I just completed last night Igor Kipnis' historic-pianism course at the
Mannes College of Music in NYC. It begins again at Mannes next week and at
Univ. of Connecticut in Stamford in March. I highly recommend it to those
within hailing distance who are not already expert in the area. (For more
details of my experience, write me privately.) Here is a copy of a
descriptive memo Igor circulated recently.
MEMO from IGOR KIPNIS DATE: 1/19/99
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.continuo.com/kipnis/ikipnis.html
OFFERINGS OF TWO SETS OF PIANO COURSES:
1) MANNES COLLEGE OF MUSIC, New York City
2) UCONN (University of Connecticut), STAMFORD, Connecticut
1) FOR MANNES CONTACT: David Tcimpidis, Extension Division, The
Mannes College of Music, 150 West 85th Street, New York, NY 10024
212-580-0210, Ext. 221
TIME & DAYS OF COURSE: one and one-half hours, 6:30-8:00 on Tuesdays
commencing on Jan. 26, 1999 (calendar: 1/26; 2/2, 2/9. 2/16, 2/23; 3/2,
3/9; 4/6. 4/13, 4/20) (see below)
COURSE FEE: $250 plus $31 registration fee = $281
The Piano: Style and Interpretation
INSTRUCTOR: IGOR KIPNIS
DESCRIPTION: The piano and its background, with an emphasis on past and
present-day styles of performance illustrated by historical recordings
of important musicians from the late 19th century to our own time. Each
ninety-minute session can, at students' request, be supplemented by an
opportunity for interested pianists to participate in a master class as
part of any session. Enrolled students who wish to perform in class are
encouraged to discuss repertoire selections in advance with Mr. Kipnis.
Subjects include:
1. The historical background: The earliest recordings (Brahms, Plante,
Saint-Saens, Grieg, Debussy, Scriabin, Ravel, Prokofiev, Shostakovich,
etc.)
2. 19th-early 20th C. styles and techniques (Tone, color, sonority,
pedaling, phrasing, articulation, tempo, rubato)
3. The great post-Romantic players (from the salons to the Beethoven
shrines: Rachmaninoff, Lhevinne, Hofmann, Cortot, Moiseiwitsch,
Levitzky, Friedman, etc.)
4. Important teachers of the past and their students I: Franz Liszt &
Clara Schumann
5. Important teachers of the past and their students II: Theodore
Leschetizky, Ferrucio Busoni, Anton Rubinstein, Louis Diemer, & Martin
Krause
6. Ethnic schools of performance I: Poland (concentrating on comparative
mazurka performances), Russia, Germany, etc.
7. Ethnic schools of performance II: France, England, America, Italy,
Spain, etc.
8. Piano rolls (their reliability and comparisons with disc recordings)
9. Period instruments (piano recordings on instruments from the time of
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin)
10. Styles of the 1950s and later (including the iconoclasts, the
neo-romantics, the competition participants, and the marathon recording
artists)
2) UCONN, Stamford, Connecticut
DATES: Wednesdays, starting Mar. 3 (see below)
For information & fees, please contact:
Ms. Carole Prescott
Coordinator, Non-Credit Programs
Continuing Education
UCONN, Stamford Campus
Washington & Broad Streets
Stamford, CT 06902
203-251-8532
Course Fee: $199 (Course Number: 99SA5002)
(Includes a $25 non-refundable registration fee)
Course title: THE GREAT PIANISTS
INSTRUCTOR: IGOR KIPNIS
Location of class: UCONN, Stamford Campus
Washington & Broad Streets
Stamford, CT 06902
Dates and times of course meetings: eight ninety-minute classes, 6:30
pm - 8:00 on the following Wednesdays in 1999: Mar. 3 & 10, April 7,
14, & 21, May 19 & 26, June 2
DESCRIPTION: The great pianists, with an emphasis on past and
present-day styles of performance illustrated by historical recordings
of important musicians from the late 19th century to our own time.
Subjects include:
1. The historical background: The earliest recordings (Brahms,
Plante, Saint-Saens, Grieg, Debussy, Scriabin, Ravel, Prokofiev,
Shostakovich, etc.)
2. 19th-early 20th C. styles and techniques (Tone, color, sonority,
pedaling, phrasing, articulation, tempo, rubato)
3. The great post-Romantic players (from the salons to the Beethoven
shrines: Rachmaninoff, Lhevinne, Hofmann, Cortot, Moiseiwitsch,
Levitzky, Friedman, etc.)
4. Important teachers of the past and their students I: Franz Liszt
& Clara Schumann
5. Important teachers of the past and their students II: Theodore
Leschetizky, Ferrucio Busoni, Anton Rubinstein, Louis Diemer, & Martin
Krause
6. Ethnic schools of performance: Poland, Russia, Germany, France,
England, America, Italy, Spain, etc.
7. Piano rolls (their reliability and comparisons with disc recordings)
8. Styles of the 1950s and later (including the iconoclasts, the
neo-romantics, the competition participants, and the marathon recording
artists)
IGOR KIPNIS
Internationally known as a performer on the harpsichord, clavichord,
fortepiano, and, more recently, as a member of the Kipnis-Kushner Duo
(one piano, four hands), the modern piano. IGOR KIPNIS has recorded over
80 albums, 55 of them solo, as well as having received numerous honors,
including 6 Grammy nominations, a Deutsche Schallplatten prize, and an
honorary doctorate from Illinois Wesleyan University. Keyboard magazine
in its readers' polls three times named him "Best Harpsichordist" and
twice "Best Classical Keyboardist."
A frequent guest on both television and radio (he has had his own
program on New York's WQXR), Kipnis has also edited music anthologies
for Oxford University Press, and at present, among several book
projects, he is working on a biography of his singer father, the bass
Alexander Kipnis, to be published by Amadeus Press. As a performer, he
often gives masterclasses devoted to the piano.
He has long been an avid record collector, specializing in piano and
historical performances, and his reviews and articles, many of which
deal with the piano, have appeared in a great many publications,
including FI, Schwann/Opus, The International Piano Quarterly, The
International Classical Record Collector, Early Music America,
Goldberg, Stereophile, Opus, Musical America, Stereo Review, The
American Record Guide, Classical, Chamber Music Magazine, Listen,
Clavier, and The Yale Review.
Further biographical information, as well as an illustrated discography
may be found on his web site:
http://www.continuo.com/kipnis/ikipnis.htm
Allan Gotthelf
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