In Focus I: Steve Reich@75
26 November 2011, Wathen Hall, St Paul's School
Clapping Music - Steve Reich and Joshua Kellie (handclapping)
New York Counterpoint - Charlie Dale-Harris (clarinet)
Cello Counterpoint - Joel Sandelson (cello)
Different Trains - The Smith Quartet
Music for Eighteen Musicians - The London New Music Ensemble
Do you remember when Steve Reich, “America’s greatest living composer”, came to your school concert and you performed his seminal work Clapping Music with the great man? No? Well, Joshua Kellie does. Joshua was one of the talented (and fortunate) St Paul’s School pupils chosen to perform in a concert in honour of the minimalist composer on his 75th birthday. The programme was exclusively Reich: three solo pieces performed by Pauline musicians and the Smith Quartet’s performance of Different Trains made up the first half, the second being entirely taken up by his Music for 18 Musicians.
The evening began with a showcasing of the school’s talented soloists. Percussionist Joshua Kellie could barely contain his grin as he walked on stage with the composer, nor indeed throughout their six-minute performance of Clapping Music. His enjoyment of the pulse and the clarity with which he performed allowed any strangers to the piece to become acquainted with it in its true, mesmerising glory. Clarinettist Charlie Dale-Harris and cellist Joel Sandelson were no less impressive during their performances of New York Counterpoint and Cello Counterpoint respectively, both performing with élan and a real feeling for the style of the music.
The Smith Quartet then took to the stage to perform Reich’s 1988 piece Different Trains. This intriguing work contrasts Reich’s own boyhood experiences of taking trains across America in the 1940s with the terrible experiences of European Jews of the same era, with the reminisces of both Americans and Europeans played on tape. The composer then composed for the strings using the pitches and rhythms achieved by the voices as they talk. The result is an incredibly moving blend of music and text, the strings filling in the silences in a poignant manner. This the Quartet did with commitment and expressivity, always alive to the possibilities of the text and the beauty of the often strange music they were creating.
Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians is perhaps his most famous and influential work. The 18 musicians begin as clearly defined groups of different instrument types, and then proceed to break down these boundaries over the process of the fifty-five minute long piece. The entire work is built on a cycle of eleven chords and has the rhythmic, hypnotic quality common to all of Reich’s music: after a very short space of time each individual starts to blend into one whole sound, until it is impossible to distinguish a singer’s note from that of the cello or the marimba. The London New Music Ensemble, made up entirely of pupils, ex-pupils and teachers of St Paul’s Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, coped superbly with the demands of such a long and repetitive piece, communicating clearly with each other throughout in order to produce a performance that was entirely pleasing in its effect.
Helen Fraser
http://www.bachtrack.com/review-st-paul%27s-school-steve-reich
John Lill (piano)
13 January 2012, Wathen Hall, St Paul's School
Mozart - Piano Sonata in F major, K. 332
Schumann - Faschingswank aus Wien, Op. 26
Prokofiev - Toccata in D minor, Op. 11
Brahms - Three Intermezzi, Op. 117
Beethoven - Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 ('Appassionata')
When one thinks of the ‘X factor’, it’s fairly certain that the first image that comes to mind is not that of a quiet, unassuming man in his mid-sixties, clad in evening dress. But Simon Cowell is missing a trick: even without the sparkling trappings of show-biz, pianist John Lill is steeped in the ‘X factor’, that indefinable ingredient which separates the very good performers from the magical ones. St Paul’s School’s Wathen Hall was the ideal venue for this lesson in musical magic, combining the intimacy of a small venue with the advantages of a pleasant acoustic and superb piano.
Lill took to the stage with a characteristic lack of fuss, launching straight away into Mozart’s luminous Sonata in F major, K332. His glowing account served to partly elucidate the mystery of the elusive ‘X factor’: in his hands, the well-known sonata felt fresh, as though Lill had composed the piece in his dressing room prior to arriving on stage. This magical effect was further heightened by his enraptured audience; the ability to hold the attention of his audience throughout an entire sonata is another component of Lill’s superb artistry.
Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien followed the light-hearted cheek of Mozart’s finale, allowing Lill to revel in a very different range of emotions. His ability to switch instantly from the clarity of the Mozart sonata to the Romantic drama of Schumann’s five-movement portrait of Vienna’s Carnival demonstrated yet another facet of the Lill artistry, this ability to produce completely different sounds from the same instrument, so that one might swear that a different pianist performed the two works. This ability to play absolutely in style was further demonstrated by the last work in the first half, Prokofiev’s Toccata, where Lill’s dispassionate delivery of the showpiece emphasised the machine-like nature of the repeated toccata figure.
Brahms’s Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 returned to the world of the Mozart sonata, a gently glowing performance which held the audience captive. Lill’s superlative musicality brought a huge range of colour to these beautiful miniatures, carefully balancing every line in the texture until the piano began to take on the sounds of a group of singers.
In the final piece of the programme, Beethoven’s Sonata no. 23, ‘Appassionata’, this chamber choir grew into a full orchestra. The piece demands a huge amount from the pianist, putting both lyrical and dramatic playing to the test. The first movement is particularly challenging, requiring a clearly thought-out structure from the performer in order to prevent the contrasting sections from sounding disparate. Lill dealt with this very effectively by creating reference points for the audience, stressing certain phrases in order to keep them in mind when they reappear in other sections. Lill chose a brisk tempo, which felt slightly rushed in places, not allowing himself the time to work the same magic as he achieved in the Mozart. The opposite was true in the Andante con moto second movement: Lill’s flowing tempo brought out the simple beauty of the theme and variations without becoming bogged down in detail. An earth-shattering Presto ended the Sonata, reminding us of the formidable technical ability on which Lill has built his artistry. Recommended viewing for all X Factor hopefuls perhaps?
Helen Fraser
http://www.bachtrack.com/review-john-lill-st-pauls-school-schumann-beethoven