77th Duszniki Zdrój International Piano Festival, 5-13 August 2022, Poland
77th Duszniki International Piano Festival
5-13.08.2022
30TH ART DIRECTOR’S FESTIVAL – PIOTR PALECZNY
Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda
Calendar of Festival Events
Link to detailed recital programmes, biographies of artists and Artistic Director's introduction
https://app.box.com/s/g9bqmwkuw059ny77es3pictf733fad7s
| 5.08.2022 Friday | 8 pm | Bruce LIU Inaugural concert |
| 6.08.2022 Saturday | 4 pm | Jonathan FOURNEL 1st Prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition – Brussels 2021 |
| | 8 pm | Bomsori KIM – violin Rafał BLECHACZ – piano |
7.08.2022 Sunday | 4 pm | Juan PEREZ FLORISTAN 1st Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein Competition – Tel Aviv 2021 |
| | 8 pm | Lucas & Arthur JUSSEN Piano Duo |
| 8.08.2022 Monday | 4 pm | Dmytro CHONI 1st Prize – Santander 2018 Laureate – Leeds 2021 3rd Prize at the Van CLIBURN Competition 2022 |
| | 8 pm | DANG Thai Son |
| 9.08.2022 Tuesday | 4 pm | Chloe Jiyeong MUN 1st Prize – Takamatsu 2014 1st Prize – Genewa 2014 1st Prize – Busoni 2015 |
| | 6:30 pm | Charity concert of the participants of the 21st Master Course |
| | 9 pm | NOKTURN – host of the evening: Marcin MAJCHROWSKI |
| 10.08.2022 Wednesday | 4 pm | Aimi KOBAYASHI |
| | 8 pm | Alexander GAVRYLYUK |
| 11.08.2022 Thursday | 4 pm | Kyohei SORITA |
| | 8 pm | Marcin ZDUNIK – cello Aleksander DĘBICZ – piano |
| 12.08.2022 Friday | 4 pm | Alim BEISEMBAEV 1st Prize – Leeds 2021 |
| | 8 pm | Vadym KHOLODENKO |
| 13.08.2022 Saturday | 4 pm | Yunchan LIM 1st Prize at the Van CLIBURN Competition 2022 |
| | 8 pm | Jan LISIECKI Final concert |
Weekend concerts at the FRYDERYK Hotel
6.08. – Saturday
11 pm – Marcin Wieczorek
12 am – Krzysztof Wierciński
7.08. – Sunday
11 pm – Aleksandra Dąbek
12 am – Józef Domżał
13.08. – Saturday
11 pm – Julia Łozowska
12 am – Filip Michalak
21st National Piano Master Course in Duszniki-Zdrój (Master Class)
August 6-9, 2022, from 9.30-13.30 Alexander GAVRYLYUK
10-13 August 2022 from 9.30-13.30 prof. Vanessa LATARCHE
Participation of Russian artists
Due to the dramatic development of the war – the brutal and bloody aggression of Russia against the independent nation of Ukraine, due to the violation of all provisions of international law – unfortunately, it has become impossible for us to maintain the performances performances by Eva Gevorgyan (8 August), Philipp Lynov (9 August) and a master class by Professor Natalia Trull (6-9 August), scheduled as part of the 77th International Chopin Festival in Duszniki-Zdrój.
We would like to stress that we sincerely hope that peace will be restored in the near future!
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| The opening flower-laying ceremony of the Festival at the Chopin Memorial Duszniki Zdroj |
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| Prof. Piotr Paleczny at the symbolic opening of the Prof. Piotr Paleczny Avenue in the Spa Park at Duszniki Zdroj on 9 August 2022 |
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| The Artistic Director Professor Piotr Paleczny laying flowers at the Chopin Memorial on his 30th occasion as Director of the oldest piano festival in the world Music is an ephemeral art. This Notebook is an invaluable long-term record of past performances at this unique festival now going back 12 years * * * * * * * * * * Unfortunately for pressing personal reasons I was unable to attend the final two concerts of the festival * * * * * * * * * * FRIDAY, 12 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM Piano Recital VADYM KHOLODENKO Thomas Adès (ur. 1971 r.) Traced Overhead  Thomas Adès was born in London in 1971. Renowned as both composer and performer, he works regularly with the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies and festivals. His compositions include three operas : the most recent of which The Exterminating Angel premiered at the 2016 Salzburg Festival and subsequently has been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Royal Opera House, London all conducted by the composer This modern impressionist piece takes its meaning and relevance from the title. There was a most remarkable variety of dynamics and articulation as well as many colors and textures in the piece. Much musically pregnant use of silence as a block of sound Franz Schubert (1797‒1828) Piano sonata in E flat major, D. 568 (1825)
 Allegro moderato Kholodenko gave the work a soft and expressively tender opening. The Ländler dances were charming, a lively Austrian folk dance form predominantly performed by couples. Kholodenko always plays in a manner full of musical meaning. Here we were given the strong Viennese sense of early nineteenth century colour, elegance and refinement. A great deal of detail was perceived and revealed in this interpretation with Schubertian songs everywhere! Andante molto A gently reflective movement played piano by Kholodenko True musical speech emerged through the careful and eloquent phrasing by the pianist. There was philosophical depth present here in abundance. Menuetto: Allegretto -Trio Again we experienced a charming Viennese flavour to this music as if visiting charming and civilised Demel patisserie and traditional coffee house with a cultured friend, a cultural and culinary institution since 1786. Kholodenko gave us charming affectation without deep philosophy yet retaining much grace and refinement.  Allegro moderato The Allegro moderato opening was replete with childish simplicity. So innocent in expression with a few drifting clouds hinting at mortality. Charming melodies expressed by Kholodenko with poetic elegance and poignant emotion. The rural refinement gave one the impression of a pastoral excursion in the Vienna woods accompanied by the Schubertian soul. I found the sonata an affecting understated performance, that of a sensitive artist with all the modest gestures of integrity and truth one might expect from a great musician. INTERMISSION Franz Schubert (1797‒1828) Drei Klavierstücke (3 Pieces for the piano) D.946 (1828) Schubert did not arrange these late works as a set. This was done by Brahms in 1868. These intimate works are revelations of the state of Schubert's soul from the last year of his life (1828). They are lyrical pieces where the expressiveness has been extremely concentrated. I felt Kholodenko in the E flat minor - Allegro assai gave us what can only be described as 'perfect Schubert' as the turbulence was expressively offset by extended song-like lyricism. He approached them all as an affirmation of life and the energy, transparent and polyphonic. In No. 2 in E flat major again his dynamic balance was deeply expressive. The work was lyrical and full of expressive content, the opening theme reminiscent of a Venetian barcarolle. His awareness of Schubert songs is evident throughout. The emotional disturbance, the perturbation created within the piece and the listener's heart was seriously threatening in character. His eloquent phrasing and sense of structure highlighted Schubert 's tempestuously fluctuating emotional life as his final hour approached. The blithe C major Allegro third piece was lively and cheerful in character, somewhat Bohemian, a wanderer in a landscape of mercurial moods. A section of curious immobility is enclosed in the work in a period of static and repetitive rhythm.. Carl Vine (ur. 1954 r.) Sonata No. 1  Vine is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music. Of great interest to me, as a teenager, he was fascinated with the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen which inspired a period of Modernism, which he explored until the mid-1980s. I also became deeply involved with this music in my early twenties travelling to the Stockhausen New Music Courses in Köln in 1968. From 1975 he has worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a variety of theatre and dance companies, and ensembles. Vine's catalogue includes eight symphonies, twelve concertos, music for film, television and theatre, electronic music and numerous chamber works. From 2000 until 2019 Vine was the Artistic Director of the eminent chamber presenter Musica Viva Australia. Within that role he was also Artistic Director of the Huntington Estate Music Festival from 2006, and of the Musica Viva Festival (Sydney) from 2008. In 2005 he was awarded the Don Banks Music Award. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Vine was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), "for distinguished service to the performing arts as a composer, conductor, academic and artistic director, and to the support and mentoring of emerging performers." Vine currently lectures in composition and orchestration at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. This work had remarkable rhythm and the sheer texture of the staccato sound was arresting. The work is extraordinarily demanding of the virtuosity of the performer. Kholodenko dominated the work with his transcendental keyboard technique. At times the sound he extracted from the composition and piano sounded like electronic music in the left hand rather conventional cascades of notes. Demanding on the listener ! The minimalist Bagatelle by the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov that the great artist Vadym Kholodenko played as an appropriate encore, given the current murderous days, could not have made a greater contrast. FRIDAY, 12 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM Piano recital ALIM BEISEMBAYEV First Prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021 Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Variations in F minor "Un piccolo divertimento", Hob. XVII:6 (1793) He brought to the work a fine tone reminiscent of a string of pearls displayed on a fashionable aristocratic neck in a Viennese salon. His command of the classical style was so pure it gave me such refined pleasure. I really cannot imagine a finer performance of this work. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Piano sonata, Op. 111 (1821–1822) Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appasionato Arietta: Adagio molto semplice cantabile The Maestoso - Allegro can brio ed appassionato was grand in scale and rather over emotional in declamation I felt. I prefer are more introverted and philosophical Beethoven at a less virtuosic tempo. I conceive this movement as noble in stance and tempo. E.T.A. Hoffmann refers to this exploration as the monumental in Beethoven, a composer who 'carves his essential being from the inner kingdom of tones, and reigns over it as its absolute ruler.'
