Academic literature on the topic 'Pedalling piano'

Abstract This article challenges the so-called ‘Urtext’ approach whereby performers aim to play no more and no less than is notated in an authoritative edition. With reference to Beethoven’s pedalling, it shows that he provided no pedal markings in the authorised editions of his piano sonatas before op.26 (1801), which constitute nearly a third of his output in this genre. After this point, however, his notation evolved, and he began indicating pedal markings with increasing intensity. The article traces practices of piano pedalling as indicated in keyboard treatises around 1800 and also as revealed in Beethoven’s ‘Kafka sketchbook’. It argues that the authorised editions of his sonatas show a double notational style. Beethoven did not add pedal markings for passages where he expected his players to use the pedal according to convention. Instead his pedal markings indicate locations where usage of the pedal contravened conventions such as harmonic clarity.

Eminent pianist and composer Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882–1961) filled his original music and folksong arrangements with detailed, though idiosyncratic instructions to performers. The extent to which his own meticulous pedal technique is mirrored in careful directions to pianists is both unusual and revelatory. Grainger's scores are examined here from the standpoint of the damper, sostenuto and una corda pedals. Numerous musical examples serve two purposes: 1) they give information concerning the complexity of Grainger's pedal technique and 2) they exhibit the array of notational methods the composer employed, at various stages in his career, to enable performers to replicate as nearly as possible his own scrupulous pedalling. As well, by examining in detail this one aspect of Grainger's rich artistry, light is shed on the relationship between composer and performer, and notation and interpretation, that Grainger sought to understand and articulate ever more clearly throughout his career.

Measurable features of expressive piano performance include timing, dynamics, articulation and pedalling. This paper concerns the measurement of expressive timing and dynamics in audio recordings of piano music using a multi-stage semi-automated expression extraction process. A digitised version of the musical score is synchronised with the audio recording using a simple manual beat tapping system. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is then employed, with a Morlet wavelet, to correct the beat tapped times, and any further errors are then corrected manually. Precise note and chord onset times and dynamics of the recorded performance can then be calculated using the CWT. Sample results of the measurement of expression in keyboard music by Bach are given and the application of the algorithms to end users discussed.

Abstract In order to be able to reveal the constructive value and expressive force of Schubert’s piano sonatas, one needs first of all a good edition that rends as precisely as possible the author’s original text, as well the pianist’s skill to bring score to life, therefore managing to transpose in his interpretation the composer’s creative intentions, that are set by using the musical notation. We wish to highlight below some aspects of Schubert’s musical notation regarding dynamics and sonority, sound emitting manners (legato and staccato) and pedalling.

The novelty of the article lies in expanding knowledge about the contemporary outstanding musicians using the example of the performance analysis of the piano cycles of the Estonian composer Rene Eespere in the context of their sound embodiment. The purpose of the article is to identify the specificity of the sound embodiment of R. Eespere’s piano cycles: “4 ostinato” and “24 preludes” (first book). The research methodology is based on an integrated approach that combines the principle of musical-theoretical and performance analysis, which are necessary for solving the tasks set in the article. Results and conclusions. The article examines the creativity of the Estonian composer Rene Eespere on the example of his piano cycles “4 ostinato” and “24 preludes” (first book). The paper detects the key tasks that arise before the performer and contribute to the sound embodiment of the proposed compositions. The basis for this research was the personal performance experience of the article’s author; work in the class of Professor S. Yushkevich; audio and video recordings of piano cycles, as well as direct communication with R. Eespere in the format of electronic correspondence. The article reveals the main features of his composer style, which synthesizes the traditions of Western European and national culture. In addition, the work shows R. Eespere’s gravitation towards minimalism in music. Ostinato is a characteristic manifestation of the composer’s creative thinking in these piano cycles. This compositional technique determines the different emotional orientation of each piece. The article also examines the variants of texture formulas in the proposed piano opuses, which require mobility from the performer in changing pianistic techniques. Analytical study of these works made it possible to identify the following performance tasks: the stability of intricate rhythmic complexes, subtle dynamic nuances, timbre variety, moderate pedalling, as well as the use of expressive key touch. In general, the sound embodiment of the piano cycles of the Estonian composer R. Eespere brings out new facets in understanding of musical context and contributes to the formation of a performance experience so valuable for the development of modern piano art.

