Sometimes finding the right concerto for an event can be challenging, and Jaemi made me think a lot this time (in fact Jaemi makes me think a lot in general, see here!). I initially planned to play Ravel’s G major but some copyright issues and rental fee seemed to make our lives a little more complicated : it meant extra fundraising and extra work. I was not really aware of these problems, and in my opinion that’s not problems you want to struggle with for your first season. So I decided to look for an other solution.

I played a little Saint-Saens’ 5th concerto, a little Brahms’ 2nd concerto and checked instrumentation. Wonderful piano concerti, but the instrumentation required a lot of players and I wasn’t feeling like playing them anytime soon. And then I had an idea. Why not Rachmaninoff d minor ? Instrumentation OK. Copyright OK. What about me? Ok or not?

Rachmaninoff concerto in d minor op. 30

In fact I was really surprised : I had not played this for years, and but the concerto was still feeling fresh in my mind and a lot of joyful memories emerged. I practiced this concerto as a student a decade ago, and I could remember how proud I was in those times : I was the one playing Rach 3. Yes, this concerto has a particular connotation for pianists as it is supposed to be the most difficult piano concerto in the standard repertoire. I found out later when practicing his second concerto that Prokofieff wrote terrible things too, even more challenging than Rachmaninoff.

At first there was the challenge, of course, like other pianists I guess. But When I started practicing it, I discovered the real beauty of this work, how wonderful was this music. From the performer point of view, I really enjoy playing it and I feel like the orchestra is enjoying it : it is not only a brilliant work for the piano but also for the whole orchestra. Anyway, this concerto was thus my offer to Jaemi and the HHO, and I would be thrilled to play this with them!

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In first place, Prokofiev’ second concerto. Long and technically extremely difficult, this concerto is also difficult for the pianist to remember and for both parties (orchestra and pianist) putting together is a hard task.

In second place, I would put the d minor concerto by Sergei Rachmaninov. No need to spell it out, it is an extremely difficult whole but very rewarding when played in public.

Some will be surprised by the third place: Bartok’s second concerto. Nobody talks about it, very few pianists play it, but without a doubt, one of the most difficult piano concertos ever written!

4th place attributed to : Brahms’ second concerto. Maybe the longest concerto in piano history. Very tricky also.

And the last one in this very subjective ranking: Richard Strauss’ Burleske. Wonderful work (I like very much Rudolph Serkin’s interpretation) but really not easy to play…

Let’s sum up this “top 5″:
1 – Prokofiev: Second concerto in g minor.
2 – Rachmaninoff : Third concerto in d minor.
3 – Bartok : Second concerto
4 – Brahms : Second concerto in B flat major
5 – R. Strauss : Burleske

I can only repeat what I already wrote in 2009 : “Of course, this is just my point of view on the subject and you will certainly hear about other suggestions elsewhere.”

And you, what would you add to this list?

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Having played hundreds of pianos, I can tell you how they can be different. The brand plays a crucial role for certain standards, but the piano preparation is essential. If the quality of the used materials, the finishing or the manufacturing are very important parameters, the technician who performed the tuning and harmonization operations is just as important. Of course, many other components are involved, but the harmonization is really the step that gives its own identity to the piano. The harmonization can even affect our perception of mechanics, for example, a smooth or soft sound can gives us the impression of a “lazy” and heavy keyboard.

As for the pianos of a same brand and same model, there is an infinite number of shades, caused by factors outside the production itself. Let’s take the example of the environment: according to different rooms, the piano will not sound at all alike. Similarly, the size of the piano is to adapt to the volume of the available room. The Steinway D is a mythical instrument, but placed in a 30 square meters room, the myth shatters… Designed for rooms of large volume, it needs plenty of space to express itself!

Finally, choosing a piano is quite like choosing a car. It is necessary to define your needs in advance, as well as your budget. Just as a formula 1 requires a professional driver, some exceptional pianos require experienced pianists to deliver the best of themselves. I met some people, who were mistakenly thinking that buying a Steinway would automatically enable them to have Lipatti’s sound. Moreover, just as a formula 1 (again), these pianos require a very expensive and very frequent maintenance to stay on top of their performance. It is therefore necessary to not only consider the purchase but also maintenance costs, which can be fairly high.