'Here it comes!' as Wendell Kretchmar excitedly exclaims at the beginning of his lecture on the sonata in Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus. In the Arietta – Adagio molto semplice e cantabile Beethoven achieves immense significance from the slenderest of means, an innocent fragment perhaps taken from a trite waltz by Diabelli is transformed. The innocence of its life is transfigured by a multitude of vicissitudes and variations into a sweeping chiaroscuro painting, a landscape of human spiritual aspiration and at times physical existence, revealed from beneath the mysterious veil of reality that cloaks us all. As magical a musical prefiguring and revelation as the appearance of the legendary 'Sun of Austerlitz' was for the victory of Napoleon at the Battle of the Three Emperors in 1805. There was a marvellous sense of fatal inevitability in the conclusion with heavenly long trills metaphysical in character - as a whole it made a magnificent impact. A brief celestial flight of the soul followed as if released from the shackles of existence. INTERMISSION Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849) 24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1938–1839) No. 1 in C major No. 2 in A minor No. 3 in G major No. 4 in E minor No. 5 in D major No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in A major No. 8 in F sharp minor No. 9 in E major No. 10 in C sharp minor No. 11 in B major No. 12 in G sharp minor No. 13 in F sharp major No. 14 in E flat minor No. 15 in D flat major No. 16 in B flat minor No. 17 in A flat major No. 18 in F minor No. 19 in E flat major No. 20 in C minor No. 21 in B flat major No. 22 in G minor No. 23 in F major No. 24 in D minor I cannot in this limited space appraise each prelude save to say Beisembayev has a personal voice of a superb pianist, a virtuoso performance of a set that Chopin would never have considered performing as a whole. Each prelude, however brief, seems to me to contain entire universe of reference and life experience in essence. An excellent Scarlatti sonata with great style and panache. A rather too much impactful La Chasse by Liszt in the created refinement of this musical environment. His technique in evoking snow flurries was breathtaking. Wisdom from the Vanessa Latarche Masterclasses This renowned pedagogue and pianist is Head of Keyboard and Fellow of the Royal College of Music in London. This is in addition to her illustrious concert career, possession of many international awards and valued jury service on many piano competitions of world importance. Her pupils have won renowned piano competitions including Alim Beisembayev who was awarded First Prize at the Leeds 2021 Competition. 'Embrace the Piano' Vanessa Latarche   I made some short notes during this class so please read them in this way and not as an academic exegesis. I would like to cover all the Masterclasses in detail but time does not permit this. The participants all play at an extremely high level of musical and pianistic accomplishment which is recognized by both the audience and professors. Vanessa made the point to Julia that it was better physically to practice early in the day. One is bright and physically aware in the morning. One is more emotionally aware in the evening. A most interesting observation. She felt each variation should be distinct in its character and the pianist should communicate a feeling of capriciousness and light touch which increases the fascination for the audience. She felt the shape of a musical phrase should be reflected in the shape of the hand and that the pianist should not bend deeply over the keyboard but sit back Concerning trills, they should be played in sections and not one long homogeneous trill. In order to highlight the different voices in polyphony, variation in voice dynamics is effective. Communicate a sense of confidence which is achieved through textual security. Hold the reins and take charge! Support your body posture and remain under control. Physically, playing the piano makes demands on the legs so use and develop your core strength. Don't waste energy in creating facial grimaces. If you make an error simply move on - it is already in the past! * * * * * * * * * *  Vanessa Latarche and Krzyrztof Wierciński working on the Chopin Nocturne in B major Op.62 No.1 and the Chopin Scherzo in B flat minor Op.31   In
musical performance 'go inside the work' and do not simply think 'on top' In this session there was much discussion of the use of the pedal. A great deal of sensitive feeling comes through the foot. She felt that the performance of the Nocturne was 'too private' and that we as listeners were 'not allowed in'. She felt the performance should be far more open and fresh without 'secrets'. I found this a fascinating observation. We then moved onto tone production which is so important in creating the atmosphere that surrounds a Chopin Nocturne. The centre of the tone is vital in the creation of a golden tone. Connected to this she then examined the ambiguity of the voicing of some Chopin pedal markings on a modern as opposed to a period instrument. Voicing or pedal change ? She felt that playing with a singer was most beneficial for pianists as they must offer the singer detailed support. Concerning
the Scherzo, she observed that the notes of any musical work 'need to lift off
the page'. The opening triplet as an existential, even diabolical question. At
the time of composition this work must have been deeply shocking and
revolutionary. Frederick Niecks quotes Robert Schumann who wrote of the Chopin
Scherzos (the Italian word scherzo meaning 'joke') 'How is 'gravity' to clothe itself if 'jest' goes about in dark
veils?'. She advised utilizing a degree of
capriciousness to create the emotional ambiguity often present at the centre of Chopin's energetic
despair. Think horizontally not vertically and harmonically in cantabile and chorale sections. * * * * * * * * * *  Vanessa Latarche working with Filip Michalak on the Schumann Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor Op.11  Vanessa Latarche examined the first movement of the Schumann F sharp minor Sonata Op.11 in this Masterclass. She began by telling us that the sonata was based on the nature of love. Schumann told his wife Clara that in light of their cruel enforced separation, the sonata was 'a solitary outcry for you from my heart ... in which your theme appears in every possible shape'. He published it anonymously as 'Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara by Florestan and Eusebius'. The first movement is marked: Un poco adagio - Allegro vivace. She told us the story behind the sonata as she considers the personal, historical and cultural context of musical works vital to the fullest understanding and interpretation of them. Piano pedagogues and professors all differ in their approach to the same piece, emphasizing simply technical aspects, sound production or visualizing extra-musical associations which are also so important to complete penetration and understanding. She indicated the intertwining of 'Clara's theme' within the musical fabric. 'Never drop onto a note before you are ready' she advised. She felt the opening does not immediately proclaim 'this is a sonata' but is an introduction which opened new 'romantic' expressive territory for the composer. She emphasized the two voices of the LH and RH contained within the dramatic and passionate opening theme. She felt that the pianist must know exactly what is in the score and to maintain control of the different voices and their utterance. 'Listen to yourself'. Vanessa also felt that an enhanced sense of colour was of great importance for the different voices and delineation of the characters of Florestan and Eusebius - the variation in colour was vital to the creation of an expressive sound texture. She felt that Filip too often said the same thing in the same way. He was reminded 'to play with taste'. She felt he could have made more of the embedded polyphony which of course came from Schumann's adoration of Bach. She also highlighted the 'slight craziness' of Schumann and his whimsical, mercurially changing nature. The second movement of the sonata Aria: Senza passione ma espressivo was lamentably only just begun in this class due to time constraints. Vanessa explained that the movement expressed a different and far deeper view of love. The love of Eusebius - the other more alluring aspect of our doppelgänger composer. The touch should be increasingly refined to match the tenderness and yearning contained in this movement.  This Masterclass I attended by Vanessa Latarche was a revelation in so many ways, a class that 'opened the doors of perception'. Such an engaging, encouraging, deeply musical, enthusiastic and affectionate personality one meets so rarely in life. How fortunate to be a pupil of hers and have her as a musical guide! THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM Chamber concert MARCIN ZDUNIK (cello) ALEKSANDER DĘBICZ (piano) I Jan Sebastian Bach (1685‒1750) Chorale preludes and improvisations 1. Improvisation 1 2. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658 3. Improvisation 2 4. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig, BWV 656 5. Improvisation 3 6. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659 7. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 665 8. Improvisation 4 9. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 Arranged by Marcin Zdunik and Aleksander Dębicz These improvisations were especially interesting intellectually rather than significantly musically uplifting and inspiring. However hearing such familiar vocal Bach works transcribed for instrumental performance was a rare and rewarding experience and another lesson in Bach's extraordinary genius and universality II Marcin ZDUNIK (b. 1987) / Aleksander DĘBICZ (b. 1988) Improvised sonata, Op. 0, No. 0 I felt that the pianist Dębicz could have been slightly more subtle as an instrumentalist, although the cellist Zdunik is clearly an outstanding musician. This work was based on a traditional four movement sonata. The melodies were attractive rather than the harmonic transitions and invention. The final movement was attractively lively. So far the most successful of the improvisations. However I could not help asking myself what was the musical direction and what were the instrumentalists saying with these improvisations, apart from their intrinsic musical interest as variations on familiar material. INTERMISSION III Marcin ZDUNIK / Aleksander DĘBICZ 4 Intermezzi 1. Der Lachs A pleasant, entirely traditionally harmonic composition 2. Clara A delightful, rather light salon piece but none the worse for that... 3. Mathilde A charming musical portrait 4. Spóźniony Pierrot A sad clown ?
These were all purely traditional harmonic compositions of significant lyrical beauty.  IV Impromptu. Chopin Improvised 1. Prelude in C major, Op. 28 No. 1 2. Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55 No. 1 3. Nocturne in B major, Op. 9 No. 3 4. Prelude in G sharp minor, Op. 28 No. 12 5. Nocturne in F major, Op. 15 No. 1 6. Mazurek in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4
7. Mazurek in D major, Op. 33 No. 2 There were some tasteful improvisations here even with bucolic humour at times (the Nocturne in B major). The Prelude in G sharp minor was agitated and certainly virtuosic. The Nocturne in F major rather attractively elegiac with a feeling of 'jazzy' Chopin. The Mazurka in A minor was rather lugubrious in its opening. I found some difficulty in tracing the Chopin at the heart of it. Both are clearly fine improvisatory musicians. The Mazurka in D major revealed Zdunik to be musically and inventively brilliant in addition to being virtuosic in his remarkable execution. This work was most lively with a true folkloric character. They were rather wildly received and applauded which surprised me. Perhaps I am missing something!
As a first encore, a jazz fine improvisation on a rather melancholic theme from Porgy and Bess and the second encore to conclude, was an up tempo, impressive jazz improvisation but I am not sure what this piece was... THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM Piano recital KYOHEI SORITA
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849) Rondo à la Mazur, Op. 5 (1825–1826)  Mazurka de Chopin (1911) Edward Okuń (1872-1945) This piece was written when Chopin was 16. He dedicated it to the Countess Alexandrine de Moriolles, the daughter of the Comte de Moriolles, who was the tutor to the adopted son of the Grand Duke Constantine, Governor of Warsaw. This rather unpleasant individual often requested Chopin to play for him at the Belvedere Palace. Unable to sleep, on winter nights he would ostentatiously send a sleigh drawn by four-horses harnessed abreast in the Russian style to collect the young pianist from his home. Schumann first heard the Rondo à la mazur in 1836, and he called it 'lovely, enthusiastic and full of grace. He who does not yet know Chopin had best begin the acquaintance with this piece'. Sorita gave this a charming rendition but slightly lacking in period feel and affectation. I tended to feel the presence of learned, rather conventional emotional expressive gestures rather than spontaneous reactions to the musical context. There is charm, style, élan and panache in this work which could be brought to the fore with a light touch to create le climat de Chopin. Here we have as a young, carefree, Polish adolescent with character and personality plus, wit, humour, theatrics - a young man striving to please with his massively precocious talent. 3 Mazurkas, Op. 56 (1843–1844) in B major in C major in C minor The mazurka is the quintessential expression of the Polish national and ethnic identity. Any approach to them is bound to cause comment, sometimes dismissive, sometimes abrasive but never indifferent or detached. One should examine the nature of dancing in Warsaw during the time of Chopin. Almost half of his music is actually dance music of one sort or another and a large proportion of the rest of his compositions contain dances. Dancing was a passion especially during carnival from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. It was an opulent time, generating a great deal of commercial business, no less than in Vienna or Paris. Dancing - waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas - were a vital part of Warsaw social life, closely woven into the fabric of the city. There was veritable 'Mazurka Fever' in Europe and Russia at this time. The dancers were not restricted to noble families - the intelligentsia and bourgeoisie also took part in the passion. Chopin's experience of dance, as a refined gentleman of exquisite manners, would have been predominantly urban ballroom dancing with some experience of peasant hijinks during his summer holidays in Żelazowa Wola, Szafania and elsewhere. Poland was mainly an agricultural society in the early nineteenth century. At this time Warsaw was an extraordinary melange of cultures. Magnificent magnate palaces shared muddy unpaved streets with dilapidated townhouses, szlachta farms, filthy hovels and teeming markets. By 1812 the Napoleonic campaigns had financially crippled the Duchy of Warsaw. Chopin spent his formative years during this turbulent political period and the family often escaped the capital to the refuge of the Mazovian countryside at Żelazowa Wola. Here the fields are alive with birdsong, butterflies and wildflowers. On summer nights the piano was placed in the garden and Chopin would improvise eloquent melodies that floated through the orchards and across the river to the listening villagers gathered beyond. Of course he was a perfect mimic, actor, practical joker and enthusiastic dancer as a young man, tremendously high-spirited. He once wrote a verse describing how he spent a wild night, half of which was dancing and the other half playing pranks and dances on the piano for his friends. They had great fun! One of his friends took to the floor pretending to be a sheep! On one occasion he even sprained his ankle he was dancing so vigorously! He would play with gusto and 'start thundering out mazurkas, waltzes and polkas'. When tired and wanting to dance, he would pass the piano over to 'a humbler replacement'. Is it surprising his teacher Józef Elzner and his doctors advised a period of 'rehab' at Duszniki Zdrój to preserve his health which had already begun to show the first signs of failing? This advice may not have been the best for him or his sister Emilia and Ludwika Skarbek, as reinfection was always a strong possibility there. Both were dead not long after their return from the so-called 'cure'. Many of his mazurkas would have come to life on the dance floor as improvisations. Perhaps only later were they committed to the more permanent art form on paper under the influence and advice of the Polish folklorist and composer Oskar Kolberg. Chopin floated between popular and art music quite effortlessly. George Sand wrote in Les Maîtres Sonneurs (The Master Pipers) 'He gave us the finest dances in the world....so attractive and easy to dance to that we seemed to fly through the air.' No. 1 in B
