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(Photo Benjamin Ealovega)

Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and pursue a career in music?

There was a piano in the house and as soon as I could reach the keyboard, I was mucking about on it. I was very, very drawn to it and spent every spare minute playing it. I didn’t sleep much as a kid and I would get up very early and go straight to the piano, and my dad would come down and tell me it was too early to be playing.

I didn’t really think in terms of planning any kind of career. I loved playing piano, I went to music college, won a competition and secured a few concerts and it kind of started from there – I was very lucky with that. But there was always a very visceral attachment to the piano.

Who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

There have been a few:

One would certainly be Ian Kemp, my tutor at university. His way of looking at music, at analysing it, was so passionate in an understated way. He went right to the essence of music

Richard Beauchamp, my piano teacher at St Mary’s School in Edinburgh, was very musically opened-minded

Renna Kellaway, my teacher at RNCM, gave me a real grounding in technique which was lacking before

Arnaldo Cohen – he was very influential. He had a way of looking at the smallest detail in the broadest scope

Bobby Mann of the Juilliard Quartet and chairman of Naumburg Competition, which I won in 1997. He was a musical guru without particularly trying to be. But he could make a single remark to me after a concert and that would form the basis of several years of exploration for me. He could put his finger on the absolute nub of an issue.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season

It tends to be based on an instinct of what I am desperate to learn next. Happily, the repertoire being so big, you don’t have to retread old ground if you don’t want to, so I’ve always been moving on to new things.

In fact, in the last few months this has been the first time I’ve actually had to think what I want to play. It’s also driven by recordings – what am I dying to do.

Are there any composers whose music you keep returning to?

Definitely Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Ravel. Beethoven has this incredible balance of very strong structure and an extremely wild spontaneity which breaks out of structure. How he keeps those things in balance, especially in the mid to late works, I find unbelievably satisfying

Rachmaninov’s completely visceral connection to the music, in terms of how he expresses things that really no one else quite does, how open he is to his own emotions

What attracted you to the music of George Crumb and Morton Feldman, and what is the particular appeal of this music for you?

I first heard George Crumb’s ‘Black Angels’ while I was at school and I was quite amazed by the variety of character, the craziness of it, the bizarre sound effects: I found it really compelling. There’s the sense that he is really interested in character, with a complexity which never seems gratuitous. Later I came across his piano music. I love the soundworld, the sense of atmosphere. He talks about growing up in west Virginia and the atmosphere of being in the forest – the birds and other sounds.

Rather often composers towards end of 20th century are showing off their wares, especially in the 60s and 70s, and it’s refreshing to find someone who is interested purely in sound, that visceral quality of sound

Morton Feldman’s music is very ambiguous. I first came across it when Ivan Volkov told me he’d heard ‘Palais de Mari’ played in one of his festivals. I found it very interesting, and I loved it. It’s a really really beautiful piece of music.

It’s a very extreme position that he takes on music – like John Cage – that the notes aren’t that important, but it’s the moment to moment experience of the notes, letting go of that self-satisfaction that exists around some music. It strikes me that there is maybe a philosophical paradox to really do that – even though you might be able to encourage people to lose the sense of where they are

Will you perform the Feldman from memory?

Oh no! Absolutely not! I don’t memorise music like that because it’s so much trouble and it seems like a needless waste of energy, and I really don’t think it adds anything to play it from memory. There is this obsession about memorisation for pianists, but increasingly I don’t bother if I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s so insignificant in the great scheme of things

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

The big thing is to enjoy it, to play music that you love, not to feel pushed into playing music that doesn’t suit you. Choose music that you really love playing, not because a teacher has told you to learn it.

It can take a while to discover what you really want to do. A lot of people in the profession lose that love for the music, so anything you can do to guard against is important.

Steven Osborne’s standing as one of the great pianists of his generation was publicly affirmed in 2013 with two major awards: The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year and his second Gramophone Award, this time in the Instrumental category for his recording of Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition and solo works by Prokofiev. Previous awards include a 2009 Gramophone Award for his recording of Britten’s works for piano and orchestra, as well as first prize at both the Naumburg International Competition (New York) and Clara Haskil Competition.

www.stevenosborne.co.uk

(Interview date: 2nd May 2016)

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Notes

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:

  1. A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound
  2. A pitched sound itself.

(Wikipedia)

Notes, or notation, is the system by which we visually represent the aural in music. The notes are arranged on the staff (or stave) which is the framework on which pitches and duration of individual notes are indicated. Thus the staff and what is written upon it provides the roadmap for the musician to navigate to realise sound.

