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Along with Priya - the Bach Chaconne arr. Busoni and the Barcarolle by Chopin. I was ALMOST there with the Barcarolle - 7 pages memorized, but got stuck and gave up. Then I broke my left wrist. Now, octaves in the left hand are just now coming back - a bit painful yet - so definitely these will be bucket list...luckily Bach's English Suite #2 is still playable right now. But so many many more beautiful pieces to play. At 70 now, it is my goal to last as long as Seymour B.(although I'll never be as good).
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My bucket list item is the Rach 2. When I was an angst-filled teenager, I would listen to it every night - this went on for months. Then I somehow "lost" it: I stopped playing that particular cassette tape on my walkman and then I forgot what it was altogether. I "found" it again shortly before I started taking lessons about 6 years ago, which brought me to tears. It inspires every piece I learn and practice. I may not ever play it in its entirety, but someday I vow to learn at least the "easier" parts of it. If and when that day comes, I will then set my sights on the Rach 3. I'm all about goals!
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I passed my Grade 7 Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music exam in 1987 which was the year I left school. I then went on to study music and got a degree from Glasgow University. I鈥檝e never stopped playing the piano but about 8 years ago started practising more seriously again. I always wished that I had sat the Grade 8 exam but never got round to it so last year I decided to finally do it. 36 years later I鈥檓 just about ready to record my Grade 8 performance submission. Fingers crossed!!
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Hazel Good luck!
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Hazel Wow! What a fabulous goal. We know you'll succeed.
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I don鈥檛 currently have a teacher except for Tonebase and a few other online resources so your support means a lot, thanks!
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Gail Starr yes, impressive!
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Learning and playing (I won't say performing because it would likely be in front of an audience of no one but myself) "La Rousserolle Effarvatte" (The Reed Warbler) from Olivier Messiaen's "Catalogue d'Oiseaux". Call me a hopeless nerd, but hear me out: this is half an hour of piano music depicting one day - from midnight to midnight - at the edge of a lake, listening to the silence of the night, the sounds accompanying the rise and setting of the sun, and the singing of other birds in the swamp, the reed, and the surrounding fields and woods: blackbird, pheasant, starling, white wagtail, water rail, nightingale... When at the end the recurring song of the reed warbler finally subsides and gives way again to the rumbling "choir of frogs" and the infinitely quiet and tender "music of the ponds" that we heard at the very beginning , the night has set on another day and covers everything with a soft blanket of rest and peace, save for one last defiant cry of the Great Bittern. Those last two pages of music invariably bring a smile to my eyes. The entire piece is, to me, an unspeakably moving portrayal of the beauty of nature (and, in Messiaen's concept, God manifesting through it); listening to it intently and utterly undisturbed is always a quasi-religious experience for me. I would so very much love to one day play it - and I know there's simply no way I'll have the time or the patience to learn it before retirement. But that's just fine.
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Alexander Weymann If you鈥榣l play it on zoom I will be so happy to be your audience, Alexander!
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Andrea Buckland what a sweet thing to say - thank you so much!
I'd better start working, then... -
Alexander Weymann I agree with Andrea - I'd be happy to be part of your audience, too!
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Andrea Buckland Alexander Weymann I want to be in the Zoom audience also! I need to get up to speed on Messiaen.
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Gail Starr I'll reserve a spot for you.
Don't get me started on Messiaen; I might never stop talking. If you know hardly anything by him, his post-impressionist Eight Pr茅ludes for piano are a lovely introduction, although not representative of his mature style. (You could also start with his short choral piece "O sacrum convivium" - an exquisitely, mystically beautiful gem.) From the Catalogue d'oiseaux, I have begun (but not even nearly finished) to work very earnestly on "Le Loriot" (The Golden Oriole) - much shorter and more accessible than the "Reed Warbler" and a lot of fun to play (the main theme is a little bit like the cuckoo-in-the-woods motif from the Carnival of the Animals). One of my earlier teachers recorded it for a major German radio station; I was completely in awe and have loved, coveted and courted that piece since then. Whenever I can find the time that year, I set aside a couple of hours on Christmas Eve to listen to the entire cycle of "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-J茅sus" (Twenty looks [gazes/glances] at the Infant Jesus) as equal parts musical feast and meditative-spiritual exercise. And finally, I'm sure you know the "Quatuor pour la fin du temps" (Quartet for the End of Times), but if perchance you don't, find a quiet hour to listen to it. It's one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th century music. -
Alexander Weymann In fact, the ONLY one of his pieces I am quite familiar with is the Quator pour la fin du temps. As a kid I got to attend a wonderful music camp in the summer, and my teacher performed it. Since he said it was SO difficult, I got to hear him working on it every time I walked by his door! Now, I'll circle back and dive into the pieces you have suggested. Merci bien!
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Alexander Weymann I share your passion for the Quartett, Alexander! A couple of years ago I got to see and hear a performance of Messiaen鈥榮 opera Saint Francois d鈥楢ssise. It was a truly divine experience!
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Andrea Buckland that sounds amazing - I know of that opera, but have never heard any music from it. It'll be on my happy to-do list now!
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Alexander Weymann As much as I listen to music I haven鈥檛 heard of any of these pieces before. Excited to listen to something really new for me! Thanks for sharing
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Rodney A
As an octogenarian amateur my bucket list is to perform at a small performance for friends and neighbors a program entitled "A Taste of Debussy while sipping French wine". I have given myself time to the end of the year to prepare but only including early and easier works. Reflets is the challenging one.
Wish me luck.
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Rodney what a wonderful concept, and what an exquisite treat for your friends!
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Rodney We not only wish you luck, we wish to get an invitation! I'll bring some wine!
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Susan Yes. Irwin Shung played these beautifully, all memorized and now has memorized all of book 2. Rodney
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Susan I share the goal of playing a small house concert for my friends and wine.
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My bucket-list item is Rachmaninoff's 18th variation from A Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. My dad played the Somewhere in Time soundtrack when I was little and I was always captivated by that piece. I would also like to eventually play and entire Bach French Suite.
On the not so classical side of things would be Nobuo Uematsu's Melodies of Life from the Final Fantasy Piano Opera VII/VIII/IX.
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Jonathan Comyns Oh yes, this Rachmaninow is a dream.
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After turning 50, I have to acknowledge that I'm probably never going to get to the point where I can play Vers La Flamme or Eine Kleine Mitternachmusik. A more reasonable stretch goal might be Liszt's St. Francis Assisi Preaching to the Birds. I'm an avid birder and photographer. I've got tons of bird photos, cemetery photos, and birds in cemetery photos, and Liszt seems like the natural soundtrack. As far as Liszt's music goes, it has a good balance of his more spiritual side and some modest imaginative technical frills, nothing too over the top.
