Author Archives: Shota Ezaki

We are delighted to announce our new publications for January 2023. Pre-orders will be accepted from today. In a few weeks, we will start pre-ordering the digital edition(PDF) shortly. We will start the sales and shipping of these sheet music on January 25, 2023.

Maurice Ravel/Vladimir Leyetchkiss: Bolero (Transcription for piano solo)
Vladimir Leyetchkiss, one of the last students of the great master Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus, was active as a teacher and performer mainly in the United States, but was also well known as an arranger. His solo piano version of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” (Schirmer) has been performed by many pianists. Although Leyetchkiss’ arrangements are highly effective in performance, the scores of his arrangements other than “The Rite of Spring” are out of print or unpublished, and despite the hopes of many pianists, they have been extremely difficult to obtain. In addition, the death of Leyetchkiss in 2016 seemed to have made publication of his arrangements impossible. However, with the help of pianist Sandro Russo, a project to publish his arrangements has been launched with the permission of Leyetchkiss’ family. As the first volume of this project, Muse Press will publish the score of “Bolero” composed by Ravel and arranged by Leyetchkiss. This arrangement was premiered in Japan on June 20, 2021 by pianist Takuya Otaki, raising many requests for its publication.

Foreword by Sandro Russo
Leyetchkiss’s pianistic model for this solo-piano transcription seems indeed to be Ravel’s two-piano version of Boléro; however, as the piece progresses in intensity and instrumental mass, Leyetchkiss adheres more to the orchestral score. For instance, as far as the rhythmic ostinato is concerned, that which Ravel had cleverly simplified as broken octaves and tremolos in the two-piano version, Leyetchkiss lavishly exploits as fast octave repetitions and Alkanian chords ; both require the wrist endurance of a virtuoso technique.

Vladimir Leyetchkiss
Born in Russia on 8th of August 1934. He studied piano with George Sharoyev, the grandson of Anton Rubinstein, and he later went on to study with Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1974, he defected to the United States. He taught at DePaul University in Chicago. Leyetchkiss is also known as an arranger, having created solo piano arrangements of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”, Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Suite No. 2”, among others. As a pianist, he has recorded several albums: “Great Piano Transcriptions”, “My Favorite Tchaikovsky”, and “Russian Reveries” on Centaur Records. He passed away on 11th of October, 2016 in Evanston, Illinois.

Julian Scriabin: 4 Preludes (Foreword by Akihisa Yamamoto)
Russian composer Alexander Scriabin had a son who aspired to be a composer. His name was Julian Scriabin, who was born in 1908 and died in 1919 at the young age of 11. His works are reminiscent of those of his father’s middle to late years, and his passing is greatly regretted. For this publication, musicologist Akihisa Yamamoto has written a commentary on Julien and his works.  

Julian Scriabin
Educated professionally from an early age, Julian Scriabin distinguished himself in piano performance and composition, studying under Reinhold Moritzevich Glière. However, in late June 1919, his life came to an end when Julian was found drowned in the Dnieper River. The details of his drowned body and the exact date of his death are still unknown.

Akihisa Yamamoto
Musicologist. Specializes in Russian art music of the late 19th – early 20th century. Graduated from the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts. Received the Ataka Prize while still a student, and the Acanthus Music Prize and the Doseikai Prize upon graduation. He also completed a research practice at the Department of Russian Music History at the Moscow Conservatory of Music in 2016. He is currently enrolled in the doctoral program of the Graduate School of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts and the Department of Music History at The State Institute for Art Studies of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. From 2017-2020, he was a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1), and a Rohm Music Foundation Scholar in 2020 and 2021. His most recent paper is “Music Enlightenment of the Proletkult: Ideological Programs and Daily Practices” (2022). He has translated Tchaikovsky’s “Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony” (2022, Ongaku no Tomo Sha Corp.).

Franz Liszt: Variant to bars 207-253 of Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58/IV (Frédéric Chopin) (Edited with a foreword by Tomasz Kamieniak)
Liszt left many different types of variations in his own compositions, arrangements and revision collections. Among them, the collections of works by Weber and Schubert published by Cotta, works by Smetana, Tausig, Raff, and Rubinstein, and variations and ossia written for his pupils are worth mentioning. This month, Muse Press publishes Liszt’s Variations, written for the last movement of Frederic Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3. They were reportedly written for Olga Janina, a student of Liszt’s.

