Mar 8th 2020

When Granados meets Scarlatti, musical sparks fly

by Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a music critic with particular interest in piano. 

Johnson worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London over his journalism career. He covered European technology for Business Week for five years, and served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is the author of five books.

Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux. Besides English and French he is also fluent in Russian.

You can order Michael Johnson's most recent book, a bilingual book, French and English, with drawings by Johnson:

“Portraitures and caricatures:  Conductors, Pianist, Composers”

 here.

 

It was a strange and beautiful alchemy that brought Domenico Scarlatti and Enrique Granados together in the mind of pianist Jean-François Dichamp a few years ago. In our interview (below) he recalls strolling along the boulevards of Barcelona one evening humming Granados’ music when a Scarlatti sonata took over. In a flash, he realized how much they had in common.

Building on that experience, Dichamp has produced a fascinating “opera for piano” suite linking specific Granados pieces to Scarlatti sonatas where he found echoes and resonances.  He has captured the beauty of both in his new CD “Granados Goyescas” (Goya by Granados), from the Brilliant Classics label. The Granados pieces are each inspired by a Goya painting.

Both composers, Dichamp writes in his excellent historical liner notes, produced an oeuvre of “refinement and elegance”. To me, the connections of Spanish tradition, contrasted to Scarlatti’s 18th baroque style, make musical sparks fly. Dichamp’s keyboard touch is masterly, covering the full range required by these two opposites – the rich, blinding Iberian colors of Granados and the somewhat arid feel of Scarlatti’s harpsichord creations.

 

Excerpts from the CD are available here:

 

 

Although the two composers were from separate musical cultures, the Italian Scarlatti was not entirely alien to Spain. Indeed, he composed his 555 sonatas while living in Portugal and Spain and he studied flamenco in Seville. Eventually he became musician to the Royal Court in Madrid.

I met Jean-François at the Barcelona School of Music (Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya) a few weeks ago where he teaches piano. Our conversation began informally and we followed up with a more formal interview by email. An edited account of our verbatim transcript follows:

 

 

MJ Dicamp
Jean-François Dichamp by the author Michael Johnson

Question. When did you have the idea of matching up Scarlatti and Granados ?  Was this a long-term interest or was it a flash of lightning?

Answer. It was an accident. When I started to learn the Goyescas, I recall that during a walk in town I was humming a phrase from “Fandango de Candil”. And a few seconds later, unconsciously, I found myself singing Scarlatti’s sonata in D minor, K 141. I have no idea why these two themes came to me, but they did. Maybe it was because of the very Spanish character of the Scarlatti sonata. It had been in my repertoire for several years and now I realized these two pieces could be played together, with Scarlatti pieces between the Goyescas. I read all the background I could find, and listened to many recordings.

 

Q. What were you looking for in the Scarlatti works?

A. Sonatas that reflect a dancing quality, a refined elegance. I needed pieces that I loved passionately because my idea was to create a marvelous imaginary journey to the Court of Madrid during the Golden Era. And so I discovered Scarlatti’s sonata in G minor K. 8, a slow, funereal sarabande. It fit perfectly, programmed after the ballade “El Amor y la Muerte”.

 

Q. It seems you wanted to create a feeling of opera?

A. Yes, I realized that incorporating these little Scarlatti marvels into the Granados cycle, I was getting closer to the idea of an opera that developed in Granados’ time – a grand theatrical work and after each act an intermezzo from another era, not so far removed from the spirit of the Goya characters that Granados intended. We can even surmise that in the salons of the time, the Scarlatti sonatas were included in programs.

 

Q. You have a Paris background. What do you bring to Granados to ensure Spanish flavor? Delicacy? Momentum? Singing and dancing undertones? Rubato?

