Post tag: Chopin
AN INTERVIEW WITH AWARD-WINNING CLASSICAL PIANIST NADA: On the Eve of the Release of Her Second Album of Solo Works by Brahms

The Marlowsphere Blog (#138)

Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BrahmsOnVienna: Brahms & Nada will be released May 7, 2017 May 7, 2017 award-winning classical pianist Nada will release “Vienna: Brahms & Nada” the second in a series of solo piano works by the prolific Romantic-era composer Johannes Brahms on the MEII Enterprises label.

May 7 is Brahms’ 184th birthday.

Nada recently talked about her affinity with Brahms and how her relationship to his solo piano works evolved.


A Young Nada Q: What was your first encounter with Brahms’ music and when did you start playing it?

Nada: “I was still growing up in Beirut, and probably not even yet taking piano lessons when I first heard his music. The two first pieces I heard were his piano concerto No. 1 and the Double Concerto. About the piano concerto, this memory is linked closely to my godfather—who also introduced me through his collection of records to a great number of classical repertoire—who would talk forever while listening to the piece about the long genesis of this work. The Double Concerto Op. 102 was a recording belonging to my dad’s collection of LPs.  There was something very deep about Brahms, I could feel, but it seemed unreachable at the time. This music got stuck in my head. I could tell when I returned to it only a few years ago. It seemed like it had never left me.

“My first attempt to play his music was much later. I had already graduated with a First Prize from the Paris Conservatory, with music by French composer Henri Dutilleux, some Liszt, Bach and Haydn. I had been labeled as a new Clara Haskil and played Mozart, Schubert. Haydn so well it earned me First Prize.

“I formed a piano trio shortly after.  The first two works we planned to perform were: the trio by French composer Ernest Chausson and, of course, the first piano trio by Johannes Brahms, an extremely popular piece for this formation.  I felt pianistically and emotionally at ease in Brahms’ music Nada's Trio at the Paris Conservatorythough my understanding was very limited, I know. This happened to be, incidentally, a very grueling experience for me. I performed this program only two weeks after the tragic death of my mom in a bomb explosion in our home in Beirut.

“Again, sporadically and with great intervals in between, I touched up on two solo pieces. I was already living in the U.S. by then and married. My husband himself was a trained musician and pianist. He instigated an old interest I had in Brahms’ second piano concerto. This piece, for which I had already acquired the music, always seemed to be the whole world, despite the fact that I did not know it well at all. But what I gathered was that everything was in those notes, everything you can ever imagine and say in music. This was my impression. So I set to learn it in a few weeks. I still don’t know how I did it, but I was able to play through it for a very small audience with my husband then at the second piano playing the orchestral reduction. Then it disappeared from my repertoire as quickly as I had learned it.

The same fate befell the Fantasies Op. 116 which I learned only for the purpose for a recording as a good complementary piece to the seldom recorded Paul Dukas piano sonata. Absolutely unintentional was the fact that this CD, my first, was to be released on Brahms centennial death anniversary in 1997. This album is now reissued on the MEII Enterprises label.

Q: You seem to point to the fact that you do not know the composer well, yet you released a CD in May 2016 (“Nada in Hamburg with Johannes Brahms”) of his lesser known pieces described by most reviewers as “with a special affinity with the composer’s music.” You’re about to release a second album of Brahms works for solo piano (“Vienna: Brahms and Nada” MEII Enterprises May 7, 2017) and more may be on the way. What has prompted you to go on with this journey now?

Nada: “You see things have radically changed. It seems like I know him intimately and my understanding of his music and his personality goes without question.”

Q: How did this happen? Why this sudden knowledge? It sounds like you walked side-by-side with Brahms for a long time, yet he was not really part of your life. Am I correct?

Nada in Hamberg at Brahms' piano at the Brahms Museum, Hamburg, GermanyNada: “Absolutely!!! It is like my entire life I respected a musical figure, unquestionably one of our greatest composers, not daring or even being capable of entering his world. And, on one memorable night, while listening to his ‘Ein Deutsches Requiem,’ this very unique prayer to eternal life and life after death, as no other piece or requiem has ever come close; did I even know it then? But that night, the light came through.

“I lived the experience as magic. The sounds of ‘Ein Deutsches Requiem’ suddenly, and yes, suddenly became the most magnificent music, the most beautiful and moving music I had ever heard until now.
I was riveted to the sounds and tears fell down my cheeks. I felt absolutely blessed and lucky to be able to see him and feel the deep joy and beauty of it all.

“And since then, my world evolved into including Johannes Brahms into my everyday life. I learned and listened to virtually all of his music in the space of two to three years. I devoured everything I could learn, his chamber music, and his lieders. I set to exploring the German language so I could understand and appreciate the beautiful poetry and words of his lieders. And it is an ongoing quest for more. I have the orchestral scores of his symphonies which I can’t wait to study in detail, while I am still short of having learned, but a few pieces left of his solo piano repertoire.”

Q: Do you now feel differently about your understanding of his music/personality?

Nada: “Completely. Now, it is like he is walking next to me in my life, he is sitting by me while learning the music. His music seems limpidly clear in its musical thoughts. The conception, structures, usage of themes, musical ideas, harmonies are all so incredible throughout, it’s like treasure after treasure being discovered, all of this in one of the most beautifully expressive and emotionally direct music ever composed. I could sit down and go through the pieces I know best know, and show you all those little miracles at every corner of each work, all the genius creativity, and of course, the result is this immensely deep and beautiful music, a universe of infinity. Now, my journey will have no end and can go forever!”


About Nada

Nada in PerformancePianist Nada, a U.S. citizen of Lebanese/Hungarian descent, with an award-winning Paris Conservatory education, enjoys a career as a soloist, radio broadcaster, and educator. She was a first prize winner at the Paris Conservatory who then came to North America for advanced studies at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada and at Indiana University in the U.S. with the late pianist Gyorgy Sebok.

Her last recital tour took her to Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. In Paris and New York City, she has premiered works by great Lebanese composers Bechara El Khoury and Elias Rahbani and recorded pieces by classical/jazz composer Eugene Marlow. Nada has notably performed piano concertos of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel with orchestras in the U.S. and served as Artist-in-Residence in colleges and universities.

Nada organizes, hosts, and performs in her own concert series “The Classical Hour” in Louisville, KY, where she has nurtured a large following of listeners over many years. “The Classical Hour” is a once-a-month live broadcast and a weekly pre-recorded program every Sunday at 4 p.m. local time which can be heard worldwide over the Internet. It is available as a free download at

Nada has recorded four solo piano albums all of which are now on the MEII Enterprises label. They can be found at www.cdbaby.com/artist/nada4.

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“Nada in Hamburg with Johannes Brahms” to be Released on May 7, 2016, Brahms’ 183rd Birthday

Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BrahmsNew York, NY:  MEII Enterprises is proud to announce the forthcoming release of “Nada in Hamburg with Johannes Brahms” featuring Nada Loutfi, piano soloist, radio broadcaster, and educator. The 10-track album consists of prolific German composer Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) earliest works.

May 7, 2016 is Brahms’ 183rd Birthday celebration.

Of the five works on the album, three
are chorales for piano.  These pieces, transcribed by Nada for this album, represent the first recording of these chorales for piano.

Other works on the album include:

  • Variations on a Hungarian Theme (Op. 21 No. 2)
  • Chaconne for the violin arranged for the left hand alone after J.S. Bach (Étude No. 5)
  • Sonata Op. 1 No. 1 in C Major
  • Étude for piano for the left hand after Franz Schubert (Éude No. 6)

“Nada in Hamburg” is the pianist’s third album, the second with this artist for the MEII Enterprises label. Her first CD, the self-titled “Nada Loutfi Pianist” (1997), features the rarely performed sonata by Paul Dukas and the Fantasy pieces Op. 116 by Johannes Brahms.

