Long long time I haven’t been able to take rest. Two weeks ago, however, I finally took some days off: 7 days without piano… It did me a lot of good! These few days have made me want to work harder! I enter this new year with an extraordinary energy and intend well to keep going this way.

For 2009, we made some adjustments on the site. On the blog’s main page you can now find a tag cloud in the left column, as well as a category displaying related posts under each post.
The Audio Clips Page has also been improved to be more accessible and readable. Finally, another new thing: the newsletter. From now on, you can receive new posts in your e-mail inbox! Further updates will occur over the next months.
Just keep visiting www.pierre-arnaud-dablemont.com, so you always know the latest! You can also subscribe to our RSS Feeds for the Blog and/or for the Press Center.

As for my resolutions for 2009… Well, as usual, purely nothing! I already have a lot to do and I simply wish to successfully complete everything I have planned.

Once again bonne année to all!

Not that easy… each one has it’s own tricks to memorize scores (I will come back about my tricks on a next post). Everybody works differently, but we are all unanimous on one point: this work is titanic. Non-pianists certainly think it’s about to learn notes. Yes, of course, but not only this. It’s also necessary to learn phrasing, rhythms, dynamic indications and, above all, not forget anything. The whole thing during 80 minutes, without the possibility to interrupt or do again. In short, there are good reasons to stress out, aren’t there?

Some chose an other perspective: make the score in recitals reappear. It’s the case of Sviatoslav Richter in the 1980’s, or nowadays, of Alexandre Tharaud. Memory is the most stressing element during a concert, but enables a freedom I have never found while performing with a score. During these recitals indeed, the score almost embarrassed me, attracting my eye while I didn’t need to look at it.

Playing from memory compels us to know precisely each detail of a text, and if it’s not that easy, the work is really beneficial. Unfortunately, even if we know the text from top to bottom, the accident during a concert can always happen…

Thanks to Francesco Cartocci: http://www.francescocartocci.com

Mozart has left us 20 sonatas for piano, of which the most famous are certainly, the A Major Kv 331 and its “Turkish march”, as well as the one said to be “easy”, in C Major Kv 545. Easy? Not really… Mozart’s work is for me one of most difficult, requiring an absolutely perfect and natural playing, as well as an extraordinary subtility. For a pianist, playing Mozart means to bare his own soul.

This sonata Kv 330 is the tenth of the composer and has notably been immortalized by a certain Vladimir Horowitz. Fascinating, this sonata has turned me on since I was a kid, I used to listen to Horowitz with my tape player I carried everywhere in the house. Next tuesday, my biggest wish would be to up to this piece, and once again reveal to the public the Master’s genius.

Born in 1970 in Jacksonville, FL, Brad Mehldau recorded his first opus in 1995 for Warner, and has released 26 albums to date, solo or as a leader or co-leader.

Happy listening!

The first manuscripts in which neumes are written down, date from VIIIth and IXth centuries and come from Aquitaine. Neumes are a set of signs written above the text, indicating the direction of melodic curves and enabling the cantor to remember a melody already memorized.

In a general manner, neumes are graphic elements inspired from accents used by grammarians. The first forms of neumes were said aligned and took the form of grave or acute accents.
The etymological origin of the word “neume” is ambiguous. Indeed, it can signify πνεύμα “pneuma” (breath) as well as νεύμα “neuma”, the sign. One could think that, as a sign, the neume represented the choirmaster’s signs.

Little by little, the number of neumes used increased to reach a total of 8 (Punctum and Virga, Clivis (or Flexa), Podatus (or Pes), Climacus, Scandicus and Salicus, Torculus, Porrectus) to which were added special neumes (Quilisma, Stropha or Strophicus, Pressus, Bivirga, Trigon, Oriscus for example) informing about ornamentation or interpretation. Other conventional signs came to complete this notation, leading to the classic list of neumes. This notation well describes the rhythm and gives coarse indications on the melodic line, but not on the pitch or intervals. The musical notation thus was not a vector of propagation, which remained mainly oral, and was more like an aide-mémoire.

Lachenmann often talked about his compositions as musique concrète instrumentale. Continuously inventing playing techniques, he creates a totally new sound world, but also, in his pieces, puts performers to a severe test.

His works are regularly performed in all the big contemporary music festivals: Holland Festival, Ars Musica Brussels, Festival d’Automne (Paris), Steiericher Herbst (Graz), Huddersfield, Tage für Neue Musik (Stuttgart), Tage für Neue Kammermusik (Witten), Musik der Zeit (Cologne), Chicago, Zurich, Ultima (Oslo), Viitasaari, Sarrebruck, Reggio Emilia…

Listen to Wiegenmusic by Helmut Lachenmann.

Once again, happy birthday Mister Lachenmann!

A first received idea is that it’s easier to play with a lighter keyboard. I don’t agree with it. If a light keyboard gives less “work”, it poses other problems, notably the need of an even more precise control. For example, Horowitz’s Steinway is so light that most pianists are unable to play it: a simple finger lying on the keyboard is enough to play a bad note.

A second received idea is that all the pianos of the same brand are identical. If it is almost true just out of the factory, the instrument is then tuned and maintained according to other criterions and mostly by other technicians. A Steinway D can be heavy or light, all depends on mechanical tunings! Proof of this being Krystian Zimmermann, in order to avoid possible annoyances with the piano mechanics he has on stage, travels with his own Steinway mechanics. Moreover, the feeling of heaviness doesn’t only come from its mechanics on its own, but also from its mechanical harmonization. On the other hand, the Steinway tone richness and the almost infinite possibilities of their mechanics are important arguments which make me choose Steinway on stage.

Finally, I wanted to say that two kinds of pianists exist. Pianists very sensitive to mechanics and those who are not. Horowitz was part of the first category, only playing on his piano, whereas Richter was almost insensible and could adapt to all keyboards. All of this is finally a question of the pianist’s technique: some have a technique which enable them to play all types of pianos and others do not.

Among pianists, some like heavy keyboards and some like light ones: there’s no accounting for taste! And you, what do you prefer?

With a high sound level, the municipality intends to disturb and drive anyone seeking refuge in the parking lot away. According to the city’s spokesperson, more and more homeless and drug-addicted individuals settle down there, mostly in winter, causing a feeling of insecurity among the structure’s users.

Of course, the spokesperson admits that this displaces the issue rather than resolving it. But, what seems to be the most comical is to use classical music as a repellent. It’s certainly more peaceful than the “Malodore” used in Argenteuil, but I find it difficult to accept that classical music might be considered as a potential repellent.

Imagine one second the discussion which could follow from this… “I am sure that if we blast on repeat Mahler’s 5th symphony by Karajan, homeless would run away faster rather than with Mozart’s piano concertos by Perahia.” Surrealist, isn’t it? I’m certain in any case that the result the municipality wanted to obtain is the total opposite of what these composers had wished for…

Does all of this seems normal or am I the only one to be offended by this absurdity?