Franz Liszt in Istanbul

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Franz Liszt

Towards the end of his long performance career, Franz Liszt finally managed to visit the Ottoman Empire in 1847. Liszt had wanted to visit Istanbul as early as 1838, and wrote to a friend, “… [I have a] desire and strong decision to go to Istanbul, although I would need signed letters of introductions for cities like Izmir, Istanbul and Athens from Prince Metternich.” In the end, the 1838 trip did not materialize because his mistress Marie d’Agoult was pregnant, however, Liszt continued to show great interest in all aspects of Turkish culture that had already attracted a number of his close friends.

Istanbul

Comtess Marie d’Agoult reports “Liszt speaks and dreams only of the Sultan, and wishes to bring his music to the Ottoman people.” And in 1846, Gaetano Donizetti wrote to his brother Giuseppe, who was director of the Imperial Orchestra at the Ottoman palace, that “my dear friend Franz Liszt is greatly desirous to visit Istanbul.”

Sultan Abdul-Medgid

Eventually, with the help of his famous poet friend Alphonse de Lamartine, Liszt’s visit was scheduled for 1847, with a local newspaper excitedly reporting, “According to some accounts, Monsieur Liszt, who is famous among the piano masters and all the governmental centers in Europe, will come to Istanbul.” In the meantime, Donizetti had received confirmation from the instrument maker Erard in Paris, that as soon as Liszt arrives there, “Erard will sent a beautiful piano with seven octaves, so that the genius and piano-virtuoso will find a fine and worthy instrument at his disposal.”

Bosphorus

Liszt, after playing concerts in Odessa and Elizabethgrad, arrived in Istanbul on 8th June 1847 by steamboat from Galatz and was welcomed by the pianist Baran Resta, the Sultan’s chief translator. Writing to Marie d’Agoult he subsequently reports, “His Majesty the Sultan was extremely gracious to me, and that after having compensated me both in money… and with a gift (a charming enamel box with brilliants), he conferred on me the Order of Nisan-Iftihar in diamonds. I admit that I was greatly surprised to find His Highness so well informed about my bit of celebrity that long before my arrival he had told both the Austrian Ambassador and Donizetti, that as soon as I had disembarked they were to take me to his Palace of Tcheragan.”

Çırağan Palace in 1840s © Wikiwand

Liszt performed twice for Sultan Abdul-Medgid, the potentate who had ruled since he was sixteen, and who was highly interested in Western music and had a passion for the opera. A musical journalist provided the following humorous description: “Liszt was welcomed with enormous honor and compliment. A big celebration was made. The Sultan wanted to show his musical taste, and had invited an orchestra and singers to the palace. After the symphony and the chorus finished, Liszt was asked to perform. He played three pieces, the Andante from the Fantasy on Lucia die Lammermoor, his overture of William Tell and Norma. After the first pieces the Sultan called for water pipes, and he smoked with lust, making a noise like the Etna volcano. Liszt performed the final piece under a great cloud of smoke, and the Sultan winked one eye meaningfully and continued to smoke more excitedly. Liszt was very impressed with the Sultan’s modesty and knowledge, and he was invited to come to the palace again.”

Liszt also gave a number of public concerts, including a musical matinee on 18 June at the Franchini Mansion at Buyukdere. Further private and public concerts were held at the Fethi Pasha Mansion and the Russian Embassy at Pera on 28 June. During this concert, “Liszt saw the panorama of Istanbul from the window and got really excited of seeing the east and the west at the same time. He even thought that he could seen Mount Olympus in the distance.” During his five-week stay, Giuseppe Donizetti hosted Liszt and he arranged accommodations for him at the home of the piano manufacturer Alexander Kommendinger. Donizetti had previously composed two marches for the Sultan, and at Liszt’s request, Donizetti gave him his compositions. “Liszt was in my house,” he writes. “He has just left. He wanted the notes of the two marches I composed for the Sultan. He said he was going to work them into variations sets.” Liszt first played the variations during concerts at Buyukdere on 14 and 15 June. Liszt eventually wrote out the manuscript and gave it to the Austrian ambassador, who passed it to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in turn presented it to the Sultan. In return, Liszt received the already mentioned enamel box studded with diamonds. Additionally, the Sultan handed Liszt a special seal, with the name of the composer written in Arabic alphabet with Turkish letters, and we do know that Liszt used it to seal a number of his letters. As it turns out, Istanbul delivered the perfect setting for Liszt to say goodbye to his life as a traveling virtuoso.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Ten Movies About Musicians

by: Fanny Po Sim Head, Interlude

Classic films such as Amadeus, Immortal Beloved, and Lisztomania have brought the stories of our legendary composers to life. While these movies are known widely, I want to share some lesser-known movies about the music world that you might want to check them out!

