Solo piano sheet music: arrangements and improvisations

I would like to end 2011 with a welcome to 2012 by touching upon piano solo music that is interesting to play.

A few years ago I arranged “Ding Dong Merrily On High” for piano, guitar, and violin. While it was an assignment at conservatory, I nevertheless enjoyed the experience and hoped to see such Christmas arrangements elsewhere. I never got the chance to fully research this.

This Christmas, I needed music. So I began my search.

Borsendorfer, Utrecht Conservatory, Netherlands Photo credit: Olaf Hornes 2007

In preparation for the 2 hour caroling session on the new (old) grand piano at Roselani Place, I looked for Christmas carol arrangements that were atypical of the traditional SATB but interesting and pleasant to play. A good improviser only needs the melody and the chords to produce something fitting of the occasion. Christmas carol from church hymnals are one source for improvisers but not for those who like to read and play something different.

I googled and found Sally DeFord who has made her arrangements freely downloadable from her website at http://www.defordmusic.com She specifically wrote “making copies for non-commercial use is permitted.”

From the university library, I found an album of piano solo arrangements by Jim Brickman. He wrote “The Gift,” which a soprano from the Maui College choir sang to my accompaniment at Roselani Place. I played it again on Christmas Day as a postlude. The congregation at the Christian Science Church where I substituted as pianist for 3 services gave wonderful feedback about my selection. It was Christmas with a new age feel. Certainly, I enjoyed playing carols with a twist.

Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku, Tia Carrere, 15 Dec 2011 Maui

On 15th December 2011 at the McCoy Theatre at the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, I watched the multi-talented Daniel Ho play guitar, ukelele, piano, and sing. He improvised while accompanying Tia Carrere and George Kahumoku, Jr. Or had he memorised his own arrangements? I couldn’t wait to meet him in person during the intermission. I asked if his improvisations were written down arrangements or actual improvisations he performed. The answer came in the form of an e-mail with a zipped folder of his published works for piano solo, piano with other instruments, ukelele, and slack key guitar.

Now that the Christmas festivities are over, I look forward to studying the arrangements and compositions of Daniel Ho. His book “E Kahe Malie: Hawaiian Piano Instrumentals” contains piano versions of 11 songs spanning 42 pages. His “Colorful Sounds” book presents his own harmonic method he uses in his compositions, arrangements, and performances. It will be the beginning of my quest for arrangements of traditional melodies (in this case, Hawaiian) in different styles.

Introducing new piano solos

As a sightreader, I am always looking for new challenges, that is, to play new music I have not seen before.  Before I entered the world of composers, I would search for published music of dead composers.

In my musical journey, I discover that the new music (of living composers) is just as interesting if not more. These days, if I come across music of a composer I like, whether it’s ensemble music or piano guitar duo, I’d ask if he or she had written anything for piano solo or piano duet. Similarly — vice versa.

Below is a catalogue of the piano solo works I have reviewed and introduced on Concertblog. I will continue to add to this list, arranged alphabetically by the composer’s last name.

• Abrams, Daniel: Chaconne on Dido’s Lament (video)
• Alkema, Henk: piano solo from duet ( sample score, photo)
• Carollo, John:  Waltz (mp3, sample score, photo)
• Diehnelt, Kim: Impromptu (mp3, sample score)
• Ku, Anne: Full Moon on Maui (sample score)
• Ku, Anne: Toccata on an Elegie Theme (mp3, sample score)
• Peterson, Tom: Sonatina (video)
• Verleur, Heleen: Daniel’s Song (mp3, sample score, photo)
• Verleur, Heleen: Prelude and Fuga in D minor: mp3, sample scores
• Williams, Chris: Somewhere Between Reason and Light (video)

Waltz by John Carollo

John Carollo, composer, and Anne Ku, blogger, Honolulu, 3 April 2011

On Sunday 3rd April 2011, while sightreading 81 short piano pieces entitled “80th Birthday Jingles” by the Honolulu-based composer John Carollo, I came across an old work of his from 1986. John, whom I first met in Cortona, Italy in July 2006, walked out of his kitchen and came towards me.

“I haven’t heard that in awhile.” He seemed caught off guard. Later, I learned that he had forgotten about this piece.

