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Recently I attended the launch of the 2020 Chopin International Piano Competition. Taking place every five years in Warsaw, the competition has launched the careers of Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman. What’s on the menu for first-round contestants? Etudes. Lots of them. If their double-thirds and winter winds aren’t up to scratch, they’re on the plane home. Contributor Alisdair Hogarth is a firm believer that regardless of our level of playing, etudes – studies, exercises, call them what you will – matter. It’s not about which exercises you play, he says on p76, but how you play them. Drilling down on p18, Graham Fitch digs up unusual as well as standard-fare studies, showing you how to practise (and enjoy) them. Exercises can nudge us out of a mental…

If you could play only one piece in the whole repertoire from now on, what would it be? To be forced to play only one piece forever sounds like a harsh prison sentence (laughs), particularly, because my favourites always change. But, maybe Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto… it is a perfect blend of everything. If you could play only one composer from now on, which would it be? That is another tough choice, but if I had to pick just one, it would be Rachmaninov. One pianist, dead or alive, you’d travel long and far to hear? Rachmaninov. His name as a composer is so colossal that people forget he was also an extraordinary pianist. Very few musicians in history could play on his level. One concert hall you’d love to play…

In the first of a two-part series on a topic bound to arouse lively debate, Graham Fitch hones in on some favourite exercises for beginner to intermediate level There are copious collections of technical exercises out there, some of them based on the methodology of yesteryear, others bang up-to-date pedagogically. When it comes to technical materials of any kind, it’s how we do them that counts. What about Hanon? There are two camps when it comes to these exercises – for and (often virulently) against. There are many top virtuosos who practise Hanon regularly and many highly respected teachers with proven track records who insist on them. Hanon done in moderation with a variety of choreographic movements and attention to tone quality can be very useful, especially when memorised and…

Key: B flat minor Tempo: Andantino Style: Romantic Will improve your: ✓ Trills ✓ Cantabile ✓ Virtuosity In its original form, The Lark is the tenth song from Glinka’s song cycle, A Farewell to St Petersburg. He composed the set, which comprises 12 songs, in 1840. Mily Balakirev, being a great admirer of Glinka, transcribed The Lark for solo piano some 24 years later in 1864. It has become a great favourite with pianists and audiences alike. Like all song transcriptions, it is important to try and keep the underlying integrity of the original song – even when it is embellished with florid piano writing. Always study the text of a poem when playing a transcription. It is crucial to be fully acquainted with the song in its original form.…

The music for this popular carol was composed by Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer, Franz Xaver Gruber. The story goes as follows: Joseph Mohr, a priest at Gruber’s St Nicholas parish church, showed Gruber a six-stanza poem he’d written in 1816. Gruber was so impressed that he set it to music in 1818. That same year, the two men sang Stille Nacht for the first time at Christmas Mass, while Mohr played guitar and the choir repeated the last two lines of each verse (the church organ had broken down!). The version sung by Bing Crosby in 1935 is the fourth best-selling single of all-time. Look at the technical tips within the score.…

German composer Albert Ellmenreich lived a long and fruitful life – not only as a composer, but as an actor, writer and singer. This adorable, fun-to-play piece comes from his Op 14 character pieces. Playing tips: The uniform LH staccato quavers give the piece its spinning-wheel motion – spurred on by the rippling semiquavers in the RH. Keep the texture light and nimble (notice the leggiero marking in bar 3), with well-articulated fingerwork; imagine that the tips of your fingers are full of electricity! Notice the quick changes of dynamics, accents and the odd rit. These will all give the piece its unique character. The middle section (bars 27-51) comes as a sweet, singing contrast. Pedal is not required.…

Written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Dick Smith, this popular song – most often heard during the seasonal period – has been championed by such legendary singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Michael Bublé and Radiohead (that’s just for starters). Playing tips: The RH comprises thick chords. Try to keep them light, in order not to create tension, always leaning towards the top note of the chord. The lines above the dotted minims at bar 5 and 7 ask the player to oscillate back and forth between the notes (rotate the wrist when doing this). Even if not marked on the score, pedalling is required; use your ear, aiming to change the pedal when there is a shift in harmony.…