1. Topsy-Turvy (1999)

This 1999 film features the lives and partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan. W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) was the dramatist, and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) was the composer. They collaborated on fourteen comic operattas between 1871 and 1896, including legendary The Mikado (1885). Topsy-Turvy, directed by Mike Leigh, is about the drama between Gilbert and Sullivan during the production of The Mikado. It won several awards, including the Best Costume and Makeup at the 72nd Academy Award and Best Picture and Best Director at the 1999 New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Songcatcher

2. Songcatcher (2000)

This movie is about a musicologist, Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer), who discovers beautiful Scottish music in the mountains of Appalachia. Penleric then decides to stay in the hills and traces the history of the Scottish immigrant and the songs. The movie reminds me of Béla Bartók and Percy Grainger, who collected many folk music from different regions.

The Lady in the Van

3. The Lady in the Van (2015)

This comedy-drama, directed by Nicholas Hytner, is based on playwright Alan Bennett’s memoir. The Lady in the Van is about the interaction of Alan Bennett with Mary Shepherd (portrayed by Maggie Smith), who was an old woman living in a van on his driveway for 15 years. Bennett later discovered Shepherd was used to be a gifted pianist and a pupil of Alfred Cortot. However, her musical career only lasted for a short period. Paranoia and mental illness led to her being homeless. Early in her life, Shepherd performed at the Proms. Original footage of the performance is shown in the film.

Florence Foster Jenkins

4. Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Based on a true story, Jenkins (starred by Meryl Streep) was a New York socialite. After an injury, which stopped her dream of becoming a concert pianist in Carnegie Hall, she decided to become an opera singer.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Despite her terrible singing voice, she eventually performed at Carnegie Hall in 1944. Foster Jenkins once said, “People may say I couldn’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.” This is an inspiring movie filled with humor. Even though Jenkins could never sing professionally, her story encourages us to keep trying.

Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I

5 and 6. Nodame Cantabile: The Movie I (2009) and Movie II (2010)

Nodame Cantabile comes from a series of Japanese manga. It became very popular in Asia when the TV series was released in 2006. Following the success of the tv series, three movies were made with the same crews, including Movie I and Movie II. It is about a handsome violinist, Chiaki Shinichi (Hiroshi Tamaki), his footsteps of becoming a famous conductor, and his love story with Nodame (Juri Ueno), who is a virtuosic pianist with quirky personality. Both Movies I and II take place in Europe, and Shinichi has already started his conducting career, and Nodame works her way towards a concert pianist.

The Conductor

7. De Dirigent (The Conductor, 2018)

De Dirigent is a Dutch movie based on the 1920s true story of Antonia Brico who wanted to be a conductor.

Antonia Brico

It was a real challenge for a woman to be accepted as a conductor back in the day due to gender bias. Brico eventually succeeded and entered Berlin State Academy of Music, studying with a famous conductor, Karl Muck. This movie is inspiring, especially to many female musicians even today.

Secret

8. Secret (2007)

This award-winning Taiwanese film was about a piano prodigy, Ye Xianglun (played by Jay Chou), who was enchanted as well as haunted by a beautiful pianist, Lu Xiaoyu. They later fell in love, but Xianglun later found out the secret of Xiaoyu. The piano theme music, Secret, became very popular, and many of my students wanted to play it when the movie came out. The film has referenced the competition that happen among music students in their daily lives. Let’s watch this piano battle scene, the music was based on Chopin’s Etude Op.10 No.5 (Black Key Etude) and Waltz in c-sharp minor.

Tous Les Matins du monde

9. Tous Les Matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World, 1991)

Tous Les Matins du monde is a French movie based on Pascal Quignard’s book of the same title. It is about a French Baroque composer, Marin Marais, and his relationship with his teacher, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. Award-winning actor Gérard Depardieu and his son, Guillaume Depardieu, play the adult and younger version of Marais in the movie. The film features some elegant baroque music played with the viola da gamba.

