Music and Vision homepage

 

<<  -- 5 --  Bill Newman    'LIGHT SHINING THROUGH'

-------------------------------

'Yes, and I also had problems with Brahms as well. Going back in years, I loved playing French music like Poulenc, and Gershwin -- not any more! I am really looking at music where you will find a definite real oeuvre by a composer.' I suggested Villa-Lobos, wondering if she had heard of Martino Tirimo's project to examine and catalogue all of his output. 'I only know a movement from Prole do Bebê (The Baby's Family) featuring two pianists.'

'Other recordings can be better, some are not, but we develop and improve all the time. I had a good musical grounding in Israel, and sometimes I have more definite ideas on rhythm and pedalling. Of course, Andreas pedals beautifully with his left foot in control of the bass line. I don't need to as his playing merges perfectly with what I am doing in the higher ranges of the piano.'

When she played Satie on her own, I noticed she used the sustaining pedal sparingly. 'Yes! I don't like the left foot very much. Earlier on, I used it in the rhapsodic, mystic pieces -- Caresse; Prélude à la porte héroïque du ciel -- but usually I have an idea of a sound which is more open, like a beam of colour; and if I want it to be opaque I use the left pedal. When I see piano in the score I won't use pedal but do it with my fingers by using the edges or the tip. These are so important in pianissimo passages; for instance if you take a walk, you see the way and go ahead. With music you see the way, and have the sound in your head -- it's like touching the piano.'

Continue >>

Copyright © 5 December 2000 Bill Newman, Edgware, UK

 

-------

BILL NEWMAN'S BERLIN FESTIVAL DIARY

 

 << Music & Vision home           Jones and Anderson >>