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You are here: Home / Archives for Scarlatti

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 Soo Yeon Cho at Central Park West

Sunday, November 20th, 2016 by Ken Leave a Comment

Soo Yeon Cho with Robin Shoemaker

Soo Yeon Cho with Robin Shoemaker

On Saturday 19th November, 2016, my daughter and I were privileged to see pianist Soo Yeon Cho at a private salon recital hosted by Robin Shoemaker in his home on Central Park West, New York.

Salon Concert

I had never been to a salon concert, so I was unsure what to expect. But our host welcomed us at his door and quickly put us at ease. With a glass of wine in hand, we enjoyed having time to connect with other guests.

The guests ranged from musicians to scientists, New Yorkers to Hungarians, and from as far away as Australia. It was inspiring to be among such a diverse audience, brought together by love of the piano. I am only sorry that there was not enough time to get to know everyone.

The Salon Concert was a different kind of experience from public recitals. I have had some great seats at Carnegie, but there is always a gulf, physical and emotional, between audience and performer. In Mr. Shoemaker’s salon we breathed the same air as the pianist, and there were no spotlights to differentiate her space from our space.

Robin Shoemaker's salon with Steinway

The salon entrance

The Salon

The recital was held in a room containing a Steinway and improvised seating for about 20. The walls were adorned with black-framed art that created a serene ambience.

During the intermission I was surprised to discover that more people had been seated in the corridor looking into the salon, and I was touched to see that our host had left the best salon seating for his guests.

Soo Yeon Cho

Ms. Cho is my piano tutor, so I was already aware of her skill and her prodigious resume. She has two degrees from Julliard, and many performance and competition successes. But being tutored by an accomplished pianist is very different from attending a professional recital by that pianist, and on this evening I finally got to understand just how good Ms. Cho was.

The Program

Our host provided a printed program for the event. The selection was well-architected, from the opening baroque thru romantics Chopin and Schubert, with a spike to Ginastera, and thence to the father of modern piano, Franz Liszt. Here is the detail, with links to other performances for readers unfamiliar with any items listed. The first link is to a prior performance by Ms. Cho herself.

  • D. Scarlatti – Piano sonata in G Major K427 (Soo Cho, 2015)
  • D. Scarlatti – Piano sonata in D Minor K213 (Ryan Lane Whitney, 2013)
  • D. Scarlatti – Piano sonata in G Major K455 (Yuja Wang, 2012)
  • J. S. Bach – Prelude and Fugue in A flat Major BWV 862 (Andras Schiff)
  • F. Chopin – Nocturne in C sharp Minor Op. posth. (Natalie Schwamova, best rendition on YouTube)
  • A. Ginastera – Piano Sonata No. 1 Op 22 (Adam Neiman)
  • F. Schubert – Sonata in G Major no 18 D 894 (Volodos)
  • F. Liszt – Faust-Gounod Waltz (Nino Gvetadze)

The Performance

I have always thought of Domenic Scarlatti as one of “those” baroque composers that one has to whet one’s pianistic skills on out of duty more than preference. But Ms. Cho showed a special affinity for this composer and her performance brought him to life for me. Her G Major sonatas were vibrant, from the ringing K427 to the mania of K455. Her D Minor K213 sonata was haunted and moving, impressive for a composition that was born on the harpsichord.

I had been looking forward to Chopin’s C sharp Minor Nocturne (op. post.) as the highlight of the recital. It is one of my personal favorites, and as expected, Ms. Cho played it with consummate artistry.

Soo Yeon Cho at Central Park West, Nov. 2016

Ms. Cho after the recital

The Ginastera was an abrupt contrast to preceding selections. Ms. Cho tackled its challenging syncopation and rousing percussiveness with vigor. Then Schubert’s serene G Major Sonata returned us to the opening key of the evening, and to more traditional harmonies.

The recital ended with Liszt’s showpiece arrangement of Gounod’s Faust waltz (see this Vienna Philharmonic performance for the original). Here Ms. Cho showed impressive power at the keyboard, delivering an encore-like finale that brought closure to a great  evening.

A Memorable Evening

I don’t know how Mr. Shoemaker came to invite Soo Yeon Cho for his salon concert, but he chose well. As for Ms. Cho, I can’t imagine how much work she must have put into preparing for this recital. But it all worked so well that although we found ourselves in a hailstorm as we left the Shoemaker residence, we were so warm inside that it just didn’t matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Concerts, Private Concerts Tagged With: Central Park West, piano, Robin Shoemaker, salon concert, Scarlatti, Soo Yeon Cho, steinway

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