Piano Concert

Spring Piano Concert

at 7.30 p.m. on Friday 15th April

in All Saints Church, Shotesham.

Pianist: Mr. Frank Lawlor. LLCM(TD),
DipABRSM (Performance).

The programme will include pieces from the classics, jazz, rag-time and from films and shows. It will feature amongst others the music of Beethoven, John Barry, Chopin, Scott Joplin, Jerome Kern, Sibelius, Schubert and Rachmaninov.

Tickets £7.50 (inc. drink at the interval)

Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the
East Anglian Childrens Hospice (E.A.C.H.).

Tickets available from:
D. Fox (01508 558234 or dwandmefox@btinternet.com)
and Bernie Fenn (floracot@btinternet.com)

Concert Programme:-

Part 1:

Autumn Concerto: C. Bargoni

First Movement of Sonata Opus 120: Schubert

Smoke gets in your eyes..: Jerome Kern: (Arranged by Johnny Morris)

Nola: Felix Arndt

Somewhere in time: John Barry

Guess the composer style, hidden melody and composer’s hidden piece

Waltz in C#minor Opus 64 #2: Chopin

Shallow Waters: Billy Mayerl

Prelude in G# minor Opus 32 #12: Rachmaninov

‘Rhapsodie’ in G minor Opus 79 #2: J. Brahms

Interval (approx 30 minutes).

Part 2:

Themes from the Warsaw Concerto: Richard Addinsell.

Liebestraume #3: Franz Liszt

Magnetic Rag: Scott Joplin

Arabesque #1: Claude Debussy

Prelude in C# minor, Opus 3 #2 :Rachmaninov

Fur Elise: Beethoven

‘I’ll be seeing you..’ Sammy Fain: (Arranged by John Wallowitch)

‘Romance’ :Jean Sibelius

Etude #12 Opus 25:(The Ocean Study): Frederic Chopin.
​[Note: A couple of pieces may be withdrawn if a time overrun seems likely]

Reflections on the  Music:-

Part 1:

Autumn Concerto: C. Bargoni

Little is known about Camillo Bargoni, but this piece became a favourite on BBC radio in 1957, when the British born pianist Alberto Semprini introduced it to the listening public.

First Movement of Sonata Opus 120: Schubert

The first movement of this Sonata written around 1819 reveals Schubert’s unsurpassed gift of melody infused with drama and menace.

Smoke gets in your eyes..: Jerome Kern: Arranged by Johnny Morris.

This version of Jerome Kern’s immortal song is written and enhanced by one of America’s greatest arrangers. Its ‘bitter-sweet’ melody is complemented by Morris’s flights of whimsy and drama.

Nola: Felix Arndt

Felix Arndt was an American composer of popular music mainly remembered for this work named for his fiancée (later wife), written in 1915. He died in New York aged 29, a victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.
Somewhere in time: John Barry

The five times Academy Award winning composer John Barry OBE, died in January 2011. A prolific writer of film music such as Dancing with Wolves and the James Bond movies, many will remember this haunting tune from the eponymous film.

Guess the composer’s style, hidden melody and composer’s hidden piece

A popular programme on BBC 2 called ‘Face The Music’, featured the concert pianist Joseph Cooper as question-master, interrogating a panel of musical stars with questions on music. For each programme he wrote a piece of music in the style of a great composer. Concealed within this music was a ‘well known tune’ together with a phrase from one of the mystery composer’s works. The panel had to work out the name of the mystery composer and both the hidden melody and the work from which the phrase came. See if you can spot these three as this piece is played!

Composer style: __________________________________________________

Hidden Melody: __________________________________________________

Mystery Composer’s work: __________________________________________________

Waltz in C#minor Opus 64 #2: Chopin

Chopin’s music is unique, most of his writing being for piano with a virtuoso edge. His writing explores the very soul of the piano. His waltzes unlike those from Viennese composers were not meant for dancing but for concert performances. Though some require a moderate playing ability, the more difficult require an advanced technique, such as this one written in 1846.