major Sorita was idiomatic within its harmonically adventurous and fragmented nature. The mazurka rhythm was clear. No. 2 in C major Ferdynand Hoesick described this mazurka that has such a rustic dance feel as follows: ‘The basses bellow, the strings go hell for leather, the lads dance with the lasses and they all but wreck the inn’. I felt Sorita could have been less controlled, more spontaneous, more boisterous and rumbustious! No. 3 in C minor I always felt
this mazurka as not based in reality but in nostalgic dream and memories. I
felt Sorita was most successful in this mazurka, a fragile, refined work which
drifts over the Mazovian plain on a summer breeze, fading away to nothing as an
autumn leaf falls into a stream and drifts... Ballade in F major, Op. 38 (1839)
It opened with captivating childish innocence and adorable simplicity of melody. This was followed by explosive passions of the grim reality of war or love, the suffering, the feast of the tigers of experience followed a naive lack of knowledge of the world. I have always felt this work to be traversing the emotional landscape of a broken love affair. Technically in terms of articulation, tone and touch his performance was formidably impressive with occasional lapses of deeper expressiveness as dynamic exaggerations tended to rear their ugly heads. I felt the dynamic contrasts could have been moderated. A convincing, almost operatic, performance of this tragic narrative of a broken life. By definition, authentic passion cannot be controlled. Largo in E flat major (1847) I am not fond of this work despite the affecting melody, A Prayer for Poland, but see it mainly but it was clearly of importance to Fryderyk Chopin. In this work, dated to 6 July 1838 (the year is uncertain) Chopin refers to or is based on Jan Nepomucen Kaszewski’s original 1816 melody for the hymn Boże cós Polskę (A Prayer to God to save Poland). It made an imaginative harmonic transition to the Polonaise attacca. Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 (1842–1843) Sorita opened this familiar work in a conventionally noble and heroic style which is all one should ask perhaps. All the Chopin polonaises, regardless of when they were written, are connected by the supreme idea of the polonaise-the most important Polish national dance. The polonaise developed in Poland long before Chopin's time, and since the Baroque era it had been a fashionable society dance at many European courts. The most eminent composers frequently wrote polonaises, including Bach, Teleman, Beethoven and Weber. The nineteenth-century poet and critic Kazimierz Brodziński wrote : The polonaise breathes and paints the whole national character; the music of this dance, while admitting much art, combines something martial with a sweetness marked by the simplicity of manners of an agricultural people . . . Our fathers danced it with a marvellous ability and a gravity full of nobleness; the dancer, making gliding steps with energy, but without skips, and caressing his moustache, varied his movements by the position of his sabre, of his cap, and of his tucked-up coat sleeves, distinctive signs of a free man and a warlike citizen. I felt however as the work progressed Sorita was transforming it into merely a virtuoso 'pianistic' display rather than a felt expressive work of Polish resistance, pride and valiance. The heroics were slightly overdone but then how does any young pianist resist such an irresistible temptation in playing such this rousing work of Chopin. He knows and feels that it is deeply affecting his audience, especially now in a time of war where so much of Chopin's żal and passionate resistance to Russian oppression has become so intensely relevant.  Juliusz Kossak (1824-1899)
INTERMISSION Piano sonata in A major D.959 (1828) The late sonatas were written during the last prolific months of Schubert's all too brief life, this one in 1828, mere months before his death. His sonatas were neglected until the twentieth century as they were thought to be inferior to those of Beethoven. Of course they possess the unique voice of a musical genius. Beethoven had died the previous year and in some ways Schubert felt he had inherited his mantle. As Alfred Brendel has pointed out, the three late sonatas (a sonata trilogy in fact), are closely connected motivically and tonally.   Allegro The opening suggests chamber music for strings so I felt his rather heavy approach was not really suitable here, even if the movement was greatly affected by the writing of Beethoven. I feel a session playing this Schubert movement on a period instrument would be most instructive concerning overall sonority to be aimed at on a modern Steinway. Andantino Surely this bleak, immortal movement in F sharp minor is the pivot of the sonata on which the whole structure revolves. The mesmeric main theme reminds one of Schubert's Heine songs and Der Leiermann from Winterreise. The melancholic contemplation, even obsession, is ever present. The dynamic contrasts should not be overdone even if Sorita possesses such a fine fingers, tone and refined touch. Such dynamic variations would simply not be possible on an instrument of Schubert's day. His musical conception was modified by the sound palette at his disposal. Scherzo Allegro vivace -
Trio: Un poco più lento Alfred Brendel found a parallel with this movement and the painting The Third of May, 1808 by Francisco Goya, where the brutality of the firing squad and the defenseless human target are contrasted. I felt this movement was attractively articulated by Sorita with its slight detaché. The movement was light and elegant, perfectly in keeping with Schubert's vision and forcibly uplifting his mood to escape the slough of despond. One must never forget that everything in Schubert is song. Rondo Allegretto - Presto The Beethovenian Rondo. Allegretto had a far more positive life outlook than that depicted in the bleak Andantino. Sorita was at times eloquent of the existential uncertainties laid before the passionate, almost desperate grasp at life suffusing the Coda. I hope with personal maturity and a deeper identification with the tragic life of Schubert, together with the nostalgic yet masculine sonority he was aiming to produce, that this massively gifted pianist will penetrate further into the spiritual core of this uniquely troubled composer. Encores: First of all a delightful Grieg Wedding Day at Troldhaugen. Balanced, light, energetic and joyfully dancing. Then the deeply felt Brahms Intermezzo in A major Op.118 No.2. Finally a Grande valse brillante by Chopin that was uplifted by perfect waltz rhythm, sparkling articulation, most elegant and stylish in approach with refined touch and tone. This interpretation could not be bettered! These qualities in Chopin waltzes are so rare among young pianists.
WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM Piano recital ALEXANDER GAVRYLYUK Ludwig van Beethoven (1770‒1827) Piano Sonata in C sharp minor "Moonlight", Op. 27 No. 2 (1802)
A fascinating
performance of this familiar sonata full of the dynamic, mood and tempo contrasts
that Beethoven clearly intended. In fact the work became so well known it
irritated Beethoven as he felt it overshadowed his other later, more profound
musical statements. Adagio sostenuto This movement is marked senza sordini (without dampers) and una corda (the hammer moving across via the action by means of a pedal to strike one string rather than three). This would have been sonically possible on the early pianos of Beethoven's time (not today) such as the Graf and would have endowed the movement with a rather disembodied, mysterious and haunted atmosphere. Moonlight possibly but not the sweet blurred impressionistic romance given the movement on a modern piano. Clouds darkly pass with pain over the face of this moon.
I felt Gavrylyuk understood this perfectly well in his expressive rendering of the movement. Berlioz wrote of the Adagio that it 'is one of those poems that human language does not know how to qualify.' He further defined the piece: 'The left hand softly displays large chords of a solemn, sad character, and the length of these allows the vibrations of the piano to extend gradually over each one of them.' He chose the correct alla breve time signature which prevents the movement descending into cloying sentiment. Many pianists play this movement with indulgent emotion. Allegretto Trio A statement of innocence - light, graceful and untroubled. Gavrylyuk adopted a moderate tempo with just a touch of poetic melancholy hovering. Presto agitato Here Gavrylyuk approached the Presto agitato with an almost frightening ferocity, an almost suicidal tempo (an act Beethoven actually contemplated during clinical depression). This conception is entirely in keeping with the highly emotional, neurotically agitated conception that pullulated in the brain of Beethoven. Gavrylyuk expressed a towering power and articulated exuberance the like of which I have never heard from any pianist before in this movement. An unforgettable and a truly individual voice exploded before us in this Presto. The motivic energy he summoned was irresistible and became incandescent with the heat of velocity generated from expressed internal passions of the highest rhythmic energy. The dynamic variation he utilized was theatrical and intensely dramatic. One of the great performances of this much performed sonata. Robert Schumann (1810–1856) Scenes from Childhood (Kinderszenen), Op. 15 (1838)  I shall write my impressions in note form as longer analysis is inappropriate in a brief review of this kind. Of Foreign Lands and Peoples Chaming and childlike in its innocence A Curious Story The childish curiosity was winningly clear Blind Man's Bluff I could feel the essence of the exciting game and the internal 'blind' force Pleading Child The harmonic and plangent harmonic transitions gave us that unique feeling children express when taken over by a desperate desire for something Happy Enough Rather too adult and exaggerated for the qualification 'happy enough' - a slight tinge of regret or negative reflection in the title? An Important Event Also rather heavy enjoyment for a child I thought! Dreaming Such a lyrical piece performed with great sensitivity and beauty by Gavrylyuk. No sentimental dwelling on emotion or mawkish indulgence At the Fireside A domestic feeling of being 'At Home' perfectly captured Knight of the Hobbyhorse Rather strenuous riding for a mere hobbyhorse in a nursery I felt Almost Too Serious Yes, a mood wonderfully expressed Frightening Child Falling Asleep A charming depiction of the internal process of a child falling asleep. Children fall asleep then fight it and suddenly wake and return to the somnolent groves. The piece is a marvellous depiction of this process which Gavrylyuk understood. The Poet Speaks
And so to conclude a poet penetrates childhood consciousness, music and lyrical meaning. 'The fewer the notes the more
difficult to play' A fine performance of this work by a pianist who understands children so well Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886) Venezia e Napoli: Tarantella S.162 (1859) The virtuosic Tarantella is from the collection Venezia e Napoli (published 1861), a revised version of earlier pieces which he issued as a supplement to his Années de pèlerinage: Deuxième année devoted to his musical impressions of Italy. The work is based on dance melodies by the Neapolitan editor and music publisher Guillaume-Louis Cottrau (1797-1847).
The English author Sacheverell Sitwell (1897-1988) in his fine book on Liszt, amusingly writes: 'In any case, the Tarantella is a delightful epitome of the warn Italian south, not to be taken too seriously, except by the pianist who may have wrestle with its appalling difficulties. For this, perhaps the most arduous of all the pieces in the Années de pèlerinage: Deuxième année (supplement), is essentially a concert finale and belongs to that class of Liszt's works which seems calculated to leave the executant paralyzed, or struck down with tetanus, at the close of his performance.' (p. 72) Gavrylyuk gave us a simply a spectacular performance with the blazing pyrotechnics that has had us on our feet here for many years. A kaleidoscopic spectrum of contrasting colours, phrasing, dynamics and tonal textures. These musical qualities were enhanced by stylish gestures of immense theatricality. Nineteenth century romantic Latin love and lyrical passions were here depicted at white heat. The sounds he produced fell like stars and pearls around us! Duration and dynamically matched repeated notes a la Horowitz, a pianist he adored. The audience at Duszniki leaped to their feet erupting into wild applause and cheering. Glittering virtuosity from the golden age of pianism, communicated as an artistic quality in its own right, something we have largely forgotten. The heart raced and sheer excitement filled the psyche. Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 (1835) Hugo Leichtentritt was a German musicologist and composer who called the cantilena that opens the work ‘achingly beautiful’. I felt Gavrylyuk did not penetrate sufficiently the soul of this nocturne in approaching it rather too aggressively on this occasion. When he performed it in 2015 at Duszniki I wrote: The bel canto and cantabile nature of the Chopin Nocturne in D-flat major Op.27 No.2 was similarly brought off with poetry and sweet melancholy - 'Parting is such sweet sorrow...' On this occasion I felt his apassionato could have been a little more subtle and expressing more of a feeling of improvisation and emotional discovery. André Gide in his Notes on Chopin, perceptively described music of this genre: ‘[Chopin] seemed to be constantly
seeking, inventing, discovering his thought little by little. This kind of
charming hesitation, of surprise and delight, ceases to be possible if the work
is presented to us, no longer in a state of successive formation, but as an
already perfect, precise and objective whole.'
[André Gide, Notes on Chopin, tr. Bernard Frechtman (New York, 1949), p.21]. Polonaise in A major, Op. 40 No. 1 (1838–1839)  Chopin took this polonaise with him from Majorca to Paris. In Paris he prepared the manuscript for publication, joining it with the Polonaise in C minor conceived in the waves of melancholy that beset him in Valldemossa. In 1837, Heinrich Heine famously commented ‘Poland gave him a chivalrous soul and the suffering of its history’. The A major Polonaise could be said to contain his ‘chivalrous soul’, and the C minor Polonaise the historical suffering of the Polish nation.
