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Mordecai Shehori - Learning By Example Volume 1
see end of review for details
Mordecai Shehori (piano)
rec. 1999
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD108 [73:59]

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Mordecai Shehori - Learning By Example Volume 2
see end of review for details
Mordecai Shehori (piano)
rec. 2002
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD119 [77:00]

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Mordecai Shehori - Learning By Example Volume 3
see end of review for details
Mordecai Shehori (piano)
rec. 2008
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD131  [79:36]

Experience Classicsonline


There are now three volumes in Mordecai Shehori’s Learning By Example Series perfectly geared to the student or young pianist seeking out works of musical worth. None provides difficulties sufficient to plunge the young player into gloom – though they’re hardly simple to master - and there is an alphabet of technical matters to ensure a sure grounding. Their proportions may be small but the musical rewards are great and so will be the feeling of accomplishment once they’ve been securely mastered. In his introduction “to the Learning Pianist” in volume one Shehori takes us through the various technical aspects of the works he plays and adds sagacious advice about the mood of the piece, its inflection, the feeling it’s meant to evoke. Thus he combines, quite unselfconsciously, both technical and expressive components.
 
And one could hardly want for a more warm, genial and adept guide. His Purcell Minuet in volume one is tonally verdant, Bach’s Minuet in D minor possesses refined eloquence, and there is great poise in the C major Invention. His Handel Sarabande in D minor is controlled and a young player (or an older one) could spend time listening to his control of dynamics, and equally to the clarity of his articulation in C.P.E. Bach’s Solfeggio in C minor, helped by the rather dry recording. Pliancy of phrasing can be gauged from his Mozart Rondo in C major. He plays Kuhlau’s Sonatina with flexibility and Clementi’s sonata with a certain military profile. By the time we reach Mendelssohn and Schumann we find the chances for characterisation have increased; especially in the case of those pieces derived from the Album for the Young. The two K’s – Kabalevsky and Khachaturian provide more up-to-date pleasures in their little pieces.
 
The second volume revisits Clementi quite extensively and adds Spindler, Dussek and Diabelli amongst other more obvious names, in an all-Sonatina disc. This is characterful and engaging programme making and played with real command and élan by this master pianist. True, there’s not much bloom in the sound but this is characteristic of the three discs in their entirety; I assure you it won’t impede pleasure and it actually rather suits many of the pieces. Shehori shows the young leaner how to be charming, how to exude gallant wit, how to pursue playfulness. The well scaled chordal punctuation points in the Clementi C major reveal how to scale such matters, how to balance chords, whereas elsewhere one could learn how most fully to explore the lyric melancholy embedded in so small a poco adagio. Perhaps, above all, the player will learn stylistic aptness; in the case of the Rondo Allegro of Beethoven’s Sonatina in F major he will learn, too, about the art of projection, and how to imbue playing with apt levels of drama. Do not spurn the Diabelli G major; just listen how Shehori brings it to vivid life. This particular disc also ends with Kabalevsky and his Sonatina in A minor will extend the vocabulary of the young player, introduce him to its moments of passing mordancy, and encourage some lissom freedom in its finale. Shehori cannily leads the learner in this exploratory journey.  
 
The third volume reprises the span chronologically from Lully to - once more - Kabalevsky. In between we have Bach, Handel, Clementi, Weber, Glinka, Bergmüller, Schumann and the like. This volume is reminiscent of the first in the series in its exploration of Airs, minuets, presto movements, dances and the increasing concentration on the widening shores of romantic associative writing. Natural buoyancy of rhythm is a real component here – try Scarlatti’s Sonata in A major. So too we find in Leopold Mozart’s pieces the chance for the learner to vest pieces with personality and presence. The national dances are similarly entertaining and engaging. If anyone can match the puckish wit of Shehori’s take on Bergmüller’s L'Arabesque in A minor they won’t be doing it soon.
 
Touch, pedalling, tone colours, chordal weight, articulation, these are all some of the many, many devices that Shehori will necessarily lead the learner to explore in these educational and captivating volumes.
 
