My J.S. Bach Cello Suites transcriptions for Piano are complete and the recordings have officially been submitted to Naxos Records. I’m looking forward to the release in the fall, and stay tuned for liner notes. For now, here’s a first look at a proof of the cover art:
Pause. That word reminds me of a memorable lesson I learned from my last teacher, Mr. Feltsman. In Russian musical terminology, we use it (pronounced “pauza”) to denote a rest. I was playing some Rachmaninov for him one day at SUNY New Paltz where he still teaches. After a few measures of Moment musicaux Op. 14, No. 3, he stopped me and said: “The rests need to be more expressive. Try it again.” I decided not to ask for clarification – how could one explain making silence more expressive? – and played the beginning again, keeping my focus during the rests. He nodded: “That’s much better. The rests need to speak as profoundly as the notes.”
In spoken language or in music, a pause has an important role. It emphasizes the meaning of what was just conveyed by giving us some time to process, to catch up in case we were distracted. Public speakers know this well. It prolongs the emotional charge of a statement, letting it penetrate deeper in the silence. When a pause is long enough, it can also create anticipation, a state of greater receptivity and help sharpen our attention.
People are currently “on pause” in many parts of our planet. Those of us who are lucky to be healthy have to take a break from many habitual actions, especially if living in a city. Amid anxiety-provoking news, ”skyrocketing” numbers and red graphic lines, the only way to possibly control our own situation is to retreat inside and wait. How do we fill – and not kill – our time during this interval, this infinitely prolonged “snow day?” How can we bring meaning to this pause?
I just took a break from writing this, went out and jumped rope in front of my house for the first time in decades. A man with a dog walked by, listening to Brandenburg #2 on a small radio, believe it or not. When I came back in, a sculptor friend called to see how we are doing. He and his partner are the only people I know who still live without cell phones but since they now have to teach art classes online they are discovering the promotional potential of the internet. My teenage son, cut off from interaction with his buddies, put his amateur magician skills to use and finally started giving (online) lessons to kids. As I write this my daughter is working on a new soufflé pancake recipe. (Update: delicious!) My husband, unable to see his coach, discovered that he can play tennis against a wall in the park. Like spring flowers from a dirt patch, new possibilities can arise from our constraints.…
Earlier this week – on February 24th and 25th – I recorded my piano transcription of the Bach Cello Suites, to be released in the fall on the Naxos/Grand Piano label. It is the first faithful version of the complete 6 Suites for the piano to be found in recordings or published music. One wonders, with the immense popularity of these works and plenty of arrangements for violin and viola plus selections for bass clarinet, ukulele, trumpet, marimba, guitar and bass recorder among others, why haven’t pianists been able to enjoy this wonderful music yet? Had the value of playing something so gratifying yet so simple on the keyboard, of studying a score so perfectly crafted and yet so easily understood not occurred to anyone?
The Cello Suites project grew out of my Stepping Stones to Bach arrangements which were motivated by the desire to help more amateur pianists play Bach successfully. After sitting next to private students week after week while they struggled with 2-part Inventions, it occurred to me that what seems like easy Bach to me must be quite difficult for them. Bach’s keyboard pieces, even the easier ones, usually involve counterpoint (two voices of equal importance moving concurrently), and coordinating the intricate voices is a very specific and challenging blend of mental and kinetic functions. Bach intended them for pupils like his sons who had “natural” ability and were undaunted by counterpoint. After all, very few people learned to play the keyboard in Bach’s times unless they were to become musicians (or belonged to royal or very prominent families and owned an instrument.) My students don’t have Bach’s genes and are just learning to play for leisure, so I decided to simplify some of Bach’s greatest masterpieces for their enjoyment. Transcribing Cello Suite movements for the Stepping Stones books was a no-brainer and after playing them myself I realized that the music felt idiomatically very suited to the piano and the experience was wonderfully gratifying.
