 10–12: is the ‘downtime’ of No. 9 intentional, or merely an interesting by-product of analysis? Was Chopin intentionally giving players ‘RH downtime’ prior to performing the final quarter of each set? Unfortunately, we can only surmise and speculate – but the data certainly suggests this as a possibility. Looking to the LH: Opp. 10 & 25 combined, LH note count: Revealing to see that No. 12 of both sets earn a medal-winning position. Chopin certainly puts the player’s LH to the test in the final work of each set. Most pianists probably already felt that Op. 10 No. 1 had the least LH content – but to see the disparity against the likes of Op. 25 No. 10 is quite striking (Op. 25 No. 10 is more than 10x ‘LH-larger’ than Op. 10 No. 1). 28

Op. 10, LH note count: Op. 25, LH note count: Relatively speaking, Op. 10 has an easy start for the LH, and As with Op. 10, notably heavy in the final third. an involved finish – with great disparity between No. 1 and No. 12. In contrast with Op. 10, Op. 25 is less disparate/more balanced. Set-Against-Set Tracking Let’s have a look at how balanced Op. 10 & Op. 25 are against each other. Tracking combined hand/note count, note count of each piece as a percentage from each set, and also showing the general note-count trend: The dotted lines show that the linear trend of Opp. 10 & 25 is a general increase in note count (with a steeper rise for Op. 25). In other words, the works generally become denser towards the end of each opus. In terms of note count tracking across Opuses, we can discern the following: • Treatment of the hands in the first work of each set is very different. • The general trend of works 2-4 is a gradual increase in note count. • The central works (No. 4 through No. 9) are quite erratic. • This erratic nature is bound by works of similar count (Nos. 5 & 9). • Both sets have a dramatic increase in note count in the final three pieces. B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 29

Looking at the RH across both sets: We can discern: • RH note count tracking for the first four works is similar/steady. • No. 5 through No. 9 are very erratic. • Very sharp rise in note count from No. 9–No. 10. • Similar count tracking/trend for the final four works. In other words: the central works of both sets are very different, but the outer works display noticeable similarity. Looking at the LH across both sets: 30

We can see: • In general/compared with the RH, there is less disparity throughout. • LH note count for #1 from both sets is hugely disparate. • LH note count is very steady for #3-#8 from Op. 25. • LH note count rises significantly across both sets in the final three works. A Quick Word on Volatility In the above, we discussed how the central studies of Chopin’s studies, in terms of note count, are very erratic (this in itself is an observation, not a criticism, i.e. we aren’t making a value-judgement, but rather, simply commenting on the data). In the world of trading/investing/hedge-fund managing, the word used to describe this kind of behaviour is Volatility. We could say that the central works of Chopin’s studies are volatile. The question for us musicians is why Chopin would write in such a way (at this point we’re engaging in speculation – but it is an interesting thought experiment nonetheless). To help us, we could look at the business world. At a lower tier of business, volatile stocks are considered ‘high-risk’. But at the upper levels (i.e hedge-fund), volatility is seen as a positive. In short: volatility creates opportunity. Without volatility, there is almost no opportunity for growth. Volatility is the essence of growth. If we have capital preservation and wish to introduce growth, one of the best places to do so is in a volatile space. Volatility also generates interest. Consider your own portfolio: stocks possibly rise/fall by a margin of a percent. This doesn’t generate interest where stocks are checked on a regular basis. The stability is what generates a loss of interest. Given the above, perhaps the most probable explanation for volatility in Chopin’s central studies is the maintenance of listener interest. Chopin possibly wrote each set of studies to be initially stable and introduced volatility as his own ear was becoming tired of uniform patterning. Perhaps he was also harnessing this volatility as a means of breaking from the older, highly rigid etude structures of those before him? Perhaps he was offering pianists technical and musical respite/variation? Unfortunately, we aren’t in a position to ask Chopin – but we can do our best to make informed judgements from our interpretation of the data. Concluding Thoughts As with the previous article, the information of this article potentially alters our perception and understanding of Chopin’s Etudes. If anything, it certainly deepens our understanding. The bigger question is if/how the included information (and information in forthcoming articles) will influence the appreciation, learning, teaching – and adjudicating – of Chopin’s great works. Only time will tell. Kris Lennox studied music at Strathclyde University and the RSAMD before pursuing an independent career as performer/writer/producer. Currently Kris writes/records/consults for a number of mainstream artists, primarily within the Pop/Electronic scene. Previously, Kris occasionally performed as a recital pianist/composer, and has a number of classical works published by Music Sales, with compositions featured in publications alongside Glass/Einaudi etc. Kris has authored around 18 books on a diverse range of musical topics, from harmony to synthesis to music education. At the theoretical level, Kris has developed harmonic models for 24-TET composition, and has spent around two decades developing various cryptographic methods of harnessing written music as a form of steganographic cipher. At the non-musical level, Kris has worked in security, business, & compliance as a consultant analyst, developing sector-specific computational/statistical models & algorithms. Kris regularly posts to/can be found on YouTube. B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 31

FROM THE ARCHIVES Continuing our fascinating retrospective history of EPTA through a review and summary of Piano Journal. Pianist, teacher, adjudicator, performer, writer and educator Nancy Litten summarises and selects excerpts from issues 32 & 33 of our EPTA magazine. No. 32 (June 1990) developed.’ He also encouraged me to No. 33 (October become interested in other arts and 1990) WHO’S WHO OF PIANISTS: LESLIE literature. HOWARD talks to Carola Grindea EPTA ITALY, BOOK REVIEWS (President Marcella L.H. (Regarding Liszt’s ossia passages) Indiana University Press: Crudeli, pictured) was In the Don Giovanni transcription there is a THE PIANIST’S GUIDE TO launched on 2nd whole extra section in the middle. TRANSCRIPTIONS, ARRANGEMENTS March 1990 on the Perhaps he thought that pianists might AND PARAPHRASES occasion of the finals get tired performing it so he devised a of the ‘ROMA 1990’ shorter passage. ... The secret is actually Scanning this book is a bit like reading piano competition not to get tense before you start and try a prospectus for a ‘Human Freak Show’ - (organised by Marcella Crudeli). Marcella, to maintain that state while playing. ... If all these gasps of attraction and repulsion, professor at Santa Cecilia in Rome, ... has you want to play a passage with rapid but tidily distanced from the subject in played in many European cities, the USA, leaps or octaves which lasts four pages ... question. Armchair musical browsing Asia and Africa as concerto soloist and make sure that your neck, shoulders and without the music, it could only have recitalist. Several composers have arms are supple and free. Liszt carefully come from the States. Did you know that dedicated their works to her. She studied marked the increments of tempo and Walter Gieseking transcribed Richard with Seidlhofer in Vienna, Cortot in Paris dynamics; the secret is not to deliver too Strauss’ Serenade op. 17/2? Or that Henri and Carlo Zecchi in Rome. She is also much too soon. Many pianists, by the Dutilleux arranged Debussy’s Clair de Lune founder and president of the Chopin time they reach the ‘Allegro Energetico’ in for two pianos? That 13 transcriptions of Society in Italy. Funerailles, have already got all the allegro Chopin’s Minute Waltz exist, including they can master and they get much too versions by Moskowski, Reger and EPTA DENMARK was founded in tense. ... I do recommend when one has Sorabji? Or that Paul Wittgenstein September 1990 to play a long, fast passage of double transcribed the Meistersingers Quintet for thirds or two voices with one hand, to left hand? Matthew Koumis EPTA MALTA, practise the top line legato and the (President and bottom one staccato, and vice versa. ... MUSIC FOR TEACHING founder Charles Liszt had real mastery in shifting from Boosey & Hawkes Christopher Norton Camilleri, pictured) any tonality to all other possible tonalities Lavender’s Kind of Blue will be launched with (he must have learnt this from Bach) by Witty, swingy arrangements of Nursery a Piano Day in using the diminished 7th. He knew that if January 1991. the octave is divided by six the result is Rhymes. Grade 6-7 Professor Camilleri is the whole tone scale – which is to be Rock Preludes Head of Music at the Malta University. found in many of his composition, Seven Preludes here by the young He is a well-known composer and has (Seventh Rhapsody, etc) at a time when written over 40 piano works including Debussy was not yet born. composer with the Midas touch! Mr three concertos; no 1 was recorded by the Norton offers fledgling pianists an album London Philharmonic Orchestra and I started to play by ear when I was of harder-edged jazz, blues and ballads; no. 3 was premiered by the Leningrad about two years old. My first teacher, June exciting stuff to play. Philharmonic. Maclane, had quite a time – and so had I - to teach me to read music after having 20th Century Classics Vol 2 WHO’S WHO OF PIANISTS: JOHN played only by ear for several years. ... I An excellent volume of clever PARRY talks to Carola Grindea arrived at my first lesson at high school, a arrangements of this century’s classics such cocky young boy anxious to impress the as Britten’s This Little Babe, Delius’s Walk to the J.P. One does not really teach new teacher with my rattling off a few Paradise Garden, and Rachmaninoff’s Finale anything; one can only hope to develop virtuoso pieces; he simply placed the score to the Second Concerto. Adults who have the personality of a young musician by of a string quartet on the piano expecting reached Grade 6 will derive enormous planting the right seed. You then can tend me to read it. I got the message and was pleasure from this album. H.D. the plant, observe its development, and thoroughly ashamed of my lack of real observe how the personality of the foundation. At one lesson he produced Neil A Kjos Music Co. Blue and Other performer and the musical personality an orchestral score by Vaughan Williams. Colours by Arletta O’Hearn become gradually more and more ‘Very good!’ was his comment. ‘Now, integrated. transpose it a tone lower.’ Thanks to Mr If anything brings me out in a cold, Britton I began to study all the scores in reviewer’s sweat these days it’s albums of I played the piano by ear and could our school library and listen to recordings. easy blues for beginners! And three of harmonize hymns when I was three years His motto was, ‘The important thing is to these Grade 3 pieces are 12-bar blues of old and what a joy it was to discover the study musicianship. The actual technique the most banal variety. ... If there are written music. of your instrument is not worth tuppence some children over the age of three, or if your general skills are not thoroughly even adults who are not familiar with the We all have a great debt of gratitude to 32 dreaded three-chord-trick, then maybe they would enjoy this little volume. H.D.

