Showing posts with label pizzicato left. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pizzicato left. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2015

VIOLIN PIZZICATO: WHAT IS IT?

PIZZICATO
1522251_10152010778829537_1033489489_n.jpg 320×480 píxeles


Pizzicato (pronounced 'pitzi-KA-toe') from the Italian:
pizzicato, roughly translated as plucked) is a playing
 technique that involves plucking the strings of a bowed
 string instrument with the fingers, rather than using the
 bow. The exact technique varies somewhat depending
 on the type of stringed instrument played, the style of
 the music, and the effect wanted. The technique of
 pizzicato (or "pizz" as an abbreviation of the term)
 produces a very different sound from bowing; short
 and percussive rather than sustained. A direction
 given to players to return to the use of the bow is
 indicated by the term "arco."
RIGHT HAND PIZZICATO
To play pizzicato or pizz (pronounced 'pitz') is to
play the violin with one's finger while the violin
remains under the player's chin. To do this, (the
most traditional method) the player would quickly
place the frog of the bow in the palm of his/her
right hand (the bow hand), place the pad of the
right thumb (bow thumb) against the corner of
the fingerboard, and pluck the string firmly but
gently with the right index finger. The finger
should be plucking the strings between the
bridge and the end of the fingerboard, where
the bow usually plays. This technique is called
the "right hand" pizzicato and it is the pizzicato
most generally used.

 HOW TO START
RIGHT HAND PIZZICATO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WOx181io50

LEFT HAND PIZZICATO
Less used is the "left hand" pizzicato (a technique
which began to be used during the classical late
romantic period) which is when the strings are
plucked firmly with the fingers on the same
hand that presses the strings down. If reading
musical notation, this is usually indicated by a
"+" sign above the note.
Quite often this particular
form of pizzicato is meant
to be used at the same time
the player is using the bow.
When a player switches from
arco (bowing) to regular pizzicato,
the player normally requires a short
pause to switch his or her bowing
hand into pizzicato position and pluck
the string. With left-hand pizzicato,
though, a string player can play a
pizzicato note immediately following a
bowed note; thus, left-hand pizzicato
provides a means to play bowed tones
and pizzicato tones simultaneously or
in alternation during rapid passages.

The string on which the note is played
may be either open or stopped (fingered);
the only requirement for using the technique
on a stopped string is that the finger stopping
the string be lower than the finger plucking the string.

Left-hand pizzicato appears most prominently
in violin "virtuoso pieces" such as Pablo de
Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_b960BGcZk


and Paganini's 24th Caprice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGPEDWQA5A

This violin technique was first introduced and
 made famous by the famous Italian violinist:
Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840).

He was able to execute the finger movements
easier than most probably due to a medical
syndrome he had which enabled more
flexibility in his fingers and wrist.

In an article published in JAMA dated 2 January,
1978, Dr. Myron R. Shoenfeld advances the theory
that Paganini was born with Marfan's Syndrome: 
"The long, sinuous, hyperextensible fingers of his
left hand gave his fingers an extraordinary range
of motion and freedom of independent movement
on the fingerboard, while the laxness of the wrist
and shoulder joint of his right upper extremity gave
him the pliancy required for masterful bowing."


http://www.kiptonart.com/artists/nikolai-oskolkov/
Paganini's Violin
"The Cannon" was Paganini’s cherished instrument
 which has a distinctive depth and resonance where
 its power shocks and awes listeners to this day. It is
 on display in Genoa and is occasionally loaned out
 for public recitals.

