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Inspired by the sound of the organ

Roberta Pili — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:01:30 +0000

Mozart called it the king of the instruments, Schumann recommended to learn to play it to achieve more understanding about the power of music, most of the great composers played and wrote works for it. What makes the organ being so extremely apart of all other musical instruments and containing at the same time the power of expression of all these together?
At this point we could not fail to mention the great master Johann Sebastian Bach, who plays the leading role in the music history as an organist of unlimited abilities and as a supreme composer of works for all styles and musical forms. Bach set the fundament of harmonic, chromatic and highly developed contrapuntal structure in all kind of composition. Bach’s prolific attitude toward a great artistic expression led him to improve existing musical forms, creating an innovative way of composing through unfatiguing exploration of original patterns and models. His virtuosity as an organist and improviser definitely influenced his composing style.

The magnificent sound of the organ offers a great variety of harmonic structures, particularly when the use of the pipes through wind reproduces different timbres and volume. Another characteristic of the organ is given by the manuals and the pedalboard. The player is using them separated or in combination with each other, depending on the requirements of the music score.
But the inherent polyphony, which is produced by the pipes sounding simultaneously, can be considered as the real nature of the organ.
The richness of that polyphonic timbre should be the source of inspiration for the study at the piano. We cannot forget that the piano has a close relationship to the organ, even though reduced to one keyboard and three pedals which are only working in direct connection with the sound. But the harmonic structure and the tone extension of our instrument allow us to be able to imitate the organ sound, not only by taking care of a specific touch technique as tenuto and legato but also developing a polyphonic playing.

Play Bach, listen to the organ, and your piano playing will be improving to a higher level…

Sergei Wassiljevitsch Rachmaninoff – 1873-1943

Roberta Pili — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:53:33 +0000

He was one of the most inspiring pianists of the twentieth century. His remarkable personality as a unique artist was perfectly reflected in all his compositions. Sergei Rachmaninoff charcterized the last Romantic piano tradition with his charming, lyric and expressive playing and creative interpretations.
A virtuoso technique, rhythmic precision, colorful tone, polyphonic clarity of inner voices, incomparable sense of lyricism, accurate interpretation of different musical styles, force of expression through every detail of a composition: Rachmaninoff was in absolute possession of all these peculiar “instruments” for his performing.
The great charisma of this pianist came through especially when he played his own works. Due to his personal composing style, which was first influenced by Tschaikovsky, he further developed a contrapuntal writing and a distinguished variety in the chromatic harmonic structure, both deriving from Bach and Chopin.
He certainly dedicated a profound study, work and way of musical thinking from those great composers, becoming idiosyncratic when he created his own music.

It is known that Rachmaninoff suffered from a severe depression, caused by a breakdown after the premiere of his First Symphony. An unproductive period of about three years stressed him that much, but finally he recovered through a hypnotic therapy by the psychologist Nikolai Dahl. He was able to compose again and he wrote his gorgeous Second Piano Concerto, which was dedicated to his therapist. He recovered from that deep psychological crisis, finally being successful with the premiere of the Concerto.

Nevertheless a sort of darkness characterized the soul of his following works. Even his playing changed and became the idealized source of sadness of his inner being.
Probably because of his emotional power Rachmaninoff´s music has been often criticized by puristic tendencies, reduced just into sentimental patterns.
Of course we would face his works on the wrong side when accepting this theory, rather a deep understanding of his personality and his highly-structured music would bring us to a more faithful interpretation of the great composer.
In conclusion, Rachmaninoff remains an Immortal in the universe of great pianists.

Shura Cherkassky – 1909-1995

Roberta Pili — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:39:15 +0000

A terrific singing piano tone, a sublime technique, always serving the purpose of the musical message, and a perfect seducing interpretation.
Alexander Isaakovic Cherkassky, known as Shura Cherkassky, was one of the leading personalities among the generation of great pianists of the 20th century. He started his early piano education with his mother Lydia. Later on he became pupil of Jozéf Hofmann.
His concert career lasted through his long life, in fact he was actively performing until his death 1995.

What made his approach to the piano that singular?
He was able to focus on the keys with astonishing concentrating power, his interpretations were full of inventive musical atmosphere, he always created inspiring piano recitals for the audience.
Shura never played the same piece the same way. Spontaneity and freshness characterized his playing, the purpose of creating the music in every single moment drove this excellent artist to the highest level of musicianship.

One of the best recordings of Shura Cherkassky to be absolutely mentioned is Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 B-Flat minor. The best Maestoso of this concerto ( first movement ) ever played.
No other other pianist could reach this peak in this particular piece like Shura Cherkassky. Hard to believe, but true.

A tribute to his teacher Hofmann: Kaleidoscope

A Remarkable Personality

Roberta Pili — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:37:43 +0000

Nowadays everybody knows YouTube as an enormous source of information. No matter what kind of video or just audio related documentation we need, everything can be found there….almost everything.
My regular use of YouTube is concentrated on the search of interesting and historical documents about pianists. A couple of days ago I found something really astonishing. Looking for a comparison between different interpretations of Prokofiev´s Seventh Piano Sonata Op. 83, I have been guided by some comments posted on videos of this piano work. So I discovered a completely unknown pianist, the Russian Vladimir Bakk.
His Prokofiev interpretation really captured my attention to further listening to other recordings.
One of the best examples of Bakk´s artistic expression doubtless comes through the Rachmaninoff´s Second Piano Sonata Op.36. His technical skills are full of transparency, absolutely serving the musical path of the work. His singing tone shows a deep understanding of the melodic line of the score, never played for itself, but always in the logical motivic thorough-composition.
He never neglects to open his soul to the highest purpose of making music with the heart.
Liszt´s Sixth Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 is another extraordinary performance of this great artist.
Never rushing with octaves, keeping a balanced harmony between a vibrant rhythm and a strong musical character of the piece, Bakk creates a fantastic painting, using different colors of sound and putting his entire charm into it.

Unfortunately, Vladimir Bakk is no more with us. He died 2007 at age 63. Quite sad that he didn´t get the proper recognition during his life. The few videos of his performances on YouTube pay tribute to this pianistic genius.
Vladimir Bakk should become an inspiration to all those pianists who want to reach everybody´s heart and soul through the music…

The pianist at Work

Roberta Pili — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:41:29 +0000

“I practice very industriously…” – Quote Ferruccio Busoni, Letters to his wife 1895-1907, London, Edward Arnold & Co. http://www.rodoni.ch/busoni/bibliotechina/letteregerdaEN/gerdaEN1.html

Do these words of Ferruccio Busoni sound familiar to you? They certainly do, especially if you are a pianist with your heart and soul like Busoni was. He was the pianists´pianist, the musicians´musician. To be as good as he was, or at least if you want to play with his virtuosity and to have a profound knowledge about piano playing, you have to do only a simple thing: practice!

Oh my God, this terribly sounding word…our teachers threatened us with it, I am sure that the more your piano teacher repeated this word during the lessons, the less you wanted to do it.

I practiced up to seven hours a day during the time of my former music education, not only because my teachers said that, but also because I felt that spending many hours at the piano was necessary to get an appropriate technique.

However, practicing should not be just a matter of being a diligent student. If you consider your daily practice like a passionate exercising, you will be improving both your finger technique and your entire personal expression as a pianist.

Practice is the secret of being good in life.

If you repeat every day a task you are still not experienced with, you will be able to discover the strong power of practicing.

Practicing is repeating, repeating is learning, learning is living. And living is knowing more and more who you really are.

Maybe you are now fascinated by reading this and you want to know more about efficient piano playing.

But we will make a break now.

Do you know why?

Because we go practicing…