Bach Reimagined: Eleonor Bindman - Pianist, Arranger, & Recording Artist

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Welcome back to the PianoPod, everyone. Today's
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guest is a true visionary whose artistry has
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captivated piano enthusiasts around the world,
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Eleanor Bindman, pianist, arranger, recording
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artist, and passionate advocate for bringing
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the music of Johann Sebastian Bach to life in
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ways that are both deeply meaningful and refreshingly
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accessible. Described by Pianist Magazine as,
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quote, breathtaking in its sheer precision and
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vitality, end quote. Eleanor has reimagined Bach's
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orchestral and instrumental works for solo and
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duo piano, creating beautifully crafted transcriptions
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and recording each one herself, so piano enthusiasts
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of all levels can play the music, explore the
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recordings, and find inspiration in her interpretations.
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Her Brandenburg duets have been celebrated by
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professional musicians for illuminating the intricate
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counterpoint and inner voicing already present
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in the original orchestral scores. Through the
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lens of her piano transcriptions, these details
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often emerge with greater clarity, offering fresh
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insights even to those deeply familiar with the
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works. Meanwhile, her solo piano transcriptions
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of the Cello Suites, along with her most recent
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project, Absolute, an album accompanied by a
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set of transcriptions of the Lute Suites, have
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opened up Bach's genius to adult learners, educators,
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and pianists around the world. Oh, by the way,
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if you are an intermediate pianist looking for
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beautifully arranged versions of Bach's most
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beloved tunes, or a teacher whose students struggle
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to connect with the two -part or three -part
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inventions, for example, I highly recommend checking
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out Eleanor's Stepping Stones to Bach, which
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features accessible arrangements of Bach's iconic
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non -keyboard works. So, in this episode, we
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explore the artistic choices behind arranging
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Bach's orchestral works for piano solo and duet.
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how Eleanor empowers intermediate and amateur
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pianists with rich and playable repertoire, common
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myths around interpreting Bach on the modern
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piano, and the creative process behind her educational
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YouTube projects, and more. But before we dive
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in, just a quick note. If you have been enjoying
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the past episodes and believe in the mission
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of the Pianopod, please consider becoming a paid
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subscriber on Substack at thepianopod .substack
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.com. Your support, big or small, helps us keep
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bringing you meaningful content that bridges
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the classical music world with broader communities.
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Now, let's welcome Eleanor Bindman to The Piano
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Pod. Please enjoy the show. You are listening
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to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest
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minds in the industry about how they are bringing
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the piano into the future and thriving in a complex,
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ever -evolving world. Welcome to The Piano Pod,
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Eleanor. It is so wonderful to have you here.
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You keep me. I'm so happy to be here and so look
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forward to discussing so many interesting questions
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that I know you're going to ask. I'm very excited.
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Oh, me too. So one of our faithful listeners,
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Opoku Boadu, he is actually also a big fan of
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yours. Like he's been watching your YouTube channel
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and then listening to your recordings. And he
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actually is the one that who recommended that
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I should reach out to you. And I'm so glad I
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did. And then I didn't realize we are fellow
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Brooklynites and we're pretty close, right? Yes,
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that's amazing. And I'm so grateful that you
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told me about Opoko. I actually thanked him.
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He took one of my mindful memorization workshop
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classes on Zoom. So we know each other that way.
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And I'm glad that he was inspired by it. Yeah.
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Oh, wow. Really? Yeah. He mentioned something
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about the memorization. Maybe we can talk about
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that later. Yes, maybe. So I've been listening
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to your recordings and absolutely. Absolutely
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loving your transcription of especially Bach's
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Brandenburg Concertos. And that's transcribed
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by you and for four hands and brilliantly performed
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with Jenny Lin. Yes. Yeah. And also, you just
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released an album called Absolute. Yes. I just
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released my latest project, which is the fourth
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set of... cycle of Bach's works not for piano
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and in it I transcribed three sets of Bach's
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works which were written either for lute or for
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lute harpsichord. It's not really clear according
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to the existing manuscripts but there can be
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played on both and to date the recordings of
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the complete cycle exist either on guitar or
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on lute or on harpsichord. But this is the first
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piano recording of the complete three sets. Wow.
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And congratulations. They're so available on
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all music streaming services. Yes, absolutely.
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They were released by Orchid Classics on March
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7th, a little less than a month ago. And they're
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streaming everywhere and sold everywhere and
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distributed worldwide and actually already doing
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very well. I'm very happy. Yeah, we also made
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the Apple Music playlist. We were the first track.
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Well, one of the tracks was the first track on
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Bach and the Baroque on Apple Music and also
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women and classical music. So that was really
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helpful in the initial kind of push. Oh, my goodness.
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That's a huge milestone. Yeah. And really, I
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love all the pieces that you transcribed, but
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we'll talk more in detail with the album. The
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album is called Absolute, right? Yeah. And then,
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yeah, but before we begin, I usually ask this
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very important question. So let's begin with
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this. So if you were to capture the essence of
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your artistry and mission and passion in just
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a few sentences, how would you define who you
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are as an artist today? I was thinking about
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this and I guess something that I try to do lately
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today, as opposed to, let's say, 10 years ago
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when I started earnestly transcribing Bach. because
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it kind of happened to me and it felt very important.
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I think it's very important to try to get a fresh
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perspective and a fresh look at pretty much everything
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in life because it helps appreciate it and helps
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us shed old beliefs, but especially as far as
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Bach's music and the way it has been, in a way,
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preserved. in the best sense of the word, but
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also perhaps maybe in the sense of just being
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put in a jar with some kind of a protective liquid
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around it. So lately, I find that partially because
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I've been doing it now for so long and so intensely,
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it became important to me to focus on a new way
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of looking at Bach's music. and that by virtue
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of the fact that I transcribe for piano. And
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it's really a different way of seeing his music
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because as a musician who played several instruments
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himself, he obviously approached whatever he
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wrote with the particular instrument in mind,
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yet his music is so universal in language and
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so easily translatable. So I really feel that
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in the past year or so, I've become a little
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less hesitant and a little more, I don't want
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to say fearless, but less inhibited in just trying
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to go where I feel and, you know, doing ornaments
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that do not agree with any particular conventions.
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Or sometimes even if I seriously feel that the
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score has something that may be the mistake,
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I'm not scared to just... play it that way. So
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I think we all need a new perspective on Bach
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and a new perspective on his music as kind of
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a tool for enjoyment and calmness and centering
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and how it can feed the brain of, you know, amateurs
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and children and just lovers of music alike.
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But first, what sparked your connection with
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Bach's music? I know you've played many other
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composers. I've listened to Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky
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as well. Well, you know, I started studying music
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as most of us when I was very young. And I went
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to a school in the former Soviet Union in Riga,
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Latvia, where one needed to pass a certain...
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amount of tests every year in order to remain
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in the school, because it was a school run by
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the state. And there was, in the fall of every
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year, there was an exam that we have, which was
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called Bach etude. You know, it was Bach and
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studies. So before anything else, we had to work
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on our technique and to work on Bach. So there
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was no way to avoid Bach as far as playing. And
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I guess I got... positive feedback on my playing
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of Bach. Even then, from my teacher, I actually
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remember, I sneaked a look at her notebook when
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she was away, my piano teacher, because it was
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a school of many subjects. But my piano teacher
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was in the true Soviet fashion, you know, very
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phlegmatic, serious person. It wasn't like she
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never told me, oh, this sounded great, but you
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have to change this. It was always like, this
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is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. But she
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walked out of the room once and I guess it was
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time for evaluations. And I, you know, I sneaked
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a peek at her notebook and she wrote on my page,
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she wrote, please bach well. That's all I remember.
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So, you know, that was probably one of the small
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pieces of positive feedback I even got from her,
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you know, so explicitly. So maybe. Thinking back,
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that gave me a confidence and more of an affinity
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to play Bach because I felt I'm good at it. I
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don't know really. I guess there is some kind
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of an essential understanding that maybe came
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through when I was younger, which comes through
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if you have a connection with the music of any
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composer. You mentioned that you want to approach
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Bach's music in a new way. You want to have a
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new approach to his music. So speaking of that
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now, some listeners, especially, especially young
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students, I have quite a few young students.
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And then there are several that are really serious
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about, you know, pursuing this piano and hoping
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to maybe go to college, majoring piano or something.
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But whenever we have to, we. Talk about Bach.
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Oh, Bach is boring. I don't want to do Bach.
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You know, I want to do bare minimum of Bach.
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But maybe they're not truly introduced the music
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of Bach in an engaging way. I'm trying, right?
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But how do you respond to that? How do you reveal
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the true beauty of his music? Well, I think just
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before focusing on that. It is true that not
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everyone may be great material for loving Bach.
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Bach is a serious composer and we're all different.
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And to me, Bach is kind of like jazz. I love
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jazz, but I know a lot of people who just don't
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kind of get it. There's something that's missing
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in the connection with the brain or the body
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or whatever processes the music that doesn't
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give the person that, oh my God, this is great.
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And with Bach, I think, frankly, especially as
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a young student, the available material is wonderful,
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of course. And a lot of people have asked me,
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why would we need more Bach? That is not that
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difficult when we have the inventions, we have
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the minuets. And that's all true. But I don't
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think those are his most inspired pieces. I think
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the inventions are wonderful, but they are a
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bit dry, right? So they may not appeal to everyone,
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you know, at five, six, seven, eight. And the
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minuets, in my opinion, the dances, again, they're
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wonderful, but the minuets are more, you know,
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they're more Mozart to me. When I hear, you know,
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the G major minuet of Bach. It almost, it's not
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Bach. It doesn't have the complexity. It almost
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doesn't have the genius kind of shining through
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it. So that's all obviously with a grain of salt.
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It's wonderful work. But I think if you're talking
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about young students, for example, who may not
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be disposed to analysis because to analyze an
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invention, I've had the experience as a teacher
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of kids who can understand that this is a little
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puzzle. And if you spend 20 minutes showing that
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it's a little puzzle, I've had 10, 11 -year -olds
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say, oh, wow, this is really cool. And once they
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say that, they will play it with a completely
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different mindset and a completely different
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level of interest, just like the adult amateurs
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will, because many adults don't really go through
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this analysis of Bach. So one way is to analyze
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if the person is ready. you know, abstractly
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and mentally. And I also think that now that
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I have produced, or I'm not the only one to,
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but for example, the cello suite prelude from
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the G major cello suite, which has been prescribed
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by other people because it's such a big hit.
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I think if they played something like that, because
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frankly, it sounds a lot less like Bach that
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we think about, but it's. you know, it's kind
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of meditative, contemplative. It sounds like
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pop music, right? In a sense. I think they would
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enjoy playing something like that more than the
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minuet, let's say. I just think it's less boring,
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right? And again, forgive me for saying minuets
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are boring, but I don't think they're the best
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Bach pieces. Or to play even versions of music
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that's great music, maybe not written for piano.
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Like the Badinerie, for example, from the last,
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sorry, from the second orchestral suite. You
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know, everybody loves that. And since my transcription,
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I've had piano teachers telling me, oh, I played
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this for my piano students. They love it. They
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want to play it. So, you know, I don't think
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it's a sin to try to introduce some of Bach's
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greatest hits, so to speak, into the repertoire.
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Because, you know, the genius comes through there.
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And then I think people will be more ready later
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to play more serious works. Oh, now I understand.
00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:44.180
Yeah. It's one point of view. Obviously, there
00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:46.940
are kids like me who at the age of seven got
00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:50.980
Bach. Right. I have that kind of a personality.
00:17:50.980 --> 00:17:55.700
I'm an introverted person who likes serious things.
00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:59.539
You know what I mean? Yeah. And that, I think,
00:17:59.539 --> 00:18:02.390
is very important. And the other thing, just
00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:05.890
briefly, I remember as a teenager listening to
00:18:05.890 --> 00:18:09.130
the St. Matthew's Passion, hearing the first
00:18:09.130 --> 00:18:11.369
chorus of St. Matthew's Passion. And this is
00:18:11.369 --> 00:18:14.410
after more than 10 years of having played Bach
00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:19.410
pieces. And, you know, that was my first, truly
00:18:19.410 --> 00:18:23.089
my first emotional surrender to Bach because
00:18:23.089 --> 00:18:26.509
I thought, wow, this is so great. So also more
00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:30.710
exposure to non -piano works. Because Bach obviously
00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:34.730
approached his piano works as tasks for his students.
00:18:35.549 --> 00:18:37.690
You know, there's no way that he could have been
00:18:37.690 --> 00:18:39.809
thinking of the inventions the same way that
00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:43.390
he thought of the oratorios or the cantatas,
00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:46.470
right? It's just, he was a businessman. This
00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:49.069
is for the little kids. This is for the church
00:18:49.069 --> 00:18:52.329
service. And the Brandenburgs are, you know,
00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:55.849
for the court orchestra. And the partitas are
00:18:55.849 --> 00:18:59.490
for my soul because he actually... himself published
00:18:59.490 --> 00:19:02.730
the partitas. So it's nice, you know, once you
00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:05.410
familiarize yourself with the output, not just
00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:08.130
as a pianist, but not just as a piano student,
00:19:08.329 --> 00:19:11.750
I think it will be a huge boost in the interest
00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:17.470
in Bach. Yeah. If you think of Bach that way,
00:19:17.529 --> 00:19:44.819
it totally makes sense. So what makes Bach music
00:19:44.819 --> 00:19:49.220
so timeless and relevant even today? And how
00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:52.059
do you see it resonating with contemporary musicians
00:19:52.059 --> 00:19:57.420
and audiences? You know, I think that Bach, as
00:19:57.420 --> 00:20:02.039
most people who are musical professionals will
00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:04.779
tell you, he's really in the category of his
00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:08.160
own. And, you know, there's almost like music
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:10.660
before Bach and music after Bach and all major
00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:15.339
composers. Despite some historical, supposedly
00:20:15.339 --> 00:20:17.400
there were some gray areas where Bach wasn't
00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:20.359
played. I think most, you know, Beethoven had
00:20:20.359 --> 00:20:23.039
the famous quote about Bach not being a brook
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:28.960
by an ocean. Schumann did some sketches of cello
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:33.119
suite transcriptions that I saw. So major composers,
00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.779
you know, Chopin wrote the 24 Preludes. Major
00:20:35.779 --> 00:20:38.380
composers were always aware of Bach. It's not
00:20:38.380 --> 00:20:41.420
true that just Mendelssohn revived St. Matthew's
00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:43.880
Passion and then everybody remembered Bach. Maybe
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:46.400
as far as the general public, it's true. But
00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.200
the question why, what makes him so special,
00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.960
I think is a wonderful question that I'll never
00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:54.460
stop thinking about. And it has been brought
00:20:54.460 --> 00:21:01.420
up to me a lot recently. And I think that one
00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:06.099
of the answers is that... I mean, first of all,
00:21:06.099 --> 00:21:09.220
it just seems like it's a source of comes from
00:21:09.220 --> 00:21:12.460
a greater source than just one person. I think
00:21:12.460 --> 00:21:16.000
a lot of artistic output artists are just filters
00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.000
through some, you know, natural forces or ideas
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.940
and, of course, take their ideas from nature.
00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.599
So he was definitely, to me, a filter of just
00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:30.359
an incredible amount of some kind of information.
