Duncan Cumming

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Publication Date

3-7-2008

Year of Release

2008

Note(s)

Duncan Cumming, piano

Program Notes

This short program is made up of music composed in France in the 19th and 20th centuries. Claude Debussy, born outside of Paris in St. Germain-en-Laye lived in Paris almost his entire life. He wrote two books of twelve preludes, one in 1910 and the second in 1913. Bach of course wrote two books of 24 Preludes and Fugues in the 18th century and Chopin wrote 24 Preludes in the 19th century. Debussy didn’t necessarily intend his to be preludes to anything in particular, but I am using them as preludes to Satie in this concert. Debussy asks the performer in the first of these two preludes to play "with the liberty of a popular song." In the second he has indications such as "strident" and "furious and rapid" in addition to the marking at the opening, "animated and tumultuous." At the top of the first page of each prelude Debussy writes simply a Roman numeral and a tempo indication, and that is the way I have identified them in your program. Only at the very end, almost as an afterthought, does Debussy add a more descriptive title. Perhaps this is so the pianist will form his own impression before Debussy reveals his. This title is presented almost apologetically, in parentheses and after three dots in the lower right corner of the last page. I will tell you these titles after I play the pieces, so that you, too, may have the experience that Debussy offered the pianist.

"The Mighty Handful" is the phrase used to describe a band of Russian nationalist composers in the late 19 century which included Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky among others. Their spiritual leader was Glinka, although the later composers in the end were probably more famous than Glinka ever became. The French answer to this group in the early 20th century was "Les Six” a group that included Poulenc and Milhaud, and they all looked up to Erik Sane. Satie, like Glinka, is probably not as well-known as some of his followers, but nevertheless he was a contemporary of Debussy and Ravel and had at least as much influence on the next generation of French composers as either of those two more famous composers. The avant-garde composer John Cage was one of Satie's greatest champions. The set of pieces called "Sports et Divertissements, written in 1914, is as unusual as its creator, so I will speak more about the composer and the composition from the stage.

''Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!" was Robert Schumann's announcement to the musical establishment that the young Polish composer Frederic Chopin had arrived. Schumann wrote this line after seeing the score of Chopin's Op. 2 a set of variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni. On March 1, 2010, I intend to play a program made up entirely of single works by Chopin in a variety of different genres, to honor his 200th birthday. This program includes four individual pieces; with these four pieces I took the liberty of building my own little sonata. Of course Chopin wrote sonatas and I could have played one of those, but there is so much rich diversity in the music that Chopin wrote some-15 or so different types-that I thought it would be interesting to include some variety of genre in a group put together like a sonata. This doesn't mean you can't clap between pieces if you want to-it's not a real sonata.

Therefore the Scherzo is my first movement. It is long virtuosic and has a development section and other aspects of sonata-allegro' ("first movement") form. The obvious question is why wouldn't I make the Scherzo the third movement, where a scherzo might go in a sonata or a symphony, but Chopin's scherzos are of an entirely different nature, character, and scope than any found within normal four-movement work. This one is in triple time and has a contrasting trio, but the massive development and extended coda make it more like a first movement to me. The trio is lyrical in nature, but as the last section of the long and repeated trio tries to hang on to this serenity it is swept under by a wave which charges into an extended and angry development. The material that begins the development is the same as that which ended the trio but a darker force invades and transforms it.

My "second movement," the slow Étude in C# minor, is sometimes called by pianists the "Cello Étude." Indeed, the melody is often in the bass and all the virtuosic passages occur in the bass, accompanied in the treble by what sounds like pulsing string chords. A countermelody-flute, if you like-is sometimes heard joining the mournful cello. I chose a waltz for my upbeat, triple-meter third movement, which actually contains many waltzes. It begins with an introduction, calling the dancers to the dance floor, and ends with a coda in which Chopin almost appears briefly to abandon the triple meter. A colleague of mine once said music either dances or it sings; this reminds us of how Chopin, like Bach before him, was inspired by dance in writing keyboard music. Bach used the allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue among many others. For Chopin, it was the waltz, polonaise, and at least three different types of mazurkas that inspired him.

My "Finale" for this homespun sonata is another etude from Op. 25, in C minor. This is the last étude from the last book of études, and it too has a nickname among pianists: the "Ocean Étude," for its rolling and crashing waves. This piece is at once beautiful, subdued chorale and bloody battle. Chopin suffered as Poland suffered even though he never returned there from Paris, where he spent virtually the last half of his life, but he had a revolutionary spirit. Whenever I play what sounds to me to be gunshots at the end of this etude I can't help thinking of another less famous comment of Schumann describing the music of Chopin: "Cannons buried in flowers." So while the final etude from the first book of études is known as the "Revolutionary" it is the final etude from the final book of études that fires the cannons.

Duncan J. Cumming

Biography

Duncan J. Cumming, now in his second year on the faculty of the University at Albany, has performed concertos, recitals, and chamber music concerts in cities across the United States as well as in Europe. The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Merkin Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City, and the Wallenstein Palace in Prague, Czech Republic are among the concert halls in which he has appeared. This past September he lectured and performed as part of "Focus on Frank Glazer: A Mini-Festival," which he organized and hosted at the University at Albany. Two days later he performed with Frank Glazer to a packed house at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, Maine, a concert which opened the new season there. In October a brief but intense New England tour included six recitals in four days. The next week he played the Grieg Concerto in A minor, Op. 16. In the spring he travels to Massachusetts and West Virginia for recitals in addition to his concerts in New York, and in the fall he plays the Beethoven Concerto in C minor, Op. 37 and hosts "A 9tiildren's Musical Carousel," a festival in New York. A recent review describes his playing as "technically flawless ... thoughtful, deliberate and balanced, without a wasted gesture or any histrionics, rather like Rachmaninoff."

Born near the Canadian border in Presque Isle, Maine, Cumming graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors from Bates College in 1993, where he studied with Frank Glazer. In 1994 he received a full scholarship from the European Mozart Foundation and participated in intense chamber music study and performance at the European Mozart Academy in Prague. Upon his return to America he studied with Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory, where he received his Master of Music degree in 1996. In May of 2003 he graduated with the Doctor of Music degree from Boston University, where his principal teacher was Maria Clodes Jaguaribe and his dissertation advisors were John Daverio and Martin Amlin.

In 2002 Cumming joined the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute where he continues to teach, coach chamber music, and perform as Assistant Director of the Young Artists Piano Program. From 1994-2006 he was a member of the faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He has lectured, given master classes, and served on juries for competitions in addition to his performing and teaching. Known for his innovative and carefully constructed programs, Cumming often presents informal commentary to the audience on the music he plays. He has commissioned, premiered, and recorded new works for solo piano, violin and piano, and piano trio. He performs frequently with his wife Hilary, violinist and adjunct professor of violin at the University at Albany. With the cellist Solen Dikener they make up the Capital Piano Trio the new ensemble in residence at the Umversity at Albany. Duncan and Hilary have two daughters, Lucy Rose and Mairi Skye.

Note

First Presbyterian Church, Huntington, WV

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department presents a Music Alive!, Guest Artist Series, featuring guest artist, Duncan Cumming, piano

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