Seeds of Music

 

While seeds are a heavily symbolic theme in vocal repertoire, in classical piano the concept is mostly explored through musical meditations on potential, growth, and the garden. Sample classical and modern-classical piano pieces that capture the essence of seeds, planting, and natural growth include:

• "Fields of Forever" by Chad Lawson: A beautiful, modern-classical piano composition explicitly written about the concept of planting seeds of life and how the smallest details in our everyday paths create the biggest impact.
• "The Enchanted Garden" by Kevin Kern: A lyrical and reflective piano solo. The piece evokes the imagery of an unfolding garden, carrying a delicate, blossoming melodic line over flowing arpeggiated chords.
• "Jardins sous la pluie" (Gardens in the Rain) by Claude Debussy: From his 1903 Estampes, this impressionistic masterpiece portrays rain falling on leaves and flowers. It perfectly encapsulates the natural nourishment required for seeds to sprout and grow.
• "The Fairy Garden"   (Le jardin féerique) from the Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel: A famous piano-duet arrangement (or solo transcription) that paints a musical picture of a magical, unfolding botanical world.
• "Planting the Seeds" by David Celeste: A contemporary classical track that relies on delicate and uplifting piano melodies to capture the quiet patience and beauty of sowing.

Sporting the Music Life

Classical music and sports intersect through composers who were athletes or were inspired by sports in their compositions. Piano music has also inspired athletics in training and performance. And think of all the band music...

Composers with Sporting Connections

• Charles Ives: An avid athlete who captained his baseball and football teams in college, Ives composed distinct sports music for the piano. His work "Some South-Paw Pitching" is a famous piano etude designed to strengthen the pianist's left hand, drawing on both baseball and boxing slang. 
• Frederick Septimus Kelly: A highly accomplished pianist and composer who was also an elite Olympic athlete. He won a gold medal in rowing at the 1908 London Summer Olympic Games.
• Maurice Ravel: Though not a sports enthusiast himself, Ravel’s famous impressionist piano piece "Jeux d'eau" (Water Games) evokes images of flowing and splashing water, and was featured during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics. 
• Erik Satie: A French composer whose minimalist piano works like "Gymnopédies" are widely used for calm, focused sports warm-ups and golf training. 

Piano Music for Athletic Training

Classical piano works can enhance athletic performance by establishing a steady, motivating rhythm, as tempos between 120 and 140 beats per minute are perfect for high-energy workouts. Here are some good choices.

• Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight" (3rd Movement): Features a frantic, driving tempo that matches high-intensity training.
• Chopin's Etudes (e.g., Op. 10 No. 4): Lightning-fast, repetitive runs that provide an excellent pulse for sprints or rigorous cardio.
• Bach's Preludes (from The Well-Tempered Clavier): The steady, driving basslines in Bach's work are great for maintaining a consistent pace during long-distance running or cycling.

Information found at Spotify, WFMT, Classic FM, 

Setting Poetry to Music

 

April is Poetry Month. Many classical piano composers found inspiration in poetry, either by setting poems to vocal music with piano accompaniment (Lieder) or by creating programmatic piano works directly inspired by poetic themes. Leading piano composers include Franz Schubert, who wrote over 600 songs based on Goethe's poetry, and Claude Debussy, who set verses from Verlaine and Mallarmé. 

Here are other classical piano composers who integrated poetry into their work:

• Franz Liszt (1811–1886): Heavily influenced by literature, including Dante's Divine Comedy, creating works that treated music as a "poetic language".
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Composed songs based on poetry by Goethe and Friedrich Schiller (e.g., Ode to Joy).
• Robert Schumann (1810–1856): His piano cycles were frequently inspired by literature and poems, including setting scenes from Goethe's Faust.
• Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849): While known as a "musical poet" for his piano writing, he also composed songs set to Polish lyrics. 
• Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): : His virtuoso piano suite Gaspard de la nuit is based on three prose-poems by Aloysius Bertrand.

March On for Classic Piano Composers

 

As spring arrives, here we get to celebrate ten major piano composers born in March.

Frédéric Chopin (March 1, 1810): Known almost exclusively for his piano works, Chopin's output includes legendary nocturnes, etudes, and ballades.

Antonio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678): A prolific Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, and priest, he significantly influenced the development of the concerto form. He is most famous for composing The Four Seasons.

Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875): A master of Impressionism, Ravel composed complex piano masterpieces like Gaspard de la nuit and Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (March 8, 1714): A pioneer of the "sensitive style" (Empfindsamer Stil), he was a prolific composer of keyboard sonatas that bridged the Baroque and Classical eras.

Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910): While known for his Adagio for Strings, he wrote significant piano music, including his formidable Piano Sonata and the Excursions.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (March 18, 1844): Known for his nationalistic style, he produced famous works like Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival Overture, while also serving as a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. 

Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21/31, 1685): Though a Baroque composer, his keyboard works like The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations are fundamental to piano pedagogy and performance. His birthday is often celebrated on March 21st (Old Style) or March 31st (New Style).

Modest Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839): A Russian composer, he drew heavily on Slavonic folk music and natural speech rhythms. He is most known for his vivid piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.

Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881): A major 20th-century composer who wrote extensive piano music, including the pedagogical series Mikrokosmos and three piano concertos.

Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732): A prolific composer of over 50 keyboard sonatas, he helped define the Classical style.

Music to Ice Skate By

 The winter Olympic Games are upon us. Tomoko's daughter Beata was an Olympics dance skater, and she continues in that profession. Beata had the advantage of knowing about music, starting with her mother, so she understood the importance of music -- and choosing the most effective pieces -- for choreographing a skating routine.

Classical music is a mainstay of ice skating, ranging from lighthearted winter waltzes to intense dramatic scores used by Olympic champions. 

Iconic Classical Pieces for Skating

These works are specifically associated with the atmosphere of ice skating or are frequently performed in competitive routines: 

• The Skaters' Waltz (Les Patineurs) by Émile Waldteufel: Composed in 1882, this is the most iconic piece of "skating music," featuring flowing melodies and the sound of bells to mimic a wintry rink.
• Boléro by Maurice Ravel: Famous for its steady, building rhythm, most notably used in the perfect 6.0-scoring routine by Torvill and Dean in 1984.
• Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: A competitive staple, used by gold medalists like Oksana Baiul (1994) to evoke elegance and drama.
• The Four Seasons: "Winter" by Antonio Vivaldi: Features sharp, rapid string work that matches the precision of high-level footwork.
• Carmen (Habanera/Prelude) by Georges Bizet: Frequently used for its intense energy; famous for the 1988 "Battle of the Carmens" between Katerina Witt and Debi Thomas.
• Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven: A popular choice for romantic or emotional programs, used by pairs such as Gordeeva and Grinkov. 

 

Popular Orchestral Selections

Many skaters select movements from larger classical works that provide a mix of slow, lyrical sections and powerful finales: 

• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 and No. 3.
• Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade.
• Saint-Saëns: "The Swan" from The Carnival of the Animals and Danse Macabre.
• Stravinsky: The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.
• Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony No. 5. 

 

Curated Playlists & Collections 

You can find these and other classical skating tracks on the following platforms:

• 55 Ice Skating Classics (Spotify): A comprehensive collection including Strauss waltzes and Puccini arias.
• Figure Skating's Greatest Hits (Europadisc): A curated CD featuring Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and Vivaldi.
• Best Figure Skating Classics (Apple Music): Includes competitive favorites like the "Sabre Dance" and "Méditation" from Thaïs. 

Abilities of Piano Composers with Disabilities

 Many classical piano composers lived with disabilities. Their diverse challenges like sensory loss, physical impairments, and neurological conditions influenced their creative process and output, often leading to innovation and deeply personal musical expression

Classical Composers:

• Ludwig van Beethoven composed masterpieces like the Ninth Symphony even as profound deafness took hold, transforming his style.
• Maria Theresia von Paradis was a blind 18th-century pianist and composer for whom Mozart and others wrote concertos; she also founded a school for blind girls.
• Frederick Delius suffered from paralysis and blindness due to syphilis, but still managed to compose poignant works like A Song of Summer.
• Robert Schumann struggled with mental illness, including depressive episodes and hallucinations, which influenced his emotionally intense music.
• George Frideric Handel experienced paralysis, rheumatism, and depression, yet continued composing. 

