Sara Davis Buechner - "That's Pathetic!"

American-born and trained (Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music) pianist Sara Davis Buechner gives an enlightening lecture-demonstration on the ubiquitous Beethoven Piano Sonata in C Minor, op. 13, known to every living organism as the "Pathetique" Sonata (and might I add, one of the few sonatas to which Beethoven attached a "nickname".)

 

EVERY PIANO STUDENT who loves the "Pathetique" (and who doesn't?) MUST watch this.  She gives an enlightening talk about the origins of this sonata, and its connection to the Mozart Sonata in C Minor, K.457.

 

And speaking of "living organism", that might be an offbeat way to describe Buechner's playing.  Intensely powerful, often athletic, everything she does is backed up by a tremendous, disciplined technique and total immersion in the style of the music being performed.

Her recordings of "byways in the piano repertoire", such as piano music by Rudolf Friml, Miklos Rozsa, and neglected American "lady composer" Dana Suesse, are enjoyable listening.  Ms. Buechner has also edited some music for Dover, including a volume of the wonderful and neglected music of Russian composer Anton Arensky.

Let's take a look at her pedigree (cribbed from another website):

Education: Juilliard School of Music, NYC, diploma; Manhattan School of Music, doctorate in music.

New York University, faculty member; University of British Columbia, School of Music, assistant professor, 2003–.

Awards: Gold Medal, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, 1984; Bronze Medal, Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, 1986; Deutsches Schallplatten Preis, for recording of piano concertos by Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxmann, 1995.

YEP.  a BRONZE medal in the TCHAIKOVSKY competition.

An abridged list of her recordings:

Piano Music of George Gershwin, Connoisseur Society, 1994.
Henry Martin: Preludes and Fugues, GM Recordings, 1994.
The Paradine Case: Hollywood Piano Concertos, Koch International Classics, 1995.
Bach-Busoni Goldberg Variations, Connoisseur Society, 1997.
Rózsa: Complete Works for Solo Piano, Koch International Classics, 1999.
Stephen Foster: Complete Piano Works, Pro Piano, 2002.
Piano Music of Rudolf Friml, Koch International Classics, 2004.
Joaquin Turina: Mujeres Españolas, Koch International Classics, 2004

SO...  Why have we Americans so overlooked one of our own? 

She was born David Buechner.  That's why.  Read more here.

Our loss is Canada's gain. 

Americans are becoming more accepting of public figures who are gay, lesbian, or transgender.  But it seems that the Classical Music world, even with its disproportionately large number of LGBT performers, listeners, and fans, are slow to accept its own. 

Here is Sara's story, in her own words, from an article published last February.

Sara Davis Buecher has lived her life with dignity and courage.  And she deserves our attention.  And more bookings in her native land.

Photo of the Day

I PROMISE not to go crazy with these Internet memes, but being in my 50s now, and battling some arthritis, I can agree with this:



Thanks for the music, George Jones

Blake Shelton, one of the few current country artists that I admire, says that country music, more than any other medium, best "tells a story". If you forget that Blake Shelton has probably never heard a German art song ("Die alten, bösen Lieder", "Widmung", or "Erlkönig" comes to mind), he is right, and this song may very well be the best story ever to "make the charts".

And yet another George Jones memory - I worked at a Walmart in Anniston, Alabama during Christmas of 1983 or 84 - by then the 8-track tape had faded from the scene, if not died completely (Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was still hot, and I recall boxes and boxes of that and Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down" ON VINYL coming in and flying off the shelves as fast as we put them out) and some guy with three teeth and a beard halfway down his chest (he was Duck Dynasty when that branch of the Robertson family tree was a bunch of ducklings) came in and said, "Do you have any 8-track tapes of George Jones?" But I digress.

Rest in peace, George Jones. You made a helluva lot of people happy. And look Tammy Wynette up while you're up there, okay? Get her to teach you the lyrics to "Justified and Ancient".

 

FROM MY COLLECTION: José Echániz plays Max Vogrich's "Staccato Caprice"

 

Pianist José Echániz (1905-1969), a Cuban-born child prodigy, studied at the Falcon Conservatory in Havana, where he was awarded the title "professor of piano" at age 14.

 

During the 1920s, he appeared at Carnegie Hall, toured U.S. cities, and appeared in Paris, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Madrid. During the 1930's, he was a featured soloist with orchestras in Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and New Orleans. he appeared under the batons of such distinguished conductors as Iturbi, Mitropoulos, Kleiber, Leinsdorf, and others.

 

Echániz joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in 1944. As a teacher, he believed in a solid grounding in the classical repertory. His students commonly undertook the entire Well Tempered Clavier or, as a class, the 27 concertos of Mozart.

 

Throughout his 25-year teaching career, Echániz maintained an active career as a recitalist in Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean, as an orchestral soloist, and as a recording artist.  (Taken from the Eastman School website)

 

This is a transfer from a 78 rpm record in my collection.  I do not know the recording date, but would place it to be in the early electrical period (1925-1930)

*** *** ***

Max Vogrich, the composer of this cotton-candy fluff  (The score can be found here), was born in Hermannstadt, Transylvania (now Sibiu, Romania). A childhood prodigy, he was an acclaimed pianist at the age of 14 years. He studied at Leipzig under Carl Reinecke, Hans Richter, Moritz Hauptmann, Wenzel, and Ignaz Moscheles, completing the studies in 1869.

From 1870 to 1878 he was engaged in concert tours throughout continental Europe, South America, and the United States. From 1882 to 1886 he was engaged in concert tours and teaching in Australia, after which he went to New York City, where he lived for some time, editing many publications for G. Schirmer. He died there in 1916.

