In Celebration of Dussek
Today we say happy birthday to Czech pianist and composer Jan Ladislav Dussek - born this day in 1760. For once I won't be complaining about a composer being neglected, because Dussek's reputation reminds intact. His sonatinas are often seen on student piano stands, and though not performed as often as they should be, the larger scale pieces (there are some 34 piano sonatas for a start...) do feature on recordings and on concert platforms. The young Dussek cut quite a dashing
Playing It The Prudent Way
Today we say happy birthday to one Émile Prudent, born this day in 1817. I’m ashamed to say (yet again!) that until today I hadn’t even heard of Prudent, let alone tackled any of his music, but one of the joys of my daily delve into the nineteenth-century is the discovery of ‘new’ composers. New, perhaps, but certainly not isolated. Prudent, for example, apparently made his Paris concert debut sharing a stage with none other than the pianistic giant Sigismond Thalberg. He wa
My Fumagalli Affair
Anyone who attends my piano recitals will know I love discovering music by forgotten, neglected or otherwise lesser-known composers. Recent concerts have featured programmes made up of music by women composers only (yes, there were a lot of them in the nineteenth century, beyond Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn), and collections of pieces by the oft-ridiculed giant of the piano, Friedrich Kalkbrenner. This approach keeps the music on my piano stand fresh, it serves to rem
Martini, And The Pleasure Of Love
The other evening, while improvising an entry for my Piano Diary, I found myself drawn to playing the melody from 'Can't Help Falling In Love' - and so had fun improvising around that famous tune, instead. As you may be aware, the Elvis Presley song from 1961 is actually based on a much older melody, 'Plaisir d'Amour'. I had this musical fact seated somewhere at the back of my mind, but I had never taken the time to investigate who actually wrote the melody. His name was Jean
