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Joint Concert with: Kiyo Takahashi (piano) / Marta Tobar (cello) with Richard Gillies (piano)

Tue Aug 4th 2015, 1:15–2:00 pm ◀ This event has finished
Bristol Cathedral, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TJ

Programme:-

Kiyo Takahashi (piano):-

W.A. Mozart (1756 – 1791) - 9 Variations on a Minuet by Duport, K.573 in D major Jean-Pierre Duport (1741 – 1818) was a cellist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
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Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (1916 - 1983) :- 3 DANZAS ARGENTINAS Op 2
1)    Danza Del Fiego Boyero,
2)    Danza de la Moza Donosa,
3)    Danza del gaucho Matrero

Danza del viejo boyero, op. 2 no. 1
The first piece, Danza del viejo boyero ("Dance of the Old Herdsman"), strikes the ear as being odd!

Danza de la moza donosa, op. 2 no. 2
Danza de la moza donosa ("Dance of the Beautiful Maiden") is a gentle dance in 6/8 time.

Danza del gaucho matrero, op. 2 no. 3
Danza del gaucho matrero ("Dance of the Arrogant Cowboy")

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Marta Tober (cello) with Richard Gillies (piano):-                                                         

D. Shostakovich:- The Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40, was one of Dmitri Shostakovich's early works, composed in 1934 just prior to the censure by Soviet authorities of his music, notably the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was deemed too bourgeois and decadent for the Soviet people. It was also a period of emotional turmoil in his life, as he had fallen in love with a young student at a Leningrad festival featuring his Lady Macbeth. Their affair resulted in a brief divorce from his wife Nina, and it was in August, during their period of separation, that he wrote the cello sonata, completing it within a few weeks and giving its premiere in Moscow on 25 December with his close friend, the cellist Viktor Kubatsky, who was also the piece's dedicatee. By the next autumn Shostakovich and Nina had remarried, she being pregnant with their daughter, who was born in 1936.

Movements:-  1 - Allegro non troppo    2 – Allegro   3 – Largo     4- Allegro

I - Allegro non troppo  The sonatina form first movement contrasts a broad first theme in cello, accompanied by flowing piano arpeggios, developed by the piano towards an intense climax. As tension abates, a ray of light appears with the tender second theme, with unusual tonal shifts, announced by the piano and imitated by the cello. In the development a spiky rhythmic motif penetrates through the flowing textures of the first theme, but soon the gentler second theme reappears. All seems in order, until however, convention is cast aside as Shostakovich introduces an unusual pianissimo "recapitulation" section where all moves in slow motion, with staccato chords in the piano and sustained notes in the cello.

II – Allegro   The second movement has a perpetual motion energy, its thrusting repeated ostinato pattern relentlessly shared while a delicate first theme – almost incongruous – is presented by piano in widely spaced octaves, a sonority often used by Shostakovich. The cello’s more light-hearted theme is later imitated, Pierrot-like up in the piano’s brittle high register. Piquant wit abounds in familiar classical gestures set askew, sudden lurches into unrelated keys, until the initial driving ostinato resumes, leading to a sudden conclusion.

III – Largo  The bleak expanses of Russia are evoked in the soulful slow movement, piano providing a dark backdrop for the cello’s rhapsodic, vocal theme. It is one of the earliest examples of a mood that was to feature in many of Shostakovich’s most powerful works, reflective introspection through icy dissonances that touch yet do not settle on warmer consonances, until the music eventually fades into the impressionistic twilight.

IV - Allegro   Caustic with colours the brief yet ebullient finale, a type of rondo in which the main playful theme appears three times, imitated by both instruments, interspersed by episodes full of sparking scales. In the second of these, the piano is let loose in a cadenza of helter-skelter zest, ebulliently veering into unexpected tonal highways. The theme returns, to round the movement off in abrupt yet decisive brilliance.

Artist info:-

Kiyo Takahashi:-

 “It was evident that she was enjoying the music greatly.” - Eric Parkin (at the Sterndale Bennett Prize Competition)

 “Her playing is full of passion and vitality” - Robert Levin (International J.S. Bach Competition)

“Your musical playing has given me deep pleasure.” - Trevor Pinnock

Winner of the “Steinway Prize in the Dudley International Piano Competition” in 2003, Kiyo Takahashi was born in Hong Kong, and started studying piano at the age of 5. After moving to Tokyo, as child, she began to study with Junko Ikeya and started to receive prizes at local competitions. She was then selected to perform at the Young Artist Concert series in Yokohama in1999.
She gained a Bachelor of Music degree from Tokyo College of Music and moved to London, where she completed a Mmus degree at the Royal Academy of Music, studying harpsichord and fortepiano, as well as the piano.
She also studied jazz piano with Bruce Stark, the well-known composer and pianist, and performed in joint recitals with percussionists in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as perfoming in a concert series with the percussionist Magda de Vries.

Although Kiyo's interpretations and performances of contemporary pieces are what some people know her for, from a young age she has been very interested in the works of J.S. Bach. She has a deep interest in baroque music and has developed a remarkable repertoire, often focused on interpretations of pieces written for harpsichord and fortepiano. In 2002 she won the "Sterndale Bennett Prize" performing pieces by J.S. Bach.

Among Kiyo's other accomplishments, she has recorded pieces of Satie and Ravel for the short film “Desire” directed by the Japanese film director, Rica Shinobu; she has performed at the Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica) for “The festival of the Pope” in 2008; and she also performed several Piano Concertoes by Mozart and Chopin with Francesco Petrarca Orchestra of Venice.

Kiyo has been taught by Aaron Shorr and Noretta Conci-Leech, and she has attended numerous master classes in Tokyo, the USA, Italy, Germany, and the UK, including the "Aspen Music Festival", the "Bach Festival in Stuttgart", and the "Academia Musicale Chigiana" in Siena, Italy.
Kiyo has been resident in London since 2012.

                             ___________________________________________

Marta Tobar is a professional cello player based in London. Classically trained at the Royal Northern College of Music, Marta has just finished a two year Master in Solo Performance at the same institution.

Marta received support by the Spanish government through various scholarships that allowed her to pursue her career at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Marta has appeared on BBC´s The Culture Show and BBC Radio 3 In Tune, performing extracts of the new opera written by composer Martin Ward (ENO, ROH) and librettist Phil Porter (ROH, RSC). She has also performed live for BBC Merseyside and BFBS with the band The Wishing Well, as part of a 5 month tour through the UK and Europe.

Marta is a regular member of the AJSW Chamber Music Ensemble. 

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Richard Louis Gillies graduated with a BA in Music and an MA in piano performance from the University of Bristol where he studied under Raymond Clarke. He is currently working on a PhD at the University of Manchester where he studies with Professor David Fanning researching songs and vocal-cycles in the Soviet Union. Richard’s main interests lie in the research and performance of Soviet-Russian music. Recent recitals have included Prokofiev’s piano sonatas nos. 2, 7 and 9, a number of works by the little-known Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, Shostakovich’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, and Schnittke’s Quintet for Piano and Strings.

Venue: Bristol Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral is situated in the middle of the city at the bottom of Park Street. It was founded in 1140, but was built gradually over a period of 700 years. The Cathedral hosts numerous events and concerts throughout the year. Many of these are open to the public, and some are free, including the regular lunchtime concerts on Tuesdays.

Visit the Bristol Cathedral website.

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