The brilliant young pianist Xiayin Wang will perform back-to-back world premieres of Sean Hickey’s Cursive and Richard Danielpour’s Enchanted Garden, Preludes Book 11, two new works for piano, in her performance at Alice Tully Hall Monday night, May 18th at 8 PM. Included in the program are works by Haydn, Chopin, Ravel, Scriabin and Liszt.
Of Cursive, Hickey says “The piece begins with a seven-note ostinato in the right hand which serves as a fixed idea throughout the entire work. But the nature of this falling pattern is such that it immediately spawns other related figures. The piece concludes with a flurry of arpeggiation and hand over hand runs, as if this were the denouement of an agitated story, written in a florid prose.”
Danielpour says of Enchanted Garden: “The “garden” in question refers to the garden of the mind. In [this] second book, the preludes are evocative of memories in real life, which, when recalled, have their own “dreamlike” quality. To the philosopher, the question, “what is reality” will come to mind, while to musicians and music lovers, both our dreams and realities celebrate life.”
Wang’s debut CD on Naxos arrives May 26th and is devoted to the piano works of Alexander Scriabin arcing his early, middle and late period compositions.
We’ve got a reviewer headed to this one too, so check back next week for the report.