Richter is always amazing, always breaking out, always surfing the wild. When I studied with Pressler he told us about traveling in Europe, and on one trip they were stopped and questioned at the border. Richter was asleep in the back seat. ‘Oh he’s no one, he’s just sleeping’. And it worked.
Me too! These pieces were so dear to him. I'm going to apologize for the long answer now. He was amazing, and he evolved in the years I studied with him from 2002 to 2011 at his music school in the woods of Vermont. We had our own cabin rooms and wandered around all day down dirt roads finding our practice rooms, and getting lost in the experience. We had master class for five days in a recital room dropped in the middle of a meadow. It was really idyllic, which added to the charm of studying with him. That said, on the front end of those years he was still teaching as if every one of us would be on the path of the concert pianist life. Almost no one there wanted that, we were teachers, doctors, I was a banker back then with a music degree, and had played for Pressler in college. I wanted a week in the woods with lots of undisturbed focus on the pieces that would be studied that week, and my own practicing.
My last year I opened our evening concert with Beethoven Opus 27, #2, which I'd played for Pressler two nights before. My master class was canceled as he was called away to Taiwan for an official performance. He chose me to come to his house for a private lesson instead of the one I wanted us all to have on the piece. I put my phone on a folding chair and recorded it. When he yells no! right when you need to stop doing something, it's so effective. Same with nodding 'that's right' with his whole being. When he pushes your shoulder on the three in the Mazurkas (and says three! real loud in his super thick accent), you know you're the luckiest. His care for you was so pure and generous.
He knew he could push me real far, and it really paid off, but it took him a while to even trust me. He didn't understand why I was there, but then he understood I've been a pianist my entire life, I just didn't choose to make it my life. In time he met people where they were. Literally the first year he asked if the teacher of the student who had just played for him was in the room. How could she allow a wrong note, and let this student come here and play the wrong note?! He was kind and tough on me, exactly the way I like a great master class. It can be so awkward for the audience when the message isn't landing, and super fun when it does!
We got to be friends, I'd see him in Bloomington at his studio in the round building. I think the new building - where his new studio would have been - might still be being built. He was psyched about it. It was a serious highlight of my musical life to study with him. His lineage goes back to Back, Beethoven and Chopin. People these days at CSO orchestra hall concerts don't understand his sound world ("why do you play so loud?") and the atmosphere he conjures with his beloved Schubert. Very long answer! I'll tell you: the first master class I played, our chairman asked if I would take him to O'Hare afterwards. As he was walking through the double doors, I swear his feet weren't on the ground. I think he was built to just be music, floating above it all.
I love what you're doing!! Please say more about Class Notes. I try to sit down and play some Bach every day. Lately I'm focused on electric guitar/rock band stuff, and the Substack I'm starting interviewing local longtime musicians who really bring something interesting to the great musical timeline. Cheers.
Thank you for the extended reflection on Pressler — he had a wonderful and successful career but still feels under-loved in the pantheon. Such a deep feeling musician, and every note feels like wisdom. How great to be pushed by him…
Always meet your heroes!!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy digging into the archives.
I have enjoyed your year of Bach and actually put off reading the last article for a while not wanting it to end.
My pandemic/ lifetime instrument is trumpet. Bach`s cello suites transcriptions are currently on my music stand and your writings are a nice addition. Maybe Papa Bach will teach me ‘to dance’ at age 65!
Perhaps you could pick up the pen again for this challenge?!
From Ted Gioia Honest Broker substack.
“They note that “Bach devoted a significant portion of his life to the composition of dance music,” yet until they published their book Dance and the Music of Bach, no scholar had deemed this topic worthy of a book-length study—“nothing which shows the choreographic origins of his dance forms, and no studies tying Bach’s dances to those of his predecessors and contemporaries.”
Even stranger, they tell us that “there is no satisfactory history of Baroque dance music.” That’s a bizarre omission in genre where so many works bear names such as gavotte, minuet, gigue, sarabande, and other dances.”
My mother discouraged my playing any brass instruments for fear of dental damage. Trumpet seems fun, especially in jazz. Check out the album 'Quiet Kenny' by Kenny Dorham if you don't know it.
I'm working in the background on a followup to YoB... life is busy and I think I'll start again in the second half of the year.
Just putting in a plug for taking actual lessons from a good teacher, for anyone interested in playing an instrument. It's a-m-a-z-i-n-g what you can accomplish with a teacher.
"As these basic pieces got under my fingers, I felt like I was finally stepping into a long parade, no longer just spectating.
Nothing is stopping you from doing the same." Ha! I tried, couldn't do it.