Schnabel. It is only through his making countless decisions concerning Schumann and Brahms protegée, in the perseverance and selfless dedication that phrasing and technique; it highlights yet first section of the Ballade op 10 no 4 a taste for programmes devoted entirely again the need to work at one’s technique (Andante con moto, 3/4) recorded as late to Schubert developed. as without it the musical ideas cannot be as 1962. Could this performance hark back communicated. …This is best illustrated to the ‘classical Andante’ of whose (Regarding performing a new work by by a teacher who has constant and ‘’spinning out till it becomes an Adagio’’ American composer Paul Cooper). It is a relevant experiences as a player. I feel also Moscheles had complained as long ago as complicated score and one day I hope to that as a player I have a need to share my 1861? Simon Nicholls have it memorized. …I have devised a experiences…. Preparing pupils for a practical way to have the entire music in performance calls for more than teaching MUSIC FOR ADVANCED PLAYERS front of my eyes, by reducing it and them to play ‘correctly’. A successful Henle Verlag 1989 (Urtext) The Art of pasting it on a system of cards. The whole performance casts a spell; a teacher can 1st movement is on one card, then I have teach the craft of this magic best through Fugue by J S Bach just one turn for the 2nd movement and having learned it herself. Nerves are also This is a work more talked about than another for the last movement. The truth easier to deal with if the troubled pupil is is that these cards serve only as a given advice by a teacher who has gone performed. It has gained an undeserved ‘prompter’ as I know exactly where I am through the same emotions and reputation as a non-keyboard piece, at every step. My visual memory is very conquered them. Heli Ignatius-Fleet possibly stemming from its original strong and comes to my assistance at such publication in open score, now moments. By necessity, the more limited time for understood to be the normal notation for LEARNING THEORIES APPLIED TO practice available to a teacher means that intricate contrapuntal keyboard music…. PIANO TEACHING by Dr Mary Ann one has to organise one’s practice time It is hoped that his clear and informative Hanley (Minnesota) more effectively. This is a useful discipline production will serve to provoke further for one’s pupils, who in the main also exploration of this masterpiece by Robert Culver of the University of have many demands on their time…. I keyboard musicians. J. L. Michigan claims that we communicate feel that being a teacher and a performer only 7% through our words, 33% through should be compatible and we should MUSIC FOR TEACHING voice quality, and 55% through body consider ourselves as ‘pianists’ whether Rork Music, Pa, USA ‘Madeleine’ by language. Within the first 20 seconds of a we are illustrating a passage to a pupil or piano lesson, psychologists tell us, performing on the concert platform. Gordon Getty students form expectations of an Margaret Copestake The first section of this short piece is a interesting or a dull lesson by observing the teacher’s voice quality and body BOOK REVIEWS fairly simple diatonic pastorale featuring language. Some students may ‘tune out’ a BEETHOVEN ON BEETHOVEN: white-note legato octaves in the right knowledgeable teacher within the first 5 hand. The middle section wanders seconds if she fails to establish eye PLAYING HIS PIANO MUSIC HIS WAY chromatically as the music hastens to a contact and show enthusiasm. Culver by William S. Newman frenzied climax – only to return to the urges teacher to cultivate a resonant voice pastorale. What does it all mean? H.D. and to speak in a moderate tempo… in The chapter on tempo rate and order to create a pleasant atmosphere flexibility examines Beethoven’s PIANO DUETS conducive to learning. By smiling and metronome markings and the studies of T. Presser & Co Sonata Innamorata by P using supple, fluid gestures and animated these by Kolisch and Beck as well as the facial expression, we can add visual drama often-contradictory reports of Schindler D Q Bach (1807-1842) to our teaching and communicate feelings and Czerny. … Czerny’s markings show a In this sonata, four hands, we have that cannot be expressed in words…. He consistent preference for flowing tempi, challenges us to use as few words as especially noticeable in slow movements. restored to us a work actually possible, spending only about 30% of There seems to have been a change of commissioned by Casanova, who lesson time on verbal instruction and 70% tempo character over the years; we have presumably wanted it as an aid to his on activities. ample evidence of the profound influence amorous intentions – ‘Suductio ad READERS' FORUM on musical performance of Wagner’s absurdam’ being the family motto. conducting… Older traditions may have Although known as a violinist, among Music is communication; playing the continued to influence the conservative other things, Casanova must also have had piano for oneself only is like smiling in Brahms: the singing teacher Raimond von the 18th century equivalent of Grade 7-8 the dark. Knowing that a piece of music zur Mühlen, who knew him, took violent on cembalo as would his vict . . . partner. will be performed makes one commit exception to slow tempos in the Sapphische Those familiar with this obscure Bach’s oneself to an interpretation. This means Ode (marked ‘fairly slow’ in 2/2). Also of styles will quickly appreciate the total interest is the extremely flowing tempo lack of content but richness of style. taken by Ilona Eibenschütz, pupil of Clara During the slow movement the players exchange seats and kiss. So when this piece is brought into the house lock up your daughters! H.D. v PERFORMING ARTS CLINIC v The first PERFORMING ARTS CLINIC, conducted by a team of eminent physicians, musicians and psychologists, has been set up jointly by ISSTIP – International Society of the Study of Tension in Performance – and London College of Music. The need has been very great, considering that over 50% of instrumentalists are afflicted by physical and/or psychological injuries. The emphasis is on prevention through education and the London College of Music is taking the lead in this direction. Students receive FREE consultations. Performers, teachers and pupils are welcome. Appointments through Carola Grindea, 28 Emperor’s Gate, London B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 33

