Since it's the first of May, a mini-invitation to you all...
I will be doing one last recital in College at 6:30 pm on Friday 24th May! To say goodbye with a bang, the programme will be very different from last year's:
MESSIAEN
Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
No. 16 "Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des Mages"
GRIEG
Lyric Pieces (Book V)
No. 4 "Notturno"
TIPPETT
Piano Sonata No. 2
DEBUSSY
Arabesque No. 1
PROKOFIEV
Piano Sonata No. 3
Robinson College Chapel
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OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
No. 16 "Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des Mages"
The programme starter is the 16th piece from Messiaen's gigantic piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus. It is rather short and compact, but incredibly powerful and "symphonic" for the solo instrument where the player has to mimic the sounds of the cymbals and the oboe of an orchestra, followed by a brilliant polyphonic section in the middle.
The first piece I played in Robinson 8 years ago was a piece from Vingt Regards (No. 4). Given this is a farewell concert of some sort, it seems fitting to choose a piece from the cycle to start the programme.
This video contains three pieces. No. 16 starts at 6:55.
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EDVARD GRIEG
Lyric Pieces (Book V)
No. 4 "Notturno"
Sometimes the simplest music offers the most. This sweet little piece is more than just a musical buffer between the more angular pieces in the programme. For multiple reasons, I did not consciously enjoy my undergrad years in Cambridge, nor can I remember a huge amount of it. I went to Norway straight after graduation in 2009. Looking at Nature and civilisation in this beautiful country was one of the most therapeutic experiences I have ever had and it was only then that I started to pick myself up again.
One of the most memorable occasions of this trip was spending time at the Edvard Grieg Museum in Troldhaugen and gazing upon the calm lake outside Grieg's lakeside hut where he used to compose a lot of his music. This famous "Notturno" from the series of Lyric Pieces he wrote is the exact sonic description of this imagery (except it is at night). You can easily feel the gentle tides of the lake and hear the other sounds of Nature from the music.
This pianist plays the piece on the piano at the Edvard Grieg Museum. It is a shame that the video does not capture the window behind the piano, because that's where the lake is.
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MICHAEL TIPPETT
Piano Sonata No. 2
The centrepiece of the programme is Sir Michael Tippett's thoroughly unusual but endlessly fascinating one-movement Piano Sonata No. 2. This programme would not exist at all if it wasn't my intention to fulfill a promise to certain people that I would perform this piece before I leave Robinson and Cambridge.
This piano sonata was originally entitled "Mosaic". Rather than a piano sonata in the conventional classical sense, the musical material is made from 8 characteristically different building blocks, stitched together in a collage manner where the pianist is forced to maximise musical impact by bringing out the sharp contrast among them. At the same time, these sections are full of little musical fireworks within themselves. As a result, the audience is constantly presented with an incredibly dense amount of brilliant musical ideas. Making sense of and learning this piece was a mentally exhaustive task but in the end it was an immensely enriching experience.
One image I have always had in my mind whilst learning and practising this piece is the stained glass window of the Robinson Chapel - both of which share the similarity of having individual colourful fragments coming together to form a more radiant bigger picture. Perhaps that is why I just have to play this piece in the Robinson Chapel before I leave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OB-_RI2XxM
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CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Arabesque No. 1
Debussy's first of the 2 Arabesques is a directly beautiful piece and it is something that is great to play on the College Steinway, as last year's programme of Ravel and Debussy (and Brahms) confirmed. The arpeggiated chords create much of the dreamy environment throughout the piece whilst the extended aria-like middle section provides the calmness and serenity which is in contrast to the pieces immediately before and after it.
The last time I saw a performance of this piece, it was played by someone who is born with only three fingers, yet she insisted on following her dreams and decided to become a professional musician and teacher, which she successfully did (http://www.becauseiamagirl.org.hk/en/popup_support_07.html). Since then this charming work has become a symbolism of inspiration for me. In the past 8 years I have encountered a lot of truly fascinating people who have inspired me, not just in the academic sense, and they probably don't realise or appreciate how fascinating they are. Amazing people, to you, to you, and to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1BbTGkWLfc
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SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Piano Sonata No. 3
Finally, the programme concludes with Prokofiev's Third Piano Sonata, written when the composer was 26 years old. Like the Tippett sonata, this sonata is also in one movement, and is also a fantastic collection of individual musical ideas coming together to form a bigger entity in loose classical sonata form. This work is thoroughly pianistic throughout, incorporating elements from toccata-like figures to grand chordal gestures which span virtually the entire keyboard. It is a youthful work that contains a lot of harmonic tension and deliberate dynamic and tempo contrasts which aim to surprise, shock or otherwise make a direct, in-your-face impact on the audience. This is a work one just has to pay attention to in a concert, or one will be forced to by the music.
The last time I performed this piece it was four years ago at the Leavers' Concert in the Robinson Chapel before I graduated for the first time. Life has been good since then. I can't say goodbye without a bang.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yJYlGFPsHE
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