THE PIANO BOOK pianos, composers, pianists, recording artists, repertoire, performing practice, analysis, expression and interpretation GERARD CARTER BEc LL B (Sydney) A Mus A (Piano Performing) WENSLEYDALE PRESS 2 THE PIANO BOOK 3 4 THE PIANO BOOK pianos, composers, pianists, recording artists, repertoire, performing practice, analysis, expression and interpretation GERARD CARTER BEc LL B (Sydney) A Mus A (Piano Performing) WENSLEYDALE PRESS 5 Published in 2008 by Wensleydale Press ABN 30 628 090 446 165/137 Victoria Street, Ashfield NSW 2131 Tel +61 2 9799 4226 Email [email protected] Designed and printed in Australia by Wensleydale Press, Ashfield Copyright © Gerard Carter 2008 All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher. ISBN 978-0-9805441-0-7 This publication is sold and distributed on the understanding that the publisher and the author cannot guarantee that the contents of this publication are accurate, reliable, complete or up to date; they do not take responsibility for any loss or damage that happens as a result of using or relying on the contents of this publication and they are not giving advice in this publication. 6 INTRODUCTION ACCENT ACTION ALBERT D’ ALBERTI BASS ALKAN ALTENBURG AMERICAN TERMS ANSORGE ARPEGGIATA ARPEGGIOS ARRAU ATONALITY AURAL TESTS AUTHENTICITY BACH BACHE BARTOK BECHSTEIN BEETHOVEN BERMAN BLUTHNER 7 BOSENDORFER BRAHMS BRANDS BRENDEL BROADWOOD BRONSART BULOW BURMEISTER BUSONI CANTABILE CHICKERING CHOPIN CHROMATICISM CHROMATIC SCALE CLASSICAL MUSIC CLEMENTI COMPETITIONS COMPOSERS CORNELIUS CRESCENDO CRISTOFORI DAYAS 8 DEBUSSY DIMINUENDO DRAESEKE DUET DUO DYNAMICS EAR EARLIEST PIECES ELBOW FLEXIBILITY ENGLISH PIANOS ERARD ESCAPEMENT EVOLUTION EXAMINATIONS FACSIMILE EDITIONS FAY FINGERING FLATS OR SHARPS FORTEPIANO FRANCK FRENCH PIANOS FREUND 9 FRIEDHEIM GLISSANDO GOLDEN RATIO GOLLERICH GRACE NOTES GRAND PIANOS GREEF GRIEG HAND HATTO HAYDN HOFGARTNEREI INNOVATIONS INTERPRETATIVE EDITIONS JOSEFFY KEYBEDDING KEYBOARD KEY IN MUSIC KEY SIGNATURES KING OF INSTRUMENTS KLINDWORTH 10 KOCHEL KRAUSE LACHMUND LAMBERT LAMOND LEARNING LEITERT LESCHETIZKY LIAPUNOV LIEBLING LISZT MAINTENANCE MANNERISMS MANSFELDT MASON MEMORY MENDELSSOHN MENTER METRONOME MIDDLE C MIKULI MINOR SCALE 11 MODERN PIANO MODES MOONLIGHT SONATA MOTTA MOZART NOSTALGIA OBSOLETE PIANOS OCTAVES ORNAMENTATION OVER-STRINGING PACHMANN PADEREWSKI PAPE PAUSE PEDALLING PEDALS PERFORMING PRACTICE PHRASING PIANISTIC PIANO SUBITO PITCH 12 PLEYEL POPULAR PRACTISING PROKOFIEV PURCHASE QUASI-FAUST RACHMANINOFF RAVEL RECORDING ARTISTS RECORDING METHODS REGULATION REISENAUER RELAXATION REMOVAL REPEATED NOTES REPEATS REPRODUCING PIANOS REUBKE RISLER ROSEN ROSENTHAL ROTH 13 RUBATO RUBINSTEIN SAINT-SAENS SAUER SCALES SCHARWENKA SCHELLING SCHUBERT SCHUMANN SCHYTTE SCORES SCRIABIN SEATING SERIAL NUMBER SGAMBATI SIGHT READING SILBERMANN SILOTI SLUR SOCIAL HISTORY SONATA STAVENHAGEN STEINWAY 14 STERNBERG STRADAL STRINGS SWELL SYNCOPATION TAUSIG TCHAIKOVSKY TECHNIQUE TEMPERAMENT TEMPO TERMS THIRDS THOMAN TIMANOFF TIMELINES TONE TOUCH TRANSPOSITION TUNING UNA CORDA UPRIGHT PIANOS URTEXT EDITIONS 15 VIENNESE PIANOS VIOLE VOICING WAGNER WEISS WITTGENSTEIN WOODWARD XYLOPHONE YAMAHA ZUMPE 16 INTRODUCTION The ‘piano’ is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. The person playing a piano is called a ‘pianist’. ‘Piano’ is a shortened form of ‘pianoforte’ which is seldom used except in formal language. ‘Pianoforte’ is derived from the original Italian name ‘clavicembalo col piano e forte’ or ‘harpsichord with soft and loud’. This refers to the instrument’s responsiveness to keyboard touch, which allows the pianist to produce notes at different dynamic levels by controlling the speed at which the hammers hit the strings The piano makes its sound by having tuned strings which are struck by felt hammers. When a key is depressed it activates a mechanism which throws the hammer at the appropriate string and lifts the damper off to allow the string to vibrate freely. The hammer strikes the string, bounces off and is caught by a checking device. A string vibrates at a set pitch or frequency, which is different for each note. The strings are stretched tightly across bridges which are mounted on the soundboard to which the vibration is transferred. The sound is amplified by means of the soundboard which is a large flat piece of wood which effectively acts as a large loudspeaker. When the key is released the hammer falls back to its normal resting place and the damper is pressed back onto the string to stop the vibration and hence the sound. A piano is essentially a horizontal harp but it is struck with felt hammers operated by keys rather than plucked by the fingers. The piano is widely used in Western music for performance on its own or with voice or other instruments or orchestra. It is also used in composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the piano’s versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the most familiar of all musical instruments. The piano keyboard offers an easy means of melodic and harmonic interplay and pianos were and are frequently used for domestic music making as well as by composers. They were and still are extremely popular instruments for private ownership and use in the concert hall. An ordinary piano is called an ‘acoustic’ piano to contrast with electronic and digital pianos. 