Liszt wrote the variant very wisely and logically when one looks at the entire Finale. This movement, which is in the form of a rondo, begins in thirds in 6/8 time signature. The reappearance of the theme shows the left hand in quartos (polyrhythm) and subsequently in sixteenths, i.e. again steadily, regularly. On the other hand, the Liszt variant goes further and introduces quintuplets instead of sixteenths, which yield a polyrhythmic pattern, followed by triplet regularity with left hand leaps and naturally enhances the expression and strength of the Finale.

– Foreword by Tomasz Kamieniak

Tomasz Kamieniak is a pianist and composer who enjoys playing the music of Franz Liszt and Charles Valentin Alkan as well as less known composers.Tomasz graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the piano class of Professor Joanna Domańska. He further developed his playing under Professor Rolf-Dieter Arens at the University of Music in Weimar, Konstantin Scherbakov (Piano Master Classes), Professor Zbigniew Raubo (postgraduate studies in Katowice), and Leslie Howard in London.Kamieniak was awarded the special prize at the 4th International FRANZ LISZT Piano Competition in Weimar. He recorded piano works by Józef Wieniawski as the winner of the Grand Prix at the 4th Competition for a Recording Project “Forgotten Polish Music” organised by the Acte Préalable publishing house. A scholarship recipient, both from the Marshall’s Office in Katowice and the Wagner Society in Bayreuth, Kamieniak also received a prize presented by the Mayor of Tarnowskie Góry in recognition of his cultural achievements.Highlights of Kamieniak’s solo performances include: the Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano at the Indian Summer in Levoca Music Festival, the Piano Extravaganza Festival in Sofia and during recitals given in Kiev, Weimar, London, Bayreuth and Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce, and the Alkan Symphony for Solo Piano in the Academy of Music in Katowice, as well as in Bielsko-Biała and Zakopane.Tomasz gave recitals in Bayreuth and Venice organised by the Wagner Society. In 2008, during a three-part recital at the Steingraeber Haus in Bayreuth, he performed all Wagnerian transcriptions of Liszt on his piano from 1876. Tomasz also performed Liszt’s two-piano arrangement of the Faust Symphony with Leslie Howard in London. In 2021, he performed at the American Liszt Society Festival via recorded videos.With orchestra, Kamieniak debuted at the Polish Youth Symphony Orchestra under Andrzej Affeltowicz with the Liszt Second Piano Concerto; played the Wieniawski Piano Concerto with the Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Monika Wolińska during the Polish Music Festival “Swego nie Znacie” and with Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Walker during the Świętokrzyskie Days of Music Festival; Górecki Concerto and Glass Tirol Concerto with the Nomos String Orchestra conducted by Mieczysław Unger during the New Music Festival in Bytom; Kilar Second Piano Concerto and Górecki Concerto with Maciej Tomasiewicz conducting Archetti String Orchestra in Jaworzno.

We are delighted to announce our new publications for October 2022. Pre-orders will be accepted from today. In a few weeks, we will start pre-ordering the digital edition(PDF). We will start the sales and shipping of these sheet music on October 25, 2022.

Giacomo Puccini – Nikolay Khozyainov: Madama Butterfly “Coro a bocca chiusa” (Humming Chorus) for solo piano Madama Butterfly, has been transformed into a work for solo piano by the world-renowned pianist Nikolay Khozyainov. The original is a semi-choral piece with the chorus humming in the background of an orchestra. Khozyainov used tremolos to express the unique and enchanting atmosphere of the humming. This arrangement was performed in recital in Japan and received high recognition.