Gavrylyuk captured the military atmosphere and sense of Polish national defiance brilliantly. Was he thinking of his own beleaguered nation of Ukraine? Few pianists manage this convincingly. The military character was solid, unremitting and irresistible. The strong military rhythm expressed power and life and his roaring tremolos surely a military snare drum. A fine, utterly persuasive performance which too often fails and is rarely performed in recital. Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) Intermezzi Op. 117 (1892) No. 2 in B flat minor No. 3 in C sharp minor  Brahms in 1897 The Three Intermezzi Op 117 are products of the final phase of Brahms’s creativity and possess the nostalgia for the fading of high summer and the advent of autumn. They are the first group in the profound poetry contained in the short piano pieces that he composed in 1892–3. They were published in four collections, Opp 116 to 119. Like the quartets they were written very much with Clara Schumann in mind, for she was the first pianist to see them; but their moods are suffused with philosophical acceptance of seasonal change, that every love has its span of life and limited duration, even the forty years of love and friendship with Clara. Op 117 can be considered a triptych of lullabies. All three of these pieces seem to have had some secret significance for him: they were, he told his friend Rudolf von der Leyen, ‘three lullabies for my sorrows’. Eduard Hanslick described these brief autumnal works as 'monologues' of a 'thoroughly personal and subjective character…pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac.' To the Intermezzo No: 2 in B-flat minor Gavrylyuk brought the love yearning of a mature man when the emotions of love have calmed to a calm acceptance, a feeling beyond the passions of youthful doubt and anguished sufferance. There is a brief flaring up of the smouldering embers before they return to the warm, trusted glow of a settled fire. Beautifully controlled tone, touch, dynamics and colour. The emotional landscape of the Intermezzo No 3 in C-sharp minor is clear from Brahms's emotive choice of key. Here Gavrylyuk brought an expressive but not cloying masculine strength typical of Brahms as I imagine him, even during this melancholic change of life season and spiritual reflection. He painted an emotional landscape in strong colours that possessed much philosophical depth. This dark work of chiaroscuro beauty is believed to be an unacknowledged setting of another of the German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic Johann Gottfried Herder's translation of Scottish poems, a love-lament beginning ‘Oh woe! Oh woe, deep in the valley …’ Camille Saint Saëns (1835–1921) / Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886) / Vladimir Horowitz (1903–1989) Danse Macabre, Op. 40  The piece was actually was conceived in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin part. Shortly after the premiere, the piece was transcribed into a piano arrangement by Liszt who knew Saint-Saëns well. The composition was again later transcribed for piano by Vladimir Horowitz. I cannot help but feel Gavrylyuk chose this work only partly for piano virtuosic reasons, although he adores Horowitz and approaches his keyboard genius at times. he may have also chosen it but possibly as a not overly serious response to the Covid 19 pandemic which has beset the world and brought mass deaths so much closer and agonized the lives of millions. The cultural impact of mass outbreaks of disease, of pandemics, are not fleeting or temporary. The effect can endure past the initial stages of outbreak, in its deep etching upon the culture and society. This can be seen in the artworks and motifs of Danse Macabre as people attempted to cope with the death surrounding them. His beginning was an overwhelming and truly macabre declaration as if a funeral bell was tolling. The crescendos he conjured from the piano were beyond credibility. Pandemonium erupted within his fiery and grim imagination and swept all before it. A tidal wave of enthusiastic approbation followed his recital. His first encore was the Andante second movement from the italian Concerto of Bach. I was unsure of his second encore. His third encore was the Chopin Etude in E-flat minor Op.10 No.6. His final encore was an affecting piece of 'forbidden' Russian music (in view of the Ukrainian war), the magnificent Vocalise by Rachmaninoff arranged for solo piano. WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM Piano recital AIMI KOBAYASHI Chopin Nocturne in C-sharp minor Op. posth Her refined and elegant touch and tone were evident from the outset of the recital. There was a seamless and affecting flow of nostalgic emotion, so important to communicate in Chopin. A deeply and sensitively performed account that that unaccountably moved me less than I had hoped. Nocturne in F-sharp minor Op.48 No.2 The atmosphere is created by the first two bars followed by the most affecting melody. Tomaszewski writes 'the impression might be that it will last forever.' ‘What is most exquisite and most individual in Chopin’s art, wherein it differs most wonderfully from all others,’ noted André Gide ‘I see in just that non-interruption of the phrase; the insensible, the imperceptible gliding from one melodic proposition to another, which leaves or gives to a number of his compositions the fluid appearance of streams.’ A characteristic of Chopin during the 1840s, in his last, reflective, post-Romantic phase. This is the source of Wagner’s unendliche Melodie Tomaszewski reveals with his unparalleled Chopinesque perceptions. Kobayashi sang poignantly as if in an opera and took us into dramatic realms of operatic soundscape. The seminal influence of Bach on Chopin was made clear in her harmonic transitions. She cultivated this nocturne into a grand work and brought the piece off persuasively well. The F sharp minor endless cantabile song was romantically ardent and poetic. The conclusion was as tender and eloquent as a dream. Fantasie-Impromptu C-sharp minor Op.66  The Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor Op. 66 (1834) requires a high degree of virtuosity to make it into a charming and convincing work. Kobayashi lightly gestured the eloquent polyphony with wonderful control over the cascading notes, a discipline over the tumbling water source of Vistula in the mountains. The middle section with the famous slow, reflective nocturne, was expressively touching. It flowed at a moderato cantabile tempo, weaving a sotto voce melody in D flat major. She made a grand work of this familiar piece using the rich colour palette of the Shigeru Kawai instrument, the emotional structure fluid and unsettlingly meaningful in a musical sense. A virtuosic conclusion with nostalgic reminiscences. Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) Clara Schumann wrote in her diary
after receiving the pieces Op. 118 and Op. 119
'It really is marvelous how
things pour from him; it is wonderful how he combines passion and tenderness in
the smallest of spaces. Four Pieces for piano, Op. 119 (1893) Intermezzo in B minor This Intermezzo was more a study in sound than a heart yearning for love. It could have been more beautifully unsettled, full of the reflective anguish
of past unrequited love, moments of anger and resistance followed by final
resignation. In this work moments of Arcadian bliss are followed by happy memories of calm
refection cultivated in the consoling refuge of age. Intermezzo in E minor I am not sure Kobayashi yet understands the tender dislocation within the Brahms heart. Again I was looking to feel more yearning here, the hopeless desires of maturity that still smoulder in the embers of memory. Does the sun ever emerge from behind the shadowing clouds? Sometimes yes ..... Intermezzo in C major I can only describe the mood of the Intermezzo in C major with the opening stanza of a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley To a Skylark Hail to
thee blithe spirit! Bird thou
never wert- That from
heaven or near it Pourest
thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
I felt this interpretation could have been more joyous, the magical leap of the heart as it unexpectedly catches
sight of beloved! Rhapsody in E flat major This work could have expressed more nobility and gravitas. Just look at the magnificent head and countenance of the older Brahms! Imagine the emotions of aged and at times frustrated experience, like a great storm settling in the soul, resting philosophically yet still powerfully in the heart of this unsurpassed artist of the creative intellect.  INTERMISSION Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849) Scherzo in B minor, Op. 20 (1834–1835) A dramatic opening that heralded a virtuoso pianistic approach to playing the work. Kobayashi interpreted this Chopin Scherzo with immense dynamic contrasts. A degree of great nervous agitation created something of the atmosphere of an 'infernal banquet' required by this dark 'joke' (as the word 'scherzo' is supposed to mean in Italian). However, the lyrical central section (based on the Polish Christmas Carol Lulajze Jezuniu) was perhaps not quite understood deeply and ardently enough in its deep Polish national significance. Her overwhelming keyboard facility tended to mask a sufficient degree of subtlety of sensibility and heartfelt expression. The return of 'the infernal' after the carol was more expressively grand than psychically demented as I believe it is. The extreme contrasts in mood are extraordinary in this most psychotically revealing work of Chopin. Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31 (1836–1837) Here we had a great narrative drama, an eruption of dramatic force that lead almost to its own destruction. The work is a perfect example of 'Chopinian dynamic romanticism'. Chopin as a teacher was rarely satisfied with the opening triplet 'question' as he felt it should be uttered. Is this a question by Hamlet with a tempestuous but ambiguous answer ?
Kobayashi opened the work with penetrating existentialism and a question that must be answered. She presented the piece as heroic and the narrative of a grand destiny. Although slightly rushed at times, she offered us an exciting performance with great forward impetus. Her lyrical cantabile Trio was affecting until we were rudely transported out of the sweet garden back into the crucible of demolishing power by the formidable coda.  Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo - Carnival Scene (1754-55) Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op. 39 (1839) This scherzo opens in a 'Gothic', almost grotesque manner to become a fine and noble account approaching immense grandeur. Dedicated to his muscular pupil Adolf Gutman, this was last work the composer sketched during the Majorca sojourn and in the fraught atmosphere of the monastery at Valldemossa. The religiosity of the chorale was answered with not particularly meaningful jeu perlé cascades of notes, paste diamonds falling on crystal. The sotto voce transition to the minor was haunting and existentially tragic in the face of the abyss of death. Chopin was ill at the time which interrupted and perhaps affected the writing. ‘…questions or cries are hurled into an empty, hollow space – presto con fuoco.’ (Tomaszewski). Scherzo in E major, Op. 54 (1842–1843) This is a rarely performed scherzo. This work is not dramatic in the demonic sense of the three previous scherzi, but lighter in ambience. The outer sections are a strange exercise in rather joke-filled fun with a darkly concealed centre of passionate grotesquerie dependent on the accentuation of rhythmic detail. The work mysteriously encloses a deeply felt and ardent nocturne in the form of a longing love poem, suffused with a sense of loss. Playfulness with hints of seriousness and gravity underlie the exuberant mood of this scherzo. The emotional ambiguities that run like a vein though the work were given expression. The central section (lento, then sostenuto) in place of the Trio, gives one the impression so often with Chopin, of the ardent, reflective nature of distant love. Kobayashi was poignant in the beautiful cantabile. Kobayashi was far more successful expressively here than in the other scherzi with a truly haunting cantabile. She explored and sang this operatic dream world and movingly expressed the complexity of these labyrinthine emotions. The 'triumph and the will' infused the passionate last chords that closed the work. Heinrich
Heine, a German poet who idolized Chopin, asked himself in a letter from
Paris: ‘What is music?’ He answered ‘It is a marvel.
It has a place between thought and what is seen; it is a dim mediator between
spirit and matter, allied to and differing from both; it is spirit wanting the
measure of time and matter which can dispense with space.’ NOKTURN Tuesday 9 August 2022 CHOPIN MANOR 22.00 |
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| The Dworek during the Nokturn with Prof. Piotr Paleczny, the Artistic Director of the Duszniki Festival, seated on the right. The presenter of the evening, Marcin Majchrowski, is standing on the far left The Theme of this Nokturn was Chopin and the Romantic Myth |
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| The Nokturn Programme |
TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2022
CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM
Piano recital
CHLOE JIYEONG MUN
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Scenes from Childhood (Kinderszenen), Op. 15 (1838)
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The Three Children of Henry, 1st Marquess of Exeter (1754-1804), by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830)
Of Foreign Lands and Peoples
Mun has a beautiful rounded and refined tone and touch at the instrument. Great simplicity here
A Curious Story
The internal polyphony was finely clarified by the moderate tempo
Blind Man's Bluff
Uplifting feeling of childhood humorous games in this performance
Pleading Child
This sounded quite authentically like 'pleading' - astonishing emotional access
Happy Enough
An Important Event
I felt rather dynamically over-inflated as it is an event seen through the eyes of a child
Dreaming
Poetic interpretation that took us into a world of intense sentiments, clouds of unreality. Glorious sound quality and touch
At the Fireside
A cosy chat and stories told
Knight of the Hobbyhorse
An attractive horse-riding rhythm but somewhat overdone as it is a wooden horse that moves only back and forth
Almost Too Serious
Communicated a true feeling of ambiguity here
Frightening
Childish ideas are immature and lead to whimsical fears
Child Falling Asleep
Rather an uncanny feeling of disembodiment as a child falls asleep, wakes suddenly and falls asleep again
The Poet Speaks
Presented a deeply poetic, lyrical piece
This remarkable,esoteric film made of Alfred Cortot advising on this work at a masterclass is well worth a few minutes of your time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUNNNNj_Qw
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 (1841)
Mun showed a perceptive grasp of the structure of this work. The introduction was calm and reflective followed by a triumphal account overall with much żal, anger and resentment.The chorale section was considered and deeply affecting making the re-emergence of emotional tumult all the more powerful with even more żal than on the first occasion, more urgency and building to the climacteric. She introduced an heroic tone and emotional intensity as the work progressed. The conclusion came as the expression of exhaustion of passionate emotions and a sense of resigned despair. A remarkable and formidable performance of this masterpiece.
