Founder of the Schubert Ensemble, William Howard presents a tantalising programme consisting of Janáček’s Sonata, Judith Weir’s The Art of Touching the Keyboard, Chopin’s Mazurka in A minor and Ballade No.4 in F minor.
Admission: £5 (free for UoB students & staff with valid UCard).
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Programme
Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
Piano Sonata (Street Scene I.X.1905)
1. Předtucha (Presentiment): con moto
2. Smrt (Death): adagio
The date in the title of this dramatic work refers to an incident in Janáček’s home town of Brno in which a young apprentice was bayonetted to death during a demonstration in favour of the creation of a Czech University. Janáček, a fervent nationalist, wrote a three-movement sonata as a spontaneous expression of horror at the killing, but later impulsively destroyed the work, throwing it into the river Vltava. Two movements survived in a copy made by a pupil of the composer. The lost third movement is believed to have been entitled Funeral March.
JUDITH WEIR (b.1954)
The Art of Touching the Keyboard (1983)
Composer’s note: The title of this music is an over-literal translation of the title of Francois Couperin’s harpsichord tutor of 1716, L’art de toucher le clavecin. It seemed appropriate for a piece which begins with the player pressing single keys tentatively, as if encountering the instrument for the first time, and ends ten minutes later with the same repeated notes marked ‘confident and relaxed’. In the interim, the music, which is in a single continuous movement, demonstrates the many ways in which the piano keys can be touched, from the gentlest of strokes to the most vicious of blows. © Judith Weir
The Art of Touching the Keyboard was commissioned by William Howard with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain and was first performed at Wigmore Hall, London in December 1983.
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Mazurka in A minor Op.17 No.4
Ballade No.4 in F minor Op.52
Chopin’s Op.17 Mazurkas were composed in 1832-33, the first to be composed after he settled in Paris. The fourth and last of this set is one of Chopin’s most haunting and melancholic creations. The Fourth Ballade, completed in Paris in 1842, ranks alongside the First Ballade as one of the greatest examples of musical architecture among piano works of the romantic era. The Fourth Ballade is richer in texture than the First and harmonically bolder. Both works share a coherence and sense of proportion in the development of their contrasting musical ideas which belong to the era of Mozart and Beethoven, whilst the passion, power, drama and virtuosity of the pieces place them firmly in the romantic era.
Biography
William Howard is one of Britain’s leading pianists, enjoying a career that has taken him to over 40 different countries. As soloist and chamber musician William has performed regularly at major venues and festivals in the UK and can be heard frequently on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. He has made over forty CD recordings and premiered over 100 new works by leading composers from the UK and abroad. In 1983 he founded the Schubert Ensemble,
with which he performed for the full 35 years of the Ensemble’s existence. Three recent recordings for Orchid Classics - Sixteen Romantic Love Songs (2016), Sixteen Contemporary Love Songs (2018) and an album of pieces by Howard Skempton (2020) - have been hugely successful on streaming platforms and have enjoyed much critical acclaim. Recent engagements have included recitals in Italy and around the UK and performances with members of the Carducci String Quartet.