A. First, I am profoundly European. I have tried to apply the “French touch” to the Granados style. I have found in his work a great deal of influence from the 19th century masters.  In “Los Requiebros”, for example, I hear echoes of Schumann’s “Carnaval”. In "Coloquio en la Reja" et "El Amor y la Muerte" there are the chromatic passages and something of Wagner’s intensity, or sometimes even Franck. I attempt to bring a delicacy of touch but also an illumination of tone. I seek a “sunny” but also refined pianism – Romantic outbursts but also retention and the nobility of a pasodoble (two-step dance). One finds this fascinating duality in Spanish dance in which a partner seems to say, “Take me, but don’t touch me.”

 

Q. You first trained as a dancer.  Was that an important first step for you in the arts?

 

A. I studied classical dance from the age of 7 to 12. I loved the dance. I had already played the piano in public but the magic of dancing onstage was something completely different. I had to stop my ballet lessons in order to accept the Mozart role – I had to make a choice. I remember crying a lot when I had to give up dance. This worried my parents. I cried a great deal when I was a child, not from sadness but because I had an emotional nature.

 

'Q. How did dance affect your piano style?

A. Dance training helped me enormously in my piano work, to keep a certain suppleness and flexibility. When I play “Goyescas”, for example, I think of my ballet scenes, my movements of arms and legs, always seeking that supple quality.

 

Q.  Why is this superb Granados music so rarely performed ?

A. The Goyescas cycle in its entirety can sometimes intimidate a musician in recital, and the public might find it overly intense and not sufficiently varied. These pieces are rather improvisational in style and there is always the chance of getting lost. It’s very difficult to memorize. Themes appear, are transformed, and reappear in different form. Of the pianists who have recorded the suite, very few have run the risk of playing them in concert. 

 

Q. What are your favorite recordings of the Goyescas?

A. Alicia de Larrocha et Nikita Magaloff did them magnificently, including in recital. Their versions are my favorites. I remember as a young student working with Magaloff on a Schubert piece when, at the end of our lesson, he sat down and played “Los Requiebros”. It was magic. I still have a vivid memory of that experience.

 

Q.  You indicate in your notes that you have done other pairings with unrelated composers.

A. True, I like to create connections between composers from different eras, to show the parallels. And I ask the audience to hold their applause until the end. I have always felt that one hears a work differently when comparing it to the music that precedes it. It’s a way of inviting the audience to seek and find the esthetic connections. And they are more frequent than one might think.

 

Q. What other pairings have you discovered?

A. I sometimes play a program that compares Rameau and Chopin, or another that matches Couperin and Schumann. Presently I am at work on another one using the Chopin Polonaises and a “mysterious” work by Scriabin. I’ll say no more at this point except to add that it might be the subject of a future CD.

 

Q. You have been known earlier in your career for your Chopin and Liszt.  Are you in an Iberian phase of your repertoire expansion now?

A. Not really. I am a passionate admirer of the Romantic repertoire for piano, and Las Goyescas is a great romantic cycle. The themes, the character, the lyricism, the fevered bursts, the harmonies, the writing --- everything is Romantic in this work. Albéniz and Falla sought the very essence of the Spanish soul, but Granados turned his attention to the past, the splendid heritage of the 19th century.

 

Q. You spent four years under the direction of Maria Curcio in London. What did you learn from her?

A. I lived four years in London for my studies with Maria Curcio and I continued working with her for several years afterward. What I learned from her was that music, for her, was a source of light, and she projected this light around her. I remember that in our lessons she would demonstrate a passage on the piano and at the end would raise her head and, with a marvelous smile, would say, “How beautiful that is.” Her face was illuminated with pleasure and by the beauty of the music. And she had the power to transmit these feelings magnificently.

 

 

Q. Was she a tough, no-nonsense teacher, like so many seem to be

A. Well, she was quite demanding behind that smile. She insisted on adopting a composer’s style – the Chopin tone, or the Mozart tone. Emotional commitment was also at the basis of her teaching. She would devote a lot of time to a student, sometimes several hours in a row. I don’t think teachers like Maria exist any more. Today, everything must be accomplished very fast.

