On Friday, February 28th the
young Canadian pianist Tina Chong presented the 3rd concert in Prescott's Fort
Town Concert Association's Series. Born
in Banff, Ms. Chong grew up in Calgary where she gave her first performance
with orchestra at the age of nine. As a
young emerging artist, she has already won many competitions in Brazil and the United States,
including the prize as Best Canadian
Artist at the 2011 Montreal International Music Competition. She has performed in concerts in Canada, the
United States and Brazil, and is currently touring Ontario and Quebec as a
Jeunesses Musicales Canada artist. A
graduate of Oberlin College, she is presently studying on scholarship for her
music doctorate at Indiana University.
Her concert Friday night was the
highlight of the Fort Town Concert Association's Series. Her secure and fluent technique enabled her
to convey the contrasts of her varied and challenging program, with the theme
of "Keyed Fantasies". She introduced each piece with an interesting
literary description relating to the composer and the music to follow. The relatively unstructured form of the
"fantasy" gives the freedom to
project events and emotions through the music, as was evident in each selection on the
program.
Opening the program was a Prelude from a Harpsichord Suite by Handel,
composed about 1733. This was an age of
improvisation, and the scoring for this Prelude is a series of chords, a guide
or outline on which the performer must build the music. Creatively improvised by Ms. Chong, it was suggestive
of the "fantasies" to follow.
This led into the Beethoven Sonata Op. 27 No. 1, one of two "in the
manner of a fantasy", the other being the more familiar "Moonlight
Sonata". Beethoven himself titled
it as a "fantasia", inverting the usual order of the movements, which flow into each other
without pause. The demands of contrast
and tempo showed not only Ms. Chong's secure technique, but a gentle
sensitivity for the lyrical melody and syncopated rhythms.
A contrast, and a substitute in the program,
was the dreamy, lovely Barcarolle by
Chopin. Often described as a love duet,
the languorous, surging rhythm describes a gondola gliding through the water.
The middle section is faster and more agitated, but the piece ends serenely
with the rocking rhythm of the first section.
This descriptive music was beautifully played by Ms. Chong.
The last piece before
intermission was the "Scottish Fantasy" by Mendelssohn. A piece beloved by pianists, filled with
melody, each movement faster than the preceding one it builds to an exciting
ending. It is a high energy piece filled with challenges for
the pianist. It was brilliantly played
to an exciting finish.
The second part of the concert
opened with Schumann's suite of twelve short pieces, "Papillons". Inspired by a Jean Paul quotation" let
all that is marvellous fly.....as a butterfly at twilight", the pieces are vignettes of events at a
masked ball, from a wedding waltz to the end of the festivities at midnight. Ms.
Chong's engaging performance of each piece was full of life and playful
contrast.
The most demanding work was the
6th Sonata by Sergei Prokofiev. This was
the first of three "War
Sonatas" composed at the outbreak of W.W.II. Frustrated with the insipid restrictions on
his work, Prokofiev found release in this description of the ravages of
war. A highly charged dramatic work, it
is extremely difficult technically and emotionally for the performer, and challenging
for the listener. Sharp dissonances and
frequent key changes increase the sense of despair and suffering, relieved only
by a slower waltz--like section. It finishes with a thunderous climax bringing
together all the themes from previous sections.
Ms. Chong gave an absolutely stunning performance of this titanic piece,
bringing the audience to a standing ovation.
The evening was opened by
"Jazz Latte", a local trio of musicians with Mary Moore, lead
vocalist and composer of two of the numbers played. They have entertained at
many charity events in this area and their "opening" was appreciated
and enjoyed.
The performances this evening
were the first to use the magnificent new stage created in St. Andrew's
Church. A credit to the whole community,
this project is the result of a co-operative effort by St. Andrew's Church,
the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and the Fort Town Concert Association, assisted by a Trillium Grant from the Province
of Ontario and the generosity of many individual supporters. A formal inauguration will take place in May.
This Series is supported by the
Ontario Arts Council; Tina Chong's concert was sponsored by Judith Caldwell. The next concert will be a performance of
"La Boheme" on Saturday, March 29 at 7.30 P.M., on the new
stage. Tickets are still available at
www.ftca.ca
Submitted by;
Lois Davidson
1662 County Rd. 2 West
Prescott K0E 1T0
613-918-0721
lcat2@cogeco.ca
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