Playing for Time

10. Playing for Time (1980)

Playing for Time was a movie about musicians in Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Based on an autobiography, The Musicians of Auschwitz, by Fania Fénelon, the story begins with Fénelon, a well-known French-Jewish singer, who was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Playing for Time

She later joined the women orchestra in the camp, whose conductor was Gustav Mahler’s niece, Alma Rosé. This film is a testament of a power of music to bring light and hope to the darkest and hopeless places.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Emmanuel Chabrier Suite Pastorale

Emmanuel Chabrier - his music and his life

 

Emmanuel Chabrier, in full Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, (born January 18, 1841, Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, France—died September 13, 1894, Paris), French composer whose best works reflect the verve and wit of the Paris scene of the 1880s and who was a musical counterpart of the early Impressionist painters.

In his youth Chabrier was attracted to both music and painting. While studying law in Paris from 1858 to 1862, he also studied the piano, harmony, and counterpoint. His technical training, however, was limited, and in the art of composition he was self-taught. From 1862 to 1880, while he was employed as a lawyer at the Ministry of the Interior, he composed the operas L’Étoile (1877; “The Star”) and Une Éducation manquée (“A Deficient Education”), first performed with piano accompaniment in 1879 and with orchestra in 1913. Between 1863 and 1865, working with the poet Paul Verlaine, he sketched out but never finished two operettas. Chabrier was closely associated with the Impressionist painters, and he was the first owner of the celebrated A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882) by his friend Édouard Manet.

After hearing Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Munich in 1879, Chabrier left the Ministry of the Interior to devote himself exclusively to music. As chorus master at the Concerts Lamoureux he helped to produce a concert performance of Tristan and became associated with Vincent d’Indy, Henri Duparc, and Gabriel Fauré as one of the group known as Le Petit Bayreuth. Chabrier’s best music was written between 1881 and 1891 when, after visiting Spain (where he was inspired by the folk music), he settled in Touraine. His works during this period include the piano pieces Dix pièces pittoresques (1880), Trois valses romantiques for piano duet (1883), and Bourrée fantasque (1891); the orchestral works España (1883) and Joyeuse marche (1888); the opera Le Roi malgré lui (1887; “The King in Spite of Himself”); and six songs (1890). The last three years of his life were marked by both mental and physical collapse.

Chabrier’s music, frequently based on irregular rhythmic patterns or on rapidly repeated figures derived from the bourrée (a dance of his native Auvergne), was inspired by broad humour and a sense of caricature. His melodic gifts were honed by performances of popular songs in Paris cafés-concerts. In his piano and orchestral works he developed a sophisticated Parisian style that was a model for the 20th-century composers Francis Poulenc and Georges Auric. His orchestration was remarkable for novel instrumental combinations. In España, for example, his use of brass and percussion anticipated effects in Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1911).

What started as a tour of Spain for six months in 1882, turned into a research trip on the folk music and dances of Spain. Chabrier’s tour took in most of the principal cities of Spain, starting in San Sebastián, and then on to Burgos, Toledo, Sevilla, Granada, Málaga, Cádiz, Cordoba, Valencia, Zaragoza and ending in Barcelona. In writing to a friend, he detailed his discoveries of the various regional dance forms, providing musical examples along with his text.

Although España was originally conceived as a work for piano duet, he turned it into a work for orchestra quite quickly. The original title was ‘Jota,’ a genre of music and dance from Aragon and other regions, but he decided to encompass the whole of the country under its new title, España (Spain). Although Chabrier was known to call it ‘a piece in F and nothing more,’ composers such as de Falla praised it, with even Mahler calling it ‘the start of modern music.’

Music in the Philippines since 1898

Discovering the 'Paris of Negro' through the Rondalla

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas) include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls the loving touch of a mother to her child. Another composer, the National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura, is notable for notating folk songs and dances. Buenaventura composed the music for "Pandanggo sa Ilaw".

By: CORAZON CANAVE-DIOQUINO

       Philippine Music underwent another transformation with the coming of the Americans. The three mainstreams of music during this post-colonial period include classical music, semi-classical music and popular music.