Reviews FEATURED CD REVIEW BOOK REVIEW CD ROUND-UP by Alexander Thompson by Alexander Thompson SERGEI CHANNEL CLASSICS CCS 42620 RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.1 Preludes Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Anna Fedorova piano edited Kim and Gilman: The extraordinary legacy of Domenico Oxford Handbook of Music and the Scarlatti through his 575+ keyboard Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen Body sonatas provides an extraordinary Modestas Pitrenas conductor Oxford University Press technical foundation for all piano music that followed. Literally everything, apart 1 This is a remarkable scholarly from brief nods to fugal writing, is symposium on a hugely diverse range of present in Scarlatti’s miraculous, vibrant Channel Classics topics and issues associated often in and ever-youthful legacy. How sad, Anna Fedorova, Piano extremely contrasted ways with music therefore, that only a fraction of the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra and the body. The elegant academic overall total number of sonatas is studied Modestas Pitrenas, Conductor presentation, supported by a substantial and performed by most artists today. We SKU: 42620 | Year of release: 2020 grant from Seoul University in 2016, tend to stick to what we know and only brings together excellent scholarship and rarely venture into territories unfamiliar. Amsterdam-based, Ukrainian pianist contributions from a most impressive Carlo Grante remains a huge exception in Anna Fedorova is a young star already range of international musicians and this respect, and his ongoing Scarlatti quite known mostly for her live rendition academics. The six sections in well over complete cycle for Music and Arts is of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, 400 pages cover the moving and nearing completion. As an alternative to with over 26 million views on YouTube. performing body, the musical brain and this solitary achievement, Naxos are Fedorova was scheduled to perform all psyche, the embodied mind, embodied steadily working their way through the Rachmaninov’s works for piano and rhythm, the disabled and sexual body, music, and in Volume 22 of their own orchestra this year, each a month apart, music as medicine and the multimodal complete Scarlatti Sonata series they but this endeavour had to be postponed body. There is truly a feast of intriguing have engaged the young Israeli pianist due to the coronavirus pandemic. and mind-opening information and Eylam Keshet to perform 18 of the much concepts here for readers of all less familiar numbers (Naxos 8.573713). This CD, released in March of this persuasions to reflect on. Immediately Recorded clearly in the Morse Recital year, contains Rachmaninov’s First Piano worthy of citation is Jay Schulkin in his Hall at Yale School of Music, Keshet Concerto, Paganini Variations as well as eye-opening approach to music and proves more than a master for the Preludes for piano solo. Fedorova is quite movement (‘Aesthetic sensibilities exist outlandish left-hand crossovers in the C up to the task in both playing solo and amid information-processing systems in minor Sonata K56. The exciting octave communicating with the the brain that underlie perception and are work in K178 is dispatched with Sinfonieorchester St. Galen under the oriented toward novelty, familiarity and appropriate bravura, whilst the repetitions baton of Maestro Modestas Pitrenas. syntax’) as well as Sander Gillan’s post- in K228 in B flat are made to sound like Freudian exploration of music and child’s play. Beyond technical brilliance To describe this young artist in two psychoanalysis and Dame Evelyn Keshet brings much thoughtfulness and words would be free and expressive. Her Glennie’s extended interview on how she consideration to the ornamentation in sense of freedom never overshadows the responds, reacts and creates music K204b. Charm and wistfulness are main building blocks of the pieces and through a multi-sensory approach. strikingly present in his eloquent her uniqueness of rubato only adds to the approach to K300 whilst the Minuet in expressiveness. It feels like her main goal K83 in A emerges with grace and dignity. is to express the music in her own terms. A most pleasurable find. Thankfully, it never conflicts with the intentions of the composer. She follows the written music and makes herself shine through it. The orchestra is powerful and reliable. The balance between them is adequate and that makes grasping the texture easy. Together they make an engaging performance that you would listen throughout in one sitting. It allows Rachmaninov to speak freely through them. It is highly recommended to keep an eye for this expressive artist and let her introduce herself through this recording. Aleksandar Djermanovic Editor’s note: Piano Journal welcomes recordings, sheet music and books from all EPTA Associations for Review. We are very grateful to Tatjana Vukmanovic, President of EPTA Voyvodina, for presenting this review. 34

Reinhold Glière (1875–1956) is well- Joanne Polk is well known for her sonorities, original harmonic innovations, known in piano pedagogy for a handful of pioneering work with the piano music of and inspirational figurations in ‘Keening ever-popular intermediate-level pieces Amy Beech. In a most intriguing new song for a Makar’ as well as in the that may hark back to the worlds of release for Steinway & Sons, she presents ‘Chorale Prelude for Sorley MacLean’. And Tchaikovsky and Borodin, but nonetheless about half of the opus 26 études of the the charm, humour and accessibility of retain memorability and charm. outstanding female composer-pianist ‘Barra Flyting Toccata’ and Toccata-Reel Developing players love the Prélude in D Louise Farrenc (1804–1875), showing the ‘The High Road to Linton’ instantly bring flat op. 43 no. 1 (now in the new Grade 6 music to be close in style and spirit to sympathy and gratitude to mind on ABRSM 2021-22 syllabus) as well as the C Mendelssohn. Written in 1839, the 30 listening. Powerful, passionate and sharp minor Prayer, G minor Mazurka studies include every key and seem to prodigious playing from Hamilton. and ‘Le Matin’ from the same set. Glière take off from where the most melodically SHEET MUSIC REVIEWS was the teacher of Prokofiev and memorable of Czerny’s leave. There are by Alexander Thompson & Nadia Myaskovsky. His piano writing stopped some adorable finds here, especially Lasserson early in the century, but re-emerged at amongst the slower numbers, where the end of his life with two pieces, one Polk’s poetic insights pay dividends with American-born Amy Beach was one of for left hand alone (op. 99 no. 1 in E) book two no. 10 especially - an exquisite the most prolific women composers with which is included here in a Adagio. In the fugato studies there are over 300 published works to her name. sympathetically presented and close parallels with Mendelssohn’s own Also, a talented pianist, she had to curtail meticulously prepared recital from Alton impressive – and also neglected – six her career on account of her husband Chan. Chan takes the well-known op. 43 Preludes and Fugues. The variety of who forbade her to perform in public. no. 1 D flat Prélude at a flowing tempo, figurations, the immediacy of the melodic During his lifetime, she concentrated on allowing the music to breathe rather than material, and the sparkling bravura of composition with a large-scale symphony remain beat-bound. His direct and Joanne Polk all synthesise here to make premiered the year after the death of her intelligent approach pays dividends. The for most persuasive listening. It does husband. At this same time, she followed music is never pretentious or ambitious. seem just a little short of scandalous that a performing career with European Though it could have been written a this music is so rarely heard. It would tours and concerts all over the United generation or two earlier, and though the work beautifully in recital. Perhaps the States. Children’s Album op. 36 (SP1431 idiom can hardly be considered opening sets of variations are less www.spartanpress.co.uk) is a charming individual, it retains at its best colour, distinctive, but at least they show Farrenc collection of five short dances. They all character and accessibility which will to be an accomplished writer for the differ in character, with the “Minuet” and continue to inspire and illuminate for instrument. “Gavotte” clearly influenced by Baroque many more generations of developing composers whilst the “Waltz”, “March” pianists. A really fascinating essay on the Ronald Stevenson (1928–2015) left an and “Polka” display later influences. composer by Victor and Marina Ledin is enormous amount of piano music - over Simple yet beautifully crafted, these pieces included, along with painstakingly 500 transcriptions/commentaries/original will appeal to young pianists as there are detailed notes on the actual miniatures compositions, and Kenneth Hamilton’s no pianistic pyrotechnics to overcome, themselves from Chan. Excellent sound. second volume in his ongoing series leaving the original dances in a small hand Kenneth Hamilton Plays Ronald span. It is always good to discover rarely- Stevenson is a feast of delights. What performed repertoire, and Amy Beach is extraordinary fare we have here - certainly one of those greats who should Stevenson’s music is grossly neglected, be more frequently heard in concert always colourful, eclectic and immediate: performances. These neglected gems an unexplored musical universe full of deserve to emerge out of the darkness for delights. Taking us from a huge selection all pianists to discover and enjoy. NL of Purcell transcriptions (The ‘Queen’s dolour’ is especially touching) via Jazz Pierre Boulez Fragment d’une variations on Purcell’s ‘New Scotch Tune’ ébauche (Universal Edition UE 36 098) to a reworking of the slow movement of is a very short work composed in 1987 Frank Merrick’s piano concerto when his friend, Jean-Marie Lehn, won (‘Hebridean Seascape’), this CD is a heady the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The title mix indeed. Bach-Stevenson is juxtaposed actually means a “draft”. The composer with a ‘Recitative and Air on DSCH’, explains that it had been put to one side apparently composed on a train journey awaiting completion as a work for piano from Edinburgh to Manchester in the and instrumental ensemble… When the mid-1970s. There are extraordinary honour was conferred on Lehn, Boulez brought the work out of his files and premiered it (as a fragment) during the Strasbourg Musica festival in 2013. Barely 50 seconds in length, it is full of exciting rapid and strong dynamic contrasts in a relentless frenzy of differing rhythmic patterns. It concludes with a climactic cadence in Boulez’s inimitable style. Compared to other piano works by Boulez, this music is approachable and worthy of study by both intermediate and advanced pianists. NL B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 35

