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Today BBC Radio Three began a week-long Schubert-fest, called ‘The Spirit of Schubert’, to mark the 215th anniversary of Franz Peter Schubert’s birth. The season will attempt to get inside the music and mind of the man in c200 hours of continuous broadcasting. Live concerts, discussions, requests, a ‘Schubert Salon’ and ‘Schubert Lab’, this will surely be a “must” for Schubert fans and anyone who wants to explore his music further.

His music remains perennially popular, from the sunny, holiday moods evoked in the ‘Trout’ Quintet, to the serene beauty of ‘Ave Maria’, through the symphonies and string quartets, to the late works for piano and the great song cycle ‘Winterreise’. His music spins the agony of his desire, yet at every turn he draws back from the void, and surprises us with warm melodic lines, striking harmonic shifts, rich textures, dances and songs. There is sunshine, as well as darkness, in Schubert’s music.

For me there does not have to be a specific anniversary or reason to play or listen to Schubert’s music. I have loved and lived with his music all my life: as a young child hearing my father play Der Hirt Auf Dem Felsem (‘The Shepherd on the Rock’) on the clarinet, my own LP of the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony, my first encounters with the ‘Impromptus’ for piano in my mid-teens, as a precocious, know-it-all student who could play the notes, but who understood little of where this music came from.

On my iPod I have a playlist called ‘Schubert Favourites’ – not some naff compilation torn from the front of ClassicFM magazine, but my own selection of my most favourite pieces of his music. One of my piano students, Ben, regularly asks me “Who’s your favourite composer, Fran?”, to which I always reply “Beethoven”(Beethoven is Ben’s favourite composer too!). I love Beethoven – for his wit and humour, his mercurial mood swings, and his sheer weirdness and unpredictably in his later works.  But I love Schubert too, though I find it hard to put my finger on exactly why I love his music so much. Maybe because it encompasses so much: the grandeur of Beethoven, a swooning romance which looks forward to Liszt, and beyond, the tenderness of Chopin at his most introspective and intimate?

From my Schubert Favourites list (in no particular order):

Impromptu No. 4 in A-flat Major. Allegretto

Der Hirt Auf Dem Felsen D. 965 (Op. 129)

Notturno

Fantasie in F minor D940 : I Allegro molto moderato

Quartettsatz in C Minor, D.703

Trout Quintet: Scherzo

Fantasy In C Major, D. 605a, “Grazer Fantasie”: I. Moderato Con Espressione

Piano Sonata No.21 in B flat, D.960 – 1. Molto moderato

Schubert: 3 Klavierstücke, D.946 – No.3 in C (Allegro)

Schubert links:

Spirit of Schubert on BBC Radio Three

Schubert’s Glasses

Schubert is needed now more than ever – article by Roger Scruton

Why Schubert? – article by Jessica Duchen

Schubert memorials in Vienna

Why Schubert’s music holds us in thrall – article by Ivan Hewett

Tenor Ian Bostridge in an excerpt from the film of ‘Winterreise’ by David Alden

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Going back over old territory here, but by chance I found a film I made when I was rehearsing for my ATCL Diploma recital last winter with my page turner (who also happens to be a very good friend of mine, and one of my piano students). I’ve edited it into a more watchable programme. The pieces are played in the order in which I performed them in the exam recital on 14th December 2011

http://vimeo.com/38985321

 

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Classical Musicians of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but other people’s prejudices that we are all stuffy, elitist and live in ivory towers.

Alexander Rodchenko

Classical Revolution takes classical music out of its traditional home of the concert hall, and into bars, cafes, clubs and other unusual venues to allow audiences to engage with the music and the musicians in new and alternative ways.

It was started in San Francisco in 2006 and has migrated to some 25 cities across Europe and the USA. Classical Revolution London is curated by energetic and innovative violinist Simon Hewitt Jones (the Road to Jericho project, Musbook, Music Teacher Map). Classical Revolution encourages both “indie” classical musicians and more established professional performers to showcase their work, and offers “open mic” sessions to allow up and coming performers the opportunity to present their music as well as headline acts and “chamber music jam sessions”. The informal presentation allows the audience to connect more closely with the music and musicians, to chat informally over a drink, and the opportunity to play with the musicians in the Chamber Music Jam sessions.

I am a huge fan of this kind of “democratisation” of classical music, which makes it more accessible to a wider audience, and breaks down stereotypes about classical music and classical musicians. Come and get to know us – we are mostly harmless!

The first event, on 23rd March, takes place at The Red Hedgehog, an intimate arts venue in Highgate, north London, and features pianist Christine Stevenson, playing Liszt.

More on the Classical Revolution London here

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I’m flagging up this interesting project which a colleague of mine in the US (and contributor to this blog), Catherine Shefski, is undertaking this year, to learn and record one piece of piano music per week. As she says in the blurb to accompany her recordings on SoundCloud “Like many piano teachers, over the years my own piano playing has taken a back seat to teaching and all the administrative work that goes along with running a music studio. This year I’ve decided to change that. I am making a commitment to record and upload one piece each week. By setting these weekly deadlines, I’m hoping to overcome my tendency towards procrastination and perfectionism.”

I think Catherine’s comments probably chime with many piano teachers – that we don’t play enough as we focus more of our attention on teaching. If one runs a busy teaching studio, it can be hard to find the time to play oneself, and at the end of a long teaching session, one may not feel like sitting at the piano. However, I think it is crucially important for a teacher to play regularly, if possible. One should be constantly exploring new repertoire, and honing one’s techniques and skill-base. All useful in teaching, and to me, more useful than reading dry pedagogical texts and music theory away from the piano.

I admit I am very selfish about my piano playing: this is partly because having got one Diploma (with Distinction!) under my belt, I am now working towards the next one (LTCL). I learnt from my preparation for the first Diploma, that if I don’t put the hours in at the piano, I won’t be properly prepared – and preparedness is essential. On another level, I really really enjoy playing the piano. Even if I am working on some particularly knotty passages of Liszt or a finger-twisting Rachmaninov transcription of Bach, I get a tremendous amount of pleasure and satisfaction from playing. I am rarely bored, because if there is nothing else to do, I will nearly always play the piano. And I know I’m not alone in feeling this – even a busy professional pianist has to love his or her job to do it well.

Take a look at Catherine’s accompanying blog to read more about the Go Play Project, and visit her SoundCloud to hear her pieces.

As for playing the piano, in the words of the slogan of a famous sportwear company – JUST DO IT!