Russian composer Sergei Lyapunov wrote an array of works for piano – from short waltzes to two full-blown piano concertos. This piece is No 3 from his Op 41 Fêtes de Noël (Christmas Festival). Playing tips: Don’t be put off by the octaves! If you make sure to retract your fingers between octave-playing, that will help. Tips of the fingers should be ‘steely’ and keep the wrists firm, yet supple. Enjoy the wonderful build-up towards the end. Pedal tips: Try two pedal changes per bar. Increase when textures thicken.…

OTILIE SUKOVÁ Piano Pieces Bärenreiter ISMN: 979-0-2601-0864-6 Otilie Suková (née Dvořáková) was one of Antonín Dvořák’s daughters, and the wife of Josef Suk. She was not a professional musician, but these piano solos attest to her proficiency. Three of the four pieces in this book were published in 1909, a few years after her untimely death at the age of 27. The last piece, titled To Dear Daddy, was her final work and has never been published previously. The short three- to five-page pieces are written in a Romantic idiom not dissimilar to Grieg’s writing, and can be tackled by pianists around Grade 7. An interesting, if not particularly memorable, fare for repertoire hunters. SCHUBERT Moments Musicaux op 94 Wiener Urtext Edition ISBN: 978-3-85055-793-1 Vienna Urtext published their splendid new…

Answer the question below correctly, and you could be one of three lucky winners to receive this handy, pocket-size diary from Bärenreiter. Deadline for entries is 24 January 2020. Which of Beethoven’s piano concertos is popularly known as the ‘Emperor’? A: No 1 B: No 3 C: No 5 Answer to page 4 competition in Pianist 109: C: Liszt. Congratulations to winners Yoanita Dharmawan (London), Paul Elswood (Southampton) and Nick Millett (Fareham) ENTER ONLINE AT WWW.PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM…

To get to the heart of Mozart, the wisdom goes, we must be young, or at least young of heart. The truth of the maxim was tested and proved in late September at the Third Zhuhai International Mozart Competition. Music competitions flourish in China, where success is measured and prized so keenly, and conservatoires turn out pianists as efficiently as piano factories up-river in Guangdong produce instruments. Countless numbers of them rattle off all the Czerny Etudes without turning a hair. The Zhuhai Mozart Competition takes such technical proficiency for granted. It requires of its contestants not that they raise the roof with a Rachmaninov concerto but, perhaps no less of a challenge, that they touch the heart with an elegantly-phrased melody and a luminously-voiced chord. Three categories divide contestants…

When we struggle to reach a satisfying level of performance with a particular piece, it may be that there are just a few sections causing the difficulty. The trick is to spot precisely where and what the issues are, then tackle them in isolation, thoughtfully and systematically. In my experience pianists tend either not to notice such trouble-spots, or else duck them in the hope they will fix themselves after a number of determined trawls through. Record yourself regularly It’s easy to record a piece, or tricky section, either on a tablet or phone. We don’t often do this unless we wish to preserve our performance for posterity, whereas the real benefits of recording yourself come when issues have yet to be resolved. This comes down to being honest with…

Key: C major Tempo: Moderato Style: Romantic Will improve your: ✓ Articulation ✓ Pedalling ✓ Dynamic contrasts Albert Biehl (1835-1899) wrote a substantial amount of piano music. This charming piece, from his Op 143 collection called Kinderjubel (literally meaning ‘very happy children’), has a distinct dance-like character. In ternary form and set in C major, it moves along nicely at 160 crotchet beats per minute, and requires deft fingerwork to clearly enunciate the staccato and accent markings which prevail throughout. Let’s focus on the LH first. The bass has a straightforward role; it simply accompanies the RH melody. As the first section is repeated entirely (bars 33-48 are the same as bars 1-16), once the first 16 bars are under your fingers, you’ve already learnt much of the piece! Ensure…

Cornelius Gurlitt was a German composer who studied with fellow composer Carl Reinecke’s father. He won success as a performer and teacher in Copenhagen, Rome and Leipzig before returning to his birthplace of Altona to end his career as a bandmaster. His First Lessons Op 117 comprise 34 pieces in total. Playing tips: A calm tenderness is needed throughout. Count the pulse silently for about three bars before you begin. It is most important to keep in time, making sure not to slow down or speed up. The LH is the gentle accompaniment and the RH the pretty melody. Always make a slight emphasis on the first beat of the bar. Note how the dynamics do not rise above mezzo forte. Aside from the crescendo and diminuendo in bar 3,…

Schumann wrote his Album for the Young, a collection of 43 short pieces, for his three daughters to play. Several have featured inside Pianist. Playing tips: This 16-bar piece needs to ‘speak’ to the listener, so work at the phrasing before you begin. Then use your best cantabile and voice the chords well, making sure that the top melody-note rings out. This piece is perfect for improving your soft playing. Pedal as marked.…

This is the eighth and final movement of Grovlez’s cycle L’Almanach aux images, which draws its imagery from texts by Tristan Klingsor, who also supplied Maurice Ravel with several poems for Impressionist and Orientalist song-cycles such as Shéhérazade. The third movement, La sarabande, appeared inside issue 100. Playing tips: Find the right tempo and try to stick with it. Even if there is a sense of ‘freedom’ to the piece, very little rubato is needed. Take note of all the useful phrase markings, as well as the frequent shifts in dynamics (especially the subito pianissimo at bar 27). The opening theme returns at bar 28, fading away to a natural and tranquil end. Pedal tips: The ‘con Ped.’ marking at the start suggests liberal pedalling…

DON’T MISS LUCY PARHAM’S LESSON ONTHIS PIECE PAGE 24 WATCH CHENYIN LI PLAY THIS AT PIANISTMAGAZINE.COM/LESSONS This showstopper of a piece is Russian composer Mily Balakirev’s rearrangement for piano solo of the song of the same name by Mikhail Glinka. The words are by the Russian poet and friend of Glinka, Nestor Kukolnik (see poem below). It is certainly not for the faint-hearted and requires heaps of practice (just look at the two cadenzas for starters!). Listen to house pianist Chenyin Li for inspiration. There are also many interpretations on YouTube, including an impressive account by Evgeny Kissin. Read Lucy Parham’s step-by-step lesson on page 24. Between the sky and the earth a song is heardAn unending stream of sound pours louder, louder.Unseen is the singer in the field where…

Everyone can learn to sight-read. Really! The somewhat old-fashioned view that some can and some can’t simply is not true! But let’s pause for a moment to consider why sight-reading is such a challenge for many pianists. We don’t have a problem sight-reading words. And therein lies the answer. We read words a lot – but we don’t spend nearly enough time actually looking at, and processing, musical notation, and so it becomes a struggle for us to react quickly enough. It’s not uncommon for pianists to take literally weeks (often months) to learn a new piece. These pieces are really learnt by ear and by tactile memory. Teachers often show their pupils ‘how it goes’. Thus, the notation (possibly not truly understood) becomes more of an aide-memoire, merely a…

That a piano retailer such as Chris Maene Pianos should also have its own manufacturing facility is impressive enough, but that it should challenge convention so successfully and produce instruments of such rare quality is rather remarkable. Pianist magazine was invited to tour the company’s workshop where it builds its unique straight-strung grand piano. We started in the rim-building area. The rim is constructed of eight veneers with the grains all running in the same direction. Nearby, one of the ten-strong team of craftsmen was laboriously French polishing the inner wall of another. Elsewhere, we were able to examine an unpainted lid support whose construction and finish were exemplary. Equally impressive was the underside of a part-finished piano. It features seven different types of wood. ‘We reject 42 per cent…

Schumann Wintertime (p41): The link between bars 12 and 13 is tricky – it’s also the climax, so conquer this early on. Choose fingerings that will allow a smooth legato in both hands, e.g. 2 on the Ebs in the LH each time the familiar figure returns. At first, keep pedal out of the equation, so that you can always hear a ‘clean’ melody. Grieg Bell ringing (p42): Get to grips with the subtly changing RH figure (bars 19, 23, 25, 27), then compare the initial music with its return at bar 37, spotting the altered texture and harmony. From bar 45 (the climax) to 49, the dialogue between the hands is so important. Half-pedalling from here to the end will permit clarity. Grovlez Petites litanies de Jésus (p48): The…