Nikolay Khozyainov is one of the most remarkable pianists of the world. His musicality and formidable technique have thrilled audiences across the planet, his recitals and concerto engagements include sold out performances on all continents at the world’s foremost stages such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, Wigmore Hall in London, The Louvre and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Sydney Opera House, Tonhalle in Zurich, Palazzo Quirinale in Rome, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the United Nations and many others. Maestro Khozyainov has been honored by numerous presidents and heads of state, great cultural and political figures. In January 2018, the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan celebrated Nikolay at his concert in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. In 2022 he was knighted by the Spanish Royal Family as Knight Commander. Khozyainov has performed with the London Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland among many others. https://www.nikolaykhozyainov.com/

Glinka/Ryoma Saeki: Overture “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (Concert Arrangement for piano) Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” overture is widely known under Mravinsky’s baton (recording). Surprisingly, this work has no concert solo piano arrangement, and pianist Ryoma Saeki has now developed it into a very pianistic work while paying full respect to the original. It requires considerable performance skill, but as it is described as a “concert arrangement”, it is a spectacular piece, especially suited for an encore.

Saeki Ryoma Born 2000 in Saitama, Japan, began playing the piano at the age of 7. First prize in the high school division of the 32nd “Junior Classical Music Competition in Japan” and the high school division of the 3rd K Piano Competition. In 2019, he entered the Toho Gakuen School of Music. Second prize in the Fupper category of the 26th Fupper Tosu Piano Competition 2020. In addition, he was a finalist in the 2021 Toho Piano Competition and won the first prize in the 2022 Toho Piano Concerto Competition. He has studied piano with Yukiko Yamagami, Miwako Takeda and Nobuhito Nakai, harpsichord with Chiyoko Arita, chamber music with Toshiaki Murakami and Miwako Ochiai, and composition with Tomohiro Moriyama.

Yoshihisa Hirano Pickled Plum Rag & Rag Simulation for piano Composer Yoshihisa Hirano has written numerous works for piano, ranging from orchestral works to theatre pieces. According to Hirano, his aim was to create ‘cod spaghetti’ or ‘green tea ice cream’, a strong work that differs from the usual ragtime.

Having been a jazz-obsessed teenager, ragtime is a familiar musical genre to me. Indeed, from the ease of Scott Joplin to the extreme fierceness of Art Tatum, I have been fascinated and inspired by this unique music from time to time. In one of my anime works, I’ve also produced a soundtrack of Joplin’s work arranged for a variety of instrumentation, and of course, I’ve written many originals. Ragtime, in my opinion, is pure fun, happy, anti-aging music that contributes more to raising the corners of your mouth than wrinkling your brow. These are the first two rags I’ve written as independent concert works. It contains some rather strange and joke-like musical sections, but hopefully it will resonate as pure fun for the audience, making ‘the corners of your mouths rise with a smile’. Needless to say, the performers will face a group of inevitable age-accelerating phrases that cannot help but cause a deep ‘crease between the eyebrows’. Sorry! Preface by Yoshihisa Hirano

Yoshihisa Hirano was born in the Wakayama Prefecture of Japan on Dec.7th, 1971. Having been attracted to baroque music, he started to study composition by himself as an elementary student. He found jazz in high school. He enthused over the music of great jazz masters such as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. His admiration of them once gave him dreams of becoming a jazz musician, but he then discovered contemporary music. Specifically he gained interest in the works of John Zorn, one of the musicians who had the biggest influence on him in his youth. On the other hand, symphonies by Shostakovich also greatly impressed him, and helped him make up his mind to study composition seriously. After many twists and turns, he moved to the United States. He entered Eastman School of Music in NY and studied composition with Christopher Rouse and Joseph Schwantner. Getting engrossed in books by 20th century french writers and thinkers including Bataille, Klossowski, Mandiargues and Genet, he spent most of his time reading and composing rather than attending classes. After many twists and turns, he quit the school. He made his debut as a film composer in 2001. Thereafter he has composed a large number of soundtracks of TV shows, films and games.

Kōsaku Yamada: Piano Works I, II & III

A joint project with the classical music label “Vacances Musicales”. This is a publication of forgotten masterpieces for piano by Yamada Kosaku, one of Japan’s most famous composers, widely known for works such as “Akatombo” and “Kono Michi”. The commentary is by musicologist Satoru Takaku and the revision and editing are by pianist Nanako Sugiura. The collection includes works that were known to exist but for some reason had never been published before, as well as completed editions of unfinished works.