It was tonal music from his pre-serial days.

“Play it again,” he mused.

John had written this Satie-like waltz for his friend Bill whose surprise birthday party I had attended two nights earlier in a million dollar home in Hanepepe Loop. On Sunday in a penthouse in central Honolulu, we were just eating the leftovers from that executive chef-catered dinner when my playing of his Waltz evoked even earlier memories of his journey as a composer.

I liked it so much that I took it to Utrecht, Netherlands and recorded it on my grand piano on 4th August 2011.

Waltz by John Carollo, interpreted by Anne Ku (mp3)

Waltz by John Carollo

Just yesterday afternoon I found the three of John’s CDs: the award-winning Ampersand, Starry Night for String Orchestra, and Transcendence in the Age of War. Now that I have time in Maui, I will listen to his works, although I have already heard one performed in my house on 1st July 2011. Pianist Nathanael May played his Prelude as the last piece of a set of five by the composers Antheil, Chopin, Gershwin, and Debussy as the opening to a house concert. (Programme 2-page PDF) It was well chosen before John Cage’s dream-like “In a Landscape.”

Immediately after I left Honolulu, John began composing a 9-movement work for my piano guitar duo. While we have not yet had time to rehearse the piece, I have already requested John to extend the second movement which is so addictive!

Born in Torino, Italy, John Carollo was brought to the U.S. by his adoptive parents.  John took piano lessons and began composing his first piano works while at San Diego State University where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Psychology.  Shortly thereafter, John moved to Honolulu, began a full-time mental health career for the State of Hawaii and started private composition lessons with Dr. Robert Wehrman. So great was his passion for composing that he quit his day job to compose full-time. Since then his works have been performed in Italy, Netherlands, and elsewhere. Website: http://www.johncarollocomposer.com

Prelude and Fuga in d minor by H. Verleur

Before I left the Netherlands, I recorded a CD of three piano duets with Carol Ruiz Gandia for my Call for Scores project followed by several solo pieces that were easy to sightread. Three of the solos came from my collection of music by the Amsterdam-based composer Heleen Verleur.

What a joy it was to find Verleur’s Prelude and Fugue in D minor on my bookshelf! Sightreading the set brought back memories of my first concert in Bussum, Netherlands in March 2002. Back then, I was still working full-time as an energy magazine editor, shuffling between London where I was based to the New York head office and various conference locations. Music was a pastime, a favourite hobby, and an insatiable passion.

If you visit our Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo website, you’ll see that the very first concert is listed in 2002, a year after I met Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers. That “afternoon of diversity” concert in a Lutheran church in the town of Bussum (east of Amsterdam) featured the music of Heleen Verleur for piano solo and piano and violin as well as that of Astor Piazzolla. In preparing for that concert, I wrote of my expectations of that event where the guest of honour was my childhood friend Leslie from Seattle.

More than 10 years after I met Robert Bekkers and Heleen Verleur in Amsterdam, I would like to share my interpretation of the prelude and fugue, recorded on 4th August 2011 on my 1909 New York Steinway in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Prelude in d minor by Heleen Verleur, interpreted by Anne Ku (mp3)

Prelude in d minor by Heleen Verleur

Fuga in d minor by Heleen Verleur, interpreted by Anne Ku (mp3)

Fuga in d minor by Heleen Verleur

When I searched for “Verleur” on my e-mail programme, I discovered several e-mails of mp3 and concert announcements from Heleen. Now that I have more time in Hawaii, I hope to listen to this backlog of gifts of music, including CDs I received from various composers and performers. You could say that forthcoming entries in this Concertblog will introduce the music I have been collecting during the last 10 years of concertizing and arts management in the Netherlands.

Heleen Verleur official website: http://www.heleenverleur.nl

Easy to play, nice to listen to: piano music of Heleen Verleur

During my 2.5 months in Utrecht, Netherlands this past summer, I took out sheet music I had collected for years to choose ones worth taking with me to Maui. Some of these pieces were so enjoyable to play that I decided to record them.

I was searching for music that’s easy to play and nice to listen to.

