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Program notes - "Scarlatti Inspirations" |
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A Note from the Artistic Director Almost exactly a year ago, I was invited to the release party of a recording newly minted by Boulder pianist and composer Toby Tenenbaum, whom I had met briefly on several previous occasions. The CD being released that night consisted of 18 piano sonatas that Tenenbaum had written as an homage to Domenico Scarlatti over a period of five years from 1999 to 2003. Now, I have heard (and have myself written!) pieces that are meant to imitate the style of another composer, and the results - while sometimes interesting, and always an educational experience (did not Mozart and Beethoven themselves, as youths, copy out, arrange, and imitate other composers?) - are seldom worthy of extended attention. I was therefore not terribly hopeful of hearing anything that evening to turn my head, and was consequently looking forward principally to the appetizers. What was my surprise, therefore, when the sonatas I heard Toby play (between the sampling of exquisite appetizers, I might add - in this I was certainly not disappointed!) were not simply pale imitations of the original, but were works of art in their own right, that merely claimed the 550 keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti as a starting point, an inspiration. Toby writes in the liner notes of his CD "I wanted to create not just an homage but practical and durable keyboard music as well." He explains this process by saying "I sought to conform to the harmonic language of the 18th century while remaining rooted in my own times as a pianist and interpreter. (...) My sonatas take Scarlatti's inimitable writing for the harpsichord as a jumping off point. Exploiting the use of dynamics, touch, and pedaling they utilize the resources of the modern piano in all its tonal and textural variety." Domenico Scarlatti's father, Alessandro, has always been a personal fascination of mine, a composer who was extremely famous in his day, yet is virtually unknown today. I find his vocal writing exquisitely crafted, extremely poignant, and a joy to sing - all signs of a genius. It was therefore a short leap from that CD release party to tonight's concert - a concert exploring the lives and works of three men connected in one case by family ties, but in all cases by musical ties! Timothy J. Krueger February 2005 © 2005 Timothy J. Krueger |