00:21:31.789 --> 00:21:35.170
for lack of a better word. And his music, since
00:21:35.170 --> 00:21:40.109
it's largely characterized by patterns and structure,
00:21:40.349 --> 00:21:45.529
and structure is a Rosalind Turek kind of a quote
00:21:45.529 --> 00:21:49.450
because I like her a lot. And she, I think, has
00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:54.029
a great grasp on how to talk about Bach. His
00:21:54.029 --> 00:21:57.769
music sounds great no matter what instrument
00:21:57.769 --> 00:22:00.690
you play it on. And even no matter what tempo
00:22:00.690 --> 00:22:05.069
you play it on, broadly speaking, what tempo
00:22:05.069 --> 00:22:09.430
you play it at, because it is structured on very
00:22:09.430 --> 00:22:12.849
basic patterns that are very clearly manipulated.
00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:16.970
And there's something about that that I think
00:22:16.970 --> 00:22:20.630
appeals to our brains because we react to symmetry
00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:25.410
and structure and we somehow see it as something
00:22:25.410 --> 00:22:30.009
akin to beauty. We're very satisfied with something
00:22:30.009 --> 00:22:34.490
that makes sense as far as repetition or order.
00:22:35.130 --> 00:22:38.750
And that is very much a part of his language
00:22:38.750 --> 00:22:43.190
as far as the musical structure and the basics
00:22:43.190 --> 00:22:47.109
of it, like I think no other composers. And also
00:22:47.109 --> 00:22:51.369
there is complexity at the same time. There is
00:22:51.369 --> 00:22:56.319
the layers. Yet there's simplicity and there
00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:01.039
is this organic hole that makes sense on some
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.980
level. You know, and those of us who can analyze
00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:07.339
things, we're like, oh, my God, how could he
00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:10.779
even do this? And those of us who can't analyze,
00:23:11.099 --> 00:23:14.839
but are receptive to it, they're like, wow, this
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:17.940
is amazing. It makes me feel, you know, centering.
00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:21.299
It makes it just makes me come to myself. People
00:23:21.299 --> 00:23:24.279
say all kinds of things like that. about Bach.
00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.559
So I think that that is something that sets him
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.480
apart and that's something that will never be
00:23:31.480 --> 00:23:36.700
in any way old or out of context because we are
00:23:36.700 --> 00:23:39.700
wired the way we're wired as far as the perception
00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:46.700
of music. And we also, we like to have this feeling
00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:51.920
of calmness and kind of this attention to something.
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.940
that doesn't distract us, like maybe some romantic
00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:59.900
music that, oh, this is sad, oh, I can relate
00:23:59.900 --> 00:24:02.859
to it, you know. But this kind of music really
00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:06.539
brings us to a part that understands, like, it's
00:24:06.539 --> 00:24:27.920
a universal kind of a language. We briefly touched
00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:31.819
upon your new album, Absolute. What was your
00:24:31.819 --> 00:24:34.839
process in, you know, adapting these suites to
00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:39.059
modern piano? So there are lute suites and also,
00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:44.140
what is it, Prelude, Fugue, Allegro. Yes, Prelude,
00:24:44.140 --> 00:24:47.140
Fugue, Allegro. I remember you just released
00:24:47.140 --> 00:24:51.079
a video of Allegro on the piano on YouTube. Yes,
00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:54.690
actually, this morning. Yes, I watched it. It's
00:24:54.690 --> 00:24:59.210
fantastic. Yes. So, so rhythm driven. And so,
00:24:59.329 --> 00:25:03.930
you know, like really, it sounds like a dance
00:25:03.930 --> 00:25:06.789
suite from like one of the patitas or something
00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:11.069
like that. And yeah, a lot of hemiola going on.
00:25:11.089 --> 00:25:16.190
And I love those. Oh, same. And you played so
00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:19.690
beautifully. So, but what would be the challenging
00:25:19.690 --> 00:25:23.839
part where you transcribe? A piece from, you
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:28.500
know, originally written for Lautenberg. Is that
00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:31.259
how you call this? Lautenberg, I think, was the
00:25:31.259 --> 00:25:34.599
general name in Bach's time for these types of
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:37.819
instruments. That were a lute, you know, strings
00:25:37.819 --> 00:25:40.779
with a keyboard. Yeah, interesting instrument.
00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:45.420
Has that lute -like quality of tone, but the
00:25:45.420 --> 00:25:48.220
instrument is keyboard instead of, you know.
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:51.710
Right. roughly speaking, like a harpsichord with
00:25:51.710 --> 00:25:54.809
gut strings. So it sounded a little bit more
00:25:54.809 --> 00:25:59.529
gentle. It was a different tone, like a warmer
00:25:59.529 --> 00:26:02.750
tone, they say. Right, right, right. Did you
00:26:02.750 --> 00:26:06.009
have to alter anything for this to apply to this
00:26:06.009 --> 00:26:10.170
modern piano? Well, I think every time you go
00:26:10.170 --> 00:26:12.769
from one instrument to another, there's considerations
00:26:12.769 --> 00:26:16.650
and choices. In this particular case, actually,
00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:21.130
I probably had the least amount of questions
00:26:21.130 --> 00:26:26.009
and decisions to make because it was partially
00:26:26.009 --> 00:26:29.809
intended for a keyboard, unlike my other, you
00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:33.609
know, transcriptions. So mostly what I did there
00:26:33.609 --> 00:26:39.089
was I tried to enhance the possibilities by,
00:26:39.170 --> 00:26:42.450
for example, holding a bass note, right? Because
00:26:42.450 --> 00:26:46.109
the Allegro that you heard this morning is a
00:26:46.109 --> 00:26:49.609
part of... you know, a trifecta, three movement
00:26:49.609 --> 00:26:52.769
work, which was very unusual for Bach. But in
00:26:52.769 --> 00:26:57.009
the prelude, for example, of that set, the original
00:26:57.009 --> 00:27:01.910
score just repeats an E flat at the downbeat
00:27:01.910 --> 00:27:05.150
of every measure, let's say in the beginning.
00:27:05.349 --> 00:27:08.509
Now, obviously, when one goes to the piano, one
00:27:08.509 --> 00:27:12.109
needs to look at that and think, well, Bach repeated
00:27:12.109 --> 00:27:16.880
the E flat every time because neither the lute
00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.380
nor the lute harpsichord could actually hold
00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:23.500
that note. But it's clearly a bass that is meant
00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:27.180
to be held. So on the piano, to me, it made sense
00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:33.440
to just play an octave and sustain it by alternating
00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.599
the octave sounds, but to have one long bass,
00:27:36.859 --> 00:27:41.039
because conceptually that's what it was. So I
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.799
needed to think about... What is it that I can
00:27:43.799 --> 00:27:47.039
do on the piano without adding, you know, obviously
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:51.240
I don't want to change the piece. And that has
00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:56.660
been one of my very important criterions because
00:27:56.660 --> 00:28:01.779
I'm not a transcriber who adds anything of myself,
00:28:02.059 --> 00:28:07.099
you know, beyond something very basic or beyond
00:28:07.099 --> 00:28:15.960
ornaments going the second time around. my purpose
00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:18.759
is not to be able to play this on my own. My
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:22.539
purpose had become to make this accessible to
00:28:22.539 --> 00:28:26.240
people. So one of my criterions is I also, I
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.460
don't want this to be very difficult because
00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:31.940
I don't want 3 % of the existing pianists to
00:28:31.940 --> 00:28:34.440
be able to play it. I would like more than 50
00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:38.619
% to be able to play it. So I'm always wary of
00:28:38.619 --> 00:28:42.700
adding things that are very difficult. But in
00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:46.359
the case of the suites, it would be prolonged
00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:50.660
notes or just being able to hold notes, which
00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:53.660
is the same thing, except in the case of the
00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:55.500
prelude I mentioned, it would be just a bass
00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:58.500
note that's held for three. But let's say in
00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:02.460
the Allemande, for example, there are also not
00:29:02.460 --> 00:29:06.380
many held notes and not many polyphonic sounding.
00:29:08.220 --> 00:29:11.319
elements because the lute or the lute harpsichord
00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:13.759
cannot hold the note for four beats and still
00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:17.460
be heard but on the piano you can so i did enhance
00:29:17.460 --> 00:29:20.500
the polyphony a little bit just because i've
00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:23.519
played so many alabans on the piano i needed
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:27.579
to approach them as a pianist interesting that
00:29:27.579 --> 00:29:31.259
but takes a lot of thought into it and experience
00:29:31.259 --> 00:29:33.759
as a pianist and arranger too you've been arranging
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.980
or transcribing Bach's pieces and other pieces
00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:43.000
for a long time. So what level, you mentioned
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.559
that these lute suites also are intended for
00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:53.160
maybe 50 % of so -and -so called pianists, or
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.960
some of the pieces were hard, I think, in the
00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:01.019
album. Well, that's, you know, depending on the
00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:04.700
piece. I mentioned 50 % just as a, you know,
00:30:04.700 --> 00:30:07.099
I pulled it out of the hat, just trying to make
00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:11.099
a point that there are many intermediate pianists,
00:30:11.140 --> 00:30:14.099
you know, early, late intermediate pianists who
00:30:14.099 --> 00:30:17.559
could play this. It really depends on the movement.
00:30:17.619 --> 00:30:19.599
You're absolutely right. Some movements are hard.
00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.099
And one of the challenges for me, especially
00:30:24.099 --> 00:30:26.839
as a recording artist, right, because recordings
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:30.829
get scrutinized and reviewed, et cetera. I kind
00:30:30.829 --> 00:30:33.049
of need to show that I can also play the piano.
00:30:33.230 --> 00:30:36.430
And a way to show that you can play the piano
00:30:36.430 --> 00:30:40.109
on a very basic level is show that you can play
00:30:40.109 --> 00:30:44.849
fast, right? So some of the movements in this
00:30:44.849 --> 00:30:48.190
particular recording and also in the cello suites,
00:30:48.309 --> 00:30:52.170
I play much faster than one could play on guitar
00:30:52.170 --> 00:30:55.269
or a harpsichord because on the piano it's possible
00:30:55.269 --> 00:30:58.869
and it sounds good and it makes people think
00:30:58.869 --> 00:31:01.130
that, oh, she can play well. She doesn't just
00:31:01.130 --> 00:31:05.710
transcribe. So even this Allegro, for example,
00:31:06.230 --> 00:31:10.170
it is actually quite difficult just because it's
00:31:10.170 --> 00:31:12.529
in E flat major. It does not pianistically make
00:31:12.529 --> 00:31:15.750
a lot of sense for the right hand. But I had
00:31:15.750 --> 00:31:19.029
to look. There is a recording of that particular
00:31:19.029 --> 00:31:24.670
set has been transcribed by actually Busoni in
00:31:24.670 --> 00:31:28.529
also a very simplistic manner like mine. and
00:31:28.529 --> 00:31:30.569
by someone else. So there's actually a Richter
00:31:30.569 --> 00:31:35.170
recording of that set. And I made sure that I
00:31:35.170 --> 00:31:37.630
didn't play any slower than he did, just because
00:31:37.630 --> 00:31:42.710
that's the academic standard. But some of the
00:31:42.710 --> 00:31:47.509
movements, the prelude that I mentioned, the
00:31:47.509 --> 00:31:52.269
fugue also from 998, is not difficult compared
00:31:52.269 --> 00:31:56.049
to Bach's other fugues. And, you know, the Allemande,
00:31:56.269 --> 00:32:01.130
many of the movements are not difficult. No more
00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:04.690
difficult than, let's say, a French suite. Yeah,
00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:08.609
yeah. So are the scores available, your transcription?
00:32:09.170 --> 00:32:12.390
The scores are available. I usually finish the
00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:15.990
scores after the recording is made because making
00:32:15.990 --> 00:32:20.650
the recording helps me refine any new thoughts
00:32:20.650 --> 00:32:24.309
that I have. And then, of course, I need to go
00:32:24.309 --> 00:32:27.529
over and edit things and check for misprints.
00:32:27.990 --> 00:32:30.789
Because I know the music, but then I have to
00:32:30.789 --> 00:32:32.430
look at it with the eyes of someone who doesn't
00:32:32.430 --> 00:32:34.630
know the music. And then I find the accidentals
00:32:34.630 --> 00:32:38.910
missing, etc. So I just finished the score in
00:32:38.910 --> 00:32:42.170
February and now it is ready. And actually, I
00:32:42.170 --> 00:32:45.130
brought some with me to England when I just did
00:32:45.130 --> 00:32:48.609
my record launch party. And I was very gratified
00:32:48.609 --> 00:32:50.769
because they just... you know, flew, everybody
00:32:50.769 --> 00:32:52.829
loved them. And they started asking me, and what
00:32:52.829 --> 00:32:55.890
are you doing here? It was very nice. Oh, wow.
00:32:56.049 --> 00:32:58.650
They're available from my website at the moment.
00:32:58.869 --> 00:33:03.349
Oh, okay. Wonderful. It's so wonderful that most
00:33:03.349 --> 00:33:07.150
of your transcriptions are synced with your recordings.
00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:09.970
Like either people can have the reference to,
00:33:10.069 --> 00:33:13.150
right? Yeah. Yes. I think I'm very fortunate
00:33:13.150 --> 00:33:17.230
because record labels are interested in my work
00:33:17.230 --> 00:33:23.150
because it's new. And for me, that's really the
00:33:23.150 --> 00:33:25.509
only way to introduce my transcriptions because
00:33:25.509 --> 00:33:28.750
otherwise people will not be interested if they
00:33:28.750 --> 00:33:30.910
don't hear what they sound like, right? Anybody
00:33:30.910 --> 00:33:33.650
could transcribe anything. It doesn't matter
00:33:33.650 --> 00:33:35.769
that, you know, you don't know that it's good.
00:33:36.089 --> 00:33:41.130
So I'm very lucky to be able to record and to
00:33:41.130 --> 00:33:44.390
have people, you know, shazam and then write
00:33:44.390 --> 00:33:47.269
to me and ask, oh, you know, this is great. You
00:33:47.269 --> 00:34:11.239
can have this score. And also, I want to talk
00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:13.659
about your Brandenburg concertos beforehand.
00:34:14.179 --> 00:34:17.940
Oh, I love them so much. Yeah, thank you so much.
00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:20.780
That is, to me, that will always be my most,
00:34:20.940 --> 00:34:25.159
you know, my biggest accomplishment. The Brandenburg
00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:30.559
concertos, no question. Sure. So, I mean, where
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:33.599
do I start? How long did it take for you to complete
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:36.960
all six? You know, it took nearly three years.
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:40.329
I started with one. And, you know, I always tell
00:34:40.329 --> 00:34:43.269
the story, me and my piano partner at the time,
00:34:43.269 --> 00:34:47.329
we tried Max Reger's score many times and it
00:34:47.329 --> 00:34:50.050
was just not viable. So what he did wrong was,
00:34:50.170 --> 00:34:53.710
it was kind of like he just put all of the high
00:34:53.710 --> 00:34:57.250
notes in the primo part and all of the low notes
00:34:57.250 --> 00:35:01.670
in the secondo part. So, in effect, the primo
00:35:01.670 --> 00:35:05.570
part looks like this Amazon forest of notes,
00:35:05.750 --> 00:35:10.489
which... completely obscures any counterpoint.