This piece must have been popular in its day, as Yolanda Mero and "boy pianist" Manolito Funes recorded it as well - Mero on her only issued disc recording, Victor 1155, and Funes (at the age of 14) on Columbia A1746.
 

FROM MY COLLECTION: Sigfrid Grundeis plays Liszt Transcendental Etude no. 5, "Feux Follets"



 

Sigfrid Grundeis (1900-1953) was a German pianist and piano teacher. He was internationally known particularly as an interpreter of the music of Franz Liszt.

 

As a boy, he completed an apprenticeship as a harmonium builder. At the same time, he began to be interested in the piano and received his first piano lessons at the age of 14. In addition to his work as an apprentice, he practiced piano 8 hours a day. At the age of 18, he began study with Josef Pembaur at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig.

 

When Pembaur moved to Munich at the State Academy of Music, Grundeis followed him, finishing his studies there in 1922. In his official recital debut, he played all of the Chopin Etudes, a program that today only a few pianists dare.

 

At the age of thirty he made his first recordings for Odeon in Berlin. The 1930s were his most successful years as a virtuoso. He was known for his highly successful European and international concert tours.

 

In 1935 he was appointed by Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern as pianist to the Court. He was a member of the jury in the 1938 Concours Eugène Ysaye (the present-day Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition) -- the year Emil Gilels won.

 

Later he was awarded the title of order of "Officier de L'ordre de la Couronne".   Grundeis did not serve in the German army during World War II due to heart disease. After his rehabilitation in 1947 until his death, he was Professor at the "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater" in Halle/Saale. There, he taught a piano master class. In addition, he taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig. One of his former students there was Kurt Masur, along with other budding artists from 1946-1948.

 

Grundeis already had signed a new contract for a professorship in Munich, but died suddenly and unexpectedly after surgery on February 12, 1953 in Leipzig.

 

At the entrance of the Villa Lehmann in Halle, the former seat of the existing 1955 University of theater and music, is a plaque that recalls Grundeis' playing of the work of Franz Liszt.

 

This video is made from a 78 rpm recording in my collection - American Decca 25572, pressed from an Odeon master, matrix mumber XXB 8583. I do not know the recording date, and presume it to be the the above-mentioned 1930s.

FROM MY COLLECTION: Léon Kartun performs Joachim Raff's "La Fileuse"



The French pianist, Léon Kartun (1895-1982) entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1911, in the class of Louis Diémer.  He received a First Prize for piano in the following year.

Kartun quickly gained a reputation as a virtuoso, and his talent was expressed in many ways: he was soloist, chamber musician, composer and transcriber. Although he played immediately after at (impresario) Colonne's concerts, then in recitals, the real beginning of his career dates from 1918. He gave 25 recitals in Paris and made numerous tours in France and abroad.

In August 1924 he played a keyboard concerto by J.S. Bach at the Proms in London under the baton of Henry J. Wood. He was, furthermore, the regular partner of the violinist and composer George Enescu (aka Enesco). Kartun was also a conductor, and the famous Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997) was a violinist in his orchestra.

Kartun had a broad repertoire. During the 1920's and the 1930's he recorded works by François Couperin, J.S. Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Jean-Philippe Rameau, W.A. Mozart, Carl Maria von Weber; Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt; Johannes Brahms, Maurice Ravel; Gabriel Faure; Isaac Albéniz, and Manuel De Falla.

In 1934 he recorded classical duets with the French jazz violinist Michel Warlop  (1911-1947; under the name Waclaw Niemczyk). In 1934, he recorded under the name of Leo Kartun and his orchestra, jazz titles such as: Knick Knack Blues; Heureux, Joyeux, Amoureux by Jean Wiener; Waiting for you by H. Atkins.

During World War II, he was a prisoner in a concentration camp in the Channel Island of Alderney. He composed study pieces for piano, arranged for piano works by J.S. Bach and Nicolò Paganini, and edited 36 sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti.

In 1947-1948, Léon Kartun toured France, Switzerland and Belgium. Over sixty concerts were given in the benefit of the Fédération Nationale des Déportés Internés, Résistants et Patriotes (FNDIRP). In October 1947, a concert was held at Salle Braun in Metz, attended by the Mayor, the Chief of Staff of the Préfet, the representative of the Military Governor and Dr. Burger, Président départemental de la FNDIRP. Music critic of Le Lorrain gave a very flattering account, regretting that the piano was not up to the talent of the player.

Kartun played again in Metz in October 1950, as part of Beethoven Festival in which he played five Beethoven sonatas. After the War he recorded little, the last known recording probably from 1957.  There is no information on the last thirty years of his life.

This recording is taken from a 78 rpm record in my collection - Odeon 166.124.  I am unsure of the recording date, but am certain that it is an electrically recorded disc.  I would guess it to be from the 1930s, and will revise this information if I get details.

THIS IS MY 100th VIDEO!  Celebration time!

A week of transitions...

...and reminders of transitions past. A very close friend to me and my family has lost a father, a former college roommate (Randall Coleman, now associate director of bands at the University of Alabama) has lost a wife Anne due to a heart attack, and two former piano students, brother and sister, have lost a father - and now I am to play at a funeral service for him Thursday.

 

Tuesday I was given three boxes of music - from the music library of my late colleague Jennifer Roberts (readers of this blog know her story). Both of her daughters were students of mine, and as I went through the boxes of music with a mixture of sadness and "whadjaget", I saw scores with her markings - scores of pieces that she coached with me, copies of my compositions that she had.

Although this is inevitable - only one person has "beat the odds" - I just don't like to be reminded of death this many times in rapid succession.

 

Never pass up an opportunity to tell a friend that you appreciate them.