 

20th Century Composers:

• Maurice Ravel’s later works were affected by a progressive neurological disease, potentially Alzheimer's or a similar condition.
• Darius Milhaud suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which impacted his ability to play and compose.
• Leon Fleisher lost use of his left hand due to focal dystonia but later returned to two-handed playing and composed for it.
• Molly Joyce, an American composer who had an impaired left hand from an accident, but incorporated her experience into her work.

 

Music to Mothers’ Ears

 

Tomoko celebrated Mothers’ Day celebrated recently, and music composers have celebrated mothers throughout the year for centuries. Here is a sampling of pieces that are These pieces are mother-approved.

Robert Schumann’s cycle of eight songs, “Frauen-Liebe und Leben” (“A Woman’s Life and Love”), follows a woman’s life of falling in love, marrying, and, becoming a mother. It has a very happy tone, but Schumann’s wife did not like the distraction of motherhood from her own musical career.

Richard Strauss’s piece “Muttertändelei” (“Mother-chatter”) recounts a mother’s praise of her child. It was written two years after Strauss’s wife gave birth to their son Franz.

Among Dvorak’s collection of gypsy songs is “Songs My Mother Taught Me.” One of his most famous melodies, this piece tells of a mother teaching her children the songs she herself learned from her mother.

Dvorak’s daughter was composer Josef Suk’s mother – and the inspiration for Suk’s piece pieces “About Mother, which were written for his children.

Ravel was another composer who wrote for children. Ma Mere l’Oye (or Mother Goose) His piano duet suite is a piano duet composed for his friend’s children.

Speaking of Mother Goose, Christina Rossetti penned nursery rhymes that were put to music in 1918 by John Ireland to become Mother and Child.  

The 1910 piano piece “Empress of Night” was a husband and wife effort; Amy Beach composed the music and her husband wrote the text. The piece was dedicated to Amy’s mother.

Bringing in Summer on a Tune

 

Summer is a great time to travel, and Tomoko has enjoyed traveling since she was a young woman. Now with the pandemic, it is harder to travel, but Tomoko can enjoy summer travel through the piano pieces she enjoys performing. Many composers of those pieces were inspired by their own travels and sense of place. Here is a sampling to explore.

Probably one of the first thematic piano pieces that might come to mind is George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” which was written for his opera Porgy and Bess. Its tone and pacing reflect a lazy, jazzy afternoon in the South.

Benjamin Britten’s four-part suite of piano pieces, “Ravel’s “Mirrors” (Op. 5), reflects his boyhood pre-war memories of the British seaside where he lived. The lively melody captures summer holiday life with a celebratory movement, stormy sailing, and nighttime peacefulness.  

Claude Debussy’s prelude “Voiles (Veils or Sails)” reminds one of summer breezes, either on land or sea. Its tonality ranges from veiled mystery to bright open sails.

Franz Liszt’s  three-suite set “Années de Pelerinage (Pilgrimage Years)” was inspired by his visits to the Swiss Alps. The piece paints a Romantic picture of flora and fauna as well as still and running water.

Ernest Moeran’s pastoral “Summer Valley” refers to British and Irish landscapes. While he himself lived a creative and lively existence at that time, this composition reflects a more peaceful mood.

Maurice Ravel’s “Mirrors” evokes the impressionistic sound of the ocean, especially movement #3 “A boat on the Ocean.” It is considered one of his three water-themed masterpieces.

Francis Poulenc’s three-movement suite “Napoli” was written during his visit to Italy. The piece certainly plays an homage to Italian barcarolle and caprice. The music’s color mirrors summer streets and shores of Naples.

Whatever the summer mood, there's likely to be a summer piano piece to celebrate summer, no matter where one is. 

Music in Memory of Past Military

 

As a child, Tomoko experienced World War II in Japan. Her father and brother were conscripted to help the war effort as civilians, and the entire nation suffered hardship because of the war. After the war, Japan was occupied by U.S. military personnel, and Japan had to agree to never re-establish an offensive  military force.

Tomoko’s husband Desy also suffered from military action as his country, Hungary, was under the policies imposed by the Soviets. He was able to escape during the Hungarian Revolution, safely arriving in the United States -- poor but hopeful.

Composers have often expressed their feelings about war in their music, as the following examples of Ravel’s work demonstrate.

In World War I Maurice Ravel wanted to join the war effort, and so he drove a supply truck to support French troops. His piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin memorialized his friends who were killed in the war, a couple of whom were shot dead their first day at the front.  

