Aram Khachaturian’s Toccata is surely one of the most effective showpieces for the advancing pianist. Although it looks and sounds very difficult it is actually much more approachable than you might think, with patterns that are always highly pianistic and often surprisingly simple to memorise. There is plenty of scope for narrative and imagery in this piece, the pedal bringing textures together to create a soundscape that is at times savage and barbaric, then scintillating and brooding.
In this excerpt from his video walk-throughs for the piece, Graham Fitch demonstrates an approach to learning bar 74 which looks daunting due to numerous accidentals:
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Graham Fitch, based in London, maintains an international career not only as a pianist, but also as a teacher, adjudicator, examiner, lecturer, writer and commentator on piano playing and musical subjects.
