The Learning by Example Series
Mordecai Shehori, Piano
(5 CDs)
Recordings |
Works |
Reviews |
CHOPIN: Waltz in A minor
J. S. BACH: Minuet in G Major
BEETHOVEN: Für Elise
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CD 108 Featuring 47 works by 18 composers that all learning pianists, Featuring 47 works by 18 composers that all learning pianists, whether young or not-so-young love to play and listen to. Arcangelo Corelli Ludwig van Beethoven Total Playing Time: 73:59
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CLEMENTI: Spiritoso from Sonatina Op. 36, No. 3 in C major
BENDA: Sonatina in a Minor
KABALEVSKY: Presto from Sonatina Op. 13, No. 1 in A minor
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CD 119 Muzio Clementi |
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COUPERIN: The Cukoos
BURGMULLER: The Farewell
MACDOWELL: To a Wild Rose
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CD 131 Jean-Baptiste Lully |
"There are now three volumes in Mordecai Shehori’s Learning By Example Series perfectly geared to the student or young pianist seeking out works of musical worth. None provides difficulties sufficient to plunge the young player into gloom – though they’re hardly simple to master - and there is an alphabet of technical matters to ensure a sure grounding. Their proportions may be small but the musical rewards are great and so will be the feeling of accomplishment once they’ve been securely mastered. In his introduction “to the Learning Pianist” in volume one Shehori takes us through the various technical aspects of the works he plays and adds sagacious advice about the mood of the piece, its inflection, the feeling it’s meant to evoke. Thus he combines, quite unselfconsciously, both technical and expressive components. And one could hardly want for a more warm, genial and adept guide. His Purcell Minuet in volume one is tonally verdant, Bach’s Minuet in D minor possesses refined eloquence, and there is great poise in the C major Invention. His Handel Sarabande in D minor is controlled and a young player (or an older one) could spend time listening to his control of dynamics, and equally to the clarity of his articulation in C.P.E. Bach’s Solfeggio in C minor, helped by the rather dry recording. Pliancy of phrasing can be gauged from his Mozart Rondo in C major. He plays Kuhlau’s Sonatina with flexibility and Clementi’s sonata with a certain military profile. By the time we reach Mendelssohn and Schumann we find the chances for characterisation have increased; especially in the case of those pieces derived from the Album for the Young. The two K’s – Kabalevsky and Khachaturian provide more up-to-date pleasures in their little pieces. The second volume revisits Clementi quite extensively and adds Spindler, Dussek and Diabelli amongst other more obvious names, in an all-Sonatina disc. This is characterful and engaging programme making and played with real command and élan by this master pianist. True, there’s not much bloom in the sound but this is characteristic of the three discs in their entirety; I assure you it won’t impede pleasure and it actually rather suits many of the pieces. Shehori shows the young leaner how to be charming, how to exude gallant wit, how to pursue playfulness. The well scaled chordal punctuation points in the Clementi C major reveal how to scale such matters, how to balance chords, whereas elsewhere one could learn how most fully to explore the lyric melancholy embedded in so small a poco adagio. Perhaps, above all, the player will learn stylistic aptness; in the case of the Rondo Allegro of Beethoven’s Sonatina in F major he will learn, too, about the art of projection, and how to imbue playing with apt levels of drama. Do not spurn the Diabelli G major; just listen how Shehori brings it to vivid life. This particular disc also ends with Kabalevsky and his Sonatina in A minor will extend the vocabulary of the young player, introduce him to its moments of passing mordancy, and encourage some lissom freedom in its finale. Shehori cannily leads the learner in this exploratory journey. The third volume reprises the span chronologically from Lully to - once more - Kabalevsky. In between we have Bach, Handel, Clementi, Weber, Glinka, Bergmüller, Schumann and the like. This volume is reminiscent of the first in the series in its exploration of Airs, minuets, presto movements, dances and the increasing concentration on the widening shores of romantic associative writing. Natural buoyancy of rhythm is a real component here – try Scarlatti’s Sonata in A major. So too we find in Leopold Mozart’s pieces the chance for the learner to vest pieces with personality and presence. The national dances are similarly entertaining and engaging. If anyone can match the puckish wit of Shehori’s take on Bergmüller’s L'Arabesque in A minor they won’t be doing it soon. Touch, pedalling, tone colours, chordal weight, articulation, these are all some of the many, many devices that Shehori will necessarily lead the learner to explore in these educational and captivating volumes. Jonathan Woolf |
Johann Ladislas Dussek: Allegro in G Major
Ludwig van Beethoven: “Rage over a Lost Penny” Op. 129
Robert Schumann: The Prophet Bird
Edvard Grieg: Papillon
John Field: Nocturne No. 5, in B-Flat Major
Claude Debussy: Arabesque No. 2, in G Major
Dmitri Kabalevsky: Having Fun
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CD 184 22 Works by 17 Composers that Pianists Young and Older Will Love to Study
and Play Johann Ladislas Dussek Gabriel Fauré 14. Arabesque No. 1,
in E Major Isaac Albéniz Alexander Scriabin Dmitri Kabalevsky Scott Joplin Total playing time: 70:33 Price: $13.50 |
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Jan Ladislav Dussek: Canzonetta in G Minor
Ludwig van Beethoven: Six Ecossaises Wo83 in E-Flat Major
Edvard Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43: No. 4, Little Bird in D Minor
Scott Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag in A-Flat Major
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A New Release! 35 works by
20 composers
for the Henry Purcell Anton Diabelli Luigi Boccherini Leopold Mozart Johann Nepumok Hummel Jan Ladislav Dussek Jan Ladislav Dussek Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven David Popper Franz Schubert: Johannes Brahms Antonín Dvořák Theodor Kullack Ernst Kullack Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Albert Elmenreich Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Edvard Grieg Edvard Grieg Edvard Grieg Edvard Grieg Isaac Albéniz Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitri Kabalevsky Dmitri Kabalevsky Scott Joplin Playing time: 67:44 Price: $13.50 |
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