Improvisation

C major

What I am working on

Composing:
Adagio for oboe and two horns (f-moll)
Suite for piano (D-dur)
Trio for flute, violin and harp (e-moll)
Requiem for 3 voices a cappella (C-dur)
Theme and variations for piano (G-dur)

Click to listen to excerpts. Recorded on a computer, except the Requiem - I sang, so forgive me for the quality!


For the next Arts Evening I am preparing the following "potential" pieces:

Organ
Buxtehude – prelude and fugue (fis-moll)

Piano
Mozart – sonata No. 1 (C-dur)
Mozart – sonata No. 4 (Es-dur)
Beethoven – sonata No. 14 "Quasi una fantasia" (cis-moll)
Chopin – etude No. 23 "Winter wind" (a-moll)
Rachmaninoff – prelude No. 5 (g-moll)

Violin
Corelli – sonata No. 9 (A-dur)
Bach – concerto No. 1 (a-moll)

Arias
Scarlatti – "Gia' il sole dal gange"
Donizetti – "Una furtive lagrima"


Let me know what you like - I'll compose faster! ;)

Composition: Piano Concerto for a student

I composed the first movement to a piano concerto for a student (Masha, 10 years old). It's in the Viennese classical style.

Download score: piano part.

I think that playing scales and arpeggios is more fun when they are in the right context.

Beethoven - Mitsuko Uchida, Paul Lewis

Patrick reviews Uchida's rendition of Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' sonata.

I wonder what will Uchida's 'Moonlight' Sonata be like?

I have also not got my copy of Paul Lewis playing it, but I have heard it in a recording of his concert. The first two movements were ok. The Presto agitato - not.

Hélène Grimaud cancels concert because of piano pedal

Mostlyopera quotes:

Because of a controversy over the middle pedal of a piano the pianist Hélène Grimaud called off a gala concert with the Staatskapelle Dresden briefly before the beginning in Prague on Saturday. The 37-old pianist surprisingly required the organizers of the festival “Prager herbst” on Saturday to adjust the middle pedal. "Since the piano belongs to the Czech Philharmonic Concert Hall, the Festival Management does not have mandate to make such a change", said Festival executive Pavel Spiroch. Helene Grimaud, who is considered to be one of the best pianists in the world, thereupon canceled the appearance. On the program was piano concert No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Many of the visitors, having traveled a long way to attend this performance expressed both disappointment and anger, when they were informed of the cancellation before the locked doors of the Concert Hall, claiming the whole incident to be a farce. "The piano is one of the best in Prague", said Philharmonic Concert Hall leader Vaclav Riedlbauch. The Staatskapelle Dresden did not want to offer only half a concert to the public and therefore the entire concert was canceled.

Professional pianists use the middle pedal a lot, especially in fast piano passages.

But this particular cancellation may indicate that something deeper was going on between Hélène Grimaud and the management. The pedal was just one of the better reasons that the public might accept better.

Beethoven - 'Moonlight' Sonata

Beethoven's "Moonlight sonata", a name coined by German music critic Ludwig Rellstab after Beethoven's death, is one of the most widely known classical music pieces, and has been since it was composed some 200 years ago.

But let us examine it more closely and look at the facts surrounding the piece, find past and future musical connections and, of course, compare and choose the best recordings of the sonata.

Read on: detailed analysis of Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata, and a comprehensive recordings review, all with audio examples.

Composition: Minuet in the style of Haydn

Just composed:

Download score