00:35:10.650 --> 00:35:13.449
So they're just clusters of chords because you
00:35:13.449 --> 00:35:15.869
have the violins playing, you have the oboes,
00:35:15.869 --> 00:35:18.110
and sometimes you have the trumpets. They're
00:35:18.110 --> 00:35:21.429
all scored differently. So it's impossible to
00:35:21.429 --> 00:35:25.909
play up -tempo and really convey the different
00:35:25.909 --> 00:35:29.510
lines converging, which is what he did for the
00:35:29.510 --> 00:35:32.730
orchestra. And the secondo part, the bottom part,
00:35:32.829 --> 00:35:36.889
very often just has octaves doubled because by
00:35:36.889 --> 00:35:39.150
virtue of it being low, nothing else was happening
00:35:39.150 --> 00:35:42.269
in there. So whoever's playing primo is completely
00:35:42.269 --> 00:35:46.309
frazzled and frustrated. And whoever's playing
00:35:46.309 --> 00:35:48.929
secondo is also frustrated for a different reason,
00:35:49.010 --> 00:35:52.320
that they're barely doing anything. So I just
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:55.460
transcribed one of the concertos of 2014 because
00:35:55.460 --> 00:35:59.219
I was presenting a series of Bach concerts and
00:35:59.219 --> 00:36:02.760
I wanted to do Brandenburg too. And first I thought
00:36:02.760 --> 00:36:04.719
that I could just change it a little bit, looking
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:06.619
at the score, but then I realized that I need
00:36:06.619 --> 00:36:09.739
to redo it because you need to enter things into
00:36:09.739 --> 00:36:13.000
software and it just wasn't viable to change.
00:36:14.570 --> 00:36:17.050
So I did that one. It took me about three months.
00:36:17.050 --> 00:36:19.469
It was not one of the complex ones. And then
00:36:19.469 --> 00:36:22.110
after doing that and playing it at a concert,
00:36:22.230 --> 00:36:23.590
then people were saying, well, are you going
00:36:23.590 --> 00:36:25.289
to do all six? Are you going to do all six? And
00:36:25.289 --> 00:36:28.130
I was like, oh my God, am I going to do all six?
00:36:28.150 --> 00:36:31.869
It took me a few months to get my readiness level
00:36:31.869 --> 00:36:34.329
to a point where I said, okay, I'm going to start
00:36:34.329 --> 00:36:36.829
working on this. And then it was about two years.
00:36:37.530 --> 00:36:41.130
It was an extremely difficult and involving process.
00:36:42.489 --> 00:36:45.369
I'm still frankly amazed that I've done it because
00:36:45.369 --> 00:36:48.309
everything subsequent was not nearly as difficult.
00:36:48.929 --> 00:36:52.690
And these are written for advanced pianists?
00:36:53.030 --> 00:36:56.510
Well, again, I don't know what the designation
00:36:56.510 --> 00:36:59.730
would be because I just transcribed the music
00:36:59.730 --> 00:37:03.030
the best way I could for forehand piano. Some
00:37:03.030 --> 00:37:06.469
of the slow movements could be done by the intermediate
00:37:06.469 --> 00:37:11.949
pianists. But the fast movements are just...
00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:14.079
you know, the first, third movements, they are
00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:18.920
very complex. And those are definitely not for,
00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:25.400
you know, students on the lower levels. I didn't
00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:27.579
change anything. You know, I really tried not
00:37:27.579 --> 00:37:30.280
to eliminate anything except double notes and
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:33.760
maybe the viola parts, you know, because everything
00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:36.019
there is so important. So a lot of them were
00:37:36.019 --> 00:37:40.159
quite complex. And I made the counterpoint very
00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:43.389
clear. And I gave a lot more to the bass, even
00:37:43.389 --> 00:37:46.050
to we cross hands a lot because not the bass,
00:37:46.090 --> 00:37:49.329
the secondo. I wanted the secondo to have melodic
00:37:49.329 --> 00:37:53.570
material. So that is the most difficult set by
00:37:53.570 --> 00:37:56.010
and large. Some concertos are more difficult
00:37:56.010 --> 00:38:00.809
than others, but they're definitely also more
00:38:00.809 --> 00:38:03.110
difficult than the orchestral suites. Quite,
00:38:03.230 --> 00:38:05.929
quite more difficult. Yeah, I'm really, you know,
00:38:05.989 --> 00:38:08.469
I really need to get some more people to play
00:38:08.469 --> 00:38:12.179
them because. They're not easy. I would love
00:38:12.179 --> 00:38:31.559
to play them. Speaking of orchestral suites,
00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:35.179
that's a Bach orchestral suite. And I listened
00:38:35.179 --> 00:38:39.840
to the album. There are many iconic pieces. in
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.099
the orchestra suites. And then that's also transcribed
00:38:42.099 --> 00:38:44.559
for four hands. Now, what do you think about
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:48.500
a four -hand duo? Like, I just performed a four
00:38:48.500 --> 00:38:52.039
-hand duet with someone. Oh, that's great. Yeah,
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:56.960
I really, I love the format. I like it. Maybe
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.980
we should try to get together in Brooklyn and
00:38:58.980 --> 00:39:00.599
play through some of these. I would love that.
00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:05.599
Oh, really? Let's do it. Yes. There's something
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:08.090
about four -hand duet. The intimacy that you
00:39:08.090 --> 00:39:13.110
feel. And also, I don't know, it can be also
00:39:13.110 --> 00:39:16.730
written for solo piano, but obviously with 20
00:39:16.730 --> 00:39:19.670
fingers, you can do so much. But at the same
00:39:19.670 --> 00:39:21.849
time, because it's two people, you have to sing
00:39:21.849 --> 00:39:25.190
together. It's so challenging, but I love doing
00:39:25.190 --> 00:39:28.989
it. Yeah, I agree. I love doing it. And I've
00:39:28.989 --> 00:39:32.489
done it literally. And I wrote a piece about
00:39:32.489 --> 00:39:36.079
this for someone in England. After doing the
00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:39.039
Brandenburg duets. When I was studying, when
00:39:39.039 --> 00:39:42.900
I started to study piano in Riga, if you look
00:39:42.900 --> 00:39:46.699
at the most commonly used book in the former
00:39:46.699 --> 00:39:49.739
Soviet Union, it was called The School of Nikolayev.
00:39:49.739 --> 00:39:52.739
All the Russian kids, you know, Soviet Union
00:39:52.739 --> 00:39:56.460
kids started learning from that book. Literally,
00:39:56.619 --> 00:39:58.820
on I think the third page, there's already a
00:39:58.820 --> 00:40:01.820
duet. Because, you know, there's a very simple
00:40:01.820 --> 00:40:04.420
one note at a time line for the student. And
00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:07.440
the teacher does chords. And I actually remember,
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:11.440
I think I remember when my teacher did that with
00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:14.159
me very early on, because for the first time,
00:40:14.179 --> 00:40:16.380
it sounded like I'm playing, you know, I'm making
00:40:16.380 --> 00:40:20.639
music with someone. And it's a great tool. And
00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:23.780
the Russians knew it and know it. I mean, the
00:40:23.780 --> 00:40:26.260
Russian school, you know, which is very well,
00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:30.719
the oldest kind of piano school, even though
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:34.110
it evolved from the Germans. They know how important
00:40:34.110 --> 00:40:37.989
it is to foster musicianship and to foster synchronized
00:40:37.989 --> 00:40:41.110
playing and sensitivity. At beginner's piano
00:40:41.110 --> 00:40:44.590
lessons, that's always done. I don't think it's
00:40:44.590 --> 00:40:47.570
always done here, not as much, but it is, you
00:40:47.570 --> 00:40:50.349
know, also and it should be. But the feeling
00:40:50.349 --> 00:40:53.110
of making music with somebody so close to you
00:40:53.110 --> 00:40:56.010
for a pianist is no, you know, unlike any other.
00:40:56.150 --> 00:40:58.469
Of course, we can play with violinists or with
00:40:58.469 --> 00:41:01.849
cellos, but somebody sitting right next to you
00:41:01.849 --> 00:41:05.050
on a bench. And you need to, first of all, you
00:41:05.050 --> 00:41:07.969
need to be polite and navigate the piano together.
00:41:08.210 --> 00:41:10.690
So there's the logistics of that, which is helpful.
00:41:10.889 --> 00:41:13.630
Then you need to match your sound very often
00:41:13.630 --> 00:41:16.789
or listen to the balance of the sound. So it's
00:41:16.789 --> 00:41:19.269
really conducive to just becoming a much better
00:41:19.269 --> 00:41:22.989
pianist. And you're right, as opposed to two
00:41:22.989 --> 00:41:26.269
pianos, which is also a wonderful medium, it's
00:41:26.269 --> 00:41:28.980
a different type of synchronization. Because
00:41:28.980 --> 00:41:32.860
with two pianos, the synchronization, just playing
00:41:32.860 --> 00:41:35.079
a chord at the same time is almost the biggest
00:41:35.079 --> 00:41:39.719
issue. And it's almost a 50 -50 chance very often,
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:42.880
you know, because I recorded on two pianos as
00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:47.739
well. So I think the duets is a very underrated
00:41:47.739 --> 00:41:52.000
pedagogical tool. Although I understand that
00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:54.739
for teachers, for logistical reasons, it's hard
00:41:54.739 --> 00:41:58.639
to do duets. different students at the same time
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:02.340
because it's scheduling, et cetera. But I think
00:42:02.340 --> 00:42:05.980
it's very important to start in the class with
00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:07.900
the students to give them the opportunity of
00:42:07.900 --> 00:42:12.039
duets. And as far as two pianos, just as an aside,
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:15.199
because somebody in England just asked me, a
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:18.280
very nice lady came who actually plays my Brandenburgs.
00:42:18.280 --> 00:42:21.000
And she said, well, no, I have to ask you, my
00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:23.840
partner and I tried this on two pianos and she
00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:27.840
was apologetic. She was almost asking my permission
00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:31.519
to play these on two pianos. And of course, needless
00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:35.739
to say, I'm all for two piano renditions of the
00:42:35.739 --> 00:42:39.400
Brandenburg duets. It's just that at the time
00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:41.579
that I was making the transcription, I thought
00:42:41.579 --> 00:42:45.360
that practically speaking, it's just a lot harder
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:48.280
to have access to two pianos in the same room
00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:52.039
for any of us. And of course, if I wanted to
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:54.619
make a transcription for two pianos, it would
00:42:54.619 --> 00:42:58.739
have been a hell of a lot easier to write than
00:42:58.739 --> 00:43:02.059
to try to understand how will this work? How
00:43:02.059 --> 00:43:05.639
will my left hand work with the right hand of
00:43:05.639 --> 00:43:08.239
somebody else? That was the main difficulty in
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:10.820
the forehand transcription is the logistics.
00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:14.760
But it's actually easier to play on two pianos
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:17.119
because you don't need to worry about sharing
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:20.000
that prized space in the middle of the piano.
00:43:36.460 --> 00:43:39.639
Can we talk about your cello suite for solo piano
00:43:39.639 --> 00:43:42.480
and then maybe stepping stones to Bach both?
00:43:42.699 --> 00:43:46.500
Of course, of course. So cello suite, these pieces
00:43:46.500 --> 00:43:50.119
are iconic. And as you mentioned, there are other
00:43:50.119 --> 00:43:53.559
composers or arrangers who transcribed for solo
00:43:53.559 --> 00:43:58.059
piano. And you graciously sent me both cello
00:43:58.059 --> 00:44:01.489
suite and stepping stones to Bach. So thank you
00:44:01.489 --> 00:44:04.349
so much. And then I showed it to one of my adult
00:44:04.349 --> 00:44:08.349
students and he was so excited because he loved
00:44:08.349 --> 00:44:11.329
the iconic, of course, the G major cello. Yeah.
00:44:12.130 --> 00:44:16.469
So he said he's going to purchase the book and
00:44:16.469 --> 00:44:20.909
we're going to try the first one. But yeah. So
00:44:20.909 --> 00:44:26.929
what makes yours unique from others, other transcriptions?
00:44:26.929 --> 00:44:30.130
What was your intention? What makes my cello
00:44:30.130 --> 00:44:33.489
transcription unique is that I actually worked
00:44:33.489 --> 00:44:37.869
on all 36 movements of all six suites. And I
00:44:37.869 --> 00:44:40.849
approached them really with the least amount
00:44:40.849 --> 00:44:44.949
of alteration because I wanted to preserve the
00:44:44.949 --> 00:44:50.650
sound, the register, and I don't know, the universe,
00:44:50.710 --> 00:44:55.150
if you will, of this very interesting one voice,
00:44:55.250 --> 00:45:00.469
kind of one line focus. that we pianists often
00:45:00.469 --> 00:45:06.530
don't have. So I really got my inspiration from
00:45:06.530 --> 00:45:09.150
the Russian transcriber and pianist Alexander
00:45:09.150 --> 00:45:13.789
Zoloti, who was a student of Liszt and who's
00:45:13.789 --> 00:45:17.010
responsible for many, many virtuosic transcriptions,
00:45:17.010 --> 00:45:20.110
including Bach in octaves. He did some really
00:45:20.110 --> 00:45:23.090
crazy things that only he and Rachmaninoff and
00:45:23.090 --> 00:45:26.650
others could play. But interestingly, I stumbled
00:45:26.650 --> 00:45:30.309
upon... his transcriptions of four of the movements
00:45:30.309 --> 00:45:33.710
from the cello suites, including the first suite
00:45:33.710 --> 00:45:36.889
prelude. But then there were disparate, like
00:45:36.889 --> 00:45:39.809
random movements from the rest of the suites,
00:45:39.909 --> 00:45:44.250
which really, other than a held octave in some,
00:45:44.409 --> 00:45:46.389
they really did not change anything. And they
00:45:46.389 --> 00:45:51.449
were intended for students. So that gave me almost
00:45:51.449 --> 00:45:53.789
the courage to do something like this, because
00:45:53.789 --> 00:45:56.940
it seemed like for a pianist, this would be um,
00:45:57.139 --> 00:46:00.079
just too easy. And, and especially for me, the
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.880
thought of recording that, um, I thought that
00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:04.539
people would laugh at me while she's playing
00:46:04.539 --> 00:46:07.460
one note at a time, you know, like what, you
00:46:07.460 --> 00:46:10.300
know, it was, um, um, a lot of, there was a lot
00:46:10.300 --> 00:46:12.840
of insecurity. And as a matter of fact, writing
00:46:12.840 --> 00:46:15.099
the program, the booklet notes for the cello
00:46:15.099 --> 00:46:18.820
suite album, I, I literally, I had like, I developed
00:46:18.820 --> 00:46:22.360
a, you know, I had a skin like itching or something.
00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:25.099
I was so nervous. because I felt I need to justify
00:46:25.099 --> 00:46:30.159
doing this. So seeing Zloty do this, it kind
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.559
of gave me strength because, well, he did it.
00:46:32.619 --> 00:46:35.320
He thought it was worthwhile, so I can do it
00:46:35.320 --> 00:46:41.880
too. And just all 36 movements just give such
00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:46.739
an incredible glimpse into a smaller, it's like
00:46:46.739 --> 00:46:49.760
you're zooming into how Bach wrote because you're
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:55.190
only looking at one voice at a time. dividing
00:46:55.190 --> 00:46:58.610
the music between two hands pianistically, which
00:46:58.610 --> 00:47:03.489
I'm equipped to do because I'm a pianist, enables
00:47:03.489 --> 00:47:06.610
me to show the hidden polyphony and the structure
00:47:06.610 --> 00:47:11.389
better because it's now divided. So I can show
00:47:11.389 --> 00:47:13.929
the first, let's say, the four notes of the main
00:47:13.929 --> 00:47:18.070
pattern, and then I can show the hidden polyphony
00:47:18.070 --> 00:47:20.449
notes that change or don't change in the other
00:47:20.449 --> 00:47:24.559
hand. So it's visually... almost like a guide
00:47:24.559 --> 00:47:29.260
to how Bach wrote his themes. So I think in that
00:47:29.260 --> 00:47:32.380
sense, it's an invaluable resource for study.