But the most important in all this is to choose a piano that you really like. Whatever the brand, or what’s being said, if you have a crush on it, do not hesitate. Once identified, ask to be delivered the precise instrument you have tried. As I told you, two pianos of the same model and same brand may be very different. Write down the serial number and leave your mark on the piano (sign the underside, for example) and check on delivery that it is the piano you have chosen, and if all goes well, then you will enjoy many happy years with your instrument!

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At the top of the pyramid, I would put Gaspard de la nuit by Maurice Ravel. Technically and musically extremely impressive, many pianists shied away from learning it.

In second place, I would put the Second Sonata by Pierre Boulez. No need to spell it out, it is an extremely difficult whole (in particular for memory) and just as Gaspard de la nuit, it fascinates me a lot, but few go through all the work required to perform it in public.

I assign the third place to the three famous movements from Petrushka by Stravinsky. Manually not so easy and musically complicated, like any other piano reduction by Stravinsky…

Some will be surprised by the fourth one: The eighth Sonata by Prokofiev.

And the last one in this very subjective ranking: the Sonata opus 106 hammerklavier by Beethoven, especially for its very famous fugue…

Let’s sum up this “top 5″:
1 – Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit
2 – Boulez : Second Sonata
3 – Stravinsky : 3 movements from Petrushka
4 – Prokofiev : Eighth Sonata
5 – Beethoven : Sonata Hammerklavier opus 106.

Of course, this is just my point of view on the subject and you will certainly hear about other suggestions elsewhere. Notice that 4 in 5 works are from the 20th century, at a time when piano technique and pianos greatly evolved.

And you, what would you add to this list? What are your criterions for considering a work to be difficult?

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Above all, I strongly advise not to do it yourself, although it is sometimes really tempting to save money. It may seem cheaper, but nobody knows how the piano will look like at the arrival. I have seen sometimes catastrophic situations (broken frame, cracked soundboard…). With a professional, you minimize risks and your instrument is insured in case of trouble.

When you choose a moving company, be careful that this one can take care of your instrument. Not all movers offer this service. The piano must be correctly wrapped in an adapted padded cover. Feet and pedals must be unmounted if you have a grand piano, and this one will be laid on the edge and strapped in the moving van.

As for the price, no miracle: carrying a fragile item, heavy and cumbersome is relatively expensive and it is generally charged apart. The price depends on factors such as the number of floors, whether there is a lift or not, …etc.

And don’t forget that moving a piano is never easy and the worst can always happen: Glenn Gould‘s famous Steinway D174 fell down from a moving van…

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In order to learn by heart and avoid accidents during a performance, it is necessary to work on various forms of memory. I believe that a pianist, while playing, call upon 4 memories:

An intellectual memory: We know the tonal path, structures…
A kinesthetic memory: By dint of repetition, the fingers find alone their way on the keys.
A visual memory: We have a mental image of the score which takes place. We can visually anticipate the fingers position.
An auditory memory: We hear intervals or chords in advance.

The pianist’s work will thus strengthen each of these memories and teach them to complement each other or replace themselves if need be. I would classify the mechanical memory as the most uncertain, it is very risky to only rely on this one. It is what most of pianists do though…

Let’s now come to my 10 tips for improving your memory at the piano. All are based on my experience, but have proved their worth among many others. They enable to practice the 4 forms of memory and to feel at ease in order to play by heart in concerts.

1. Analyze what you have to play. What is the tonal path? What form has the piece? What specificities do you notice?
2. Be very attentive to the music itself: what is this chord, what interval do I hear here or there?
3. Do not allow doubt to set in. If you doubt, open your score and check through.
4. Do not try to memorize big sections but limit yourself to few bars.
5. There’s no point in repeating 50 times the same thing in order to retain it. You only train your mechanical memory.
6. Play as slow as possible by heart, each hand separately first, then together, while mentally visualizing notes before playing them.
7. Practice away from piano: take time to read the score and to memorize all its informations: phrase, rhythm, dynamics…
8. Inwardly visualize your playing and play your piece mentally, each hand separately, then together.
9. Be able to begin from anywhere: in the middle of a phrase, a bar or a beat.
10. Always finish a practice session by playing your piece very slowly: you will thus correct the mistakes or inaccuracies which have occurred while playing at the tempo.

I hope these advices will be useful for you and will make you feel more at ease during auditions or concerts!

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Not that easy… each one has it’s own tricks to memorize scores (I will come back about my tricks on a next post). Everybody works differently, but we are all unanimous on one point: this work is titanic. Non-pianists certainly think it’s about to learn notes. Yes, of course, but not only this. It’s also necessary to learn phrasing, rhythms, dynamic indications and, above all, not forget anything. The whole thing during 80 minutes, without the possibility to interrupt or do again. In short, there are good reasons to stress out, aren’t there?

Some chose an other perspective: make the score in recitals reappear. It’s the case of Sviatoslav Richter in the 1980′s, or nowadays, of Alexandre Tharaud. Memory is the most stressing element during a concert, but enables a freedom I have never found while performing with a score. During these recitals indeed, the score almost embarrassed me, attracting my eye while I didn’t need to look at it.

Playing from memory compels us to know precisely each detail of a text, and if it’s not that easy, the work is really beneficial. Unfortunately, even if we know the text from top to bottom, the accident during a concert can always happen…

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Born in 1970 in Jacksonville, FL, Brad Mehldau recorded his first opus in 1995 for Warner, and has released 26 albums to date, solo or as a leader or co-leader.

Happy listening!

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• Biography  

A first received idea is that it’s easier to play with a lighter keyboard. I don’t agree with it. If a light keyboard gives less “work”, it poses other problems, notably the need of an even more precise control. For example, Horowitz’s Steinway is so light that most pianists are unable to play it: a simple finger lying on the keyboard is enough to play a bad note.

A second received idea is that all the pianos of the same brand are identical. If it is almost true just out of the factory, the instrument is then tuned and maintained according to other criterions and mostly by other technicians. A Steinway D can be heavy or light, all depends on mechanical tunings! Proof of this being Krystian Zimmermann, in order to avoid possible annoyances with the piano mechanics he has on stage, travels with his own Steinway mechanics. Moreover, the feeling of heaviness doesn’t only come from its mechanics on its own, but also from its mechanical harmonization. On the other hand, the Steinway tone richness and the almost infinite possibilities of their mechanics are important arguments which make me choose Steinway on stage.

Finally, I wanted to say that two kinds of pianists exist. Pianists very sensitive to mechanics and those who are not. Horowitz was part of the first category, only playing on his piano, whereas Richter was almost insensible and could adapt to all keyboards. All of this is finally a question of the pianist’s technique: some have a technique which enable them to play all types of pianos and others do not.

Among pianists, some like heavy keyboards and some like light ones: there’s no accounting for taste! And you, what do you prefer?

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Most of these exercises date from the 19th century. If some of them can be still relevant in specific cases, a large majority have been written for instruments which are totally different from modern piano. The technique has also changed a lot since Czerny or Hanon, and naturally these pianistic exercises only deal with problems of that time’s repertoire. In order words, you could play all the Hanon exercises, I’m not really sure it would help you, for example, in Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit.

Besides the historical background or the piano’s evolution, I’ve always been thinking that the piano technique stems from observation and thought rather than from “sport”: a gesture adapted to each thing. Based on this point of view, each technical passage is different and it is impossible to find twice the same combination. We would need to practice every possible combination to complete the exercise, which is unimaginable. Wouldn’t it be better to practice the technicalities straight through the repertoire?

Repeating formulas or spending time on pages without musical interest, isn’t it likely to scare young musicians off or to make them focus on technique rather than on music? Technique must remain background, it only exists to realize the musical idea.

I don’t really know what to think about those exercises, even if, as you can see, I’m more inclined against them. What about you? Have you ever practiced some of them? Were they useful?

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