The new series of lunchtime classical recital got off to a fine start with full house and a brilliant and varied performance from Pianist – Joanna MacGregor.
Click to read the review from the Eastern Daily Press
Programme information:
Alberto Ginastera (1916 – 1983)
Danzas Agentinas Op 2
1. Danza del viejo boyero (Dance of the Elderly Herdmen) The left hand plays only black notes and the right hand plays only white ones!
2. Danza de la moza donosa (Dance of the Beautiful Maiden)
3. Danza del gaucho matrero (Dance of the Arrogant Cowboy) Marked to be played furiously, violent and wild! Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires but went to America to study with Aaron Copland. He was a prolific composer of operas, ballets, orchestral and concerto works but these Dances are amongst his best known works.
Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)
Mazurkas Op 6 no 1 F sharp minor
Op 17 no 2 in E minor
Op 56 no 2 in C major
Op 30 no 3 in D flat major
Op 17 no 4 in A minor
Op 59 no 3 in F sharp minor
Chopin wrote nearly 60 Mazurkas based on traditional Polish dances though he transformed them into an entirely new genre. He fled his native Poland at the time of the 1830 Uprising and never returned and wrote new mazurkas almost every year of his life as if they were personal tributes and longing for his homeland.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata in F minor Op.57 Appassionata
1. Allegro assai
2. Andante con moto
3. Allegro ma non troppo
This is sonata is No 23 in Beethoven’s canon of 32 piano sonatas and dates from his so-called “middle period’ when he produced some of his best known works including the fifth & sixth symphonies, the violin concerto and fourth piano concerto. It is also one of a trio of popular sonatas of the period, the other two being the Waldstein and Les Adieux.
Joanna MacGregor
Joanna MacGregor is currently Head of Piano at the Royal Academy and Artistic Director of the International Summer School at Dartington. She was one of the first artists to be selected for the renowned Young Concert Artists Trust scheme and made one of her early appearances in the Music Room of the Assembly House for Norfolk & Norwich Music Club on 30th April 1988. Her piano recital career has taken her around the world from the major venues in London and Europe to the United States and the Far East with the major international orchestras and conductors. Joanna is one of the most versatile musicians in Europe and her work ranges composition, writing and broadcasting, to conducting and festival curation. She was Artistic Director of the Bath Festival from 2006-2012. Joanna is also famous for her promotion and interpretation of other composers works and has premiered piano concertos by Harrison Birthwistle, Django Bates, John Adams and James MacMillan. She was awarded an OBE in the Queens 2012 Birthday Honours list.