What a pleasant start to the morning...Bach is so refreshing and Chaeyoung's performance
of his Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 860 was beautiful. Articulate touch in the prelude and
nice layering in the fugue. She has moved on to Chopin's Nocturne, No. 14 in f-sharp minor, Op. 48, No. 2. This particular Nocturne I find quite enchanting. The melody of the A section is elegant and poignant. The middle section, which moves to a major key and is a choral, is a gentle contrast to the minor of the opening and closing. Chaeyoung's phrasing and touch capture the beauty of this piece.
Next is the first movement of Chopin's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35. This opening movement is tempestuous demanding your attention from the start. It moves into a major key briefly to state the second theme, but doesn't stay there for long. Moving into the development, Chopin returns to the minor key, but takes a fragment of the theme and pushes it through several key areas before bringing us back to a ray of sunshine with the return of the second theme. Park is taking us smoothly through each of these sections with power and grace.
Well, we are about to get quite the contrast. Park is presenting Dream Images (Love-Death Music) from Makrokosmos, Volume 1, Part 3, No. 11. Paraphrasing Park's comments on this piece...This work is based around the Zodiak signs and each piece represents a different sign and portrays its character. This movement is using Gemini as its inspiration. Crumb presents an original theme and then brings in the lyrical melody from Chopin's Fantasie Inpromptu contrasting the era he was working in and the era Chopin was working in.
Three movements from Stravinsky's Firebird, I. Dance Infernal; II. Berceuse; III. Finale, transcribed by Agosti, are closing Park's program. As is to be expected from knowing the orchestral version, these movements are a handful for the pianist requiring virtuosity and lyricism. Park is handling them beautifully. True confessions, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite is not a piece I love, but this piano rendition is very well-done and I am very much enjoying it. Hearing a piece performed on an instrument different from what it was originally composed for is always a fascinating thing. Not just in this instance, but in others as well, I find it gives added depth, understanding and appreciation of the piece. Chaeyoung has given us a marvelous performance of these three movements.
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