Speaking of Pianists

Just a reminder that many of the concerts from summer festivals in Verbier (Switzerland), Aspen (Colo.) and Aix-en-Provence (France) will remain available free of charge until September 30, 2008 on medici.tv.

There are some excellent performances by pianists Martha Argerich, Jeffrey Kahane, Yuja Wang and Boris Berezovsky, plus other orchestral, chamber music and opera performances. I’m enjoying Ravel’s G Major Concerto with pianist Helene Grimaud while writing this.

The Washington Post published an article yesterday by Anne Midgette, Taking a Dip in The Online Stream, about the new online resource. You can read it here.

Chinese pianist Lang Lang is the subject of a lengthy article by David Remick in this week’s New Yorker. The first paragraph of the piece (not available online) sums it up: Lang Lang is the performer most likely to benefit from the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The pianist, “China’s greatest musician” according to the magazine, has already celebrated the Olympics with a one-year advance concert in Tiananmen Square, and rumor has it that he will perform in the opening ceremonies next week. Today Show interviews, bookstore events pushing his new “autobiography”, and record store displays featuring his wide range of recordings will all be a part of his victory in the Games.

As a final tip of the hat to Lang Lang, one of the official pandas of the Beijing Games has been named after him.

At twenty-six, Lang Lang is one of the most famous classical artists in the world, and one of the most controversial. From his You Tube clip of Chopin’s Black Key Etude played with an orange, to his trademark-protected name – it appears as Lang Lang ™ in China- the young man is definitely in the news a lot. Is he a great pianist? Is he a great salesman for classical music? Two different questions, so make your own decisions.

It’s a fascinating and fantastic story of Lang Lang’s first twenty-six years, so pick up the August 4th New Yorker issue if you’re interested.

Another story, this one online and free from The Independent (UK) is here.

Lang Lang performs Rachmaninoff’s Second Concerto with the Oregon Symphony in a special concert on October 3, 2008.

For tickets, go to this link.

Make that plural. Next season’s Portland Piano International Recital Series features four of the great young women pianists. Gabriela Montero, Polina Leschenko, Olga Kern and Ingrid Fliter will perform in Portland’s Newmark Theater.

Check here beginning in September for previews of next season’s artists and programs.

And speaking of pianists, follow this link to read about a series that features only women artists.

http://www.ljms.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&section id=15&id=142&Itemid=282

Today, July 24th, is composer Ernest Bloch’s birthday. Although he was born in Europe and lived there from his birth in 1880 until 1916 when he moved to the United States, Oregonians love to claim him as one of their own. He lived in Agate Beach on the Oregon coast from 1941 until his death in 1959 at the age of 78.

Bloch held some of the most important posts in the nation, including the position as the first Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and later the Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His students include the composers George Antheil and Roger Sessions.

Although he wrote ten works for solo piano, only a few remain popular. I’ve taught his Poems of The Sea (1922) many times. They are a model of late romantic piano music, and challenge the pianist to use a broad palette of colors. Other chamber works using the piano are probably even better known. His Suite Hebraique and Concerto Grosso are performed often.

The Tenth Portland International Piano Festival has come to an end. Thanks to Hans Boepple, Frederick Chiu, Anthony de Mare, Simone Dinnerstein, Randall Faber, Marino Formenti, Stephen Mayer, Jon Nakamatsu, William Chapman Nyaho and Robert Schwartz for making the festival one of the best ever.

Oregonian reviews of the Formenti and Dinnerstein recitals are available at

http://blog.oregonlive.com/classicalmusic/2008/07/through_the_centurie s_with_pia.html
and
http://blog.oregonlive.com/classicalmusic/2008/07/simone_dinnerstein_p lays_with.html

For those still in need of regular hits of piano music, the Verbier Festival opened Friday in Switzerland. Saturday evening’s recital featured Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky in a program of Schumann, Liszt, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

Live and archived performances are available at www.medici.tv

http://portlandpiano.org

Definitely not your usual route to success. The New York Times archives have a few earlier references to pianist Simone Dinnerstein, but the big break came less than a year ago. Anne Midgett’s August 28, 2007 story, How Do You Move a Career Into High Gear? By Breaking the Rules, was the first real news about her major career.

That career is marked by an entirely different approach to making connections. There are no major competition prizes, and that alone is unusual these days.

I also don’t know a lot of musicians with MySpace pages, although I imagine they’re out there. But Simone Dinnerstein has (at last count) 2237 “Friends” on that social network. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having some of her friends. Evgeny Kissin, for example, and even David Byrne, John Adams, and Sting (I always wondered what happened to his first name). There are many more, then moving on to lots of fairly strange people that, I bet, are not really her friends.

And do you think Barenboim or Brendel would keep a “favorites list” on Amazon? I stumbled upon her “Music You Should Hear” list, and no, it’s not Bach, and Brahms. In fact, there are no classical piano works on the list. A couple of great singers make the cut, plus Mendelssohn and Beethoven Violin Concertos (Furtwangler and Menuhin). The closest we get to Bach are the arrangements/paraphrases/inspirations on the Goldberg Variations by jazz great Uri Caine (one of my personal favorites, although it’s certainly not for everyone).