Alexander Siloti (1863-1945), an illustrious Russian pianist (and a first cousin of Rachmaninov), understood the value of the Cello Suites as potentially educational piano material a century ago. From 1883 to 1886 he was one of the favorite students of a certain superstar in Weimar…you guessed it, Franz Liszt. Inspired by the magnificent transcriptions and paraphrases of Liszt, Siloti eventually produced a collection of roughly 200 piano arrangements himself, a good percentage of which derived from Bach. As most virtuosos, he had very large hands and those transcriptions are technically ambitious – see this version of the Prelude from Cello Suite # 4 where each note is reproduced in double octaves. Yet the sublime and simple arrangement of Bach’s Prelude in B Minor from Clavier Büchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is the one that stood the test of time (download it here). Here is a historic video of Emil Gilels playing it as an encore:
Finding Alexander Siloti’s “Four Studies after the Cello Suites of J.S. Bach” was the final “stamp of approval” I needed to put this project in motion. He chose the famous Prelude and the Courante from Suite #1 in G major, plus the Prelude and Bourrées from #3 in C Major and transformed them in the same way that I envisioned for the complete suites. The set was published by “Musica Obscura Editions” in 1914 under the heading “Transcriptions for the Young.” Siloti makes no changes or additions to the original score, except for amplifying the last few notes of the Preludes by adding a couple of octaves – you can’t take the Liszt out of a disciple…
My first duets were little 8-measure Russian folk songs but they already offered glimpses into a bigger world. Here I was, a struggling beginner, meekly navigating an ocean of black and white keys while trying to dutifully count 1-2-3-4 and keep track of the tiny fingering numbers on the page. Then suddenly my teacher would get up from her chair, come over to the left of the keyboard and play along with me. Those moments were magical: new sounds were added to mine and everything seemed in perfect order. I was making music.
Over the years, my appreciation for playing the piano with a partner has become a lot more informed. I came to the U.S. as a teenager and started teaching piano when I was in college. Piano duets were an important part of my tool kit from the start. I would make up simple accompaniments for my students’ beginner pieces and play along. If I taught siblings, they always had a duet assigned. Adult students, some of whom were actually unaware of the 4-hands possibility, were thrilled to discover it, reading through the uncomplicated works like Schubert’s dances, Debussy’s “Petite Suite,” Faure’s “Dolly” along with pieces from piano-duet anthologies that I always had in my teaching library. While working on my Master’s degree and attending Vladimir Feltsman’s masterclasses, I met Susan Sobolewski who became a dear friend, my Duo Vivace partner and a recording collaborator for our Out of the Blue album. After decades of hand-crossing and elbow-poking, a few arrangements and some recordings, 4-hand playing still feels like the best way of sharing what I love most.
Three years ago I decided to make a new piano duet arrangement of Bach’s 6 Brandenburg Concertos, to replace the existing one by Max Reger. Over the years, I tried to play through the Reger with my partner several times and it always seemed awkwardly done: the Primo part was hard to read with clusters of chords and little visual trace of the actual counterpoint whereas the Secondo mostly consisted of the low string parts in octaves. I looked for performance evidence and found only a couple of YouTube videos of separate movements and only one complete although painfully ponderous version in a dark church. So I set out to suitably edit the old version but ended up starting from scratch with an orchestral score. You can read more about the process HERE.
Upon hearing the news of my project, many people would ask: “Why not for 2 pianos?” Certainly two pianos would be much easier to arrange for. No need to decide which string parts to omit completely, no need to transpose up or down an octave, no need to worry about density of texture in the middle register or about dividing a harpsichord cadenza between two players. It would have also been easier to have an entire keyboard for each pianist: no feeling crowded, no deciding whose hand goes into an awkwardly high or low position, no issues of balancing different registers or exact sound/touch matching when sharing the same theme. Yet needing a second piano is a huge logistical problem, in the home as well as in a concert or recording setting whereas as a 4-hand version, this music can be enjoyed at home with a friend whenever you are both available. My goal, after all, was to replace the Reger version, finally giving piano partners a significant body of work besides those of Mozart and Schubert. …
In the late 18th and 19th centuries, piano duets provided an overwhelmingly popular and sociable medium of domestic music-making. Playing duets was the best way to bring popular orchestral and operatic works into the home, since radio wasn’t yet invented. Many 4-hand transcriptions of orchestral works were made during that time since most city homes had a piano and a few people who played it. And for some visitors, 4-hand playing provided a sanctioned opportunity for courtship; two bodies seated at extremely close proximity, inviting an occasional touch of hand and perhaps a slight electric shock, were however engaged in something quite wholesome.
