my Tis-see-woo-na-tis :)

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PIECES CONQUERED:

Beethoven 7
Brahms 1
Brahms 2
Lasser Berceuse Fantasque
Lutoslawski Subito
Moravec Ariel Fantasy
Mozart K. 526
Ravel Sonata
Schubert Fantasy
Schubert Rondo

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2011-2012 REPERTOIRE:

Rouse Violin Concerto
Mozart Concert No. 4
Tchaikovsky Concerto

Bach Chaconne 
*Beethoven Kreutzer
Brahms D minor
*Debussy Sonata
*Ives Sonata No. 2
*Wyner Concert Duo
*Hoshikawa
*Satoh

RECITAL PROGRAM 1

*Ives Sonata No. 2 (15 min)
Bach Chaconne (13 min)
*Wyner: Concert Duo (20 min)
Brahms D minor Sonata (22 min)

total: 70 min

RECITAL PROGRAM 2

Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata (43 min)
Hosokawa Vertical Time Study III (12 min)
Satoh Birds in Warped Time II (10 min)
Debussy Sonata (12 min)

total: 77 min


I first encountered the music of Japanese composers Toshio Hosokawa and Somei Satoh during Carnegie Hall's JapanNYC Festival. Prior to this, I had very little experience with Japanese music--my classical training focused more on Bach and Beethoven than Takemitsu. After hearing a concert exclusively of post-WWII Japanese composers, presented by the New Juilliard Ensemble, I decided to further explore the music of my ancestry.

This program is built around a pair of Japanese composers, Hosokawa and Satoh. The two composers are very different in background and style. Hosokawa draws on the affinities and contrasts between Western avant-garde and traditional Japanese music; Satoh uses Japanese timbres in settings more reminiscent of 19th-century Romanticism. Their pieces show just two of the many different directions taken by Japanese composers today.

To close this program, I chose Debussy's Sonata for Violin and Piano. Debussy absorbed the music of many different cultures, including that of Japan. He synthesized these influences into a coherent musical language that is exotic, yet sincere. 

And how to start off this program of Japanese and Japan-influenced works? With Beethoven, Japan's favorite composer. Although nobody can say for sure why Beethoven is so popular in Japan, we certainly cannot blame them for their choice! Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, the Fuji-san of the violin sonata repertoire, opens this program.