Conservatorium of Music
Thursday Concert Class
Thursday Concert Class
| Poème, Op.25 | Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899) |
| Willard Zhong, Violin | |
| Rhodri Clarke, piano | |
| Poème was written in response to violinist Eugène Ysaye's request for a Concerto. As you can see, it's not a Concerto, which Chausson labelled to be 'the devil's task', but instead a free form piece with many sections in which the violin plays alone... Close enough. Originally named The Song of Love Triumphant after a novella written under the same title by Russian author Ivan Turgenev, Chausson thankfully refrained as to not force the piece to carry extra-musical associations. Thus we have a moody, rhapsodic piece grounded in melancholy, overlaid by Ysaye's own double stops (which he added in), now a lovely mantelpiece in violin repertoire | |
| Piano sonata op.5 no.3 | Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) |
| 1st movement Allegro | |
| Da Young Wi, Piano | |
| This sonata was written in 1853 and was published the following year. This sonata consists of five movements, which is unusually large compared to traditional three or four movements. The first movement, with dramatic primary theme and subtle secondary theme presents great contrast. | |
| Prelude et Ballade | Guillaume Balay (1871 - 1943) |
| Prelude | |
| Eric Beale, Cornet | |
| Rhodri Clarke, piano | |
| Born in Crozon, France, Balay served in the French military as a cornet player with the 19th Infantry Regiment. He won first place in the 1894 cornet award competition given by the National Academy of Music in Paris. In 1898 he became the head of music for the 119th Infantry Regiment. In 1911 he succeeded Gabriel Pares as the head of music of the Republican Guard. Many of Balay's compositions became part of the standard repertoire (at the time) for the bands of the Republican Guard. He retired in 1927 and many of his works for solo cornet à pistons remain in the trumpet player's repertoire. | |
| Scherzo in C# Minor, Opus 39 | Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849) |
| Louis Nicoll, Piano | |
| This piece was written in or after a visit to an abandoned monastery in Majorca, which is interesting if you’re into old-fashioned musicology and like to imagine the singing of a monastic choir during the chorale-like second subject (although strictly speaking Chopin would have also had to imagine the singing of a monastic choir if that’s what inspired him as the monastery was abandoned and there are no singers in an Abandoned Monastery to inspire a Chorale-Like Second Subject). The tension of the piece stems from the contrast of this second subject with the first, a tension that leads the piece to tear itself apart in a fiery coda; it's lit. | |
| Andante Spinato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22 | Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849) |
| William Soo, Piano | |
| This work began as the Grande Polonaise Brillante in E-flat for piano and orchestra, however it the orchestral composition is highly simplistic and thus the piece often played with solo piano. He later wrote the Andante Spinato in G, which he added to the start of the piece. Interestingly, this was the only time Chopin used the term "Spinato" (smoothed, even). | |
| Irish Tune from County Derry | Unknown (---- - ----) |
| Arranged by Percy Grainger | |
| Timothy Kan, Piano | |
| This piece contains one of the most famous and well-known Irish folk melodies we know today, however, the original composer is unknown. Here in Grainger's arrangement, he wraps the simple tune with warm chords and creates a beautiful and magical atmosphere where the original tune and the arranged counter melodies intertwine with one another. | |
| Estampes, L.100, No.1 Pagodes | Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) |
| Mingze SUN, piano | |
| Estampes, L.100, is a composition for solo piano by Claude Debussy. "Pagodes" evokes images of East Asia. It makes extensive use of pentatonic scales and mimics Chinese and Japanese traditional melodies while also incorporating hints of Javanese gamelan percussion. | |