Fleisher plays Ravel

After the last clip of the week, several students had asked about literature for the left hand. Often times these pieces were commissioned by injured pianists. Other times they are written for study. Perhaps the most important work of all for the left hand is Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand Alone. Ravel said about the work, "The listener should never feel like more could be accomplished with two hands".

Leon Fleisher is performing this concerto. This clip is of the cadenza only. Here is an exciting tidbit about Leon Fleisher that you all can be excited about. My piano Professor at Bowling Green studied with him extensively. Here is a quote from Wiki "As a teacher, Fleisher has carried on a tradition that descends directly from Beethoven himself, handed down generationally through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschetizky, Artur Schnabel, Fleisher himself, and then to hundreds of Fleisher's own piano students over nearly half a century." That means that you all are descendants of Beethoven's studio.

Enjoy,

Hamelin plays Godowsky

Here is a clip from the Grammys. This is Marc-Andre Hamelin, a Grammy winning Canadian pianist with exceptional technique and artistry, performing Chopin's first etude rewritten by Godowsky. As you may know, an etude is a piece for study, and in these cases, of extreme difficulty. Though they are studies in technique, they are frequently performed and Chopin performed them as well. Godowsky took Chopin's etudes one step further by making them more difficult, much more difficult. Remember my performance of Chopin's etude Op10 #4 sent out a couple of weeks ago? Well, Godowsky rewrote it for the Left hand alone. That's a very bitter humble pie. If you are interested in these olympiad feats, check out Hamelin's recording of the Godowsky-Chopin etudes and of course the original Chopin etudes (two sets of twelve, Op.10 and Op.25).

Enjoy,

Aimard plays Debussy

Here is a clip of one of my favorite pianists, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, playing two Debussy etudes, nos. 1 and 5. In this first etude, titled After Mister Czerny, Debussy pokes fun at the often times boring exercises of Czerny. This piece gives the impression as if the student is getting tired of the exercises and wanders off into a dreamlike, sonorous, and very French sound world. The second etude is an etude for octaves. Also, notice how he misses the last chord in the first etude. You cannot tell by his demeanor. It is instances like that that can humanize these performers and allow us to not be so hard on ourselves when mistakes happen.

Enjoy,