A theme which runs through a number of the pieces in this issue is
Vaughan Williams's early Piano Quintet, which, since its
resurrection about 25 years ago, more and more, I believe, is being
regarded as an important part of Vaughan Williams's oeuvre. A
strong case for it was made by a performance at Wigmore Hall last
December, a concert which I was lucky enough to have attended -
See my review on page 20. Also coming very much from this point
of view is Rachel Harrington and Barry Tan's article analysing the
work…[]
...I couldn’t believe Chausson had composed something as Romantically glorious, enraptured, and intoxicating as this. Let me retract that for a moment, because some of his songs soar with similar ardor, something I’ve noted before about the composer’s vocal style. Melody, gorgeous and nonstop, pours forth from the piano, and the notes spill from the keys as if 88 of them aren’t enough. On top of its indescribable melodic and harmonic beauty, the work is equally a dazzling virtuoso showpiece. It sounds like it takes 20 fingers to play it, and Tan has them in reserve.
I simply cannot fathom how a piece of music this stunning could have remained in limbo, unpublished, for 141 years. But now that it finally has been, and that Barry Tan has recorded it in a performance that will sweep you off your feet this is one of those discoveries you must experience while you still have breath to draw, though I take no responsibility if listening to it takes your breath away.
...But in one flash of genius, the Sonata came to him, and courtesy of Barry Tan, it now comes to us, white-hot, explicit, and shameless in its sensuality, and sensational in Tan’s performance...[ ]
One of the most meaningful recent projects I completed was recording my first solo piano classical album, titled Piano Works by Ernest Chausson, released on the Sheva Collection label. Ernest Chausson was a mid-19th-century French composer who wrote a relatively small collection of solo piano works. However, some of his early compositions written during his student years remained unpublished, or removed from the public after its first edition. It was only recently, when a publishing company took interest in his manuscripts and decided to make a first edition of one of his early works, Sonate pour piano. This work featured on the album shows a strong influence from the weightier Romantic and Classical idioms that preceded him. This style is not typically associated with French composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Debussy and Ravel, in which their works are more frequently recognized for their post-romantic style...[ ]
...Research Studies Focused on Effective Strategies for Developing Keyboard Sight-Reading Skills
Many traditional approaches to teaching sight-reading rely heavily on error detection. As such,
sight-reading is focused on note and rhythmic accuracy within the context of maintaining
performance continuity. In researching the effectiveness of some of these approaches for
developing keyboard sight-reading skills, the findings are interesting. The improvements made
by students in their keyboard sight-reading ability, as observed in the various studies cited
below, range from speculative to significant improvement. Let’s consider several studies
focused on keyboard sight-reading below...[]
"...A taut surface spread over richer depths. A short Sonoro movement, a duet for piano ( Barry Tan )and percussion ( Jack Rutledge ), was stirring..."
Rixiang Huang and Barry Tan, DMA candidates in the Keyboard Studies program, each recently took home top honors at international piano competitions...
...Barry Tan received the bronze prize and the prize for Best Overall Performance of a Canadian Work at the 2021 Vancouver International Music Competition for his performance of Jean Coulthard’s Piano Sonata No. 2.
"Rae Gallimore and Barry Tan played the first movement, marked impetuoso, with a passion that swept all before it. There were lyrical episodes, the second subject in particular being conveyed with charm and elegance, but the overall impression was rhapsodic and, indeed, impetuous...
...Tan gave a most impressive performance, from the somewhat sombre opening statement of the theme, to the final variation in which there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Along the way the performance had moments of considerable poetry and beauty..."
Ravel Concerto in G major, with UVic Symphony Orchestra
For at least one listener, the performance of the Concerto in G by Barry Tan was the highlight of Friday's concert; if nothing else, it was surely the greatest music of the evening.
Tan proved to be a steely-fingered soloist who was nevertheless capable of producing some exquisite tone colouring. The languid solo which opens the slow movement was beautifully judged and his playing in the outer movements had all the sparkling energy one could desire...
...For an encore, Tan played (unless I am much mistaken) Earl Wild's Etude No.4 on Gershwin's "Embraceable You", a fluid, virtuosic and quite delectable performance.