Paganini Links:
http://classical-composers.suite101.com/
article.cfm/niccolo_paganini_superstar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Paganini
http://www.paganini.com/nicolo/nicindex.htm
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/paganini.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=Paganini&hl=en&rlz
=1I7GGLL_en&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=KvxfS_fYJJLiswOjp-3ACw&sa
=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CDgQ5wIwCg
http://www.ppmusic.com/music/comp07.htm
http://www.thirteen.org/publicarts/violin/paganini.html
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=3565&page=gr
http://musiced.about.com/od/romanticperiod/p/paganini.htm
http://www.8notes.com/biographies/paganini.asp
http://www.guitarramagazine.com/NicocoloPaganini
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:4704~T1
http://www.lessontutor.com/bf12.html
http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Technique/VIOLIN/
3-Ways-to-Get-a-Hand-on-Your-Pizzicato-Technique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtvKJaItYmA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFikzos8Iao&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9GN2cIOiVU&feature=related
http://secretlyido.blogspot.com/2011/01/deal-with-devil.html
PIZZICATO LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzicato
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=860282
http://www.theviolinsite.com/pizzicato.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/pizzicato
http://www.violinfromscratch.com/home/beginners-violin
-lessons/holding-the-violin-and-playing-pizzicato
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzicato
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Violin-2164/2009/2/playing-violin-fingers.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TroJUuyUP1Y
http://www.violinmasterclass.com/pizzicato_qt.php?video=piz_def1&sctn=Definition
http://www.ehow.com/video_4946766_violin-techniques-left-hand-pizzicato.html
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-practice-intermediate-left-handpizzicato-on-violin-6198/
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-practice-beginner-left-hand-pizzicato-on-violin-6197/
http://violinmasterclass.com/pizzicato_qt.php?video=piz_exer1&sctn=Exercises
http://www.netplaces.com/music-composition/writing-for-strings/pizzicatotechniques.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9GN2cIOiVU
http://askville.amazon.com/Pizzicato-playing-technique-involves
-plucking-strings-string-instrument/AnswerDetails.do?
requestId=61348083&responseId=61676089
http://www.ehow.com/how_15641_play-pizzicato-violin.html
SOME PIZZICATO PIECES TO LISTEN TO

Ludwig van Beethoven
Kreutzer Sonata (1803)
(First Movement)
Nathan Milstein, Violin
Georges Pludermacher, Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sklCKCE7zLc

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 4 (1877-78)
(Third Movement) 
Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor
San Francisco Symphony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e90IXc4gaII

Béla Bartók
String Quartet No. 4 (1927)
(Scherzo: Fourth Movement)
Amadeus Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejC2eI850gg

 Leroy Anderson
Plink, Plank, Plunk! (1951)
Plink, Plank, Plunk! was known to many in the 1950's as the
theme for the TV game show "I've Got a Secret"
Justin W. Lewis, Conductor 
Mormon Orchestra of Washington D.C.
String Section
Jazz Pizzicato
Leonard Slatkin, Conductor
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player
_embedded&v=qDRYX6-Wihc#at=27

Johann Strauss II
Pizzicato Polka Op. 449
Heintz Wallberg, Conductor
Weiner Symphoniker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZhv6TV4zY
Léo Delibes
"Divertissement: Pizzicati"
from Act 3 of the Ballet Sylvia (1876)
Miguel Del Oro Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoUxxQIUV7o

Benjamin Britten
Simple Symphony (1934)
(Second Movement)
Swedish National String Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bki7in5qeTk

Ferde Grofe
Trick or Treat
(Halloween Fantasy for Pizzicato Strings)
Andre Kostelanetz, Conductor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugaLs8ZgC2Y

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Monday, April 20, 2015

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015

QUOTE:
"It is incontestable that music induces in us a sense of
  the infinite and the contemplation of the invisible."
AUTHOR: Victor de La Prade

MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"Music places the listener into whatever
  creative venture the mind can dream up."
COMPOSER
RAVEL

TZIGANE
Violin and Piano
Midori Goto, Violin

Robert McDonald, Piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0XkLAM8eE

TZIGANE
Violin and Piano

TZIGANE
Violin and Piano
Jascha Heifetz, Violin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFEJkhyPNfE
TZIGANE
Orchestra Version
Ginette Neveu, Violin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZdmEBHKBjA
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=17996

TZIGANE
Orchestra Version
Isaac Stern, Violin
Eugene Ormandy, Conductor
The Philadelphia Orchestra