Reviews continued... Alan Bullard needs no introduction Chopin Scherzi Vincent D’Indy is best known for his in the educational piano music sector, but G. Henle Verlag 886 symphonic work “Symphony on a French his set of Twelve or Thirteen Preludes ISMN 979-0-2018-0886-4 Mountain Air” for piano and orchestra. in the Minor Keys, published by Colne His solo piano music is extremely Edition CE55, deserves wider currency As a long-standing and generally happy unknown, so all credit to Spartan Press than that. It follows on from a charmingly user of the older Henle Scherzo Edition, for publishing the persuasive and finely- idiomatic set of the same number of it was a pleasure to explore this new one crafted Four Pieces opus 16. The opening pieces in the major keys from 2017 and (2016–18), with its extensive editorial Sérénade requires large hands and lasts – like the earlier set – around 20–25 explanations and elegant presentation and flexibility but makes a charming minutes in performance. You can hear layout under the editorship of Norbert intermezzo in quasi orchestral guise Bullard himself on YouTube performing Mullermann. Chopin editions will always (some especially notable pizzicato effects). these lovely pieces. They are characterful, be complex creatures to create on account Choral Grace is less than thirty bars long, evocative, user-friendly, and remain of the quixotic nature and ever-changing turning the piano into a romantic organ within the parameters of conventional dynamic creativity of the composer. and reminding us of the composer’s tonality and pianism without ever Pianists and teachers can become connections with Franck. Woodwind becoming tiring or clichéd. Delightful impassioned and upset if they see their colours come more to mind with the music – especially in the slower numbers beloved conceptions of masterpieces mercurial Scherzetto third piece – by far – which intermediate players (Grade 6 or adjusted in new texts away from their the most substantial movement in the set, 7 upwards) will adore to perform. Strongly own Chopin ‘truths’. So what is an editor lasting over 360 bars. This is bravura recommended. AT to do? With Chopin we can never please music that impresses through its 36 everyone all of the time! Indeed finding energised dynamism. Delicacy and definitive answers to many of Chopin’s control are requisites for pianistic success textual uncertainties can at times be here. Finally, a B minor etude with much almost an impossibility. Happily this new agitato and equal semiquaver fervour for edition is lucid, pleasurable to play each hand - albeit relieved through a throughout and can most certainly be sonorous, quasi-static intermezzo in the regarded as reliable. Fingering by Hans- remote key of E flat major. Perhaps the Martin Theopold will inevitably suit some pieces are too unrelated to perform as a hands for some of the time, if not every set. Nonetheless, fascinating material hand always. AT which could be studied by enterprising intermediate players. The set may well be Moving on to Czerny next, we have a extremely useful too as quick studies for volume of studies from the co-authors of institutions on the lookout for surprises. the Piano Safari series of publications: AT Czerny Etudes for the Progressing Pianist Book 1 edited by Julie Knerr and Katherine Fisher (Piano Safari, www.pianosafari.com). This volume of 21 studies is selected from a number of different Czerny opuses to make a neatly- packaged anthology for elementary players. There are also three arrangements by Czerny of music by Mozart and Beethoven. All have been selected with varied pianistic left-hand accompaniments: Alberti Bass, Waltz rhythms, broken chord patterns, scalic passages and a few melodic passages to accompany the right hand. The Introduction gives practice and performing tips on interpreting the various left-hand patterns thus aiding a most musical final performance of each study. Very clear appearance in large print will enable very young pianists to enjoy these varied studies to the full. NL Czerny: Variations on Haydn’s Celebrated Air “God preserve the Emperor” op. 552 no. 2 for Piano Duet edited by David Patrick Fitzjohn Music Publications This charming set of Variations on the Austrian national anthem is a work with equal interest for both parts. Intermediate and advanced players alike will enjoy exploring Czerny’s workout of the much- loved and well-known theme. EPTA owes David Patrick much gratitude for his constant delving into hitherto ignored great music. NL

Kallmeyer: Nine Variations on John how powerful rests, extended fermatas Chords, RH Pentatonic over LH Quartal Philip Sousa’s March ‘The Liberty Bell’ and slow expansive wallows can be. With Voicings, Modal Harmony and Exact and Edition Dohr 11320 titles such as Alpine Meadows, Winter Sky Inexact Harmonic Parallelism are some of ISMN M-2020-2320-4 and By the Pond, the anthology has an the pianistic skills used in these pieces outdoor elemental bias which encourages which cannot fail to appeal to young The German composer Ulrich tonal beauty and the development of self- teenagers on the prowl for some new, Kallmeyer (b. 1963) has already dazzled us listening. Excellent ‘well-being’ and entertaining repertoire. A novel theme to with his 12 variations on The Star-Spangled mindful musical material. AT old musical ideas, this collection of Banner (1996). Here he continues using Kleeb: Beethoven around the world smooth, sedate, calming pieces will Americana as an effective springboard for Bärenreiter BA 10931 certainly be firm favourites to young imaginative originality in a new set of ISMN 979-0-006-56611-2 aspiring restaurant pianists. NL variations on Sousa’s celebrated March that shows particularly interesting Jean Kleeb provides nine extremely From Poland we have Little Stories rhythmic ideas. The writing is economic entertaining, witty, consummately crafted for Piano by Agnieska Lasko (Euterpe, and lean, but pianistic and arresting in its and superbly timed Beethovenian www.euterpe.pl). It is not often that I own way. The return of the theme at the offshoots that will enlighten and enliven rave about new music for young pianists end of the variations as an epilogue is the repertoire of any pianist from but this particular volume of 16 character strikingly effective, bringing a intermediate level upwards. Tango, Samba, pieces is a sheer delight. In true Polish concentrated essay to a convincingly Gamelan, Balkan, Oriental, Scottish and pedagogical tradition, each piece offers impressive conclusion. AT African influences all add sauce and spice pianists a story which is so obviously Keveren: Piano Calm to Beethoven’s beloved legacies. I loved depicted in the music and brightly- Hal Leonard HL00300640 Sonatango as well as the ‘Afro Five’ take on coloured illustrations by Malgorzata Flis the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata. Look out which merely enhance the character of Philip Kelvern’s collection of fifteen especially for Furioelise and the exotic 5/8 each charming piece. Titles such as expansively-expressive, serene solos is then 10/8 motoric drive given to “Drowsy Cloud”, “Little Sparrows”, “Hola designed “so the intermediate pianist can Beethoven’s universally loved bagatelle. España”, “Piccola Tarantella”, “Ballerina”, enjoy a respite from it all”. In fact some of Enjoy and be inspired! AT “A Very Worried Bee”, “Walk With The these highly effective miniatures could be Dog” and “Winter Moon” cannot fail to tackled by grade 2 or 3 players, which is Piano Tapas by René Kluiving is conjure up the most sensitive phrasing great news as it is never too soon to learn subtitled “twelve delicious short style from piano students. The composer studies for the aspiring restaurant pianist” writes: “These unusual stories without and is available from the Amsterdam words help you discover that sounds can Music Press (www.bladmuziekplus.nl) tell you about everything…from singing These groovy pieces are exactly as the title birds to buzzing bees…” Aimed at the suggests - and certainly whet appetites for high elementary and intermediate pianist, good food! The composer likens the this book would unquestionably make an pieces to tapas, with the various styles ideal gift for a young pianist wishing to introduced. Late Intermediate pianists explore new repertoire. NL will love the George Shearing-style “Poem”, Bossa Nova “Brazilian Guitars”, Murail : Cailloux dans l’eau pour piano Stuffed Octaves Technique “A Nostalgic Lemoine Editions 29394 H.L. Story”, Cocktail Bar Ballad “Tiny Stream”, ISMN-979-0-2309-9394-4 Errol Garner-style “In a Happy Mood” and Jazz Waltz “Jumping for Joy”. Each of French composer Tristan Muraille (b. the twelve pieces is based on a 1947) is strongly associated with ‘spectral pedagogical technical issue enabling music’ and IRCAM in Paris where pianists to develop keyboard skills while experiments and innovations from the playing fun music. Polyrhythms, Octaves, 1970s meant that compositions appeared Grace Notes with Wrist Rotation, Broken in which harmony, rhythm, form and orchestration are overridden by a group of B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 37

