THREE TAKES ON THE INVENTIONS

I've now listened to my three recordings of the inventions a few times and I'm ready to say a few words about them. The three recordings are by Glenn Gould, Angela Hewitt, and Andras Schiff, and they could hardly be more different from each other in their musical styles.

Gould's renditions are skeletal. He reveals the bare bones of the structure of each invention, shines a bright light across the counterpoint that throws it into sharp black-and-white relief, displays little interest in sensuality. His playing is elemental, inevitable, compelling. It is also sometimes a little tiring to listen to. I like it in moderate doses.

Hewitt's renditions are zesty. She plays with bright energy, and doesn't shy away from big dynamic contrasts. She carries me along engagingly, and provides occasional surprises that make me smile. She does sometimes have a tendency to play with too much one-sided emphasis on the right hand, making the music a little more like a melody with an accompaniment and a little less contrapuntal. But that's a minor quibble about some very enjoyable performances.

Schiff's renditions are sumptuous. He plays with a lot of texture, with more rubato than the others, with more florid ornamentation, with richness. All in all, his playing is the most romantic, and in this he is at the opposite pole from Gould. His playing radiates warmth.

So which is my favorite? I was afraid you'd ask that. Having heard them all, I wouldn't want to do without any of them. They all illuminate these kaleidoscopic works in their own way. I know I'll listen to different ones at different times depending on my mood.

BRIAN GETS HIS GROOVE BACK

My practice and blogging have been disrupted by travel, but I think I'm going to be able to get back in the groove now.

I'm sure you've missed me, dear readers.

TIME TO FACE THE MUSIC

Even though I've had the recordings of the Bach Two Part Inventions for 10 days now, I haven't yet listened to them. However, I'll have some leisure over the next couple of days, and I'll listen to them then. Of course, I could easily have made the time to listen to them before now. I've just been putting it off so I can continue to be in denial about the quality of my own renditions for a little bit longer.

My intent is to listen only to the nine Inventions that I've learned so far. As for the other six, I want to approach them with a fresh ear and see what I can make of them on my own before I listen to what others do with them.

BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE

I reached a milestone this morning when I got all the technical aspects of Invention #9 working smoothly at my target tempo.

It's not done yet, though. I'm still refining the musical aspects of it. In this piece, phrasing is everything. The left and right hands are singing the same song but starting at different times. It's like "Row Row Row Your Boat", but quite a bit more sophisticated. Each hand has to have its own independent expressive integrity, and also sing in harmony with the other hand. It won't be done until I have that working the way I want it.

Who am I kidding? A piece like this is never done. All I can do is get it to a point where I might think about playing it for someone. My understanding of it and my ability to play it will continue to evolve for as long as I continue to play the piece. It's fun to mark a milestone, though.

Here's to Johann! Here's to art! Clink!

A MASTER PRACTICING

Glenn Gould is world famous among classical music lovers for his electrifying and often controversial interpretations of Bach. They're powerful, with crystal clear counterpoint and sometimes super-humanly fast tempos.

I was very sad when, barely 50 years old, he died suddenly in 1982 without finishing the recordings of the Beethoven piano sonatas he was working on at the time. In the same vivid way I remember the Kennedy assassination, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard of Gould's death.

Here's a video of Gould practicing. He stops, restarts, sings along loudly, goes back over certain passages, steps away from the keyboard and rehearses mentally, works with one hand alone, and so on.  In the last third of this brief recording, he displays his stupefying power at the keyboard.

He's so young in this video that I cried the first time I saw it: for what might have been had he lived longer, and because I missed someone I never met who nevertheless felt like a friend.

Glenn Gould in his youth

YOUR ASSISTANCE PLEASE

I've started learning Invention #10. It's going to be challenging but fun. It's a rollicking jig, or gigue, as they tend to spell it for music from Bach's time and place.

My plan is to learn the left hand part alone before learning the right hand part, as my composer/pianist friend Kathleen Ryan recommends. In many pieces of music, the left hand alone isn't much to listen to, but in this piece, as well as in many others by Bach, the left hand part is interesting and entertaining all by itself.

I've never before learned the left hand part of a new piece to completion before beginning to learn the right hand part. I want to have the experience and see how it works out for me. It'll take some discipline on my part not to yield to the temptation to put it all together prematurely, so I'm going to lean on you for help.

