Recording Piano Music for Grades 4-5
Fares Marek Basmadji, pianist for the Grades 4 & 5 syllabi recordings.
For all the Graded Syllabus CDs, there are two versions of the music: one which we call the ‘orchestral version’, the other the ‘piano version’, even though not all the ‘orchestral tracks’ are strictly orchestral: they’re just mainly not played on the piano.
We asked the Polish-Syrian pianist Fares Marek Basmadji to record the piano versions of Grades 4 & 5: he is a rare mixture of an outstanding concert pianist who also has experience of playing for ballet. This is just a short clip of him recording the Scottish Fantasy by Bruch in Wyastone Leys concert hall in August 2013.
And as an extra, here is Fares at the end of the recording session, playing Chopin’s Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4 for fun. It’s not in the syllabus, but it was used by Jerome Robbins in his ballet, Other Dances.