Alfor's Rarities

[fleubis]

Of course, Emma is quite right! This is a little piece Barber wrote in 1926 called "Let's Sit It Out; I'd Rather Watch" - a waltz. Alfred was quoting the first few notes of the fugue from the sonata.

[alfor]

Dear Alfor,
I Suggest S Barber, as your clues refer to his piano sonata (last part).
Best regards,
Emma

Dear Emma,

congratulations! This is in fact the beginning of the fugue theme of Barber's
gorgeous but rarely heard Piano Sonata.

A long time ago I listened to Horowitz' recording which I then did not like very much.
(Maybe I should have listened with the score). It was until recently that I had the opportunity
to listen to a most excellent 55 year old broadcast recording of a fairly unknown German (!)
pianist, which made me fall in love with this piece. So I took the score and drew the pencil...

best regards

alfor

[alfor]

Of course, Emma is quite right! This is a little piece Barber wrote in 1926 called "Let's Sit It Out; I'd Rather Watch" - a waltz. Alfred was quoting the first few notes of the fugue from the sonata.

At the end of the manuscript Barber wrote:
„Soon to be released - Curtis Institute Blues - The Piece that makes People Pray.“

I recommend:

Samuel Barber
Complete Piano Music (Revised Edition)
Schirmer, 2010
236 pages
$23.30

[alfor]

To Ferruccio, who should play this sonata!!!

Samuel BARBER
Sonata op. 26 movement IV
alfor fingered™ (nur echt mit diesem Zeichen... )

Most amazing how the composer succeeded to merge
parts like bar 55 et sqq. and bar 99 et sqq. into one
harmonious piece of music!

Barber Sonata IV alfor fingered.pdf

[fleubis]

Glad you are enjoying the Barber sonata, Alfred. When I was in music school I had the choice of learning the Barber or the Ginastera sonata--I chose the Ginastera because it was flashier...quite a bit later I learned the Barber. It is rather popular in the US but has not caught on in Europe much. Interesting that you mention bar 55: I borrowed that theme and used it in one of my own compositions. This sonata is one of the great masterpieces of 20th century piano literature and I greatly treasure it and is actually the only 12-tone piece that I play.

[alfor]

Glad you are enjoying the Barber sonata, Alfred. When I was in music school I had the choice of learning the Barber or the Ginastera sonata--I chose the Ginastera because it was flashier

and much easier...

...quite a bit later I learned the Barber. It is rather popular in the US but has not caught on in Europe much. Interesting that you mention bar 55: I borrowed that theme and used it in one of my own compositions. This sonata is one of the great masterpieces of 20th century piano literature and I greatly treasure it and is actually the only 12-tone piece

there are only some minor parts in 12-tone-technique (see the attached thesis). And what is more important: At no place this piece sounds like a 12-tone piece!

that I play.

Thank you for feedback, dear fleubis. To say the truth, I believe that this piece is beyond the pianistic scope of most of our members - which would explain that nobody, except our expert from Panama, seems to show any sort of interest in my „fingerworking“ .

Hong Barber's Piano Sonata.pdf

[fleubis]

I find your fingering of the fugue very similar to what I play but I find there are some improvements that I can make--something I always find in your fingerings. The Hong thesis has quite nailed the tonality question wherein he states "They are not used to compose in a serialist manner, like Arnold Schoenberg, would compose, but instead fit into more pitch-centered patterns" and indeed I have always had a strong sense of the tonality in this piece. So one thing I learned from this piece is that there are 12 tone aspects that I can appreciate--but not many (and strict Schoenberg serialism is not one of them). I think many players will find this sonata very rewarding as it is extremely pianistic and only a few tricky spots in the fugue--the movement where most try to take at too rapid a tempo. Time to go back now and finish reading Hong's thesis!

[alfor]

To „Our Man in Havanna“ alias „The Tailor of Panama“ :

http://www.mediafire.com/view/6g3vdfgf3 ... ngered.pdf

This piece stood the test of my new
„Reciate-App“

[alfor]

More from Anne Thology:

51 PIANO PIECES from the modern repertoire
REPRESENTING COMPOSERS OF THIRTEEN NATIONALITIES

SCHIRMER, NEW YORK/LONDON 1940

51 Piano Pieces from the modern repertoire.pdf

[fleubis]

Alfred, I was delighted to find on my return from Havana that you had fingered almost the entire Barber sonata. I find my copy of this piece so marked up with over 30 years of notations that it was time to print out a fresh copy and start anew--end employ a lot of your fingerings....it will be interesting to see how your fingering improvements work out.

More than a bit of fun playing through that collection of 51 "modern" pieces. I haven't played the White Peacock in years! I find collections like this are good to play through to refresh old memories.