Reviews continued... ‘Spectra’ that determines the development Ohmen: My First Haydn Rachmaninov Suite no. 2 op. 17 for two of all aspects of a piece. This 78-bar Schott ED 23051 pianos, four hands miniature, written in 2018 for the festival Alfred Masterwork Edition ‘Les Solistes à Bagatelle’, comes complete A delightful and inspiring first album ISBN-10:1-4706-3966-1 with an introductory chart explaining of easier pieces and tasteful transcriptions how to interprete the notation within, suitable for players from elementary level An invaluable educational edition: which is fastidious, lean, intricate and to intermediate. The six minuets and ten practical advice is lucidly presented along complex in a post-Boulezian manner. The German Dances make for excellent sight- with an interesting introductory music itself is nonetheless elemental and reading material too for more advanced historical essay. The second Rachmaninov highly-charged colouristically, with players. The presentation is charmingly suite is a well-loved but sometimes rather furious volante runs contrasting with persuasive, encouraging the development daunting warhorse of the two-piano timeless chordal sequences which make and nurturing of further study with love repertoire so Alfred’s background arresting use of sonic decay and silence. and focus of this seminal figure in information is extremely reassuring for Sophisticated and rewarding music of our keyboard music. A positive and colourful the inexperienced. The brief but time. AT potential gift for young pianists to explore concentrated analysis of the music and and cherish. AT reference to sources means that there are Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748–1798) Pitts: Indian ragas for piano made easy fewer reasons for students to play without was Beethoven’s teacher for a brief time www.johnpitts.co.uk, pianoraag.com understanding. Maurice Hinson and and a great admirer of Mozart whose Allison Nelson provide practical help via operas he created into piano arrangements John Pitts has created an extraordinary sensible fingering solutions, and the while he worked at the Opera House resource in this 30-page introductory layout of the text is page-turner friendly. in Bonn. Bravo on Edition Dohr (www. raaga workbook. The approach could dohr.de) for championing his cause. hardly be more simple, but is nonetheless Fazil Say is one of Turkey’s most Die Zauberflöte de Mr Mozart (Six appropriate for advanced players as well distinguished artists as one of classical Easy Pieces for Piano or harpsichord as elementary students. By formulating a music’s most charismatic pianist- four hands), ED 11389, is Neefe’s only system of study Pitts enables even grade composers, winning honours and awards surviving work for piano duet and is two players to get used to improvising from all over the world. A political a real find. It is a slight misnomer to around raaga scales. He has opened a new freethinker, he decided to leave Turkey present these pieces as ‘Easy’ as they do and exotic universe for development and and settle in Japan due to the rise of in fact need careful preparation. The first experimentation. All players could benefit conservative Islam and growing piece is Papageno’s theme, with three from the musical stimulation on offer intolerance in his home country. This variations including one in the minor; the here. The course utilises six raaga scales, idea never actually materialised. Many of second is a short rendition of Pamina’s and explores each one clearly and his works include novel harmonies in the aria; and several are based on Papageno’s systematically via Amal’s (introductions) folk music of Turkey and its neighbours, bell themes. Charming music with lots Gat sections and ending gestures. There standing him to some extent in the of fun for both players in duet teams are ‘really easy’ sections, leading to ‘Easy’ tradition of Bartok, Enescu and Ligeti, to tackle. Neefe’s Marsch der Priester and ‘Quite easy’ pages, all structured who also drew on the rich musical aus Mozart’s Zauberflöte, ED 11390, around easy-to-follow instructions and folklore of their countries. NL presents nine variations with increasing requiring limited facility with note values as the work progresses. There improvisation. Sustained pedalling and Say’s Troy Sonata (Schott ED 23146) is a slow Adagio in the minor key and a freedom of rhythms are prerequisites in a was composed in 2018 and commissioned grand finale with a sweeping climax and course of study that has the potential to by the Çanakkale municipality as part of several contrasting moods and tempos. liberate and empower young musicians of their Trojan Year. It was planned as the A delightful and accessible piece for every age towards new-found creativity. I mainstay of Fazil Say’s 2020 world concert Intermediate level players. NL urge everyone to give this extraordinary tour. It is based on Homer’s Story of the 38 book a chance - it is easy to follow and Trojan War from the Iliad. It is divided into potentially life-changing.Strongly ten sections with parts of the story recommended. AT heading each section. Lasting thirty-five minutes, this is a gargantuan work worthy of Late Intermediate and Advanced pianists in search of novel recital repertoire. Say, himself, performs it alongside the Hammerklavier Sonata, feeling that the two make a good musical match. AT

Pianistically and technically, the Troy Slightly less serious in mood but Fitkin. Book five includes a “Ground” Sonata is extremely approachable by its equally accessible in terms of technical by Purcell, Bach’s Two-part Invention very nature of being subdivided into ten difficulty to the Alan Bullard Preludes in F, Mozart’s “Andante”, Tchaikovsky’s short sections, with story headings reviewed above, Musical Escapades by “Chanson Napolitaine”, and the rarely- throughout the work forming musical James Welburn (www.musica-ferrum. heard “Musical Snuffbox” by Lyadov. instructions as well as leitmotifs for com) presents six delightfully humorous, characters: Agamemnon, Paris, Helen, energised and evocative pieces for the The last two volumes begin to offer Menelaos and Achilles, to name a few. intermediate pianist. There are QR codes more advanced recital repertoire. The flurries that constitute the “Aegean for downloading recordings as well as an Volume six includes a lovely cornucopia Winds” are most effective and satisfying accompanying CD for those who prefer of Baroque music with Couperin’s to play as is the “War” section. The slower more traditional means of listening to “Les Rozeaux”, a Scarlatti sonata in B sections are warm and expressive in the their music. As we have come to expect, minor, “Le Coucou” by Daquin, Fauré “love scene with Helen and Paris” and the Editions Musica Ferrum produce a “Romance sans paroles” and the lively “Epilogue”. Students can understand the suitably elegant, stylish presentation for “Carousel” by Sylvia Borodova. It also musical portent of each page by the this music, which meanders convincingly includes Beethoven’s op. 31 no. 3 E flat running commentary throughout forming through elements inspired from Jazz sonata. The final book contains no real the complete story, and on close scrutiny, ‘Caravan Blues’ to cinematographic surprises but offers fourteen works of this rhapsodic fantasia-like work can be vividness ‘The Heroic Mouse!’, pictorial the staple repertoire: Bach, Handel, likened to a “Symphonic Poem” for piano. evocation ‘Chimes’, Swing ‘Mosey on Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, Highly original and pianistically Down’, popular impressionism Liszt, Mendelssohn and Albéniz are all challenging, this work comes with great ‘Shimmering Waters’, and folk ‘Dansul featured. As is customary, the Associated acclaim. This could create an entertaining Românesc’. Grade 5 and 6 players may Board of the Royal Schools of Music session with ten students performing one find the initial challenges of assimilating offers incredible value for money: if section each to bring this hitherto the notes moderately challenging, but the you calculate what you are paying for unknown work to the public. NL efforts will unquestionably be worthwhile. each individual item in the anthologies, Slightly more experienced players could it works out at approximately 30p per Ombres Chinoises (7 Etudes - find this repertoire suitably relaxing and piece! A real bargain, therefore. Young Pantomimes) by Matthieu Stefanelli (b. charming to pick up quickly. AT and old pianists alike will certainly find 1985) and is a welcome issue from Collections much to enjoy and explore here. Highly Editions Lemoine in Paris (www.henry- recommended! NL lemoine.com). Though the seventh piece, ABRSM Core Classics for Piano ‘Magma’, is unquestionably in the Ligeti (www.abrsm.org) SCHOTT PIANO CLASSICS (ED study bracket of difficulty, many of the 22632): Portraits - 45 Original Piano others are far more approachable, and the (Grades 1–2, 2–3, 3–4, 4–5, 5–6, 6–7) Pieces, edited by Monika Twelsiek idiom, though atonal and complex on These six volumes of popular piano initial play-throughs, is exquisitely teaching repertoire span over four A fascinating, diverse and useful crafted, often beautiful and always centuries of music. There is a total of 130 connected anthology with the common intriguing to listen to. Written in 2016–17, pieces in all. Each of the first five volumes theme of portraits. Ranging from the the set begins with a piece dedicated to includes 20 pieces, with the first offering Baroque Era to the 21st century, the forty- beginner players, moving forward from a Beethoven German Dance and “Sailor’s five pieces here reflect many walks of initial ideas, and attempting to resolve Dance” by Felix Swinstead amongst life through painting, photography, film, technical issues via flamboyant theatrical the selection. Volume two ranges from literature, moods and professions. There gestures! The studies focus in turn on Purcell “Hornpipe” to “Little Habañera” is much to enjoy, and it is a shame to seconds, ostinatos, the independence of by Jean Mackie via Haydn, Beethoven isolate favourites, but “The Piano Tuner” the hands and rhythmic shifts. Gradually and Schubert. The third book includes by Kirchner is particularly entertaining. the technical demands increase up to the works by Bach, Scarlatti, Chaminade and Couperin and Rameau are well seventh study mentioned. AT Beethoven (the ubiquitous ‘Minuet in G’) represented, as are C.P.E. Bach, Schumann, as well as the only transcription in the Burgmüller, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and entire set which is “The Policeman’s Song” Debussy. from The Pirates of Penzance by Sullivan. Volume four includes Bach, Haydn A large proportion of the pieces Mendelssohn, César Franck and Graham is by 20th century and contemporary composers. Living composers represented include Karl-Heinz Pick (“Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella is Dancing”) , Rainer Mohr (“The Sad Princess Sings” and “The Bewitched Dwarf”), Mike Schoenmehl (“Sad Girl”) and Peter Wittrich (“The Little Prince From Asteroid B 612”). The 20th century is represented by Turina’s “Clowns”, Ernst Toch’s “The Juggler”, David Dushkin’s “The Tight-Rope Dancer”, Edward Pütz’s “Sentimental Lady” and Jean Françaix’s “The Tender Girl”. All in all, this latest volume in the Piano Classics Series offers a wealth and breadth of fascinating repertoire, aimed at Intermediate and Advanced players, to suit all tastes and ages of pianists. NL B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 39