Notes on the score are the musician’s language. For the uninitiated the score may appear to be a forest of confused dots: to the musician, these have profound meaning, special associations and sometimes even dislike! (That fiddly passage in Beethoven which always catches you out…..)

Notes can be treated, or articulated, in different ways to produce particular sound effects. A dot above or below indicates staccato, a note of shortened duration, a detached sound. How one treats staccato in, for example, Mozart or Debussy, depends on one’s experience, musical knowledge and instinct. Each type of note has the equivalent “rest”, a marking to indicate silence, a pause or a breath in the music.

Notes stacked on top of one another create chords which open the door to a world of harmony and musical colour.

Thickets of demi-semi-quavers may suggest extreme rapidity or, in the slow movement of a Bach concerto, the delicate arabesques and decorative filigree of Baroque architecture.

Frances Wilson

 

Ernesto Nazareth, the father of Brazilian Tango Music 

Tango music has acquired millions of new fans because of Strictly Come Dancing. But how many of them have heard of Ernesto Nazareth, the father of Brazilian tango?190px-ernestonazareth

But before we look more closely at Ernesto Nazareth, we should ask why it is that tango dancing is so popular. Maybe it is because it represents the freedom and daring we miss in our everyday work-orientated world. “No mistakes in the tango, darling!” says Al Pacino in the movie ‘The Scent of a Woman.’

He means: don’t worry about getting it wrong. The rhythm is everything.

For those who haven’t seen the film, Pacino is blind and tries to persuade a beautiful ingénue to dance with him in an elegant restaurant, where all eyes are on them. “Simple,” says Pacino’s character. “That’s what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, get all tangled up – just tango on!”

Ernesto Nazareth, the classically trained composer who became known to millions as the father of Brazilian tango music, might not have agreed with that simple sentiment. Nazareth had his own exact ideas about tango – especially his tango. He complained about the speed at which some of the pianists interpreted them. He wanted them slow and played with feeling and with the right accentuation, so that the melody came through sweetly.

And why not, tango is an intricate art form, played well, which requires all the attention one would play to a classical piece.

I was first introduced to Nazareth’s work by my Brazilian piano teacher. Wearying of my classical musical repertoire and my musical exercises, which I was playing week in, week out, my teacher, fresh back from Sao Paulo, laid out two Sellotaped sheets of ‘Odeon, Tango Brasileiro’ on the music stand one day.

‘Who is this?’

‘Ernesto Nazareth. He’s very well known in Brazil and South America but over here, no one has heard of him. He composed ‘Odeon’ in the early 1920’s, most probably during the time he worked as a pianist in a cinema foyer. He was hired to entertain the people queuing for tickets.’

It was love at first play so to speak. ‘Odeon’, a seemingly unprepossessing piece at first glance, was however a challenge to play. The rhythms were multi-layered and perplexing, bringing in samba, other Latin and ragtime influences.  My da-tatata, tatata would morph into a datata, datata. I was less worried about hitting the wrong note than getting the syncopation and emphasis wrong.  Putting the challenges aside, I found the joy of playing something exotic and new exhilarating and found myself transported to the beautiful and chaotic Rio de Janeiro, Nazareth’s home town.

For those of you who haven’t heard of poor old Ernesto, he did meet a tragic end, (he drowned himself) after a family tragedy, I urge you to take a look at his music – and remember, when you’re playing it – not to let your fingers run away with you!

If you would like to play ‘Odeon’, click the link below for a free download of the sheet music.

http://www.ernestonazareth150anos.com.br/files/uploads/work_elements/work_136/odeon_piano.pdf

 Karine Hetherington

Karine is a teacher and writer of fiction and poetry, drawing most of her inspiration from France, past and present. Read more about her writing and excerpts from her first book here

 

 

 

 

 

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The BBC’s biennial Young Musician competition reached its thrilling climax in an absorbing, nail-biting and inspirational final concert at London’s Barbican on Sunday 15th May and I was privileged to be a member of the audience for this wonderful celebration of shared music making.

