New Piano Pieces--Week 9

I am starting to get the hang of some of my pieces for piano solo.  It has been a long time since I have learned a Bach Prelude and Fugue, and I did not choose a particularly easy one.  Still, it's nice being at a level where I can literally choose any of the 48 I want, and then learn it.  The G Minor pair from Book One is a serious work, especially the 4-part fugue, being very sombre.  It seems to fit well with our dark, dreary, and wet spring.  We have had only one warm day so far, in the 80s.  Not complaining about that, but certainly it could dry out enough for the farmers to plant.  Soon they will be one month overdue.  Anyhoo, I can play the prelude at a somewhat satisfactory level, and the fugue is nearly there,

Many of the pieces I have selected are either in G Minor or Bb Major, a key signature with two flats.  I will open the program with Couperin's "Mysterious Barricades," which is Bb.  Next comes the darker prelude and fugue.  After that comes yet another major work, Haydn Sonata L2 in Bb major.  The first movement of this great piece is so optimistic and and happy, a feature of Haydn that I always find irresistible.  You cannot play this piece in a grumpy mood--it just doesn't work.  It is a fairly long 1st movement, with a number of charming and rhythmically challenging themes.  However, the 2nd movement (in G Minor) takes one into a totally different world of sadness and a much darker beauty.  I can now play the first two movements, sort of.  I just started work on the third movement, a minuet and trio.  The minuet is in Bb major, but the trio is written in the very far flung key of Bb Minor.  It is rhythmically very tricky, and very catchy, too.  I should be able to play it (sort of) in a week or two, as it is the easiest of the 3 movements.

After intermission comes the Schubert Impromptu in C Minor, with three flats.  It is an endless variation on a theme, and a piece not easily forgotten once heard.  It was one of the earliest piano pieces I fell in love with, and it has been on my bucket list for most of my life.  It is one of two very difficult pieces on my program, and will take up the largest block of my practice time.  I am currently all the way through it, and parts of it are sounding not too bad.  After the Schubert comes another piece that has been on my bucket list nearly forever.  The Allegro Barbaro by Bela Bartok is more like an avalanche than a piece of music.  It is the closest I will ever get to undertaking a ride along with Attila and his Huns, as they tear across the country ravaging villages.  Despite its extreme difficulties, it is short, and I can (sort of) play it at a reduced tempo.  Getting it up to proper speed is the main challenge, in addition to not making oneself deaf from practicing it.

Lastly comes a gentle, rhythmic Brahms waltz, back in the key of Bb major.  It is badly needed after hearing the Bartok.  I can play it, but still very slowly.

I am almost ready to begin memorizing some of the pieces, including the Bach prelude and Haydn 1st movement.  The Bartok needs to be memorized, too, as I really need to look at my hands for this one, and not the musical page. 

Turning now back to cinema and the Criterion Channel, my choice for this week was another Bulldog Drummond film.  B. D. Escapes is from 1937, and the movie was based on a play written by Sapper.  This time it is Ray Milland who gives his first and last appearance as the inimitable Captain Drummond.

The Drummond films are short, but a lot happens in them!  This one is filled with foggy nights, marshes, and creaky old houses.  Milland is pretty good as the hero, grinning a lot and not taking things too seriously.  Phyllis, played by Heather Angel, is not your typical 30s heroine.  She is strong, smart, and indomitable.  No wonder Drummond falls for her--they are two of a kind!  In later films a lot of humour is built upon their wedding, which never gets to happen because of new cases breaking out right at the crucial moment, sometimes when they are actually at the altar.  In this film, Drummond's cohort, Algie, is about to become a father.  However, Drummond will not let him stay at the hospital and worry in peace.  He drags him into the adventure, providing some of the humour.  A third companion is the butler, who also provides a lot of the humour.

It's Deb's choice next, and then she is in charge of this weekend's film festival.  Once every four weeks we watch a related series of films.  Last month I chose the Medici epic by Rossellini.  As Deb's surgery is on Friday, our festival may not happen till Sunday.  Probably some light comedy is in store.

Mapman Mike