Anton Nel Performs Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946, No. 1 and No. 2 by Franz Schubert

The Virtual Piano Master Course is a series of videos from Steinway Artist Claire Wachter, the creator of the Virtual Piano Pedagogue.
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The sixth topic in the Virtual Piano Master Course is “A Video Master Class with Dr. Anton Nel.” Dr. Nel discusses and performs The Interrupted Serenade from Preludes, Book One (1910) and General Lavine - Eccentric from Preludes, Book Two (1913) by Claude Debussy. He also discusses and demonstrates the first two pieces from Drei Klavierstücke (1828) by Franz Schubert.
Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946, No. 1 and No. 2 by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
Franz Schubert’s Drei Klavierstücke were composed at the very end of his life. The Eb minor key and character of the opening of Klavierstücke No. 1 reminds us of the Minore section from the third movement of the Sonata Op.7 by Beethoven. Schubert changes the emotional content by changing only one note. The emotional content of the middle section is songlike, warmer in sound. The many challenges for the performer in Schubert’s music include: voicing, pedaling, keeping the long line, relating Schubert’s piano music to his songs, keeping a basic pulse while exploring freedom of timing. Drama in Schubert’s use of tremolos. Schubert’s use of enharmonic modulations.
8:16 Klavierstücke No. 2. One of Schubert’s most beautiful pieces. Simplicity and beauty. Challenge to the performer: make time “stand still.” The pianist must have control over the gradation of dynamics and endless variety to make sure the material does not sound repetitious. Make sure that the first phrase is not too quiet so that the second phrase can be beautifully controlled for Schubert’s signature color and psychological change from major to minor.
ABOUT ANTON NEL
Anton Nel has won prizes in some of the most prestigious and important competitions in the piano world. A prizewinner in the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England, Nel went on to win first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall.
His remarkable and multifaceted career has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Highlights of Mr. Nel’s four decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others. He has an active repertoire of more than 100 works for piano and orchestra.
As recitalist, Nel has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection in New York, at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Internationally, he has performed recitals in major concert halls in Canada, England (Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London), France, Holland (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Korea, China, and South Africa.
A favorite at summer festivals, he has performed at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as at the music festivals of Aspen and Ravinia, where he is on the artist-faculties. He has regularly collaborated with many of the world's foremost string quartets, instrumental soloists, and singers. With acclaimed violinist Sarah Chang, he completed a highly successful tour of Japan as well as appearing at a special benefit concert for Live Music Now in London, hosted by HRH the Prince of Wales.
In January 2010, he became the first pianist to hold the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano at the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2015 Nel has presented an annual series of masterclasses in piano and chamber music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York as Visiting Professor. Mr. Nel also teaches regularly at the renowned Glenn Gould School in Toronto and heads the Division of Keyboard Studies at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. Anton Nel is a Steinway artist.