It is most true...

By Sir Philip Sydney (1554~1586)
It is most true that eyes are form’d to serve
The inward light and that the heavenly part
Ought to be King, from whose rules who do swerve,
Rebels to nature, strive for their own smart.

It is most true, that what we call Cupid’s dart
An image is, which for ourselves we carve,
And, fools, adore, in temple of our heart,
Till that good god make church and churchmen
starve.

True, that true beauty virtue is indeed,
Whereof this beauty can be but a shade,
Which elements with mortal mixture breed.
True that on earth we are but pilgrims made,

And should in soul up to our country move:
True, and yet true that I must Stella love.

Loving in truth...

By Sir Philip Sydney (1554~1586)
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of
  my pain,
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make
  her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,

I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned
  brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's
  stay;

Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's
  blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my
  way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my
  throes,

Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
'Fool,' said my Muse to me, 'look in thy heart and
  write.'

진달래꽃 (Azalea Flower)

By 김소월 (1902 ~ 1934)
My Translation

If  you can no longer look at me
and must leave me,
I will let you go without a word

From Yak-San* of Yeongbyeon,
I will pick an armful of Azalea Flower
and splash on your way.

On each step you take,
those flowers on the road,
gently break them on your way.

If  you can no longer look at me

and must leave me,

I won't shed a tear even if I die

* A mountain located in Yeongbyeon county of what is now North Korea.

Original

나 보기가 역겨워
가실 때에는
말없이 고이 보내 드리오리다.

영변에 약산
진달래꽃
아름 따다 가실 길에 뿌리오리다.

가시는 걸음 걸음
놓인 그 꽃을
사뿐히 즈려 밟고 가시옵소서.

나 보기가 역겨워
가실 때에는
죽어도 아니 눈물 흘리오리다.

Movements from Mozart Sonatas

My apologies to all readers of this blog for my hiatus.  It has been a hectic few months due to moving and all.  I wouldn't be able to post as frequent as I wish until after March, but I will try to publish a new post each week until then.

The latest pieces from 50 Greats for the Piano are two famous movements from Mozart Sonatas.  A "typical' of Mozart piano pieces, these two movements are deceptively difficult to play.

First of these is the first movement from Mozart's Sonata No. 15, Kv. 545.  The movement is in a Sonata form with themes that sounds rather simple and pleasant, which I find instantly recognizable as a Mozart even if you haven't heard it before.  The difficulty, I find, is in getting the light touch that is require to convey the right mood of the piece, as well as maintaining the tempo consistent throughout the movement.

  

Second piece is the famous Turkish march, the third movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11, Kv. 331.  According to Wikipedia, this movement is based on the sound of Turkish Janissary band.  Being an ARCT-level (Associate of Royal Conservatory of Music), it may be one of the most difficult pieces in 50 Greats for the Piano .  Also, it is in somewhat atypical Rondo form.  It is ostensibly in ABA form with Coda, but the placement of the repeat signs and common second part in both A and B sections give the piece a very exotic feeling.  

Bach's Prelude and Gavotte

This post continues my endeavor to "learn" all of the pieces contained within 50 Greats for the Piano, the free Piano book I got from Yamaha.

Like the previous pieces, these two are composed by J. S. Bach - the first Prelude from the Well-tempered Clavier, Book I and Gavotte from the French Suite No. 5.  Although, the Well-tempered Clavier and French Suite are considered technically challenging collections to learn, these two pieces are quite easy to learn.

I hope to explore further all the pieces in the Well-tempered Clavier and in the Bach Inventions, in the future.  I would hope to provide more detailed analysis of these pieces at the point.  In the mean time, I hope you would enjoy these pieces.

Epigram on Milton

John Dryden
Three Poets, in three distant Ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The First in loftiness of thought surpassed;
The Next in Majesty; in both the Last.
The force of Nature could no farther go:
To make a third she joined the former two.

복사꽃 피면 (When Peach Blossoms)

By 주요한
My Translation

When peach blossoms
heart aches
as my thought 
continues on


Original

복사꽃이 피면
가슴 아프다
속생각 너무나
한 없으므로.

A Supplication

Abraham Cowley

Awake, awake, my Lyre!
And tell thy silent master's humble tale
In sounds that may prevail;
Sounds that gentle thoughts inspire:
Though so exalted she
And I so lowly be
Tell her, such different notes make all thy harmony.

Hark! how the strings awake:
And, though the moving hand approach not near,
Themselves with awful fear
A kind of numerous trembling make.
Now all thy forces try;
Now all thy charms apply;
Revenge upon her ear the conquests of her eye.

Weak Lyre! thy virtue sure
Is useless here, since thou art only found
To cure, but not to wound,
And she to wound, but not to cure.
Too weak too wilt thou prove
My passion to remove;
Physic to other ills, thou'rt nourishment to Love.

Sleep, sleep again, my Lyre!
For thou canst never tell my humble tale
In sounds that will prevail,
Nor gentle thoughts in her inspire;
All thy vain mirth lay by,
Bid thy strings silent lie,
Sleep, sleep again, my Lyre, and let thy master die.

샘물이 혼자서 (Spring flows)

By 주요한 (1900 ~ 1979)

My Translation

Spring flows
With a dance
Between the rocks of ravine

Spring flows
With a Smile
Between the flowers of treacherous pass

As sky is clear,
so that pleasant sound
rings through mountain and brook

Original

샘물이 혼자서
춤추며 간다.
산골짜기 돌 틈으로

샘물이 혼자서
웃으며 간다.
험한 산길 꽃 사이로

하늘은 맑은데
즐거운 그 소리
산과 들에 울리운다.

Two Bach Inventions.

I recently got a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-340 Digital Piano.  This piano came with a book of piano music, called 50 Greats for the Piano.  The difficulty of the pieces vary greatly, going from what one might consider a beginner piece to some ARCT-level pieces, if you are familiar with Royal Conservatory of Music grading-scheme.  My plan is to post here videos of me playing two of the pieces from the book each month with some commentaries. 


The first two pieces from the book is from J.S. Bach's Two-Part Inventions (No. 1 and No. 8).  Bach's Inventions are collection of thirty short keyboard pieces divided into two books - two-part and three-part inventions, where two and three refer to number of voices (N.B. the pieces from two-part inventions are called inventions, but the pieces from three-part inventions are sinfonia).  These are considered to be rather easy pieces to play, something you learn to prepare yourself for the Well-Tempered Clavier. 

I would like to conclude this post with a story and a fun-fact on the Inventions.  The story involves the famous Canadian pianist - Glenn Gould. For his first recording, the producer at the Columbian Recordings allegedly recommended something easy, like Bach's Inventions; however, Glenn Gould went for something a little bit difficult and a little bit obscure at the time - Bach's  Goldberg Variations.  Now for the little fun-fact on Bach's invention:  if you watched the original Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen, which was a fantastic movie unlike the remake with Pierce Brosnan, you might have heard Henry Mancini's the Windmills of Your Mind, which was included in Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack.  I am not sure if it was intentionally or not, but the Windmills of Your Mind uses same motive as Sinfonia No. 15.  For comparison, here is the opening of the Thomas Crown Affair, with the Windmills of Your Mind playing and here is Glenn Gould playing Sinfonia No. 15.