Kōsaku Yamada: Piano Works I “Early Works in the Classical Style” It includes works from his Berlin period that have never been published before, such as Gavottes, Rondos and Variations, as well as reprints of classical style works such as Sonatas and Chaconnes, some of which were originally published by the former DAI-ICHI HOKI CO. These works are a valuable record of the early days of the Japanese classical music world, and are fine pieces reflecting the joy of being the first Japanese to study classical music in Europe. Contents: Menuetto / 2 Sonatines / Sonata No. 1 / Allegro moderato / Sonata No. 2 / Gavotte / March / A melody on an autumn day / Lied ohne Worte / Variationen g-moll / Variationen A-dur / Theme and Variations in C / Chaconne c-moll / Chaconne c-dur / Olympic March

Kōsaku Yamada: Piano Works II “Arrangements of Songs by Kōsaku Yamada” (arranged by Mana Hirano, Minami Nagai & Sota Aoki) He is still known to this day for his famous songs such as ‘Akatombo’ and ‘Kono Michi’, which are well-known to all Japanese people, but there is also his own arrangement of “Karatachi no Hana”, which is still performed to this day. Following Yamada’s example, young composers Sota Aoki, Mana Hirano and Minami Nagai have taken many of Yamada’s masterpieces and transformed them into piano works.

Kōsaku Yamada: Piano Works III “Incomplete Works” (Completed by Masanori Enoki) Enoki Masanori, an up-and-coming composer and improviser, has supplemented and completed large-scale works such as ”Sonata-extasier, “Impromptu”, “Erinnerungen an mine Kobe zeit (Memories of Kobe)” and ”Serenade’ ‘, which Yamada never completed. Each of these works is a large-scale work unlike any of his currently known piano works, and is a substantial achievement from the early days of Japanese piano music, influenced by Scriabin and Chopin, but refined by Yamada’s unique pianism. Contents: Impromptu* / Sonata-extasier* / Serenade* / Erinnerungen an mine Kobe zeit* 《Appendix》Genji Rakucho

We are delighted to announce our new publications for September 2022. Pre-orders will be accepted from today. In a few weeks, we will start pre-ordering the digital edition(PDF). We will start the sales and shipping of these sheet music on September 25, 2022. The scheduled date of sale is 25 Aug 2022

Rachmaninoff / Nicolas Namoradze: Adagio (from Symphony no. 2 Op.27) arrangement for piano solo A world-renowned composer-pianist, Nicholas Namorase’s first arrangement will be published. One of the most famous of Rachmaninov’s orchestral works, Adagio (from Symphony No. 2, Op. 27) continues to fascinate many people almost 100 years after it was composed. Many piano solo arrangements of this masterpiece have been created, but Namoradze, who is also a composer, has finished the arrangement with a high degree of perfection as a piano piece while respecting the harmony of the original piece. He succeeded in expressing the profound feeling of the orchestra on the piano, and in the second half of the work, a pianistic passage appears, which will not only attract the performers but also the audience. It requires a high level of skill to perform, but it is an extremely effective arrangement.

Pianists will delight in this exciting transcription by Nicolas Namoradze of a symphonic masterpiece.

—— Norma Fisher (Pianist)

Nicolas Namoradze Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze came to international attention in 2018 upon winning the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Canada—among the largest prizes in classical music. His recitals around the globe have been met with universal critical praise, and recent album releases have received extraordinary accolades, including the Choc de Classica, Record of the Month in Limelight, Instrumental Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Editor’s Choice in Presto Classical and Critics’ Choice in International Piano. Among the most critically acclaimed musicians of his generation, Namoradze was bestowed the 2020 & 2021 Young Pianist Award by the UK Critics’ Circle, which called him “very much more than a top-flight pianist.” His current activities include recitals at concert halls including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan; festival appearances at Tanglewood, Banff, Gstaad, Santa Fe and more; and performances with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Sinfonieorchester Basel, with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Karina Canellakis and Ken-David Masur. Highlights of his work as a composer include commissions and performances by leading artists and ensembles including Ken-David Masur, Lukas Ligeti, Tessa Lark, Metropolis Ensemble and the Momenta, Verona and Barkada Quartets, at festivals such as the Chelsea Music Festival, Honens Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Portland Piano International and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, among others. He has also composed and produced a number of film soundtracks, including Walking Painting by Fabienne Verdier and Nuit d’opéra à Aix, made in association with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. After completing his undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna and Florence, Namoradze moved to New York for his master’s at The Juilliard School and his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff and Eliso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. He currently pursues postgraduate studies in neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, where his research interests include the effects of mental practice and mindfulness on musical performance. Namoradze is the author of the book “Ligeti’s Macroharmonies”, published by Springer in the Computational Music Science series.