00:47:33.219 --> 00:47:37.199
And also, to be honest, when I was recording
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:39.639
the cello suites, I felt that I'm in better shape
00:47:39.639 --> 00:47:43.639
than I've ever been. Because when you play these,
00:47:43.940 --> 00:47:47.480
they almost have a better effect than like a
00:47:47.480 --> 00:47:51.659
churny study. They really are a great exercise
00:47:51.659 --> 00:47:55.230
for finger work. They're so different. Really?
00:47:55.510 --> 00:48:00.530
Yeah. Oh, okay. So I should try them, not just
00:48:00.530 --> 00:48:03.690
as a teaching tool. Well, as a warm -up tool.
00:48:03.849 --> 00:48:06.349
You know, many of them, it's just, you know,
00:48:06.389 --> 00:48:08.650
I'm sure that, you know, Bach is great for your
00:48:08.650 --> 00:48:10.909
fingers as well as Czerny and definitely a lot
00:48:10.909 --> 00:48:14.010
better than Han. But just, you know, it's very
00:48:14.010 --> 00:48:16.610
digital. There are some very lyrical movements,
00:48:16.809 --> 00:48:19.849
the Sarabands. But it's a really great workout
00:48:19.849 --> 00:48:22.590
and it's wonderful music. There is no better.
00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:26.059
finger exercise music, let's say, than the cello
00:48:26.059 --> 00:48:29.699
suites on that level. And there are some wonderful
00:48:29.699 --> 00:48:33.500
movements which are not that well known. For
00:48:33.500 --> 00:48:36.139
example, some movements from the fifth and sixth
00:48:36.139 --> 00:48:39.599
suites, which are more polyphonic, actually,
00:48:39.619 --> 00:48:43.340
were written for a different cello with an extra
00:48:43.340 --> 00:48:47.719
string. And the fifth suite has also been transcribed
00:48:47.719 --> 00:48:50.219
for the lute and the lute harpsichord as well
00:48:50.219 --> 00:48:54.599
by Bach himself. So there's one Sarabande, for
00:48:54.599 --> 00:48:56.780
example, from the sixth suite, which just sounds
00:48:56.780 --> 00:48:59.599
like a Brahms piece. It sounds like a Brahms
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:03.559
intermezzo. They really give a glimpse into the
00:49:03.559 --> 00:49:06.940
different sides of Bach or the very famous Sarabande
00:49:06.940 --> 00:49:09.780
from the C minor suite, from the third suite,
00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:12.219
which is just very simple, very contemplative.
00:49:13.500 --> 00:49:16.780
It's very different from what we pianists think
00:49:16.780 --> 00:49:21.070
of, again, you know, of Bach. I think it's very,
00:49:21.110 --> 00:49:24.710
very helpful also. And I'm giving these long
00:49:24.710 --> 00:49:27.989
answers, but there's really so much benefit from
00:49:27.989 --> 00:49:32.170
this. The idea of us as pianists, you know, as
00:49:32.170 --> 00:49:36.250
advanced pianists, looking at a fugue or an invention
00:49:36.250 --> 00:49:39.429
with two voices, we're automatically already
00:49:39.429 --> 00:49:43.329
reconciling everything we need to do. But when
00:49:43.329 --> 00:49:47.269
we look at something with just one voice, the
00:49:47.269 --> 00:49:51.170
understanding is very different. So when we actually
00:49:51.170 --> 00:49:55.449
focus on an allemande where there's only one
00:49:55.449 --> 00:49:57.730
voice that we toss around between two hands,
00:49:57.889 --> 00:50:00.750
when we then look at an allemande written for
00:50:00.750 --> 00:50:04.230
the keyboard by Bach, we all of a sudden understand
00:50:04.230 --> 00:50:07.110
it a lot better, you know, because we simultaneously
00:50:07.110 --> 00:50:10.590
see each part a lot more clearer. Yeah, yeah,
00:50:10.610 --> 00:50:14.949
yeah. Yeah, as I was sort of playing the allemande
00:50:14.949 --> 00:50:18.610
from Cello Suite, the G major. Yes, I love that
00:50:18.610 --> 00:50:22.139
one. yeah it's i i can really see it although
00:50:22.139 --> 00:50:24.320
it's you know because it's cello suites it's
00:50:24.320 --> 00:50:29.219
one line but i see the you know two voices separate
00:50:29.219 --> 00:50:33.659
voices and then i was like oh wait a minute yeah
00:50:33.659 --> 00:50:36.780
even within one voice you can do that huh i didn't
00:50:36.780 --> 00:50:39.340
think of Bach that way i didn't think of Bach's
00:50:39.340 --> 00:50:43.440
music so i don't know how to say 3d or three
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:46.880
-dimensional almost right wow Right. Exactly.
00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:49.659
This is very interesting because looking at one
00:50:49.659 --> 00:50:52.559
line in a way opens up the three dimensionality
00:50:52.559 --> 00:50:55.139
within that one line. It's like it's a little
00:50:55.139 --> 00:50:59.320
microcosm, which, you know, then when he has
00:50:59.320 --> 00:51:01.800
an oratorio, he had 12 things going on in one.
00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:04.940
Incredible. But you do understand that better.
00:51:05.079 --> 00:51:08.559
And also that gave me, you know, after I'd done
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:10.320
the cello suites, I really feel they gave me
00:51:10.320 --> 00:51:12.659
the greatest, you know, new understanding of
00:51:12.659 --> 00:51:15.550
Bach on some level. And it also gave me a new
00:51:15.550 --> 00:51:18.730
understanding of ornaments, because by looking
00:51:18.730 --> 00:51:22.130
at, for example, some of the gigues in the cello
00:51:22.130 --> 00:51:25.190
suite, there could be parts where there are some
00:51:25.190 --> 00:51:29.630
eighth note triplets, but then he inserts a couple
00:51:29.630 --> 00:51:32.909
of 16th notes, like a running up pattern or some
00:51:32.909 --> 00:51:36.150
kind of pattern. And then I understood that these
00:51:36.150 --> 00:51:39.170
little insertions that he makes are perfectly
00:51:39.170 --> 00:51:44.260
legitimate and natural seeds for ornaments so
00:51:44.260 --> 00:51:47.619
when I play the second time I make more of those
00:51:47.619 --> 00:51:50.599
you know what I mean it gave me the confidence
00:51:50.599 --> 00:51:54.059
in seeing it that way and using his own material
00:51:54.059 --> 00:51:57.079
because his material became so much clearer and
00:51:57.079 --> 00:52:00.380
the elements I learned that the elements can
00:52:00.380 --> 00:52:03.840
be used in repeats which is I think a somewhat
00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:07.300
unorthodox way of doing repeats because usually
00:52:07.300 --> 00:52:10.619
think of people think of ornamentation and trills
00:52:10.619 --> 00:52:15.699
and so on But after doing the cello suite, that
00:52:15.699 --> 00:52:19.320
became a very important part of my development
00:52:19.320 --> 00:52:23.300
as, you know, let's say an interpreter or embellisher
00:52:23.300 --> 00:52:29.059
of Bach, if you will. Wow. Wow. I've never thought
00:52:29.059 --> 00:52:34.559
of playing Bach that way. I haven't either until
00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:39.820
I did that. Wow. And, you know, it's a shame
00:52:39.820 --> 00:52:42.380
that transcriptions, in a sense, are not, you
00:52:42.380 --> 00:52:46.420
know, validated by people. For example, somebody
00:52:46.420 --> 00:52:50.360
in Germany asked me for a music of the Brandenburg
00:52:50.360 --> 00:52:53.820
Duet for a duo piano competition for their students,
00:52:53.960 --> 00:52:57.380
but they weren't accepted. The judges wouldn't
00:52:57.380 --> 00:52:59.539
accept them because it's not an authentic work
00:52:59.539 --> 00:53:02.139
for four hands as a transcription, you know,
00:53:02.139 --> 00:53:04.840
and obviously, you know, they... They don't know
00:53:04.840 --> 00:53:07.159
or didn't know. Not that my transcriptions are
00:53:07.159 --> 00:53:10.099
so great, but, you know, it's just an unquestionable
00:53:10.099 --> 00:53:13.679
authentic. It has to be authentic. And, you know,
00:53:13.679 --> 00:53:16.719
they don't think to maybe question or to hear
00:53:16.719 --> 00:53:20.159
a new transcription, let's say. But, you know,
00:53:20.159 --> 00:53:23.320
even the cello suites as a pedagogical tool,
00:53:23.539 --> 00:53:27.860
people have so many method books and so many
00:53:27.860 --> 00:53:30.579
established routines of what they teach that.
00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:33.500
You know, I don't think it will be easy for me
00:53:33.500 --> 00:53:36.239
when I try and I'm planning on trying to introduce
00:53:36.239 --> 00:53:39.480
these to teachers because it's just a matter
00:53:39.480 --> 00:53:42.420
of, you know, trying to make them understand
00:53:42.420 --> 00:53:45.519
how different this is and how worthwhile. But
00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:47.980
they can't really understand until they look
00:53:47.980 --> 00:53:50.420
or they're interested in how valuable it would
00:53:50.420 --> 00:53:54.099
be for their students as opposed to so many other
00:53:54.099 --> 00:53:56.380
things that the students play, you know, even
00:53:56.380 --> 00:53:59.190
though they're so easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well,
00:53:59.210 --> 00:54:02.130
tell me more about it. So what are some of the
00:54:02.130 --> 00:54:05.650
challenges you faced as an arranger, as a transcriber?
00:54:05.889 --> 00:54:10.869
Like, why don't they respect your work? Well,
00:54:10.949 --> 00:54:13.909
they don't, you know, I'm not famous. And, you
00:54:13.909 --> 00:54:17.889
know, I just think it's routine. Don't you think
00:54:17.889 --> 00:54:20.949
that a lot of us teachers, and I include myself
00:54:20.949 --> 00:54:23.849
in that, you know, we sometimes just do things
00:54:23.849 --> 00:54:27.079
our way and we have a... our lives get in the
00:54:27.079 --> 00:54:29.340
way and we have so many other things to do that
00:54:29.340 --> 00:54:32.260
to constantly think, Oh, what can I do? That's
00:54:32.260 --> 00:54:35.699
new. Or what is out there? That's, you know,
00:54:35.699 --> 00:54:40.260
things need to be approved. You know, you, not
00:54:40.260 --> 00:54:44.539
everybody is a forward looking progressive piano
00:54:44.539 --> 00:54:48.599
teacher, you know? Sure. Oh, but you know, I
00:54:48.599 --> 00:54:53.219
guess it's. Me, I want to be progressive and
00:54:53.219 --> 00:54:57.360
open -minded. Yes, and you are. And you have
00:54:57.360 --> 00:55:01.559
a podcast and you're doing so many things. You're
00:55:01.559 --> 00:55:03.980
that kind of person. That's wonderful. And I
00:55:03.980 --> 00:55:06.219
feel lucky to be talking to you about this. But
00:55:06.219 --> 00:55:11.119
I have certainly met a lot of piano teachers.
00:55:11.219 --> 00:55:15.480
And I've toyed with the idea of doing presentations
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:18.110
at conferences. But it seems like... They're
00:55:18.110 --> 00:55:19.650
all these, you know, it's almost like they're
00:55:19.650 --> 00:55:23.190
gatekeepers for all of these things. And, you
00:55:23.190 --> 00:55:26.010
know, to do a presentation at a conference, you
00:55:26.010 --> 00:55:28.289
know, you have to become a member. It just seems
00:55:28.289 --> 00:55:31.730
too much. But when I send out, for example, a
00:55:31.730 --> 00:55:35.289
newsletter offering a discount or, you know,
00:55:35.289 --> 00:55:38.909
PDFs for them to try it, very few people are
00:55:38.909 --> 00:55:41.730
interested for now. But it's a matter of time.
00:55:41.789 --> 00:55:45.400
You know, there's certainly with time. There's
00:55:45.400 --> 00:55:49.400
a Russian edition of music, the main Russian,
00:55:49.539 --> 00:55:52.780
almost the only one that has existed for over
00:55:52.780 --> 00:55:55.659
a century called Jurgensen or Musica edition,
00:55:55.840 --> 00:55:59.539
which unfortunately now, because of the political
00:55:59.539 --> 00:56:03.239
situation, is not accessible to anybody in the
00:56:03.239 --> 00:56:06.039
Western world. But they have published my cello
00:56:06.039 --> 00:56:08.920
suites and they have published my Brandenburg
00:56:08.920 --> 00:56:11.940
duets and orchestral suites. And they will likely
00:56:11.940 --> 00:56:15.340
publish the lute suites. they're doing well in
00:56:15.340 --> 00:56:19.940
Russia because the pedagogical value of that,
00:56:20.039 --> 00:56:24.500
they're very serious about Bach and they appreciate,
00:56:24.599 --> 00:56:26.960
you know, what I'm doing. And I'm very happy
00:56:26.960 --> 00:56:29.239
that, you know, people in Russia in the time
00:56:29.239 --> 00:56:31.500
of war right now, at least have some, some more
00:56:31.500 --> 00:56:36.460
music to play. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that's
00:56:36.460 --> 00:56:39.000
why we're here, right? I really would like for
00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:45.139
my listeners to check out Eleanor's wonderful
00:56:45.139 --> 00:56:48.760
transcriptions and recordings of them and also
00:56:48.760 --> 00:56:52.320
stepping stones to Bach. That's also their total
00:56:52.320 --> 00:56:57.539
of 48 arrangements of Bach's non -keyboard music,
00:56:57.800 --> 00:57:03.860
right? Choral. I would say 85 % or 90 % is not
00:57:03.860 --> 00:57:06.880
keyboard music. I do have some excerpts from
00:57:06.880 --> 00:57:11.559
the concertos. Okay. Just as. You know, the design
00:57:11.559 --> 00:57:16.139
for the stepping stones was mostly to have literally
00:57:16.139 --> 00:57:19.260
a one page piece. And I know it seems silly,
00:57:19.320 --> 00:57:22.860
but there was a format that I wanted because
00:57:22.860 --> 00:57:26.119
I wanted people to look at a piece and think
00:57:26.119 --> 00:57:31.400
I can play this. And I think one of the first
00:57:31.400 --> 00:57:34.639
seeds for those were actually the cello suites,
00:57:34.639 --> 00:57:41.340
because. Or was it the other way around? I did
00:57:41.340 --> 00:57:43.900
the stepping stones before the cello suites.
00:57:43.980 --> 00:57:49.280
Yes. There were some movements that I thought
00:57:49.280 --> 00:57:52.039
of maybe making an exercise book from box experts,
00:57:52.300 --> 00:57:55.539
excerpts, because they're so good for the fingers
00:57:55.539 --> 00:57:58.340
as we talked about. Not as something that's of
00:57:58.340 --> 00:58:01.280
my authorship, but just to present excerpts so
00:58:01.280 --> 00:58:03.599
that people can use them. And then on my website,
00:58:03.780 --> 00:58:07.179
I do have a couple of exercise which people can
00:58:07.179 --> 00:58:10.269
download for free. which are based on Bach's
00:58:10.269 --> 00:58:14.670
E minor toccata or, you know, the Beethoven third
00:58:14.670 --> 00:58:16.849
movement of the appassionata where everybody
00:58:16.849 --> 00:58:20.610
struggles with, you know, the octaves, staggered
00:58:20.610 --> 00:58:22.909
octaves. So I make a little exercise with that.
