Florida-based NZ pianist Read Gainsford performs a recital themed around the idea of 'fantasy'.
Read Gainsford Photo: Read Gainsford
The recital was given at the 2023 Lewis Eady International Piano Festival in the University of Auckland Music Theatre.
Liliya UGAY: Raqs ("Dance")
Liliya Ugay Photo: supplied
Liliya Ugay, from Uzbekistan, is a colleague of Gainsford's at Florida State University.
BACH: Sarabande, from Partita No 1 in Bb
Gainsford chose this Sarabande to act as a prelude to the fantasies of Kreisleriana.
SCHUMANN: Kreisleriana Op 16
Robert Schumann takes inspiration from Johannes Kreisler, the fictional composer created by novelist E.T.A. Hoffmann.
The work is a suite of eight fantasies. Its title page bears a formal dedication to Frederick Chopin, but informally it’s written for Schumann’s beloved Clara Wieck, whom he was being kept away from at the time he was writing. He wrote to her:
“I'm overflowing with music and beautiful melodies now – imagine, since my last letter I've finished another whole notebook of new pieces. I intend to call it Kreisleriana. You and one of your ideas play the main role in it, and I want to dedicate it to you – yes, to you and nobody else – and then you will smile so sweetly when you discover yourself in it.”
RACHMANINOV: Preludes Op 32
Rachmaninov wrote these works in 1910 to compliment his earlier preludes – the single one within Opus 3 and the ten of Opus 23 – to create a complete set of preludes in all 24 major and minor keys.
These works, like the Preludes of Chopin, are not preludes to anything … they each stand alone. But unlike the Chopin works, they are not often played as a set. Read Gainsford refers to them fantasies and that’s why he’s programmed them with the fantasies of Kreisleriana.
In his spoken introduction to the concert, Read told the audience that he fell in love with these preludes when he heard them as he was driving along the shore of Lake Taupo at dusk … the purplish light in the mountains and water fit magically with the sounds of the music.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, 8 December 2024
Sound engineer: Adrian Hollay
