John Kameel Farah, piano

Wednesday, February 9, 8.00 pm
Victoria Chapel, 91 Charles St W


Programme

Peter Hatch Fragments of an Unknown Teaching (1988)
(b. 1957)

John Kameel Farah Red Gaze (1999)
(b. 1973)

Anthony Genge Four Quiet Preludes (1994)
(b. 1952)

Arnold Schönberg Klavierstücke, Op. 33a (1929)
(1874-1951) Klavierstücke, Op. 33b (1931)

(intermission)

improvisations


Fragments of an Unknown Teaching was inspired by the writings and ideas of Russian mystic philosophers P.D. Ouspensky [who wrote 'In Search of the Miraculous'- J.K.F.] and G.I. Gurdjieff, who espoused a philosophy in which self-awareness (or 'self-remembering') was presented as a way of escaping from the 'sleep' which keeps one from realizing one's full potential. The teachings of this school were presented in many varied types of "work" , from meditation through an intricate cosmological system to various kinds of dance and 'gymnastics'. The piece is not programmatic in content, although a lengthy quote from one of 'Gurdjieff's harmonium improvisations is included in the middle of the work, barely audible within the ringing octave 'G' tremolo which immerses it. -Peter Hatch

Red Gaze is inspired by a self-portrait by Schönberg, two eyes staring from the realm of the subconscious. It’s harmonic language orbits around D minor, providing a landscape above which cloud and star formations of tremolos and large arpeggiated chords stir and smear into one another.

Four Quiet Preludes may be played in any order, sustain and soft pedals held throughout. Each prelude is in essence a large chord of which different voicings and shapes arise and decay within within a seeming time-stasis. The influence of Genge’s teacher, Morton Feldman, can be keenly felt in the subtle timing differences that are assigned to repeating phrases and the pastel shadings of softness.

Op 33a and 33b are Schönberg’s last piano pieces. He had beeen composing twelve-note pieces for several years, and although these are not his most revolutionary works, they are more the product of perhaps a more comfortable imagination which is more concerned with exploring subtleties of a world already created, rather that in the creation of new worlds. The concentration of gestures and musical ideas is very dense; often the psycholgy tranforms within seconds, violent eruptions swirling with gentle colours which overlap and affect each other, each an idea that suggests a sound world of it’s own that can be explored, yet only continued for the briefest, most necessary amount of time.
Op 33b is an interesting combination of lyricism and angularity with some of the beautiful, singing lines spanning several octaves in only a few notes. Occaisionally tonal implications can be heard, such as in the second subject, which outlines a major third. As opposed the the savage ending of 33a, the closing bars of this piece are filled with a murky four-part counterpoint in the low register of the piano, leaving a somewhat bizarre ending to the last of his piano output.
-J.K.F.

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