00:58:23.070 --> 00:58:26.690
So I started with the stepping stones was just
00:58:26.690 --> 00:58:30.090
finding an excerpt or something. And one of the
00:58:30.090 --> 00:58:32.269
excerpts is just the very beginning of the D
00:58:32.269 --> 00:58:37.309
minor concerto. Because I think just playing
00:58:37.309 --> 00:58:40.110
that. The very beginning is just so empowering,
00:58:40.230 --> 00:58:44.429
such a wonderful feeling. So that theme, it's
00:58:44.429 --> 00:58:47.230
an octave, and it's not difficult to play if
00:58:47.230 --> 00:58:49.949
you're a beginner. But I think the feeling of
00:58:49.949 --> 00:58:52.989
playing that can bring such satisfaction. And
00:58:52.989 --> 00:58:56.110
then maybe listening to the entire concerto,
00:58:56.110 --> 00:58:59.570
and the student can appreciate listening to that
00:58:59.570 --> 00:59:02.170
concerto, let's say, you know, an 8-, 9-, 10
00:59:02.170 --> 00:59:05.139
-year -old, if they play the first theme. then
00:59:05.139 --> 00:59:07.480
listening to the concerto will be a completely
00:59:07.480 --> 00:59:10.519
different experience and level of interest. So
00:59:10.519 --> 00:59:14.119
for me, that was the impetus behind the stepping
00:59:14.119 --> 00:59:16.920
stones. And I think that was one of your questions.
00:59:17.179 --> 00:59:19.900
It's almost the opposite sides of the coin, that
00:59:19.900 --> 00:59:24.840
for a student, it's a way to kind of feel as
00:59:24.840 --> 00:59:27.539
a part of participation in the larger output
00:59:27.539 --> 00:59:31.039
of Bach and then listening in the larger output
00:59:31.039 --> 00:59:35.619
of Bach. like a keyboard, you know, harpsichord
00:59:35.619 --> 00:59:39.860
concerto or a flute sonata or an aria from a
00:59:39.860 --> 00:59:46.320
cantata. And for the adult beginners who normally
00:59:46.320 --> 00:59:49.260
already know and love this music, it's a way
00:59:49.260 --> 00:59:53.559
to play something they love without struggling
00:59:53.559 --> 00:59:57.139
with the polyphony and without, you know, struggling
00:59:57.139 --> 01:00:00.539
with the self -doubt because, you know, adult...
01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:04.719
pianists, amateurs, most of them, and a lot of
01:00:04.719 --> 01:00:06.920
them are my students, and that's why my heart
01:00:06.920 --> 01:00:08.980
always went out to them when I'm doing this.
01:00:09.300 --> 01:00:12.179
They're just always so critical of themselves
01:00:12.179 --> 01:00:15.739
because they're comparing themselves to Yuja
01:00:15.739 --> 01:00:20.159
Wang or to Horowitz or which is understandable,
01:00:20.539 --> 01:00:25.139
but the piano is as easy as it is in the beginning
01:00:25.139 --> 01:00:29.690
to play the right note. The repertoire is vast
01:00:29.690 --> 01:00:34.429
and the stars that the amateurs compare themselves
01:00:34.429 --> 01:00:36.630
to and listen to, which of course they need to
01:00:36.630 --> 01:00:41.150
listen, they're just light years away and, you
01:00:41.150 --> 01:00:44.570
know, 30 years of practice away from the ability
01:00:44.570 --> 01:00:47.389
of someone who is maybe 60 and picking up the
01:00:47.389 --> 01:00:50.909
piano, that it just results in this, the negative
01:00:50.909 --> 01:00:53.789
part of the experience and this lack of relaxation
01:00:53.789 --> 01:00:58.619
is so detrimental. to the experience of somebody
01:00:58.619 --> 01:01:01.500
like that that I really felt that it would be
01:01:01.500 --> 01:01:04.000
great to create something that may be unusual
01:01:04.000 --> 01:01:08.059
but will enable people you know for two minutes
01:01:08.059 --> 01:01:10.599
to really enjoy playing one of their favorite
01:01:10.599 --> 01:01:16.260
pieces and I've been very gratified with many
01:01:16.260 --> 01:01:19.179
many emails that I got about that particular
01:01:19.179 --> 01:01:23.260
set because you know I get emails from people
01:01:23.260 --> 01:01:26.360
who have arthritis and say, you know, I just
01:01:26.360 --> 01:01:29.639
picked up the piano. I can barely play anymore,
01:01:29.900 --> 01:01:32.860
but thank you so much because I can play the
01:01:32.860 --> 01:01:35.800
prelude from the cello suite or I can play the
01:01:35.800 --> 01:01:39.139
little aria and they can enjoy themselves, you
01:01:39.139 --> 01:01:41.659
know, and it's so important for us to do things
01:01:41.659 --> 01:01:45.699
that we enjoy these days, especially. So during
01:01:45.699 --> 01:01:48.699
COVID, for example, I had the stepping stones
01:01:48.699 --> 01:01:54.429
and I sent out Every week I sent out a PDF to
01:01:54.429 --> 01:01:57.909
my newsletter people of a new stepping stone
01:01:57.909 --> 01:02:00.869
to kind of keep them interested in playing the
01:02:00.869 --> 01:02:03.510
piano. And that was really very well received.
01:02:04.590 --> 01:02:08.469
To be able to play something that you hear on,
01:02:08.590 --> 01:02:13.769
you know, from the movie or from anywhere else,
01:02:13.849 --> 01:02:17.070
like a familiar Bach piece, and just being able
01:02:17.070 --> 01:02:20.000
to do that. in such a simple way but it's still
01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:23.039
beautiful is i'm sure it's so meaningful for
01:02:23.039 --> 01:02:26.679
especially for adult students and then for as
01:02:26.679 --> 01:02:29.860
you said mentioned for kids that's a great way
01:02:29.860 --> 01:02:33.079
to introduce to the the world of classical music
01:02:33.079 --> 01:02:35.940
where you learn something simple on the piano
01:02:35.940 --> 01:02:39.099
and then later on oh, I know this piece, right?
01:02:39.260 --> 01:02:41.960
And, oh, this is something that such and such
01:02:41.960 --> 01:02:45.940
introduced me to when I was a little kid. And,
01:02:45.960 --> 01:02:48.699
oh, this is, oh, I didn't realize that was the,
01:02:48.699 --> 01:02:51.980
you know, orchestral piece. And to go step further,
01:02:52.019 --> 01:02:55.460
this is my piece. You know, there's a little
01:02:55.460 --> 01:03:00.719
bit of that. And that goes a long way in internalizing
01:03:00.719 --> 01:03:04.480
and appreciating music, which we so much need.
01:03:04.960 --> 01:03:09.119
to instill in our kids, and it's so difficult.
01:03:09.619 --> 01:03:14.119
Right. Yeah, it is. And then, you know, since
01:03:14.119 --> 01:03:18.760
January of this year, the inquiries, because
01:03:18.760 --> 01:03:23.460
now I'm based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where
01:03:23.460 --> 01:03:26.820
I used to go to my students' homes to teach when
01:03:26.820 --> 01:03:29.500
I was starting out. Now I'm getting older, so
01:03:29.500 --> 01:03:34.719
I'm here. I want to open my... home as a piano
01:03:34.719 --> 01:03:38.739
studio so i get a lot of inquiries from adults
01:03:38.739 --> 01:03:42.739
but last three months has been crazy oh yeah
01:03:42.739 --> 01:03:48.340
i don't know what ticked but um it's quiet quieting
01:03:48.340 --> 01:03:51.579
down right now but till two weeks ago almost
01:03:51.579 --> 01:03:54.199
every day i get emails i want to take lessons
01:03:54.199 --> 01:03:58.599
but most of them as much as i want to you know
01:03:58.599 --> 01:04:02.289
include them but it's difficult because Some
01:04:02.289 --> 01:04:04.329
of them think that playing the piano is like
01:04:04.329 --> 01:04:08.389
pressing the button. You know that idea? So the
01:04:08.389 --> 01:04:11.070
reality when they come in, how difficult it is.
01:04:11.230 --> 01:04:14.710
But I try to be, you know, very, very simple
01:04:14.710 --> 01:04:18.030
and everything. So most of them cannot. But some
01:04:18.030 --> 01:04:21.489
of them do continue. But it's just so curious
01:04:21.489 --> 01:04:25.170
to see this Gen Z that are popping up in this
01:04:25.170 --> 01:04:28.869
neighborhood. And they, I don't know, they're
01:04:28.869 --> 01:04:34.679
trying to find something. in music i guess something
01:04:34.679 --> 01:04:37.320
meaningful something beautiful something healing
01:04:37.320 --> 01:04:40.239
yeah i don't know yeah yes and they do listen
01:04:40.239 --> 01:04:44.599
to music a lot i mean i have teenagers well 20
01:04:44.599 --> 01:04:48.639
and 18 at the moment of our um interview and
01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:50.360
they're always you know they're always listening
01:04:50.360 --> 01:04:54.320
they always have their headphones on so yeah
01:04:54.320 --> 01:04:57.480
it could be a mix i mean my children my daughter
01:04:57.480 --> 01:05:01.659
listens to a mix of music And my son, not as
01:05:01.659 --> 01:05:04.539
much. But I know that because they were exposed
01:05:04.539 --> 01:05:08.659
to classical music as children, they will always
01:05:08.659 --> 01:05:15.699
be receptive to it. And I'm just going to segue
01:05:15.699 --> 01:05:18.199
into a different topic, which is very important
01:05:18.199 --> 01:05:20.300
to me, because at some point I would like to
01:05:20.300 --> 01:05:23.820
spend more of my energy when I'm done with transcribing,
01:05:23.820 --> 01:05:26.460
and probably I'm not going to be doing it forever.
01:05:27.070 --> 01:05:30.690
I think there's a very simple tool that we need
01:05:30.690 --> 01:05:34.389
to advocate as music educators, which is streaming.
01:05:35.090 --> 01:05:40.250
I think that listening to classical music, as
01:05:40.250 --> 01:05:44.949
you know, has been kind of put in some kind of
01:05:44.949 --> 01:05:48.750
a box. It's hard to understand or it's elitist
01:05:48.750 --> 01:05:51.250
or I don't know, they're dead white composers,
01:05:51.550 --> 01:05:56.699
all kinds of things. And I think that. And I
01:05:56.699 --> 01:05:59.679
did a survey about this with my newsletter and
01:05:59.679 --> 01:06:02.559
on Twitter. The people who listen to classical
01:06:02.559 --> 01:06:06.500
music as adults are people whose parents listen
01:06:06.500 --> 01:06:09.199
to classical music in the home. There's just
01:06:09.199 --> 01:06:13.159
no ifs, ands, or buts about that. I mean, by
01:06:13.159 --> 01:06:16.039
and large. Obviously, there are people who as
01:06:16.039 --> 01:06:18.500
a teenager maybe had a teacher who turned them
01:06:18.500 --> 01:06:21.219
on to Bach or anybody else. It's all that. But
01:06:21.219 --> 01:06:23.679
these days with streaming, it's so simple to
01:06:23.679 --> 01:06:26.900
just... press a button, you know, not learn an
01:06:26.900 --> 01:06:30.559
instrument. I'm talking about fostering future
01:06:30.559 --> 01:06:33.119
audiences, you know, the people who will listen
01:06:33.119 --> 01:06:36.980
to my CD, the people who will support whatever's
01:06:36.980 --> 01:06:40.119
left of the classical or jazz or, you know, any
01:06:40.119 --> 01:06:44.500
music without words, right? Which people think,
01:06:44.619 --> 01:06:47.760
oh, they won't understand. And parents think
01:06:47.760 --> 01:06:50.469
that their children won't understand it. Because
01:06:50.469 --> 01:06:52.769
they don't understand it. But that is, as you
01:06:52.769 --> 01:06:55.409
know, completely untrue. And, you know, we're
01:06:55.409 --> 01:06:57.949
all receptive to music as children. And all that
01:06:57.949 --> 01:07:00.010
needs to happen is it needs to be playing in
01:07:00.010 --> 01:07:02.530
the background. You know, I don't think we need
01:07:02.530 --> 01:07:06.090
to talk about it. It's helpful to discuss it.
01:07:06.210 --> 01:07:08.730
But, you know, kids don't always want to discuss
01:07:08.730 --> 01:07:11.210
what's going on. And, you know, their eyes will
01:07:11.210 --> 01:07:14.909
glaze over. But just having it there, you know,
01:07:14.949 --> 01:07:18.699
when they're having breakfast. when they're drawing,
01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:21.219
I'm talking three, four, five year olds before
01:07:21.219 --> 01:07:23.139
they can say, no, I don't want to hear that.
01:07:23.699 --> 01:07:28.079
I think that will keep them open to listening
01:07:28.079 --> 01:07:32.019
and to inquiry later. And I think people don't
01:07:32.019 --> 01:07:33.880
understand that, you know, and going to concerts
01:07:33.880 --> 01:07:37.739
is expensive and taking lessons is expensive.
01:07:37.980 --> 01:07:41.719
It's not accessible to everyone, but streaming
01:07:41.719 --> 01:07:45.019
is accessible to overwhelming majority of people.
01:07:45.039 --> 01:07:47.840
And that's. I'm hoping that more people will
01:07:47.840 --> 01:07:50.860
be doing that and actually have made some playlists
01:07:50.860 --> 01:07:55.820
on Spotify and on Apple Music. But I haven't
01:07:55.820 --> 01:07:57.639
had time to make more. They're called classical
01:07:57.639 --> 01:08:02.260
for kids where, you know, I have different, you
01:08:02.260 --> 01:08:05.199
know, I categorize them by pastimes. Like I have
01:08:05.199 --> 01:08:08.119
Saturday morning music, which is mostly kind
01:08:08.119 --> 01:08:11.500
of up. And I also include some jazz. And I started
01:08:11.500 --> 01:08:14.159
lately including some jazz and some folk music
01:08:14.159 --> 01:08:17.010
because. I think that comes under the general
01:08:17.010 --> 01:08:19.930
idea of you don't need words to understand music.
01:08:20.449 --> 01:08:23.010
But that's something that I feel very passionate
01:08:23.010 --> 01:08:28.010
about and would like someday to try to promote
01:08:28.010 --> 01:08:31.329
that in a more organized fashion. Yeah, only
01:08:31.329 --> 01:08:33.909
if we have time. But, you know, it's interesting
01:08:33.909 --> 01:08:39.050
because I also, through my podcast, I create
01:08:39.050 --> 01:08:44.529
a playlist. Playlist of pieces that we... talked
01:08:44.529 --> 01:08:49.409
about during the season uh through episodes but
01:08:49.409 --> 01:08:52.890
i think creating playlists is a way to do way
01:08:52.890 --> 01:08:57.630
to educate people and uh even when it's like
01:08:57.630 --> 01:09:00.050
a little i don't know about this playlist but
01:09:00.050 --> 01:09:03.470
i think you know these days with algorithm one
01:09:03.470 --> 01:09:07.310
thing to another will lead into this piece and
01:09:07.310 --> 01:09:09.270
that will lead into playlists i think it's very
01:09:09.270 --> 01:09:13.010
important that every artist especially those
01:09:13.010 --> 01:09:18.029
who are composers, even like with performing
01:09:18.029 --> 01:09:24.189
artists, I think in order for them to promote
01:09:24.189 --> 01:09:26.729
themselves, their work, I think playlist is a
01:09:26.729 --> 01:09:29.350
way to do, don't you think? Yes. And that's,
01:09:29.350 --> 01:09:31.930
I definitely, I'm guilty of inserting my own
01:09:31.930 --> 01:09:34.449
tracks into my playlist. No, that's great. Yeah.
01:09:34.689 --> 01:09:38.689
Yeah. But, you know, I think for kids specifically,
01:09:38.829 --> 01:09:43.390
one can tailor things slightly. But you're right.