Pianos had been equipped with damper mechanisms for the better part of a century before Chopin came on the scene. Nevertheless, Chopin’s generation created a revolution in composing with the damper pedal. To some extent, that revolution can be described as a change in notational practice: composers before Chopin’s time rarely marked where the damper mechanism should be employed, except in cases where they wanted some extraordinary effect from it. Composers of Chopin’s generation, by contrast, called for it liberally – or in Chopin’s case, meticulously. That indicates a change in roles: instead of composers leaving the use of the damper pedal (as of other pedals) largely up to the performers, they now more or less dictated its use to those performers. It also indicates a change from the use of the damper pedal as a special effect within a generally unpedalled sound world to a sonorous landscape in which the damper pedal was used to create constant shifts in colour. (But certainly not to the modern practice whereby the damper pedal is employed so regularly – contrary to Chopin’s notation – that unpedalled sound becomes the special effect). Although the damper mechanism itself did not change much once its controls migrated from a knee-lever to a pedal around the beginning of the nineteenth century, the piano changed drastically in other ways that influenced how Chopin incorporated damper pedaling into his compositional thought. The increased compass (roughly, from six octaves to six and a half), concentrated in the bass, increased the richness of sound of the whole instrument, as did other changes in material and design. But cross-stringing was not yet used in grand pianos, so that each octave of the compass still had a much more distinct colour than on later pianos. The instrument therefore offered composers both rich, blended sonorities combining notes across its compass and striking contrasts of colour between one part of that compass and another. What is most remarkable in Chopin’s notation for the damper pedal is how it harnesses both of those capacities of the instrument. There are hardly any works by Chopin in which he calls for the damper pedal either throughout or not at all. Almost always he draws the listener’s attention to the difference between pedalled and unpedalled sound, from one section to another, from one register to another, from one phrase to another, and – marvellously – between different parts of a single, continuous phrase. Often he pauses on a sonority or a harmony and asks us to relish its particular ring; in the opening of the E major Scherzo, he does this four times, the first two times sustaining unpedalled chords, and the third time sustaining the same chord as the first time, but differently spaced and pedalled, so that we can notice both the equivalence and the change. His notes and his pedaling are always made for each other, not in the sense that the notes are unplayable without the pedal (that is true at only a very few moments), but in the sense that the work is laid out as a sequence of pedalled and unpedalled sonorities. To play all the notes of a Chopin work while disregarding his pedal indications is in a real sense not to play the work at all. So too, his pedalling art and his pianos were made for each other, and the best way to explore the role of the damper pedal in any Chopin work is to test that work on pianos (or replicas of pianos) from the 1830s or 1840s. But then what? How do we apply the lessons learned to performance on pianos of our era? To assume that because pianos have changed, Chopin’s pedal indications no longer make sense would be to risk blurring or obliterating the extraordinary progression of sonorities that constitute a Chopin work. A better starting point is to study what effect, or what nest of effects, each indicated application or release of the damper pedal could produce and to see how to make that effect come across on our modern pianos. In the process, we may need to turn away from the experience of Chopin played on a concert Steinway or Bösendorfer in the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall or Carnegie Hall and learn to listen for the magic that can emerge from this music in more intimate settings. There is reason to believe that even a modern piano can provide what we’re seeking. After all, Chopin’s particular use of the damper pedal to produce mercurial transformations of sonority was idiosyncratic in his own era and little imitated by later piano composers, despite his incalculable influence in other respects. But a study of Chabrier’s Bourrée fantasque shows a later composer who, writing in 1891 for pianos still like those of Chopin’s day in some respects, created a remarkably Chopinesque progression of contrasting sonorities (he himself joked: ‘I have counted about 113 sonorities’ in it) using a remarkably Chopinesque specification of pedalling.