EPTA News - Summer 2020 by Nadia Lasserson EPTA - EUROPEAN PIANO This year has brought about unprecedented circumstances, the entire world is in TEACHERS ASSOCIATION deep shock and musicians especially are having a bad time. Everyone in EPTA The Parent Organisation has had a difficult few months and our hearts go out to all teachers and pianists Charity Registered Number 1094973 everywhere who have had all engagements cancelled overnight. However, 34 Carver Road, London SE24 9LT discovering the positive elements of online teaching has been a constant surprise to our Tel: +44 (0)20 7274 6821 wonderful teachers and many lessons have been learnt. Zoom has become a best friend to Email: [email protected] all pianists and teachers in performance classes, masterclasses and concerts. Founder Carola Grindea Honorary European President You will have read on p3 that the 42nd European Conference of EPTA Associations in Dominique Merlet October, hosted by EPTA Germany, “Beethoven 2020: A Theme with Variations” on the Honorary Vice Presidents celebration of 250 years since his birth, will now be fully online. Full details can be found Fanny Waterman DBE, Malcolm Troup, at [email protected]. Alberto Portugheis Many EPTA Associations have had to overcome many hurdles and there have been many EPTA EUROPEAN PRESIDENT enormous successes. On 24th–26th January 2020, EPTA Albania managed, against all odds, (2019/2020) after the devastating earthquake that destroyed many cities and families, to hold the 10th Heribert Koch (President of EPTA Germany) Duo Piano Competition a month later than usual. This VICE PRESIDENTS was as an attempt to resume All Presidents of EPTA National Associations normality and offer light and peace. The participants EPTA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE were not in good condition Chairman: Murray McLachlan but nevertheless travelled Secretary: Nadia Lasserson from all over the country to Treasurer: Derek Watson take part. It was a unique Members of Executive Committee: and great competition that Till Alexander Koerber, Heribert Koch, everyone will always Alberto Urroz, Alan Paul & Susan Bettaney remember. Website: www.epta-europe.org The 25th “Young Pianists Festival”, which was scheduled for June 2020, had to be cancelled. EPTA Croatia was able to hold annual auditions to the Academy online and EPTA – the Parent Organisation – is extremely proud to organise one of the first live concerts in the country which took place constantly expanding not only in Europe on 26th June 2020 in the Zorin-dom Concert Hall, Karlovak, as a tribute to the 441st but also throughout the world through its birthday of that city. This was despite Covid-19, with an audience reaching maximum Affiliations with the most important capacity. The youngest winner of the Croatian audition for the Eurovision Young Artists Piano Teachers Associations: 2020, Ivan Petrovic Poljak, performed Liszt’s Polonaise and Mephisto Waltz. Stipe Prskalo MTNA – Music Teachers National marked the 250th anniversary of Beethoven with a magical performance of the Tempest Association Sonata, Lucija Kashnar followed with Debussy’s suite Pour le Piano, and Arsen Dalibaltayan, a Piano Teachers National Association student at both Zagreb Music Academy and the International Music Academy in of Japan, Founder: Yasuko Fukuda Lichtenstein, concluded with an excellent performance of Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Sonata Japan Piano Teachers Association, in C minor. President: Prof Akemi Murakami Canadian Federation of Music EPTA UK unfortunately had to cancel all planned events as from March 2020 and Teachers Associations, Co-ordinator: wasted no time in quickly offering fortnightly Zoom webinars to inspire its teachers while Prof Ireneus Zuk in lockdown. These have proved extremely successful with many members logging in. Latin American Piano Teachers Association (Argentine, Chile, 19th April 2020 Anthony Williams: Virtually Speaking Ecuador, Brazil) 3rd May 2020 Karen Marshall: Early Years piano teaching 17th May 2020 Peter Noke: Spring Clean Your Virtual Music Cupboard, getting organised online EPTA ASSOCIATES: 31st May 2020 Mark Tanner: Practising Slowly: How, Why and When? EPTA CHINA ASSOCIATES 14th June 2020 Samantha Coates: How to Blitz Sight-Reading Patrick Leichner 28th June 2020 Nadia Lasserson: The Key to Success EPTA NEW YORK ASSOCIATES 12th July 2020 Murray McLachlan: Teaching our Pupils to Teach Themselves Prof Salvatore Moltisanti 26th July 2020 Amy Wakefield: Motivating the Demotivated EPTA INDIA ASSOCIATES 9th August 2020 Anthony Williams: The New ABRSM Syllabus Highlights and Hidden Gems Founder-Director: Prabhudas Ivanson 23rd August 2020 Susanne Olbrich: Mindfulness and Musical Creativity EPTA ISRAEL ASSOCIATES 30th August 2020 Karen Marshall and Anthony Williams: The Journey to Grade 1 Dr. Yuval Admony 6th September 2020 Liz Giannopoulos: Planning for Progression For updated news of activities of each individual EPTA country, please see the website: www.epta-europe.org 40