TZIGANE
Orchestra Version
Itzhak Perlman, Violin
Zubin Mehta, Conductor
New York Philharmonic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K71LvN-xZlc
From the article:
"TZIGANE,"
CONCERT RHAPSODY
FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA
Program Notes
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
By MARC MANDEL
Image result for gypsy violin
First Performance
Original Version for Violin and Piano:
April 26, 1924,
London,
Jelly d’Arányi, violin;
Henri Gil-Marchex,
piano-luthéal (see below).
Image result for gypsy violin
First Performance
Orchestral Version:
November 30, 1924,
Paris, Concerts Colonne,
Gabriel Pierné cond.,
Jelly d’Arányi, soloist.
Image result for gypsy violin
During one of Maurice Ravel's visits to London,
following a private musicale during which the
Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Arányi
Charles Geoffroy-Dechaume:

performed the composer's recent
Sonata for Violin and Cello
SONATA FOR
VIOLIN AND CELLO
Benjamin Bowman, Violin
Franz Ortner, Cello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=41&v=xDKLJiGt5Hs
with the cellist Hans Kindler,
JohannesKindler.jpg
Hans Kindler
He established Washington, D.C.'s
National Symphony Orchestra
Ravel asked Mlle. d'Arányi, who was a
grandniece of the famed Austro-Hungarian
violinist-composer conductor-teacher
Joseph Joachim,
James Archer:
Doctor Joseph Joachim (1831–1907)
Violinist, Conductor, Composer, and Teacher
to play him some Gypsy melodies.
In 1922 Ravel first heard Jelly d'Aranyi
perform in London when she played Bartok's
First Sonata with Bartok at the piano.
BARTOK FIRST SONATA
FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
David Oistrakh, Violin
Sviatoslav Richter, Piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UakdQno0t0Y
Jelly d'Aranyi and Bela Bartok
Later at a dinner with Bartok in Paris, Ravel
decided to write his own Hungarian style pastiche.
He had been inspired by Bartok's musicological
research on Hungarian folk music and the gypsy
style variations that Ms. d'Aranyi had performed.
Ravel wrote to Bartok:
"You have inspired me to write a short piece of diabolical
difficulty, conjuring up the Hungary of my dreams.
Since it will be for violin, why don't we call it 'Tzigane?'"
This went on until five in the morning and presumably
was the first event in the history of Ravel's
Tzigane for violin and orchestra.
TZIGANE
Orchestra Version
(With Notation)
Joshua Bell, Violin
Andrew Litton, Conductor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpnfAdGP5CQ
Ravel completed the Tzigane
(which means "Gypsy")
Vincent Van Gogh:
The Gypsy Caravans or Camping Around Arles
just shortly before its premiere in April 1924;
the orchestral version was given for the first
time half a year later. On both these occasions,
the soloist was Mlle. d'Arányi, who was
dedicatee of the violin sonatas by Vaughan-
Williams and Bartók as well as of the present
work. It was also she who spurred the unearthing
of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto in 1937
Robert Schumann
When it was new, a striking feature of Tzigane
in its original violin-and-piano version was Ravel's
use of the recently devised piano-luthéal,
PIANO LUTHEAL
Philharmonia Orchestra (London, UK)
(A piano which combined plucked and struck strings to
suggest the sound of the Hungarian cimbalom.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5VpzwrTkfI
http://img.soundsondemand.com/prd_pdf/00002359.pdf
a modified grand piano that allowed the player to
alter the timbre of the instrument by employing
harmonium-like stops set above the keyboard to
produce a variety of sounds (lute- and harpsichord-
like, as well as the normal timbre of the piano).
One of these stops—fittingly, for Tzigane—
created a sound similar to the Hungarian
cimbalom, a hammered dulcimer
Hungarian Cimbalom
CIMBALOM SOLO
Jeno Farkas, Cimbalom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=14&v=0mR0_nFTato
whose use in that country is
traceable back to the sixteenth
century. Ravel also called for this
instrument in his opera
("The Child and the Magic Spells"),
completed in 1925.
L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES
Philippe Gerard, Musical Director
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EveYifpgEA
In any event, the first performance of Tzigane
astounded both the composer and the audience,
especially given the limited rehearsal time.
Ravel's ability to write for an instrument he had
never studied also attracted notice. The reviewer
for the London Times, however, was skeptical.
Describing the piece as
"rhapsodical in the literal meaning of the
word, being a series of episodes in the
Hungarian manner strung together,"
he was
"puzzled to understand what M. Ravel is at.
Either the work is a parody of the Liszt-
Hubay-Brahms-Joachim school of Hungarian
violin music…or it is an attempt to get away
from the limited sphere of his previous
compositions to infuse into his work a
little of the warm blood it needs."
Such commentary seems superfluous. Tzigane
is, simply and straightforwardly, a virtuoso
showpiece, opening with an extended "quasi
cadenza" for the soloist and, along the way,
using just about every violinist trick in the book.