Jonathan Woolf

Track listing
Volume 1
Arcangelo CORELLI (1653-1713)
1. Sarabande in E minor [1:35]      
Jean-Philippe RAMEAU (1683-1764)
2. Rondino in C major [0:56]      
Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
3. Minuet in A minor  [1:05]    
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
4. Sonata in D minor, K. 32 [1:40]  
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750
5. Musette in D major [1:01]      
6. Minuet in D minor  [0:50]     
7. Minuet in G major  [1:29]    
8. Minuet in G minor [1:44]     
9. Little Prelude in C minor [1:11]  
10. Invention No. 1 in C major [1:13]  
11. Invention No. 4 in D minor  [1:03] 
12. Invention No. 8 in F major [0:53]  
13. Invention No. 9 in F minor  [1:26] 
14. Invention No. 13 in A minor [1:06]
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
15. Sarabande in D minor [2:51]     
16. Minuet in F major [1:09]      
Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH (1714-1788)
17. La Caroline [2:07]
18. Solfeggio in C minor [1:04]      
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
19.Minuet in C major [0:47]      
20. Minuet in F major [0:35]      
21 Minuet in G major  [1:24]     
22. Allegro in B-flat major [1:02]
23. Rondo in C major [0:51]      
Friedrich KUHLAU (1786-1832)
Sonatina in C major, Op. 20, No. 1 [7:18]
24. Allegro           
25. Andante          
26. Rondo-Allegro  
Muzio CLEMENTI (1752-1832)
Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36 No. 1 [3:35]
27. Allegro           
28. Andante          
29.Vivace            
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
30. Minuet in G major [2:05]      
31. Für Elise  [2:31]         
Sonatina in G major, Op. 5, No. 1 [3:03]
32. Moderato           
33. Romanze           
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
34. Waltz in B minor [1:36]       
35. Allegretto in D minor [1:00] 
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
36. Venetian Gondola Song [1:28]   
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
37. Melody [1:13]          
38. The Happy Farmer [0:39]      
39. Sicilian [1:43]         
40. Soldier's March [0:51]       
41. The Wild Horseman [0:33]      
Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
42. Prelude in E minor [1:58]      
43. Prelude in A major [0:40]      
44. Prelude in B minor  [1:37]     
45. Prelude in C minor [1:10]      
46. Waltz in A minor, B.I. 150  [1:58]  
Peter Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
47. Waltz in E-flat major [1:16]     
48. Reverie in C major [1:55]      
Dmitri KABALEVSKY (1904-1987)
49. Chit-Chat [0:22]      
50. Waltz [0:35]
52. Toccatina [0:32]      
Aram KHATCHATURAIN (1903-1978)
53. Melody [1:20]
Volume 2
Muzio CLEMENTI (1752-1832)
1-3. Sonatina in G major, Op. 36, No. 2 [4:43]
4-6. Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 8 [6:25]
7-9. Sonatina in F major, Op. 36, No. 4 [7:02]
10-12. Sonatina in G major, Op. 36, No 5 [10:38]
13-14. Sonatina in D major, Op. 36, No. 6 [6:01]
Georg Anton BENDA (1722-1795)
15. Sonatina in A minor [1:06]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
16-19. Viennese Sonatina No. 1 in C major [10:49]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
20-21. Sonatina in F major, Anh. 5 [4:14]       
Fritz SPINDLER (1817-1905)
22-23. Sonatina in C major, Op. 157, No. 4 [2:39]
Jan Ladislav DUSSEK (1760-1812)
24-25. Sonatina in G major, Op. 20, No. 1 [3:30]
Friedrich KUHLAU (1786-1832)
26-27. Sonatina in C major, Op. 55, No. 1 [4:19]
28-29. Sonatina in C major, Op. 55, No. 3 [4:54]           
Anton DIABELLI (1781-1858)
30-32. Sonatina in G major, Op. 151, No. 16 [5:22]
Dmitri KABALEVSKY (1904-1987)
33-35. Sonatina in A minor, Op. 13, No. 1 [7:18]
Volume 3
Jean-Baptiste LULLY (1632-1687)
1. Minuet in D minor [0:49]
Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
2. Air in D minor  [0:51]
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
3. Les Coucous (The Cuckoos) [0:43]
Georg Philipp TELEMANN (1681-1767)
4. Minuet in G Major [0:52]
5. Gigue in G Major [0:48]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
6. Prelude in C Major, BWV 939 [0:29]
7. Minuet in G Major, Anh. 116 [1:26]
8. Polonaise in G minor, Anh. 119 [1:04]
9. March in D Major, Anh. 122 [1:04]
10. Minuet in G Major [0:58]
11. Prelude No. 1 in C Major, Well Tempered Clavier [1:40]
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
12. Prelude in G Major [1:24]
13. Aria in G Major [1:41]
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
14. Sonata in A Major, K.83b [1:02]
Wilhelm Friedemann BACH (1710-1784)
15. Minuet in G Major [0:50]
16 Allegro in A Major [1:39]
Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH (1714-1788)
17. Pastorale in D Major [0:49]
18. Fantasia in G Major [0:33]
Leopold MOZART (1719-1787)
19. Allegro in A Major [1:41]
20. Minuet in F Major [0:44]
21. Minuet in D minor [1:10]
22. Bourlesq in A Major [0:26]
Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
23. Allegro in G Major [0:44]
24. Allegro in F Major [0:53]
25. Vivace in F Major [2:47]
26. Gypsy Dance in C minor [3:06]
Muzio CLEMENTI (1752-1832)
27. Rondo-Waltz in D Major [1:14]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
28. Andantino in E-flat Major, KV236 [1:19]
29. Presto in B-flat Major, K. 15 [0:59]
30. Minuet in F Major, K. 6 [1:59]
31. Minuet in F Major, K. 5 [1:04]
32. Rondo Alla Turca, K. 331 [3:44]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
33. Ecossaise in G Major [0:42]
34. Russian Folk Tune in A minor [0:52]
35. German Dance in C Major [0:32]
36. Minuet in C Major, K. WoO.10.1 [1:48]
37. Adagio cantabile from Sonata in C minor Op. 13, "Pathétique" [4:51]
38. Adagio sostenuto from Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, "Moonlight" [6:52]
Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
39. Scherzo in A minor [1:28]
40. Waltz in A Major [1:58]
Michael Ivanovich GLINKA (1804-1857)
41. Polka in D minor [0:27]
Friedrich BURGMÜLLER (1806-1874)
42. The Chase in C Major [1:10]
43. The Farewell in A minor [1:04]
44 .Ballade in C minor [1:20]
45. Restlessness in E minor [0:50]
46. Innocence in F Major [0:47]
47. L'Arabesque in A minor [0:56]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
48. Andante in D Major, Op. 72 [1:15]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
49. First Loss in E minor, Op. 68 [1:47]
Peter Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
50. The Sick Doll in G minor, Op. 39 [1:57]
51. Old French Song in G minor [0:58]
52. German Song in E-flat Major [0:53]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
53. Elfin Dance in E minor, Op. 38 [1:01]
54. Waltz in A minor, Op. 12 [1:46]
Edward MACDOWELL (1861-1908)
55. To a Wild Rose [1:37]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
56. The Girl with the Flaxen Hair [2:50]
Dmitri KABALEVSKY (1904-1987)
57. Little Song in E minor, Op. 27 [0:53]
58. Playing Ball in D Major [0:54]
59. Clowns in A minor, Op. 39 [0:32]

 


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