Contact information and news from the EPTA international community 20th September 2020 The New Trinity Syllabus It is blatantly obvious that EPTA will 4th October 2020 Nadia Lasserson and Anthony Williams: No Tension Please, We’re Pianists not be thwarted by the Coronavirus, and 18th October 2020 Penelope Roskell: Healthy Piano Technique plans continue to be made for more 1st November 2020 Julian Jacobson: The development of Beethoven’s piano in his lifetime activities and meetings everywhere. and how this can influence our teaching and playing 15th November 2020 Mary Hawkes: Playing your best when it counts; the mental side of performing We are delighted to announce that on 29th November 2020 Philip Aldred: The New LCM Syllabus: 9th–12th September 2021 EPTA Spain will 13th December 2020 Lucinda Mackworth-Young: Playing by Ear and Improvising at Christmas host the 43rd EPTA International Conference: “Connecting Continents Indomitable as always, EPTA Associations are now planning their winter events in the and Traditions” in the Royal Conservatory hope that they will actually take place, but everyone is prepared for online alternatives. of Music in Madrid. Spain is a key country Austria, Estonia, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland in the history of western civilisation due to all have Annual Conferences and Pedagogy Days in the autumn and are planning to go all the influences it received from, and had ahead in one form or another. On 27th October 2020, EPTA Sweden is daring to organise on, Europe, Africa and America in both a Piano teachers’ “In-service Training Day” in Uppsala with Rebekka Angervo of the Espoo directions. The conference will reflect this Music Institute, Finland. This event will also be streamed on YouTube. On 7th November through the music from ancient, Jewish, 2020, EPTA Switzerland will hold its meeting on “Motivation” in Baar. Arab, African, Sephardic, Gaelic, Native American cultures in Spanish culture and EPTA Competitions continue, and on 16th–18th May 2020, EPTA Russia held the “8th subsequently, on classical music and the Cristofori International Piano Competition” online. inspiration that classical musicians from all over the world found in that important EPTA Latvia is planning two competitions in the autumn: the “21st International legacy. Find out more: www.epta-spain.com Jurnala Piano Competition” for pianist students aged 6–19 which will be held on 6th–10th October 2020 (postponed from April 2020) in collaboration with the Secondary Music 2022 - EPTA Portugal will host the 44th School and Jūrmala City Council, and on 26th November 2020 the “Xth International EPTA International Conference in Lisbon. Piano Competition” dedicated to Alfrēds Kalniņš, in collaboration with the A. Kalniņš Music Secondary School оf Cēsis. 6th December 2020, EPTA Croatia is organising a 2023 - EPTA Italy will host the 45th concert where the winners of the 2019 “11th Dora Pejacevich EPTA International Piano EPTA International Conference in Rome. Competition” will perform concertos in the Zagreb Music Institute Hall, and on 24th–27th December 2020, EPTA Serbia will run its “12th EPTA Serbia Piano Competition”. 2024 - EPTA Switzerland will host the 46th EPTA European Conference as it Like everyone the world over, Belgium Wallonie/Bruxelles was obliged to cancel its celebrates its 40th Anniversary. 15th “Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes” to be held in Grez-Doiceau; it is now rescheduled for 2nd–7th March 2021. All entries for the original 2020 dates will be accepted in Meanwhile Switzerland continues to 2021. The age limit is extended to 25, for the oldest participants from 2020 still to be eligible. hold two National Conferences each year: The opening concert on 2nd March will be given by winners of the 2018 Competition: Patrick Hideomi Townsend, Roman Fediurko, Chong Wang and Mirabelle Kajenjeri. 7th November 2020, Schaffhausen “Inspired Beginnings” It is also appropriate to send many congratulations to EPTA Belgium Wallonie/Bruxelles who celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year and the 20th Anniversary of the biannual 8th May 2021, Baar: “Piano & Women” “Rencontre Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes”. It was launched in 1990 by Diane 6th or 13th November 2021, Vevey/ Andersen and composer Jean-Luc Balthazar with five Committee members of which two Montreux: “Contemporary Piano Music” are still on the EPTA Board: Dominique Cornil and Francois Thiry. EPTA Belgium Wallonie/Bruxelles hosted the EPTA International Conferences on two occasions in 1995 and 2002 and organised successful annual Pedagogical Days. The Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes Competition started in 2000 and its history can be found on the website: www.epta-belgium-be EPTA Italy had to reschedule its patronage with UNESCO of the Annual December “XXXth Chopin Roma Competition” to the Spring of 2021. EPTA France is planning to launch the newly-organised EPTA Association just as soon There is much to savour from all as lockdown permits and we await its news with great anticipation. EPTA France will our EPTA Associations whose organise its First International Competition in 2021. presidents work so very hard and we offer our deepest gratitude to them Many other activities are planned for 2021, with EPTA Finland on 6th–7th February all. Everyone can look forward to 2021 organising its Annual Conference at the Juvenalia Music Institute in Espoo. EPTA better times ahead when the EPTA Switzerland will run its Pedagogy Day in Spring 2021. EPTA Portugal will run its annual family can get together again at these “Piano Festival and Masterclass week” in July 2021. exciting forthcoming conferences. BACK TO CONTENTS 41

EPTA Associations EPTA ALBANIA EPTA BELGIUM-Flanders/Brussels EPTA CYPRUS Honorary President Takuina Adami Honorary Presidents Louise Hesbain, Roland Planning to re-organise. President Klodi Zheji [email protected] De Munck Jordan Misja High School of Arts, Tirana President Levente Kende Tel: +355 42 23 743, Mobile: +355 6740 80111 [email protected] Secretary Marc Theuns [email protected] Mechelsesteenweg 109/6, 2018 Antwerp Tel: +32 3 281 05 95 Marleen Geerts-Meeusen [email protected] EPTA ARMENIA EPTA BELGIUM-Wallonie/Bruxelles EPTA CZECH REPUBLIC Honorary Presidents Prof. Sergey Sarajyan, President Diane Andersen Founder and Honorary President Prof. Armine Grigoryan [email protected] Radoslav Kvapil President Anna Hambaryan Lotsesteenweg 186, B -1653 Dworp [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +32 2 380 08 27 or +32 1 045 24 03 President Dr Milan Franek Vice President Astghik Bakhshiyan Secretary Marie-Dominique Gilles [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +420 728 896 891 Secretary Zaruhi Mkrtchyan www.epta-belgium.be for all information in Vice President Dr Jitka Fowler Fraňková [email protected] French, English and Flemish. [email protected] Administrator Laura Barseghyan Tel: +420 775 974 327 [email protected] Schnirchova 25, 17000 Praha Tserents Armenia. Str. 7a, Apt. 8, www.epta-cz.com Yerevan – 0032 EPTA BULGARIA Planning to reorganise. EPTA AUSTRIA EPTA CROATIA EPTA DENMARK Honorary Presidents Prof. Walter Honorary President Vladimir Krpan President Dr Balder Neergaard Groppenberger, Prof. Anton Voigt President Ida Gamulin Vice president Vagn Sørensen President Prof. Till Alexander Koerber [email protected] Secretary (Acting) Balder Neergaard [email protected] Vice President Ivanka Kordić Treasurer Lise Andersen Tel: +43 664 7 36 09 503 Secretary Helena Herman Committee Members: Mimi Huang, Vice President Dagmar Schinnerl Trg republike Hrvatske 12, 10000 Zagreb Inke Kesseler, Elisabeth Holmegaard Nielsen, Secretary Heidemarie Schneider–Klimpfinger www.epta-croatia.hr, www.idagamulin.com Søren Pedersen Treasurer Regina Seeber, Project Manager. Honorary members: Anna Øland, Claudia Berzé Tove Lønskov, Bella Horn, Arne Christensen, [email protected] Elsebeth Brodersen and Eugen Indjic Tel: +43 664 777 36 09 503 Søborg Hovedgade 150 1th c/o Anton Bruckner University DK-2860 Søborg, Denmark Hagenstrasse 57, A-4040 Linz Phone: (+45) 41 188 288 www.epta-austria.at / www.bruckneruni.at Email: [email protected] 42

EPTA ESTONIA EPTA FRANCE EPTA GREECE President Lembit Orgse, [email protected] President Véronique Bonnecaze President Natalia Michailidou Vice Presidents Lauri Vainma, alauri. Vice-President Élodie Meuret [email protected] [email protected], Martti Raide (Chief Treasurer Julie BECHET Vice Presidents: Dora Bakopoulos and Kalliopi Executive), [email protected] and Mati 68 boulevard de Courcelles - 75008 PARIS Germanou Mikalai, [email protected] www.epta-france.org Secretary Sofia Dousia Information manager: Riine Pajusaar, Email: [email protected] Treasurer Kostas Tourkakis [email protected] Tél. +33 (0)1 46 22 31 85 Public Relations Stefanos Theodoridis Committee Members: Ia Remmel (editor of Ou +33 (0)7 88 55 15 94 Member of executive committee Sara the annual magazine “Klaver”), Ruth Ernstson, Galanopoulou Tiina Muddi, c/o Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Tatari 13, Tallinn 10116, Estonia Tel: +372 667 5700 www.epta.ee EPTA FINLAND EPTA GEORGIA EPTA HUNGARY President Katariina Nummi-Kuisma Honorary President Alexandre Toradze President Mariann Ábraham [email protected] President Nino Khutsishvili [email protected] Kelohongantie 8B, 02120 Espoo Helsinki [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +358 405 615 877 Dolidzestr 28, ap. 87, 0115 Tbilisi, Georgia Hollosy, S.u.15, 1126 Budapest Vice President Eeva Sarmanto-Neuvonen Vice Presidents: Sidonia Arjevnishvili, Ketevan Tel/Fax: +361 356 05 62 [email protected] Badridze, Maka Baqradze and Levan Inashvili www.parlando.hu Meripuistotie 3A 17, 00200 Helsinki Tel: +358 505 266 440 EPTA GERMANY EPTA ICELAND Secretary Peter Lönnqvist [email protected] Presidium: Dr. Jairo Geronymo (Berlin), Honorary President Halldor Haraldsson Orvokkitie 25, 00900 Helsinki Finland Prof Linde Grossman (Berlin), Heribert Koch President Ólöf Jónsdóttir [email protected] Tel: +358 505 658 503 (Langerwehe), Jens Hamer (Altenberge), Treasurer Brynja Gísladóttir brynjapiano@ Committee Members: Katariina Liimatainen Marilia Patricio (Köln) hotmail.com katariina.liimatainen@ Secretary Sigrid Naumann Secretary Einar Bjartur Egilsson einarbjartur@ kuopionkonservatorio.fi [email protected] gmail.com and Niklas Pokki, [email protected] Koenigswarter Str. 4, D-36039 Fulda [email protected] Rebekka Angervo (webmaster), Treasurer Dr. Rainer Lorenz www.epta.is [email protected] [email protected] Tuomas Mali (editor of “Pianisti” which is Nittenauer Str. 31, 93057 Regensburg distributed to all members), Tel: +49 (0)3212 123 1940 [email protected] www.epta-deutschland.de www.eptafinland.fi www.epta-germany.org B A C K TO C O N T E N T S 43

