Music Educators Association of New Jersey
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Norman Krieger, pianist and master teacher, presented a fascinating program to an MEA Zoom audience. President Rebecca Eng opened the meeting.  Programs Chair Sophia Agranovich introduced the presenter, who was in his professorial studio at the outstanding Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. A native Californian, Norman Krieger found his way to Adele Marcus at Juilliard, where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Recipient of many awards, Professor Krieger has performed with most of the greatest American orchestras and with many international orchestras. And what has he performed? Concerti! He has also participated in solo and chamber music programs. For more information see https://normankrieger.com/bio/

Growing up in Los Angeles in the sixties, Norman was taken to many concerts featuring the legendary performers of that time. Thus, he heard many great orchestral pieces in addition to concerti. He had already played a few piano concerti when he began studying with Adele Marcus. It was she who drummed into him the value of learning more of the concerto repertoire. She reminded Norman that soloists sometimes cancel last minute, creating the opportunity for a well-prepared substitute to perform. A young artist should have about fifteen concerti at the ready, she advised, emphasizing that he must study from orchestral scores, not piano reductions. How else could you appreciate the full intent of the composer and the implications for interpretation as the piano and full orchestra combine? The dynamics of solo piano performance do not apply to concerto performance, as with the latter, the pianist must consider the entire instrumental palette and the texture of the orchestration. The pianist must project music to the listeners in the last row of seats.

As an early step for intermediate or advanced students to reach this goal, Norman Krieger recommends selecting difficult passages to master from the essential concerto repertoire. Using excerpts as mini-etudes, the student can improve technique while laying the foundation for learning these difficult concerti. He suggests warming up before this practice, and working at the sections for only a few minutes at a time to avoid strain.

The speaker then embarked on a demonstration and discussion of “gnarly” passages from concerti by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, and others. He reminded us that today’s concert pianos are more brilliant than the early pianos. We were then treated to his dazzling performances of these excerpts, both a tempo and molto largo! Among the challenges were octaves, double thirds, parallel fourths, rapid changes of register, and creating clarity when the texture was thick. He talked about economy of motion when playing Liszt. Creative fingering, choosing what your own hands can manage, is essential. Sometime rearranging the choice of hands facilitates the execution of a passage. Some artists even choose to leave out some notes! For “gnarly” staccato octave passages in Liszt, use finger tips and loose wrists, but for Brahms octaves, use the fleshy, flat fingers. He recommended Chopin’s octave etude, Op. 25, No. 10 for better use of the wrists when working on “gnarly” octave concerto excerpts. When playing trills, think of them as being a main note with a decorative neighbor note. You can change the speed and the dynamics in a trill to give it greater musical meaning. He also suggested singing some passages to aid in interpretation.

Introducing these excerpts to a student can be very motivating, not only to improve technique but to become acquainted with the warhorses of the piano concerto literature and beyond. Norman Krieger stressed the overriding importance of making music. “Your ten fingers are ten singers,” he emphasized.

Bertha Mandel, writer