Sean Kennard Returns to Charleston
THREE SONATAS by Domenico Scarlatti, 24 preludes by Frederic Chopin, three etudes by Claude Debussy, and Samuel Barber’s Sonata for Piano—all played by the sterling young pianist, Sean Kennard.
That’s what’s on the slate next Tuesday night at the Sottile in the second concert of this year’s International Piano Series, and I assure you: you don’t want to miss it.
The last time I heard Sean play was two years ago at the Simons Center—which is why I am so looking forward to next week’s concert. His polished style, dazzling intensity, and deft touch are special, to say the least, and have won him top prizes in Viña del Mar, Hilton Head, and Sendai, Iowa—as well as at Vendome International Competitions, the National Chopin Competition, and the American Pianists Association. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Sean received his Artist Certificate from the College of Charleston under Enrique Graf (which is what periodically brings him back to Charleston) and is now finishing his Masters Degree at Juilliard. Some of you may also remember him from Piccolo and hearing him perform with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.
Sean’s new CD of Scarlatti’s Sonatas, Chopin’s Preludes, and Stravinsky’s Petrouchka is also getting rave reviews (one of which we hope to post here soon) for its interpretation and level of exciting play. Sean has a unique way of not only staying ahead of the music, but vigorously pulling the notes behind him as he races relentlessly and very skillfully forward.
Tuesday • November 1
8 PM • Sottile Theatre, 44 George St • (843) 953-6575
Tickets $20 at the door
(under 18 and CofC students free)
Program Notes by Lindsay Koob
Scarlatti is thought to have composed around 555 keyboard sonatas, though a number of them are of questionable origin. They are mostly short (under five minutes), single-movement works that bear little resemblance to the multi-movement solo piano format that Haydn established later. Written for harpsichord, these compact gems adapt beautifully to the modern piano.
The first of this evening’s examples begins in a vivacious and playful manner, despite its minor key—though it assumes a somewhat more serious demeanor as it unfolds—even lapsing into a seemingly ponderous moment or two. The next one—beginning on a rather gloomy, minor-hued note—quickly assumes a rather “busy” aspect, with a roiling sense of tense momentum. Some relief comes with the brighter and more animated second theme, though it soon reverts to a mood of nervous agitation. The final sonata is frolicsome and bubbly, beginning with a downward passage—laced with rapidly repeating notes—that recurs throughout the piece. The happy aura darkens a bit in the second half, though hardly enough to dampen the piece’s sprightly overall spirit.
Pianist Sean Kennard
Published in 1849, Chopin’s 24 Preludes fly in the face of what we usually think of as preludes: individual pieces that introduce more substantial works. Chopin himself may well have used some of these for such purposes—but there seems little doubt that he mainly intended them to be played as a complete set, some of them being simply too short (at well under a minute) to stand effectively on their own. Performance practice since Chopin’s day has validated this contention—though several of them (like the famous No. 15, the “Raindrop”) have been performed individually, often as encores. This set owes much to J. S. Bach’s Preludes and Fugues of his Well-Tempered Clavier, in that Chopin crafted his Preludes so as to encompass all of the major and minor keys; but he sequenced them differently, beginning with C Major and its relative minor (A Minor) and cycling upward from there by fifths. Moreover, heard together, these pianistic jewels move through such a huge range of moods, styles and emotions so as to make the entire set a comprehensive and richly rewarding listening experience.
Written in 1915, the Twelve Études—divided between two books—are Debussy’s final significant piano compositions. While not often heard in concert, they rank alongside the studies of Chopin and Liszt at the pinnacle of the étude repertoire. He jokingly referred to them as “… a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands.” The most dazzling (and one of the most difficult) of them is ‘For Octaves,’ a sweeping exercise built on whole-tone and chromatic harmonies spiced with tricky syncopations. ‘For Eight Fingers’ is a funny little piece that Debussy meant to be played without benefit of thumbs, as it dashes madly up and down the keyboard in four-note scale patterns. ‘For Chromatic Intervals’ explores both compositional and technical applications of the chromatic scale.
Barber’s only piano sonata was premiered by none other than the legendary Vladimir Horowitz, who called it “… the first truly great native work in the form.” Barber’s original plan was for a three-movement work, until Horowitz talked him into adding a “very flashy final movement.” Two years in the making, it marked both a stylistic and harmonic departure from Barber’s usual neo-romantic approach, in that he made greater use of dissonance and chromatic harmonies than ever before, as well as 12-tone techniques. Still, the work is unmistakably Barber—and yes, he did give Horowitz his “flashy” final movement: a traditionally-structured four-voice fugue, but enlivened with busy syncopation and jazzy harmonies.
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See the entire 2010-2011 International Piano Series schedule.
The International Piano Series is directed by CofC Artist-in-Residence, Enrique Graf.
