Alan and Trifon working on a second sonata - from Sofia 2026 workshop
Born in Montreal in 1955 Alan Fraser studied piano but also delved into composition, cello, classical singing and had several stints as a pop musician. Alan’s main pianistic influence was the pioneering research of Phil Cohen who studied alongside Ronald Turini, Andre Laplante and Janina Fialkowska with Yvonne Hubert, who had been Cortot‘s assistant in Paris. Alan spent several years with Cohen after an apprenticeship with two former Cohen students, Alan Belkin and Lauretta Milkman.
The student plays the first movement of Shostakovich's Piano Sonata No. 2
Alan Fraser goes over the student's questions on octaves and tempo. He then shows how the hand's arch and the arm's gestures can add color and character to this bitonal music
Alan tries the passage with no pedal to get clarity back. He explains how an arched hand focuses the piano's sound, much like a singer's voice