INTERMISSION
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 (1835)
Presented as a sensitive narrative of love
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Davidsbundlertänze, Op. 6 (1837)
She created a beautiful opening for this challenging work, the remarkable masterpiece Davidsbündlertänze (Dances of the League of David), Op. 6 (1837). This is a set of 18 pieces and one of the great works of Western Romantic piano literature. The Davidsbündler (League of David) was a music society founded by Schumann in his literary musings. The League itself was inspired by real or imagined literary societies such as those created by E.T.A Hoffmann. The major theme was based on a mazurka by Clara Wieck and was inspired by his love of her and hope for their union ('many wedding thoughts') which permeates all the works of this period. Her presence is rather subliminal throughout the whole cycle.
Literature and music had a symbiotic relationship for Schumann and was a source of the unique qualities of his genius. He was famous at this time as a perceptive music critic, even over knowledge of him as a composer. He considered music criticism, extra-musical criticism, to be an art form in itself. In this work it is clear he was gaining in musical self-confidence as a composer with his increasing attraction to the public. The masks of Carnaval are stripped away and the poet's face here revealed.
The pieces are not really dances but musical 'dialogues' concerning contemporary music that take place between Florestan (rasch-quick or hasty) and Eusebius (innig-intimate). Schumann created these characters to represent the active and passive aspects of his personality. The enigmatic description of No.9 reads 'Here Florestan stopped, and his lips trembled sorrowfully.' I cannot analyse here each of the eighteen movements of the work, although I would dearly love to do this. Save to say, Mun gave an energetic, electrical performance of Florestan, together with the other side of the human coin, the tender, 'feminine' cantabile that depicted the gentle lyricism of Eusibius. She captured much of the poetic, mercurial, impetuous, whimsical and lyrical aspects of Schumann's nature whilst preserving the unity of this cycle that allows us to experience ‘music as landscape’ (Charles Rosen).
LebhaftInnig
Mit Humor
Ungeduldig
Einfach
Sehr rasch
Nicht schnell
Frisch
Lebhaft
Balladenmäßig – sehr rasch
Einfach
Mit Humor
Wild und lustig
Zart und singend
Frisch
Mit gutem Humor
Wie aus der Ferne
Nicht schnell
Her encore:
1. A profoundly moving piano arrangement of Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II: Dance of the Blessed Spirits by Giovanni Sgambati. As fine as Egon Petri ....
This was an exceptional recital by a sensitive and gifted artist - one of the high points surely of the Duszniki Festival this year
MONDAY, 8 AUGUST CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM
Piano recital
DANG THAI SON
Jan Sebastian Bach (168–1750) / Samuel Feinberg (1890–1962)
Largo in A minor from the Organ Sonata in C major, BWV 529 (1730)
The eminent English musicologist Peter Williams discusses the "ingenious" structure of the movement which he describes as "bright, extrovert, tuneful, restless, intricate". There is "inventive" semiquaver passagework. A pleasant beginning but an unusual one because of its polyphonic complexity.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
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| Mozart's Vienna 1785 |
Published by Artaria in 1784, interestingly in 2014, Hungarian librarian Balázs Mikusi discovered four pages of Mozart's original score (autograph) of the sonata in Budapest's National Széchényi Library. Until then, only the last page of the autograph had been known to have survived.
Piano sonata in A major, K.331 (1781–1784)
Andante grazioso - Tema con variazione
Menuetto – Trio
Alla Turca. Allegretto
I found his presentation of this sonata stylistically pure and completely charming, elegant, refined and graceful with just the right degree of tasteful affectation. Fine judicious use of the pedal and semi-detaché articulation. The choice of tempo for the Alla Turca seemed beautifully balanced with uplifting energy and life, sparkling and a quite delightful slightly detached left hand articulation.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109 (1820)
Vivace ma non troppo, sempre legato – Adagio espressivo
Prestissimo
Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo
This sonata was composed in 1820 when Beethoven was completely deaf and suffering ill-health. However, it is an especially lyrical work. Clearly a fine performance, stylistically pure, the work is a profound personal statement by Beethoven which gives an impression of internal life.
The reflective parts of the Adagio espressivo are of the deepest philosophical introspection which I felt he succeeded in penetrating from the outset an a most soulful and expressive manner. Here was a song full of nostalgic yearning for lost affections. The staccato sections provided a marvellous contrast of sound texture and mood. The sonata breaks nearly all the rules of traditional sonata form.
The Prestissimo emerged as an immaculate yet irresistible force of glowing tone and sparkling articulation. We were presented with the expression of divine nostalgic laments, regrets in life, the meditative preoccupations and loss of love leading to an ultimate resignation under the stronger force of destiny. His staccato articulation throughout was very fine with much colour and nuance relieving the granite.
Beethoven for me sometimes requires the communication of a feeling of the struggle of human inadequacy against unflinching fate, the anger that this can be generated in the heart and soul when intense lyricism has been experienced, lost and then remembered with yearning. Beethoven for me requires what one might term the condiments of human imperfection, some temperamental roughness and not classical perfection.
This tougher, more masculine and intellectual approach became clear in the theme and six variations, each with a different character and partly contrapuntal texture, contained within the final movement Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo. The writing veers between moments of lyrical cantabile and the severely declamatory. The driving rhythmic energy of the fifth variation gives the impression, at least to begin with, of a complex, many-voiced chorale-like fugue. Son built an eloquent conclusion from a peak of powerful armour that resolved into quiet resignation at the conclusion. Beethoven’s approach to the variation form at the conclusion is far freer here than in his previous sonatas.
INTERMISSION
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
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| The Pleyel pianino at Valldemossa on which Chopin may have composed the C minor polonaise Op.40 No.2 |
Polonaise in C minor, Op. 40 No. 2 (1838–1839)
Son adopted a noble, tragic tempo in this great polonaise with in the Trio, a tragic and sublime, nostalgic sung cantilena. Cruel and brutal destiny hovers overs it and reality erupts once again to destroy the dream.
The polonaise is believed to have been composed in the dark atmosphere of the Carthusian monastery in Valldemossa. It would be difficult to find an alternative to the definition advanced by the writer, historian and musicologist Ferdynand Hoesick who wrote of the ‘gloomy mood’ that emanates from this music, of its melancholy and ‘tragic loftiness’.
Dedicated to Julian Fontana, Chopin wrote: ‘You have an answer to your honest and genuine letter in the second Polonaise. It’s not my fault that I’m like that poisonous mushroom […] I know I’ve been of no use to anyone – but then I’ve been of precious little use to myself’.
4 Mazurkas, Op. 24 (1833–1835)
G minor
C major
A flat major
B flat minor
Waltz in F minor, Op. 70 No. 2 (1841–1842)
Waltz in A minor, Op. posth. (1847–1849)
Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 (1835)
3 Ecossaises, Op. 72 (1829–1830)
D major
G major
D flat major
I could of course examine the performance of each in turn but of the performance of these works of Chopin I am left with absolutely nothing left to say. They seemed to me to express most of what I deeply feel concerning the music of Chopin in his Waltzes, Mazurkas and the sheer civilized charm and grace in his performance of the three Ecossaises.
Tarantella in A flat major, Op. 43 (1841)
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| Dancing the Tarantella |
'I hope I’ll not write anything worse in a hurry’ – Chopin’s rather unflattering assessment of the Tarantella. Shortly after arriving in Nohant, Chopin wrote to Julian Fontana with the manuscript of the Tarantella (to be copied): ‘Take a look at the Recueil of Rossini songs […] where the Tarantella (en la) appears. I don’t know if it was written in 6/8 or 2/8. Both versions are in use, but I’d prefer it to be like the Rossini’
It did have some feeling of frenzy from the growing effects of the poisonous tarantula bite but for me lacked the characteristic joyfulness and gaiety of the Italian dance. I thought Son could have given us a more convincing rhythmic account of the victim of a poisonous spider bite (by the Tarantula) and the growth of the insidious, destructive chemical circulating in the blood. Traditionally the victim became well and truly beside himself, increasingly and madly so by the triumphant conclusion.
Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53
This performance of the famous work was in many degrees faultless in its majestic nobility and fierce resentful anger. It was clearly the result of the accumulation of many, many years of intimate familiarity with the score, the performance, the teaching, the associative moods and imagery as well as the hearing of this masterpiece (in the espaces imaginaires). Incontrovertibly a political and musical revolutionary demonstration against invasion, territorial hegemony and brutal invasion of one's homeland. More appropriate now than in times of peace and a fine choice by Son to conclude, expressing human significance on many levels of deep musical association.
MONDAY
8 AUGUST 2022
CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM
Piano recital
DMYTRO CHONI
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79 (1879)
No. 1 in B minor
No. 2 in G minor
Brahms wrote these attractive Rhapsodies in his maturity during his summer stay on the shores of the attractive Lake Wörthersee in Austria, Carinthia's largest lake. I felt the performance spoilt by too exaggerated dynamic contrasts - a fault in so many of the young prize-winners one hears today. This could be a result of the relatively small internal volume of the dworek.
Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
Étude in A minor, Op. 25 No. 11 (1835–1837)
A highly accomplished and promising performance from a young pianist with great future potential.
Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886)
Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata S. 161/7 (1849)
INTERMISSION
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût (Images II) (1907)
He accomplished a beautiful impressionistic 'image' of this painting 'And the moon descends on the temple that was...'
L’Isle joyeuse (1904)
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| The Jersey coastline |
L'Isle joyeuse written on the island of Jersey when in a state of heightened emotion - the composer was joyfully embracing a passionate love affair in the summer of 1904 with Emma Bardac, the wife of a rich and prominent banker. His wife, 'Lilly' attempted suicide after Debussy wrote to her telling her the marriage was over. The ensuing scandal was to alienate Debussy from many of his friends, whilst Bardac was disowned by her family. They were eventually married in 1908. Much of La Mer was written on the island. Choni gave us an impressionistic account of the pieces, maintaining an attractive quality of a summer afternoon's improvisation but also passionate. The expression of the dynamic expression of sensual joy was youthfully impressive!
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| Debussy and Emma Bardac on Jersey |
Valentin Silvestrov (born 1937)
3 Bagatelles, Op. 1 (2005)
Allegretto
I found this a charming, sensitive rather minimalist post-modern piece by the Ukrainian composer.
Moderato
A darker contrast here, but similar in its simplicity
Moderato
I imagined in this charming lyrical work, sentimental poetry in countryside, reclining on a rug in sunny summer pastures, in love with a delightful lady
Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983)
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| A painting by Diego Dayer, born Argentina 1979 |
Sonata No. 1, Op. 22 (1952)
Alberto Ginastera was commissioned by the Carnegie Institute and the Pennsylvania College for Women to write a piano sonata for the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival. Ginastera’s intention for the piece was to capture the spirit of Argentine folk music without relying on explicit quotations from existing folk songs.
Allegro marcato
I found this movement exciting but rather too long and unrelenting in its forceful rhythmic projection
Presto misterioso
I really did not hear a great deal of what OI might consider 'mysterious' in any conventional sense.
Adagio molto appasionato
Here was contained Latin passion, but the passions of the dreaming night. Somnambulistic rather after all passion spent
Ruvido ed ostinato
Percussively quite unsettled
Encores:
An absolutely delightful Soiree de Vienne Concert Paraphrase after Johann Strauss Op.56 by Arthur Grünfeld (1852-1924)
Valentin Silvestrov Bagatelle 1 XIII/II
A most varied and interesting programme that is showing great promise as a discriminating musician and pianist
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| An original 17th century door-case in Duszniki Zdroj |
Masterclass Aleksander Gavrylyuk
9.30 am Monday August 8th 2022
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| Anna Golka who provides the brilliant, indispensable simultaneous translation from professorial musicological English into Polish at the Duszniki Masterclasses The session on 8th August began with Julia Lozowska working with Prof. Gavrylyuk on the formidable Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op.35. he spoke of the importance of the 'inner beauty' of the work, the inner process and filling the internal spaces with inner energy. He indicated there was always a purpose behind the music and one must envisage from a space at the beginning into which the piece moves. He emphasized the electricity which lies behind the notes and referred to 'a restless search for the light'. |
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| Julia Lozowska working with Prof. Gavrylyuk on the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op.35 |
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| Pedalling the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op.35 |
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| Prof. Gavrylyuk working with Jozef Domzal on the Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie Op.61 |
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| Elucidating the function of the muscles of the thumb and their vital role |
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| 'Allow the music to lead the process rather than imposing your personality upon it. You should be the conduit for the music.' |
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Prof Gavrylyuk with Aleksandra Dębek Dealing with the so-called 'Raindrop' Prelude Op.28 No.15 he referred to the many and varied ways of opening this extraordinarily famous work. He did not refer to the fraught situation of its composition in Valldemossa, a haunting monastery he resided in with George Sand. The concentration was mainly on 'arches of sound', melodic line and how in performance the more simple the melody the more difficult it is to play with such exposed subtlety. Again concentrating on physical aspects, he demonstrated how to place arm weight on the note you wish to emphasize, where the other notes become weightless. At one point, he played the LH and she played the RH and slower to hear the internal details.  |
SUNDAY 7 AUGUST 2022
CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM
Piano duo
LUCAS & ARTHUR JUSSEN
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K.448 (1781)
A great shout greeted their entrance onto the stage - familiarity and anticipation for great entertainment in store.