Shallow Waters: Billy Mayerl

Billy Mayerl was an English pianist and composer who made a career in music hall and music theatre, and became an acknowledged master of light music. This piece reflects both the Jazz and Classical influences absorbed during his formative years.

Prelude in G# minor Opus 32 #12: Rachmaninov

Following the writing of his third concerto Rachmaninov wrote 13 preludes around 1910. Number 12 is one of the finest with a characteristically ambiguous mood. The dark falling left-hand melody is accompanied by sparkling and brilliant sixteenth notes in the right-hand.

Rhapsodie’ in G minor Opus 79 #2: Johannes Brahms

Written in 1879, this piece reflects Brahms’s mature style and is permeated with drama and rhythmic drive giving it immense energy.

Interval (approx 30 minutes).

Part 2:

Themes from the Warsaw Concerto: Richard Addinsell.

This work is ‘pastiche Rachmaninov’ written by Richard Addinsell for the film ‘Dangerous Moonlight’ in 1941. It has an heroic/romantic nature depicting the struggle of Poland against the Nazis in 1939 and became very popular during the Second World War

Liebestraume #3: Franz Liszt

This is the last of three ‘dreams of love’ written by Liszt and published in 1850. Liszt was considered to be the greatest pianist of the age and the technical requirements needed to bring off this piece are characteristically immense.

Magnetic Rag: Scott Joplin

Joplin was an African/American pianist and composer famed for his ragtime. His music was rediscovered in the 1970’s and became well known through recordings by the pianist Joshua Rifkin. In 1973 the movie ‘The Sting’ featured several of his compositions including ‘The Entertainer’.

Arabesque #1: Claude Debussy

This Arabesque, the first of two, was written in 1888 when Debussy was 26. Although a relatively early work it contains hints of his developing ‘impressionist’ style. His later work ‘Clare de Lune’ from his ‘Suite Bergamasque’ reflects more strongly this development from the Romantic period which preceded it.

Prelude in C# minor, Opus 3 #2: ​Rachmaninov

First performed by Rachmaninov himself in 1892, the prelude quickly established itself as a favourite amongst the concert going fraternity and Rachmaninov was implored to play it as an encore after each of his recitals. The sound of church bells is deeply embedded in the Russian psyc

Fur Elise: Beethoven

The dedicatee of this piece is widely believed to be Therese Malfatti but many other women could be placed in this position due to nicknames or mistranslations of the name ‘Therese’ (Elise). In any event it has become very popular with pianists despite its difficulty to bring off.

‘I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places..’ Sammy Fain, arranged by John Wallowitch

The 1938 Broadway musical ‘Right This Way’ lasted only fifteen performances yet gave us this iconic Sammy Fein-Irving Kahal standard song. John Wallowitch’s arrangement reflects the heartache, sadness and pain, experienced on the loss of a loved one, made more poignant by bitter-sweet memories of happy places visited together.

Romance’ :Jean Sibelius

Last year was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Finish composer Jean Sibelius. Though known by most music lovers through his stupendous symphonies, Sibelius nevertheless wrote an enormous amount of music for solo piano. In June of 2015, Frank visited Sibelius’s house just north of Helsinki and played this piece of music on Sibelius’s own piano in front of an audience if visitors.

Either

Etude #12 Opus 25: Frederic Chopin.

This is the last of Chopin’s Opus 25 studies, which is known as ‘The Ocean Study’. Its nickname becomes appropriate on hearing it played. With both tremendous technical demands and difficulties of interpretation, it is one of the more difficult etudes in the Opus 10 and Opus 25 sets.

OR

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 Opening Theme, (With the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, conductor Emil Kahn): Music Minus One recording.

The first performance of the original version took place on October 25, 1875 in Boston USA, played by Hans von Bulow, one of the greatest pianists of that time. The second performance was in New York City on Nov 22nd of that year also played by von Bulow. Tchaikovsky subsequently revised the concerto in 1888, and this is the version we hear today and it has become the most popular of the classical piano concertos.
This introduction to the first movement was played during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was also used during the final leg of the Olympic torch relay during the Opening Ceremonies of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union.