Menahem Pressler Masterclass - Barber: Nocturne, Op. 33 / Hazel Kim, piano / (3/31/98) (CC)

Barber: Nocturne Op. 33 (Closed Captions Available)
00:00 Hazel Kim, piano
Jennie K. Wong Studio
04:44 That was very lovely, so sensitive and so very early in the morning, as if you’re ready to go to bed! The sensitivity was very beautiful, the thematic material beautifully handled. What is a perfect way of playing a nocturne? When we speak of how to play a nocturne, one always thinks of Chopin. Supposedly, he said, “The left hand must stay the same. You must create a tempo, and the RH finds within that tempo, freedom. Obviously, he didn’t mean metronomic in tempo, but generally what you do, (Sings) That he meant not to do. There should be (Sings). Whatever that tempo is under which you can play many notes or few notes, because the difficulty is in the tempo that you do it. What was missing was a certain steadiness in the LH
06:55 Why, in the beginning you couldn’t get the Ab each time?
I want for you to see what the best tempo is to take.
07:33 (30) You wait so long here. That you shouldn’t do. Let’s say you need a little bit more time, we have 6 vs 14. If it was 12, there would be no difficulty. So bring in the last two notes at the end. (Sings)
08:40 (31) Play w/o pedal, w/o sensitivity, just to have the amount of notes one against the other. Since it’s uneven, we somewhere along the line add a triplet and we have all the notes. Beginning at that tempo. You don’t have enough weight so notes are missing. You should know this piano by now.
10:14 MPD That’s good, and there’s no wait.
11:00 Let’s look chordally at the page before we play it. We see the skeleton. Where are the bones? What is the direction? “Going up.” But we stay within a framework. We still feel that. (Sings) What you play is not the framework of the melodic structure. And he says “cantando.” (Sings)
13:03 (4) Don’t wait. I want that sensitivity that you have. But if you do it this way, you defeat it because that becomes ordinary instead of special. Correct, so the melody has an underpinning of rhythm. That’s one of the arch ingredients of music. The melody is still free to move as he writes it, slow, faster. He writes a freedom Not 1/4, 1/4, 1/4. The one steady aspect is that you listen to the dotted 1/4 feel.
15:57 (6) Very nice. This is the end of the phrase, and this is the beginning of the new one. The dim. was very nice. (Sings) The entrance of the next C is both felt and heard.
17:00 When you come in on a long note, it comes down MPD (6) And then the next note that continues it should be on the level where that note has come to. That’s right. So that one knows that your ear is as attuned as a singer would be. Because a singer would not do (Sings). The ear of a pianist should do the same thing.
18:27 (6) The weight of your hand is always a bit too little.
18:44 (8) Here, we need to know which one is the real one. It’s the 2nd one because it has the repeat of the 16ths. So aim for it.
20:10 (15) Be careful here with the change of pedal that it is not (Sings a hiccup). Change it right on (the beat) when you get the new key.
20:42 (17) Which is the softest? The 2nd one. Start the trill slow and enliven it and make it natural.
22:17 (19) Keep the pedal. We need the Eb bass note.
22:45 Just for our ears, play 20. What do we have? “A conversation.” Yes, and a canon.
24:33 That was very good. When you hold the Eb, let it out slowly so it fades
25:30 (25) You play with great warmth, but we need more passion, which is in the 16ths.
26:30 Let’s look at the cadenza. What does he do? Are these notes random? “It has a direction.” What else? It has the same motive. (Sings) Play the 1st 4 notes of each pattern. But you don’t play anything like that. Those are notes with a reason to be alive.
27:55 (29) You can still do it clearer. It’s not difficult. Right. But it’s a cadenza, so we don’t want to play it straight. (Sings) It has a direction, and it fills its spot. He was at the maximum of his crescendo and the maximum of his climax, so this is where he quiets, comes down.
30:00 (30) The bass not loud. Without we have no ground to step on. Play with the sensitivity that you had before, but with some sonority and weight in the keyboard.
31:40 (40) You have to start. That’s the ending. That’s what we spoke about before. (7) In a different key but exactly the same.
32:10 (41) Intensify the trill (Sings) And these (40) vibrate like a vibrato.
32:48 (38)
32:15 (44) Glide down. I should not feel a sense of tempo. It’s very beautiful, very lovely. Rall. Molto (Sings) Make a difference between the Fb and the Eb.
35:08 Once more, the opening so you can find the tempo.
38:35 (30) There’s a note missing. That’s unacceptable. What it is, you don’t own the piano. You touch it like it’s a strange instrument, it’s not part of you. You know the weight needed to get to the note. You touch it with such respect; you don’t have any relationship with it. You must have a relationship with the piano. Very nice!