Sunday, July 28th, at 3 PM welcomes the celebrated South African pianist Ben Schoeman, presenting a recital featuring works by Bach, Beethoven, Fauré, Zaidel-Rudolph, and Liszt.
Steinway artist Ben Schoeman was awarded first prize in the 11th UNISA Vodacom International Piano Competition, the gold medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, as well as the Huberte Rupert Prize for achievements in classical music. He has presented performances in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore, Barbican, Cadogan, LSO St Luke’s and Queen Elisabeth Halls in London, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and the Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon. Together with pianist Tessa Uys, Schoeman has been performing and recording all nine Beethoven Symphonies, arranged for piano duet by Xaver Scharwenka, receiving rave reviews across the UK and Europe.
The Partita no. 4 in D by J.S. Bach opens with a glorious French Overture, its flourishes, trills and double dotting immediately capturing the listener’s attention, before moving on to a dancelike fugal section in concerto style. After the long singing phrases of the Allemande, and a rhythmically inventive Courante, Bach inserts a lively Aria before the intimate Sarabande. A brief Menuet is followed by the concluding Gigue, a lively dance articulating Bach’s vigour and zest for life.
Beethoven’s Sonata no. 23 in F minor, nicknamed the “Appasionata” by a publisher 30 years after its composition, establishes its revolutionary spirit right from the outset as the ghostly opening motif is swept aside by an outburst of full chords. The contemplative theme and variations lead without interruption into the whirlwind finale, a moto perpetuo of explosive dynamic contrasts with a furiously accelerated coda.
Fauré’s Nocturne no.6 in D flat is by far the most significant and well-known of his 13 Nocturnes. Although these pieces seem to revert back to the tradition of Field and Chopin by name, Fauré creates a unique genre within which the music alternates between lyrical elegance and passionate drama.
South African composer Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph composed Ebb and Flow, after having been commissioned by SAMRO to compose the prescribed work for the UNISA International Piano Competition in 2020.
The Sonata in B minor by Liszt is widely considered to be Liszt’s greatest piano work, and indeed one of the crowning achievements of the nineteenth century. The piece is in a single, unbroken movement, containing a slow central section and a scherzo-like fugato, which gives the impression of several movements within one. Liszt employs the process of thematic transformation to bind the sonata together – by changing the character of the four major musical themes, he creates seemingly endless material, all while retaining the essential identity – the melodic outline – of each theme.
Join at Northwards House, Parktown on Sunday, July 28th, at 3 PM for an afternoon in the company of the world’s most beautiful piano music.
Tickets, as always, are available at Quicket.