Allegro con spirito
This rather rare work was composed in the galant style when Mozart was only 25 - close to the age of these two young, lively Dutchmen. Certainly this was a spirited beginning which continued with exuberant energy. I could not help imagining that Mozart may well have loved the irresistible forward impetus of this movement. A fine co-ordinated sound and quite uncanny, almost symbiotic ability, to combine their forces in perfect cohesion.
Andante
A charming and civilized consolation to the travails of existence in 2022. Once more a feeling of perfect synchronization on the levels of sound and feeling, although the brothers are not twins. the phrasing was particularly revealing of musical meaning.
Allegro molto
A lively movement once again with reminiscences of Mozart's Rondo alla Turca
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Rondo for piano 4 hands (Grande Rondeau)
in A major, D.951 (1828)
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| A Schubertiade (1897) by Julius Schmid |
This work from 1828 was considered by Alfred Einstein in his book Schubert as 'the apotheosis of all Schubert's compositions for four hands.' (p.282). Compositions for four hands are by their very nature considered sociable in a cultural context. The Schubertiade was a social event perfectly compatible with piano music for four hands. During Schubert's lifetime, these events were generally informal, unadvertised gatherings, held at private homes.The work has also been described as 'leisurely' and 'easygoing' and this duo communicated this almost carefree and gracious attitude within the music in their remarkably charismatic social communication. Schubertian yearning makes a subterranean appearance.
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| Franz Schubert (1797-1828) |
Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
Rondo in C major for 2 pianos, Op. 73 (1828)
INTERMISSION
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
6 Épigraphes Antiques for piano 4 hand (1914–1915)
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Background: Claude Debussy standing in the drawing room at Pierre Louÿs house
National Library of France,
RES-VM EST-3 (11)
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Macabre Letter: Pierre Louys to Claude Debussy, May 1901 National Library of France, Music Department, NLA-45 (53) |
I was not familiar with this work but on such a sociable moment of four-handed compositions I felt I must take advantage and listened carefully. This suite was Debussy's only completed composition in 1914. A great deal of the music is taken from the musical accompaniments he had written in 1901 for his friend Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925). He was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to 'express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection'
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| One of the less erotic photographs taken by Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925) |
Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d'été (To invoke Pan, god of the summer wind)
Played with a beautiful and affecting lyricism
Pour un tombeau sans nom (For a nameless tomb)
Dark and impressionistic lugubriousness
Pour que la nuit soit propice (In order that the night be propitious)
They conjured up haunting, internal, imaginative visions of the night
Pour la danseuse aux crotales (For the dancer with crotales)
This was highly energetic playing and the duo created the image of dancers clashing with their small brass percussion discs (about 10 cm in diameter)
Pour l'égyptienne (For the Egyptian woman)
I felt a certain stasis and mystery of the sphinx in their performance - rather an inaccessible female quality in the Egypt of the day
Pour remercier la pluie au matin (To thank the morning rain)
With their astounding virtuosity they recreated the memory and sound of the morning rain that Debussy composed so realistically. Quite affecting if one loves the natural world to distraction.
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
La valse version for 2 pianos
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COURT BALL AT THE HOFBURG A waltz in the public ballroom of the Imperial Palace, Vienna. Watercolor by Wilhelm Gause 1900. Emperor Francis Joseph is on the far right |
Diaghilev had requested a four-hand reduction of the original orchestral score. Reports say that Stravinsky when he heard Ravel perform this with Marcelle Meyer in this version, he quietly left the room without a word so amazed was he. Ravel however would not admit to the work being an expression of the profound disillusionment in Europe following the immeasurable human losses and cruel maiming of the Great War. However one must recall in Thomas Mann’s Dr. Faustus that the composer Adrian Leverkühn, although isolated from the clamour and destruction of the cannons of war, composed the most profound expression of it in his composition Apocalypsis cum Figuris by a type of metaphysical osmosis. Ravel’s note to the score gives one an insight to his intentions:
Ravel described his composition as a ‘whirl of destiny’ – his concept was that the work impressionistically begins with clouds that slowly disperse to reveal a whiling crowd of dancers in the Imperial Court of Vienna in 1855. The Houston Symphony Orchestra programme note for the orchestral version performed in 2018 poses the question: Is this a Dance of Death or Delight ? I feel the question encapsulates perfectly the ambiguity inherent in this disturbing work. A composer can sometimes be a barometer that unconsciously registers the movements of history.
The duo opened this work with a sound that was inescapably an ominous premonition of war. The two concert grands began to sound like distant and often not so distant cannons. The recalled waltz rhythm of the beginning of this trance was idiomatic, stylish and understated. The sound created by this remarkable duo is rich and full and yet not breaking through the sound ceiling of their instruments (although the ceiling of the dworek may well have suffered stress!).
The sense of threat was ever present as the overwhelming energy of the whirling and bursts of light from the chandeliers built into a sound edifice, the like of which was like nothing I have ever heard in my life. The glissandos that sliced through the monumental, energetic sound towards the conclusion was like the merciless cut of a Polish sabre on horseback. A rhapsodic ending with cannons was breathtaking in the extreme.
The tumultuous standing ovation and cheers gave rise to three appropriate encores by Bizet from his piece for four hands entitled Jeux D'enfants. : La Toupie (The Spinning Top) La Poupée (The Doll) and Le Bal (The Ball),
This was followed by I think their own arrangement of classical standard melodies we could all recognize beneath the ornamentation. Finally a Siloti/Bach transcription.
A remarkable and memorable evening of astonishing natural keyboard gifts. Classical music performed for the sheer musical entertainment value and wish to give unadulterated pleasure to the audience without the sacrifice of interpretative musicality of a high order.
SUNDAY, 7 AUGUST
CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM
Piano recital
JUAN PÉREZ FLORISTÁN
First Prize at the 16th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition Tel Aviv 2021
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
24 Preludes, Op. 28 (1838–1839)
Even if
Chopin had not written anything but the preludes, he would have deserved
immortality anyway.
Anton Rubinstein
These
poetic preludes are similar to those of a great contemporary poet that rock the
soul in golden dreams and raise it to ideal regions.
Franz Liszt
Each
of them is a prelude to a meditation […] Music that eludes the world of matter
and allows us to free ourselves from it.
André Gide
In January 1839, after his Pleyel pianino had arrived from Paris, Chopin wrote to Julian Fontana ‘You’ll soon receive the Preludes and the Ballade’. And a few days after, when sending the manuscript of the Preludes: ‘In a couple of weeks, you’ll receive the Ballade, Polonaises and Scherzo.' So their conception took place in the atmosphere of a haunted monastery, threatened by untamed nature.
It would of course have been impossible for Chopin to have ever considered performing this complete radical cycle in his own musical and cultural environment (not least because of the brevity of many of the pieces). It is unlikely ever to have even occurred to him to do this, the way programmes were designed piecemeal at the time. I tend to feel the performance of them as a cycle is of course possible but not entirely justified. In some of his programmes and others of the period, a few preludes are scattered randomly through them like diamond dust. Each piece contains within it entire worlds and destinies of the human spirit and deserves individual attention rather than being a brick in a monumental edifice.
It is now well established by
structuralists and Bach scholars as a complete and symmetrical work, a
masterpiece of integrated yet unrelated ‘fragments’ (in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth century sense of that aesthetic term). Each prelude can of
course stand on its own as a perfect miniature landscape of emotional feeling
and tonal climate. But ‘Why Preludes? Preludes to what?’ André
Gide asked rather gratuitously. One possible explanation is that the idea
of 'preluding' as an improvisational activity in the same key
for a short time before a large keyboard work was to be performed was well
established in Chopin's day but has been abandoned in modern times.
The Preludes surely extend the prescient Chopin remark 'I indicate, it's up to the listener to complete the picture'.
I felt Floristán gave us a fine, virtuoso pianistic account of this popular cycle. He had clearly conceived of them as an integrated group of emotional landscapes. However, for me rather predictably straightforward without what one might term, an 'individual voice'. I will make only a brief comment on some of them as an analysis in detail of all might try your patience although each masterpiece deserves the deepest attention. There was insufficient hint of the haunted nature of some preludes, haunted by the ghosts of Valldemossa and the demons that inhabit our lives. The metaphysical underside of these works, the dark realities and contrasts in emotional turbulence were somewhat left untouched by the brilliant playing.
No. 1 in C major
No. 2 in A minor - few pianists plumb the utter despair in the face of the great reality of death, ultimately faced alone by each of us, that suffuses this spare, desolate masterpiece. Floristán was unsettling but ...
No. 3 in G major - a joyful respite
No. 4 in E minor No. 5 in D major No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in A major - all satisfyingly performed but I was yearning for more individuality, taking me beyond the printed score
No. 8 in F sharp minor - a brilliant account of this prelude
No. 9 in E major No. 10 in C sharp minor No. 11 in B major No. 12 in G sharp minor
No. 13 in F sharp major - the bel canto was alluring and beautiful
No. 14 in E flat minor No. 15 in D flat major No. 16 in B flat minor No. 17 in A flat major No. 18 in F minor
No. 19 in E flat major No. 20 in C minor No. 21 in B flat major No. 22 in G minor No. 23 in F major
No. 24 in D minor - I think with this work, the heavy hammer of irreversible destiny falls on deeply disturbed emotions that hinge on an awareness and premonition of death. To achieve this requires a particular vision not given to many, but a profound thought preoccupying Chopin.
INTERMISSION
Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886)
Années de Pèlerinage. Deuxième années. "Italie" S. 161 (1838–1839)
Sposalizio
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Sposalizio della Vergine (The Marriage of the Virgin) Raphael 1504 |
Franz Liszt composed Sposalizio, which translates to Marriage in Italian, after being inspired by Raphael's painting the Marriage of the Virgin of 1504. Beginning Andante with the indication dolce the work develops into a variety of wedding march which concludes in a rand climax in difficult octaves. As too often with this pianist (and others) the relatively small Dworek found it difficult to accommodate to the almost oppressive dynamic inflation.
Il pensieroso
Michelangelo LORENZO DE' MEDICI Church of S. Lorenzo, Florence |
This work (1838-1839) was inspired by the idealized introspective and melancholy Michelangelo sculpture that the Italian carved for the tombstone of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino. The sculpture inspired many great artists over the centuries from the epic poem by John Milton to the British/American Painter Thomas Cole's painting Il pensieroso dating from 1845. Michelangelo depicts Lorenzo as an intellectual man lost in deep in thought. The seriousness of the sculpture gives rise to a rather gloomy musical work. I remained unsure why Floristán chose this work for his recital.
Richard Wagner (1813–1883) /Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886)
Isoldes Liebestod, S. 447
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| Rogelio de Egusquiza (1845-1915) Tristan and Iseult (1910) This Spanish painter, known for his friendship with Richard Wagner, helped make his works familiar in Spain |
One must not forget the constraints of instruments that brought about such transcriptions and the extraordinary service the selfless Liszt performed for keyboard players in the nineteenth century who were without ready access to an organ or the services of an orchestra. We are indeed richly endowed today and tend to forget this when maligning the great Ferenc for his generous transcriptions of everything under the sun.
