SMU Ivory Keys is proud to present "Klaviesta" to our KZfaq audience; our first live annual production held at an outside venue since COVID-19! ✨ Taken place at the Esplanade Recital Studio on 16 October 2023, we hope to bring you a wondrous, enchanting night of piano music, all from the comfort of your little black box at home.
Rise, only to fall.
Perhaps, this notion of tragedy is conveyed no better in the output of early-20th-century Russian pianist-composer Nikolai Medtner than in his aptly named Sonata tragica. Hailed as "the greatest composer of [their] time" by fellow composer Rachmaninoff, Medtner was a visionary who incorporated Bach-ian contrapuntal techniques, Beethoven-ian architecture, and contemporary chromatic harmonies into his otherwise Late Romantic idiom. Among Medtner's output were 3 piano concertos, 14 piano sonatas, and numerous sets of skazki (singular: skazka) - pieces for solo piano reminiscent of Russian folktales.
Medtner's opuses 38-40 form the set of Forgotten Melodies. Op. 39 No. 5, written in 1920 and titled Sonata tragica, is a masterpiece in narrative structure and motivic weaving. From the dramatic chords which commence the music to the tempestuous cascades which conclude it, this sonata is an impassioned outpouring of emotion; yet, incredibly, it is constructed almost entirely from motifs presented in the first twelve bars. The first two themes - a dark, haunting tragedy in C minor and an optimistic, melodic respite in E-flat major - seemingly contrast but are both grown from the same motivic seed. Then, there is the nostalgic third theme in G minor, transposed note-for-note from a melody of Canzona matinata, the previous number in the same opus. After a triumphant codetta in E-flat major, an unsettling development ensues, and this bittersweet theme briefly reappears before being cast forever into the sea of forgotten melodies. The tragic first theme in C minor is then recapitulated and the music sidetracks into a surreal cadenza, beginning in D-flat major before culminating in a heroic from-the-depths resurgence of the second theme. The final blow is dealt, however, when the music collapses back into C minor and all hope is drowned in the waves of the torrential coda. The music desperately rises, only to fall back into the very tragedy foretold in the opening bars.
Performed by Heng Si Kai at Annual Production 2023, 16 October 2023.
Brought to you by SMU Ivory Keys.
#smuivorykeys