Bachauer Piano Recital: Haydn, Ravel, Liebermann and Gershwin

I attended yesterday the annual Bachauer Piano Recital at Juilliard's Paul Hall.  The evening showcased this year's two winners of this prestigious competition, Yun Wei and Tristan Teo, as they performed works by Haydn, Ravel, Liebermann and Gershwin.

The program opened with two works performed by pianist Yun Wei.  This is the second consecutive year that she's been awarded the prize in this competition.  According to the event's press release, she is currently a graduate level student at Juilliard where she studies with Robert McDonald.

The first work the pianist performed was Haydn's Sonata in A-flat Major, HOB. XVI:43 (1783?).  I was curious why she had chosen this particular sonata as it is one of the composer's lesser known works in this genre and contains few of the creative innovations that characterize the best of Haydn's pieces.  As critic Richard Wigmore has stated:

"The A flat sonata here, No 43, published in London in 1783 but almost probably composed a decade or so earlier, is a far slighter work. Indeed, with the autograph lost, some commentators have even doubted the sonata’s authenticity. If it is by Haydn, it shows the composer at his most blithely galant. The monothematic first movement has a certain amiable charm but none of Haydn’s usual sense of adventure or delight in surprise."

The second work performed was Ravel's notoriously difficult “Scarbo” taken from his 1908 suite Gaspard de la Nuit.  This is one of the most (in)famous pieces in the piano repertoire and a test of any virtuoso's skill.  After having written it, the composer indicated that he had deliberately set out to create a work even more difficult to perform than Balakirev's Islamey.  The suite itself is derived from a series of poems by Aloysius Bertrand in which the poète maudit introduced a series of fantastical vignettes said to have been given him in book form by an old man sitting in a park.  "Scarbo" deals with the visions witnessed by an insomniac as he turns restlessly in his bed while trying to fall asleep.  The imagery is that of everyday things that in the dark take on a more sinister and frightening appearance.  An interesting paper by Alexander Eccles on the Stanford University website describes the work as follows:

"Scarbo is truly the work that represents transcendental virtuosity. The music is unbelievably difficult and seems very advanced and dissonant for Ravel’s time. Literally every key of the piano is used. Furthermore, the virtuoso elements become a vehicle for conveying the poetry, which like the music is frenetic and bizarre, almost drugged-out."

Pianist Yun Wei gave a brilliant performance of both these works as well as a short encore, Shotakovich's Prelude No. 10 in C-sharp minor.  As I watched, I was as impressed by her poise at the keyboard as by her virtuosity.

After breaking for other business, the program continued as pianist Tristan Teo took the stage.  He is a third-year undergraduate student at Juilliard, where he studies with Jerome Lowenthal, and is a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.

The first work played by Teo was Liebermann's Nocturne No. 4 (1992), originally commissioned by the North West Arts Board in Great Britain.  Liebermann is considered something of a neo-romantic as his works make use of traditional tonality and eschew any form of modernism while looking back fondly to an earlier era.  The present nocturne, a short subdued piece, certainly did recall the romantic mood of Chopin's own works in this genre and was thoroughly enjoyable to hear.

The evening ended with Teo's performance of Gershwin's piano reduction of his ever popular Rhapsody in Blue (1924).  The work, originally scored for orchestra and piano, was commissioned by the influential bandleader Paul Whiteman who had previously collaborated with Gershwin on the George White Scandals of 1922 at which the composer's opera Blue Monday had premiered.  Despite the fact that the opera had received dismal reviews and been removed from the program the next day, Whiteman had been impressed by Gershwin's unique blend of jazz and classical music and had wanted a similar piece in concerto form for a jazz concert he was then planning.  The 1924 sold-out premiere at Aeolian Hall - Rachmaninoff was in the audience - was a tremendous success and launched Gershwin's career as a serious composer.  The work is still a huge crowd pleaser and Teo's excellent performance won him a standing ovation from the audience.

The evening also included the awarding of a well deserved prize for music education and community outreach to harpsichordist and educator Melody Hung Nishinaga for having arranged musical performances for such disadvantaged groups as patients at VA hospitals and those suffering from Alzheimer's.  She spoke briefly but eloquently of the joy music has brought to these individuals.  The entire event was hosted by WQXR's Robert Sherman who announced that the recital would be broadcast by the radio station on Wednesday, November 4th.