I felt this was a rather exaggerated musical performance by the Spanish pianist on the level of the psyche, embracing the fulfillment or 'peaceful release' offered by death, carried unresisting on the cresting wave of metaphysical and passionate love. Certainly the incandescent passions and travails of Latin Spanish love were well in evidence. The building of the erotic curve in a smooth, sensually rising line to the orgasmic climacteric, the apotheosis of the metaphysical symbiosis of love/death that Wagner embraces, is a tremendously demanding pianistic task to express, to discipline and to communicate effectively as he managed to do.
Wagner's debt to the harmonic adventurism of Liszt, the Tristan chord, is never in doubt to my mind. The work is a musical and personal challenge to depict this merging of the lovers in death, situated predominantly and 'deep darkly' in the mind of Wagner. The contrasts Floristán extracted and expressed were rather too extreme in range for me but perhaps after all is said and done, the heat of 'Spanish love', its transfiguration and expression through music depends on the filter of personal experience.
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Wanderer Fantasy, Op. 15, D.760 (1822)
Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo
Adagio
Presto
Allegro
This work the composer based on his song Der Wanderer. This was a competent account of the Fantasy but I yearned for a more melodic and expressive legato line on some occasions. He stayed pretty well at the same dynamic which I found rather tiring. So many opportunities for poetry and expressiveness were missed and the conception of the work came across to me at least as rather prosaic.
I felt he Floristán unfortunately had limited understanding of this work. Much of his playing could be described in the words of C.P.E Bach in his Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen 1753 (Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments)
‘They overwhelm our hearing without satisfying it and stun the mind without moving it.’
The opening indicated he would be approaching this remarkably variegated work as purely a virtuoso piano piece. The dynamics only occasionally fell below forte or fortissimo except in the more lyrical, reflective central sections with rather rushed phrasing. However the ‘interpretation’, such as it was, for me displayed extraordinarily limited understanding of Schubert’s intentions in this piece – the operatic nature of ‘The Wanderer’ passing thorough varied landscapes and the joyful and bitter experiences of life on his great journey through it. He wrote the work in 1822 only six years before his premature death. The work is surely a keyboard version of what might have been another great Schubert song cycle. The main theme in a hardly festive C-sharp minor actually taken from his song Der Wanderer. Perhaps far more background research on such a great work should be done before performance.
I once heard the great pianist Alexander Melnikov at the Chopin i jego Europa Festival in Warsaw give a brilliant account of this work on a Conrad Graf piano which illuminated the shifting landscape and fluctuating moods in an unprecedented manner perfectly suited to Schubert. Conrad Graf (1782-1851) was an Austrian-German piano maker whose instruments were used by Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and Clara Schumann among others. They were capable of extraordinary sonority and special effects.
Schubert once wrote 'Happiness is where you are not...' and explaining that the 'Romantic soul is never happy where he is...' Schubert had an inferiority complex concerning Beethoven. The work is marked by grace, grandeur and nobility. At times unsettled, it would calm into glorious song full of human emotion. For me there is far too much use of this work as a showy virtuosic account.
Encores:
The Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
Two Danzas Argentinas (Argentine Dances) Op. 2 from a set of three dances for solo piano written in 1937
No: 2 Danza de la moza donosa (Dance of the Donosa Girl) and No: 3 Danza del gaucho matrero (Dance of the Outlaw Cowboy) has directions such as furiosamente (furiously), violente (violent), mordento (biting), and salvaggio (wild). Here Ginastera left us in no doubt as how to perform this third dance.
Both were splendidly performed, No:3 simply astounding in its rhythmic insistence.
SATURDAY, 6 AUGUST 2022
CHOPIN MANOR 8.00 PM
Chamber concert
RAFAŁ BLECHACZ (piano)
BOMSORI KIM (violin)
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Violin sonata in G minor (1917)
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was already suffering with the cancer which prematurely ended his life, when he began to compose his Violin Sonata in G minor, L140. He began to sketch the work in 1916 and completed it the following year. It was to be his final composition. He wrote rather self-effacingly 'It represents an example of what may be produced by a sick man in time of war’ In this sonata he wished to be rather anti-German by emphasizing his national background by signing the score ‘Claude Debussy—musicien français’.
The first moment of sound of Bomsori Kim's magnificent violin (a 1774 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini instrument) revealed a profound richness of tone that can imitate a viola. The tension between the body of this brilliant South Korean violinist and her instrument produces a sound that was sheer musical magic.
The violinist’s chosen repertoire reflects her desire to communicate with her audiences through her instrument’s expressive voice: 'I’m not a loud person – I usually don’t talk much in everyday life,” she says. “But that’s why I love playing the violin, because I can speak and communicate through music. I’ve loved singing and ballet since I was a small child and am always moved by hearing voices and watching dancers. I wanted to bring that special spirit of poetry and drama to listeners through my instrument, which can sing freely in these wonderful pieces.' (DG)
Allegro vivo
Ardent playing by both artists with superb musical co-ordination. This music was clearly deeply experienced by the players in a work that suffuses melancholic nostalgia.
Intermède: fantasque et léger
The awful old clouds are dispersed in this movement that sings of the joys of love and yearning.
Finale très animé
The earlier mood returns which surprisingly develops into to an ecstatic conclusion with perfectly co-ordinated phrasing and breathing. These are artists who understand each other intimately in the climate of music. A mood of optimism prevailed despite Debussy’s own tragic health circumstances.
Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)
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| Szymanowski by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz |
Sonata in D minor, Op. 9 (1904)
Allegro Moderato
Andantino Tranquillo e Dolce
Allegro Molto, quasi Presto
This work was first performed in Warsaw by two renowned musicians, the violinist Paweł Kochański and pianist Artur Rubinstein, on 3rd April 1909. It is the work of a young man but his unique voice is already manifest. He dedicated it to his school friend Bronisław Gromadzki who was an amateur violinist. The Allegro moderato was played by both artists in an affectingly expressive, ardent yearning with rich and eloquent tone colour from the violin and the intense manner young hearts express in lyrical love and passion. There are two themes: the virtuoso element increasing expressively to con passione, and a lyrical, dolcissimo, which at times had the qualities of a dream.
The Andantino tranquillo e dolce is the beating heart of this work. The artists were intensely lyrical and explored contrasting colours and timbres with the violin pizzicato and the piano staccato. Such a yearning for love's consummation lies within Szymanowski, searching for the stars and the night sky of ecstatic oblivion.
The authority
on the music of Szymanowski Tadeusz A. Zieliński wrote of this work:
‘…as such it must be the greatest instrumental work of Szymanowski’s early period. Only [its] unfamiliarity to musicians accounts for the fact that this wonderful ‘poem’ in A major did not become a famous and favourite item in violinists’ repertoires’.
The Finale. Allegro molto, quasi presto supported some fine and remarkable rhapsodic, highly emotional themes. The phrasing of this violinist and pianist was both sensitive and passionate, which made this virtuoso ensemble absolutely captivating. There was an extraordinary musical intimacy and deep communication evidently present here as the work developed rhapsodically. Szymanowski himself was eventually able to describe the Sonata as 'a thing popular in every aspect.'
INTERMISSION
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
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| The young Gabriel Fauré |
Sonata No. 1 in A major for violin and piano, Op. 13 (1875–1876)
Allegro molto
Andante
Scherzo: Allegro vivo
Finale: Allegro quasi presto
In 1872 Camille Saint-Saëns, Fauré’s former piano teacher, introduced him to the great singer Pauline Viardot (so close to Chopin in friendship) and her musical family. Fauré went so far as to dedicate songs to her and fell in love with her daughter Marianne (who would break off their engagementafter a short time together). Fauré dedicated his First Violin Sonata to her son, the violinist and composer Paul Viardot.
Marie Tayau, who established one of the first all-female string quartets, gave the premiere in January 1877, with Fauré at the piano. 'The sonata had more of a success this evening than I could ever have hoped for' Fauré wrote to a friend. 'Saint-Saëns said that he felt that sadness that mothers feel when they see their children are too grown up to need them any more!... Mlle. Tayau’s performance was impeccable.'
Saint-Saëns observed: 'In this sonata you can find everything to tempt a gourmet: new forms, excellent modulations, unusual tone colors, and the use of unexpected rhythms,' he wrote. 'And a magic floats above everything, encompassing the whole work, causing the crowd of usual listeners to accept the unimagined audacity as something quite normal. With this work Monsieur Fauré takes his place among the masters.' (quotations courtesy of the LA Philharmonic)
Kim and Blechacz expressed the ardent melodies of the opening Allegro molto movement with refined and urgent intensity of sound to animate these glorious melodies and transport one into the poetic world of French poetry. The sound of Kim's violin and her profound musicality was simply enthralling both sensually and spiritually. There was much rich, animated musical 'conversation' between these two artists. The romantic theme of the Barcarolle of the Andante was replete with heartfelt love or was this just my own romantic temperament. The vivacious Scherzo: Allegro vivo was fabulously light and spectacular with Kim singing on her glorious violin in the lyrical section. Both artists evidenced highly virtuosic playing to take us into the light, flying, bustling and gliding in the true meaning of the word scherzo. Rhythmic invention, shifting key, colour and metre like a shaken kaleidoscope. Then the yearning, profoundly ardent theme of the Finale: Allegro quasi presto which revealed the deep musical commitment between these two great artists, their ability to articulate the pregnant harmonic functions and transitions, the characteristically French passion lying in wait within the music.
The encores were also deeply moving for me. Two pieces of Chopin arranged persuasively for violin and piano. At first the Nocturne in E-flat major Op.9 No.2 which exploited the ample mahogany tone of her violin. Then such a stylish Syncopation by Fritz Kreisler and finally a tear inducing Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C♯ minor, Op. posth., Lento con gran espressione.
A most memorable and rewarding concert by true artists who elevated their musical programme to the heights.
SATURDAY, 6 AUGUST 2022
CHOPIN MANOR 4.00 PM
Piano recital
JONATHAN FOURNEL First Prize at the
Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels 2021
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
Nocturne in B major, Op. 62, No. 1 (1846)
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| A tuberose at night |
‘What is most exquisite and most individual in Chopin’s art, wherein it differs most wonderfully from all others,’ noted André Gide ‘I see in just that non-interruption of the phrase; the insensible, the imperceptible gliding from one melodic proposition to another, which leaves or gives to a number of his compositions the fluid appearance of streams.’ This is a characteristic of Chopin during the 1840s, in his last, reflective, post-Romantic phase.
The Paris
critic Hippolyte Barbedette, one of Chopin’s first biographers, wrote of
Chopin's Nocturnes ‘are perhaps his greatest claim to fame; they are
his most perfect works’. That is how they were seen in Paris during
the mid nineteenth century. Barbedette explained the reason for their success
as follows: ‘That loftiness of ideas, purity of form and almost
invariably that stamp of dreamy melancholy’.
Interestingly in the Anglo-Saxon world, the B major Nocturne has been given the name of an exotic greenhouse flower: ‘Tuberose’. The American art, book, music, and theatre critic James Huneker explains why: ‘the chief tune has charm, a fruity charm’, and its return in the reprise ‘is faint with a sick, rich odor’.
The Polish pedagogue and Chopin philosopher Tomaszewski writes of the opening 'The Nocturne in B major opens with what might be described as a bard’s striking of the strings.' For me Fournel opened in a rather mannered style and did not penetrate sufficiently the sensitivity that the night poem deserves, its hesitant uncertainty. He failed to create a sufficiently hypnotic poetic atmosphere of the decorated bel canto song, surely one of the hallmarks of this Nocturne. There is great variety in the mood and writing of this rather untypical Chopin Nocturne. I felt occasionally his phrasing and approach. especially the opening, verged on the cultivated but this is always difficult to judge accurately and objectively in works that rely on such deep emotive expression.
Sonata in B minor, Op. 58 (1844)
Allegro maestoso
Scherzo molto vivace
Largo
Finale. Presto non tanto
Here we have one of the greatest masterpieces in the canon of Western piano music.
The opening Allegro maestoso was dramatic but rather too declamatory and overtly 'pianistic' without sufficient musically expressive dynamic variation, the play of thought. His fortes tended to be harsh and dominant on the Shigeru Kawai grand piano in this relatively small volume Dworek salon. Fournel was revealed as not going to be a particularly poetic, philosophical or lyrical interpreter of this magnificent work. One should feel that Chopin was embracing the cusp of Romanticism, yet at the same time hearkening back to classical restraint - le climat de Chopin as his favourite pupil Marcelina Czartoryska described it. The Trio did have a degree of cantabile that made the piano sing. However, the Scherzo was rather disappointing in its over-straightforward phrasing without enough of that Mendelssohnian atmosphere of fairy lightness that I feel it needs. The Trio again however displayed some warm Chopin cantabile.
