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The Savannah Concert Association presents Hong Xu - Pianist Born in 1983 in Wuhu, China, Hong Xu made his solo debut and won a national gold medal at age 12. He entered the Eastman School of Music at age 17, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. Winner of numerous prizes and awards in China, the United States and England, he has performed with several major orchestras, among them the Utah, Rochester, and Syracuse Symphonies, and his solo recitals include an appearance at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The young Chinese pianist has already achieved a reputation as a virtuoso of the highest order. A finalist in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, he returned to the Island last season as an emergency replacement, performing the daunting Third Piano Concerto of Rachmaninoff to great acclaim. His future holds no bounds. PROGRAM Sonata in D Major, K.576 Mozart
Two Preludes Debussy
Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, Op. 61 Chopin INTERMISSION Two Sonatas Scarlatti
Sonata in B minor Liszt PROGRAM NOTES In 1789, Mozart was 33, in dire financial straits, his wife seriously ill, and yet he kept composing. Completed at this time, this spritely Sonata in D Major, is an example of his spirit. The first movement is in 6/8 time, the second in 3/4 time and the third in 2/4. These differences illustrate his versatility while maintaining his unique grace and energy. The Debussy preludes are prime examples of musical impressionism, a free-form movement of colors, new harmonies and dissonances. "Voiles" (sails) has a score with many markings - caressing, sweet, supple, animated, etc. as it proceeds to an ending très apaise (very quiet). "Feux d'Artifice" (fireworks) is a vivid portrait of a Bastille Day celebration complete with all the flashes and bombast. For the pianist, it is a technical tour de force. The polonaise, a native dance of Poland, was a form used by Chopin in eleven major works, and the Polonaise-Fantasy is the nearest he came to composing a rhapsody. It begins pensively and arrhythmically, but soon establishes the 3/4 time of the form. This is retained as the work wanders from mood to mood. As with Chopin’s other polonaises, it ends in a bright aura of triumph. Born in 1685, Domenica Scarlatti was an exact contemporary of Bach and Handel (his life long friend). Originally composed for harpsichord, these pieces preceded the development of the sonata as a major form, but after nearly three centuries, they retain their fresh appeal and popularity. In 1852, Franz Liszt was living in Weimar, then the European center of avant-garde. A celebrated pianist, 41 years old, he was certainly ahead of his time in musical composition. Completed that year, the Sonata in B minor is a masterpiece of dramatic power and lyrical expression. In it Liszt creates a form known as transformation of themes, later developed further by Wagner and Strauss. There are three movements so closely interlocked that the sonata comes across as one entity. The best way to listen is to clearly identify each theme when it is presented. As the work progresses, one can perceive them being ingeniously intertwined. The opening theme is a slow, somber descent of octaves and the second, marked allegro energetico, is in sharp contrast - a jagged, pianistic but unsingable set of phrases. From then on it is open season, but one can still discern the sonata form - exposition, development and recapitulation - as the pianist wends his way through this supreme test of his virtuosity.
Tickets $35, $25, $12.50 For a free brochure of the 2006-2007 season, email name & address to eoliver524@comcast.net
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