Another lemon from Gardiner

Posted by: mikeeschman on 06 December 2008

On Gramophone's breathless recommendation, i ordered the Grainger disk with Percy Grainger's "The Warriors" and Holst's "The Planets".

The last thing i wanted or needed was another Planets, but i am a long time Grainger addict, and on his "Grainger plays Grainger" he does a piano reduction of "The Warriors" that i quite love.

i was really excited to get this disk!

unfortunately, the disk is a downer. grainger's orchestration is juvenile - better suited to a carny than the concert stage.

the philharmonia's rendering of the planets is ok (yawn) - not worth a shoulder shrug.
Posted on: 06 December 2008 by mikeeschman
quote:
Originally posted by munch:
What is a piano reduction?
He moves to a smaller one?or gets his saw out?


it's when a composer rewrites an orchestral score for piano. the voicing is generally "reduced" so that 10 fingers can play
what 80 people normally do.
Posted on: 06 December 2008 by mikeeschman
quote:
Originally posted by munch:
No one has ten fingers.


ok, 8 fingers and two thumbs.

or if a piano reduction for one hand, four fingers and one thumb.
Posted on: 06 December 2008 by hungryhalibut
So what's this got to do with Gardiner? I have just got the latest of his Bach cantatas (music for new year) and very good is is too.

Nigel
Posted on: 06 December 2008 by mikeeschman
gardiner conducts the percy grainger and the planets we're discussing here. i have many things by gardiner that i love, including the beethoven symphonies and the berlioz symphonie fantastique, but this particular recording is a dud.
Posted on: 06 December 2008 by hungryhalibut
quote:
gardiner conducts the percy grainger and the planets we're discussing here


Ah, that explains it... I am hardly a classical buff, as you can see!

Nigel
Posted on: 07 December 2008 by Jeremy Marchant
quote:
Originally posted by mikeeschman:
it's when a composer rewrites an orchestral score for piano. the voicing is generally "reduced" so that 10 fingers can play
what 80 people normally do.

Of course, most composers before C20 wrote at the piano and then orchestrated.
when I used to make piano reductions for my own education, I got to Mahler before there was any need of a third stave if one was to get all the music down. Not that more than two staves is de facto unplayable: the Henze second piano concerto piano part goes to five staves in places - that's for clarity.
Of course, there's a difference between a piano reduction (as mikeeschman defines it - correctly in my view) and a piano arrangement, in which the arranger seeks to give the listener the impression of the/an orchestral sound - eg Liszt's transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies.
Posted on: 07 December 2008 by mikeeschman
quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Marchant:
quote:
Originally posted by mikeeschman:
it's when a composer rewrites an orchestral score for piano. the voicing is generally "reduced" so that 10 fingers can play
what 80 people normally do.

Of course, most composers before C20 wrote at the piano and then orchestrated.
when I used to make piano reductions for my own education, I got to Mahler before there was any need of a third stave if one was to get all the music down. Not that more than two staves is de facto unplayable: the Henze second piano concerto piano part goes to five staves in places - that's for clarity.
Of course, there's a difference between a piano reduction (as mikeeschman defines it - correctly in my view) and a piano arrangement, in which the arranger seeks to give the listener the impression of the/an orchestral sound - eg Liszt's transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies.


it is my suspicion that the piano piece was "reduced" from the orchestral work, but on vague assertions. the two renderings might be of independent origins - all they share is melody.

so my use of "piano reduction" was quite "loose".