01:09:43.529 --> 01:09:48.750
And it is the only way to really reach a wider
01:09:48.750 --> 01:09:52.949
audience these days because very few people own
01:09:52.949 --> 01:09:56.569
CDs anymore, CD players. And with all the retro
01:09:56.569 --> 01:10:00.369
movements right now where there are LPs now and
01:10:00.369 --> 01:10:04.350
even cassettes coming back, but it's really the
01:10:04.350 --> 01:10:07.210
streaming that gets the exposure. Unfortunately,
01:10:07.310 --> 01:10:09.789
it gets very little earnings to the artists.
01:10:11.529 --> 01:10:15.130
We as artists know that we need to continue for
01:10:15.130 --> 01:10:20.430
art's sake because making money is not easy.
01:10:20.729 --> 01:10:26.109
I know, I know. Then you also have a very extensive
01:10:26.109 --> 01:10:32.449
YouTube channel and I also watched you in a costume
01:10:32.449 --> 01:10:36.970
with the whole makeup from the Baroque era. That
01:10:36.970 --> 01:10:40.529
was so much fun to do. Yes. I was obsessed with
01:10:40.529 --> 01:10:45.670
that for a week. Wow. Where do you usually do
01:10:45.670 --> 01:10:48.130
the recording? Is that your home in Brooklyn?
01:10:48.449 --> 01:10:52.529
Yes, yes. That's a beautiful studio. Thank you.
01:10:52.590 --> 01:10:57.029
Yeah. I'm very lucky. I actually have recorded
01:10:57.029 --> 01:11:02.090
my last four albums in my home. Really? Yes.
01:11:02.210 --> 01:11:07.119
It started with the Cello Suites. I own a Bosendorfer
01:11:07.119 --> 01:11:11.560
piano, which I just absolutely love. And the
01:11:11.560 --> 01:11:15.579
cello register on it is so beautiful that I think
01:11:15.579 --> 01:11:18.079
if I didn't have that piano, I wouldn't think
01:11:18.079 --> 01:11:22.199
of recording the cello suites because it's just
01:11:22.199 --> 01:11:26.399
the singing tone and the warmth and the expressivity
01:11:26.399 --> 01:11:29.760
of that particular register. Wow. Yeah, it's
01:11:29.760 --> 01:11:32.920
a beautiful piano. And then your channel is beautiful.
01:11:34.199 --> 01:11:37.840
Did you, so you have a sort of like a sound system
01:11:37.840 --> 01:11:42.260
or something, recording system? Well, no, I mean,
01:11:42.279 --> 01:11:47.760
with my actual recordings, the albums, I had
01:11:47.760 --> 01:11:52.539
somebody come to the home and we were just doing
01:11:52.539 --> 01:11:55.319
it on the weekends in between, you know, takes
01:11:55.319 --> 01:11:58.439
in between the planes passing by and children
01:11:58.439 --> 01:12:00.699
playing and the birds, et cetera. And it worked
01:12:00.699 --> 01:12:05.170
because it was quiet enough. But the videos that
01:12:05.170 --> 01:12:07.930
I make on YouTube, I just mostly do with my iPad.
01:12:08.109 --> 01:12:11.270
I mean, once in a while, depending. Now I have,
01:12:11.329 --> 01:12:14.689
I think, about 250 videos or so, which is mind
01:12:14.689 --> 01:12:17.510
boggling. But I started all of this to promote
01:12:17.510 --> 01:12:20.289
the Brandenburg Duets. You know, I was told when
01:12:20.289 --> 01:12:22.329
I started doing them and my goal was to make
01:12:22.329 --> 01:12:24.649
a recording, was that I need to get on social
01:12:24.649 --> 01:12:27.590
media in earnest and I need to start posting.
01:12:27.649 --> 01:12:30.109
And I had this idea of a Monday morning Bach
01:12:30.109 --> 01:12:35.050
post. So in 2017, I believe I started every Monday.
01:12:35.449 --> 01:12:39.609
I posted on social media and then the same video
01:12:39.609 --> 01:12:44.130
went on YouTube. And that has been my kind of
01:12:44.130 --> 01:12:46.850
main tool in building up my social media following.
01:12:47.609 --> 01:12:51.789
And I'm still doing it. Yeah, it's educational.
01:12:51.810 --> 01:12:55.510
And you are actually quite natural at it on camera.
01:12:56.210 --> 01:13:00.119
Well, I guess I became so. But I love making
01:13:00.119 --> 01:13:02.380
those videos because they're a great way of practice,
01:13:02.600 --> 01:13:04.180
you know, because you usually have to do quite
01:13:04.180 --> 01:13:06.439
a few takes. And every time you play it again,
01:13:06.520 --> 01:13:09.279
it gets better and better. So you practice up
01:13:09.279 --> 01:13:13.100
the piece really well and you memorize it. The
01:13:13.100 --> 01:13:17.420
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today. Thank you for your support, and I look
01:14:07.489 --> 01:14:10.029
forward to sharing more joyous and meaningful
01:14:10.029 --> 01:14:14.010
experiences with you on The Piano Pod. What do
01:14:14.010 --> 01:14:17.529
you think about teaching polyphony? Maybe you
01:14:17.529 --> 01:14:21.789
already covered, but what I sometimes... do is
01:14:21.789 --> 01:14:24.649
uh especially even like the advanced ones because
01:14:24.649 --> 01:14:30.289
as a pianist playing polyphony is not easy you
01:14:30.289 --> 01:14:36.149
know it is not um and then because we sometimes
01:14:36.149 --> 01:14:40.069
i hear you know prelude and fugue especially
01:14:40.069 --> 01:14:42.989
fugue i hear students playing in such a way that
01:14:42.989 --> 01:14:46.329
you just hear the harmony vertical vertically
01:14:46.329 --> 01:14:51.039
right it's very hard to hear three or four different
01:14:51.039 --> 01:14:53.779
voices independently, and that's very difficult
01:14:53.779 --> 01:14:58.060
to do. Yes, I think it's ear training. I think,
01:14:58.079 --> 01:15:03.659
again, the analysis is very important. It's very
01:15:03.659 --> 01:15:07.819
important to look at not only, you know, in a
01:15:07.819 --> 01:15:10.319
fugue it's difficult because there are many layers,
01:15:10.439 --> 01:15:16.619
but to look at the theme itself, to try to understand
01:15:16.619 --> 01:15:20.199
that as a unit. And then obviously, you know,
01:15:20.220 --> 01:15:22.460
to show wherever it occurs and so on, which I
01:15:22.460 --> 01:15:26.100
think most is not difficult. You know, what we
01:15:26.100 --> 01:15:28.960
used to do, I used to do as a child studying,
01:15:29.039 --> 01:15:33.000
I used to actually rewrite the fugue in three
01:15:33.000 --> 01:15:36.279
different colors. I'm not saying that needs to
01:15:36.279 --> 01:15:40.520
be a method, but it helped. And certainly playing
01:15:40.520 --> 01:15:43.800
through each voice, it helps see the continuity
01:15:43.800 --> 01:15:48.640
of it. But it's certainly not easy. And again,
01:15:48.859 --> 01:15:53.699
I don't think everybody can do it justice. You
01:15:53.699 --> 01:15:56.439
know, it's just one of those things. As you know,
01:15:56.500 --> 01:15:59.140
as a teacher, your students come with different
01:15:59.140 --> 01:16:06.479
natural abilities or different natural difficulties
01:16:06.479 --> 01:16:11.199
or, you know, weak spots. And hearing polyphony
01:16:11.199 --> 01:16:13.920
and playing polyphony is just not everyone can
01:16:13.920 --> 01:16:17.039
do it equally well. So you can definitely develop
01:16:17.039 --> 01:16:23.220
it by trying to go over each voice and analysis.
01:16:23.699 --> 01:16:28.239
But beyond that, I'm not sure, you know, you
01:16:28.239 --> 01:16:31.020
know, structure, understanding the structures
01:16:31.020 --> 01:16:34.720
is most important, I think. Yeah. I do a lot
01:16:34.720 --> 01:16:38.140
of color, use different colors to, first of all,
01:16:38.140 --> 01:16:41.760
you know, divide that into different sections.
01:16:41.800 --> 01:16:44.300
Like, you know, this is a theme and then this
01:16:44.300 --> 01:16:46.909
is a. section the bridge section so episodes
01:16:46.909 --> 01:16:49.789
so how you yeah yeah that sort of things yeah
01:16:49.789 --> 01:16:53.189
it helps but it's not easy now another thing
01:16:53.189 --> 01:16:57.470
would be articulation and pedal right so people
01:16:57.470 --> 01:17:00.609
argue about it and then sometimes i hear students
01:17:00.609 --> 01:17:05.329
play so dry that there are a lot of staccato
01:17:05.329 --> 01:17:10.789
going on yeah so what is your take on those those
01:17:10.789 --> 01:17:15.510
articulations and the pedal I think variety is
01:17:15.510 --> 01:17:20.970
key. I like many ways of being able to play Bach.
01:17:21.310 --> 01:17:27.289
And of course, as pianists, we often play the
01:17:27.289 --> 01:17:30.850
same pieces after we put them aside, after an
01:17:30.850 --> 01:17:34.329
interval. And I find that with me, very often,
01:17:34.369 --> 01:17:37.470
I find myself playing something, especially after
01:17:37.470 --> 01:17:39.810
putting it aside, in a very new, different way.
01:17:39.989 --> 01:17:44.930
And with Bach, it is possible. So I agree that
01:17:44.930 --> 01:17:48.430
certainly a specific way that people feel is
01:17:48.430 --> 01:17:52.130
proper for Bach is maybe historically informed
01:17:52.130 --> 01:17:55.789
and valid, and one needs to be educated and understand
01:17:55.789 --> 01:18:00.810
where that comes from. Yet again, sometimes it's
01:18:00.810 --> 01:18:03.850
just gimmicky. Glenn Gould certainly did a lot
01:18:03.850 --> 01:18:07.369
of new and interesting things with his recordings,
01:18:07.470 --> 01:18:10.770
but at the same time, they didn't always pay
01:18:10.770 --> 01:18:15.319
off. necessarily, and then he would re -record
01:18:15.319 --> 01:18:19.840
things, as we know. So I think it's important
01:18:19.840 --> 01:18:22.460
to use the resources of the piano, which can
01:18:22.460 --> 01:18:25.479
sound like a harpsichord with a certain touch,
01:18:25.619 --> 01:18:29.060
and can sound like an organ with a different
01:18:29.060 --> 01:18:32.659
touch, and can sound like a piano. And as a matter
01:18:32.659 --> 01:18:36.260
of fact, in my last recording, The Absolute Lutz
01:18:36.260 --> 01:18:40.899
Suites, I distinctly try to treat the first set
01:18:40.899 --> 01:18:45.369
as a pianist, a second set as a more of a harpsichord
01:18:45.369 --> 01:18:50.229
idea and touch, especially in the prelude, and
01:18:50.229 --> 01:18:53.489
the last one more as an organ. And I actually
01:18:53.489 --> 01:18:57.229
hold in the prelude, I hold some notes to create
01:18:57.229 --> 01:19:00.770
the chords because the music lends itself to
01:19:00.770 --> 01:19:04.989
that. So there is no one way to play Bach. I
01:19:04.989 --> 01:19:08.600
certainly use pedal. Again, one needs to listen
01:19:08.600 --> 01:19:11.359
and apply it in places where the harmony can
01:19:11.359 --> 01:19:13.560
be blended. There are plenty of places like that.
01:19:14.619 --> 01:19:18.680
So we need to use our judgment and certainly
01:19:18.680 --> 01:19:23.199
stop saying that one cannot play Bach on the
01:19:23.199 --> 01:19:26.159
piano. Bach used all the instruments that were
01:19:26.159 --> 01:19:29.199
accessible to him during his lifetime, and I'm
01:19:29.199 --> 01:19:32.119
sure he would have approved and would really
01:19:32.119 --> 01:19:35.600
enjoy playing on the piano. You know, even on
01:19:35.600 --> 01:19:39.720
a synthesizer like, you know, Wendy Carlos or
01:19:39.720 --> 01:19:44.380
on a theremin like Rosalind Turek actually made
01:19:44.380 --> 01:19:47.220
her Carnegie Hall debut playing Bach on the theremin,
01:19:47.359 --> 01:19:50.720
which is an electronic instrument that you don't
01:19:50.720 --> 01:19:54.520
even touch anything. It's completely energy based.
01:19:54.760 --> 01:20:00.359
And, you know, it works. Yeah. And then do you
01:20:00.359 --> 01:20:03.739
know a pianist, Chris O 'Reilly? Yes. Yeah, he
01:20:03.739 --> 01:20:08.239
did the whole book one and book two of Well -Tempered
01:20:08.239 --> 01:20:12.359
Clavier on virtual instrument. Yeah, that was
01:20:12.359 --> 01:20:14.460
interesting, you know, connecting the keyboard
01:20:14.460 --> 01:20:18.500
into his computer. And then so each, you know,
01:20:18.500 --> 01:20:20.520
Well -Tempered Clavier, every single one had
01:20:20.520 --> 01:20:22.899
a different temperament. That was interesting.
01:20:23.060 --> 01:20:26.340
That was an interesting. I mean, there's, you
01:20:26.340 --> 01:20:28.479
know, everybody does their own thing. And it's
01:20:28.479 --> 01:20:31.119
wonderful that Bach is a source of so much inspiration.
01:20:50.769 --> 01:20:55.050
You know, I think it's another thing that needs
01:20:55.050 --> 01:21:00.729
to be reconsidered and departed from the historical.
01:21:02.169 --> 01:21:07.590
period instrument ideas is the ornamentation
01:21:07.590 --> 01:21:12.430
and the once treatment of repeats. I actually
01:21:12.430 --> 01:21:15.489
just spoke to somebody who's writing a thesis
01:21:15.489 --> 01:21:17.630
on the well -tempered clavier and performance
01:21:17.630 --> 01:21:20.670
practices. And it was very interesting young
01:21:20.670 --> 01:21:25.069
lady from Belfast in Ireland. When I was in London,
01:21:25.069 --> 01:21:29.489
I met with her and she was questioning. this
01:21:29.489 --> 01:21:33.029
stickler attitude toward ornaments and this whole
01:21:33.029 --> 01:21:37.470
um historic instrument you know practice and
01:21:37.470 --> 01:21:42.210
um i think it's it's important um one thought
01:21:42.210 --> 01:21:45.430
that i had was was new for me was that um people
01:21:45.430 --> 01:21:48.229
who perform in period instruments by and large
01:21:48.229 --> 01:21:51.130
are not pianists right obviously there are keyboard
01:21:51.130 --> 01:21:54.310
players who play in period orchestras and they're
01:21:54.310 --> 01:21:56.350
trained in their harpsichords and they certainly
01:21:56.350 --> 01:22:00.909
belong in those ensembles, yet most of the people
01:22:00.909 --> 01:22:05.289
who thrive in the period instrument milieu are
01:22:05.289 --> 01:22:09.729
usually string players, some wind players, who
01:22:09.729 --> 01:22:15.029
in a way feel that they are a more active, full
01:22:15.029 --> 01:22:18.869
-fledged, more lively member of an ensemble compared
01:22:18.869 --> 01:22:22.770
to a normal orchestra, where there's a conductor
01:22:22.770 --> 01:22:26.210
that comes tells you what to do. So I think for
01:22:26.210 --> 01:22:29.710
string instruments, by and large, and oboes,
01:22:29.710 --> 01:22:33.590
being a part of a period instrument ensemble
01:22:33.590 --> 01:22:37.270
is a wonderful experience. For us pianists, it
01:22:37.270 --> 01:22:42.149
really is, we're not a part of that. And we play
01:22:42.149 --> 01:22:44.329
Bach a certain way that we're used to, that we're
01:22:44.329 --> 01:22:48.329
taught. And since we mostly play on our own when
01:22:48.329 --> 01:22:51.149
it comes to Bach, we have a lot more freedom.