 

 

Q. You played the young Mozart in a celebrated French TV series some years ago. How were you selected for the role and what did you learn from the experience?

A. I was 12 years old when a school friend showed me an ad in a newspaper calling for applications to play the role of Mozart in a television film directed by Marcel Bluwal. He wanted applications of 8 and 12 years who could play the piano. We had to send in a photo and a CV. At the age of 12, you can imagine the CV! I played part of the Mozart Concerto No. 23, which I had been working on, and he said to my mother he liked the way I sat at the piano. The next day we were surprised that he called us and asked me to come back and read for the part, a serious scene and a light one. When he finished, he gave me a kiss and said, “I have my Mozart !” The adventure began, and what an adventure ! The shooting continued over several months in France, Hungary, Austria and Italy alongside such great cinema artists as Michel Bouquet and Jean-Claude Brialy.

 

 

Q. Where did your acting career go from there?

 

A. There were no interesting offers for more cinema, and as I grew up I was no longer the little Mozart. Soon after, I entered the Paris Conservatory for serious piano study. Something new had begun.

 

 

Q. What is your impression of young players in general? Has the level of playing evolved over the past ten years or so? We hear so much dark speculation about declining enthusiasm for piano studies among the young.

A. My impression is that today’s young musicians are a reflection of society in general. Everyone wants to go very fast because it’s possible to do that now. I remember as a student that when I wanted a particular recording I would go to a record shop, perhaps order it specially and wait several weeks for it to arrive. But this waiting period was also part of the pleasure, and when the record arrived it was a big event! Today there is no waiting. Everything is just a click away. Is the pleasure the same? I don’t think so.

 

 

Q. What has been the effect on young people’s psychology?

A. I would say that in the young musician there is a sense of disillusionment – that great pleasure is unattainable. Of course each student is different in his or her enthusiasms but one thing is clear – learning to interpret music demands a lot of time and maturity. It seems the new generations are not prepared for this kind of patience.

 

END

 


This article is brought to you by the author who owns the copyright to the text.

Should you want to support the author’s creative work you can use the PayPal “Donate” button below.

Your donation is a transaction between you and the author. The proceeds go directly to the author’s PayPal account in full less PayPal’s commission.

Facts & Arts neither receives information about you, nor of your donation, nor does Facts & Arts receive a commission.

Facts & Arts does not pay the author, nor takes paid by the author, for the posting of the author's material on Facts & Arts. Facts & Arts finances its operations by selling advertising space.

 

 

