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Originally from Taiwan, Jessica Chan came to the UK at the age
of 13 to study at the Purcell School for Specialist Young Musicians.
Since her Royal Festival Hall debut as a concerto soloist in the
same year, Jessica has continued to perform extensively in the UK
and abroad. She has toured Singapore, Malaysia, and the USA, and
performed in major UK venues such as the Barbican, St Martin-in-the-Fields,
and the South Bank (including a recital as part of the Park Lane
Group's New Year Series 2002).
As a concerto soloist, Jessica has worked with conductors such
as Vernon Handley, Richard Dickins and Peter Bassano, and recently
she won the First Prize at the International Mozart Competition
in Greece. She was awarded the 'Most Distinguished Performance'
prize at the Concours International de piano d'Orléans 2006.
Other awards won include the Boise Foundation Award, the Hopkinson
Gold Medal for two consecutive years, the Craxton Memorial Award,
the Wendy Hall Scholarship and the Alfred Brendel Award.
Jessica has participated in masterclasses given by renowned pianists:
Paul Badura-Skoda, Claude Frank, Leif Ove Andsnes, and most recently
Dominique Merlet. In 2004, Jessica graduated with distinction from
the MMus course at the Royal College of Music, where she studied
with Professor Yonty Solomon. She has since been awarded the first
Frank Bridge Doctorate Studentship and now, alongside her performing
career, is also pursuing her DMus degree at the Royal College of
Music on the interpretation of Frank Bridge's work Phantasm.
Jessica Chan is a Philip & Dorothy Green Young Concert Artist
and is sponsored by the Making Music Young Artists Award Scheme.
PROGRAMME
SONATA in G major, K470 (Allegro) - DOMENICO
SCARLATTI (1685 - 1757)
SONATA in B minor, K197 (Andante)
SONATA in D major, K29 (Presto)
SONATA in D major, K576 - W. A. MOZART (1756-1791)
DRAMATIC FANTASIA - FRANK BRIDGE (1879-1941)
BERCEUSE
SONATA no.1 in F minor op.1 - SERGE PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
IMAGES (Book 1) - CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
CHACONNE in D minor - BACH - BUSONI
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SONATA in G major, K470 (Allegro) - DOMENICO SCARLATTI (1685 - 1757)
SONATA in B minor, K197 (Andante)
SONATA in D major, K29 (Presto)
Although Scarlatti was born in Naples, most of his harpsichord
works were composed in Madrid and other Spanish cities. In fact,
during the later years of his life, he was under the patronage of
Queen Maria Barbara of Spain and composed over five hundred harpsichord
pieces, printed initially in eleven volumes!
The little single-movement sonatas are often difficult to identify
and categorise. In the 1950s, the harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick
produced a definitive revision of an earlier catalogue of Scarlatti's
works made by an Italian musician Alessandro Longo. Kirkpatrick
defined each sonata with a 'K' number for easy identification. Regrettably
for the music lover however, slight confusion still remains, since
these pieces are occasionally referred to by both their 'K' numbers
and also, at times, by their older 'L' (Longo) numbers.
Yet, however we choose to identify them, these totally charming
miniatures may actually have been originally composed in pairs -
one in a major key together with another in a corresponding minor
key. Though these sonatas were written for the harpsichord, pianists
have found that they transfer well to the modern piano. They are
highly elegant and characteristic pieces and, though not profound,
are both delightfully ebullient and intimately reflective.
SONATA in D major, K576 - W. A. MOZART (1756-1791)
Allegro
Adagio
Allegretto
This D major sonata by Mozart was written in Vienna in 1789 and
was the last he composed for the piano. Many also feel that it is
one of his most difficult sonatas. This mature work was composed
not long after his final Symphony (No. 41 - Jupiter) and before
the famous Clarinet Concerto a year or so later.
In many ways, this sonata can be seen to look backwards stylistically
to an earlier musical period, in the imitative passagework of the
first movement. However, the beautiful second movement, which starts
in the key of A major, is florid and subtle in texture, and may
perhaps look forward towards the work of Beethoven. The final Allegretto
is a Rondo. With stylish, exciting and imitative piano triplets
abounding in the pianist's left and right hand throughout this movement,
the sonata ends with suitable panache.
DRAMATIC FANTASIA - FRANK BRIDGE (1879-1941)
BERCEUSE
These two works Berceuse and the Dramatic Fantasia date from 1901
and 1906 respectively. Frank Bridge, a fine conductor and string
player, was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of
Music in London. From 1906 until 1915, he was a regular viola player
in both the celebrated Joachim Quartet and the English String Quartet.
