JS BACH (arr. Alexander Siloti) Prelude in E minor BWV855; GLASS Etude 2; JS BACH Prelude in C BWV846; CPE BACH Solfeggietto H220 Wq 117; GLASS Etude 9; JS BACH Prelude in F minor BWV857 ; GLASS Mad Rush; JS BACH (arr. Alfred Cortot) Arioso from Concerto No.5 in F minor BWV1056 ; MOONDOG Canon VIII ; JS BACH Sicilienne BWV1031; MONK Railroad; JS BACH Contrapunctus from ‘The Art of Fugue’; MOONDOG Barn Dance Pastoral; GLASS Opening; JS BACH (arr. Petri Sheep) Cantata ‘Schafe können sicher weiden’ BWV208; GLASS (arr. Shani Diluka) Tyrol Concerto (mvt 2); JS BACH Prelude in C minor BWV847
I haven’t come across the Monegasque-Sri Lankan pianist, Shani Diluka, before but she is clearly a very fine pianist with a substantial track record of appearing at prestigious venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus.
The theme of the programme was perhaps looser than Bach & American Minimalism -more like ‘Bach and a bunch of blokes who happened to be living in New York in the 1950’s to 1970’s who all knew each other and found inspiration in their composing from Bach’. But no matter – I may know Glass’ idiom fairly well, and indeed recognised a couple of the Glass pieces (I have an excellent recording of Glass piano works by Vikingur Olafsson), but Moondog and Keith Jarrett were completely new to me, and I have never, as far as I can recall, heard much of Cage’s music before. There was quite a lot of jazzy Jarrett music which had perhaps less obvious links than the others with Bach but even then there would have been the connection of improvisation, as well as melody. Ms Diluka gave very helpful comments on the composers and their music. As an encore she did ‘something completely different’ and played something by de Falla
All in all this was a rewarding and absorbing evening. More Glass in Sheffield next week…
John's musical journey 