Opus 109

Coenraad Bos      Coenraad Bos (1875-1955) was a Dutch pianist and vocal accompanist. In his book The Well-Tempered Accompanist, he recounts his experiences throughout his long career in music, and offers advice to aspiring accompanists. Here is the  Wikipedia biography of him, and here is a link to the book on Archive.org . The Practical and the Impractical      Overall, the practical advice on accompanying is rarely specific. Rather, Bos's emphasis is on presenting the general principles and requisite skills of accompanying. Because of this, accompanists looking for detailed and exhaustive lists of advice will be disappointed. His emphasis on the cultural background that a complete accompanist should have is perhaps what is most striking about this book. A familiarity with languages, knowledge of poetry and how to interpret it, and a basic knowledge of singing are all skills that a good accompanist must possess in addition to  (not instead of) a firm technical foundation and a f

Last year, I didn't get around to writing a post like this, so now I will be reviewing the past two years of my musical endeavors - discussing what I learned, enriching experiences I had, and what I look forward to improving upon in 2024. It was my desire to improve as a musician that led to me starting this blog, so I thought it fitting to reflect on these things. New Discoveries The past two years of have been the most musically involved for me, from discovering new composers to improving my piano technique, and giving a variety of performances. First, the composers. I present them in roughly chronological order rather than the order I discovered or "rediscovered" them. Domenico Scarlatti Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas are not new to me - I grew up hearing them (primarily on classical guitar), and they have always been a source of musical inspiration and joy. However, until the past year or so, I had only tinkered with them on the piano. In years of piano lessons, Sca

       I wanted to introduce readers to a documentary that I recently came across on YouTube entitled, "Domenico Scarlatti: His Music and His World." A 1985 BBC production, the documentary explores the fascinating life of this great composer and the rich cultural heritage that led to the creation of his works, especially the 555 keyboard sonatas.     What stands out in the production, besides it great artwork and scenery of Italy and Spain, are the phenomenal performances by the Colombian harpsichordist Rafael Puyana. As a pianist, it is always intriguing to watch the specialized technique required to play the harpsichord convincingly. Puyana's subtle adjustments of the tempi, along with Scarlatti's mastery of the keyboard idiom, give the impression of greater dynamic contrast than is actually possible on harpsichord.     I also appreciated the presence of two vocal works by Scarlatti - his Stabat Mater and Salve Regina. In the face of so many great works for keyboard