Piano Recital at Addlestone Community Centre (08 June 2024) скачать в хорошем качестве

Piano Recital at Addlestone Community Centre (08 June 2024)

1:26 Rachmaninov - Prelude No. 6 in Eb 5:32 Ravel - Sonatine: I. Modéré 10:38 Henry Cowell - The Tides of Manaunaun 15:21 Fauré - Nocturne No. 2 in B 23:16 Frank Bridge - Valse capricieuse 26:50 Shane Thomas - Nocturne in Blue & Grey (Nocturne No. 2) 29:51 Shane Thomas - The Drowned Piano (Nocturne No. 3) 34:39 Urmas Sisask - Horologium Programme Notes: Rachmaninov: Prelude No. 6 in Eb (from his Op. 23 Preludes) [1903] This prelude is from Rachmaninov’s earlier Op. 23 set of preludes. The previous piece in the set, the 5th prelude in G Minor, is very well known as a standalone piece, but the 6th prelude is usually only heard in performances of the complete set of preludes. The 6th prelude was composed upon the eagerly-awaited birth of his daughter Irina Rachmaninova. Irina was born on the 14 May 1903 according to the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. According to one biographer of Rachmaninov, after coming home from the hospital, “Rachmaninov sat down the very same day and composed his Eb major prelude, a microcosm of wide-eyed innocence and blissful contentment.” (Julian Haylock) Ravel: Sonatine: I. Modéré [1903] Ravel submitted his Sonatine to a composition competition run by the Paris Weekly Critical Review. The rules stated that the submission must consist of a sonatina, whose first movement was “not to exceed 75 bars”. Ravel was the only entrant in this competition, but his submission was rejected because his Sonatine was in fact 84 bars long, so he never received the prize of 100 francs, all because of a technicality. Ravel himself found the 3rd movement too challenging to perform, as do I. Thankfully, I only have to worry about the 1st movement today. The Sonatine features Ravel’s characteristic bell-like tones, which are made more prominent by his generous use of parallel fourths and fifths. Henry Cowell: The Tides of Manaunaun [1917] The Tides of Manaunaun is a 20th-century piece centred around tone clusters of varying size and intensity. In Irish mythology, Manaunaun was the god of motion. And long before the creation, he sent forth tremendous tides, which swept to and fro through the universe. Cowell’s piece invokes religious awe and terror. Fauré: Nocturne No. 2 in B [1881?] Gabriel Fauré made his living as a music teacher, which left him little time for composition. The piano music he left us is profoundly rich in emotion, intimacy and colour, but sadly very underplayed, and almost never included in the repertoire of concert pianists. The reason for this may be that Fauré shunned virtuosity in favour of the simple lucidity often associated with the French composers. The opening theme of the 2nd Nocturne recalls the sound of distant bells that Fauré heard frequently as a boy. This bell-like part-writing, found throughout Fauré’s Nocturnes, predates Ravel’s Miroirs and Debussy’s Images by some 20 years. Saint-Saëns, who was one of his teachers, declared the piece “absolutely entrancing.” Frank Bridge: Valse capricieuse [1906] This waltz is noteworthy for its almost frenetic restlessness and unstable mood. It was written in 1906, prior to the 1st World War. Bridge was deeply disturbed by the war, after which his music radically departed from the lighthearted and innocent pieces from his earlier period. Apart from his quite frequently played piece Rosemary, Bridge’s music is not commonly found in any pianist’s repertoire. Originals: Nocturne in Blue & Grey and The Drowned Piano [2021] The following two pieces are from my 4 Nocturnes, originally composed for felt piano three years ago. All the Nocturnes are based on improvisations that were captured and therefore have a deliberately improvisatory feel. The first piece you will hear, Nocturne in Blue & Grey, is based on Whistler’s painting Nocturne in Blue & Silver: Chelsea. I have tried to capture the calm water with the unsettling and mysterious feel of the night. The second piece is called The Drowned Piano and was conceived as a hymn or prayer for piano. It was inspired by a vision of the Titanic’s piano resting at the bottom of the ocean, with glistening fish sleeping underneath the strings. I understood the ‘bottom of the ocean’ as a reference to the furthest depths of the unconscious and subsequently strove to write the composition ‘as unconsciously as possible’. Urmas Sisask: Horologium (from Starry Sky Cycle – Southern Skies) [1995] Starry Sky Cycle consists of an impressive 55 pieces, each based on a constellation or astronomical object. Many of the pieces in Starry Sky Cycle incorporate extended piano techniques such as plucking or stroking the strings. The constellation Horologium, ‘The Clock’, is located in the Southern sky and is comprised of 6 stars. Sisask’s piece based on Horologium is suitably mechanically rhythmic and ethereal. It uses tone clusters as well as a technique where the sustain pedal is depressed heavily while no notes are playing, causing all the strings to ring dissonantly.