Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee as John Len Chatman but used Memphis Slim as his stage name.
Memphis Slim led several bands that included saxophones, a bass, drums, and a piano.
Memphis Slim made over 500 recordings. He made recordings for Bluebird, Hy-Tone, Miracle, Premium, Mercury, United, Vee-Jay, and folkways.
I picked this recording because it shows off Memphis Slim’s style of piano playing and his expressive voice. Enjoy!
Soviet Russian composer, piano virtuoso, and an important figure in 20th Century music.
The Three pieces for two violins and piano, op 97 by Shostakovich come from his ‘Gadfly’ suite. This music is beautiful and light-hearted (a complete contrast to much of his music which is dark and very dissonant).
Shostakovich was known for writing some very dark dissonant music. His dark dissonant music reflects his feelings towards Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime.
Here is a a recording of the three pieces for two violins and piano, op 97 from the ‘Gadfly’ suite by Shostakovich. It is performed by Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman (two famous Israeli-American violinists), and Samuel Sanders (an American Pianist and professor at the Juilliard School of Music in New York). Enjoy!
Felix Mendelssohn is a German 19th century composer. Mendelssohn was a prolific composer. He composed dramatic music, choral music, Vocal music, orchestral music, chamber music, and piano music. Today he is known among music lovers for his Violin Concerto in e minor, oratorio Elijah, Octet, Symphony no 4. ‘Italian’, and Songs without Words for piano solo.
The Violin Sonata in f minor, op.4 is one of three sonatas that Mendelssohn wrote for violin and piano. It was written in 1823 when the composer was in his early teens.
Shlomo Mintz – violinist (1957 -) Shlomo Mintz is one of the 20th century’s greatest violinists. He has performed with many of the great orchestras and great conductors. He also performs quite regularly in chamber music concerts and recitals.
Paul Ostrovsky – pianist
Paul Ostrovsky has performed in many of the world’s great concert halls and has appeared at important music festivals including Tanglewood and the Salzburg Festival.
Carl Maria von Weber was a German composer, music critic, virtuoso pianist, and Kapellmeister at the court in Dresden. He is well known among musicians and music lovers as the composer of the opera Der Freischutz.
Weber only wrote 4 sonatas for solo piano. They are not very well known. The sonata no 2 in A Major is a long and very technically demanding piece. Any virtuosic moments in the music are always written in a musically pleasing manner and not simply to show off the technical skill of the pianist. The piece contains beautiful melodies and the accompanying harmonies are not always what the listener expects (this is what makes certain musical works a delight for both the musician and the listener).
Emil Gilels (1916-1985) is one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. His playing is known for its incredible raw power. Gilels had a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Bartok. Many of his recordings were made live during recitals. This recording of Gilels playing the Sonata no 2 in A Major by Weber was recorded during a live performance in London in 1968. Enjoy!
Franz Liszt was a Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer. He was one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century.
Liszt composed three pieces based on sonnets by Petrarch. The piece based on Petrarch’s 104th sonnet comes from a collection of pieces entitled “The Years of Pilgrimage.” The 104th sonnet by Petrarch is one of three sonnets that describe Petrarch’s love for a woman named Laura.
The pianist in the recording I have selected for this post is the Cuban-born pianist Jorge Bolet. Bolet is not as well known as other pianists, but I think he plays more expressively then a lot of other pianists. Listen to the the different tone colours Bolet gets out of the piano in this recording. Some of the famous pianists don’t even get close to the level of this interpretation. I hope that you enjoy the recording of this piece.
Teddy Wilson was an American jazz pianist. His playing was known for its elegance and grace. Teddy worked with many of the great jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. He worked a lot for various jazz bands but also led his own groups from the 1920s until the 1980s. Teddy Wilson was one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white musicians. Teddy Wilson was one of the great pianists of the swing jazz era.
Here is an audio recording of Teddy Wilson playing some jazz standards. Enjoy!
Mieczyslaw Horszowski was a Polish-American pianist. He had one of the longest performing and teaching careers in history. As a pianist, Horszowski was known for producing an unforced, beautiful singing tone, and for his skill in balancing the intellectual and emotional qualities of the music he was playing.
His repertoire was very diverse and extensive. It included composers as diverse as Honegger, d’Indy, Martinu, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Villa-Lobos, and of course Chopin.
Mieczyslaw Horszowski was also a very respected teacher. Anton Kuerti was one of Horszowski’s students. Horszowski taught piano until a week before he died at the age of 100.
When Horszowski was 97 years old he gave a solo piano recital at Carnegie Hall. Here is a clip of him playing a Chopin Nocturne and Etude from that Carnegie Hall recital. Enjoy!
A Brazilian composer who is best known for the tangos that he wrote. Nazareth also wrote waltzes and polkas. He worked for a time as a pianist playing for silent films. Nazareth’s tangoes and other music is full of beautiful melodies and infectious dance rhythms. Ernesto Nazareth’s tangoes established him as one of the most influential Brazilian composers of the 20th century.
Confidencias means Confidences. The piece is melancholy. The title of the piece refers to lost opportunities in life. This particular piece is a hesitation waltz. I decided to post this piece because I want people to know about this composer (who I think is not as well known as he should be). I also think this piece is very beautiful.
The pianist on this recording is Iara Behs. She is one of the foremost pianists in Brazil. You can buy the recording of this piece and other pieces by Nazareth on Amazon.com. It is an excellent recording. I have a copy of this recording and I highly recommend it.
Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso. In the early part of his career as a composer, Bartók travelled with his colleague Kodály to remote villages in order to study their folk melodies. He recorded some of the peasants in these villages singing the folk melodies native to their region. Bartok later transcribed most of these melodies as best as he could for the piano and added harmonies to the melodies.
The Three Folk Songs from Csik are melodies that Bartók recorded village peasants singing, and then transcribed for the piano. I hope you enjoy them. They are quite beautiful.
A Russian 19th century composer. He is known today by lovers of classical music for works such as his Romeo and Juliet Overture, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto no.1 in b flat minor, his six symphonies, the Waltz of the Flowers, and the music to the ballet Swan Lake.
Tchaikovsky wrote wonderful lyrical melodies and his music is often melancholy.
Here is a lullaby written for the piano played by the famous Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (the composer’s name is sometimes spelt with a v, but he preferred to spell it with two Fs). As a pianist, Rachmaninoff was renowned for his precision, rhythmic drive, legato (smooth playing), and the clarity of texture. Being a composer himself, Rachmaninoff had a real knack for figuring out what the composer was trying to say in his music. He learned a piece of music by deconstructing it note by note in order to figure out the phrasing of the melody (the contour of the melody) and how the piece fit together as a whole.
Here is a recording of a Tchaikovsky Lullaby transcribed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and played by Rachamaninoff himself. Note that the recording quality is very good (Rachmaninoff lived from 1873-1943). Rachmaninoff made normal recordings and also recorded piano rolls. I think that this particular recording is a piano roll because the sound quality is extremely good and does not contain any pops or background noise. Enjoy!
Musical Treats 