My pledge to you, dear readers, is that, before I start work on the right hand part, I will practice the left hand part alone until I can play it fluidly at my target tempo.

I will submit to your disapprobation if I break my pledge. Of course, I'll be sure to tell you if I break it. I'm an honest blogger, as I'm sure all bloggers are

FEEDING THE DOG

I was in a lousy mood this morning, no doubt about it. I didn't feel like doing much of anything at all, let alone anything as focused and organized as practicing.

But, I sat down and played anyway. I had a day off recently, and it was too soon to take another day off.  Taking a day off here and there is a good thing, but starting to take too many days off is a slippery slope that leads to deconditioning, discouragement, and giving up practicing. I've only recently clawed my way back up that slope. I'm determined not to let myself slide back down it any time soon.

My hands don't care what kind of mood I'm in. They need their exercise regularly. It's like having a dog that needs to be fed no matter what. You can't say, "Sorry, Fido. You'll just have to go hungry. I don't feel like getting your food for you."

So on a day like this, I sit down at the keyboard whether I feel like it or not. My hands need me. I may not hurl myself against my most difficult challenges, though. Instead, I may turn to the comfort food of piano practice: old familiar pieces that come easily.  If I start with those, I often find my mood improving, and then I become eager to tackle a challenge.

That didn't work today, though. Grrrr.

RESCALING

Well, I've finally gotten around to something I'd been putting off: exploring my new book of scales and arpeggios.

I've started practicing some of the easier scales in 3rds, 6ths, and 10ths instead of just octaves. And I've started playing the easier arpeggios in different inversions. I'll work up to the harder ones over time.These are supposed to be good for the foundations of my technique. At the least, they're fun to play and a great warm-up.

THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES

After a day off, I found that my left hand could play a tricky trill in Invention #7 a little better than before. I had been practicing that trill on a daily basis before the break. I think there's some kind of consolidation that goes on in the nervous system during a break. Of course, if the break is too long, what got consolidated at the start of the break has faded by the end of it. Better not to be away from the keyboard for more than a day or so.

I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT

Well, my canned teachers (see previous post) arrived yesterday.  I've unwrapped the CDs, but I haven't listened to them yet. Truth is, I'm afraid to. I know it'll be devastating to my morale. I'm going to hear three stellar pianists take pieces that I've been struggling with for weeks and months and make them sound both beautiful and easy. I'm going to think, "I can't do this. Why bother? I wonder what's on TV."

This is a phenomenon we all have to face. One of my close friends, a writer, has observed how tough writing is for him given the existence of Shakespeare.  Even the great composer Johannes Brahms remarked how difficult it was for him to write a symphony "with him looking over my shoulder", and by "him" he meant Beethoven. Unless you're Bach or Shakespeare or Michelangelo -- or delusional -- there's always someone who can do whatever you're doing far better than you can. In my case, it's not just someone, it's countless thousands of someones. Sigh.

I have to step back and remind myself that, in contradiction to occasional flights of fancy, I'm not doing this to become an excellent pianist. Are you surprised to hear that, dear reader? I'm doing this for self development, and for the sheer joy of the music itself. I can fully reap those rewards only if I get out there and give it my all.

I think I'll take a day off from the keyboard today.

TEACHERS IN A CAN

I suppose it's inevitable that, when I'm learning a series of 15 pieces like the Bach Two Part Inventions, there will be a few that I don't like as well as the others.  Of the first 10, numbers 2 and 5 are the black sheep for me.  The fact is that I can play their notes, but I just don't quite know what to do with them musically.

Let's assume for the moment that the lack of musical imagination in this instance is mine and not that of one of the towering musical geniuses in western civilization. What to do?  Well, since I don't have a fresh teacher to guide me*, why not open a can of teacher?

I've ordered three recordings of the Inventions from Amazon.com: one by Glenn Gould, one by Angela Hewitt, and one by András Schiff. I expect my canned teachers will arrive soon, maybe today or tomorrow.

My hope is that these three very different views of the inventions will stimulate my musical imagination, and will inspire me not only to find the music in the Inventions I don't yet grok but also to find new perspectives on my favorites.

[A big shout out to my good friend Barney for his guidance on which recordings to get.]

*Having a teacher is a whole topic in itself which I intend to address one of these days.