Derek is opening his program with Bach's Toccata in C minor, Op. 10. No. 1. Toccatas are studies in contrast. Ma broad approximation of the form Bach follows for his toccatas is to begin with a declaratory section followed by an adagio and closing with an allegro (and that is a broad approximation). Toccatas demand technical facility and virtuosity from the performer. This particular toccata opens with a Fugue-like idea, quick and intense and then moves into a contemplative middle section, akin to a Sarabande. The closing section is a sprightly fugue. Wang is voicing the various layers of this piece nicely and also giving us definitive phrases so we are never lost in the activity of the piece. We are onto to Wang's second piece, Chopin's Étude No. 1 in C major, Op. 10, No. 1 virtually without pause after his completion of the Bach Toccata. Nice decision. He's speaking now briefly and echoed my earlier thought that there's nothing quite like Bach to start the day. His speaking manner is easy and engaging. Chopin's Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1 is next. Wang's voicing and projection of the melodic line is excellent.
Derek's next piece is Beethoven's Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90. Paraphrasing Wang's comments on this...presented for a friend who had recently married, these movements represent the struggle of head and heart (mvt. I) and then conversation with the beloved (mvt. II). This sonata was the first to be composed after about a 5-year hiatus in piano sonata composition by Beethoven due to two major mental and emotional stressors: battle for custody of his nephew and then his affair with the lady who could not be his who has become known the Immortal Beloved. The second movement of this sonata is one of my favorite pieces. The melody and harmonization and treatment of that melody are beautiful and at the same time heart-rending. It is also graceful and sweet...assuredly like the Immortal Beloved was herself. While this movement opens in E major, it has brief hints and moments in minor revealing to us that, while Beethoven is finding happiness in his relationship with the Immortal Beloved, it isn't quite complete as she cannot be fully his. Wang is taking us through this work with ease. He captured the frustration and intensity of the first movement and then ushered us into the character change of the second movement.
To close his solo program, Wang is playing Barber's Nocturne "Homage to John Field," Op. 33. Once again paraphrasing Wang's comments...this piece is an interesting comparison to Chopin's nocturne. It maintains the character of the Nocturne, but in the 20th sound. Included in the title, " Homage to John Field," Barber was looking back to the lyricism of the 19th century while his contemporaries were looking forward to the angularity of the 20th century they were living in. Field was the pioneer of the nocturne genre.
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