Ron Yedidia: 12 Great Etudes Book 1 Vol. 2 (Nos. 5-8) Our publication project of “Grand Etudes”, a cycle for piano solo works by Ron Yedidia, started in November 2021. A total of 24 pieces were composed during about 30 years to complete. Some of these pieces were performed and recorded by Yedidia himself and attracted many piano fans. This volume contains Etude No. 5 to No. 8, composed in 1994 and 1995. The composer describes the period in which the piece was written as a time of heightened “cosmic inspiration,” as if a muse descended from an otherworldly source. This volume includes: Grand Etude No. 5 / Grand Etude No. 6, “Sunrise” / Grand Etude No. 7, “The Flight Over the Ocean” / Grand Etude No. 8, “A Voice is Calling in the Desert at Night”

Ronn Yedidia Ronn Yedidia’s compositions have galvanized the attention of performing artists worldwide during the last two decades. His works have been featured in major concert halls and documented on film, radio and television. He has won high critical acclaim from leading newspapers around the world, as both composer and pianist. Born in 1960 in Tel Aviv, Israel, he began his musical career as a child prodigy pianist, winning 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artists’ Competition of Israel at the age of eight. His main teacher and mentor was Israel’s first lady of the piano, Pnina Salzman, who herself was a protege of Alfred Cortot. Active as a performer for many years. Ronn’s compositions have been recorded by renowned artists and ensembles on many major labels such as EMI Classics, Naxos’ American Classics series and Sony BMG. His solo album “Yedidia Plays Yedidia”, on Britain’s Altarus label, has galvanized the attention of numerous pianists and composers around the world. He is the co-founder and Classical Program Director of The New York Piano Academy in Manhattan.

Published works of Ronn Yedidia and Nicolas Namoradze from Muse Press:

New publications for August 2022. Pre-orders will be accepted from today, 5 August. The scheduled date of sale is 25 Aug 2022.

Daniel Kramer: 6 Concert Etudes & Credo
Daniel Kramer’s “6 Concert Etudes”, first published by a Russian (former Soviet Union) publisher in 1987 in a combined edition of around 9930 copies with Nikolai Kapustin’s “8 Concert Etudes”, was a very difficult score to find. For this re-publication, Kramer revised the score by adding fingerings and revising the tempo. Together with the concert etudes, a long version of his masterpiece “Credo”, previously only available in an informally scored version by a third party, has also been supervised by Kramer and included as an official version in this score.

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Václav Krahulík: Etudes in Jazz for piano, Volume I (Nos. 1-5)
The Czech Republic pianist Václav Krahulík’s “Etudes in Jazz” (15 Etudes in 3 volumes) will finally be published. Krahulík became familiar with jazz and classical music at an early age under the influence of his father, and studied piano at the Prague Conservatory with Pavel Štěpán, known for his performances of Josef Suk’s piano works. Krahulík says “I never considered myself as a composer”, and the publication “Etudes in Jazz” is a reflection of his improvisations, which over time have taken on a certain form, and which are based on the language of jazz and classical music. Each piece is only 3-4 minutes long, making it very suitable as an encore or recital piece.