Dinnerstein will play Copland’s thorny Piano Variations, a work that should be in our standard repertoire, but in fact is rarely performed. It has been played once in Portland Piano International’s history, by Marian Hahn, in 1978. Come to the recital if only to hear this great American work.

The Variations are austere, and that may be a kind word. Leonard Bernstein loved the work, but admitted it was “hard as nails” and said when he played it at parties he could “empty the room, guaranteed, in two minutes.”

Not necessarily easy listening, especially since we only hear it every thirty years. It’s still a great piece, and regarded as one of the most significant works of modern piano literature.

Martha Graham choreographed the Piano Variations, calling it Dithyrambic, evoking Dionysus. That version was quite successful.

Simone will be coming to us from the Festival Del Sole Napa in Calistoga, California, where she plays on Thursday evening.

James Bash’s recent interview with Dinnerstein is on his blog, Northwest Reverb:

http://northwestreverb.blogspot.com/

The Portland International Piano Festival runs through Sunday, July 20th. Details at

http://portlandpiano.org

Composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski celebrated his 70th birthday this past April, and marked the week with concerts at both the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and Carnegie Hall.

The Portland International Piano Festival features pianists Anthony de Mare and Stephen Mayer in a recital Thursday evening July 17, continuing the honors to Rzewski.

As Daniel R. Gustin, Director of the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, tells Matthew Gurewitsch of the New York Times,

“Rzewski is in the line of the great pianist-composers like Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn … He’s a bit of a maverick, which is fun, and it’s hard to pin him down as to style and approach. But his piano works connect to the great pianistic tradition.”

To read the New York Times article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/arts/music/27gure.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq =Matthew+Gurewitsch+&st=nyt&oref=slogin

For more information about the Portland International Piano Festival, go to

http://portlandpiano.org

Pianists and piano lovers from all over the world will converge on Fort Worth, Texas next May to participate in one of the world’s most important piano events, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Past winners are some of the most familiar names in the world of classical music: Radu Lupu, Christopher O’Riley, Andre-Michel Schub, Barry Douglas, Jon Nakamatsu, Christopher Taylor, Olga Kern, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, to name only a few.

A group of thirty patrons from Portland Piano International made the journey four years ago to the twelfth competition. It was an amazing experience for everyone on the trip. We heard so much wonderful music and fell in love with so many different personalities and styles. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Well, almost. Next May we will once again attend the semi-finals of the quadrennial competition to make our personal judgments about the obvious prize winners. The semi-final round consists of a solo recital and a chamber music performance (with the remarkable Takacs Quartet) from each of the 12 winners of the first round. Our opinions varied wildly last time, and that will probably be the case at the upcoming Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Your opportunity to join the popular expedition is now open. Only 45 spaces are available; expect those to disappear fast.

Go to portlandpiano.org for details.

Robert Schwartz has been hailed by Hugh Wolff of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as “one of the finest pianists of his generation.”

Schwartz tackles the complexities of Isaac Albeniz’ Iberia, one of the great works in our repertoire, next week at the Portland International Piano Festival.

Albeniz was a virtuoso pianist, and this is reflected throughout this complex work. At one point he even considered destroying the manuscript, fearing it was impossible to play. Olivier Messiaen described Iberia as ‘the masterpiece of Spanish music’.

“…Mr. Schwartz demonstrated his insight, flawless keyboard wizardry, musical introspection, and gifted artistry.
Robert Schwartz is a pianist NOT to be missed!”
(Josef Sekon, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian)

Join us beginning Saturday, July 12, for a “Piano Frenzy” at the Portland International Piano Festival. Details at:

http://portlandpiano.org

Pianist William Chapman Nyaho points out that American composer Steve Reich studied in Ghana for a time, and that much of his idea about “minimalism” derives from African rhythms; rhythms that keep us in the present moment.

Nyaho will perform and discuss some of this music at the Portland International Piano Festival, July 12-20 in Portland, Oregon.

In an interview on WNYC this past spring, Nyaho talked about his recent discoveries. At a conference on African pianism in 1999, he realized he was unaware of the wealth of piano music from his homeland. “What just really blew me away” he said, “was the quantity and quality of the music that was available.” Nyaho is in the process of filling a void in our classical music world by publishing five volumes of Music from the African Diaspora. The editions are published by the Oxford University Press.

You can access clips from some of the original music found on Nyaho’s CD SENKU: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent at the AfriClassical.com web site here:

http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/index.html

“… Nyaho’s gripping performances kept my ears glued to this disc.”
Gramophone Magazine.

For details of Nyaho’s performance and master class at the Portland International Piano Festival, please go to:

http://portlandpiano.org

I’ve heard wonderful reports about pianist William Chapman Nyaho’s performances and teaching, and look forward to his visit with us in Portland.

I discovered the WNYC interview thanks to Chris Foley at The Collaborative Piano Blog, which has excellent information on classical music, chamber music, teaching and technology. Chris is on vacation at the moment, but you may visit him here if you’re interested:

http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com/