On the Verge

...voila, the program notes for the tour!

2010 Winner’s Tour of the Eckhardt-Gramatte Competition for Contemporary Performance

Program Notes by Claudia Chan

Patrick Cardy (1952-2005)
Masks of Astarte (1981)

Masks of Astarte, composed by Ottawa composer Patrick Cardy, depicts the three facades of Astarte, the Assyrian goddess of love, fertility, and war. The first movement is marked Savagely resonant and begins with the juxtaposition of the thundering low register and the blistering high registers of the piano. From there, Cardy builds up a sonority in the piano that seems to resemble a well-fed fire, at times blazing, and at others, calmly smouldering. The repeated note motive heard at the beginning shelters an intense melodic line that explodes in each of the four times that it appears, eventually climaxing in the fourth restatement. From the debris of the first movement is born the second, Calm, trancelike, and indeed one becomes entranced with the heartbeat pulse of the repeated notes. Around the pulse, colors, rather than sounds flit, sometimes leading into lush harmonic passages which inevitably pare down again to the omnipresent heartbeat. The last movement, Incisive, with elan, relentlessly barrels through asymmetrical phrases and harsh accents to a serenity full of light in the middle of the movements, before tearing down the warpath once again to Astarte’s brilliant finish.

Chan Ka Nin (b.1949)
Majestic Flair (1987)

Chan Ka Nin, a Chinese-born Canadian who now lives and teaches in Toronto, composed this piece originally as two separate entities. The first movement, Vast, represents the breadth he felt in his homeland, China, and in his adopted land, Canada. The musical landscape is an expansive one, and features recognizable imitations of traditional Chinese instruments: "the microtones of the Zheng, the ornamental style of erhu, the sonorous attacks of percussion, and the Oriental concept of monody."* The second movement, Phantasmagoria (a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images), was originally scored for solo harpsichord. Its momentum is in the horizontal movement of seemingly randomly selected pitches, "akin to quantum molecular motion where individual parts may seem to be moving randomly, [but] the overall state of the matter is gradually changing."* The effect of the coupling of these two starkly different works is a piece unified in its contrasts and elasticity of ideas.

*From Chan's original program notes.

F. Chopin (1810-1849)
Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat major, Op.61 (1846)

This meditation on the idea of the polonaise came, as to be expected, after Chopin's long journey with the form. He began at the age of seven, writing polonaises, glorifying the ideals of his country: expressing both the greatness and triumph as well as the emotional toil Poland suffered in her history. While the polonaises that Chopin composed while he was still living in Poland are charming, the ones he wrote after leaving at the age of 21 turned positively brilliant. Among these, the Polonaise-fantaisie ranks as the most sublime. It hardly speaks of the typical Polonaise form, but retains the 3/4 metre and some rhythmic character (that is to say, the eighth note followed by two sixteenths and four more eight notes). However, "fantaisie" is obviously the operative word in describing this piece, and such a fantasy it was that it confused many listeners, performers and even composers, such as Liszt, who said, "Such pictures as these are of little value to art. They only serve to torture the soul, like all descriptions of extreme moments." Arthur Hedley, biographer of Chopin, was later one of the first to champion this work, citing almost the same effects as Liszt did, though showing them in a positive light, saying that the piece "works on the hearer's imagination with a power of suggestion equalled only by the F minor Fantasy or the fourth Ballade." Chopin utilizes five different themes, mixing them and laying them over a bed of impressionistic harmony. A sense of "Where to?" pervades this polonaise and the profundity that it implies saturates both performer and listener.

