I am happy to announce a new store offering: a virtual piano consultation! After purchasing, you will fill out a questionnaire to help determine your background, wishes and needs. Then we will select topics/pieces you’d like to address and schedule a time. I will also provide a specific practice schedule for any given piece to help you achieve your goals. Only a few one-hour time slots are available each month so purchases are limited to one at a time.
A limited number of the Muzyaka publications of my Brandenburg Concertos for Piano Duet transcriptions are now available for purchase direct in my web store. Take a look, and order below:
The Bach Cello Suites recordings was Maine Public Radio’s Classical Music Album of the Week! Listen to the interview on mainepublic.org.
Listen to my appearance on Ben Kapilow’s “All Keyed Up” Podcast as we discuss J.S. Bach Piano Arrangement and Transcription resources:
Pianist Magazine highlights Eleonor Bindman’s J.S. Bach Cello Suites for Solo Piano arrangements, saying it just “might be the ideal new project”!
Nothing makes Eleonor Bindman happier than receiving thank-you notes from amateur pianists.
“Watching my adult students struggle with difficult pieces revealed the need for a new kind of piano repertoire” – says the Latvian-American pianist and transcriber – the kind that helps people participate in music-making of the highest order without weeks of practice, tension or feelings of inadequacy. Her latest project, a piano transcription of J. S. Bach’s Cello Suites, accomplishes just that. And Bach lovers of all ages have expressed enthusiasm for this wonderful new set of piano music, some finally being able to play their favourite music well despite arthritis, others eager for quality warm-up and technique-building material, and many simply relishing a new Bach immersion which makes these stay-at-home times a lot more bearable.
Eleonor Bindman spoke with Barry Lenson about her new J.S. Bach Cello Suite transcriptions and recordings on the Classical Archives blog:
Prepare to be surprised when you listen to the new 2-CD release of Eleonor Bindman playing her piano arrangements of Bach’s Cello Suites. Ms. Bindman’s arrangements faithfully include the notes you will find in the original Bach, but have become works that are new, unique, and completely satisfying on their own terms.
That is just one of the discoveries to be made in this new recording, which follows an earlier, excellent 2-CD recording, The Brandenburg Duets of four-hand transcriptions of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos that Ms. Bindman performed with fellow pianist Jenny Lin.
In nearly every way, the Cello Suite transcriptions feel very different from the Brandenburgs. How did that happen, and what was the thinking behind this new release? We spoke with Ms. Bindman, and here is what she had to say.
Classical Archives: What motivated you to transcribe and record these pieces?
All my transcriptions are motivated by the desire to play my favorite music on the piano. My first major piano transcription – Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain – was made because I just loved the orchestral piece and wanted to have more Mussorgsky to perform. Max Reger’s piano-4-hands version of the Brandenburgs has been on my music shelf for decades but proved too unwieldy when I tried to play them with my piano duet partner. So I made a new, playable one, thinking that a good arrangement would really enrich the piano-4-hands repertoire. The Cello Suites by nature are suitable for amateur pianists so this new set is also intended to provide more playable Bach for them.
See the interview on the ClassicalArchives.com blog!
Seen and Heard International‘s Robert Beattie interviews Eleonor Bindman about her J.S. Bach transcriptions:
“I spoke to Eleonor about her background as a professional pianist, what drew her into making transcriptions of other composer’s works and about her latest transcription of Bach’s solo cello suites. Some of the most recent transcriptions are for amateur pianists and we spoke about how these motivate and inspire enthusiastic amateurs.
Robert Beattie: Can you tell us about your background as a professional pianist and what drew you to make transcriptions of other composers’ works?
Eleonor Bindman: When I was in college we were encouraged to study a wide range of repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music and virtuoso works. I enjoyed playing transcriptions by composers such as Liszt, Busoni and Rachmaninov. My piano teacher, Vladimir Feltsman, encouraged me to think about how to capture orchestral textures, colours and sonorities when performing these works. I performed Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition at a number of competitions and this work featured in my first solo recording. I included my own transcription of Mussorgsky’s A Night on a Bald Mountain in that recording. In my second recording I performed Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons and included Liszt’s transcription of the Polonaise from his opera Eugene Onegin. Once again, I also decided to record my own transcription of the waltz from Eugene Onegin.
RB: You then went on to record a number of transcriptions for piano duet with Susan Sobolewski and Jenny Lin. Can you tell us about them?