In common with other professional musicians, self-evaluation of practise and performance is an integral part of a pianist’s professional life. They will also have opportunities to listen to and evaluate the performances of others based on their own criteria. These self-constructed perspectives towards to a piano performance will have an influence on both self-evaluation and external evaluation, but whether differently or similarly is not known. Consequently, this research study aimed to explore how judgements on the perceived quality of a performance are undertaken by professional standard pianists and what criteria are applied, both with regards their own performances as well as the performance of others. Participants were six professional pianists (3 men, 3 women) who were based in the United Kingdom (Mean age = 31.5 years old. SD = 5.1). They were asked to play individually six trials of a piece of R. Schumann’s “Träumerei” Op. 15 No. 7 in a hired hall for recordings. Then, within 2 months, each participant was asked to come to a self-evaluation session to listen to and evaluate their own six recordings, using a Triadic method as a Repertory Grid. For the external evaluation focused session, the participants were asked to return again to evaluate a further six recordings made up of ‘best’ recordings as selected by each participant from their own individual self-evaluations. Analyses of the resultant data suggest that there was no significant difference between the participants in their overall ratings in the external phase, but that self-evaluation showed significant individual differences amongst several participants. The performance criteria in both self-evaluation and external evaluation predominately overlapped with each other in terms of musical factors, such as tone quality, phrasing, and pedalling. The ranking of the performances was highly correlated with perceptions of overall flow, tone quality and pedalling. It appears that pianists apply similar criteria to decide performance quality when evaluating their own performances as well as others.

The importance of the pedals in Debussy's piano music has been emphasised in a wide range of literature concerning Debussy and French piano music in general. However, and despite the obvious absence of pedalling indications in Debussy's piano scores, no dedicated study has been made in identifying a possible meaning behind their absence. This study will attempt in developing suggestions for pedalling Debussy's piano music based on written as well as sound sources directly associated with the composer. This attempt is developed in two stages: firstly, by providing evidence that Debussy was always seeking to extract a continuous sonority from the piano, feasible only through the application of the pedal and secondly, by making cross reference of this evidence and Debussy's own use of the pedals in his piano roll recordings. Ultimately, it is revealed that Debussy was making extensive use of both the unacorda as well as of the damper pedal. Any obvious conclusions in this study are not meant to be used as a guide for pedalling but as a source of reference that may assist the informed performer in his/her continuous search into Debussy's musical world.

This exegetical critique makes a conceptual summation of Ronald Stevenson’s life’s work for the piano and his contributions as a composer‐pianist. Chapters one and two provide a profile of Stevenson as a pianist, examining the aesthetic and musical concerns that defined his long career, as well as precedents and antecedents of his pianism. Of particular interest are the ways that Stevenson coalesces aspects of the ‘grand manner’ and his obsession with a pianistic bel canto style. Chapter three examines Stevenson’s remarkable output in terms of piano transcriptions. His conceptualization of this as ‘capturing the essence’ of the original composer is used to mount a defense of this erstwhile unfashionable genre, examining the ways that Stevenson’s output blurs the line between transcription and composition. Chapter four offers a detailed examination of the art of pedalling in Stevenson’s own work, particularly the use of the sostenuto pedal, and the ways that he exploited more complex forms of combination pedalling in his compositions and transcriptions. Chapter five examines the ways that Stevenson’s works abound with socio‐political referencing and historical allusions, with particular attention to the Passacaglia on DSCH—a work that constituted such a political provocative act that it resulted in a police raid. Chapter six further interrogates aspects of the Passacaglia, its embodiment of the miniature and the monumental, and the ways that it personifies the culmination and summation of Stevenson as both a pianist and composer.

This doctoral submission comprises two volumes and is entitled ‘Notated and Implied Piano Pedalling c.1780–1830’. Volume One consists of six CDs and contains performances of works composed between 1781 and 1832, recorded on historical instruments housed in the collection at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The repertoire includes works by C.P.E. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Hyacinthe Jadin, Clementi, Dussek, Field, Voří!ek, Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Chopin, Robert Schumann and Liszt. The works are performed on seven different pianos, six replicas and one original instrument, dating from 1780–1827. Volume Two is the Exegesis. While the history of pedal mechanisms and various forms of pedal notation have already been expertly researched and documented, it is often difficult to understand the composer’s intentions with regard to the appropriate use of the damper pedal in performance, especially in works from the Classical period. The Exegesis examines the documentation of damper pedal techniques from c.1780–1830 and articulates decisions made with regard to the use of pedal in the performance of this repertoire on historical instruments. The research is performance based, and draws heavily on primary sources and existing scholarship. Comparisons are made between the English, French and Viennese instruments and the schools of piano playing that developed, and the repertoire has been selected to highlight the growing significance of pedalling as an integral part of the performance. The primary outcome of this research resides in the recorded performances themselves. They represent the first fully detailed investigation of the various types of pedalling found in a comprehensive range of repertoire and documented through recordings made on the appropriate instruments.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 2011