John Corigliano (b.1938)
Etude-Fantasy (1976)

Against a backdrop of one of the most diverse and prolific outputs of any American composer in the Twentieth-Century, John Corigliano wrote this work for solo piano, Etude Fantasy. The score is marked in five different sections, each supposedly to develop a specific facility of the pianist:

I- For the Left Hand Alone
II- Legato
III- Fifths to Thirds
IV- Ornaments
V- Melody

However, the technical tests of the writing are just the first challenges in interpreting this piece. The simple recurring thread of the work - the intervallic motive of the second - belies the huge edifice of music that is built upon it. One has the feeling that this six note idea, stated at the beginning of the piece, is traveling through a lifetime of transformation, reappearing briefly in each movement just to signal its presence. At times, the music rumbles with threatening undertones, and at others, full blown violence, before finally settling into a state of resignation in the final movement. For those who know Corigliano for his Neo-Romanticism, the more chromatic language of this piece might be shocking, but there is no doubt that the architecture and drama of this piece belong to a wholly romantic soul.

Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931)
Chaconne (1962)

The fervently religious Sofia Gubaidulina may have been shaped by her circumstances in Soviet Russia to disregard some of her first efforts at composition, as it seems hugely unfair to say that this early work of hers (written in 1962, three years before her first Sonata, which she considers her first 'valid work'), is anything but stunning. As with any chaconne you many find in the Baroque era, this one is based on a short harmonic progression - the bold 8 bar chorale theme that carries with ease the musical outpouring that grows organically out of it. Through various transformations, the theme takes on different characters as rhythmic and dynamic details are altered, sometimes slightly, and at other times, dramatically. At one point, she throws us suddenly into a sardonic fugal section, where the severe chaconne theme seems to lose its wits for a moment. But just like Bach's famous Chaconne for Solo Violin from the second partita, the original chorale theme is restated grandly at the end of the piece, before storming off with blistering chords to the lowest reaches of the piano.

Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006)
Musica Ricercata (1951-53)

Though the title of this collection of 11 small movements translates literally as "researched music" or "sought music," Musica Ricercata also a highly listenable and beautiful collection by a young Gyorgy Ligeti, showing especially the inspiration he drew from Bartok’s work at this stage of his life. In Musica Ricercata, Ligeti imposes a tonal restriction on himself: to compose using only two pitches, then three, then four.. until the final movement where he finally combines all twelve pitches in a monumental contrapuntal study dedicated to Frescobaldi. With the notes of each movement already decided, Ligeti turns to other devices of composition - rhythm, register, and dynamics - to create interest. The third movement is a perfect example of a “Bartok-esque” piece - the four pitches are C, E, E-flat, and G, conveniently forming both C major and c minor triads and Ligeti uses this simple formula to create a charming jaunt through the opposing tonalities. The seventh movement is one of severe beauty: while the left hand plays a 7-note ostinato, the right hand sings a cosmic melody based on thirds and fifths above it. The eighth movement is an example of Ligeti’s complex play with rhythm: the theme sounds at first in a lopsided 7/8, but upon reiterations, its accentuation, inflection, and even time signatures change relentlessly.

Marjan Mozetich (b.1948)
Prelude from Three Pieces for Piano (1984)

Heralded Slovenian-Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich wrote these Three Pieces for Piano in the post-modern romantic style that has dominated most of his later works. His combination of traditional classical, popular, and modernist elements make his works appealing and affected with gentle clarity. The Prelude features wide-stretching arpeggios that ignite the colours of each register of the piano while presenting a soaring melody that expands and contracts with sparkling intensity.

F. Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonata in A major, D. 664 (1819)

A Schubertian sonata may now be immediately appreciated, but in his time, the sonatas were neglected for not being of the "Beethovenian Sonata-type." Indeed, the intentions of Schubert might be different. Beethoven was a greatly symphonic writer, while Schubert wrote with the purity of voice in mind. All his melodies are imbued with naturalness and great affection, though not in any way affected. In three small scale movements, this early sonata is a testament to Viennese Classicism. This sonata was composed when Schubert was merely 21 years of age, and it reveals, figments of his later persona. The first movement is charming in its apparent simplicity, though its sweet first theme undergoes many darker transformations throughout the movement. In the second movement, Schubert shows the bitter sweetness that was to become characteristic of his later sonatas. The third is perhaps the most youthful, alternating between the Viennese lightness of touch and a more raucous Hungarian heavy-handedness.

