Kemal Gekic teaching Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Flamboyant, daring, provocative, exciting, seductive and sensitive are some of the words used to describe one of today’s most formidable pianists, Kemal Gekic, whose playing has been acclaimed worldwide by public and critics alike. His daring approach to tone and form, marked him as a maverick in the musical world, a distinction he welcomes: the very strength of his artistry challenges, provokes, intrigues. “Gekic rides the charismatic edge of genious” R. Dyer, Boston Globe “He is something like a general who has learned all the rules in the book and is therefore free to ignore them in the time of war” James Roos, Miami Herald “His playing is transcendental as well as incandescent” John Ardoin, Dallas Morning News Performing worldwide from a vast repertoire, Kemal Gekic presents fascinating, uncompromising and ever-changing interpretations , always generating frenzied audience enthusiasm. As a recording artist, Kemal Gekic has won accolades in Europe, America and Japan for insightful, original views of the music. His outstanding Rossini-Liszt transcriptions (Naxos) won “The Rosette” of The Penguin Guide for Music, while his recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes (JVC) is generally considered to be the best recording of a set in history. Born is Split, Croatia, Kemal Gekic got his early training from Prof. Lorenza Baturina. He graduated the class of Prof.Jokuthon Mihailovic at the Art Academy of Novi Sad and was immediately given a faculty appointment by the piano department which he eventually directed until 1999. Since 1999 he has been Artist in Residence at the Florida International University in Miami, Florida.
Stefan performs for Kemal and they start working on the piece, trying to understand what it is about.
The piece has its own life and dynamic. A performer needs to be well aware of those
Kemal is looking for a specific dirty sound and explains the difference between accents and non accents
Kemal talks about meter and how elastic it can be in Liszt's compositions.
We are talking about dynamics and some interesting effects one should do when playing this waltz
You can play all the notes but the "atmosphere" has to be there
We are covering dolce appassionato and presto sections and talking about the character, harmonies..
We are moving through the piece and talking about the sound differentation, layers
We are talking about the structure and Kemal points out that everything played must really sound well
The sound we are looking for here is more raw
No matter what you think about the music or the score, it really needs to sound/resonate/vibrate..
Series wrapup. And we also talk about that magic in sound that means a difference