Classical Music

       In the newly established public school system, music was included in the curriculum at the elementary and later at the high school levels. At the tertiary level, music conservatories and colleges were established. The earliest such schools were St. Scholastica’s College (1906) and the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1916). In the 1930’s, two private music schools were established in Manila: The Academy of Music (1930) under Alexander Lippay and the Manila Conservatory of Music (1934) under Rodolfo Cornejo. Both these schools however did not last beyond a few years. Subsequently, other schools with strong music departments emerged at the University of Sto. Tomas, Silliman University, Centro Escolar Univesity, Santa Isabel, St. Paul College and the Philippine Women’s University.

       The graduates from these institutions included present-day composers and performers. Composers produced works utilizing the western idiom and forms: symphonies, chamber works, concertos, solo instrumental works, choral works, solo vocal works. The leading figures of the first generation of composers were Nicanor Abelardo, Francisco Santiago, Antonio Molina, and Juan Hernandez. Classical works written from the 1940’s to the 1970’s were mostly contributed by the first members of the League of Filipino Composers founded in 1955. The majority of these compositions were written in the style of the late 19th century European classical music. These included works by Rosalina Abejo, Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Rodolfo Cornejo, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro, Rosendo Santos, Amada Santos-Ocampo, and Ramon Tapales.

       After studies abroad, modern methods of composition were employed by Eliseo Pajaro and Lucresia Kasilag. Both were strongly influenced by American neoclassicism. Jose Maceda is considered the first legitimate Filipino avant-garde composer. He was the first Filipino composer to succeed in liberating Philippine musical expression from the colonial European mould of symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Among the younger generation of composers, the first to respond to the challenges of new music were Francisco Feliciano and Ramon Santos. A still younger set of composers, all students of Ramon P. Santos includes Josefino Toledo, Ruben Federizon, Verne de la Pena, Arlene Chongson, and Jonas Baes. Since the 1950’s to the present, the trend of serious musical compositions in the Philippines has been towards a synthesis of traditional concepts of  structure, of time, of space, of melody, of performance medium with the new and experimental techniques.

       In the performance field , some notable Filipino artists include Jovita Fuentes, Isang Tapales, Ramon Tapales, Dalisay Aldaba, Conchita Gaston, Mercedes Matias, Federico Elizalde, Luis Valencia, Oscar Yatco, Benjamin Tupas, Nena del Rosario Villanueva, Jose Contreras, Fides Asencio Cuyugan, Reynaldo Reyes, Jose Maceda, Ernesto Vallejo, Sergio Esmilla, Carmencita Lozada, Basilio Manalo, Evelyn Mandac, Aurelio Estanislao and Cecile Licad.

       Outstanding groups include the Manila Symphony Orchestra, the Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra, the U.P. Symphony Orchestra, the Manila Concert Orchestra, the  Quezon City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Artists’ Guild of the Philippines, the Philippine Choral Society, the U.P. Madrigal Singers, the U.P. Concert Chorus among others.

Semi-Classical Music

       The semi-classical repertoire includes stylized folk songs, music for theater, songs and ballads, and various types of instrumental music. An awakened interest in field work produced a body of folk songs from the different regions of the Philippines. These were written in Western notation, often utilizing western harmonies. Instrumental and vocal arrangements of the songs were published and used as educational materials in schools.

       The native sarswela in the vernacular, an outgrowth of the Spanish zarzuela introduced in1879, appeared by 1900. Composers who wrote music for these dramas included Bonifacio Abdon, Alejo Carluen, Gavino Carluen, Jose Estella, Fulgencio Tolentino, Juan Hernandez, Francisco Buencamino, Leon Ignacio, and Francisco Santiago. As a general rule sarswela composers functioned as conductors of the orchestra. Often they were instrumental performers of note in their own right. Many taught in schools or gave private lessons in homes. They also appeared in large public music concerts as well as in smaller gatherings where music programs formed the main attraction of informal and semi-formal occasions.