EB: Susan and I recorded the version of Holst’s The Planets for two pianos. Holst originally scored seven of the movements for two pianos before scoring it for large orchestra. This was bookended by a transcription of Bernstein’s Candide Overture and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. I then started to look at transcriptions of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos for piano duet. There is a transcription by Max Reger for piano duet, but I found this work very uneven and lopsided as the primo piano part is much more dense and busy than the secondo part, which has much less to do. I then worked on my own transcription of the Brandenburg Concertos for piano duet and tried to distribute the material much more evenly among the two parts. Jenny Lin and I made a recording of this transcription in 2018 and this was well received by the critics and the general public.
RB: You then composed a series of Bach piano transcriptions specifically tailored for amateur pianists. How did this project come about?
EB: I have a number of adult piano students and I was conscious of the fact that many of them found it difficult to negotiate Bach’s contrapuntal lines. I often found it easier to teach composers such as Chopin where they have to play a melody and accompaniment. I love Bach’s music and I wanted to create a series of short pieces which would allow amateur pianists to find a way into his music. I therefore composed 48 short pieces which I called Stepping Stones to Bach which were distillations of his orchestral, choral and instrumental works such as movements from the cantatas or Passions, orchestral suites or instrumental works. These pieces are idiomatic and satisfying to play and they have helped many of my students to develop technique. They are intermediate level pieces and they are useful for students of all ages. I developed a playlist on Spotify to accompany the pieces which allows students to listen to the original works before playing the pieces.
RB: You have just recorded your own new transcription of Bach’s Cello Suites for Piano Solo. There are of course existing transcriptions of these works as well as for the solo violin works. How do your transcriptions differ from these?……
The J.S. Bach Cello Suites for Solo Piano Score is now available to purchase as a download or a hard-copy print edition!
My new transcription of this beloved set shows a refreshing perspective to a pianist, unencumbered by counterpoint and zooming in on the individual line, patterns, tone quality, and the great composer’s vocabulary. I find the experience of playing the Suites on the keyboard not only aesthetically satisfying but also relaxing and joyful. We could all use an opportunity to enjoy our music-making without unnecessary stress, especially in current times. I am also eager to bring these 36 pieces to many pianists and students because they are immensely beneficial for working on tone and finger technique.
The J.S. Bach Cello Suites for Solo Piano are available worldwide, wherever you listen!
“On the heels of the recent recording – “breathtaking in its sheer precision and vitality” (Pianist magazine) – of her own transcription for four-hands piano of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, pianist Eleonor Bindman has now completed a new project: a solo piano transcription and recording of all six of Bach’s suites for unaccompanied cello. These pieces have been transcribed many times for instruments from trombone to charango, starting with the lute version of Suite No. 5 made by Bach himself. But previous piano versions, particularly in the 19th century, tended toward “improvements” ranging from added harmonies to newly composed accompaniments. Bindman’s goal was to adhere as closely to the original works as possible, making a simple and sincere attempt to bring a new sonority to some of Bach’s most beautiful conceptions. The new recording will be released on the Grand Piano label, a subsidiary of Naxos, on October 9.
Each of the cello suites begins with a prelude, followed by a series of movements named after dances but not always especially danceable; Bach treated these forms with great flexibility. Thus Bindman’s immersion in the cello suites was partially a process of discovering the organic personality of each movement, distinct from the other examples of that dance in the other suites. In some cases the mechanics of the piano affected her interpretation: for example, she tended toward slightly faster tempos than a cellist would be inclined to take. Tonalities also proved to be an important consideration: the E-flat key of Suite No. 4, for example, is notably idiomatic for the piano – doubly so on Bindman’s richly resonant Bösendorfer – despite being a difficult key for the work’s original instrument.…
Learn more and get your copy today!
The Naxos/Grand Piano label has set Eleonor Bindman’s J.S. Bach Cello Suites for Solo Piano recording’s release date for October 9, 2020!
The genius of J.S. Bach is recognised and revered by everyone who is musically educated. His output, studied by the greatest composers and the youngest apprentices alike, has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration, imitation and renewal. One common method of renewal is through transcription. As a matter of fact Bach himself regularly transcribed his own and other composers’ music and created different instrumental versions of the same piece. This transcribing practice has persisted and is still very much alive, as evidenced by many current recordings, including this one. Approaches can be as diverse as Bach’s body of work, depending on the form of the original composition, the designated instrumentation and the goal of the arranger. The resulting musical statement may be a faithful reproduction (my personal preference), a transformation beyond recognition or something in between. Regardless of the outcome, the original source is of such exceptional depth and appeal that for the past three centuries it attracted a steady stream of pilgrims, ready to sacrifice their time and energy for the joy of communion.
Eleonor Bindman joined the Violin Channel’s “Living Room Live” program:
In support of my musician colleagues during the COVID health crisis, from now through Sunday, May 3, 2020, all proceeds from the sale of my transcriptions and CDs from this site will go to my Local 802 AFM Musicians’ Emergency Relief Fund.
