Composer of the Week

*23.3.1975, Praha

"For the composer, the whole thrill of making music is to really work on the music with the performers."
Miroslav Srnka

Miroslav Srnka has established himself in recent years as a composer with many facets. His piano concerto from 2012 and his piano quintet "pouhou vlnou" ("Qu'en vague"/2018) occupy a particularly important position in his œuvre for piano. In 2018 his piano trio "Emojis, Likes and Ringtones" (2018) was a compulsory piece at the ARD competition in Munich.

"You must create another world that has nothing to do with what was played before."
Miroslav Srnka

Here are the PIANOVERSAL listening tips with piano music by Miroslav Srnka !

14.01.1970 Ankara

"A human being can be complete only with music."

The pianist and composer Fazil Say has been a great virtuoso on the stages of the world for decades. He has been composing piano music since his early youth and has written a total of 15 concertos for piano and orchestra as well as numerous solo and chamber music works. His music is characterized by rhythmic-jazz virtuosity and a great sense of sound, poetry and expression.

"I play Western music in Turkey, and in the West I present pieces I've written with elements of Turkish music. So I'm considered one of those musicians who builds bridges."
Fazil Say

Find here the PIANOVERSAL listening tips with the great piano music by Fazil Say !

20.10.1874, Danbury - 19.5.1954, New York

"There can be nothing exclusive about substantial art. It comes directly out of the heart of the experience of life and thinking about life and living life"
Charles E. Ives

At the centre of Charles Ives's piano works are his piano sonatas. His Sonata No. 2 ""Concord, Mass. 1840-1860") from the years 1916-1919. But also his monumental 1st Sonata (1915-1916) and the eccentric "Three-Page Sonata" (1910-1911) are extraordinary solo works for piano. In piano chamber music, four violin sonatas, three pieces for piano quintet and above all the piano trio represent Ives' uncompromising musical thinking. Numerous other smaller piano works are evidence for his lifelong creative exploration of the piano.

Enjoy the PIANOVERSAL listening tips with piano music by Charles E. Ives!

 PIANOVERSAL Hörtipps: Charles E. Ives

"But maybe music was not intended to satisfy the curious definiteness of man. Maybe it is better to hope that music may always be a transcendental language in the most extravagant sense."
Charles E. Ives

Piano Sonata No.2, "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860" (1916-1919)
youtube_ives_conocord_sonata
Stephen Drury, piano; Jessi Rosinski, Flute

Three-Page Sonata (1910-1911, rev. ca. 1925-1926)
youtube_ives_threepage_sonata
Steffen Schleiermacher, piano

Study No.22 (1909)
youtube_study22_ives
Donald Berman, piano

Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for 2 pianos (1923-1924)
No.1 Largo: youtube_ives_quartertonepieces_1
No. 2 Allegro: youtube_quartertonepieces_2
No.3: Chorale: youtube_ives_quartertone_pieces_3
Alexei Lubimov & Pierre-Laurent Aimar, piano

Ives plays Ives - The complete recordings of Charles Ives at the piano
spotfy_ives_plays_ives

These recordings are extraordinary sound documents including all existing piano recordings by Ives himself!
This album was published by "Anthology of Records, Inc." (2006)

Trio for violin, piano, and violoncello (1904/1911)
1. Moderato: Ivestrio1.mp3
2. Presto (TSIAJ): Ivestrio_2.mp3
3. Moderato con moto: Ivestrio_3a.mp3

Trio Animæ: Tomas Dratva, piano; Jean-Christophe Gawrysiak, violin; Dieter Hilpert, violoncello
Recording: Bulle, Switzerland, 1997; this recording was published for the music label Cascavelle and is sold out.

„Majority“ (1921)
youtube_majority_ives
Robert Gardner, baritone; Eric Trudel, piano

„Songs my daughter taught me“
youtube_ives_songsmymothertaughtme
Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano. J.J. Penna, piano
 

Many more information to be found at the website of the Charlers Ives Society:
http://www.charlesives.org/

Browse the PIANOVERSALRegister !

Charles E. Ives: composer of the week No. 23 / September 2018

*16.12.1932 Moscow

"The piano concerto was always my field of experimentation."

“I have written music for the piano throughout my entire creative life.”

For Rodion Shchedrin (Родион Щедрин) as a pianist, the piano has always been a particularly important instrument for his own music. He has composed countless piano works and a total of 6 piano concertos. Shchedrin embodies an extraordinarily free, personal style - a connection between Russian tradition and many facets of modernity. Shchedrin's music escapes all categories with charm and irony, and with its playful and experimental handling of traditions.
 

Here are the PIANOVERSAL listening tips with piano music by Rodion Shchedrin.