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You are here: Home / Archives for Beethoven

Stephanie Tang at Core Memory Music

Wednesday, August 17th, 2022 by Ken Leave a Comment

Stephanie Tang at Core Memory Music

Stephanie Tang in Rhode Island, August 2022

Stephanie Tang

On Saturday August 13th, 2022, I visited Craig Maynard’s Core Memory Music venue in Rhode Island to see London-based Chinese-American pianist Stephanie Tang.

Some pianists (Roving Pianist included) prefer to isolate prior to performing. But Ms. Tang’s innate confidence allowed her to mingle with ease, describing her program and fielding questions from us during the pre-concert discussion.

Thus, when she took her seat at the 9-foot Steinway concert grand, the audience had already warmed to her.

Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata in F major K.445

Domenico Scarlatti’s K.445 Keyboard Sonata in F major is, well, very Scarlatti. Of the 500+ sonatas that he wrote, it is fairly typical. Rippling, twirling runs leap between the pianist’s hands, framed by recurring left-hand punctuation.

This piano was well-suited to Scarlatti. The low end was clean, reminiscent perhaps of Beethoven’s time, although more powerful. And Stephanie used the lightest pedal, ensuring that the brightness of the instrument did not blur her nimble fingerwork.

Stephanie after Beethoven

Stephanie after Beethoven

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2

Ms. Tang described this early Beethoven work as humorous and cheeky. And throughout her performance, her appropriately theatrical facial expressions were priceless.

We are not accustomed to thinking of Beethoven as entertainment, but under Ms. Tang’s hands this overtly mundane Sonata was in fact a lot of fun.

To judge by her expression afterwards, she enjoyed it at least as much as her audience did.

Stephanie Tang plays Chopin in Rhode Island

Stephanie playing Chopin

Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61

Stephanie guided the audience through Scarlatti and Beethoven, but everything changed when she transitioned to Chopin. The artist was a different pianist for Chopin, becoming the medium instead of the message.

Chopin spoke directly to us through Ms. Tang, making for an enchanting performance. Her pacing was so naturally fluid that the concept of rubato seems unnecessary.

In the moments of silence after the last notes, I felt the entire audience sigh.

Schubert: Four Impromptus, D. 899

After such sublime Chopin, anything else would seem anticlimactic. Ms. Tang solved this by closing with Schubert Impromptu’s.

These mostly well-known concert pieces are quintessential Schubert: lavishly romantic and with sufficient drama to support some entertaining pianistic flair.

Ms. Tang’s flair was to throw in keyboard theatrics. Most notably she pulled the “Lang Lang Whip”, a shamelessly flashy gesture where the pianist whips her left arm down and away from the keyboard. Now I can call it the Lang Tang Whip.

Encore: Schumann Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6 No. 2 Innig

The concert closed with this very short, serene work by Schumann.

Stephanie Tang in Rhode Island

Stephanie Tang in Rhode Island

Meeting Stephanie

The glue that made this event special was not the venue, the piano or the music. It was Stephanie Tang herself. Friendly and at ease with her audience, she was generous with her time and fun to be around.

This hard-working, multi-faceted pianist has a busy calendar and a bright future.

Closing Thoughts

Core Memory Music is Craig Maynard’s labor of love. Concerts take place at his solar-powered home which contains a casual, high-ceiling performance space with excellent acoustics and comfortable seating.

The piano is a full-sized C&A Steinway D (see What is a Steinway C&A piano). It has glittering silver pins, a translucent upper mid-range and sonorous bottom octaves that excel as pedal notes in e.g. Bach/Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543.

I share these details because Core Memory Music is a piano-lover’s paradise. Craig recruits excellent young musicians from Yale, Boston and now from the Concert Artists’ Guild. This was the third concert here that Roving Pianist has attended, and it won’t be the last. See https://corememorymusic.com/ for information about upcoming events.

Filed Under: Concerts, Private Concerts Tagged With: Beethoven, Chopin, Concert Artists Guild, Core Memory Music, Craig Maynard, Rhode Island, Scarlatti, Schubert, Schumann, Stephanie Tang

Pianist Ivan Gusev at Tenri New York

Tuesday, February 11th, 2020 by Ken Leave a Comment

Ivan Gusev playing C. P. E. Bach in New York

Ivan Gusev plays C. P. E. Bach at Tenri Cultural Institute

On February 8th 2020, Ivan Gusev gave a piano recital at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York. The event was organized by the Leschetizky Association in honor Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915).

Mr. Gusev has been featured in this blog before.

However this was the first time we saw him play works written by a composer born before Mozart.

C. P. E. Bach: Rondo in C Major H 260; Sonata in A minor (Württemberg)

At the Tenri Institute, the ceiling was high and square, and the walls were bare. Acoustically, conditions were challenging for the performer.

Nevertheless, Gusev’s Rondo was a delightful morsel which the pianist evidently loved playing. But the A minor Sonata felt less clear, possibly due to acoustics.

Beethoven: Sonata No. 14 in C# minor Op. 27 No. 7 (“Moonlight”)

Gusev’s Adagio Sostenuto worked well with the room’s resonance. His stately pacing had a slow pulse that pulled the listener inexorably to the closing arpeggios.

The lighter Allegretto functioned as a measured transition from reflection to action. Gusev exploded into a riveting Presto Agitato that, despite the occasional glitch, felt glorious and triumphant.

