Exposition

Mechanical and human performance on Ligeti's second book of "Études pour piano” (2015)

Juan Miguel Moreno Camacho
open exposition

About this exposition

Main Subject: Classical Piano Research Coach: Andrew Wright Title of Research: Mechanical and human performance of Ligeti's second book of Études pour piano Research Question: What should be our perspective as performers playing or practising a piece by a composer? Summary of Results: In 2006, when I was sixteen, I listened to Claudio Martínez Menher playing some etudes by a composer who had just passed away two months before: Ligeti. I remember I was very impressed with his music: a fluency of notes in ppp characterized by an amazing effervescence and strange accentuation, which sometimes develops to fff range while going up and up in the keyboard. Practicing this music I feel like it represents building a complex machine with a very precise mechanism... somehow nonhuman, very mechanical... I used to like a lot this kind of working time on the piano. Nevertheless, I felt a bit shocked about the idea of enjoying music being a mechanical part of it. What should be our perspective as performers playing or practicing a piece by a composer? I realized very soon that there is not a general answer for this question, it depends a lot on what composer we are playing and, furthermore, performers have a proper perspective of what is music for their self. I have focused my research in the second book of Etudes pour piano by Giörgy Ligeti because it contains etudes between numbers 7 and 14. Giörgy Ligeti did pianola version of etudes number 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14-A together with Jürgen Hocker. He introduced small differences at the score of pianola and pianist version. Moreover, as we can easily guess, the musical result of the performance of both versions are really different. The premier of Ëtude number 9, “Vertige”, was made using a pianola. Furthermore, first version of Étude number 14 is so complex that, together with this first version, whose title is Étude 14A “Coloana fârâ sfârsit”, Ligeti did a simplified version: The Étude 14, “Columna infinitâ”. At the score of Étude 14A, Ligeti indicated this piece is composed “for player piano (ad. lib. live pianist)”, and he wrote, “played presto as prescribed this version is best performed on a mechanical piano (or on a Yamaha Disklavier). With appropriate preparation, a performance by a live pianist is also possible”. Biography: Born in Malaga, Spain 1989, Juan Miguel Moreno Camacho started his piano studies at the age of seven with Gordana Komericki. He continued his studies with Ángel Sanzo at the Badajoz Conservatoire where he obtained his Bachelor Degree. Afterwards, Juan Miguel had regular masterclasses in Alcala de Henares with Josep Colom (2011), and at Musikeon with Luca Chiantore (2012). Furthermore, he has had masterclasses with Joaquin Soriano, Oxana Yablonskaya, Jacques Rouvier, France Clidat, Imre Rohmann, Andrzej Jasinsky, Claudio Martínez Menher, among others. Juan Miguel currently studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with David Kuijken, and composition with Martijn Padding.
typeresearch exposition
date01/01/2015
published28/05/2015
last modified28/05/2015
statuslimited publication
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/107941/107942
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


Copyrights

nameHOY ES 13 D FEBRERO
copyrightJMMC2015
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf

comments: 1 (last entry by Herman Jeurissen - 23/08/2017 at 19:41)
Herman Jeurissen 23/08/2017 at 19:41

Approval with the following remarks: many good observations, but I am missing a clear  presentation of the main question and therefore also a compulsory conclusion. I hope that the presentation will have a clearer concept: how to handle the idiomatic characteristics and difficulties in the horn music by John Williams? I informed Oscar already abound my suggestions.

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