Christina Riley

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Publication Date

4-24-2008

Year of Release

2008

Note(s)

Christina Riley, piano

This program is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theory. Ms. Riley is a student in the piano studio of Leslie Petteys.

Program Notes

In 1890, Claude Debussy wrote his early version of Suite Bergamasque while living in Montmartre in northern Paris, the "Bohemian" neighborhood that had become a mecca for new artistic movements. In 1905, Debussy signed a contract with Durand's publishing firm giving them exclusive rights to publish all of his works. Debussy did not think that Suite Bergamasque represented his mature compositional style. Durand wanted to get as much financially out of Debussy as possible while his reputation was at his peak, disregarding that Debussy was not proud of his work. Debussy was reluctant, but instead of putting the date 1905 on the composition (which was when he revised this piece) when he signed the contract, he left the date 1890 so audiences would know that the work was an earlier composition.

Franz Schubert was most notable for his mastery of the Romantic Lied, but his song-inspired style was also represented in his sonatas. Due to Schubert's premature death from syphilis, he left many works incomplete. Sonata in A-flat consists of three movements, the last being in E-flat. In his early years, Schubert did tend to begin and end works in different keys, but this was not the case in 1817 when Schubert composed this sonata. Scholars have suggested that Schubert was not finished with this sonata (which is why it did not end in the key it began) because another musical idea had sparked his imagination that he needed to pursue.

Written in 1892, Rachmaninoff s Prelude in C-sharp minor gained notoriety among audiences, but ironically Rachmaninoff despised his most famous piece. Everywhere he went to perform, the audiences always wanted to hear him play it, so the monotony of playing a piece that he did not particularly like in the beginning led him to play it without feeling. The Prelude gained enormous popularity particularly in England and America, and unfortunately, Rachmaninoff had not placed international copyrights on this popular piece. When the piece was first heard in America in 1898, publishers immediately published editions of the piece, leaving Rachmaninoff famous, but receiving no money from the sale of this work.

Cantos for the End of Summer is one of only three piano pieces that Dr. Walker was commissioned to write. This particular piece was commissioned by Michael Haberkorn, a pianist that Dr. Walker had met in Ohio who also commissioned other piano works from her. Some of Gwyneth Walker's compositions are very serious in their meaning, while others, such as Cantos for the End of Summer, emphasize her personality and style in musical notations. "Caper" is the second movement in the set of character pieces and is highly rhythmic with glimpses into Walker's humor. A caper is characterized as being playful, or in the word's traditional sense, a joke. The performer is asked to utilize a variety of different tempos as well as use the whole length of the keyboard.

Note

Smith Recital Hall

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department presents a Junior Recital, Christina Riley, Piano

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