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Biroc
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« Reply #90 on: 22:40:59, 06-05-2007 » |
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Ok, here's a question: what's the oddest thing you've ever successfully managed to do (with your free hand) while playing a piece for one hand? I can manage a bowl of spaghetti shapes without effecting my piss-poor playing too much once I have a piece learned and a comfortable fork. I wouldn't like to imagine what organists get up to during pedal etudes....
Or: where do you put your other hand (supposing you have one), when you are playing such a piece?
"no no no, you play the left hand etude with your left hand, while making circles on your forehead with your right hand".
I played some of those single line piano pieces by Kurtag with my right hand while smoking a ciggie which rested in my left hand... |
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"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #91 on: 22:41:27, 06-05-2007 » |
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That toy piano above reminds me of this:  |
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Baziron
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« Reply #92 on: 22:43:09, 06-05-2007 » |
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Paid your fare yet Ian?  Baz |
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Baziron
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« Reply #93 on: 22:45:20, 06-05-2007 » |
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Ok, here's a question: what's the oddest thing you've ever successfully managed to do (with your free hand) while playing a piece for one hand? I can manage a bowl of spaghetti shapes without effecting my piss-poor playing too much once I have a piece learned and a comfortable fork. I wouldn't like to imagine what organists get up to during pedal etudes....
Or: where do you put your other hand (supposing you have one), when you are playing such a piece?
"no no no, you play the left hand etude with your left hand, while making circles on your forehead with your right hand".
I played some of those single line piano pieces by Kurtag with my right hand while smoking a ciggie which rested in my left hand... Now that's cheating! It should have been a piece by Brahms - see message #85 above. Baz |
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increpatio
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« Reply #94 on: 22:46:26, 06-05-2007 » |
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I played some of those single line piano pieces by Kurtag with my right hand while smoking a ciggie which rested in my left hand...
Classy! Have an image in my head now of someone trying to get through a Hungarian rhapsody with a cigar wedged in between their fingers, managing to sneak in a puffs during the more stationary passages, or by taking a detour when jumping, such that they're finished it by the end  Maybe I need to go out & get some air.... Remember now that the standard romantic thing is to blow one's nose loudly half way through. Hmmm. |
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increpatio
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« Reply #95 on: 22:50:28, 06-05-2007 » |
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Now that's cheating! It should have been a piece by Brahms - see message #85 above.
*wonders if there's one of Kurtag's games that's a pastiche of Brahms for one hand piano and instructs one to hold a cigar in the other, and has a cigar-staff...* |
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #96 on: 22:54:54, 06-05-2007 » |
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Trying to be more serious...
There's various music for the left hand only, such as one of Ravel's concertos, because of the pianist who lost his right hand (can't remember his name). Is there anything comparable for the right hand? Has anyone felt inclined to play the left-hand music with the right hand?
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #97 on: 22:59:24, 06-05-2007 » |
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Trying to be more serious...
There's various music for the left hand only, such as one of Ravel's concertos, because of the pianist who lost his right hand (can't remember his name). Is there anything comparable for the right hand? Has anyone felt inclined to play the left-hand music with the right hand?
It was Paul Wittgenstein (brother of Ludwig), who lost his whole right arm in the First World War. Ravel, Richard Strauss, Prokofieff, Britten, Hindemith and others all wrote concertos for him. There are not many pieces for right hand alone - Harriet Cohen once hurt her left hand, and Arnold Bax wrote a couple of works for right hand alone for her as a result, I think (can't remember what they are, though). There is an Alkan Study for the Right Hand alone (as part of a set for left hand, right hand, then both hands). There are a few Godowsky pieces for right hand, also. Not sure what else. |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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increpatio
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« Reply #98 on: 23:00:55, 06-05-2007 » |
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Trying to be more serious...
There's various music for the left hand only, such as one of Ravel's concertos, because of the pianist who lost his right hand (can't remember his name). Is there anything comparable for the right hand? Has anyone felt inclined to play the left-hand music with the right hand?
Godowsky has a few right-hand only etudes; I think Alkan did also...but yeah; I think the left-hand repertoire is much bigger. Hmm...oh! here's a bibliography: http://pianoeducation.org/pnoonhnd.htmlbut it's only a list really...maybe it'll help the memories of some of the pianists here... [edit: ian beat me to the reply; that bibliography is, evidently, incomplete, omitting, for the one thing, any work by hindemith] |
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« Last Edit: 23:06:21, 06-05-2007 by increpatio »
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roslynmuse
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« Reply #99 on: 23:19:47, 06-05-2007 » |
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By coincidence - heard (and saw) Pascal Roge playing the Ravel this evening - concert to be broadcast on Tues evening, R3. Apart from some ensemble problems in the central section, an impressive performance.
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A
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« Reply #100 on: 23:22:36, 06-05-2007 » |
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That has to have been in Manchester roslyn as you said you were near the town hall this evening ! Bridgewater Hall? Ah, I remember it well  A . |
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Well, there you are.
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roslynmuse
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« Reply #101 on: 23:59:08, 06-05-2007 » |
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That has to have been in Manchester roslyn as you said you were near the town hall this evening ! Bridgewater Hall? Ah, I remember it well A . Correct! |
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martle
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« Reply #102 on: 11:48:17, 07-05-2007 » |
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Trying to be more serious...
There's various music for the left hand only, such as one of Ravel's concertos, because of the pianist who lost his right hand (can't remember his name). Is there anything comparable for the right hand? Has anyone felt inclined to play the left-hand music with the right hand?
It was Paul Wittgenstein (brother of Ludwig), who lost his whole right arm in the First World War. Ravel, Richard Strauss, Prokofieff, Britten, Hindemith and others all wrote concertos for him. There are not many pieces for right hand alone - Harriet Cohen once hurt her left hand, and Arnold Bax wrote a couple of works for right hand alone for her as a result, I think (can't remember what they are, though). There is an Alkan Study for the Right Hand alone (as part of a set for left hand, right hand, then both hands). There are a few Godowsky pieces for right hand, also. Not sure what else. This reminds me of the case of Cyril Smith and Phyliss Selick, a husband/wife piano duo who performed from the 40s until Cyril's death in the 70s. Cyril lost the use of his left hand thanks to a stroke, but they continued to perform with three hands! Arnold wrote a concerto for them (I played it once myself), and I think other composers chipped in too. Anyone know any more of this rather unusual category? |
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Green. Always green.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #103 on: 11:51:06, 07-05-2007 » |
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This reminds me of the case of Cyril Smith and Phyliss Selick, a husband/wife piano duo who performed from the 40s until Cyril's death in the 70s. Cyril lost the use of his left hand thanks to a stroke, but they continued to perform with three hands! Arnold wrote a concerto for them (I played it once myself), and I think other composers chipped in too. Anyone know any more of this rather unusual category?
Something makes me think there might be some pieces by Balakirev for three hands, but I'm not sure. I can think of one piece for five hands, a Grainger version of the Zanzibar Boat Song. Great stuff - maybe should be played at some meeting of r3ok types sometime? Which makes me think - come summer, at a time when some members might be in London or able to be around here, how about having some sort of soiree somewhere, with drinks, music and so on? |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Chafing Dish
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« Reply #104 on: 13:07:08, 07-05-2007 » |
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I don't know about Balakirev, but there is a collection of pieces, much in the tradition of Hexameron, except with Russian composers, where one player performs "Chopsticks" in broken eighth-note patterns (with either hand) while the other plays composed accompaniments (with both hands).
I think, technically, that it is for four hands, since the job of using only one hand switches back and forth between the players. But then I don't remember it too well.
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