One of the delights of the
Edinburgh Festival is its ability to throw up unexpected gems. One of these was
yesterday's recital given by pianist Simon Smith, to commemorate
Stockhausen's would-have-been-birthday.
Whereas larger scale events were
taking place today and yesterday – here in Edinburgh a ballet set to the Helicopter Quartet
(a piece also streamed live from Birmingham Opera); the first ever staging of
the opera,
'Mittwoch' in Birmingham …. - this was a tribute on a smaller scale.
Nevertheless it was a serious and important tribute to this challenging
composer by a musician who knows and appreciates his works really well. It was
an honour and a privilege to be able to watch this dedicated and inspiring performance
– perhaps the highlight of this year's
festival so far for me - and to boot, it was free (retiring collection
for church funds/concert expenses) !
Watching this performance was
exciting, and the repertoire chosen gave a good insight into Stockahusen's work
and the evolution of his style, ranging from 1955 to 1984. The opening piece,
Klavierstuck XIV, subtitled 'Birthday Formula' – with its chanted German
numbers and hissing and clacking sounds - showed the debt to this composer
which is owed by George Crumb's 'Black Angels'. A range of earlier pieces wer
then offered; one dedicated to Pierre Boulez on the occasion of his 60th
birthday; one exploring the resonances the piano could give to the single note
of middle C sharp and one where the durations of notes , bars and gestures is
determined by the Fibonacci mathematical series. A longer final work,
'Lucifer's Dream' then concluded the recital, based on the opening scene of the
opera 'Samstag' from the sequence 'Licht', originally for bass voice and piano.
It is the most dramatic of the pieces and includes extended techniques and two
bundles sof Indian bells suspended at the ends of the piano.
Simon Smith studied with Giles
Swayne and has performed and recorded the complete piano music of James MacMillan,
whose music was also performed at a later event in Edinburgh on the same day,
as well as piano work by Stuart McRae, whose new chamber opera I will be
reporting on next week.
By Juliet Willaims
1 comment:
'Klavierstuck XIV ...showed the debt to this composer which is owed by George Crumb's 'Black Angels'.'
Which may well be true but an odd example to choose to illustrate it. Klavierstuck XIV was composed in August 1984. 'Black Angels' was finished in March 1970.
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