Mika Sasaki Archives - ROVING PIANIST

Mitchell Lyon addresses the audience

Unmasked

Vaccination was required in order to attend the July 2021 Shoemaker salon reopening concert at Central Park West, New York.

Once in the Shoemaker residence, we felt liberated enough to unmask and mingle. How long we had waited for this moment, and how grateful we were to our host!

Pianist Mika Sasaki told us that this was her first unmasked recital in a very long time. She described how the lack of performance opportunities had given her time to reflect, influencing this evening’s concert.

Chopin: Sonata for Piano and Cello op. 65, Allegro Moderato

This troubled, rambling late-life work by Chopin seemed a gloomy way to resume in-person recitals. Shouldn’t we be dancing with joy? And yet, Chopin’s morose meandering seemed appropriate in the fading anguish of the pandemic.

Amy Beach Improvisation op. 148, Gavotte Fantastique op. 54

Amy Beach was born just 18 years after Chopin’s passing. The serenity of her Improvisation op. 148 felt like sunlight after a storm. It was followed by the spritely Gavotte Fantastique. Delightfully baroque at the start and more lyrical in the middle, the Gavotte closed with a reprise of the stately opening.

Unsuk Chin: Piano Etude No. 2 “Sequenzen”

Mika Sasaki plays George Walker July 2021

Mika Sasaki introduced Unsuk Chin as a pupil of Ligeti, giving us a hint of what to expect from Sequenzen. This is a technically challenging work, with a strong lower register motif and explosive extremes. Ms. Sasaki unleashed the full dynamic range of the Shoemaker Steinway, a shock after the delicacies of Amy Beach. This stunning performance was a remarkable accomplishment for Ms. Sasaki, who had only a month to bring it up to concert level.

George Walker: Sonata No. 2 for Piano

George Walker was the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer prize for music. This short Sonata was written 40 years earlier, and was not easy for me to grasp. I was still scratching my head when it finished after just 10 minutes.

Rachmaninoff/Bach: “Preludio” from Violin Partita in E Major

If earlier parts of the recital were metaphors for the upheaval of the past 16 months, Bach’s timeless Partita was our return to normal. Ms. Sasaki played Rachmaninoff’s arrangement with nimble charm, earning rousing applause and a call of “bravo”.

George Rochberg: Ricordanza (Soliloquy) for Cello and Piano

Mitchell Lyon described this piece to us, noting some works that it quotes. Mika illustrated these on the piano, causing chuckles in the audience. Ricordanza was a more supportive showcase for Mitchell’s lyrical touch than the somewhat gloomy Chopin played earlier.

Lili and Nadia Boulanger

MItchell, Mika, host Robin

The evening closed with cello/piano duets by sisters Lili Boulanger and Nadia Boulanger, introduced by Mitchell.

First was Lili’s “Parfois, je suis triste“, a melodic arrangement based on a poem that Mitchell paraphrased as follows. Sometimes I’m sad, but then I think of you and I’m not so sad. But then I get sad again because I’m not sure if you feel the same way about me as I feel about you!

Finally, we were treated to Nadia’s Three Pieces for Piano and Cello. In the first, Mika’s piano seemed to circle Mitchell’s cello like butterflies in a Monet garden. The second was similarly dreamy. The third broke out as a frenetic dance and ended with an awkward flourish.

Closing thoughts

Mika Sasaki is a versatile pianist with a flair for modern repertoire. Paired with cellist Mitchell Lyon, the duo gave us a wonderful evening. Their eclectic program had parallels with our collective experience, right down to the “not quite finished” close of Nadia Boulanger’s 3rd work.

Suliman Tekalli and Mika Sasaki at the Shoemaker Salon

Suliman Tekalli and Mika Sasaki

On Thursday June 28th, 2018, violinist Suliman Tekalli performed with collaborative pianist Mika Sasaki at the Shoemaker salon on Central Park West, NYC.

The published program included works ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Saint Saens.

Bach Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor

Suliman introduced this work by noting Bach’s mastery of writing for multiple voices. He explained how remarkable it is that 3 voices can be played on a solo violin.

Listening to those voices as played by Mr. Tekalli, I felt that Bach’s work belonged in a soaring cathedral rather than an enclosed recital space. But even without a cathedral, Mr. Tekalli projected the essential spirituality of Bach.

Paganini Caprice No. 24

This famous violin solo is physically demanding for the violinist. I was impressed by the complex pizzicato towards 3 minutes into the piece, during which Tekalli plucked strings using fingers from both left and right hands, while at the same time stopping strings with the left.

Tekalli’s energetic performance earned cheers, during which we saw him shake his slender fingers loose after their vigorous workout.

Brahms Violin Sonata Op. 78 No. 1 in G major – Vivace ma non troppo

As the first work of the evening in which Ms. Sasaki participated, this was a fine showpiece for collaboration and a feast for Brahms fans. I loved the to-and-fro between the instruments. Mr. Tekalli’s assertive lyricism was captivating, outdoing even my perennial favorite Ida Haendel.

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 K.219 – Allegro aperto

As Suliman stated, everyone knows the sunshine that is Mozart. Indeed this was a delightful romp, during which Ms. Sasaki managed to accompany the violin without overwhelming it with the low-end power of Mr. Shoemaker’s Steinway. And there was an unexpected bonus in the form of real evening sunshine, which for a few minutes cast a moving shadow from violin and bow on the salon wall.

Lei Yusheng Festival of the City of Flowers

Suliman Tekalli (violin), Mika Sasaki (piano)

Suliman Tekalli, Mika Sasaki

This new work from Chinese instrumentalist Lei Yusheng was a late addition to the program. Tekalli informed us that he had received it only recently from the composer.

As he explained, the work can be thought of as a hybrid of 19th century composers such as Kreisler and Strauss, and Chinese melodies. While China has become a classical music powerhouse in the 21st century, I never expected to hear 19th century Viennese waltzes from a 21st century composer of any nationality!

It was hard to resist the pulse of these waltzes. At times the piano took center stage, showcasing Ms. Sasaki’s command of the instrument while the violin played a subsidiary role.

I greatly enjoyed this work, and members of the audience whom I consulted afterwards considered Yusheng to be the highlight of their evening. We joked that our small group may have inadvertently witnessed a world premiere.

Saint Saens Caprice d’Apres l’Etude en Forme de Valse, Op. 52 No. 6 (arr. Ysaÿe)

In an evening of such musical contrasts, Tekalli’s Saint Saens seemed out of place. This illustrates the challenges of putting a recital program together. Coming after Lei Yusheng, it seemed like an anticlimax. At another venue, it would have stood out better.

Debussy Beau Soir

Such was the lean beauty of Suliman Tekalli’s tone for Debussy’s two-minute gem, that the violin at times seemed muted. Ms. Sasaki’s artfully restrained piano collaboration added sonorous background and moments of bright punctuation to the violin’s serene song. This piece was a fitting and magical end to the recital. It had indeed been un beau soir – a beautiful evening, as we saw from the rooftop afterwards.

On August 18th Suliman Tekalli will participate in the Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China.

Sasaki and Lyon: Unmasked and Unleashed