Rachmaninoff/Yoonie Han: Andante Cantabile (Variation XVIII) from « Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini » (Transcription for piano) Yoonie Han, winner of numerous piano competitions and currently Assistant Professor of Piano at Hong Kong Baptist University, has made a piano transcription of the 18th variation “Andante Cantabile” from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. This transcription also appears on her piano album “Hollywood Romance”, released in 2020. The film “Somewhere in Time”, broadcast in 1980, also uses “Andante cantabile” as a love theme, and many people discovered Rachmaninoff through this film.

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Respighi/Antonio Pompa-Baldi: Violin Sonata in B minor (Transcription for solo piano)
The “Violin Sonata in B minor”, considered one of the masterpieces of Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, has been transformed into a “Piano Sonata” by the pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi. The transcription was written in a few months during the Covid-19 outbreak, and a performance video was posted on YouTube by Pompa-Baldi himself. The video was very well received and there were many requests for the publication of the score. The piece is naturally challenging, as it requires extensive use of the sostenuto pedal in order to create effective acoustic effects. You can see his advanced pedal technique in the performance video.

Roberto Piana: Grand Fantasy on Puccini’s La Bohème for piano
Roberto Piana, a leading Italian composer-pianist, described the act of writing operatic paraphrases (fantasias) for piano as ‘an institute in refining a piece of music’, and through this creative act, he explored the possibilities of the piano. This “Grand Fantasy on Puccini’s « La Bohème » for piano” by Roberto Piana this time, takes about 30 minutes to perform and requires a high level of skill and musicality to play. Throughout the piece, some arias we have all heard at one time or another, such as ‘Sì, mi chiamano Mimì’, ‘Quando men vo’ and ‘Vecchia zimarra, senti’, will also appear and will feel somewhat familiar to you.

The music score of La Valse by Ravel, transcribed by Kōtarō Fukuma will be released on December 23rd. The price is 2,500 yen (excluding tax) on 32 pages. This transcription has been recorded on Fukuma’s latest album “France Romance” and have been also performed at concerts by the Fukuma himself. In addition to direct sales on our website, you can also order from local music stores and book stores in Japan.
https://muse-press.com/fr/item/mp00103/

Although the composer himself left a piano solo arrangement for La Valse, many pianists have created their own arrangements in pursuit of a more orchestral sound. Fukuma’s one captures the largest number of notes among them and closest to the orchestral version. Please pick it up and enjoy it together with the recording of Fukuma.

Muse Press has published the following publications in September 2019.
Ronn Yedidia: Rhapsody
Ronn Yedidia: Piano Sonata No.6 “Bells of Dawn” (2005)
Alfonso Soldano: 5 Piano Transcriptions of Songs by Rachmaninoff Vol. I
Charles-Valentin Alkan: Étude Alla-Barbaro (Foreword by Raymond Lewenthal)
Kishio Hirao: Nocturne – for violin, cello and piano
Howard: Ruddigore Fantaisie de concert pour piano, op. 40, d’après d’opéra de Sullivan
Saburo Moroi: Elegy in B minor – for piano (1921)
Saburo Moroi: Suite für Klavier Op. 23 (1942)
Teizo Matsumura: Klavierstück “Drowing”

For those who love and collect the French piano music, a coming album would be a must-listen CD. The Japanese pianist Kotaro Fukuma will release an album « French Romance ». As the name suggests, the album features the French piano music by various composers such as Poulenc, Satie, Fauré, Ravel and Weissenberg, including his own piano transcriptions. It will be released on Naxos Japan as a digital download and CD on 17th of April 2019. One of Muse Press’ publications « 6 arrangements of songs by Charles Trenet » which is a set of songs arranged for piano by the Bulgarian-French pianist Alexis Weissenberg has been also recorded on the album. In fact, Kotaro is the first Japanese pianist who performed all arrangements in one concert.

As previously described, Kotaro’s impressive transcriptions for piano: Ravel’s La valse, Satie’s Je te veux and Lenoir’s Parlez-moi d’amour are also included. One of them, Je te veux was recently published by Muse Press.