Browse articles by author

More Music Reviews

Oct 7th 2024
EXTRACT: "Oppens stands apart from today’s keyboard virtuosos by her four decades of discovering and commissioning new works. These contributions to the repertory ensure her a permanent place in pantheon of modern music. But she is also recognized as a powerful performer who tackles the thorniest of new pieces. As she said in our interview, she remembers hearing the difficult works of Julian Hemphill for the first time and thinking 'This is for me!'  Composers who have been commissioned by her or who have written works for her include such leading lights as Frederic Rzewski, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, Peter Lieberson, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Christian Wolff  and Charles Wuorinen.”
Jul 5th 2024
EXTRACTS: "The Conservative Party, which was finally pronounced dead from multiple unnatural causes on July 5 2024, was born in 1832." ---- " Strange as it might now appear, the party was once very popular and respected, even by its opponents. Educated at Eton and Oxford, it established a reputation for governing competence which allowed it to bounce back from serious setbacks, notably the landslide Labour victory of 1945." ---- "The end of the cold war debunked the notion that the Conservatives had restored Britain’s former global status. Unwilling to acknowledge their country’s subservience to the United States, the party’s dominant nationalist faction could now only rage against reality by identifying the European Union, and post-war immigration, as the twin culprits for the depletion of British political influence and cultural uniformity." ---- "The Conservative party has presented a sorry spectacle to sympathetic observers in its undignified post-Brexit dying days. It became prone to hallucinations, first believing that Boris Johnson could be a successful prime minister then replacing him with Liz Truss."
Jun 17th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t piano study a big problem in the USA, with all the electronic games and distractions from music lessons? ---- Answer: The problem is also in Europe. We have lost a lot of quality, in terms of knowledge behind the music. The schools do not make the transmission from the composers to us. We owe that to the composers. And it’s very sad because now we focus on goals and competition, and competition does not go well with art.
Jun 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Isn’t it true, as the musicologist Kyle Gann says, that one cannot judge immediately what’s good or bad in contemporary music? We must wait 20 years. Answer: Yes, look at Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”. It caused a scandal. It was booed and rejected by everyone. Now it’s standard in the concert hall. In jazz, I think it’s not 20 years, but more like 50 years before we know what has worked or not. One has to step back and reflect on whether we have brought something new."
Mar 9th 2024
EXTRACT: "In a way, every experience you have, every book you read, every movie you watch, every place you visit, every encounter you have, every moment you spend with friends or family, they leave a mark on you and direct you indirectly and therefore leave their mark on your playing.", says Boris Giltburg in Michael Johnson's and Frances Wilson's new book 'Lifting the Lid: Interviews with Concert Pianists', now available on Amazon.
Feb 27th 2024
EXTRACT: "Question: Some pianophiles say the CD could be useful for meditation, therapy or even healing. ---- Answer: Indeed, that is the kind of feedback I am getting. But this music doesn’t belong to me any more, therefore I cannot label it with any purpose. It has taken on a life of its own. I can’t say how it affects the life of other people. Will it be therapeutic or will it have another effect? Time will tell."
Dec 4th 2023
EXTRACT: "Seated in a quiet corner of a Bordeaux hotel last week, we had an interview – more a casual chat – about her life, her Soviet Russian origins, her career, her future."
Nov 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "Schiff creates an atmosphere that we 'seniors' remember from the old days. No clowning, no bouncing on the bench, no outlandish clothing. He dresses in a black smock, black trousers, black shoes, topped off with a mane of pure white hair. His manners, his grateful bowing, are très Old Europe. ---- Schiff keeps control of his two hours onstage. He believes that dignity goes with the great music on the program and he scarcely moves as he plays."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "  Boston-based guitarist, band leader and composer Phil Sargent is not about churning out endless CDs. In fact his ten-year recording gap, just ended, had his fans wondering where he was. But in New York and Boston, he tells me, he has never stopped working with other groups while composing and actively teaching young and mature talent. Although not always visible, he seems to be a confirmed workaholic, even practicing five hours a day. Yes, virtuosos also need to practice. ---- And now he is back. His new CD, 'Sons'....."
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "There is a renewed fascination with the memory-stimulating and healing powers of music. This resurgence can primarily be attributed to recent breakthroughs in neuroscientific research, which have substantiated music’s therapeutic properties such as emotional regulation and brain re-engagement. This has led to a growing integration of music therapy with conventional mental health treatments."