Unfortunately, the piano duet genre doesn’t enjoy as much popularity today. Our entertainment and leisure pastimes have devolved into those not requiring much skill or effort. TVs and other screens outnumber pianos in our households by a staggering ratio. So the piano duet scene is in great need of revival. If you agree, please visit and join my Facebook Group dedicated to the art of the Piano Duet.
Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15 at 2pm, I will be joining The Brooklyn Brandenburgers as a special guest in their 2019 Family Holiday Concert at the Old Stone House! Click here for tickets and more info!
I’m excited to share that I will begin teaching at the 92nd Street Y School of Music in September of 2019 as a member of their Classical Piano Faculty. Learn more about the 92nd Street Y and the Gilda and Henry Block School of the Arts at 92y.org!
I’m excited to announce that my arrangements of J.S. Bach, from the new Stepping Stones to Bach, to The Brandenburg Duets are now available for purchase from Naxos Sheet Music Publishing! Explore their new collection on publishing.naxos.com:
See the Naxos Publishing Collection
I recently decided to make simple piano arrangements of Bach’s most beloved non-keyboard works. Most existing Bach transcriptions, made by legends like Liszt, Busoni and Rachmaninov, are difficult works made for professional pianists, but nowadays the number of amateur pianists is greater than ever. “Stepping Stones to Bach” are intended to fill the need for easier repertoire, suitable for adult music lovers who are learning to play for enjoyment and relaxation and don’t want to spend months mastering one piece. They will also be a great supplement to Bach’s own teaching pieces (Minuets, Little Preludes and Inventions) as recital and study pieces for children.
Masterpieces such as St. Matthew’s Passion, The Brandenburg Concertos, Cantatas and Cello Suites are familiar to most classical music lovers and their main themes sound wonderful on the piano. “Stepping Stones to Bach” will enable easy/intermediate level adult students to participate in music-making of this amazing quality. These transcriptions also serve as warm-up exercises, technique studies, sight reading examples and building blocks to learning longer works. I made sure to choose suitable short excerpts from the best and most popular works and to arrange them in such a way that they feel idiomatic to the keyboard and complete with a satisfying ending.
For children, my wish is that by playing these arrangements they will make inroads into the greater world of Bach. By learning and internalizing a melody, they will be prepared to understand the original work. For example, after learning the theme from Brandenburg Concerto #3, they will hear the orchestral version with a sense of familiarity and belonging, with focused attention and a readiness to hear how the theme develops. I hope to inspire more parents and music teachers to make deeper musical connections for the younger generation. To accompany this volume, I made a special “Stepping Stones to Bach” playlist on Spotify and ITunes featuring all of the music these selections came from. While your child or student is working on each piece, please make sure they get to hear the original sources.
Book 1 of 24 Stepping Stones is ready and a second one is well on the way. You may download 2 free samples illustrating the easy and intermediate levels by subscribing to my newsletter. Please let me know how you like them!
Introducing a funny short film: “The Brandenburg Duets: A
With Susan Sobolewski, piano
Producer/Director: Chandler Kauffman
Cinematographer/Editor: Daniel Jusino
Sound Mixer/Editor: Lizette Gesüden
Gaffer: Charles Billot
Colorist: Michael Macalincag
ArkivMusic released their 25 “most outstanding and memorable recordings from the past year” and have The Brandenburg Duets at #22!
See the recording – on sale now – and full list at ArkivMusic.com
Enjoy a new playlist on Spotify and Apple Music highlighting great Bach transcriptions: