Monthly Archives: November 2011

Playing the piano in the Olympics

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

I was born in an Olympic year – I won’t tell you which one – and my mother did, very briefly, consider naming me Olympia. So London 2012 has a personal resonance for me. It has a musical resonance, too. … Continue reading →

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Vision and Eroica – Transcendental Etudes Nos 6 and 7

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

Vision – of what? The titles of the Transcendental Etudes were added long after the music was conceived. Vision gives the imagination a free rein. Berman’s recording is particularly atmospheric – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKELIPxz1Z4 Lento, pesante, and we are in the serious, sombre key of … Continue reading →

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Feux Follets

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

Wonderfully evocative title, isn’t it?! Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No 5 is enhanced by this; the imagination gets to work as well as the fingers. Feux Follets, in B Flat Major after the dark D minor of Mazeppa, opens leggero/leggerissimo with lightly … Continue reading →

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Wanted: Dead or Alive – Good Composers

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

In a remarkable interview some years ago, soprano Jessye Norman was asked how she refreshed songs by Beethoven, which she had been singing for many years. ‘By singing New Music,’ she replied. ‘It gives me more to say, more to give.’ … Continue reading →

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