TransyPods: Interview with Dr. Gregory Partain
Tristan Reynolds ’19 talks “piano-side” with Transylvania University music professor, pianist-composer Dr. Gregory Partain. Listen on Soundcloud Transcript [PIANO MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: Welcome to another campus conversation, discussions with Transylvanian University faculty highlighting their interests and pursuits. Here is Tristan Reynolds. [PIANO MUSIC PLAYING] TRISTAN REYNOLDS: So I’m here with Gregory Partain in his office. And we’re going to talk about his career as a piano player, as a composer, and as a professor here at Transy. The piece you just listened to was Scarlatti’s Sonata in A Major. GREGORY PARTAIN: It was originally written for harpsichord, and he wrote 600 sonatas. There are a lot to choose from, but it’s music that translates extremely well on the piano. And the fast movements, the fast sonatas are just so vivacious, and they’re so much fun to play. Very difficult, too. But this particular one, there’s a famous recording by Vladimir Horowitz, the great 20th century pianist. And I remember listening to this a lot when I was young, that particular piece, and thinking, gosh, if I could ever play like that, how wonderful it would be. So in my adult years, when I was getting ready to make my second CD, I kind of thought it would be fun to go back to this old sonata and see how well I could do with it. TRISTAN REYNOLDS: You talk about picking out this piece for your second CD. When
