Home >> Lessons >> Beyond Theory >> Lesson 04 - Polyphonic Writing for Keyboard (Part 1) - Page 1 | 2

Godowsky – the Buddha of Pianists 

A composer who pushed the limits of what was thought physically possible on the piano was Polish pianist/composer Leopold Godowsky. One of his most famous contributions to the piano repertoire are the Chopin-Godowsky piano transcriptions, of such monstrous difficulty to be considered impossible when they were originally published.

Taking the thematic and rhythmic structures found in each of Chopin’s etudes (op.10 and op.25 – as well as the concert etudes) Godowsky re-transcribed them to the piano, turning them into studies on the utmost physical limits of polyphony for his time. Making multiple versions of various etudes, Godowsky ends up with 53 etudes of which 27 are written for the Left-Hand alone. Godowsky goes as far as combining and superimposing some etudes to create single studies out of multiple studies.

Consider how Godowsky compacts the material found in Chopin’s 4th etude from op.10 from a two-hand texture to a single hand (Left Hand Alone) texture that still has the same aural effect. Outside of the sheer physical difficulties the texturing presents, it musically holds up against the original, and we do not perceive it as being one hand at all – but actually are fooled into hearing it as if it is being played by 2 hands.  

Reger, Sorabji and the Organ

Moving on in our quest to expand how we view keyboard texturing and how to expand the typical melody and accompaniment type writing that seems to limit most composers who are new to keyboard writing, let us take a look at a great example from the late romantic era composer/organist/pianist Max Reger.

Reger being a great organist manages to create a quasi-organ texture on the piano by doubling key voices at the end of the final double-fugue of his masterwork “Variations on a Theme by J.S Bach op.81”; he further creates this illusion by shifting registers so that the listener is forced to hear the entire sonic spectrum of the piano at the same time. The effect is that of multiple pianists playing said part.

Notice how much more chromatically dense Reger’s music is than all previous examples, one of his trademarks as a composer was his dense chromaticism and total contrapuntal control - a true Neo-Baroque composer if there ever was one. Take note, that awhile this texture is very thick it is still part of a 4 part fugue. Starting towards the end of the fugue, Reger begins to voice important contrapuntal lines in octaves; the power of the texture goes closer to the nature of the organ and such doublings are common… 8va doublings for power.Continue to the next page to view the score.

Reger's "Variations on a Theme by J.S Bach Op.81"

Sorabji and the Transcription

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988) is one of the most obscure and interesting figures out of the XXth century. Primarily a pianist-composer he actually discouraged performances of his own works because of his constant worry that no one would be able to do them justice, practically being a hermit did little to help his reputation as a composer and pianist to the average music fan.

Like Godowsky, Sorabji was a great advocate of piano transcriptions – with several important works of his being represented by that medium. In the following example Sorabji (like Reger before him) approaches the texturing for one of his piano transcriptions – Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue by JS Bach - as to imply its original sound as heard on an organ.

Sorabji does not make a direct note for note translation of Bach’s original score, but actually re-writes it as to imply a sound closer to that of the organ. Notice how Sorabji asks that the chords be held over for the entire 2/4 bar; the intention is to create the effect of a constant pedal underneath the arpeggiated figures, either the notes are re-attacked or they are constantly ringing. 

I hope the first installment of this column will help expand what you view as possible when writing for the piano or synthesizer. Furthermore, I hope it gets you to think more closely about what we perceive as possible on any instrument. The second installment of this column will deal with other advancements made in regards to writing for the piano, but for that column I will deal specifically with works that are non-tonal and/or come out of the second half of the XXth century. Planned for that column is a brief look at the piano music of: Ligeti, Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Messiaen.

If there are any musical terms in this article that you are unfamiliar with, I recommend visiting Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. And remember, always feel free to ask me any questions you might have regarding this lesson in the Guitar Messenger Forum.

Roberto's currently listening to: Vuk Kulenovic – Concerto Ostinato (Piano Concerto n.03)  

<<Back to Page 1