This is a video in which Kotaro talks about the album. (in English)

Information
Album title: France Romance
Artist: Kotaro Fukuma
Label: Naxos Japan
Catalog No: NYCC-27308
Release Date: 17th April, 2019

Contents
Debussy: Rêverie
Debussy: La plus que lente
Fauré: No. 5 Improvisation & No. 8 Nocturne from 8 Pièces brèves, Op.84
Fauré: 3 Romances sans paroles, Op.17
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Ravel: La valse (transcribed by Kotaro Fukuma)
Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1
Satie: Je te veux (transcribed by Kotaro Fukuma)
Poulenc: Improvisation No. 15 – Hommage à Edith Piaf
Poulenc: 3 Novelettes
Weissenberg: 6 arrangements of songs by Charles Trenet
Lenoir: Parlez-moi d’amour (transcribed by Kotaro Fukuma)

Recording Date
Kashiwazaki-City Performing Arts Center – Artforet in Japan, on 28-30 November 2018
Piano: C. Bechstein D-280
Director & Recording Engineer: Toshiki Muto
Assistant Engineer: Yukio Kojima
Post-production Engineer: Atushi Kawanami
24bit/352.8kHz DXD Master

Available for pre-order:
Amazon.com
Presto Classical
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We are very proud to announce that Fukuma Kotaro’s piano transcription “Je te veux” will be published in December. The pre-sale will be held at the recital on 1st of December and it will be available for purchase online through the web shop of Muse Press from 10th of December.

Kotaro Fukuma described his transcription as follow:
I made this transcription in 2013 as a surprise encore at a Paris concert. A few years before that concert I had visited the Satie House/Museum in Honfleur and enjoyed seeing funny and eccentric objects in the museum (like a pear with wings!). I felt like I was in an amusement park, and I tried to translate that feeling in this famous song by adding various ornaments to the simple melodies, so the listener encounters a new “attraction” every time the theme comes back.

Fukuma Kotaro’s Profile

photo by Takuji Shimmura

Born in Tokyo, Kotaro Fukuma has received many high awards in international competitions. At the age of 20, Kotaro won both First Prize and the Chopin Prize at the 15th Cleveland International Piano Competition. Since then his concert career has developed on five continents.

Kotaro has performed solo in major concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Salle Gaveau, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall and Suntory Hall. His performances with orchestras include the Cleveland Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Toulouse National Capitole Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Galicia Royal Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Kotaro Fukuma has released commercial CDs from Naxos, ARS Produktion, Éditio ns Hortus, Orpheus Classical, DENON and Accustika.

www.kotarofukuma.com

We are proud to announce that Alexis Weissenberg’s 6 arrangements of songs by Charles Trenet will be published by Muse Press LLC anticipated at the beginning of November 2018. The publication will be edited by the Canadian composer-pianist Marc-André Hamelin who re-discovered the arrangements and recorded them on his album Marc-André Hamelin in a state of jazz for the British music label Hyperion.

The publication is finally released!
https://muse-press.com/en/item/mp00701/

Alexis Weissenberg 1974 At home (c) J.D.Wilson

Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2012) has been recognized as one of the most successful pianists of his generation. His recordings have been issued on various labels including Philips, RCA, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon featuring Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, Bach and, Prokofiev. Additionally, he was also a composer, having started composition in childhood. His legacy includes not only original compositions but also transcriptions, cadenzas for Concertos, 4 musicals and song arrangements.
[Photo provided by Alexis Weissenberg Archive]

The arrangements include 6 songs by Charles Trenet: Coin de rue –  Vous oubliez votre cheval – En avril, à Paris – Boum! – Vous qui passez sans me voir – Ménilmontant.

The editor of the publication, Marc-André Hamelin comments on the arrangements as follow:

Mr. Nobody plays Trenet

Sometime in the late 1950s there appeared on the Lumen label an extended-play 45-rpm record called Mr. Nobody Plays Trénet. It contained unusually creative and entertaining piano settings of six songs by the French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet (1913–2001). The identity of ‘Mr. Nobody’ was kept secret until relatively recently, when it was revealed to be that of Alexis Weissenberg. Before I met him for the first time (2004), I had assumed that the reason for not issuing the recording under his own name had something to do with the fact that, at that time, a serious classical pianist dabbling in such trivialities as popular song would most likely have been compromising his own career. (How times have changed…this kind of thing is welcomed, even encouraged, by record companies now.) But I do remember him telling me that he simply didn’t think the end result was good enough…! […] After receiving a multitude of requests for these scores over the years, I am thrilled that they are now finally being made available.