Sep 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "British psychotherapist, Michael Lawson, who has worked with several prodigies and former prodigies, calculates there may be as many as 200,000 piano prodigies active in the world today. “In a sense, they are not that rare,” he says in our interview below. Lawson is author of International Acclaim: The Steinfeld Legacy a new novel of the great pianists of the 19th and early 20th centuries in which the prodigy phenomenon is described in some detail."
Sep 17th 2023
EXTRACT: "Like so many stories about relationships told over an extended time, Past Lives uncovers the twists and turns, the “what ifs” and the manifold choices that lead to two people wondering whether they were meant to be together."
Sep 12th 2023
EXTRACT: " OrpheusPDX, a new company founded by Christopher Mattaliano in Portland, Oregon, concluded its second season with a brilliant and thought-provoking production of Nico Muhly’s “Dark Sisters,” at Lincoln Hall (August 24), exploring and exposing relationships in a polygamous sect and the courage of one sister-wife to leave it. With Stephen Karam’s libretto inspired by memoirs of women who have left the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) and the 2008 raid of the YFZ Ranch by the FBI, “Dark Sisters” was delivered with spot-on directing by Kristine McIntyre and riveting performances by an exceptional cast."
Aug 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Wagner’s operas are well known to be budget busters, and lack of funds is probably one of the main reasons that Seattle Opera has not mounted the Ring Cycle in since 2013. After Speight Jenkins retired from his post as General Director in 2014, the company delivered The Flying Dutchman (2016) and Tristan und Isolde (2022), the latter under its current General Director, Christina Scheppelmann. Now starting its 60th season, Seattle Opera celebrated with Das Rheingold, but that can be seen as a bittersweet moment since Scheppelmann is moving on to take over La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels at the end of the 2023-2024 season."
Jul 6th 2023
EXTRACT: " More than a hundred recordings have been made of his suite of 14 light pieces he called “The Carnival of the Animals”, and a range of his other works remain in the standard repertoire."
Jun 18th 2023
EXTRACT: "Conservatories and university music departments are filling up with fee-paying Asians as their parents pressure them to succeed in the West. Piano competitions around the world, now numbering about 800, are open to this new wave of Asian players. They are winning top prizes and they are building careers in Europe and the U.S.  Too often, according to some teachers, young Americans prefer computer games, the latest movies, rock bands, sports, or other less-demanding activities. The Asians are happy to fill the vacuum."
May 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "Three of Europe’s longtime leaders in contemporary jazz, now in their senior years, have just launched a CD of twelve  pieces that shows what a lifetime of sharing ideas in music can really produce." “New Stories” (Frémeaux et Associés) by the French trio of pianist and composer Hervé Sellin, bassist Jean-Paul Celea and drummer Daniel Humair is remarkable for improvisations so synchronized that the listener can feel the music come together from three angles in real time. The tracks were mostly composed or improvised by Sellin."
Mar 28th 2023
EXTRACT: "The young ex-dancer from Italy first burst upon the piano scene three years ago with 20 of her hand-picked Scarlatti sonatas. Now comes her second CD (Academy Classical Music) even more original and powerful, performing six of Baldassare Galuppi’s 18th century sonatas. Margherita Torretta‘s early training as a dancer gives her playing a swaying, graceful air while she maintains Alberti bass for control of the rhythm, momentum and especially continuity. Her ornamentation is boosted with some of her own improvisations, producing a fresher feel. It’s a magic combination."
Mar 24th 2023
EXTRACT: "Driven by a sense of mission and determination over several years, French pianist Lydia Jardon has completed a rare cycle of nine piano sonatas by Nikolai Miaskovsky. Her new CD  of numbers 6, 7 and 8 completes the task and offers a particularly rich sample of Russian experience in the worst of times. Miaskovsky may be only vaguely remembered today but he was a leader in the Soviet music world until the end of World War II. He left a wide range of engaging sonatas that have been brought back to life by Mme. Jardon on her own label AR Ré-Sé (AR 2022-1)."
Mar 16th 2023
EXTRACTS: "The most ambitious application yet of Steinway’s new digital piano, Spirio r, delivers stunning levels of sound and color in the new CD release of The Richter Scale, an hour-long keyboard drama written by well-known German composer and pianist Boris Bergmann." ----- "For the first time, the Spirio has been configured on a Steinway D grand to enable four-hand pieces to be played by two hands. The secondo score is first recorded in playback mode then combined with the live primo part. Liu is the live player who has to coordinate and fuse the two."---- "I took Bergmann’s advice and listened to the full composition from start to finish to best feel the gathering emotional turbulence. I was gripped by the melodies, harmonies, rhythms and percussive explosions along the way."