In this piece Ravel follows the pattern
of a traditional czárdás dance,
Andor Heller: Czárdás
a long, slow solo introduction,
which leads to a rhapsodic friska,
or fast section. The friska is presented
as a festive, frenzied dance in the form of a
loose set of variations. Ravel uses two
themes: one previously used in the czárdás,
and another introduced toward the middle of
the main section. The piece culminates
in a whirlwind finale.
Tzigane opens with an extended solo,
similar to a cadenza or free fantasia,
A cadenza features the soloist
without accompaniment, and if
it isn't improvised on the spot, it
is supposed to sound like it is.
for the violin (Lento, quasi cadenza),
buried in the middle of which is a
theme characterized by a dotted-rhythm,
falling-fifth figure which serves as the
melodic center for much of the work.
Nearly halfway into the length of the work
the piano (or harp, in the orchestra version)
enters with its own chromatic mini-cadenza
as the soloist's fiery technical gestures
and robust double stops subside into
flickering double tremolos and a pair of
unaccompanied trills that usher in the main
body of the piece.
The remainder of Tzigane is worked out in
a clearly sectional manner. After a
restatement of the falling-fifth idea by
the violin, the piano produces its own little
theme, a staccato tune that makes thorough
use of the typically "gypsy" interval of an
augmented second. Some time later, a
bombastic Grandioso breaks in. After a brief
pause, the violin resumes in sixteenth note
perpetual motion, colored by such features
as Paganini-like left-hand pizzicato.
He appeared to be from another world. Many people were convinced that he was in league with the #devil. #Paganini #Violin http://amzn.to/Ri7TR5
Nicolo Paganini
PAGANINI CAPRICE 24
(Excerpt)
Left Hand Pizzicato
time and again until it finally achieves
unstoppable momentum. The work comes
to an end with three incisive chords (marked
pizzicato, but often played with the bow).

LINKS
http://imslp.org/wiki/Tzigane_(Ravel,_Maurice)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzigane
http://www.gotomidori.com/english/musicnote-200302/musicnote-07ravel.html
http://www.timsummers.org/?page_id=62
http://musimelange.com/?p=1044
http://bso.http.internapcdn.net/bso/images/program_notes/Ravel_Tzigane.pdf
http://www.lawrencebudmen.com/program_notes_concert_gluzman_feldman.html
http://www.anne-sophie-mutter.de/back-to-the-future-ravel.html?&L=1
http://www.cpr.org/article/Ravel_Tzigane
http://www.troychromatics.org/114season/pdfs/TCC114-2LaraStJohnProgram.pdf
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=17996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTHAeo0uEAI
http://imslp.org/wiki/Tzigane_%28Ravel,_Maurice%29
http://www.redwoodsymphony.org/history/prognotes.aspx?ID=451
http://img.soundsondemand.com/prd_pdf/00002359.pdf
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/pdf/program-10282011.pdf
http://grsymphony.org/sites/default/files/pdf_downloads/Tzigane.pdf
http://www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/koenig-conducts-dvorak#discover-more
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