I have just returned from a two weeklong tour of America. It has been a delight from start to finish!

My first stop was at Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado. It was an honour to meet people there, some of whom, I am certain, will become lifelong friends. A deep felt thank you to Geoffrey Hoppe and Linda Benyo, who invited me over to play. And a special thanks to Bonnie Capelle, who took me under her wings, catered to my every need, and showed me a great time!

The incredible scenery up on the Colorado Mountains simply took my breath away. Though I felt a little lightheaded due to the height, it was totally worth it.

With jet leg still plaguing me, I flew over to Washington DC. We were blessed with most beautiful weather while staying in the Capital. Strathmore Mansion was every bit as enchanting as I remembered it. I so enjoyed playing the 1850 Broadwood grand housed there. I was privileged to give a masterclass the following morning, with some fine students: Justin Bird from the Peabody Conservatory, and Florence Rollwagen.

A big thank you to Georgina Javor, who made my visit comfortable and seamless.

It was for me a special time spent in Washington, as I got to catch up with my dear friends Paul & Elizabeth Murray and their beautiful children. Also, some family members came to hear me perform at the Mansion, which was really heart warming. They all travelled quite a distance to see me, in particular my lovely cousin, Michelle Joshua, who drove up from the depths of North Carolina. So quite a reunion all in all!

On I went to Boston, Massachusetts. Though I have played in Dr. Richard Marcus’ house before, it remains a place that never ceases to amaze. Richard boasts a 15 piece piano collection, which is ever growing. Hundreds of modern art works adorn his house walls including paintings, drawings and sketches, with numerous sculptures scattered over the wooden flooring of this four-story building.

Traditionally, these concerts involve the artist playing a few of the pianos, which are all semi-restored historical models. I played on five different instruments and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful sounds and characteristics of each individual piano. These included an early Erard, two different Chickering pianos made by the specifically appropriate Boston born piano maker, an early Steinway (which sounds so different to later modern instruments) and a beautiful c.1875 Pleyel piano, just a few years younger than my own. The audience, of course, followed me from room to room as I moved on to the next piano. Just like in the olden days!

A huge thanks, therefore, to Dr. Richard Marcus for inviting me over yet again. It’s been an honour and a great pleasure.

From there, onwards I went that same evening to Ashburnham, where the Frederick piano collection is housed. Here I played one piano (thank goodness for that!), a beautiful 1871 Streicher, which worked so well with the programme performed; a reconstruction of Clara Schumann’s concert played that same exact year in London. Though the weather took a turn for the worse, the church was, nevertheless, packed full, with an inquisitive and incredibly warm audience that rewarded me with a standing ovation. A wonderful end to a most splendid tour!

A special thanks goes to the Fredericks, particularly Pat Frederick, who was the perfect host as always, and to my dear friends Romayne and Peter Timms, who looked after me. And finally, a big hug to Margo and Bob Connor for having been ever so kind driving me back to the airport that evening.

This visit has been a great experience for me, so much so, that I am eagerly looking forward to planning the next trip back.

Love to all,
Sharona

I have recently come across this beautiful recording and wanted to share my thoughts about it.

Fanny Davies recorded Robert Schumann‘s Davidsbündler dances Op.6 in 1930, when she was in her late 60s. She was a student of Clara Schumann’s. Her playing in my mind is of the utmost in refinement, sentiment and musicianship. I have no doubt that her interpretation is perhaps the closest we will ever get to hearing Clara Schumann’s own playing.

As this interpretation contains so much intricate detail and nuance I have decided to keep the focus on two recurring topics illustrated in the first dance (there are 18 dances altogether):

1. Tempo Rubato (see below)
2. Chord spreads

I just found this widget that allows me to include written annotations as music is played in real time. Such a wonderful tool!

I hope you enjoy the music, the playing and the commentary, and find it somewhat educational too. I would strongly recommend this recording to anyone.

Album: Fanny Davies Plays Schumann
Label: Pearl [9291]

Helpful tips on how to use the software

Click on the play button to start. You can pause the music at any point by clicking the button again. If you move your cursor away from the button, a time count appears. You can go backwards and forwards by clicking anywhere on the circle, or by clicking, holding and dragging the mouse to a specific point.

That’s all there is to it!

Glossary of terms

Tempo Rubato: The art of borrowed/stolen time aimed at arousing emotion and affecting the soul
rit. / ritardando: Gradually slowing in tempo
Upbeat: An unaccented beat or beats that occur before the first beat of a measure. Also called anacrusis, pickup
Tenuto: to linger / to be held for the full time value; sustained
Harmonic interval: the distance between two notes of a chord
RH: shorthand for right hand
LH: shorthand for left hand

Article written in the Early Music Oxford Journals
4 November 2010 issue

Oxford Journals/Humanities/Early Music Volume 38/Issue 2/Pp.317-9

‘Carlophilipemanuelbachomania’

…’Music written on the page, which is straight and ordered, can actually hinder our good musical sense, which should not be ‘straight’ at all. In his highly influential Versuch, C. P. E. Bach gives us a clue as to how we can unstraighten our hearing simply by closing our eyes and shutting out all unnecessary visual influence. Is this the reason that blind musicians have played such a crucial role in the history of music? Try closing your eyes now for just a few moments, and listen to your surroundings—what do you notice? It is not the sound but rather your hearing that changes. You begin to take in more information because your brain is not busied with extraneous information. This is perhaps why the clavichord won C. P. E. Bach’s heart, beating in time with its own Bebung; the ability to produce the finest shades on this instrument, its subtle range of dynamic capability, provides the most satisfactory stimulus to such a refined ear as Bach’s. His career was shaped by this very scenario: Charles Burney wrote in 1772 that Bach’s ‘Compositions are calculated for great players and cultivated ears’ and that ‘he seems to have passed by all his co[n]temporaries in refinement’.

November 2010 issue

Although the clavichord is not the instrument featured here, Sharona Joshua nevertheless offers the utmost in refinement on her C. P. E. Bach: Selected fortepiano works (Rubato RRL A1104U, rec 2004, 75′). This disc has so much going for it: sudden pregnant pauses, fiery bits, tender moments, exemplary technique. The fortepiano here is a copy of a 1795 Schantz built by Christopher Barlow in 1996. Barlow prepared and tuned the instrument for this recording, but the temperament is not listed. This is often the case, unfortunately, for those who have an interest in this music and are curious to know such details.

Joshua has chosen four sonatas from Bach’s oeuvre of over 150, as well as three rondos and one imaginative fantasia. She opens the disc with the Sonata in G minor, Wq65/17 (H37), dating from the late 1740s. Her mastery of sudden rhetorical pauses makes our ears perk up in anticipation. She dashes whimsically about the keyboard, conjuring up chromatic fancy, challenging the usual formal transparency of the Viennese sonata popular in Bach’s day. What finally wins us over is that deep inner reflection, as if her playing were influenced by the tragic passing of someone dear; she delivers this in the Adagio affetuoso e sostenuto of the Sonata in F minor, Wq63/6 (H75) as well as in the Fantasia movement that follows. Her consummate musicianship allows us to imagine C. P. E. Bach the improviser sitting before the fortepiano that belonged to him at the time of his own passing in 1788′…
Dan McCoy

To read the full article please go to Early Music Oxford Journals ‘Carlophilipemanuelbachomania’ page

My viewpoint about performance practice

Fighting for Rubato

Fighting for Rubato 2