Week 3: Discovering Schubert Month
Dear Pianists,
As we're coming up to the last week of Discovering Schubert Month, I'm keen to hear of your insights and takeaways from your month's work.
Here's the Week 3 thread, where you may post your text and video updates! I've only got one question for you this week:
What does it take to build Schubert into your life?
I've previously asked you about the piece you are working on, a passage you are satisfied with, and one you're less satisfied with. I've also learned a lot about your musical imagination and pianism by asking you how you might describe the character of your piece, the pianistic tools you use to convey the aforementioned character, and particular elements of the piece you notice by playing it. I'm always so moved by the process of learning a piece of music, playing it, performing it, and continuing to live with it. Playing piano has always been a bastion in my life and I hope that through your regular ritual and practice it can be a source of comfort and empowerment for you too.
I hope you'll consider proposing your Schubert piece for Piano Community's upcoming Community Concert, and to share your work with other supportive members of our community! I really believe I am awarded deep insights when I take the time to deeply consider the elements of my colleagues' successes.
If you're new to the Schubert gathering this week, welcome-it's never too late to join! You may find the guidelines for participation in the Rules and FAQ thread.
See you below, 
Hilda
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Took advantage of the holiday here in the US to record my 2nd video for week 3. This is the 1st Tonebase community challenge I've participated in and have really enjoyed the whole experience, from looking over Schubert's vast and beautiful repertoire and selecting a piece, to seeing what others selected (and sometimes having second thoughts on my selection), to learning the piece, practicing it, and recording it.
I look forward to participating in other community challenges.
As a side-note, after Dr. Yui's excellent live stream on Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, I immediately went to the piano and tried to see if I could play the running trill in the 3rd movement and voice the melody with my pinky--now that's a challenge.
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Juan Carlos Olite , thanks, Juan Carlos. I appreciate it.
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Anthony Miyake Fabulous!
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Anthony Miyake Hi Anthony, Great work learning 142 #2. It's hard stuff but I found it rewarding. I see that you live in NJ. So do I! I'm in Piscataway near New Brunswick. If you are interested, I am president of Piano Evenings with David Dubal. It's a place where we give a platform for very talented young pianists to play before an audience and also live streamed while at the same time getting to listed to David Dubal's erudite and entertaining commentary. It's held every Tuesday evening in New York with live streaming starting on Thursday. If interested, check out: PianoEveningswith David Dubal.com. Cheers Gerry W
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Brother Will Green , thank you!
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geraldw , Hi Gerry, thank you so much. I'm in Maplewood, NJ. I'll check out the website for sure. Thanks for the info.
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Schubert became part of my life many years ago when I had singing lessons and got to know „Winterreise“. Since I try to go through the cycle once a year with a friend. Also my husband (who is a composer) and I made a start to establish „Schubertiades“ in our house before corona. The rule was that every guest/listener would also perform something or rather - even if it would just be reciting a poem. We would always have at least one piece by Schubert in the program an one first performance of a new composition. We very much hope to be able to continue with this idea soon.
Now about the A-minor Sonata. For me it is like a „Heldenreise“ in literature.
It starts off with a call for adventure - a quiet one in the mind of the protagonist who hesitates to follow the call first but then gets going. The „Wanderschaft“ begins. In the development section he has to go through phases of solitude, struggles, meets up with friends, and in the end comes back somehow bent/ injured (the 5th of the main theme gets diminuished in its lasts appearance in the coda) but nonetheless triumphant.
Here is my attempt:
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Andrea Buckland one of my favorite piano sonatas by any composer. I hope one day to dare to play it. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your thoughts and comments.
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Andrea Buckland Gorgeous, Andrea! Gave me lovely goosebumps because it is so pretty.
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Gail Starr Thank you very much, Gail!
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Charlie Gesualdo Thank you for listening, Charlie! I would love to be able to play the whole sonata one day.
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Andrea Buckland Great playing and what a deep understanding of Schubert! Would love to hear your Winterreise singing too. Schubert/Liszt Gute Nacht piano transcription has been on my to do list for sometime.
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Vidhya Bashyam Thank you very much, Vidhya! Hope I will be able to hear you play the Liszt transcription sometime.
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Andrea Buckland Great and deep playing Andrea! I don't know much this sonata, it is so interesting, thank you very much for sharing it.
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Juan Carlos Olite thank you for listening, Juan Carlos!
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Andrea Buckland thank you for that performance! Like others, I had not know this piece. It is indeed like a long journey. One more interesting face of Schubert.
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Monika Tusnady you are very welcome, Monika! I think all the Schubert sonatas are fantastic - very much worth studying. I hope I can live a long life to get a chance to learn all this repertoire.
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Andrea Buckland Beautiful playing of this sublime sonata. Brava, really incredible music this is!!
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Brother Will Green Many thanks, Brother Will! I loved your recording of the B-flat major Sonata very much. How lucky we are to be able to spend our time with compositions like that.
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Andrea Buckland Congratulations, Andrea - what a piece this is, drama, and a darkness that I feel Winterreise captures as well. How cool that you and your husband set up Schubertiades! what were some of the Schubert pieces and the new pieces that were performed in your salon?
I'm taken with your narrative because of how dynamic your protagonist seems to me. My personal feeling of this piece is that it's extremely dynamic - a quality of Schubert's that doesn't get as much attention in the literature. This intensity carries the music forward.
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Hilda Huang Winterreise is about those who are expelled from their homelands and have to go wandering - the Wanderer Fantaise. It is so relevant in the present circumstances in the Ukraine? Can we do another Schubert community challenge on the lieder? That's not to say that we should attempt the Wanderer in the near future!
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Hilda Huang Many thanks, Hilda. I really enjoyed the watch party! Fantastic videos and great commentary. Regarding the Schubertiades it feels ages ago when we did it. We certainly heard many Schubert songs as a friend of ours is a really good tenor. And we had the first performance of my husband’s Ancient Modes of Transport for piano duet, which have since then been published by Baerenreiter (if anyone is interested). Can’t wait to get theses concerts started again.
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Hello, dear Piano Friends,
I love hearing everyone’s lovely Schubert. What a fabulous composer to pick for the month of February.
I’m afraid I started a bit late on learning my Schubert, so I’m just attaching a practice video for the first 5 minutes of the Impromptu Op. 142 #3. I was originally going to learn one of the Op. 90’s, but once I noticed how popular they were, I pivoted and tried this one because I now LOVE variations (after participating in some of the monthly challenges that showed me how much fun variations can be). I’ll definitely keep learning this well into next month.
Hilda - If I can finish it time, I’d love to record it for the Watch Party!
Domenic - Thanks to your excellent fingering suggestions for my Dvorak, I found a way to use that technique HERE, too!
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Gail Starr Wow Gail! Sounds so beautiful and your style reminds me of my favorite YouTube video of this impromptu- https://youtu.be/8YFX-XQLToE. I learned it years ago after hearing this. Your playing reminds me how lovely this impromptu is. I will have to dig it back out and relearn it. Can’t wait to hear your full performance!
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Vidhya Bashyam This is EXACT the video I watched that inspired ME to work on the piece, also.
i hope I wasn’t copying her too much.
You and I are musical twins!
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Gail Starr So funny! You were able to capture her style so well. Nice that you have the matching Bosendorfer sound too
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