       The sarswela solo songs became models for the classical kundiman and the lighter type of love songs and ballads used in radio and in the cinema. These songs were further popularized in the 1950’s with the advent of the recording industry, particularly the Villar Recording Company. It gave rise to the unprecedented popularity , not only of the music, but also of the performers. Outstanding instrumental groups included the Juan Silos Rondalla, the Leopoldo Silos Orchestra, and the Mabuhay Recording band. Top artists were Sylvia La Torre, Ruben Tagalog, Cely Bautista, Raye Lucero, Diomedes Maturan, Pilita Corales, Cenon Lagman, Ric Manrique, and Nora Aunor. Initially the songs were written by Abelardo, Santiago, Buencamino, later joined by Mike Velarde, Constancio de Guzman, Josefino Cenizal, Juan Silos, Manuel Velez, Leopoldo Silos, Simplicio Suarez, Minggoy Lopez, Santiago Suarez, Restie Umali, Antonio Maiquez, and Ernani Cuenco. A favorite lyricist of these major songwriters was Levi Celerio.

      In the field of semi-classical instrumental music, the band stands out. The tradition of village and town bands that proliferated during the Spanish times continued. By the turn of the century, band performances in Manila which took place at the Luneta, the Plaza Mayor, and the Calzada were highly praised for their impeccable performances. Travelogues written at this time echo the same sentiment- that nowhere had they heard such fine performances. Until today, the band tradition goes on. Marches, concert overtures, concertant pieces, tone poems, and even symphonies have been written for band. Composers of band music include Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Francisco Feliciano, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Eliseo Pajaro, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro and Rosendo Santos.

       A popular medium for light classical muse is the rondalla. Its repertoire consists mainly of native folk tunes, ballroom music as well as arrangements of classical pieces such as opera overtures. Bayani de Leon and Jerry Dadap have written more serious music for the rondalla.

Popular Music

       The third mainstream of music during the 20th century is popular music. This genre includes Pinoy Ballads, Pinoy Rock, Manila Sound, Pinoy Disco, Pinoy Folk, Mainstream Jazz, Pinoy Jazz Fusion, Pinoy Rap, Ethnic Pop, and novelty songs.

About the Author:

Corazon Canave-Dioquino musicologist, is a professor at the University of the Philippines, College of Music where she has taught for the past 42 years.She is actively involved in the collection and archiving of musical Filipiniana at the UP Center for Ethnomusicology at Diliman, Quezon City.

Who Else Needs Glasses?

By Interlude

Credit: Mike Magatagan

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Tomaso Albinoni - his music and his life

by Georg Predota

“The Professional Dilettante”

Tomaso Albinoni

There is hardly a collection of recorded Baroque favorites that does not include the “Adagio in G minor” by Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). Although that world-famous composition is attributed to Albinoni, it was actually the creation of the mid-20th century Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto. While completing his biography on the composer, Giazotto claimed to have found a fragment of an Albinoni composition in an archive of a Germany library. That fragment supposedly contained snippets of a melody and a supporting continuo part. Relying on the stylistic features of the Italian Baroque, Giazotto “completed” the fragment, and the Italian publisher Ricordi published the “Albinoni Adagio” in 1958. So far so good, but there is one more twist to that story, as nobody has been able to locate or examine that mysterious Albinoni fragment. The attribution to Albinoni might be a clever work of fiction, but Tomaso Albinoni did exist, as he was born 350 years ago in the city of Venice.

Remo Giazotto

Albinoni’s father was a manufacturer of playing card who owned several shops and some property in Venice. Tomaso was slated to take over his father’s business, but in his spare time he took violin and singing lessons. He obviously was highly talented, but since he was independently wealthy, he never looked for employment in music. Instead, “he preferred to remain a man of independent means who delighted himself and others through music.” Initially, Albinoni dabbled in church music but failed to make a mark. However, he did step into public view at the beginning of 1694, as his first opera Zenobia, regina de Palmireni was staged at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Dedicated to his fellow Venetian, the Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the work was popular and performances continued for several weeks. Concordantly, Albinoni published his 12 Sonatas Op. 1, and it became obvious that “instrumental ensemble music (sonatas and concertos) and secular vocal music (operas and solo cantatas) were to be his two areas of activity in a musical career that lasted the better part of 47 years.”

Frontispiece of Albinoni’s ‘Zenobia’

Albinoni might briefly have served Ferdinando Carlo di Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, and his hugely popular suites Opus 3 are dedicated to Ferdinando de’Medici, Grand prince of Tuscany. His theatrical works soon began to be staged in other Italian cities. Rodrigo in Algeri was staged in Naples in 1702, and Griselda and Aminta in Florence in 1703. A set of comic intermezzos Vespette e Pimpinone of 1708 proofed especially popular. Albinoni reached the height of his popularity in 1722. He dedicated a set of 12 concertos to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. In turn, he was commissioned to compose music for the wedding of Karl Albrecht to Maria Amalia, the younger daughter of the late emperor Joseph I. Albinoni wrote at least fifty operas, of which twenty-eight were produced in Venice between 1723 and 1740. The composer claimed to have created a grand total of 81 operas, but the vast majority of these stage works have been lost because they were not published during his lifetime.

Italian composers Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750), Domenico Gizzi (Egizio or Egiziello) (1680- c. 1745) and Giuseppe Colla (1731-1806) by Pietro Bettelini (1763–1829)

Although a good many attributions to Albinoni are doubtful, he apparently did compose nearly 50 solo cantatas. However, he is primarily known as a composer of instrumental music, with almost 100 sonatas for between one and six instruments, 59 concertos and 8 sinfonias to his name. His instrumental compositions were published in Italy, Amsterdam and London, and subsequently reissued and reprinted. They were favorably compared to those of Corelli and Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach wrote at least four keyboard fugues on Albinoni themes. We also know that Bach frequently used Albinoni bass lines as foundation for harmonic exercises for his students. Sadly, substantial parts of Albinoni’s works were lost with the destruction of the Dresden State Library in World War II. Albinoni’s music has been criticized “for an over dependence on certain formal stereotypes, and a dryness and lack of harmonic finesse.” It must be said, however, that Albinoni possessed a remarkable melodic gift, and that his mature works “display an almost perfectly realized equilibrium between form and content.” From about 1730, Albinoni gradually withdrew from public life and from composition. He spent the last decade of his life in the care of his three children, and he died on 17 January 1751 from diabetic complications in Venice.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

The Pianist’s Solitude

By Francis Wilson, Interlude

Credit: https://static1.squarespace.com/

“The loneliness doesn’t worry me……I spend most of my life alone, even backstage…….I’m there completely alone. I like the time alone….”

British pianist Stephen Hough, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme

The pianist’s life is, by necessity, lonely. One of the main reasons pianists spend so much time alone is that we must practise more than other musicians because we have many more notes and symbols to decode, learn and upkeep. This prolonged solitary process may eventually result in a public performance, at which we exchange the loneliness of the practise room for the solitude of the concert platform.

Most of us do not choose the piano because we are loners – such decisions are usually based on our emotions, motor skills or the aural appeal of the instrument. For me, as a child – and an only child – the piano was a companion and a portal to a world of exploration, fantasy and storytelling. It remains a place to retreat to and time spent with the instrument and its literature can be therapeutic, rebalancing and uplifting. For many of us, being alone is the time when the sense of being at one with the instrument is strongest.

In addition, there is time alone spent listening to recordings – one’s own (for self-evaluation) and by others (for inspiration and ideas on interpretative possibilities, or purely for relaxation) – and time simply recovering from practising and refocusing in readiness for the next session. Many pianists tend to be loners – the career almost demands it and self-reliance is something one learns early on, as a musician – but that does not necessarily make pianists lonely or unsociable.

To me it’s always about connection – connecting with parts of myself, with the thoughts and feelings of the composer, and ultimately sharing with an audience. It’s travelling through time and space to experience other eras and cultures…..I can’t think of anything that makes me feel less lonely!

Stephen Marquiss, pianist & composer

The life of the concert soloist is a strange calling, yet many concert pianists accept the loneliness as part of the package, together with the other accessories of the trade. The concert pianist experiences a particular kind of solitude (as noted by Stephen Hough in the quote at the beginning of this article). The solitude of travelling alone – the monotony of airport lounges, the Sisyphean accumulation of air miles, nights spent alone in faceless hotels. Dining alone, sleeping alone, breakfast alone, rising early to practise alone. And there is the concert itself: waiting backstage, alone, in the green room, and then the moment when you cross the stage, entirely alone….. The pianist Martha Argerich has described the “immense” space around the piano that has always made her feel alone on stage. But it is this aloneness, this separation, which the solo pianist exploits for the purpose of captivating and seducing the audience, drawing them into his or her own private world for the duration of the performance.

I suppose being an introvert in a ‘public performance’ profession has been my greatest challenge. It isn’t straightforward, of course – I seem to have a deep need to communicate music to an audience and get their reaction, and I love to be appreciated, but there are many other aspects of being ‘on show’ that don’t come naturally. I’m very interested in people, but I’m quite a private person and need lots of time to myself.

Susan Tomes, pianist and writer

The traditional positioning of the piano on stage, so that the pianist sits side on to the audience, heightens this sense of separation and aloneness. In a concert, the pianist must navigate a path between private, subjective feelings and public expression in a curious display of both isolation and exhibitionism. The power of performer, and performance, is this separateness from the mass of audience. Some performers may exploit this to create a sense of “us and them”, while others are adept at creating an intensity or intimacy of sound and gesture during which the audience may feel as if they have a private window onto the pianist’s unique world, in that moment.

Up there on the stage, one can feel more alone than anyone would ever care to be, yet it can make one better than one thinks possible because one’s ego is constantly being tested when one plays. To meet a Beethoven sonata head on, for example, it stops being about you – how fast you can play, how technically accomplished you are. Instead it is about getting beyond oneself, becoming ego-less, humble in the face of this great music, developing a sense of oneness with the composer…..

After the performance, when the greeting of the audience and CD signing is over, the pianist may happily retreat to his or her solitary practise room or studio. Many of us long for this special solitude and actively relish the time spent practising alone.

The internet and social media have, for many of us, been a huge support in relieving feelings of loneliness and separation. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms enable us to connect with pianists and other musicians around the world, allowing us to preserve our solitude, while also engaging meaningfully with others when required.

(C) 2017-2021 by Interlude.

Khatia Buniatishvili: “Beyond the Eccentricity of Planet Pogorelich”

 By: Georg Predota

(C) 2021 Interlude

Khatia Buniatishvili

One of the most visually glittering pianists today, Khatia Buniatishvili steadily appears on television sets, front covers of glossy magazines and every imaginable social media outlet. She certainly attracts attention; on the cover of a recent Schubert release, Khatia takes on the physical persona of the famous corpse Ophelia, prompting a critic to sheepishly ask, “artistic or airheaded?” Unquestionably, she is one of the most highly sought after pianists, and readily appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls. And it is her appearance in outfits with often plunging necklines that have earned her various nicknames, including the “Betty Boop” of the piano, and “the pop star of the classical music world.” For some, Khatia is a phenomenon “titillating the classical public… shaking and disrupting this fragile world.” To others, she is a “Lady Gaga or Beyoncé craving attention, with fashion as the best kind of projection.” To me, this simply begs the question of what makes Khatia Buniatishvili tickhatia Buniatishvili was born in the town of Batoumi near the Black Sea on 21 June 1987. At that time, Georgia was still under Soviet authority, and life was anything but placid. When Georgia declared independence in 1991, every day became a struggle for survival and for keeping poverty at bay. “Early on, I got a taste of what real discipline is,” she explains, “and of how a human being can develop their imaginary world amidst a schedule that’s busy and difficult both mentally and physically.” Khatia was introduced to music by her mother, who apparently also instilled her with a sense of fashion by “sewing together magnificent dresses for her two daughters from bits of cloth she had managed to scavenge.” Khatia had discovered the piano at the age of three, and her mother would leave a new musical score on the piano each day. By age 6, Khatia first appeared publically with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra in the Concerto Op. 44 by Isaac Berkovich, a composer closely associated with the Soviet regime. That highly successful debut resulted in the invitation to tour internationally with the orchestra.

In Tbilisi, Khatia took lessons with the renowned Georgian Chopin interpreter Tengiz Amirejibi, and it was during a local piano competition that she met Oleg Maisenberg. He convinced her to come to Vienna and study with him. She arrived in Vienna full of enthusiasm, and became an eager student. “I wanted to absorb everything I could, and the University had virtually unlimited knowledge on offer.” She still has only praise for Oleg Maisenberg, whom she describes as a magnificent musician of unlimited imagination and depth. “Every lesson was a work of art and remains deeply engraved in my memory.” Khatia’s rise to fame began in earnest in 2008, when she was awarded the 3rd prize and the Public prize by the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master competition in Tel-Aviv. In the same year she was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, and she issued her first album in 2011 with works by Franz Liszt. Concurrently with her rapid rise to fame, Khatia is determined to follow her own path. And once she sits down at the piano, everything goes, including attitude, emotion, and outfit.