He was also a fine teacher and well known as the mentor of the young
Benjamin Britten.
Today much of Bridge's reputation is based on a few well-known
works such as his programmatic orchestral suite The Sea, the delightful
song "E'en as a Lovely Flower", and the Phantasie Quartet
for strings. However, Bridge's output was extensive and consisted
of a large catalogue of quality orchestral, vocal and instrumental
chamber music. His music is not performed as frequently as it deserves.
But he wrote a considerable number of highly attractive piano pieces
- many of which have been recently recorded by Ashley Wass on the
Naxos label. For example, A Sea Idyll (written in 1905 and dedicated
to the pianist Harold Samuel) and the more mature and expansive
Piano Sonata (composed between 1921 and 1924) are two works which
are richly rewarding to the listener.
The two pieces we are to hear tonight are both highly characteristic
of the composer. The Dramatic Fantasia is clearly the work of greater
weight, lasting some fifteen minutes. It was written during a period
when Bridge had been extremely successful in a national competition
for composers run by the London musician and writer William Cobbett.
The Dramatic Fantasia is a big work and covers a huge emotional
landscape. But, as it has been aptly written elsewhere: 'Some of
this music is quite simply gorgeous'!
INTERVAL
SONATA no.1 in F minor op.1 - SERGE PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Prokofiev is generally considered one of the most accomplished
composers of the twentieth century. Certainly his popular orchestral
and chamber music is much loved. He started his career as a concert
pianist of distinction, and possibly his finest music for that instrument
is contained in the nine sonatas which he composed over a forty-year
period.
This F minor Sonata (op.1) was originally written in 1907 as a
three-movement work. But Prokofiev was dissatisfied with the last
two movements and finally revised and published it as a single-movement
sonata in 1909. One is reminded of another composer, Alban Berg,
who at roughly the same time (1908) also published a single-movement
Sonata as his 'Op.1'. After agonising over the viability of his
sonata as a one-movement work, Berg was advised by his mentor, Schoenberg,
that the piece was complete without additional material.
Both the Prokofiev and the Berg sonatas are passionate and romantic
works. But many will find the Prokofiev more immediately approachable.
Prokofiev premiered his new Sonata in Moscow in 1910, and the theme
we hear at the beginning of the work is one which makes its re-appearance
throughout the piece in very different guises. This is powerful
and dramatic music which thrills the listener and makes huge demands
on the pianist, both technically and emotionally. But the experience
is a richly rewarding one.
IMAGES (Book 1) - CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Reflets dans l'eau
Hommage à Rameau
Mouvement
Just prior to the composition of the two books that comprise Images
in 1905, Debussy wrote curiously 'Music is a mysterious mathematical
process whose elements share something of the nature of Infinity.
It is allied to the movement of water…described by a changing
breeze.' As a master musician of the Impressionistic movement, Debussy
could easily visualise musical forms and ideas from common natural
elements. Water was a particularly important inspiration for him.
The first movement of Images, entitled 'Reflections in the water',
reveals our composer's ability to do far more than simply describe
the movement of water with drowsy harmonies. We can almost see,
for example, the shimmering light-beams on the surface of an imaginary
lake. And we can also visualise an ever-widening circle of ripples
on the water as expressed through undulating arpeggios in the music.
The second piece, entitled 'Homage to Rameau', is far more than
a simple homage to the earlier celebrated French composer. It is
in the form of a majestic Sarabande with a wide dynamic range (from
'pppp' to 'ff' in the score) and it uses the entire span of the
piano keyboard to magnificent effect.
The final movement in Book 1 is entitled 'Mouvement' and is one
in which the effect of a 'moto perpetuo' is provided by a continuous
succession of triplets. These busy triplets are heard almost from
the start, and they are relieved for a few bars only by a brief
central contrasting section.
CHACONNE in D minor - BACH - BUSONI
The great German pianist and composer Busoni was born in 1866 and
was well renowned for his glamorous transcriptions of Bach's works.
These brilliant transcriptions no doubt did much to familiarise
the public with Bach's music during a period when his music was
not well known. This Chaconne (one of Busoni's best-loved transcriptions)
is based on the final movement of Bach's Partita no.2 for solo violin.
The Chaconne is a piece built on a simple eight-bar dance theme
and consists of a set of variations. However, in Busoni's hands
the whole construction develops magnificently into a work of almost
orchestral proportions, thrilling us with its grandeur to the final
chords.
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