The transition to the Largo was not sufficiently expressive in the opening with premonitions of what is to come in this extraordinary introspective dream-poem. Here we begin an exquisite extended nocturne-like musical voyage taken through a night of meditation and inturned thought. This great musical narrative of extended and challenging harmonic structure must be presented as a poem of the reflective heart and spirit. I felt Fournel could have brought a more contemplative quality, created a more mellifluous dream world of searching, yet retaining a sense of directional focus in the wandering harmonic transitions. This is very difficult to achieve in this movement which requires rare musical and personal maturity.
The Finale. Presto ma non tanto for me failed to produce that irresistible headlong rush with the slowish tempo he adopted. Fournel approached this movement as rather a virtuoso piano work than a rhapsodic narrative Ballade in character. Again dynamic variation of an expressive kind was rather absent. Throughout the sonata, although of course finely played with great virtuosity (as the enthusiastic reception of the audience testified), I kept wondering what Fournel was trying to tell me about this work with any individual sense and voice.
Tomaszewski again who cannot be bettered:
Thereafter, in a constant Presto (ma non troppo) tempo and with the expression of emotional perturbation (agitato), this frenzied, electrifying music, inspired (perhaps) by the finale of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony…’
The pianist must further explore what is buried within the contextual poetry of the musical work (the printed notation is only the roughest of guides to the composer's true creative conception lodged in his brain and inner sound world). Then his next task is to create a perception of this in us the listeners, allowing us to perceive a closer approximation of the composer's true expressive intentions. Fournel's keyboard virtuosity, although spectacular, even astonishing, sacrifices much of Chopin's classicism and restraint on the altar of high Romanticism. A deeper sense and understanding of the structure of the sonata would have assisted in this.
INTERMISSION
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5 (1853)
Brahms composed this mighty sonata when he was barely 20 and when the sonata form itself was considered rather an outmoded genre. Of course Brahms idolized Beethoven and the personal expressiveness of his sonatas and perhaps was influenced by these grand conceptions.
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| The young Brahms |
The sonata is unconventionally in 5 movements.
- Allegro maestoso
- Andante espressivo
- Scherzo. Allegro energico - Trio
- Intermezzo. Andante molto
- Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato
For the magnificent, noble opening, Fournel abided by the Brahms direction Allegro maestoso which was ‘majestic’ indeed, symphonic and orchestral as was the composer's intention. However one must remember this is a true Allegro rather than the Adagio maestoso which Fournel tended to adopt without sufficient dynamic variation to build this great cathedral of inspiration and grandeur. Fournel presented the fortissimo chords that cover such a wide range of the keyboard with some control and discipline but was emotionally tempted to move into the realms of harsh sound almost breaking through the sound ceiling of the instrument in intensity. I felt he rather overemphasized the dynamics. The essentially Romantic spirit of the sonata should be fused into a classical edifice, the architecture of which is truly awesome to behold over the approximately 40 minutes duration.
From the divine sensitivity of the Andante expressivo it was clear Fournel only partially understood the slow movement as one of the greatest declarations of poetic love in music, the two lyrical themes merging symbolically into a passionate expression of sensual rapture. Brahms yearning in youth for the impossible love of the brilliant Clara Schumann ? I was yearning for more poetic variety of tone and touch indicated by the distinctly Brahmsian tonal palette of the sonata. The Scherzo again was rather too emphatic to express fully this dark waltz that is so musical and dramatic.
Brahms gave the Intermezzo the title ‘Rückblick‘ which literally means ‘Remembrance’ which winds into a virtuosic and triumphant Finale of the greatest majesty. Here I felt the tempo of the rondo was rather too fast to allow my own emotions as a listener to grow organically in harmony with the music, rather than being imposed upon me by the pianist. I found it difficult to follow sufficiently the significant musical cryptogram that was a personal musical motto of his Hungarian violinist, conductor, teacher friend Joseph Joachim, the F–A–E theme, which stands for Frei aber einsam (free but lonely). The triumphal impact and nature of the virtuosic and rhapsodic harmonic close, of which Brahms was such a symphonic master, could have been more carefully and effectively cultivated in terms of tempo and dynamic variation and expressiveness.
Overall I felt Fournel has not yet developed that true nobility of the Brahmsian soul in his playing, that sufficient amplitude of dynamic expressiveness that is so difficult to achieve. His mastery of the notes and keyboard is clear but the personal and musical maturity hopefully will come. Brahms controls the nature of silence expressively to imbue this great premonitary piano work with the profound musical meaning of his essentially late Romantic intentions. Fournel's sense of structure was not well enough established to completely create this miraculous monumental construction in sound, a Chartres cathedral hewn in stone.
As encores, a sensitive Bach 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' Jesus bleibet meine Freude and the Bach/Siloti Prelude in B minor
First Prize at the 18th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw 2021
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
French Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 (1722)
Here was a case in point where Liu selected a restrained dynamic suitable for the type of small salon that would have accommodated such a refined work on the clavichord or harpsichord. I have not heard him perform the English Suites of Bach, but feel he would instinctively adopt a more robust tone for the more substantial writing.
He completely grasped the intimate nature of the elegant and graceful Bach French Suite No 5 in G minor BWV 816 written in the French taste. Yet for me despite the refinement of this performance, a truly idiomatic and instinctive grasp of the intimacy, affectation, allure and sheer seductive charm of the French/Italian tradition of the day (regarded as an ideal by Bach incidentally) escaped him a little - a very personal conviction of mine as a lover of the music of Francois Couperin which Bach knew.
Allemande
Light, and semi-detaché as this introductory dance should be. The opening was written for Bach's wife.
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| The Allemande |
Courante
This characteristic 'flowing' movement usually followed the Allemande. The Baroque German composer, singer, writer and general polymath Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) in Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739) wrote rather affectingly of this dance '....chiefly characterized by the passion or mood of sweet expectation. For there is something heartfelt, something longing and also gratifying, in this melody: clearly music on which hopes are built.' Although Liu truly moved the piece like a glistening mountain stream, with fine LH polyphony counterpoint, it was more of an Italian corrente. But this merely is a quibble of tempo based on personal appreciation.
Sarabande
This rather melancholic yet gracefully reflective, stately French courtly dance (of Spanish origin) lies at the affecting heart of the entire suite. Liu gave this expressive position great significance.
Gavotte
This came as an absolutely delightful and elegant contrast to the Sarabande with eloquent LH counterpoint contrast
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| The French Gavotte also known as the 'kissing dance' |
Bourrée
Of delightful symmetry, yet a dance quicker in tempo than the Gavotte
Loure
A rather slower introduction to the delightful Gigue that will conclude the work.
Gigue
Fryderyk Chopin (1810‒1849)
Ballade in F major, Op. 38 (1839)
Chopin was working on the F major Ballade in Majorca. In January 1839, after his Pleyel pianino had arrived from Paris, he wrote to Fontana ‘You’ll soon receive the Preludes and the Ballade’. And a few days after, when sending the manuscript of the Preludes: ‘In a couple of weeks, you’ll receive the Ballade, Polonaises and Scherzo.' So the conception took place in the atmosphere of a haunted monastery, threatened by untamed nature. Here was conceived the idea of contrasting a gentle and melodic siciliana with a demonic presto con fuoco – the music of those ‘impassioned episodes’, as Schumann referred to them.
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| The 'Chopin monastery' at Valldemossa, Majorca |
Liu gave us a poetic, on occasion restrained yet passionate performance of the work that expressed the narrative of its imaginative drive and his conception of Chopin as a grand maître of the instrument. This has always struck me about Liu and many other young masters of the instrument. They produce interpretations that closely mirror the ideals of the physical and the powerful, ideal concepts of our own era, rather than 'the moving toyshop of the heart' as the 18th century English poet Alexander Pope observed.
The Leipzig encounter with Chopin Schumann experienced in 1840 is instructive. 'A new Chopin Ballade has appeared’, he noted in his diary. ‘It is dedicated to me and gives me greater joy than if I’d received an order from some ruler’. He remembered a conversation with Chopin: ‘At that time he also mentioned that certain poems of Mickiewicz had suggested his ballade to him.’ The operative word here is 'suggested' which precluded any confusing concept of programme music.
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| Chopin often sat in George Sand's garden to compose. She was a keen horticulturalist as is evident in her garden at the west side of the house |
INTERMISSION
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Miroirs
Ravel dedicated this work to the poet Léon-Paul Fargue.
Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds)
Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886)
Réminiscences
de Don Juan,
S.418 (1841)
(Reminisces from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni)
http://www.michael-moran.com/2013/07/68th-international-chopin-piano.html
http://www.michael-moran.com/2011/08/66th-duszniki-zdroj-international.html
http://www.michael-moran.com/2010/08/65th-duszniki-zdroj-international.html
In the time of the dreaded Coronavirus, the visit by this immortal composer to Duszniki Zdrój (then Bad Reinerz in Silesia) seems almost appropriate! Of course Chopin himself was no stranger to pandemics, as cholera took Paris twice by the throat during his time there.
If you wish to read about the pandemics that Chopin lived through in Paris, I have done some research:
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Chopin sketched by Eliza Radziwill at Antonin en route to Duszniki Zdroj 1826. |
Duszniki as a treatment centre has not greatly changed. Tuberculosis has however thankfully disappeared. The Spa Park and the town nestle in the peaceful mountain river valley of the tumbling Bystrzyca Dusznicka. Fresh pine woods flourish on the slopes and the moist micro-climate is wonderfully refreshing. Carefully stepping invalids negotiate the shaded walks that radiate across the park between flowering shrubs, fountains and lawns.
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Many famous artists visited Duszniki in the nineteenth century including the composer Felix Mendelssohn. In times past the regimented cures began at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. when people gathered at the well heads. The waters at the Lau-Brunn (now the Pienawa Chopina or Chopin’s Spa) were dispensed by girls with jugs fastened to the ends of poles who also distributed gingerbread to take away the horrible taste (not surprisingly it was considered injurious to lean towards the spring and breathe in the carbon dioxide and methane exhalations).
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Sviatoslav Richter (far left) on the steps of the Dworek Chopina at the 1965 Duszniki Zdroj Festival |
The soulful young Russian Igor Levit is deeply involved with the music of Schumann. He movingly reminded the audience of the genesis of the Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations) written when the composer was on the brink of suicide in a mental institution. After completing the final variation Schumann fell forever silent. The great Liszt super-virtuoso Janina Fialkowska, a true inheritor of the nineteenth century late Romantic school of pianism, courageously returned to the platform here after her career was brought to a dramatic and terrifying halt by the discovery of a tumour in her left arm. Daniil Trifonov utterly possessed by the spirit of Mephistopheles in the greatest performance of the Liszt Mephisto Waltz No:1 I have ever heard. The moments continue...
One remarkable late evening event of the festival is called Nokturn and takes place by candlelight. The audience in evening dress are seated at candlelit tables with wine. A learned Polish professor and Chopin specialist such as the wonderful Polish musicologist Professor Irena Poniatowska might draw our attention to this or that ‘deep’ musical aspect of the Chopin Preludes or perhaps the influence of Mozart on the composer. Sometimes it is a famous actor, music critic, or journalist. The pianists ‘illustrate’ and perform on Steinways atmospherically lit by flickering candelabra.
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Introduction to the History of the Festival
The iron ore deposits of what was known as Bad Reinerz (now Duszniki Zdroj) and its surroundings have been exploited since the beginning of the 15th century. Protestant miners emigrated here during the religious turmoil of the Thirty Years War when mining was established at the end of the 17th century. A molten iron and a hammer mill was established in 1822 by Nathan Mendelssohn (an instrument maker). With his brother Joseph Mendelssohn's financial help he revived the mining industry. I have often wondered if it was at this mill that the the tragedy occurred for which Chopin gave his charity concert.
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The house stayed in by Felix Mendelssohn at Duszniki Zdroj in 1823 |
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The commemorative plaque on the house |
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