01:22:52.880 --> 01:22:56.180
to improvise or to do what Chris O 'Reilly did
01:22:56.180 --> 01:22:58.340
or to do all kinds of interesting things with
01:22:58.340 --> 01:23:02.060
Bach. And I think the treatments of repeats is
01:23:02.060 --> 01:23:04.739
very important in that I think we need to depart
01:23:04.739 --> 01:23:07.279
and be a little bit more freer with what we want
01:23:07.279 --> 01:23:10.619
to do right now, as opposed to do things the
01:23:10.619 --> 01:23:15.979
way they were done in 1750 or 1800. So I think
01:23:15.979 --> 01:23:20.319
it's also a very creative endeavor for pianists
01:23:20.319 --> 01:23:24.060
and a very liberating one. And to look into the
01:23:24.060 --> 01:23:26.500
text and see what can I do and how can I repeat
01:23:26.500 --> 01:23:30.659
things. And I find that listening to recordings,
01:23:30.960 --> 01:23:34.859
for example, I listened to probably 15, 20 recordings
01:23:34.859 --> 01:23:37.760
of the cello suites when I was doing the transcriptions.
01:23:37.760 --> 01:23:40.859
And, you know, as an aside, that was a huge,
01:23:40.899 --> 01:23:44.159
huge element of transcribing for me is the listening
01:23:44.159 --> 01:23:47.600
to prepare because I need to do a lot of listening
01:23:47.600 --> 01:23:50.510
to everything extant. for every one of those
01:23:50.510 --> 01:23:53.630
pieces to educate myself to different interpretations.
01:23:54.090 --> 01:23:57.489
And it's really, it was mind -boggling to me
01:23:57.489 --> 01:24:00.609
how few cellists did anything when they played
01:24:00.609 --> 01:24:04.189
the cello suite. You know, the iconic Pablo Casals,
01:24:04.350 --> 01:24:09.130
Rastropovich, they barely embellished, they do
01:24:09.130 --> 01:24:11.750
nothing, literally. They would repeat exactly
01:24:11.750 --> 01:24:16.170
the same way, even Yo -Yo Ma. And I was thinking,
01:24:16.210 --> 01:24:18.649
but why? They're repeating, they're playing.
01:24:19.039 --> 01:24:23.340
six suites, they're not doing anything. And why
01:24:23.340 --> 01:24:26.260
is that? You know, I think people are afraid
01:24:26.260 --> 01:24:29.279
to ruffle feathers or they just don't think about
01:24:29.279 --> 01:24:32.880
it. But repeats were such an important part for
01:24:32.880 --> 01:24:37.180
a performer to showcase their creativity. Nobody
01:24:37.180 --> 01:24:39.380
in Bach times would play a repeat exactly the
01:24:39.380 --> 01:24:41.920
same way. And why should we just do a little
01:24:41.920 --> 01:24:44.680
trill when there's so much material in the music?
01:24:45.079 --> 01:24:48.760
that can be a point of departure. So, and I write
01:24:48.760 --> 01:24:51.380
about that in my booklet notes, and I certainly
01:24:51.380 --> 01:24:55.300
do a few unorthodox repeats in my lute suites,
01:24:55.359 --> 01:24:59.979
you know, intentionally, because I want to show
01:24:59.979 --> 01:25:03.199
people that nobody's going to fire them from
01:25:03.199 --> 01:25:06.119
anything if they do that, you know, and it just
01:25:06.119 --> 01:25:08.699
sounds a lot more fresh, especially for amateur
01:25:08.699 --> 01:25:11.380
musicians who are not secure in what they should
01:25:11.380 --> 01:25:14.060
do. You know, people who look at the score and...
01:25:14.380 --> 01:25:16.359
think that this is what they need to play even
01:25:16.359 --> 01:25:18.520
if the score is edited by someone that perhaps
01:25:18.520 --> 01:25:21.819
wasn't even that educated you know but but this
01:25:21.819 --> 01:25:24.720
idea of um trying to experiment with repeats
01:25:24.720 --> 01:25:30.680
to me is very important yeah thank you yes that's
01:25:30.680 --> 01:25:34.380
true and then in in that sense like as us pianists
01:25:34.380 --> 01:25:37.640
we are more creative no because when we repeat
01:25:37.640 --> 01:25:41.510
something whether that is Bach or excuse me,
01:25:41.510 --> 01:25:45.270
not Clementi, a Scarlatti sonata, even with the
01:25:45.270 --> 01:25:50.750
second repeat or handle, you know, suite. When
01:25:50.750 --> 01:25:53.510
they repeat, they have to do something else.
01:25:53.550 --> 01:25:56.869
Like we changed the ornaments. That's how I was
01:25:56.869 --> 01:26:00.350
taught. So I guess we are, have more sort of
01:26:00.350 --> 01:26:04.829
sense of freedom and improvisation in mind. Yes,
01:26:04.850 --> 01:26:07.689
I think so. And we are not a part of an ensemble,
01:26:07.930 --> 01:26:11.680
you know, at least. There are pieces for solo
01:26:11.680 --> 01:26:13.899
cello and solo violin in the repertoire, but
01:26:13.899 --> 01:26:17.319
not that many from that period. And, you know,
01:26:17.359 --> 01:26:19.699
I once played with a violinist, a Bach sonata,
01:26:19.880 --> 01:26:23.380
and, you know, he literally did not understand
01:26:23.380 --> 01:26:26.880
that at some point I actually have the theme.
01:26:27.819 --> 01:26:29.420
You know, he's like, you're playing too loud.
01:26:29.560 --> 01:26:33.560
I'm like, I have the theme. You know, sometimes
01:26:33.560 --> 01:26:36.140
orchestral players, they're not trained to really
01:26:36.140 --> 01:26:37.960
try to listen to the whole. They know what their
01:26:37.960 --> 01:26:40.310
part is. I mean, obviously, most are not that
01:26:40.310 --> 01:26:43.369
way. But we pianists, you know, the part of package
01:26:43.369 --> 01:26:46.689
of being part and parcel of being a pianist is
01:26:46.689 --> 01:26:51.770
to consider many different voices and to consider
01:26:51.770 --> 01:26:57.210
what to do and to have more choices. But I think
01:26:57.210 --> 01:26:59.409
it's important for other instrumentalists to,
01:26:59.529 --> 01:27:02.810
at least when repeating, you know, solo Baroque
01:27:02.810 --> 01:27:05.090
music, to do a little bit more. And I'm still
01:27:05.090 --> 01:27:09.199
not seeing it on recordings. That's a very interesting
01:27:09.199 --> 01:27:13.739
point. Yeah. When you listen to recordings of,
01:27:13.760 --> 01:27:19.699
you know, Andra Schiff or all of the contemporary,
01:27:19.720 --> 01:27:23.659
you know, Bach specialists, Angela Hewitt, whom
01:27:23.659 --> 01:27:26.399
I love, you know, I admire both of them greatly,
01:27:26.479 --> 01:27:29.319
but I have heard them in concert playing, you
01:27:29.319 --> 01:27:31.800
know, all of the partitas and, you know, they
01:27:31.800 --> 01:27:37.840
do the series and it's just very... surprising
01:27:37.840 --> 01:27:42.819
at how little is done with repeats maybe I don't
01:27:42.819 --> 01:27:46.699
know it's a trend because Bach's era used to
01:27:46.699 --> 01:27:50.960
be more the improvisation was encouraged yeah
01:27:50.960 --> 01:27:55.979
and somehow that sort of disappeared that but
01:27:55.979 --> 01:28:00.100
it's coming back the philosophy of improvisation
01:28:00.100 --> 01:28:02.909
or introducing improvisation to music lessons
01:28:02.909 --> 01:28:06.609
or piano lessons or even as a pianist. I think
01:28:06.609 --> 01:28:11.510
it is slowly coming back. Yes. I think so. And
01:28:11.510 --> 01:28:15.770
it would be nice to also cross over a little
01:28:15.770 --> 01:28:19.310
bit in the actual performance of a repeat, even
01:28:19.310 --> 01:28:23.369
if it's, you know, I think people are, they want
01:28:23.369 --> 01:28:25.329
to ruffle feathers, you know, because they're
01:28:25.329 --> 01:28:29.239
critics. But why is she doing that? You know,
01:28:29.279 --> 01:28:34.020
Bach is sacred. A lot of people look at that
01:28:34.020 --> 01:28:40.119
as, you know, some kind of a, you know, effigy,
01:28:40.119 --> 01:28:46.039
some kind of a fossil that needs to be dusted
01:28:46.039 --> 01:28:50.939
off periodically. They don't see how Bach looked
01:28:50.939 --> 01:28:54.920
forward. Schoenberg called Bach the first 12
01:28:54.920 --> 01:28:58.630
-tone composer. We all know that Bach is very
01:28:58.630 --> 01:29:03.510
jazzy. And especially if we consider, by and
01:29:03.510 --> 01:29:06.810
large, his music for other instruments, we see
01:29:06.810 --> 01:29:12.149
how much he was looking forward. And yet we treat
01:29:12.149 --> 01:29:17.770
him as somebody who liked to wear that wig. I
01:29:17.770 --> 01:29:21.210
don't know how that happened. Well, there's a
01:29:21.210 --> 01:29:23.869
lot of respect. There's a lot of respect. And
01:29:23.869 --> 01:29:26.170
I'm saying that I know. I don't know either.
01:29:26.600 --> 01:29:30.359
But I find, again, in the past 10 years, I have
01:29:30.359 --> 01:29:33.159
grown a little bit less timid just because there's
01:29:33.159 --> 01:29:35.640
a part of me that's perhaps, you know, a little
01:29:35.640 --> 01:29:39.220
full of itself that says, you know, you worked
01:29:39.220 --> 01:29:41.659
hard at this. You transcribed the Brandenburgs.
01:29:41.659 --> 01:29:44.300
You did this and this. So if you want to do something
01:29:44.300 --> 01:29:46.720
a little crazy, people are still going to say,
01:29:46.859 --> 01:29:49.439
OK, well, yeah, we'll let her, you know, we'll
01:29:49.439 --> 01:29:51.939
let that go because she, you know, she worked
01:29:51.939 --> 01:29:55.739
hard and she obviously respects Bach. So I grew
01:29:55.739 --> 01:29:59.340
a little bit less afraid, as I said, to do some
01:29:59.340 --> 01:30:01.939
strange things, some jazzy things and repeats.
01:30:02.260 --> 01:30:05.539
But I think it takes a long journey for somebody
01:30:05.539 --> 01:30:09.399
to become a little bit less afraid and coming
01:30:09.399 --> 01:30:12.340
from a different perspective, like I do, because
01:30:12.340 --> 01:30:14.659
I'm certainly not a part of the establishment
01:30:14.659 --> 01:30:18.880
of the classical music. I'm not a widely concert
01:30:18.880 --> 01:30:23.979
-tasing pianist. I come to it from, I've come
01:30:23.979 --> 01:30:27.560
around through this lens of transcription. So
01:30:27.560 --> 01:30:31.539
it's a different perspective. Sure. Where did
01:30:31.539 --> 01:30:35.079
you get this love for or bug for arrangements
01:30:35.079 --> 01:30:39.000
or transcription? That's a very creative side
01:30:39.000 --> 01:30:43.399
of music making, you know? Yeah, it was always
01:30:43.399 --> 01:30:46.239
from wanting to play something that I love. My
01:30:46.239 --> 01:30:48.539
first transcription was Night on Bold Mountain
01:30:48.539 --> 01:30:52.520
by Ozark Street. Incredible, incredible transcription.
01:30:52.880 --> 01:30:56.579
I love Mussorgsky. Thank you. And I was playing
01:30:56.579 --> 01:31:00.079
pictures at an exhibition and I was like, I want
01:31:00.079 --> 01:31:02.939
to play this. And I was still in college and
01:31:02.939 --> 01:31:06.500
I created and that was before the Internet. And
01:31:06.500 --> 01:31:09.199
then, you know, I wanted to play a Tchaikovsky
01:31:09.199 --> 01:31:12.300
Waltz from Eugene Onegin, a piece that I associated
01:31:12.300 --> 01:31:15.640
with my childhood. And I made that transcription.
01:31:17.680 --> 01:31:20.479
You know, at some point I did take I was well
01:31:20.479 --> 01:31:23.140
educated in high school and in college. I took
01:31:23.140 --> 01:31:26.119
orchestration courses. I took figured, you know,
01:31:26.159 --> 01:31:30.920
I took polyphony courses and I played four hands
01:31:30.920 --> 01:31:34.279
piano. So I felt, you know, and I do have perfect
01:31:34.279 --> 01:31:37.119
pitch, which helps in listening and analyzing
01:31:37.119 --> 01:31:41.380
what you're about to transcribe. So, you know,
01:31:41.380 --> 01:31:44.720
I felt like I was somehow qualified with my education
01:31:44.720 --> 01:31:49.800
to do it and came out well. But always in the
01:31:49.800 --> 01:31:52.479
Brandenburgs, I wanted to play. And again, there
01:31:52.479 --> 01:31:55.560
are people who understand that whatever exists
01:31:55.560 --> 01:31:59.460
was unplayable because there's no famous pianist
01:31:59.460 --> 01:32:02.100
or duo that have been playing the Brandenburgs.
01:32:02.100 --> 01:32:04.600
How is that possible? You know, how is it possible
01:32:04.600 --> 01:32:07.779
that we've had for a hundred years the regular
01:32:07.779 --> 01:32:10.579
transcription of the six Brandenburg concertos
01:32:10.579 --> 01:32:13.800
and we don't hear them in concert? from Martha
01:32:13.800 --> 01:32:16.340
Argerich, who constantly plays four hands, from
01:32:16.340 --> 01:32:20.560
anybody except Anderson and Rowe, who played,
01:32:20.600 --> 01:32:23.399
who themselves transcribed the third Brandenburg,
01:32:23.600 --> 01:32:26.079
and that's the easiest one to transcribe because
01:32:26.079 --> 01:32:28.340
it's the smaller strings -only orchestration.
01:32:28.500 --> 01:32:30.859
How is it possible that we have this music and
01:32:30.859 --> 01:32:34.079
nobody played it? Because it's unplayable. So,
01:32:34.180 --> 01:32:36.579
you know, to make it, I wanted to play it so
01:32:36.579 --> 01:32:39.979
badly. It's Bach, you know, so I ended up doing
01:32:39.979 --> 01:32:46.180
it. Unfortunately, I felt qualified because I
01:32:46.180 --> 01:32:49.479
have been playing four hands for over a decade
01:32:49.479 --> 01:32:55.020
and I can do that. But I'm not a composer, for
01:32:55.020 --> 01:32:57.960
example, although I'm trying to just do that
01:32:57.960 --> 01:33:00.539
a little bit just for fun because I like the
01:33:00.539 --> 01:33:03.739
process of creating a composition. But I'm not
01:33:03.739 --> 01:33:09.220
somebody who wants to adorn what's written. Embellishments
01:33:09.220 --> 01:33:12.789
and repeats are one thing. But I don't want to
01:33:12.789 --> 01:33:17.909
change something like the Brandenburgs. It's
01:33:17.909 --> 01:33:21.029
been a really fun conversation. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
01:33:21.069 --> 01:33:24.409
So for folks who are listening today, please
01:33:24.409 --> 01:33:28.470
check out Eleanor's wonderful, wonderful transcriptions
01:33:28.470 --> 01:33:31.810
and recordings. You can go to her website at
01:33:31.810 --> 01:33:35.329
eleanorbindman .com. And also you should check
01:33:35.329 --> 01:33:40.279
out her wonderful YouTube channel as well. Also,
01:33:40.399 --> 01:33:44.159
she has her page on Facebook and so on. Then
01:33:44.159 --> 01:33:46.460
I will list all the links in the show notes.