In 1914 pianist Paul Wittgenstein a war bullet pierced his right elbow, resulting in amputating his arm. In his honor, several composers wrote pieces that could be performed solely by the left hand, including Ravel.  His left-hand piano concerto became Wittgenstein’s favorite composition to play.

Ravel’s compositions Frontispice (1919) and La Valse (2020) captured his own war-based psychological trauma and grief. Similarly, his Sonata for Violin and Violoncello (1922) and Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) enabled his musician colleagues to share their mutual grief through duet performances.  

Music can be a powerful cathartic experience, both for a performance and for a listener, to address and remember times of war and suffering: to bear the grief and hope for peace.

Bravo for Bartók

One of Tomoko’s favorite composers to perform is Bela Bartók. In her CD “Touria” (available from Amazon), Bartók is the featured composers, showcasing six Rumanian folk dances frp, 1915, seventeen Hungarian and Slovak folk melodies, and “Allegro Barbaro” (1911).

Like Tomoko’s husband Desi, Bartók was born in Hungary (although Bartók’s town came under Romanian rule later on).  And like Desi, Bartók fled his country for America during war times. In Bartók’s case, his anti-Nazi sentiments endangered him. Nevertheless, Bartók always maintained a Hungarian spirit and sense of nationalism.

Bartók showed early musical talent, and gave his first public piano recital at age 11 in 1892 with his own composition, written two years earlier. Among his teachers was a pupil of Hungarian Franz Liszt. Later he was influenced by Richard Strauss and French composer Claude Debussy. In turn, Bartók taught Lili Kraus, one of Tomoko’s professional friends. 

Bartók’s compositions often built on folk music, particularly Rumanian folk dances. Bartók was not only a composer but also an ethnomusicologist, collecting and researching traditional Magyar folk melodies just as nationalism was blooming. Tomoko points out, “The folk inspiration fostered music that came from the heart, and yet how the composers built upon that folk music helped them express their own individuality.”

Bartók played “Allegro Barbaro” privately ten years before the published version of this short dance-like piece was performed publicly in 1921. Each of his pre-published performance was unique, changing speed as well as accents and dynamics. The piece’s title translates into “brisk barbarian”, which was an ironic reference to critics’ labelling of Bartók and his colleagues as young barbarians. Interestingly, the piece was based on Ravel’s “Scarbo.” The final rendition offers a unique counterbalancing of French and Hungarian folk melodies. The tonal pitch is constant, but the major, major and modal relations around it change. “Allegro Barbaro” has two themes, alternating between F# and F. The cadences are surprising, jagged, irregular but they still have chromatic motion. Even this this piece was written relatively early in his career, his compositional style was already mature.

It is no wonder that Tomoko appreciates Bartók: he brings cultural understanding to create an original compelling sound.  And Tomoko brings her own performance gifts to provide a unique experience for her own listeners.

Ravel’s Take on Madagascar

At her November 2018 concert, Tomoko performed Ravel’s "Chansons madecasses" with flautist Tod Brody, cellist Eric Gaenslen, and soprano Miwako Isano. 

This composition, written in 1925-1926, marked a turning point in Ravel’s career, when he focused more on melody and linear ensembles. The music is very impressionistic with its evocative sensuality. Ravel had a long-term interest in ethnic music. However, the work veered away from his usual Spanish inspiration. Apparently, Malagasy traditional music was known in France at that time. 

The text is based on the 18^th century Creole poet Evariste-Desire de Parny, whom Ravel was reading when he was commissioned to write a chamber work. The poems cry for liberation from Madagascar’s colonialism and slavery. 

The first song, “Nahandove,” recounts a native woman’s section. The voice interprets the story as the other instruments provide an evocative landscape.

The second song, “Aoua!!”, shrieks about dangerous white men. The title’s rendition in minor thirds, the piano’s percussive role, the undulating flute, and the ensemble’s bitonality together paint a sharp warning picture. 

The third song, “Il est doux de se coucher,” begins with a melancholy flute, evoking the end of the day (the song is translated as “it is sweet to lie down”). The voice then takes center stage, seems to drift off, and then bristly ends – to the realities of day.

Altogether, Ravel’s experimental music embodies the text in a dramatic and erotic way. Today’s listeners feel the quartet’s pull in a very immediate way.