In the nearly 40 years since it was founded, the prestigious competition to find the nation’s top young classical talent has become something of a national treasure. It has “discovered” many fine musicians, including Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Emma Johnson (clarinet), Freddy Kempf (piano), Guy Johnston (cello), Jennifer Pike (violin) and Benjamin Grosvenor  (piano), to name but a very few, and continues to inspire and support aspiring young musicians. The programme also regularly poses important questions about child prodigies, the hot-housing of talented children, private education, specialist music schools and music education in the UK, but fundamentally the competition emphasises the joy and pleasure that music brings to those who play it, engage with it and listen to it. This was particularly evident at the Barbican on the afternoon of the final where there were activities for eager young musicians of all ages and abilities ahead of the final concert and during the intervals.

In the old days, when I watched the programme avidly as a teenage piano student (frustrated that I was never quite good enough to enter the competition), it was all rather wooden, cringeworthy, and geeky. In recent years, the programme has had a glitzy makeover and now bears more than a passing resemblance to shows like Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice, though the format remains the same with talented young people competing in instrumental categories (keyboard, woodwind, brass, strings and percussion) to be selected for the semi-final and then the grand final. In a neat piece of continuity, Clemency Burton-Hill, daughter of the competition’s co-creator Humphrey Burton, was presenter of this year’s television coverage and final concert.

This year’s finalists were French horn player Ben Goldscheider (18), saxophonist Jess Gillam (17) and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason (17). All the category finals revealed some incredibly talented and dedicated young musicians, and what I found most reassuring was that all the young people involved in the competition expressed a real passion for their music. I am a firm believer that if one does not love it – whether one is a professional or amateur musician – there is little point in doing it! The range of instruments played and repertoire performed begs the question of how one chooses between one young musician and another because each instrument and its repertories presents its own unique technical, artistic and emotional challenges. In the final stages of the competition, technical mastery of one’s instrument is a given, and in the end the judgement comes down to aspects such as communication, stage presence and musicality. All three young finalists displayed these qualities in spades in their individual and very distinctive performances.

It is very hard to go first, and I felt Ben Goldscheider  was quite nervous. The French horn does not lend imageitself to much physical movement or gestures on stage., but his performance of Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto no. 2 displayed concentration, fine intonation and a clear purpose.

cge-pcrwcaeji00Jess Gillam, a finalist in the 2014 competition, bounded onto the stage and mesmerized us in silver sequined leggings and Michael Nyman’s Where the Bee Dances. Her stage presence is charismatic, infectiously extrovert, and highly expressive – as is her sound which ranged from vibrant and imaginative to haunting and delicate. She was assured and very comfortable on stage, interacting enthusiastically with the orchestra and lifting the sound out of her instrument and into the audience. At just 17 she has already had a good deal of performing experience and this came across very clearly in her confident, colourful and technically assured playing

From his first notes of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1 Sheku Kanneh-Mason was authoritative, thoughtful and totally committed. This music is a sophisticated choice for a teenager and Sheku rose to the technical and emotional challenges presented by Shostakovich’s music with an impressive maturity and musical insight. His modesty, evident throughout the competition, allowed him to stand back from the music and the resulting performance was intense and highly-charged.

While the jury were deliberating we were treated to a lively and witty performance of the first movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3 by the 2014 winner, pianist Martin James Bartlett.

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Sheku Kanneh-Mason (photo: BBC)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason was awarded the top prize, but ultimately all three finalists are winners: to have reached the final of this competition is a credit to their dedication, passion and commitment to their music, and through this experience they all have the potential to be huge role models for a younger generation. Ben, Jess and Sheku are enormously talented, down-to-earth and likeable (all three attend state schools), and one hopes that they are given the opportunity to inspire young people from all walks of life to engage with and explore the wonders of classical music.

 

(This is a longer version of an article first published on Bachtrack.com. I am grateful to my friend and piano teaching colleague Rebecca Singerman-Knight for her input, and her company at the final).

 

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Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 17, is winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician. Sheku gave an intense, highly committed and extremely mature performance of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1 in E flat in the final of this year’s competition at London’s Barbican.


Congratulations also to the other finalists Jess Gillam and Ben Goldscheider. 

A longer article on the competition to follow.