Summertime
can heat up; one way to “chill” is with a good piano selection. And there are
several piano composers with July birthdays, so you can celebrate the month AND
their music at the same time.
Tomoko
studies composers as part of her preparation for performing, and she considers
the style of each composer when she chooses pieces for her students. Here are
some of Tomoko’s favorite July composers.
Number one
on the list for Tomoko has to be Mozart, born on July 26, 1791. “I have a
natural feeling about Mozart,” Tomoko says;“I could play a piece of his
twenty times, and not tire of it.” And
Mozart has helped Tomoko’s career. For instance, while at the conservatory
student on a US visa, Tomoko had to audition to prove that she was a serious
music student. She played a Mozart concerto as her audition piece, which
showcased her expertise and self-confidence; her performance enabled her to
stay in the conservatory’s program.
Two
July-born composers, Field and Granado, are featured on Tomoko’s CD Baroque-20th Century. John
Field was born on July 26, 1782, in Dublin. His music was considered one of the
most influential of the early Romantic period, inspiring several of Tomoko’s
composers, whose music she plays regularly: Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, and
Schumann. In contrast, Spaniard Enrique Granados
was born on July 27, 1867. He is known for both a romantic style and for
nationalistic pieces such as Spanish
Dances. Some of the compositions have been transcribed for classical
guitar.
Also linked
with folk music is Percy Grainger, who was born on July 8, 1882 in Brighton,
Australia. He led the movement of reviving British folk music as reflected in his
arrangement of the folk dance tune Country
Gardens. Many of his other compositions are experimental, including the use
of music machines. Tomoko values traditional musical forms, which express a
sense of communal culture.
Tomoko is
also a devotee of Bach. One July piano composer with a good sense of humor is
Peter Schickele, who has composed parodies of Bach’s music using the alias of
P. D. Q. Bach; sample titles include “Canine Cantata” and “A Little Nightmare
Music.” Schickele has also composed music for Joan Baez, and done more serious compositions
as well. Schickele was born on July 17, 1935. He was also a music educator, and
hosted a long-running weekly radio program called Schickele Mix.
One 20th
century Japanese compatriot piano composers born in July was Yasushi Akutagawa,
born on July 12, 1925. Akutagawa attended the same university as Tomoko: Tokyo National
University of Fine Arts and Music. His compositions were influenced by several
composers whom Tomoko likes: Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. Akutagawa was also a music
educator like Tomoko.
