The KING FM Evergreen Channel is Your Classical Music Refuge at http://www.king.org/listen. Relax and unwind with us! KING FM Evergreen was created by Bryan Lowe and is programmed by Aaron Stoess. Maxine Frost is your host and admin.
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KING FM Evergreen Channel - Your Classical Music Refuge at king.org
Acclaimed Seattle-based concert guitarist Michael Partington has a new cd out called Resonance! He'll play selections from it tomorrow night at 7:30 pm at Benaroya Hall. Tickets at Rosewood Guitar, 206-297-8788.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MichaelPart
Source: www.cdbaby.com
Listen to and buy Michael Partington music on CD Baby, the independent record store by musicians for musicians.
KING FM Evergreen Channel - Your Classical Music Refuge at king.org
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
This Danish composer writes classical music – for the squeezebox. Alfred Hickling meets him in Elsinore
KING FM Evergreen Channel - Your Classical Music Refuge at king.org
Acclaimed concert guitarist Michael Partington was in the studio recently to talk about his new release.
MF: You have a new cd coming out -- it's called Resonance.
MP: Yes. Sort of the inspiration for the piece, for the cd was a piece that was written for me by Welsh composer Stephen Goss. He wrote this piece for me in 2...006. And it's a large-scale three-movement sonata, and his sort of inspiration for the piece was the concept of resonance. So there's an aspect of acoustic resonance, so the notes all intermingle, harmonies overlap -- and he says, you know, it should be played as if with the sostenuto pedal of the piano down, so that you get all of these sort of sounds blended together.
But there's also the historical resonance of the sonata as a form, and so he picks three classical sonatas, or, you know, more common sonatas from the classical canon as inspiration. The first movement is based on Debussy's sonata for flute, viola and harp. And he sort of creates a framework that is identical to the Debussy, but then puts his own music to it, so the same rhythmic and harmonic and tonal relationships. The second movements is inspired by a Scarlatti sonata, K 141, which is a toccata.
But that's pretty much where the similarity ends. They both have a lot of notes! But other than that, it's very very different.
And then the last movement is sort of an homage to Beethoven. He takes two themes from late Beethoven piano sonatas, opus 109 and opus 110, and creates a double set of varations around those themes. The themes are very heavily disguised. And in fact even though I know what one of the themes is, I still don't recognize it! (laughs) But that doesn't really matter. I don't think you need to know the reference at all if you create some very beautiful music out of it.
So this was a piece that I actually recorded a couple of years ago for a release of his music -- he did a cd with a number of his pieces in different performance. And that was the first recording. And, you know, when you make a first recording or a first performance of a piece -- personally, I find it quite intimidating. I think there's sort of a need to do the definitive performance. You know, you have to make a statement for this piece, to convince audiences to love it, to convince other players to play it, and really try to get as close to the musical truth of the pieces as you can. I mean that's something that a performer, I think, does with every piece of music.
But we also like to include some of our own personal touches I guess. You know, that makes your performance unique, or perhaps different from things that have gone before. But because it was the first one, I felt the need to really sort of get it right.Having done that, and having performed the piece, you know, another fifty times since that recording, I feel like it's grown, I've gotten to know it better, I've gotten to play it better. The composer, Stephen Goss, also thinks that I was playing it better. And so we decided it would be a good idea to record it again. So I did. You know, I think it's -- it's funny, because when I listen to the two, if I compare the two I can hear these huge differences. But I'm sure the differences are extremely subtle, and most people wouldn't even be aware of them. But still, I feel like it's -- I had this freedom to interpret things slightly differently, I guess, because the piece had matured. And so to put that on the cd, I chose a program that followed the same idea of historical resonance.
So I have a set of sonatas by Scarlatti -- not K 141, which really, you can't play it on one guitar. Sometimes you can play it on two guitars. But I chose a set of Scarlatti sonatas that I think work very well on the guitar, some that are quite familiar to guitarists, some that are less familiar to guitarists. And then a sonata by Mauro Guiliani, who was a great nineteenth century guitarist's composer. He's not exactly the Beethoven of the guitar, but this is a very classical sonata.
And then a sonata by Manuel Ponce, who was a Mexican composer. In the early part of the century he was a very close friend of Segovia, and wrote many pieces for Segovia. One of the few guitarists to write severallarge-scale sonatas. And this one I picked because I feel like it just sort of encapsulates what many guitarists think of the Segovia repertoire. Very Spanish-sounding -- although Ponce was Mexican, this is a very Spanish-sounding piece -- very neo-romantic, very guitaristic, beautiful use of timber and color. And I've always loved Ponce's music. This piece is -- you know, I say it might be my favorite, but that just sort of diminishes how much I like all the other pieces. Whatever piece of Ponce you play, it's like, oh yeah, this is my favorite, this is the best one! But I felt like this one sort of represented that era of guitar music. So it's sort of a program that expands four centuries, and hopefully kind of encapsulates the repertoire of the guitar for those different periods.