17 ACCENT Accents over individual notes and chords were marked with fp and sfp by composers during the early classical period. It was only later that the inverted V for a strong accent and a sideways V for a light accent came to be in more general use. It is often hard to tell from Chopin’s markings in his autograph manuscripts whether a sideways V is intended to be an accent or a diminuendo. Schumann’s use of accent marks was curious as on occasion he used them over every note of a melodic line. In piano playing the pianist normally inserts an accent on the first beat of each bar in 3/4 or 4/4 time. In a mazurka there is a secondary accent on the second or third beat of each bar, or each second bar, depending on the particular mazurka. In alla breve time there are considered to be two beats in the bar not four. A slight lingering on a note or chord is called an agogic accent. This is the meaning of at least some of the light accent marks in Chopin. Rachmaninoff used the small sostenuto line to indicate an agogic accent. ACTION A piano action is the mechanism between the keys and the strings that controls how the piano responds to key pressure. The action of a piano has to: cause the hammer to strike the string when the key is depressed; allow the hammer to rebound whether the key is held down or not; stop the string from vibrating when the key is released; yield a wide range of volume from variations in key pressure; and permit immediate repetition of the entire cycle. Cristofori was the first person to devised a mechanism that could do all of these things. The way the piano responds when it is played is also called the ‘action’. ALBERT D’ Eugen d’Albert (1864-1932) pianist, composer, conductor and pupil of Liszt, was born in Glasgow on 10 April 1864 and died while on tour in Riga, Latvia, on 3 March 1932. He was of French and German descent as well as being a descendent of Domenico Alberti who invented the Alberti bass. His father, a pupil of Kalkbrenner, was ballet master at Covent Garden. D’Albert studied at the National Training School in London with Pauer, 18 Stainer, Prout and Sir Arthur Sullivan. He played his own first piano concerto in 1881 with the Royal Philharmonic under the direction of Hans Richter, who introduced him to Liszt the next year. D’Albert studied with Liszt at Weimar in 1882 and performed Liszt’s piano works on 29 September 1882 and Liszt’s first piano concerto on 22 October 1882. D’Albert was one of the most brilliant of the later pupils of Liszt, who called him the ‘second Tausig’. Liszt wrote that he knew of ‘no more gifted as well as dazzling talent than d’Albert’. D’Albert toured extensively as a soloist and with the celebrated violinist Sarasate, and became famous as a conductor. He was for a time court pianist to the Grand Duke in Weimar. Under the composer’s baton he played both Brahms piano concertos in Leipzig in 1894 and in Vienna in 1895. He had found Liszt’s Sonata unattractive yet ten years after Liszt’s death, that is, by 1906, he was performing it with enthusiasm, as reported by Friedheim. He never studied it with Liszt. In 1913 he made a Welte reproducing piano roll of the Sonata. He also issued an edition of it. In 1905 d’Albert gave the United States première of his own second piano concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He succeeded Joachim as Director of the Berlin Hochschule in 1907, and performed Liszt’s E major Polonaise at the Liszt Festival which was held at the Liszt Academy of Music, in Budapest, from 21 to 25 October 1911. He wrote piano music and twenty-one operas, one of which, ‘Tiefland’ is still occasionally performed. He performed Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt and was one of the first to perform Debussy in Germany. Reger started to write a piano concerto for d’Albert but never finished it. D’Albert’s pupils included Ernst von Dohnányi, Wilhelm Backhaus and Edouard Risler. Among his marriages was one of three years, 1892-1895, to the pianist, Teresa Carreño. They had daughters Eugènie and Hertha.