Key: B flat major Tempo: Allegro Style: Classical Will improve your: ✓Articulation ✓Touch variation ✓Hand coordination How many sonatas did Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) write? At the moment, there appear to be 88 sonatas – or rather, sonata movements – written by the Italian composer. The largest collection of them is in a library in Florence, although there are a few other sonatas dotted around European libraries. Could there be more? Quite possibly. The number of known Cimarosa keyboard sonatas has grown steadily since the 1920s. Scholars are still not quite clear whether or not some of the works form groups of three (fast-slow-fast), or two (slow-fast). We know that a few sonata movements appear to be linked, but that doesn’t mean that all of them have to be. The manuscripts…

On these pages, Pianist covers the most basic stages of learning the piano through a series of lessons by Hans-Günter Heumann. Here we include a selection of pieces that will get the fingers working. More advanced readers can use them as sight-reading examples. Le Couppey: Eight exercises from ABC du piano The following exercises are perfect for warming up the fingers. Keep fingers close to the keys, aiming for an even touch and sound. throughout. *In their original versions, the RH parts of all the exercises are played one octave higher.…

DON’T MISS MELANIE SPANSWICK’S LESSON ONTHIS PIECE PAGE 20 Albert Biehl was a German composer of the Romantic era. He studied in Leipzig and is most known for the Allegro grazioso movement from his Sonatina in C Op 57 No 1. However, he wrote some charming sets of piano works; this particular piece comes from his Op 143 collection entitled Kinderjubel (hard to translate, but it roughly means ‘very happy children’). It is full of energy, has a catchy tune, and is great fun to play. As you can see, it’s all about the accent! Read Melanie Spanswick’s step-by-step lesson on page 20.…

Grieg’s 66 Lyric Pieces were published within 10 volumes. This atmospheric ‘Klokkeklang’ is the final piece from his fifth Op 54 volume. Playing tips: Start off quietly and imagine that the LH chords are deep, resonating bells that are heard from afar. The RH introduces further bells – always make sure that the top notes ring out. The acciaccaturas peppered throughout should be light and played before the beat. At bar 37, start to build the first crescendo, all the way to bar 47. The calm opening material returns at bar 61 before the explosive ending which comprises a huge crescendo from pp to ff within the space of four bars (77-81) before dying away again. Ample pedalling required.…

DON’T MISS NILS FRANKE’S LESSON ONTHIS PIECE PAGE 22 Domenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer, and a rather distinguished one at that. Haydn conducted at least a dozen of his operas, Goethe was an admirer, and until the arrival of Rossini, Cimarosa was one of the most frequently performed Italian opera composers of his era. His works, which include his many for keyboard, have a lightness and charm – just as this one does. The word sciolte below bar 5 might not be familiar to some players (it is rarely used). In this context, it means to play with detachment (i.e. non legato). Read Nils Franke’s step-by-step lesson on page 22.…

Like many tennis fanatics, I was gripped by this year’s Wimbledon, and in particular by the incredible match between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic which ended up being the longest Wimbledon final in the competition’s history. The match lasted four hours and 57 minutes, and the stamina that both players exhibited was nothing short of astonishing. I have often thought there are many parallels between tennis and music, and of course the fabulous book The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey is very often recommended to musicians as a highly effective way of dealing with all those performance nerves. But this particular match motivated me to think about stamina and athleticism in piano-playing, and how we might be able to benefit from this kind of approach as pianists.…

IMOGEN COOPER Iberia y Francia: works by Mompou, Debussy, Albéniz, Ravel, de Falla Chandos CHAN 20119 Imogen Cooper, who is most often associated with core Austro-German repertoire, takes us on a journey back and forth across the Pyrenees here, with Iberian-influenced works by French composers (Debussy, Ravel) and sort-of echt items from Spanish musicians who lived in France (de Falla, Albéniz, Mompou). As fans might expect, her approach is unforced, restrained, and more Apollonian than Dionysian. It works beautifully for Ravel’s famous Pavane and pieces by Debussy (La soirée dans Grenade, La Puerta del Vino): the pedalling is heavenly, the phrasing languorous. But in Albéniz and de Falla, what elsewhere appears unforced and restrained becomes – oh, whisper it not – bland. Like buses arriving at once, another disc of…