EPTA Associations continued... EPTA IRELAND EPTA LITHUANIA EPTA NETHERLANDS Patrons: Frank Heneghan, Philip Martin, John President Kestutis Grybauskas President Bart van de Roer O’Conor, Hugh Tinney [email protected] [email protected] President Owen Lorigan Latvia 7-2, 08123 Vilnius LT Vice President Liesbeth Eggen CommitteeVictoria Whittam and Nicolas Puyane Tel: + 370 521 38 771, + 370 614 15535 Secretary Elize van den Berg, secretaris@ Administrator Eithne Gallagher Secretary Aurelija Seliavienė eptanederland.nl 16 Rowanbyrn, Blackrock, Co. Dublin [email protected] Tel +31 645 085 533 Tel +353 1 289 3701 Tel: + 370 620 91291 Treasurer Mariska de Waard, [email protected] [email protected] www.epta.ie, www.facebook.com/ Committee: Olga de Kort-Koulikova, Marc EPTAIreland Pauwels, ArielleVernède & Lestari Scholtes www.eptanederland.nl EPTA ITALY EPTA MACEDONIA EPTA NORWAY President Marcella Crudeli President Todor Svetiev Honorary President Einar Steen-Nøkleberg [email protected] [email protected] President Elin Persson Secretary Silvia Rinaldi Vice President Juliana Zabeva Vice President Radmila Stojkovic, Via Pierfranco Bonetti 90, 00128 Rome [email protected] [email protected] Tel +39 06 507 3889 Secretary Dragoljub Apostolov Treasurer Otto Graf, Committee: Lear Maestosi, Carla Giudici c/o Academy of Music, PituGuli 1, 91000 [email protected] www.chopinroma.it/eng Skopje www.epta.no www.eptaitaly.it Tel: +389 91 231614 [email protected] EPTA MALTA EPTA POLAND Honorary President Fransina Abela President Karol Radziwonowicz Acting President Evelina V. Batey EPTA LATVIA [email protected] Tel: +356 9980 2226 President Juris Kalnciems Secretary Shirley Psaila [email protected] [email protected] Secretary Diana Zandberga Tel: +356 2142 1112 [email protected] www.epta-malta.com Rīgasiela 4-3, Baloži LV-2112 Latvia Facebook: Malta Piano Teachers Association Tel: +37 126 204 457 EPTA Malta Foreign Affairs Co-ordinator Toms Ostrovskis [email protected] http://www.music.lv/epta/events2017.htm www.music.lv/epta/welcome.htm 44

12, 1000 Ljubljana [email protected] Committee members: Nuša Gregorič, Miha Haas, Božena Hrup, Dejan Jakšič, Davorin Dolinšek, Sanja Šehić, Julija Kunova. Jana Stojnšek, Sanja Šehić Address: Društvo klavirskih pedagogov Slovenije EPTA, Stari trg 34, 1000 Ljubljana www.epta.si, www.epta.si/eng EPTA PORTUGAL EPTA SERBIA EPTA SPAIN Honorary members: Artur Pizarro, Fernando Honorary Presidents: Arbo Valdma and Dušan Honorary President Ana Guijarro Laires and Helena Sá e Costa (both deceased) Trbojević President Alberto Urroz President Luís Pipa, [email protected] President Dejan Sinadinović [email protected] Caminho do Agro, 47, 4900-012 AFIFE, [email protected] C/Luis Vives, 8. 4º A. E-28002 Madrid Portugal Vice President Miloš Pavlović Tel: +34 915 630 807 Tel: +351 258331860 [email protected] Mobile: +34 639 894 349 Mobile: +351 934210439 EPTA Serbia Faculty of Music and Arts, Vice-President Marcela Linari http://epta-lusa.pt/ Kralja Milana 50, Belgrade 11000 Secretary Pablo López de la Osa https://www.facebook.com/eptaportugal Tel: +381 11 362 1170 [email protected] Treasurer Paloma Molina EPTA ROMANIA EPTA SERBIA–VOJVODINA www.epta-spain.com There are plans to re-organise EPTA President Tatjana Vukmanović Romania. EPTA Voyvodina, Isidor Bajić Music School, Njegoševa 9, 21000 Novi Sad [email protected] EPTA SLOVAKIA EPTA SWEDEN President Ida Černecká President Patrick Jovell Head of Keyboard and Dean of the Music [email protected] Faculty at the Bratislava Academy. Ruddammsvägen 33, 11421 Stockholm EPTA Slovakia continues to organise annual Vice Chariman Andreas Julin events. Secretary Ecaterina Wehlander [email protected] EPTA RUSSIA Vice Secretary Martin Tell Treasurer Johan Sandback President Irina Osipova Committee: Viktor Westergren, Natalia [email protected] Kazimirovskaia, Vesna Mattsson, Eva Lundgren Leninskiy Prospect (avenue) 64/2 Apt 150, and Irina Krjutjkova Lind Moscow 119296 www.sppf.net Tel: +7 499 1371526 / Mob: +7 903 6155155 www.iospiano.ru EPTA SLOVENIA EPTA Russia Structure: Chelyabinsk (Ural) – Chairman Andrey Nechaev Honorary president Dubravka Tomšič Kaliningrad – Chairman Vladimir Slobodyan Srebotnjak Petrozavodsk – Chairman Victor Portnoy Honorary member Majda Jecelj Rostov-on-Don – Chairman Vladimir Daych President Primož Mavrič Samara – Chairman Sergey Zagadkin [email protected] Sochi – Chairman Tatyana Agafonova Vice President Dejan Jakšič Tambov – Chairman Irina Tsareva [email protected] Tver – Chairman Galina Solodova Secretary Suzana Zorko – DKPS EPTA, Ižanska Ufa – Chairman Rustam Gubaydullin BACK TO CONTENTS 45

EPTA Associations continued... EPTA SWITZERLAND EPTA CHINA ASSOCIATES ALAPP Argentina (Association of President Tomas Dratva President Patrick Lechner Latin American Pianists and Pedagogues) [email protected] [email protected] President Valentín Surif Jurastrasse 45 , 4053 Basel Executive Secretary Dongyang Yu [email protected] Tel +41 78 612 36 30 Tel +86 28 6511 8239 Arcos 2030, 15 “C” Buenos Aires (1428) Vice-President Saori Miyazaki Mobile +86 15 2288 11881 Tel: (54-11) 4784-0583 Committee members Wolfgang Clausnitzer, [email protected] Secretary Estela Telerman Kathrin Schmidlin, Susanne Maria Schwarz www.epta-china.org Treasurer Lilia Noguera Secretary Mrs. Margot Müller Members: Alfredo Corral and Ana María Haus der Musik, Gönhardweg 32 CH-5000 Mondolo Aarau / Switzerland Deputy Members: Martha Bongiorno and Mobile: 0041 76 539 76 45 Guillermo Carro [email protected] Auditor Gloria Diograzia Val epta.ch bluewin.ch www.musicaclasicaargentina.com/surif, [email protected] www.valentinsurifpianist.com www.epta.ch MTNA Music Teachers National Association EPTA INDIA ASSOCIATES Founder/Director Prabhudas Ivanson [email protected] EPTA UKRAINE Planning to reorganise. EPTA UK EPTA ISRAEL ASSOCIATES Founder Carola Grindea Chairman Yuval Admony Patron Piers Lane Committee Miriam Boskovich, Dr. Einat Chairman Murray McLachlan Fabrikant, Prof. Eitan Globerson, Prof. Emanuel Administrator Carole Booth Krassovski,, Dr. Ron Regev, Dr.Michal Tal [email protected] Secretary Natalie Yontov 4 Guildford Road, Dukinfield, Cheshire Academy of Music and Dance, Jerusalem; SK16 5HA Buchman – Mehta School of Music, Tel- Tel: +44 18456 581054 Aviv University www.epta-uk.org [email protected] www.epta-israel.org 46 B A C K TO C O N T E N T S