Friday, March 29, 2013

Getting the loud music ready for Easter

After the Holy Week darkness, in which I have been playing excerpts from Liszt's Via Crucis, I'm now getting some loud music ready for Easter. Brahms Capriccio in C major Op. 76 no. 8, which goes from a swirl of major-seventh-laden indeterminacy to a triumphant ending worthy of the resurrection day. And my own arrangement of "The Trumpet Shall Sound" from Handel's Messiah. (Of course I'd rather play it accompanying a nice plummy baritone and a trumpet, but it is ok on piano.)

Needless to say, loud practicing is happening in our house at present.

And I'm going around impersonating plummy baritones. AND THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED... BE RAISED INCORRUPTIBLE... AND WE SHALL BE CHANGED!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Hovhaness for piano

I recently read through Hovhaness' "Visionary Landscapes" for piano. Talk about doing a lot with minimal materials. These pieces are precisely constructed, much more so than it may appear at first. They seem like they'd be accessible to students as well. I'm looking forward to playing them some more, and maybe even teaching them sometime soon.