Her last CD—“Les Sentiments d’Amour” (MEII Enterprises 2006)—consists of 20 short character pieces for solo piano in the French chanson tradition composed by Eugene Marlow. Of this album, Paul Moravec, 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, said: “Pianist Nada Loutfi is the work’s ideal advocate in her wonderfully sensitive and finely balanced interpretations.”

Executive producer for “Nada in Hamburg” is Joelle Shefts, Producer is Eugene Marlow. The 64-minute album was recorded on a 9’ Yamaha at TNT Studios (Louisville, KY), edited at Valhalla Studio (New York City), and mastered at Onomatopoeia (New York City).

Nada Bio

Pianist Nada Loutfi, a U.S. citizen of Lebanese/Hungarian descent, with a Paris Conservatory education, enjoys a career as a soloist, radio broadcaster and educator. She was a first prize winner at the Paris Conservatory who then came to North America for advanced studies at the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada and Indiana University in the U.S. with the late pianist Gyorgy Sebok.

Her last recital tour took her to Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. In New York City, she has performed Lebanese composer Elias Rahbani’s works and recorded pieces by classical/jazz composer Eugene Marlow. Nada has notably performed piano concertos of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel.

Nada organizes, hosts, and performs in her own concert series “The Classical Hour” in Louisville, KY, where she has nurtured a large following of listeners over many years. “The Classical Hour” is a once-a-mouth live broadcast and a weekly pre-recorded program every Sunday at 4 p.m. local time which can be heard worldwide over the Internet. It is available as a free download at http://www.crescenthillradio.com/the-classical-hour-nada.html.

MEII Enterprises
MEII Enterprises is a music and media company specializing in jazz, Latin jazz,
Brazilian, and classical music. Its catalogue of 18 albums can be found at www.cdbaby.com/artist/eugenemarlow.

The company also produces and distributes documentary DVDs, including “Shakerism: The First Two Hundred Years” (re-released in 2010) and “Zikkaron/Kristallnacht: A Family Story” (2015). Currently, the company is editing “From Decadent Dance Hall Music to Individual Freedom of Expression: Jazz in China” for release in 2017.

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Classical & Jazz: A Century Old Melding of Genres

World Music BrewThe Marlowsphere Blog (#110)

There are still some quarters on this planet where musicians, musicologists, and critics perceive the world of music in terms of categories: classical music here, jazz over there, world music in other places. In fact, pick up any music history book and the world of music is neatly divided among early music, medieval music, Baroque, classical, Romantic, and then 20th century music.

This latter category is a potpourri of musical styles, and extends into the early part of the 21st century.

I am still waiting for more musicologists to come to terms with the term “world music” to define the 21st century because that is what music has increasingly become: a melding of musical styles with influences from all over the planet.

I am motivated to delve into this subject primarily for two reasons. First, later this week I’ll be hosting the fall concert of the Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives Concert Series at Baruch College’s Engelman Recital Hall (on October 29). The performers are the Grammy-nominated Harlem Quartet. In addition to one purely classical piece (a movement from a Mendelsohn string quartet), the balance of their program will be all jazz.

Deanna Witkowski "Rain Drop"The second reason is a new CD from pianist Deanna Witkowski entitled “Rain Drop.” It is her sensitive and tasteful adaptation of several Chopin nocturnes and preludes sprinkled with her own short compositions inspired by the Romantic composer. The melding of the two genres—classical and jazz—is ever-present in this inspired CD. For example, Ms. Witkowski makes the musical point that Chopin’s Prelude in E minor (op. 28, No. 4) is also the basis for Antonio Carlos Jobin’s “Insensatez.”

This melding of classical and jazz genres (and in the case of Jobin, Brazilian rhythms) is not a recent happening, particularly when it comes to jazz-influenced classical compositions. Almost from the initial emergence of jazz as America’s classical music (a term the late Dr. Billy Taylor coined; and don’t let anyone tell you any differently), classical composers have mined the jazz genre. For example, parts of the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor (written in the 1890s) have melodies that sound like black spirituals (although he claimed he did not plan the resemblance).

