Piano Recital by Composer and Pianist Peter Arnstein
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reid Hall, Bristo Hall, Edinburgh
Monday, Aug. 13 & Friday, Aug. 17, 2001, at 7:30 p.m.
Four Faux Fugues - Peter Arnstein
Gigue from Partita in D Major - Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach did not leave any first drafts behind (paper was expensive), but he knew that if he could just get right the fugue subject (the opening melody) then everything after that would fall into place. This is how he may have sounded, improvising his way step by step into the Gigue, improving the subject just a little each time.
Four Mozartian Contractions - Peter Arnstein
Sonata in D Major, K. 576, Allegretto - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
If Mozart were writing a short piece, such as a sonata movement, and things were not going well, he would just throw the manuscript on the floor and start over. But if he decided to dig in and finish it, the melodies and musical ideas would grow shorter and more compact.
Old Fred's Indecisive Prelude - Peter Arnstein
Prelude in a Major - Frederic Chopin
Chopin's singing tone has been handed down by teachers through the generations. Thus Chopin taught Mikuli, who taught Rosenthal, who taught Goldsand, who taught Arnstein. The precise notes that Chopin wanted played are more difficult to pin down, as he kept changing his mind. Old Fred's Indecisive Prelude is how Chopin may have sounded as he began to compose his famous A major Prelude.
Almost - Peter Arnstein
Music tailor-made for a miserable old broken-down piano.
Three Preludes in the Style of Gershwin - Peter Arnstein
- Allegro non Troppo
- Cantabile Tranquillo
- Presto
"You can't write in the style of Gershwin!" These preludes are my response to this unexpected dare. On of my students commented that the Presto sounds less like Gershwin than like Godzilla chasing a Mafioso in a B movie of the 1950s--and he really liked it. The Presto includes a quotation from Chopin's Second Prelude, the same piece to which Gershwin pays homage in his own Prelude No. 2.
Piano Recital by Teacher and Pianist Peter Arnstein
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reid Hall, Bristo Square
August 1997
WATER MUSIC (concert theme)
When Chopin depressed the damper pedal of his piano and softly smudged together harmonies which had heretofore gone unsmudged, he discovered that the piano was the perfect vehicle for imitating the calming effect of water and of waves. Debussy and Ravel went even further in their piano music, after being inspired by exhibitions of Japanese art in Paris and by the watercolours of the Impressionists.
Berceuse - Frederic Chopin
From a French verb meaning to rock to sleep. This piece suggests the rocking of gentle waves. Chopin composed it to play at his own last concerts, when he was too ill with tuberculosis to play anything but soft, easy music.
Die Loreley - Franz Liszt
The Lorelei (from a poem by Heinrich Heine) ,who sits on a rock in the river Rhine, resembles the Sirens of Homer's Odyssey. She lures unsuspecting sailors to their death. Liszt wrote the song first, but his arrangement for piano is far more enchanting. No one knows why he could not spell the title correctly.
La Barque sur L'Ocean - Maurice Ravel
A boat on the ocean.
Caught in the Rain - Peter Arnstein
World premiere. Written to provide us with a little break from Ravel.
Ondine, from Gaspard de la Nuit - Maurice Ravel
Ondine was an elegant but hyperactive water sprite.
L'Isle Joyeuse - Claude Debussy
While composing "La Mer" (the Sea), Debussy fell in love with the mother of one of his pupils, Emma Bardoc. He eloped with her to the Isle of Jersey, where, in his ecstasy, he composed "The Isle of Joy."
Scotland 1995 Concert
Recording of the Stradivarius & Steinway II CD
Three Virtuoso Gospel Fantasies. These are three of the seven Gospel Fantasies that Peter Arnstein has written for Michael Antonello.
Amazing Grace begins and ends in a somewhat oriental manner. It includes a section near the end that imitates a Chinese erhu (a two-stringed, bowed instrument) in which the violinist, high on the E string, uses only one finger, sliding from note to note.
Mighty Fortress has been written in the style of the rondo of Mozart's Haffner Serenade--as if rewritten by Fritz Kreisler.
Sweet Mountain Chariot incorporates the old gospel tunes, Go Tell it on the Mountain and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as well as a bit of Amazing Grace. It is, for the most part, written in six sharps, a key that helps the pianist feel the keys--in that black keys are easier to feel than white keys--and also gives the passages for violin a dark, mysterious colour.
Grasshopper Suite. These are three pieces derived from Nine Exotic Dances (1995) originally written for clarinet and piano. Both the violin and the piano have been extensively rewritten.
- In Courtship Dance, which is written in 5/8 time, the male grasshopper courts his mate in a leisurely manner.
- The two grasshoppers switch places in Upside-Down Courtship Dance, in which the same melody is inverted.
- The high level of energy displayed in Honeymoon Dance suggests that the two grasshoppers are destined to become the parents of a great many offspring.
The piano parts for the Handel Sonata and the Bach Bourrée were composed by Arnstein specifically for the Steinway piano used by Vladimir Horowitz for his trip to Moscow. Antonello and Arnstein recorded their second CD, Stradivarius and Steinway II on this piano, with Dr. Arnstein taking advantage of the ease with which whizzing scales and a roaring bass can be produced on that instrument. As was the early eighteenth-century custom, the Handel sonata was published originally only with the solo line and the cello continuo. The harpsichordist was presumably expected to improvise at length, depending on such factors as the technical ability of the violinist, the presence or lack of a cellist, bass player or bassoonist, and whether or not the harpsichord could hold its pitch throughout the entire sonata. Thus, for the keyboard player, the keyboard part could be a lot of improvisatory fun, or just plain hair-raising!