To be continued...See Michael in performance this Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 pm at Seattle's Benaroya Hall!Read More
MF: You have a new cd coming out -- it's called Resonance.
MP: Yes. Sort of the inspiration for the piece, for the cd was a piece that was written for me by Welsh composer Stephen Goss. He wrote this piece for me in 2...006. And it's a large-scale three-movement sonata, and his sort of inspiration for the piece was the concept of resonance. So there's an aspect of acoustic resonance, so the notes all intermingle, harmonies overlap -- and he says, you know, it should be played as if with the sostenuto pedal of the piano down, so that you get all of these sort of sounds blended together.
But there's also the historical resonance of the sonata as a form, and so he picks three classical sonatas, or, you know, more common sonatas from the classical canon as inspiration. The first movement is based on Debussy's sonata for flute, viola and harp. And he sort of creates a framework that is identical to the Debussy, but then puts his own music to it, so the same rhythmic and harmonic and tonal relationships. The second movements is inspired by a Scarlatti sonata, K 141, which is a toccata.
But that's pretty much where the similarity ends. They both have a lot of notes! But other than that, it's very very different.
And then the last movement is sort of an homage to Beethoven. He takes two themes from late Beethoven piano sonatas, opus 109 and opus 110, and creates a double set of varations around those themes. The themes are very heavily disguised. And in fact even though I know what one of the themes is, I still don't recognize it! (laughs) But that doesn't really matter. I don't think you need to know the reference at all if you create some very beautiful music out of it.
So this was a piece that I actually recorded a couple of years ago for a release of his music -- he did a cd with a number of his pieces in different performance. And that was the first recording. And, you know, when you make a first recording or a first performance of a piece -- personally, I find it quite intimidating. I think there's sort of a need to do the definitive performance. You know, you have to make a statement for this piece, to convince audiences to love it, to convince other players to play it, and really try to get as close to the musical truth of the pieces as you can. I mean that's something that a performer, I think, does with every piece of music.
But we also like to include some of our own personal touches I guess. You know, that makes your performance unique, or perhaps different from things that have gone before. But because it was the first one, I felt the need to really sort of get it right.Having done that, and having performed the piece, you know, another fifty times since that recording, I feel like it's grown, I've gotten to know it better, I've gotten to play it better. The composer, Stephen Goss, also thinks that I was playing it better. And so we decided it would be a good idea to record it again. So I did. You know, I think it's -- it's funny, because when I listen to the two, if I compare the two I can hear these huge differences. But I'm sure the differences are extremely subtle, and most people wouldn't even be aware of them. But still, I feel like it's -- I had this freedom to interpret things slightly differently, I guess, because the piece had matured. And so to put that on the cd, I chose a program that followed the same idea of historical resonance.
So I have a set of sonatas by Scarlatti -- not K 141, which really, you can't play it on one guitar. Sometimes you can play it on two guitars. But I chose a set of Scarlatti sonatas that I think work very well on the guitar, some that are quite familiar to guitarists, some that are less familiar to guitarists. And then a sonata by Mauro Guiliani, who was a great nineteenth century guitarist's composer. He's not exactly the Beethoven of the guitar, but this is a very classical sonata.
And then a sonata by Manuel Ponce, who was a Mexican composer. In the early part of the century he was a very close friend of Segovia, and wrote many pieces for Segovia. One of the few guitarists to write severallarge-scale sonatas. And this one I picked because I feel like it just sort of encapsulates what many guitarists think of the Segovia repertoire. Very Spanish-sounding -- although Ponce was Mexican, this is a very Spanish-sounding piece -- very neo-romantic, very guitaristic, beautiful use of timber and color. And I've always loved Ponce's music. This piece is -- you know, I say it might be my favorite, but that just sort of diminishes how much I like all the other pieces. Whatever piece of Ponce you play, it's like, oh yeah, this is my favorite, this is the best one! But I felt like this one sort of represented that era of guitar music. So it's sort of a program that expands four centuries, and hopefully kind of encapsulates the repertoire of the guitar for those different periods.
To be continued...See Michael in performance this Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 pm at Seattle's Benaroya Hall!Read More
Jack Morris I'm listening to the Evergreen Channel using RealPlayer SP. Nice bold colors with Now Playing as a great feature - all in one window. Now if I could only get the dust off the needle, it would sound really great.
Jack Morris I like the commentary. Now what was I listening to when Robert Louis Stevenson was mentioned? Hmmmm.
Jack Morris Hi Lady Guy. I'm new to Evergreen channel and am enjoying it. Someone really knows how to program the music.
That's gender non-specific, by the way. What are your favorite Evergreen pieces so far? Inquiring minds want to know! - Maxine
MF: I don't know how you do everything you do. You're a professor of piano at Rice. What are your students like? Do they want to be concertizers like you? JKP: I have wonderful students. And they are -- some of them are quite serious about working toward a solo career as pianists...
