The performance under consideration is the virtual concert of Seung-Hye Kim. She is not only a pianist but also a successful composer. During the event, she presented several works of contemporary musicians, thereby providing the audience with an opportunity to learn more about recent works (“Music at Mary Baldwin,” n.d.). Therefore, this paper aims to reflect on this experience of a viewer discussing the pieces played by Dr. Kim, comparing them with other compositions studied in class, and providing an opinion on the performance.
The concert was a piano recital of four compositions created by different musicians. They were “Aitsi for Amplified Piano” by Giacinto Scelsi, “Turn” by Per Nørgård, “Cailloux Dans L’Eau” (“Pebbles in Water”) by Tristan Murail, and “Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik” (“A Little Midnight Music”) by George Crumb (“Music at Mary Baldwin,” n.d.). The first piece, “Aitsi for Amplified Piano,” was created in 1974, and it gives an impression of harshness. The distorted sounds add to this perception, and the improvised nature of this work is obvious. The second composition, “Turn” by Per Nørgård, was originally created for harpsichord. It is characterized by continuous changes of a musical figure by gradual alterations, which allows presenting various melodic patterns. These two compositions comprised the first part of the concert.
In turn, “Cailloux Dans L’Eau” (“Pebbles in Water”) by Tristan Murail for piano is an inspiration of the composer by pebbles shaking the surface of the water expressed in the melody. The last piece from the concert, “Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik” (“A Little Midnight Music”) by George Crumb for amplified piano, consists of nine short parts. They are based on folk tunes combined with classical melodies and arranged in such a way that the ongoing transformation is quite seamless. The specificity of this piece is in the fact that the original rhythm and structure of the materials were not preserved by Crumb as it is usually done by other composers. As a result, it appears more abstract, and the melodic associations are used to convey the initial tunes.
The compositions presented during this performance are different from the ones studied in class. For example, “Spring” by Antonio Vivaldi includes both sounds of nature and images of the season as in the “Eine Kleine Mitternachtmusik” (“A Little Midnight Music”) by George Crumb. Yet, it is more complex in terms of instruments and fast repetitions of notes. Meanwhile, there are similar themes in some of the pieces under consideration. For instance, the idea of “Cailloux Dans L’Eau” (“Pebbles in Water”) by Tristan Murail resembles “September: At the River” by Das Jahr. Both melodies reflect on the feelings one receives from observing water. However, in the former’s case, it is connected to waves, and the latter is the flow of the river. Therefore, the similarity is obvious only in the original ideas of some composers.
To summarize, the four pieces played by Seung-Hye Kim are interesting from the perspective of their implementation of their creators’ unique vision. Nevertheless, the most exciting circumstance stemming from this experience is the ability of musicians to convey a message while drastically changing their works from the original materials. In addition, the connection of their works with nature seems fascinating, especially considering the difference between these compositions and earlier creations of others. Thus, the uniqueness of the performance is conditional upon the selection of melodies, which resemble other pieces and are inspired by them while being distinguished by their realization.
Reference
Music at Mary Baldwin. (n.d.). Mary Baldwin University. 2021, Web.