Debussy: Preludes, Book 1

After the intermission, Ivan Gusev presented a set of Debussy preludes. It included favorites such as La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin. Gusev certainly has a flair for Debussy. This reviewer was so entranced that he forgot to take mental notes for his readers.

Encore: Minute Waltz and Liebestraum

Ivan Gusev’s first encore was Chopin’s crowd-pleasing Minute Waltz. I’ve heard him play this as an encore before. On this evening I preferred his second encore, Liszt’s Liebestraum S. 541 No. 3.

While Ivan Gusev appears to relish showpieces, his talent shines brightest in more atmospheric works such as the Debussy of this program, or his Rachmaninov Études-Tableaux cited in a prior Roving Pianist review.

Leschetizky Association

Zelma Bodzin, Ivan Gusev, Alison Thomas

Assn. President Zelma Bodzin, Ivan Gusev, VP Alison Thomas

Students of Theodor Leschetizky founded the non-profit Leschetizky Association “to perpetuate his ideals and principles of piano playing and teaching”.

The Association offers performance opportunities for members and their students. Also, they organize concerts, masterclasses and a concerto competition for young pianists.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Leschetizky Association’s concert featuring pianist Ivan Gusev. The venue was warm and pleasant, the organizers friendly, and the refreshments good.

While the performance space had acoustic challenges, Gusev adapted well. Also, the walls were too bright. When taking photographs, I was “shooting against the light”.

For more about the Association, consult www.leschetizky.org. The .com site www.leschetizky.com is unrelated.

Filed Under: Concerts, Public concerts Tagged With: Alison Thomas, Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach, Chopin Minute Waltz, Debussy Preludes, Ivan Gusev, Ken Turner, Leschetizky Association, Liebestraume, Liszt, Moonlight Sonata, pianist, piano, Roving Pianist, Tenri Cultural Institute, Theodor Leschetizky, Zelma Bodzin

Pianist Yun Janice Lu in Rhode Island

Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 by Ken Leave a Comment

Yun Janice Lu, portrait by Craig Maynard

Yun Janice Lu, by Craig Maynard

Yun Janice Lu

On January 4th, 2020, I visited Craig Maynard’s Core Memory venue in South Kingston, Rhode Island for a recital by pianist Yun Janice Lu.

Born in Taiwan, Ms. Lu is currently a postgraduate music student at Yale University. I had never seen her play, but Core Memory hosts excellent artists so I had high expectations.

Shortly before the recital began, I noticed a young woman sitting nearby, reading sheet music on an iPad. It took me a few moments to recognize our soloist, sitting with her audience while preparing.

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 24 in F Sharp Major Op. 78

Yun Janice Lu opened with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 24 Op. 78, one of his shortest. (Sir Andras Schiff gave an excellent lecture about this work.)

She played an abbreviated version of the first movement, so the entire sonata lasted less than 8 minutes. It was a good introduction to Ms. Lu’s low-key, immersive approach. From the serene opening of the Adagio to the flirty call-response phrasing of the Allegro vivace, her Beethoven was fluid and convincing.

Janice plays Prokofiev

Yun Janice Lu playing Prokofiev

Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B Flat Major Op. 83

The jagged dissonance of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 was in striking contrast to Beethoven’s harmonious sonata, taking us across time from the Napoleonic wars to World War 2.

Ms. Lu appeared to relish Prokofiev’s edgy rhythms, at times rising from the bench with her hair flying. It was a striking performance that mesmerized the audience. Afterwards, someone commented that her fingers must be glowing.

Despite the virtuosity that Prokofiev demands, Janice most impressed me in the opening of the second movement. Here, Prokofiev sets aside his personal idiom and borrows a progression from Schumann’s “Wehmut”, composed a century earlier. This was rendered with haunting beauty by Ms. Lu, as you can hear in the following audio snippet.

https://www.rovingpianist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Janice-Prokofiev-1.mp3

 

Schumann: Kreisleriana Op. 16

Janice Lu at Core Memory January 2020

Yun Janice Lu at Core Memory, Rhode Island

There was a lot to like in Yun Janice Lu’s Kreisleriana. My favorite part was the second movement (“Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch”), which contains one of Schumann’s most beautiful melodies.

Here Ms. Lu’s graceful phrasing and artful pedal painted Schumann’s intertwining voices on a rapturous canvas of harmonics that seemed to rise over us.

Encore: Ravel Jeux d’Eau

Watching Ms. Lu’s nimble performance of Ravel’s melodious work, it seemed that she really liked it. At least once, a hint of a smile crossed her face. And a couple of times Ravel really got her bicycling (see Closing Thoughts).

Encore: Debussy Etude No. 11

New to me, Debussy’s Etude No. 11 was full of `sound-alike moments reflecting rhythms and harmonies from his other compositions. Like the preceding Ravel, Ms. Lu seemed to have a special affinity for this work and gave an evocative performance, full of impressionist sparkle.

Closing Thoughts

I greatly enjoyed our time with Yun Janice Lu. Sociable and at ease in the spotlight, she is not the kind of pianist to swagger at the keyboard or cue her audience on what to feel. Her performance had an unforced, natural flow, and she had a way of making everything look easy.

The only expressive flair that I noticed from Janice was her “bicycle”, which seemed to come out mostly during musical peaks. You can see it in the following snippet from her Beethoven.

Filed Under: Concerts, Public concerts Tagged With: Beethoven, Core Memory, Craig Maynard, Debussy, Janice Lu, Kreisleriana, Peacedale, piano, Prokofiev, Ravel, Rhode Island, Schumann, Yale University, Yun Janice Lu

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