Khatia Buniatishvili is adamant about the freedom of her performances, and she defends her right to “re-appropriate each work and to perform them without necessarily respecting the tradition or model imposed by her predecessors.” The human being stands squarely in the center of her art, as “we can subtly reveal our emotions all the while staying perfectly intimate with our instrument.” Emotion is her guiding and motivating force, and she is in love with complexity and paradoxes, not complications and oppositions. Her music is fundamentally bound to political activism, as she is involved in numerous social rights project, including among others the DLDwomen13 Conference in Munich, or the United Nation’s 70th Anniversary Humanitarian Concert benefiting Syrian refuges. Khatia Buniatishvili refuses all invitations to perform in Russia as long as president Putin is in power. As to Khatia’s musical performances, they have either been called “hauntingly original” or “beyond the eccentricity of Planet Pogorelich.” This fundamental disagreement depends on how commentators interpret the communicative aspects of music, and that surely includes attire and all other performative aspects. 

Forgotten Pianists: Aldo Ciccolini

By: Anson Yeung 

Aldo Ciccolini © WRTI

A celebrated interpreter of Erik Satie’s music, Aldo Ciccolini (1925 – 2015) was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Enrolled at the Naples Conservatory at the age of 9 as an exceptional case, he studied with Paolo Denza, a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni, and became the youngest professor at the Conservatory at 22. Despite his aristocratic roots, he had to support his family by performing in bars after World War II.

His victory in Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1949 (first prize shared with the Bulgarian pianist Ventsislav Yankov) opened the international performing stage to him. Subsequently settled in Paris, Ciccolini studied with masters of the French school (if such generalisation is allowed), including Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat. He also proved himself to be an outstanding pedagogue, having taught students like Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Akiko Ebi and Fabio Luisi at the Conservatoire de Paris.

© Wikipedia

Although he spent the earlier part of his life in Italy, he considered himself to possess a “French soul”. This could also be seen through his fondness for French music amongst his vast repertoire, including Satie, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and the lesser-known composers Déodat de Séverac and Alexis de Castillon.

His choice of repertoire, together with his understated style (a combination of non-flashy demeanour and emotional restraint), probably explained why he didn’t receive the acclaim of some of his peers. That said, he was of course capable of handling the “warhorse” repertoire, including piano concerti by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff and complete Beethoven piano sonatas. Always noble and lyrical, his playing possessed a rare quality that countless pianists aspire to achieve – that is, to deceive listeners into perceiving piano not as a percussive instrument but instead a human voice with nuances and intonations.

He continued to actively concertise until the very end of his life, with no discernible decline in technical command and perhaps even greater authority. In this extravagant Tarantella, he revealed his virtuosic temperament with his electrifying reading. It’s hard to imagine how an 85-year-old could pull off such an unfailingly impressive performance. It had everything – exuberance, brilliance and elegance. The underlying pulse was steady with spontaneous rubato, while passagework was tackled with clarity and filigree.

Erik Satie: 3 Gnossiennes (Aldo Ciccolini, piano)

Abstract music like this requires a kind of musical instinct to make sense of it. Ciccolini, having championed Satie’s works like no other pianist, certainly had that. It can easily sound bland and uninspired in the wrong hands, but he brought out the nonchalance characteristic of Satie’s music so finely without over-interpretation.

This article wouldn’t be complete without visiting this timeless rendition of Elgar’s Salut d’Amour.

This is not youthful love, but an aged man reminiscing about the bittersweet memories – full of affectation, remembrance and yearning. The first few seconds could give goosebumps and reduce one to tears with its purity and serenity. It’s unbelievable how Ciccolini gently stroke the keys and conjured up not only a plethora of colours but also memories and emotions from the bottom of our hearts. It’s so simple yet at the same time so sophisticated – in its richness of tonal colours, suppleness of phrasing and wealth of emotions – distilling the complex facets of love into this ethereal performance, from which his artistry truly emanated.

Aldo Ciccolini, what a legendary pianist!

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