Richter is always amazing, always breaking out, always surfing the wild. When I studied with Pressler he told us about traveling in Europe, and on one trip they were stopped and questioned at the border. Richter was asleep in the back seat. ‘Oh he’s no one, he’s just sleeping’. And it worked.
Love Pressler — especially the late recordings of Debussy and Mozart. What was he like as a teacher?
Me too! These pieces were so dear to him. I'm going to apologize for the long answer now. He was amazing, and he evolved in the years I studied with him from 2002 to 2011 at his music school in the woods of Vermont. We had our own cabin rooms and wandered around all day down dirt roads finding our practice rooms, and getting lost in the experience. We had master class for five days in a recital room dropped in the middle of a meadow. It was really idyllic, which added to the charm of studying with him. That said, on the front end of those years he was still teaching as if every one of us would be on the path of the concert pianist life. Almost no one there wanted that, we were teachers, doctors, I was a banker back then with a music degree, and had played for Pressler in college. I wanted a week in the woods with lots of undisturbed focus on the pieces that would be studied that week, and my own practicing.
My last year I opened our evening concert with Beethoven Opus 27, #2, which I'd played for Pressler two nights before. My master class was canceled as he was called away to Taiwan for an official performance. He chose me to come to his house for a private lesson instead of the one I wanted us all to have on the piece. I put my phone on a folding chair and recorded it. When he yells no! right when you need to stop doing something, it's so effective. Same with nodding 'that's right' with his whole being. When he pushes your shoulder on the three in the Mazurkas (and says three! real loud in his super thick accent), you know you're the luckiest. His care for you was so pure and generous.
He knew he could push me real far, and it really paid off, but it took him a while to even trust me. He didn't understand why I was there, but then he understood I've been a pianist my entire life, I just didn't choose to make it my life. In time he met people where they were. Literally the first year he asked if the teacher of the student who had just played for him was in the room. How could she allow a wrong note, and let this student come here and play the wrong note?! He was kind and tough on me, exactly the way I like a great master class. It can be so awkward for the audience when the message isn't landing, and super fun when it does!
We got to be friends, I'd see him in Bloomington at his studio in the round building. I think the new building - where his new studio would have been - might still be being built. He was psyched about it. It was a serious highlight of my musical life to study with him. His lineage goes back to Back, Beethoven and Chopin. People these days at CSO orchestra hall concerts don't understand his sound world ("why do you play so loud?") and the atmosphere he conjures with his beloved Schubert. Very long answer! I'll tell you: the first master class I played, our chairman asked if I would take him to O'Hare afterwards. As he was walking through the double doors, I swear his feet weren't on the ground. I think he was built to just be music, floating above it all.
I love what you're doing!! Please say more about Class Notes. I try to sit down and play some Bach every day. Lately I'm focused on electric guitar/rock band stuff, and the Substack I'm starting interviewing local longtime musicians who really bring something interesting to the great musical timeline. Cheers.
Thank you for the extended reflection on Pressler — he had a wonderful and successful career but still feels under-loved in the pantheon. Such a deep feeling musician, and every note feels like wisdom. How great to be pushed by him…
Always meet your heroes!!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy digging into the archives.
I have enjoyed your year of Bach and actually put off reading the last article for a while not wanting it to end.
My pandemic/ lifetime instrument is trumpet. Bach`s cello suites transcriptions are currently on my music stand and your writings are a nice addition. Maybe Papa Bach will teach me ‘to dance’ at age 65!
Perhaps you could pick up the pen again for this challenge?!
From Ted Gioia Honest Broker substack.
“They note that “Bach devoted a significant portion of his life to the composition of dance music,” yet until they published their book Dance and the Music of Bach, no scholar had deemed this topic worthy of a book-length study—“nothing which shows the choreographic origins of his dance forms, and no studies tying Bach’s dances to those of his predecessors and contemporaries.”
Even stranger, they tell us that “there is no satisfactory history of Baroque dance music.” That’s a bizarre omission in genre where so many works bear names such as gavotte, minuet, gigue, sarabande, and other dances.”
Thank you David! Such kind words.
My mother discouraged my playing any brass instruments for fear of dental damage. Trumpet seems fun, especially in jazz. Check out the album 'Quiet Kenny' by Kenny Dorham if you don't know it.
I'm working in the background on a followup to YoB... life is busy and I think I'll start again in the second half of the year.
Just putting in a plug for taking actual lessons from a good teacher, for anyone interested in playing an instrument. It's a-m-a-z-i-n-g what you can accomplish with a teacher.
Bach with sustain is nice! :]
omg really with the effing typo on our lord and master Bach?