Pianist Paavali Jumppanen's blog and professional website
Photo: Maarit Kytöharju
O brave new world, that has such people in ‘t, was Miranda’s hopeful remark to Prospero who didn’t share her daughter’s optimism. Rich in musical references as Shakespeare is, the title for this concert series came from elsewhere – namely, from Aldous Huxley’s similarly named utopian novel. Paradoxically what had inspired Huxley was the Tempest, […]
Today might be the day and let’s assume it is. There are no birth records, just a baptism certificate and an assumption that his birth took place the previous day. Good enough. So today, 250 years since December 16th in 1770, we celebrate Ludwig van Beethoven. What do we actually celebrate? His life? His music? […]
Working on two major chamber music works by Beethoven for upcoming concerts in Helsinki and in New York, the Quintet for Piano and Winds Op. 16 and the Eroica Symphony arranged for Piano Quartet by Ferdinand Ries, I wrote down observations from a couple paths of history opened by these works. The Eroica Symphony, […]
All hope abandon, ye that enter here! Franz Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante (Alfred Brendel) A known fact among the pianists who’ve studied Franz Liszt’s Dante Sonata, or Après une lecture du Dante (eng. After a Reading of Dante) as the title goes, is that the opening passages of the work depict the opening of the […]
Die Kunst der Fuge eli Fuugan taide oli J. S. Bachin (1685–1750) viimeisen vuosikymmenen suurhanke. Urkuvirtuoosi ja polyfonian kruunaamaton kuningas halusi ladata teokseen koko osaamisensa ja luoda koruttoman teeman sisäisistä rikkauksista ennen kokemattoman musiikillisen kertomuksen. Die Kunst der Fuge, the Art of Fugue was to be Johann Sebastian Bach’s opus magnum in the realm of […]
A Masterpiece article by Paavali Jumppanen published in the Wall Street Journal on Oct 7, 2017 In 1804, following works born of the idealism of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment such as his “Eroica” Symphony, Beethoven created the greatest musical explosion for solo piano of its time: the Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, […]
I’m performing two recitals for Portland Piano Solo series this weekend. I don’t believe a pianist couldn’t imagine more sublime repertoire: the two concerts feature works by Beethoven and Debussy. Each concert includes a book of Préludes by Debussy and two sonatas by Beethoven, the Moonlight and the Les Adieux on the first, and the Sonata Op. 54 […]
I recently completed a three-concert cycle of these composer’s works in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. By now classics, the three composers could just as well be described as modernists, although both definitions impoverish the perspective. Boulez always insisted on portraying Debussy and Bartók as torchbearers of modernism, but as early as the […]
This from the midst of yet another study-period with Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Concerto, this one in preparation for a couple performances this week with Finland’s Kymi Sinfonietta. Once again, as my my fingers have been exploring the paths laid across the Concerto’s score, my mind has wandered to the old story of Beethoven having drawn his […]
Volume 3. of my recording of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas has been released. This selection contains sonatas from the turn-of-the-century, a time when Beethoven had truly found his voice, some of them among my very favorite, e.g. the Moonlight Sonata. During the process of recording the complete 32, eight weeks of sessions spread over […]