There are other notable classical composers who have borrowed from the jazz genre for their compositions:

      • George Antheil (A Jazz Symphony)
      • Malcolm Arnold (Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra)
      • Milton Babbitt (All Set)
      • Leonard Bernstein (Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs)
      • Boris Blacher (Concerto for Jazz Orchestra)
      • Marc Blitzstein (The Cradle Will Rock)
      • Aaron Copland (Concerto for Piano and Orchestra)
      • George Gershwin (most famously Rhapsody in Blue)
      • Hans Werner Henze (Boulevard Solitude)
      • Pail Hindemith (Suite fur Klavier)
      • Arthur Honegger (Concerto for Cello and Orchestra)
      • Constant Lambert (Elegiac Blues)
      • Rolf Liebermann (Concerto for Jazzband and Symphony Orchestra)
      • Frank Martin (Ballade for trombone and piano)
      • Darius Milhaud (Trois rag caprices)
      • Maurice Ravel (Piano Concerto in G)
      • Gunther Schuller (Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra)
      • John Serry (American Rhapsody)
      • Dmitri Shostakovich (Suite for Jazz Orchestra);
      • Karlheinz Stockhausen (Sonatine for violin and piano);
      • Igor Stravinsky (Ragtime for 11 instruments)
      • Michael Tippett (Symphony No. 3)
      • Kurt Weill (The Threepenny Opera)
      • Alec Wilder (Octets)

The mixing of classical and jazz in the 20th and 21st centuries has flowed the other way. The highly classically trained Andre Previn made several small ensemble albums of jazz and popular music standards. His classical roots are clearly imprinted on every track.

The Swingle Singers (1964)The Swingle Singers, (pictured left) directed originally by Ward Swingle (who once belonged to Mimi Perrin’s French vocal group Les Double Six), began as session singers mainly doing background vocals for singers such as Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf. Christiane Legrand, sister of Michel Legrand, was the original lead soprano, and they did some jazz vocals for Michel Legrand. The eight session singers sang through “Bach’s Well-Tempered Klavier” as a sight-reading exercise and found the music to have a natural swing. They recorded their first album “Jazz Sébastien Bach” as a present for friends and relatives. Many radio stations picked it up and this led to the group recording more albums and winning a total of five Grammy Awards.1

You can hear the strong classical training roots in the playing of jazz pianist greats Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. I recall Evans once telling me that when he was younger he studied the Romantic composers (he also apparently worked harder than anyone else to achieve his harmonically complex yet sensitive playing style, despite the fact that his hands were unusually large).

Turtle Island Quartet & Chick CoreaEven more recently the two-time Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet —through the talents of founder David Balakrishnan–has adapted jazz stylings for violins, viola, and cello. Similarly, the aforementioned Harlem Quartet performs Chick Corea’s crossover (classical to jazz) compositions.

On a more individual basis, virtuoso guitarist Romero Lubambo of Trio Da Paz fame is fond of performing Bach’s Prelude in C minor at the drop of a hat and at unbelievable breakneck speed (I have heard him perform it in the context of a Trio Da Paz performance and separately at a Diane Reeves concert). Very often jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut will morph an improvisation into a familiar classical melody and back to various jazz stylings.

The larger concept, of course, is this trend–present throughout the 20th century—has evolved into a melding of world music styles in the 21st century. In other words, every musical and rhythmic style is now fair game for composition and performance. Influences come from all corners of the planet. It has become a melting pot of musical influences. My own quintet, The Heritage Ensemble, performs arrangements and original compositions that combine Hebraic melodies with various jazz, Afro-Caribbean, Brazilian, and, yes, classical styles.

There’s no getting around it: along with a global economy there’s also a global exchange of music styles. This is the new music of the 21st century.

If you have any comments or questions about this or any of my other blogs, please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
October 27, 2014

© Eugene Marlow 2014

 

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swingle_Singers

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