Premiere of Blake’s Piano Concerto RAIN DANCING by JPO
This Wednesday, 17 October, Jill Richards gives the world premiere of Michael Blake’s Piano Concerto Rain Dancing, with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Cleobury.
The concert, also including works by Debussy, Ravel and Beethoven, is repeated on Thursday 18 October. Both concerts start at 20h00 in the Linder Auditorium, Johannesburg. Booking at Computicket.
The composer will introduce the work at 19h15 each evening. He describes the piece as follows:
“This piece has what one expects in a piano concerto: a clear structure, recognizably recurring harmonies, quite complex polyrhythmic layering, lush orchestral textures with lavish percussion, a dazzling virtuoso piano part, and tunes that you can whistle as you leave the concert hall. Yet this is not a conventional ‘classical’ or ‘romantic’ concerto.
“In composing I work rather like a filmmaker, using montage technique to construct the music. I don’t use the word ‘theme’ because I don’t ‘do’ themes and then develop them in the traditional way, but you will however find traditional and popular South African musics are woven into or referenced in this piece.”
Even in advance of its premiere this music has brought some of the best rains in Gauteng for several years!
Blake has had a string of premieres in recent weeks, including Shoowa Panel for vibraphone and marimba, part of a retrospective concert at the South African College of Music in Cape Town; Reverie, an audiovisual piece in collaboration with Aryan Kaganof; and Rural Arias for singing saw and 11 players at the Arnold Schoenberg Centre in Vienna a fortnight ago. Mary Jordan wrote of that performance in Business Day:
“Blake has nothing to prove and plenty to say…the work is a magnificent, craggy lament for South Africa’s rural population, feeling the devastating effects of climate change, poverty and HIV/Aids.”
www.michaelblake.co.za
www.jillrichards.com
www.nicholascleobury.net
www.jpo.co.za
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