Karen Sunabacka (b.1975)
Curlicue (2010)
Curlicue was the commissioned piece for the 33rd Eckhardt-Gramatte Competition. These will be the Canadian premieres of this piece.

This new work adds to the Canadian repertoire a large-scale composition of great colour and expression. The piece, though progressing from fast to slow, grows in breadth towards its end. In the composer’s own words:

“Curlicue is a three-section piece that gradually moves from fast to slow, loud to soft, and thick
to thin. I chose to structure the piece in this way because I have found that many Canadian works
(especially orchestral pieces) tend to begin with slow introductions. I have also noticed that I tend to
begin many of my own works in a slow tempo and wanted to challenge myself with this reversal.

The pitch material is based on three scales: two pentatonic (C, Db, E, G Ab) (C, Db, Eb, F, A)
and a Phrygian scale (C, Db, Eb, F,G, Ab, Bb). These scales have a distinctive character that is
different from the regular major and minor scales because of the initial half-step between the first
and second scale degrees.

Throughout the piece I make use of all the registers of the piano. The first section generally stays
in the low registers, while the third and final section tends to be in the high registers. However, I did
find that I often wanted to move up and down through all registers in each section of the piece. It is
from this up and down tendency that I found my title - Curlicue. According to the Oxford Dictionary a
curlicue is “a decorative curl or twist in calligraphy or in the design of an object.” From the initial
downward swirl of the opening measures through the scalar curls and sweeps of the middle section to
the chorale-like curves of the final section, this piece is a multitude of curls, curves and twists.”
– Karen Sunabacka

Claudia Chan

Hello everyone, I guess it's evident by now that I'm not a very diligent blogger.

However, this one might be of interest to those you scattered around Canada, as the dates for the Eckhardt-Gramatte 2010 Winners' Tour have finally been decided! There are some details, such as ticket prices and certain venues and times that have not been finalized, but they will soon and I will be updating them - no kidding!

I hope to see you all in one place or another!

Until then,

Montreal, QC: 18 Oct, McGill University, Tanna Schulich Hall (555 Sherbrooke St W), 7.30 pm

Charlottetown, PEI: 19 Oct, UPEI, Dr.Steel Recital Hall (550 University Ave), 7.30 pm

Lunenberg, NS: 23 Oct, St.Cecilia Concert Series (Exact Location and Time TBA)

Wolfville, NS: 24 Oct, Garden Room, Irving Centre, 2 pm

Kingston, ON: 29 Oct, Queen's University, Harrison-LeClaire Hall (39 Bader Lane), 12:30pm

Toronto, ON: 31 Oct, University of Toronto, Hart House - Great Hall (7 Hart House Circle), 3 pm

Thunder Bay, ON: 2 Nov, Lakehead University, Jean McNuity Recital Hall (955 Oliver Road), 12:30 pm

London, ON: 5 Nov, University of Western Ontario, Von Kuster Hall, 12:30 pm

Calgary, AB: 12 Nov, University of Calgary, Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall (2500 University Dr NW), 8 pm

Winnipeg, MB: 14 Nov, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2 pm

Brandon, MB: 16 Nov, Brandon University, Lorne Watson Recital Hall (270-18th St), 8pm

Edmonton, AB: 12 Nov, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 3 pm

Vancouver, BC: 24 Nov, University of British Columbia, Recital Hall (6361 Memorial Rd), 12 pm

Langley, BC: 26 Nov, Rose Gellert Hall, 7 pm

On the Verge

Monday, November 1, 2010

ATTENDED A CONCERT AND WANT TO REDEEM THE CODE?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

And if you would like an idea of what you'd hear...

Eckhardt-Gramatte Tour Dates Announced!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Thank you to all!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Concert Day - What do I do now?

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

... Of Something.

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