01:33:46.760 --> 01:33:49.579
Now, what's your next project? What's something
01:33:49.579 --> 01:33:52.319
you're cooking up right now? Well, it's actually
01:33:52.319 --> 01:33:55.460
something that has been mostly cooked already.
01:33:55.720 --> 01:33:59.159
And again, it's a byproduct of the past 10 years.
01:33:59.399 --> 01:34:03.159
During my transcriptions of all of these places,
01:34:03.239 --> 01:34:06.500
actually all of these pieces, I also created
01:34:06.500 --> 01:34:09.989
some what I call stray transcriptions of Bach
01:34:09.989 --> 01:34:15.109
for piano solo. For example, I made some slow
01:34:15.109 --> 01:34:18.550
Brandenburg movements that are playable for piano
01:34:18.550 --> 01:34:21.010
solo, because most of the Brandenburgs are impossible
01:34:21.010 --> 01:34:25.170
to do justice with just one piano. So I have
01:34:25.170 --> 01:34:27.789
some slow movements, I have some more arias.
01:34:28.890 --> 01:34:33.109
Like I included one track on the absolute on
01:34:33.109 --> 01:34:36.449
this latest recording of an aria from St. John's
01:34:36.449 --> 01:34:40.310
Passion, Betrachta meiner Seel, which originally
01:34:40.310 --> 01:34:43.750
was scored including a lute. And it's a very
01:34:43.750 --> 01:34:47.670
beautiful, but a more romantic sounding arrangement
01:34:47.670 --> 01:34:51.170
because again, a lot of Bach transcribed on the
01:34:51.170 --> 01:34:55.699
piano. sounds very romantic because of the harmonies.
01:34:55.720 --> 01:34:57.920
And, you know, not written. He didn't write the
01:34:57.920 --> 01:35:01.300
aria for piano. So on piano, it sounds like melody
01:35:01.300 --> 01:35:05.319
with accompaniment. So I have about eight or
01:35:05.319 --> 01:35:08.800
nine of these pieces already done. And my plan
01:35:08.800 --> 01:35:12.359
is to do a few more, which are in the works,
01:35:12.460 --> 01:35:15.800
and then to try to sell it to a record label.
01:35:16.270 --> 01:35:19.470
wow so that and and that could be my last kind
01:35:19.470 --> 01:35:22.510
of Bach compilation because uh people have been
01:35:22.510 --> 01:35:26.170
asking me to do the violin uh suites but for
01:35:26.170 --> 01:35:28.569
some reason I don't find myself interested in
01:35:28.569 --> 01:35:33.630
that okay I don't know why yeah it's okay so
01:35:33.630 --> 01:35:37.869
then then you have maybe you're gonna move on
01:35:37.869 --> 01:35:41.659
to who knows handle I don't know I don't know
01:35:41.659 --> 01:35:43.560
you know I don't know I find that this whole
01:35:43.560 --> 01:35:47.020
boxing came about gradually and it unfolded gradually
01:35:47.020 --> 01:35:51.260
and I didn't plan it certainly when I was done
01:35:51.260 --> 01:35:54.020
with something sooner or later something else
01:35:54.020 --> 01:35:58.060
came so I think as in any artistic process one
01:35:58.060 --> 01:36:01.680
needs to maybe take a little break and just kind
01:36:01.680 --> 01:36:06.020
of tune out and then the new steps will become
01:36:06.020 --> 01:36:10.890
more visible in time. So I don't find that I
01:36:10.890 --> 01:36:13.909
have a concrete plan other than this next set
01:36:13.909 --> 01:36:18.449
of pieces. But I also, you know, I want to travel
01:36:18.449 --> 01:36:20.590
more. I want to experience more different things
01:36:20.590 --> 01:36:23.989
because my second child just moved out of the
01:36:23.989 --> 01:36:28.489
house. So I find myself a lot freer as far as
01:36:28.489 --> 01:36:32.750
my pastimes. Now, I think this would be a perfect.
01:36:33.210 --> 01:36:37.149
question to ask you because you are such a trailblazer
01:36:37.149 --> 01:36:40.649
so how do you think yeah classical music especially
01:36:40.649 --> 01:36:43.489
Bach can remain relevant in today's world how
01:36:43.489 --> 01:36:47.529
can we use as musicians and educators engage
01:36:47.529 --> 01:36:51.170
with broader audiences with such a you know gem
01:36:51.170 --> 01:36:55.890
of beautiful classical music well I think that
01:36:55.890 --> 01:36:58.850
something that we already talked about which
01:36:58.850 --> 01:37:03.939
is streaming and streaming at home is probably
01:37:03.939 --> 01:37:11.260
the most practical thing to do. And, you know,
01:37:11.279 --> 01:37:15.880
that's, I think maybe we need to try to devote
01:37:15.880 --> 01:37:21.640
ourselves more to that question of creating playlist
01:37:21.640 --> 01:37:25.199
listening, somehow engaging educators and just
01:37:25.199 --> 01:37:28.199
kind of pushing the listening part as opposed
01:37:28.199 --> 01:37:31.500
to the You know, music is good for the brain.
01:37:31.560 --> 01:37:35.340
So take a music lesson. I think we just need
01:37:35.340 --> 01:37:39.279
to promote listening and, you know, listening
01:37:39.279 --> 01:37:41.840
is a quality that we're losing a lot anyway,
01:37:41.960 --> 01:37:44.380
because we're so bombarded by different stimuli.
01:37:45.560 --> 01:37:49.800
So I think the fact that Bach is so, it speaks
01:37:49.800 --> 01:37:52.819
so closely to some part of us that pays attention.
01:37:53.380 --> 01:37:57.020
I think it will probably, it will probably go
01:37:57.020 --> 01:38:04.590
on. I think if it hasn't lost its relevance and
01:38:04.590 --> 01:38:07.890
so many people are doing all kinds of manipulations
01:38:07.890 --> 01:38:10.649
with it, I think it will be fine. I certainly
01:38:10.649 --> 01:38:13.449
don't think going to church is going to help
01:38:13.449 --> 01:38:17.789
the young generation to hear Bach. So any crossover,
01:38:18.310 --> 01:38:24.489
anything, any mixed playlists will be useful.
01:38:26.569 --> 01:38:28.810
But especially just listening, just getting used
01:38:28.810 --> 01:38:32.689
to that language and not treating it as some
01:38:32.689 --> 01:38:38.649
special occasion, elitist, you know, class related
01:38:38.649 --> 01:38:43.750
thing. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Now, what would you
01:38:43.750 --> 01:38:46.130
like your legacy to be as an artist educator?
01:38:46.890 --> 01:38:51.369
You know, I like the idea of the reconsideration
01:38:51.369 --> 01:38:56.060
of. who we are as musicians of different levels
01:38:56.060 --> 01:38:59.619
and at different levels of recognition or fame.
01:39:01.699 --> 01:39:06.779
And this going back to the amateurs, and certainly
01:39:06.779 --> 01:39:10.399
for the past few years, I have been trying to
01:39:10.399 --> 01:39:17.439
help adult amateurs feel more empowered, more
01:39:17.439 --> 01:39:25.130
comfortable with being who they are. and being
01:39:25.130 --> 01:39:29.869
an important part of the classical music business
01:39:29.869 --> 01:39:33.949
and the classical music world and being the audiences.
01:39:34.310 --> 01:39:40.270
The stars of the classical music world are wonderful
01:39:40.270 --> 01:39:46.050
people who work extremely hard. who deserve all
01:39:46.050 --> 01:39:48.789
the recognition they get. But there is a kind
01:39:48.789 --> 01:39:51.329
of a corporate feel to everything we're doing.
01:39:51.470 --> 01:39:55.189
And the famous people are such valuable real
01:39:55.189 --> 01:40:00.829
estate that even publicists, everything is invested
01:40:00.829 --> 01:40:04.170
into them. And they're being literally worked
01:40:04.170 --> 01:40:09.229
to a level which they probably find difficult.
01:40:09.449 --> 01:40:11.449
We don't really think about how difficult it
01:40:11.449 --> 01:40:14.800
is to be Yuja Wang. And what is her life really
01:40:14.800 --> 01:40:18.319
like? And, you know, how is the day -to -day
01:40:18.319 --> 01:40:21.439
existence? So I think there's this gap between
01:40:21.439 --> 01:40:23.939
people like that and then people who are not
01:40:23.939 --> 01:40:28.199
famous. And then there are the amateurs. So I
01:40:28.199 --> 01:40:32.640
think what I try to do by now is just to try
01:40:32.640 --> 01:40:37.479
to at least bring some more literature, some
01:40:37.479 --> 01:40:40.600
more works to the amateurs where they can feel
01:40:40.600 --> 01:40:46.850
that they're good. And I'd be very happy if that
01:40:46.850 --> 01:40:49.989
would happen because having taught so many people
01:40:49.989 --> 01:40:53.890
and having sat there and had to assuage them
01:40:53.890 --> 01:40:55.829
and say, it's okay, I know you made a mistake.
01:40:55.909 --> 01:40:59.350
You don't need to explain to me why. Let's just
01:40:59.350 --> 01:41:03.430
get on and enjoy the music. I think that's as
01:41:03.430 --> 01:41:06.310
much as one person can do at the moment. But
01:41:06.310 --> 01:41:08.550
I also would like to, as I know I'm saying for
01:41:08.550 --> 01:41:11.390
the third time, I would like to do something
01:41:11.390 --> 01:41:13.930
more concrete with the streaming and listening
01:41:13.930 --> 01:41:17.770
at home idea. And maybe you and I can talk about
01:41:17.770 --> 01:41:20.810
it later. Sure. Yeah, yeah. I would love to hear
01:41:20.810 --> 01:41:23.189
that. Yeah. And you're doing such an amazing
01:41:23.189 --> 01:41:26.529
job. It's engaging, educational. So that's exactly
01:41:26.529 --> 01:41:29.390
what the channel needs, right? Yeah. Thank you
01:41:29.390 --> 01:41:32.510
very much. I think we all do what we can. Sure.
01:41:33.739 --> 01:41:36.220
Well, this has been such a fun, inspirational
01:41:36.220 --> 01:41:39.600
conversation. But before I let you go, Eleanor,
01:41:39.779 --> 01:41:41.600
we have one more thing to do. It's called the
01:41:41.600 --> 01:41:44.640
rapid fire question. So this is the part of the
01:41:44.640 --> 01:41:46.880
show where I get to ask fun questions to each
01:41:46.880 --> 01:41:49.500
guest. Here's a little twist. As silly as these
01:41:49.500 --> 01:41:51.899
questions may sound, your answers may reveal
01:41:51.899 --> 01:41:55.279
who you truly are. So ready or not, let's do
01:41:55.279 --> 01:41:59.380
it. Okay. All right. Number one, what is your
01:41:59.380 --> 01:42:05.420
comfort food? Potatoes. Oh, yes. Do you like
01:42:05.420 --> 01:42:09.020
mashed potato or a specific? I love roasted potatoes,
01:42:09.399 --> 01:42:13.920
fried potatoes, French fries. How do you like
01:42:13.920 --> 01:42:16.960
your coffee in the morning? I like a regular
01:42:16.960 --> 01:42:20.380
drip brew coffee with a little bit of oat milk.
01:42:20.720 --> 01:42:26.100
Oh, oat milk. Nice. Cats or dogs? Dogs. Sunrise
01:42:26.100 --> 01:42:31.100
or sunset? Oof. I guess sunset just because I'm
01:42:31.100 --> 01:42:35.079
usually awake for that more. Summer or winter?
01:42:35.800 --> 01:42:39.380
Summer. Now, what skill have you always wanted
01:42:39.380 --> 01:42:42.359
to learn but haven't had a chance to? Japanese
01:42:42.359 --> 01:42:46.079
language. Oh, yes. I'll teach you. Oh, yeah?
01:42:46.159 --> 01:42:48.600
Great. That's my first language. I'll teach you
01:42:48.600 --> 01:42:52.800
Russian. Oh, yes. What is your word or words
01:42:52.800 --> 01:42:56.930
to live by? Honesty. Honesty. What is the most
01:42:56.930 --> 01:42:59.670
important quality you look for in other people?
01:43:00.050 --> 01:43:05.529
At this point, I have to say it is a calm disposition.
01:43:06.890 --> 01:43:11.569
I find that it's easier for me to be with people
01:43:11.569 --> 01:43:15.590
who are calm. Name three people who inspire you,
01:43:15.710 --> 01:43:19.130
living or dead. This is hard, I know. Well, I
01:43:19.130 --> 01:43:24.250
have to say Bach, I'm sorry. Krishnamurti. Jiddu
01:43:24.250 --> 01:43:27.970
Krishnamurti. a big influence in my inner life.
01:43:28.710 --> 01:43:33.289
Gosh, there's so many. I have to say Rosalind
01:43:33.289 --> 01:43:39.090
Turek because she's occupational. Wonderful artist.
01:43:39.449 --> 01:43:44.449
Name one piece in your current playlist. Enter
01:43:44.449 --> 01:43:49.189
Those Aguas by Paco de Lucia. I love flamenco.
01:43:49.590 --> 01:43:53.569
Oh, okay. I need to check it out. Okay, great.
01:43:54.399 --> 01:43:57.060
Now, last question. Fill in the blank. Music
01:43:57.060 --> 01:44:02.560
is blank. Music is life. Great. Now that wraps
01:44:02.560 --> 01:44:04.840
up this episode of The Pianobot. A heartfelt
01:44:04.840 --> 01:44:07.800
thanks to you, Eleanor, for joining us today
01:44:07.800 --> 01:44:10.079
and sharing your incredible stories and insights
01:44:10.079 --> 01:44:13.779
and expertise with such... joyful, authentic
01:44:13.779 --> 01:44:17.720
manner. And to our wonderful audience, you can
01:44:17.720 --> 01:44:20.060
learn more about Eleanor and her work by visiting
01:44:20.060 --> 01:44:23.600
her website at eleanorbeinman .com and start
01:44:23.600 --> 01:44:26.560
listening to her wonderful albums on all streaming
01:44:26.560 --> 01:44:29.859
services, especially the latest one. And of course,
01:44:29.859 --> 01:44:32.880
thank you to our wonderful fans and listeners
01:44:32.880 --> 01:44:35.060
for tuning in today. If you enjoyed today's episode,
01:44:35.140 --> 01:44:37.380
please give it a thumbs up and then subscribe
01:44:37.380 --> 01:44:40.300
to The Pianopod on YouTube. And don't forget
01:44:40.300 --> 01:44:43.460
to share and review this episode on social media
01:44:43.460 --> 01:44:46.840
and tag The Pianopod. I will see you for the
01:44:46.840 --> 01:44:48.880
next episode of The Pianopod. Bye, everyone.
01:44:49.039 --> 01:44:52.079
And thank you, Eleanor, once again. Thank you,
01:44:52.079 --> 01:44:54.600
Yukimi. It was wonderful. Thank you.