Celebrating Left-Handers

Summer is finally here in the UK, so here's a Spotify link to a very well known tune (Summertime, of course) by the one and only George Gershwin.

The unusual thing about this recording is that it is played by a pianist with just his left hand. And today, 13 August, is official Left-Handers Day, an annual celebration 'for those lucky enough to have been born left-handed' and a way of raising awareness among the right-handed majority of the different talents and needs of left-handers, particularly children.

Géza Zichy (1849-1924), a Hungarian composer and student of the great pianist and composer Liszt, lost his right arm from a hunting accident, and went on to triumph across Europe as the first ever left hand alone pianist. The First World War saw thousands of servicemen come home from battle with injured or missing right limbs. One such soldier was Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), who lost his right arm and subsequently used his steely determination to commission works from the leading celebrity composers of the 20th century, including Ravel, Britten, Prokofiev and Strauss.

Some 3,000 ​piano works have been written or arranged for just the left hand, including pieces by Brahms, Czerny, Godowsky, Liszt, Ravel, Saint-Saëns. So, today is a celebration of all those piano pieces for Left-Handers!

Give a listen [Spotify new tab link here] to the inspiring, contemporary pianist Nicholas McCarthy (pictured above - photo by Paul Marc Mitchell), who was born without his right hand. In 2012 he became the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the Royal College of Music in its 130-year history. His 2015 CD Solo includes some lovely pieces, from Scriabin to Einaudi. McCarthy is also a motivational speaker: listen to his three TEDx talks here: One Hand, One War, One City.

Here's a link to a left-hand only arrangement (all 15 minutes of it!) by Johannes Brahms of Bach's extraordinary Chaconne (from Partita No. 2 for solo violin), written in 1877 for pianist and composer Clara Schumann after she had injured her right hand.

Nicholas McCarthy info source. More about him at nicholasmccarthy.co.uk.

No Fullscore left-hand only sheet music editions, as yet...