skaltezon

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Music written for a mechanical piano.


Toccata für das mechanische Klavier - Paul Hindemith

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VEGANGELICA

I hadn't thought about how some composers like Paul Hindemith and Igor Stravinsky must have relished the new horizons that a player piano opened up for their compositions, but this video makes obvious how the player piano let them create songs no single human could ever play!

Here's an interesting article describing Igor Stravinsky's enthrallment with the player piano:

I still prefer the human touch, though.

I listened to some more player piano pieces, thinking I'd post one, but then I recalled my favorite restful piano piece and decided to post that instead. Hearing it always reminds me of childhood and the many happy summer hours I spent leisurely exploring the woods and enjoying nature:

"On Golden Pond" theme - composed by Dave Grusin, played by pianist George Davidson

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VEGANGELICA

A playful allegro movement...

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Sonata In G, WQ 65/22 (H 56) - Allegro
Performed by Francois Chaplin in the album "C.P.E. Bach: Keyboard Sonatas" (Naxos: 1998).



About Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach:

Have you heard many of his keyboard sonatas, skaltezon? This allegro movement and the description of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's work overall make me curious about his compositions.

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Zaqarbal

Another one piano piece inspired by nature. Mallorca, by Isaac Albéniz, played by Alicia de Larrocha. Dedicated to that beautiful Mediterranean island in the early 20th century, when there were neither massive hordes of tourists from all over Europe nor horrible apartment blocks beside the beach.

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VEGANGELICA

Mallorca, by Isaac Albéniz, sounds less happy and vibrant than I expected for a piece about the Mediterranean...but maybe that's because when I was there, I was surrounded by lots of tourists and bustle, Zaqarbal! That picture you posted is beautiful. The sea really is that lovely bright turquoise, I remember. It was amazing.

This morning I was trying to find a complex, fast piano piece that sounds as if it were played on a player piano, and during my hunting I found this one below by Saint-Saëns. It reminded me a little of a player piano because it goes quite fast. Also, I liked it because I felt the 13-year-old pianist did an excellent job performing.

Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto nr. 2 (3rd. mov)
Elisabeth Brauss, Macau Youth Symphony & Veiga Jardim



I have been trying without luck to find YouTube videos of the 2nd and 3rd movements of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Sonata In G, WQ 65/22 (H 56), since I like the allegro very much. While searching, though, I listened to the following piece, played impressively by a little child, Charlie Liu:

Carl Phillipp Emmanual Bach - "Solfeggietto"
Charlie Liu, pianist, was only 6-years old in this video. His parents forgot the pedal extension and the elementary school where he performed didn't have an adjustable bench, so Charlie was sitting on two phonebooks and tiptoeing another while pedaling.



Charlie really plays well in my opinion and even has his own YouTube station: http://www.youtube.com/youngpianist. Here is another piece he played that I feel is interesting and really very delightful with the little zips in it (you'll know what I mean if you listen all the way through):

Prokofiev Prelude in C Major
Charlie Liu, Pianist
Look at his happy smile at the beginning!
This piece sounds playful and joyous to me. Effervescent. I love that the composition includes so many unexpected notes that I can't predict what will happen next. I especially like the contrast between the middle, modern-sounding section and the main melody that flanks it. The fast runs (zips) are a perfect matching of composition to instrument, since only on a keyboard are fast runs of notes like that possible. This piece makes me want to hear more by Prokofiev:

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skaltezon

Not many -- the few I've heard sound Bach-like but plodding and without the sparkling precision of JS music.

I do like CPE's 'Solfeggietto in C minor' , which Marc-André Hamelin turned into fuel for the fabulous Ampico Bösendorfer Grand. It's amazing what this piano can do with the right music:

Hamelin's 'Solfeggietto a Cinque' for player piano

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VEGANGELICA

Hamelin's 'Solfeggietto a Cinque' for player piano made me curious about his other compositions, so I listened to a few more. The first, below, stood out for me because, being very delicate, it so much the opposite of his Solfeggietto in C minor for the player piano:

Marc-André Hamelin - Berceuse, in tempore belli



"Valse Irritation" was a second piece that caught my attention, because Hamelin composed it to express his annoyance at ringing cell phones . Hamelin apparently transcribed the Nokia ringtone when making this composition, which he "is known to play in concerts when he hears a cell phone go off." I like to hear about the fuel that inspired him to compose, whether the fuel was CPE Bach's music or Nokia's ringtone.

Marc-André Hamelin - Valse Irritation d'après Nokia

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VEGANGELICA

My dad used to practice Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata when I was a child, so whenever I hear it I think my dad is the one playing.

Tonight I shared youtube videos of the sonata with my dad so we could reminisce together. I should have played these, because they are better than the ones I shared. (Dad, if you're visiting, these are for you!)

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
Wilhelm Kempff, pianist

Movement 1


Movement 2


Movement 3

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skaltezon

Liberace's TV show of the 1950's.

Carmen's Boogie

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BigSwede

Here is one from Mozart junior:

‪Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart - Polonaise mélancolique‬‏ - YouTube

And dads competitor Muzio Clementi:

‪Muzio Clementi -Sonata Op_25 No_5‬‏ - YouTube

Joseph Martin Kraus was called swedish Mozart:

‪Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) Piano Sonata in E major VB196 (3/3) Andantino con variazioni (1787)‬‏ - YouTube