Thursday, December 20, 2012

Arvo Pärt piano music


I love this recording of Arvo Pärt's piano music. Pärt is a present-day composer but he is very much like the great composers of the classical period in that he creates profoundly beautiful effects with very simple ingredients.

The Sonatinen, at least, I'd like to learn to play at some point in the not-too-distant future. The pieces named after people -- Für Alina, Für Anna Maria and Variations for the Healing of Arinuschka --  sound like they would be accessible to students. As I have some teenage students at the early- to mid-intermediate level I've been trying to keep an ear open for pieces that are technically not difficult but call for emotional depth. (I don't want them to get bored with cheery Clementi etc. all the time.)

Ralph van Raat has a lovely deep tone and a wise balance between feeling and reserve in his playing -- it's an honest, unaffected sound, perfect for Pärt, and he sounds just as serious and beautiful in the easier pieces as in the more difficult ones.

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