Music on Thursdays
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Thursday
9th September 2021
12.30 lunchtime
Thomas Ang
piano
Programme
Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880-1951)
arr Thomas Ang
from 5 Poems of Tyutchev & Fet Op 37 (1918-20)
1 Bessonitsa Sleeplessness / Insomnia
Clara Mathilde Faißt (1872-1948)
2 Pieces Op 25
1 Improvisation
2 Ein Ton A Tone
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
4 Scènes de Ballet Op 64 (1906)
1 Allegro con brio
2 Vivace
3 Allegro risoluto
4 Allegretto
Nikolai Medtner
4 Szazki / Fairy Tales Op 34 (1916-17)
1 The Magic Violin
2 in E minor, "Peace"
3 Leshii, "Forest spirit (but a kind plaintive one)"
4 in D minor, "There lived in the world a poor knight" (Pushkin)
Concert duration approx: 45 minutes
Please donate to help fund these concerts at: cafdonate.cafonline.org/14455
Thomas Ang
Thomas studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne and Diana Ketler, gaining recognition for his thoughtful and searching recital programmes, as well as being a quick and sensitive collaborator. Having presented a string of critical successes, he has also won prizes for his performances of Beethoven, Frederick Delius, Arthur Bliss and the contemporary piano repertoire.
Thomas performs as part of several contemporary-music ensembles, including playing John Cage at the Purcell Room in 2013 and two programmes of Boulez’s music at the 2015 Aldeburgh Music Festival. With his piano duo he performed the complete non-sonata piano works of Boulez, including the two books of Structures, in London as well as various concerts in Australia and around the UK.
With Scordatura Collective, a group dedicated to the performance and proliferation of music by female composers, he is also involved in educational outreach. In other chamber groups he maintains a strong interest in unusual repertoire of the late Romantic, as well as mid-20th-century British music. In addition, he is a specialist in the music of Nikolai Kapustin, having played several local and world premieres of his works.
He has worked with conductors such as Susanna Mälkki, Clement Power, Sian Edwards and Jonathan Berman as well as composers Oliver Knussen, John Adams and Nikolai Kapustin in playing their music. He has also played in classes by Stephen Hough, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Imogen Cooper, Kathryn Stott and Yevgeny Sudbin among others.
Off the concert stage, Thomas often works as a répétiteur, with productions like the first-ever Wagner production in Singapore (Die fliegender Holländer) and the Russian premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence under his belt. He also accompanies and improvises for silent film, having performed at the Barbican Cinema in Erotikon by Gustav Machatý. Thomas also plays the violin, and writes poetry and piano transcriptions of songs and symphonies.
Over recent years Thomas has contributed much to Leatherhead's Lunchtime Concerts both as a soloist and as accompanist to a number of his instrumental colleagues.
Thomas performs as part of several contemporary-music ensembles, including playing John Cage at the Purcell Room in 2013 and two programmes of Boulez’s music at the 2015 Aldeburgh Music Festival. With his piano duo he performed the complete non-sonata piano works of Boulez, including the two books of Structures, in London as well as various concerts in Australia and around the UK.
With Scordatura Collective, a group dedicated to the performance and proliferation of music by female composers, he is also involved in educational outreach. In other chamber groups he maintains a strong interest in unusual repertoire of the late Romantic, as well as mid-20th-century British music. In addition, he is a specialist in the music of Nikolai Kapustin, having played several local and world premieres of his works.
He has worked with conductors such as Susanna Mälkki, Clement Power, Sian Edwards and Jonathan Berman as well as composers Oliver Knussen, John Adams and Nikolai Kapustin in playing their music. He has also played in classes by Stephen Hough, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Imogen Cooper, Kathryn Stott and Yevgeny Sudbin among others.
Off the concert stage, Thomas often works as a répétiteur, with productions like the first-ever Wagner production in Singapore (Die fliegender Holländer) and the Russian premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence under his belt. He also accompanies and improvises for silent film, having performed at the Barbican Cinema in Erotikon by Gustav Machatý. Thomas also plays the violin, and writes poetry and piano transcriptions of songs and symphonies.
Over recent years Thomas has contributed much to Leatherhead's Lunchtime Concerts both as a soloist and as accompanist to a number of his instrumental colleagues.
Recordings of the works in today's concert
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Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880-1951) arr Thomas Ang from 5 Poems of Tyutchev & Fet Op 37 (1918-20) 1 Bessonitsa Sleeplessness / Insomnia 6m15 performed by Ekaterina Levental, mezzo-soprano and Frank Peters, piano |
Clara Mathilde Faißt (1872-1948)
2 Pieces Op 25
1 Improvisation
2 Ein Ton A Tone
There is very little music by Clara Faißt online. Here is an example which will give but a flavour of her work.
Praeludium im gotschen Stil, Op 28
Prelude in the Gothic style
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
4 Scènes de Ballet Op 64 (1906)
1 Allegro con brio
2 Vivace
3 Allegro risoluto
4 Allegretto
The problem with finding matches for Thomas Ang performances is that he specialises in music that is rarely performed. So here too we have found no direct match to the pieces he is going to play.
We might get a feel for Coleridge-Taylor by listening to David McDade playing movements from another set titled "Scenes from an Imaginary Ballet." David is Head of Coach-Accompanists with Seattle Opera. It took a while to work out quite what that job was, but they seem to have "Coach-Accompanists" of whom he is the top man!
Nikolai Medtner
4 Szazki / Fairy Tales Op 34 (1916-17) 16m07
1 The Magic Violin
2 in E minor, "Peace" “When we have called a thing ours, It departs from us forever.” (F Tyutchev)
3 Leshii, "Forest spirit (but a kind plaintive one)"
4 in D minor, "There lived in the world a poor knight" (A Pushkin)
performed by Craig Jordan for his BMus recital at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, in Appleton, Wisconsin, in November 2018.
Next Thursday's concert
Anna Hashimoto, clarinet, with Veronika Shoot, piano with music by Paul Jeanjean, Leo Ornstein, Paul Henley, William Hurlstone, Vladislav Shoot - click here
Last Thursday's concert
Yeo Tat-Soon, harpsichord, music from 1370 to the Baroque - click here