Contrary to what you may believe, it’s not easy to write music that is easy to play. It’s harder still to write music that’s nice to listen to but not boring after the first time. Good music, I sincerely believe, gets appreciated each time it’s played. It grows on you.

Amsterdam-based composer Heleen Verleur is a pianist and piano teacher who has the benefit of observing how her students read and study her compositions. She has written numerous solo and chamber works that involve the piano. I was fortunate to discover her music quite early in what-I-now-call my Dutch era — a decade of infatuation with the Netherlands.

I performed her Prelude in d minor and fugue at a concert in Bussum, a village east of Amsterdam, in 2002. I had also introduced her Tango for violin, cello, and piano to my house concert in London and her piano duets to the Monument House Concert Series and a sightreading workshop prior to our piano guitar duo concert in San Francisco. Heleen has also written “Fire” for our piano guitar duo, which we premiered in Spain in 2010.

Anne Ku with Heleen Verleur, sightreading duets in Amsterdam, 2001

In the “V” section of my music library, I discovered yet more short works for solo piano that she had given me.

“Daniel’s Song” met my criteria of easy to play and nice to listen to. I decided to record it on my Steinway.

Daniel’s Song for solo piano by Heleen Verleur (mp3)

Daniel's Song by Heleen Verleur

Impromptu for solo piano by Kim Diehnelt

As a sightreader, I have an insatiable appetite to discover new music. Now and then, I receive a score that I want to sightread and perform for others. Such was one by the Chicago-based conductor Kim Diehnelt. Her music preceded her.

Impromptu for solo piano by Kim Diehnelt

This is one way musicians get to know each other — through music.

At first I thought she was a conductor. She thought I was an agent or arts manager. Once I premiered her piece in Maui, I then got to know her as a composer.

Over an afternoon snack at Chicago O’Hare Airport recently, the first time we met face to face, I asked her about this piece.

The Impromptu was born out of a desire to capture a moment. Although a unique moment, it may very well be one we all have experienced.  A friend shared a brief description of a morning scene where Bach’s Prelude No. 1 flows from the radio, a glance towards the piano where this piece sits open, a memory from long ago surfaces. In a flash, all these combine into a new awareness of how the current self may meet the tasks of the day.

It is the moments of Between-ness that fascinate me. I hope performers – and listeners – will savor the ‘between-ness’ created with the appearance of each new note.       

Because I love the wine-tasting approach to music, the back page of the score has remarks similar to a wine label – “Austere counterpoint of quiet, timeless reflection punctuated by pauses of full, warm harmony. A captured moment – it lingers in the morning air.”

What’s interesting is that when Kim Diehnelt composes an ensemble work, she actually sees the score as an ensemble — not from a keyboard like many composers do. We discussed the importance of readability for playability down to the size of the measure. If it’s too long, the player may think it’s slower than usual. As a conductor, she knows what she’s looking for and what she wants to hear. When she sits down to compose, she can see it and hear it.

Listen to my recording of Kim Diehnelt’s Impromptu below.

Impromptu by Kim Diehnelt, as interpreted by Anne Ku (recorded on Steinway Grand model A, 1909 New York) in Utrecht, Netherlands, 4th August 2011 (mp3)

 

 

Reverse engineering: piano duet to piano solo of Henk Alkema

Shortly after sightreading and recording Henk Alkema’s 2nd unpublished piano duet, I emailed Henk on 7th July 2011:

Here is a high quality recording mp3 of your duet by me and Brendan Kinsella. Before I load the reduced quality version and write about it for my blog, I’d like to ask

1. an updated bio from you – what is the latest thing you’re working on
2. would you consider transcribing it for piano solo? I like it so much that I’d like to play it as solo and record in my new CD and also perform in Maui when I return in mid-August.

He responded:

Well played! The original version of this piece was for one piano. I will look for it and send it you.

When I didn’t hear further from Henk, I decided to write a blog about his duets:  “Piano Duets by Henk Alkema.”  I wrote on Henk’s Facebook Wall:

Bedankt, Henk!!! Piano duets by Henk Alkema http://wp.me/ptKTf-Ft

July 20 at 6:44pm

A few hours later, he posted the following message on my Facebook Wall.

