Monthly Archives: September 2018

How to Masterclass like a Sir: Schiff teaches Schubert

I’ve studied Schubert’s Op.90 E-flat Major Impromptu off and on for years, long before I was ready for it.  In fact, I’m still not.  With expert teaching, even novices can use the great repertoire to learn and develop technique as a complement to scales, pedagogical exercises, and short pieces.  Up and coming pianist Martin James Bartlett has, at the age of 22, a mantelful of awards and a promising career ahead of him.   This Impromptu is no challenge for his considerable technique.  Nevertheless, Knight Commander András Schiff gently guides him towards bringing out the orchestral colors hidden in the piece, to bow a percussive instrument like a viol, and frees Bartlett’s voice without imposing his own will on the young musician.   Schiff’s legendary dry wit never oversteps into unkindness, except of course to the very late Carl Czerny who often takes it in the shorts in Schiff’s Guardian Lectures on the Beethoven Sonatas. It is gratifying to see that the steps to improvement at ones own level often recapitulates those of experts.   This is education at its finest.

Youtube Channel: Royal College of Music

 

Where are they now?: Carol Meier on Voyagers 1 and 2

Narrator Carol Meier has a meticulously researched, splendidly detailed, and wonderfully delivered update on the twin Voyager spacecraft and their epic journey of discovery from Pasadena to the outskirts of the solar system.  It isn’t clear if this is a commissioned piece or one she did on spec.  It is engrossing either way.

Youtube Channel: Carol Meier

Triple Point: N’Kaoua on Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner

Pianist Eric Ferrand-N’Kaoua discusses the mutual influences of three renowned composers and Liszt’s dual role as creator and transcriptionist.  Bugs and Elmer sneak around 10 minutes in … “O Bwunnhilda, you’re so wuvwee//Yes I know it I can’t help it…”

This revolutionary and/or romantic music is played  in the baroque Grand Salon of l’Hôtel de préfecture du Rhône in the city of Lyon.  The French know how to do government buildings.  English subtitles available through the Youtube cc icon.

Youtube Channel: EFNKPiano