Description
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Contents
Charles Gounod / W. Vleminckx: Ave Maria (Piano Solo)
Amilcare Ponchielli / W. Vleminckx: Danza delle ore (Piano Solo & Piano Duet)
W. Vleminckx: Etude for the left hand (Piano Solo)
W. Vleminckx: Schumania (Piano Solo)
W. Vleminckx: Cluster Boogie (Piano Duet)
Johann Strauss II / W. Vleminckx: Champagne Polka (Piano Duet)
Johann Strauss II / W. Vleminckx: Pizzicato Polka (Piano Duet)
Preface by Walter Vleminckx
To be honest, when I wrote these arrangements I had no intention to publish them. However, years ago, Kotaro Fukuma crossed my path and, thanks to him, the unexpected now happens anyway. It shows how much music connects people. As a piano teacher, I wrote small pieces for students for only the left or right hand. After all, every year there was an unlucky person who came home after a skiing holiday with a broken wrist. One piece was included in this volume, Etude for the left hand. The arrangements for 4 hands came about by chance. Before I wrote these arrangements, I had written a few pieces for my wife Mia and me, just for fun. Then the idea arose to play a New Year’s concert together… And, in the end, it didn’t stop just with J.Strauss… Thank you, Kotaro, for providing the finishing touches that made it possible to arrangements/compositions. I hope many pianists will enjoy them.Foreword by Kotaro Fukuma
I met Walter Vleminckx and his wife Mia at a concert in Antwerp in 2018. As they were friends of the organizer, they invited me to their home the day after the concert and we had an intimate home concert in their lovely salon. After that, they treated me like a son and came to my concerts in Europe many times, and I started to visit their home regularly. One day, I heard that Walter, who was a piano teacher, was also arranging and composing music as a hobby. When I looked at the sheet music, there were some pieces that I wanted to play myself. It became a tradition for us to play his arrangement of Strauss’ Champagne Polka and open the champagne on someone’s birthday. The heartwarming and gentle “Schumania” was a piece that Walter gave to me for my birthday in 2020. His arrangement of Gounod’s “Ave Maria” has now become an important encore piece for me.
Walter Vleminckx
Walter Vleminckx, born in Antwerp in 1944 began his piano studies at the age of seven.He earned a first prize with distinction in the class of Eugène Traey at the Royal Conservatory of his hometown, where he obtained the Higher Diploma in Chamber Music. IN 1966, he continued his piano studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and obtained the Higher Diploma with Robert Steyaert. Contacts with the Antwerp pedagogue Jacques De Tiège and the Czech pianist Ivan Moravec were of great significance to him. Walter Vleminckx is laureate of the Beethoven competition in 1970 and the Skriabin competition of the European Radio Union in 1972. In 1974 he was awarded the virtuosity prize of the Blegian government. He has performed regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. As a soloist, he was accompanied by the National Orchestra of Belgium, the BRT-Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Liège, the Prima la Musica chamber orchestra, among others. He has made several CD recordings and appearances for the Belgian radio and television. Walter Vleminckx was piano teacher and accompanist at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Municipal Conservatory of Mechelen.
