Lothar Perl - Hollywood Stars

Another little ditty I worked on and trial recorded back in 2009. I've not seriously practised it since. Now that we
have a WIP Forum I dare post it

There's not very much known about Lothar Perl, a German 'novelty' composer/pianist (I think of Jewish descent) who
emigrated to the USA to escape Nazi persecution. Luckily, some of his attractive piano works were published by Schott.

This piece may sound relaxed but is maddeningly difficult with all the wide stretches and jumps. Modulo all the slips
(yes I know where they all are, thank you) I think this would be not so bad. But best not put on the site in its current
state, I guess. Comments welcome.

 

Hi Chris,

I had a listen to your "Hollywood Stars." I think you give a good demonstration of the piece, but it is evident that you are straining in this performance in spots. I detect a lot of octave+ stretches, requiring either more time for the piece to get into the fingers, or a slower interp. There is a video on youtube of someone playing it a little slower, but I think the swing and the faster tempo of yours is better. It seems the swing would be called for in a piece like this. I can't help but imagine as I listen to this an old actor like Gary Cooper with a wry grin walking down Sunset Blvd with swagger in a tophat and suitcoat wielding a cane as heads turn and flashbulbs capture the scene :lol:

 

Thanks Riley. Yes that image does about capture it, it's sort of what I imagine except there are some beautiful and stylish ladies involved also 8) .
Indeed I am straining, it's a damn hard little piece and yet it needs to sound so sly and relaxed. Swing and strain definitely don't go together. I better get to work on it again. Apart from the technical difficulties, it's a style that is not easily mastered.

 

But, of course!! :lol:

Tell me about it. I have never recorded pieces of this class before. I'd like to sometime try Mayerl's Crocus, (which to my ears sounds similar) but that piece I think is years away from the public domain. Not sure if it's elsewhere but it's not on IMSLP.

 

Mayerl's music is not unlike Perl's, both were so-called 'Novelty' composers fusing ragtime with jazz. It's great fun to play. Autumn Crocus is not especially hard.

That never stopped me from putting a recording on the site

You'll find it easily just typing "mayerl autumn crocus score" in Google. Scorser to the rescue !
It's also on Mike's site (let me know if you want the login for that site).

 

Found it on google, thanks. Amazing how some things are just a google search away :mrgreen: