More Classical Piano Music in Nantwich

Jack Mitchell Smith
7 days ago
6 min read

A few weeks ago, you may remember a captivating blog in which I travelled down to Richmond Villages Care Home in Nantwich to give perform some classical piano music.

Well, astonishingly it was so well received that I was asked to go back!

In fact, I’ve been asked to go back three times this year - and Wednesday 19th August would be the first date that I ventured back down to give an even bigger audience (I fear word has gotten around!) an hour’s performance of classical music and show tunes.

Regarding the classical music, what is wonderful is that travelling down gives me a great opportunity to actually perform some of the music I’ve been working on to an audience. But also, it gives me a great excuse to keep on discovering new pieces for myself, learning them and then sharing my progress!

And lucky for readers of this blog, being the proud recent owner of a USB-C condenser mic that connects directly to my phone, I can not only record video of myself playing during the recital, but also record it with decent audio!

So sit back, relax and enjoy some videos of me playing some classical piano music in Nantwich!

Classical Piano Music in Nantwich - the Videos

Preludes

What better way to start than with a couple of preludes. These are, after all, compositions that are representative of an ‘opening’ or a ‘beginning’. A musical introduction of sorts, and I had a couple of lovely short preludes up my sleeve that I was glad to perform:

Prélude, Op. 10 by Mel Bonis: The French composer Mel Bonis composed some lovely preludes for piano, and this one was a lovely gentle introduction to ease both listener and performer (spoiler: me) into the whole hour of music.

24 Preludes, Op. 37: No 8 in F Sharp Minor by Ferrucio Busoni: Putting my sight reading to the test as this was one of only three pieces I hadn’t memorised for this recital, however its simplicity is punctuated by the same two notes on constant repeat in the left hand (F♯ and C♯) - however this prelude is so often performed with more aggression. I, however, prefer to approach it with a more gentle, mysterious interpretation! Enjoy…

Relaxing Music

Für die Jugend, VI: Moderato Con Expression by Philipp Scharwenka: I discovered this piece in a recent issue of Pianist Magazine which explored some of the lesser known of seemingly hundreds of ‘For the Young’ type suites of piano music (the most famous likely being ‘Kinderszenen’ trans. Scenes from Childhood by Robert Schumann). It’s short and sweet but offers just a touch more complexity than what you might expect from this type of collection (as many were indeed written for younger learners and smaller hands).

Fantasia in D Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: I love a fantasia. Imagine the structure of something more formal - such as a sonata - and throw it out of the window by still incorporating ideas and themes but in a much more dreamlike and improvisatory manner. Mozart is always a joy to play as he usually has a methodical, logical approach to his arrangements and the technique is not necessarily too high with his compositions, yet the results sound so much greater than the sum of their parts:

Elizabethan Serenade by Ronald Binge: I feared that the classical might be getting a little heavy, so I livened it up. This was the second piece that I sight read. I didn’t, however, record this as I figured that I had done my fair share of that when I recorded it for a wedding last month. Head over to that blog to hear the piece.

Reverie by Modest Mussorgsky: Once upon a time I played perhaps the most famous Reverie (Claude Debussy, no less!) for the residents of this very same care home, but I stumbled across this incredibly breathtaking composition that was adapted from a theme by Loginov. I did advise, of course, that with it clocking in at nearly 7 minutes I would in no way be offended it it caused them to fall asleep. They did remarkably well in timing their applause to, as there are many moments in this piece where the music stops and feels like it has finished - and they managed to hold off! A wonderful achievement!

Baroque Music

I always like to throw in a little Baroque, and I usually like to do so earlier on in the set just because I like to explore the way - and encourage the audience also to hear - that the music changes dramatically. Baroque music isn’t strictly piano music so much as harpsichord, clavichord or organ music as the piano didn’t exist at the time! However, it has been adapted by many pianists to be playable and almost reimagined in a suitable way for the dynamics, tone and sustaining effects of the piano.

Sonata in C Minor by Domenico Scarlatti: I love Scarlatti - probably my favourite Baroque composer. And despite him being a virtuoso of the time, this very famous sonata of his is not too taxing on the old fingers. I opted not to open with this as it’s quite bold and overall in a minor key (as implied by the title!), so wanted to ensure that the residents got some more typically ‘nice’ music before I hit them with this. But I was glad to perform it and I think they enjoyed it!

Musicals

I had an interlude for myself, really, as playing songs from the shows is infinitely less taxing than playing classical. But I am often advised that there are two things the residents love: classical and show tunes! So I had four up my sleeve today and needless to say there was singing along as I enticed them with ‘Edelweiss’ from the Sound of Music, ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie, ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face’ from My Fair Lady and ‘Big Spender’ from Sweet Charity.

The Unusual

I often like to slip in something that prompts a little of a challenge to our musical ears, and I had the perfect piece with which to challenge the resident’s ears. From the same recent issue of Pianist Magazine and the earlier ‘Für die Jugend’, I performed:

Menuet Sur Le Nom De Haydn by Maurice Ravel: The story goes that - in France - six prolific composers (Ravel, Debussy, d’Indy, Dukas, Hahn and Widor) were commissioned a task: to compose a piece of music based around the musicalisation of Haydn’s name (H =B, A was A, of course, Y = D, D was, of course, D and N = G). This was a project put together to mark the 100 year anniversary of the composer’s death. No stranger to the minuet, Ravel composed…a minuet! And this short but wonderful piece explored Haydn’s musical name (B A D D G) in a few different ways - in both hands - sometimes in reverse. Great fun!

The Grand Finale

Ode to Joy by Ludwig Van Beethoven - Franz Liszt Transcription: Fair enough, I didn’t record Elizabethan Serenade again, but having already recorded this one at the same wedding last month, I couldn’t resist recording it again because it’s soooooo good. This was the third of pieces that I hadn’t memories (yes, it be the Liszt piece that I gave myself the extra pressure of reading!). Eagle…eared(?) listeners may notice that I did, in fact, get let down by my sight reading around the three quarters mark, however - thanks to my improvisation skills - I don’t think they noticed. Liszt would be proud!

And cue a resident catching me before I left informing me how her late husband’s aunt knew Franz Liszt personally. They’d go round and be informed of little throwaway comments, such as ‘that was the chair that Liszt would sit at’…

Fear not - she was fully aware of the gravitas of what she was saying!

Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Congleton, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.

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