From saturday I am not in Utrecht for a week. I am ill. Lets call. Thank you for playing my pianoduets, cheers, henk

I had not seen him for a year. I had called him from Maui several months before. I had been too busy to call or visit since I returned to Utrecht in late May. I called him the next day. He told me to visit him the next afternoon and warned me not to be disappointed if he were to ask me to leave when he became tired.

Friday 22nd July 2011 3:30 pm. I wrote in my diary.

Henk Alkema after final exam concert at Utrecht Conservatory, 2nd June 2008. Photo: F. vd Meer

Much earlier, on 11 October 2010, Henk had responded to my quest for piano duets for a sightreading workshop, as follows:

I have 8 unpublished quatre mains. Keep me posted, henk

Henk then sent me 7 piano duets.

When I visited him on 22nd July 2011, he showed me an 8th duet. None of these duets had been performed or published.

“Why did you write them?” I asked.

“I got tired of looking for music to teach conducting. It was faster to write them myself.”

So he’d compose new piano duets and then orchestrate them for different instruments, depending on the students in his class. If there was a flute player, he would include a flute part.

He showed me the 8th unpublished piano duet on Sibelius 6.0 notational software. It was magnificent.

“I will give you the score,” he said.

Henk Alkema left this world on Thursday 4th August 2011. His piano duets remain unpublished.

I can still hear his 2nd piano duet which I’ve shared with so many people since I tried it in Maui. But now I want to play it as a solo piece.  It’s entirely possible read all four voices and play it as a solo piece from the piano duet score. But it’s easier to have it written down as a solo score (below).

Pencilled notes for piano solo from 2nd piano duet of Henk Alkema

I think the tempo marking of quarter note = 60 is too slow. I prefer quarter note = 88.  I would dearly like to play the rest of the 7 piano duets as piano solo pieces. But how shall I get the score to the 8th duet?

Click on the image below to get the one page PDF of the piano solo version entered into Sibelius software by Robert Bekkers.

Solo transcribed from 2nd piano duet of Henk Alkema

Remembering the Tsunami

The tsunami that hit Japan yesterday brought back vivid memories of a winter six years ago in the Netherlands. In the comfort of my home, I read about the unexpected tsunami of 26 December 2004 that nearly destroyed my favourite holiday spot in Thailand.  As the tragedy unfolded through the Internet and Dutch radio, I became conscious of how useless and helpless I felt.

It was my first year as a composition student at conservatory. I had neither the money nor the means to contribute anything of value. I could not volunteer at the scene. I did not know anyone that was affected. It was before Facebook and Twitter. Yet I felt as though I had lost a dear friend.

In the end, I expressed myself by composing an elegy to the victims of the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. I asked the Indonesian pianist Elwin Hendrijanto to premiere it in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Toccata on an Elegy Theme by Anne Ku

His interpretation was so much more powerful than what I expected. It’s like a tsunami — you see it coming but you have no idea how powerful it could get. Listen below.

Elwin Hendrijanto plays “Toccata on an Elegie Theme” by Anne Ku

I did run for a fundraising event for the victims of Aceh, but it was working on this piano solo piece and getting my friend to play it that released me.

On Friday 11 March 2011, through Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, I saw what happened in Japan.

Full moon on Maui with lunar eclipse

After our kung fu class at the Kahului Community Centre, one classmate announced that the full lunar eclipse was tonight 20th December 2010. But it was too cloudy to see it.

Last night, I watched the DVD of the movie “Eclipse” of the Twilight saga for the second consecutive time. The first movie had me mesmerized in Denver, Colorado.

It’s also the winter solstice. Eight years ago, I was crazy enough to organise a house concert of that name: the Winter Solstice Concert. Two people in the audience fell in love at first sight.

Eleven years ago, when I visited Maui for the first time, I saw a full moon that inspired me greatly. I rushed home to compose a solo piano piece called “Full Moon on Maui” and took it to the Maui-based composer Robert Pollock for feedback. Several years later I played and recorded it on my solo piano CD “in pursuit of flexibility.”

Full moon on Maui by Anne Ku solo piano score

What a coincidence that I am once again on Maui, for the third time in my life, during a full moon.  Only I can’t see it because of the eclipse and the clouds.