Performance videos

In today’s video I talk about Federico Mompou’s Canción y danza no 6. Mompou’s 15 Canciónes y danzas were a career-long project—the first was written in 1921, and the last in 1979. Unlike the majority of the other Canciónes y dances, no. 6 (written in 1941) is entirely original, and Continue Reading

Today’s video is about Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy.  Written in 1822, this piece was a very influential work for the next generation of composers.  In particular, Schubert’s use of cyclic form in this piece enormously influenced Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor.   The way Schubert handles the melodic material in Continue Reading

Today’s video is our first song transcription.  Song transcriptions are a fascinating genre in the piano repertoire, and in this video, I go into some of the dangers and possibilities of song transcription. This song is a work of genius that Schubert composed when he was only 19 years old—it Continue Reading

Today’s post is a remarkably beautiful miniature from Franz Schubert—written in supposed Hungarian style!  I talk a bit about the ways that Schubert tries to suggest a Hungarian idiom as well as beginning to discuss some of the special qualities that I love about this composer.  We will be having Continue Reading

Today’s post is another shorter piece: Schubert’s Hungarian Melody.  This piece encapsulates in miniature all the things I love about Schubert: The spacious calmness of his forms, the brilliantly subtle touches in the piano writing, and the pure beauty of his melodic and harmonic genius.   I’ll be posting more Continue Reading

Today’s post is my first from the Australian/American pianist, composer, inventor, and eccentric Percy Grainger.  Grainger was a simply marvelous and strikingly imaginative musician, and his real contributions to the preservation of folk music and to the development of various experimental musical trends are unfortunately undervalued. Today I post his Continue Reading

Today’s piece is Wagner’s Piano Sonata in Ab major—written for the album of Mathilde Wesendonk.  Mathilde Wesendonk, along with her husband, Otto Wesendonk, was a generous supporter of Wagner during the difficult period of his exile from Germany. Mathilde Wesendonk was a major inspiration for Wagner’s work in the ring Continue Reading

Today’s piece is the Ballade in G minor op. 24 by Edvard Grieg.  Grieg is most famous to pianists for his delightful smaller miniatures, such as the lyric pieces—but he also wrote some impressive larger scale works including a piano sonata, the famous piano concerto, and of course this ballade. Continue Reading

Today’s post is one of the lesser-played among Liszt’s Soirées de Vienne.  All nine of these pieces are as delightful as you can imagine—full of color, virtuosity, and unforgettable melody.  No. 6 was made famous by Rosenthal and Horowitz of course, but it’s a shame that the others are not Continue Reading

Cantabile from Sonata in B minor W. 55/3 by C.P.E. Bach.  I present 3 versions: as played by György Cziffra, the original by Bach, and a two-piano version by Johannes Doebber.  Cziffra based his version off of the Doebber arrangement.  You can download a copy of the Cziffra version here. Continue Reading