Some years ago, the family of Alexis Weissenberg discovered four of these six arrangements, in Weissenberg’s own hand. Therefore, this publication will comprise these manuscripts bracketed together with transcripitons of what is actually heard on the Lumen recording.

Title: Alexis Weissenberg – 6 arrangements of songs by Charles Trenet
Edited and Preface: Marc-André Hamelin
Contents: Coin de rue (Street corner) –  Vous oubliez votre cheval (You’re forgetting your horse) – En avril, à Paris (April in Paris) – Boum! (Boum!) – Vous qui passez sans me voir (You who walk by without seeing me) – Ménilmontant (Ménilmontant)
Price (tax-included): 3000 JPN
Release date: 10th of December

Please click following image for more details about Alexis Weissenberg.

We are very proud to announce that the piano music of Ronn Yedidia will be published gradually by Muse Press. As his first publications from Muse Press, two piano works Ether and Toward the Gardens of Heaven will be published on 6th of August. Its pre-release will be held at Shota Ezaki’s recital which will take place at the Kioi-cho Salon Hall on 5th of August with the presence of the composer.

Ether (1996)
Price：2900 yen (VAT included).
Date of release：6th of August, 2018（on the webshop of Muse Press）
Page numbers: 12 pages
Preface: Ronn Yedidia

Toward the Gardens of Heaven (1997)
Price：4900 yen (VAT included).
Date of release：6th of August, 2018（on the webshop of Muse Press）
Page numbers: 28 pages
Preface: Ronn Yedidia

Ronn Yedidia
Ronn Yedidia’s compositions have galvanized the attention of performing artists worldwide during the last two decades. His works have been featured in major concert halls and documented on film, radio and television. He has won high critical acclaim from leading newspapers around the world, as both composer and pianist.

Born in 1960 in Tel Aviv, Israel, he began his musical career as a child prodigy pianist, winning 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artists’ Competition of Israel at the age of eight. His main teacher and mentor was Israel’s first lady of the piano, Pnina Salzman, who herself was a protege of Alfred Cortot. Active as a performer for many years, Ronn decided at the age of 15 to shift his attention towards composition. In 1984 he entered the Juilliard School from which he holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in composition. During his studies there under David Diamond and Milton Babbitt he received all the major prizes in composition, including the Lincoln Center Scholarship, the Irving Berlin Scholarship, the Henry Mancini Prize, and the Richard Rodgers Scholarship. He also won the Juilliard Composition Competition twice – in 1987 & 1989 – and as a result had his works performed at the Juilliard Theater and at Alice Tully Hall.

Soon after receiving his DMA in Musical Composition from The Juilliard School of Music in 1991, composer/pianist Ronn Yedidia decided to abandon all the common trends which represented mainstream contemporary music, and instead embarked on an individual journey toward the re-establishment of traditional tonal principles such as melody, harmony, form, aestheticism, drama and dialogue. His passion for folk, jazz and other non-classical genres of music which maintain tonality in their essence has helped him enhance his musical language. He has written for all instrumental mediums from solo through chamber to symphonic works, and for most vocal idioms including art song, pop/folk songs, and both sacred & secular choral works. The world premiere of his work “Steps In The Wonderland” was performed by The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in May, 2007. Major commissions include the San Antonio International Piano Competition, the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Zamir Chorale of New York. In 1994, Yedidia was invited by Wanda Toscanini-Horowitz to edit and record the unpublished piano compositions by the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz.
Ronn’s compositions have been recorded by renowned artists and ensembles on many major labels such as EMI Classics, Naxos’ American Classics series, Hyperion Records and Sony BMG. His solo album “Yedidia Plays Yedidia”,
on Britain’s Altarus label, has galvanized the attention of numerous pianists and composers around the world. In addition to his many national and international awards, Dr. Yedidia has won special grants from both ASCAP and BMI, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. He is the co-founder and Classical Program Director of The New York Piano Academy in Manhattan.