Two Fantasias K.396 and K.397 and Variations K.264 for piano by W. A. Mozart

I would like to make a few remarks about Mozart’s pieces that I play here. These compositions, written and published in the late 18th century, have a timeless appeal that continues to captivate performers and audiences today.

Fantasia in D minor, K 397

This Fantasia is one of Mozart's most famous piano pieces. I started playing it as a child and find something new every time I return to it. This music has an unpredictably unfolding story.

In the dark opening of the Andante episode, one can hear the overture starting. The following Adagio section sounds like a tragic aria, which is abruptly cut and interrupted by the Presto passage, an avalanche of sixteenth notes that finishes on the diminished chord, the most unstаble harmony. At this moment, we lose the sense of tonality. The Fermata that follows creates suspense. The Tempo Primo in bar 35 (see video 2:20-2:35) sounds like a majestic recitative with the following section of sequences of motives of despair and tragedy.

The piece's last Allegretto in D major episode completely changes the scene. We find ourselves in a paradise garden with everlasting peace and happiness. In the bright colour of D major, with the passing thirty-second notes, we hear the chirps of the birds and feel the warmth of sunlight.

The plot of this Fantasia shares some similarities with the famous and last Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. The ideas of seeking goodness, going through difficulties and struggles, and achieving light and happiness are similar to those of the little piano piece and the fundamental opera.

Variations in C major ‘Lison Dormait’, K 264.

Mozart wrote this charming music in Paris in 1778. ‘Lison Dormait’ was a popular song by Nicolas Dezide, a famous French composer and author of many opera comiques. The words of the song are playful and picturesque. Here is the plot: while a beautiful shepherdess sleeps under the tree, a young man walking early in the morning notices her. He tries to wake her up by throwing flowers at her. She doesn’t feel his presence until he takes her hand. She wakes up and asks him to leave because she fears someone will see them together. The young man answers that he has seen the sunrise, but the girl is even more beautiful than it.

The story reminds me of the works of famous 18th-century French artists who painted in the Rococo style, for example, this work by Antoine Watteau:

Mozart captured the spirit of this song by creating a beautiful theme and nine brilliant variations. Happiness and delight are the main ideas of this music, and the influence of the French style of Rococo is evident in the song's content, spirit, and elaborate ornamentation.

Fantasia in C minor, K 396

Mozart wrote this work in Vienna in 1782. Initially written for the violin and piano, it is now famous as a solo piano piece. Unlike the Fantasia in D minor, which is written in free form, this Fantasia is in sonata form, which has exposition, development, and recapitulation sections. From the first note of the exposition, a powerful arpeggio displays drama, while the second part of the opening theme is more reflective and soft. This conflict within one theme and later between the first and second themes is a common feature of the famous music style, Sturm und Drang. We can see examples of this style in the minor Sonatas of Haydn and Beethoven. The second theme of the exposition, written according to the rules of the sonata form in the relative major, is a powerful and energetic statement of a victory of good over evil. This idea would become the statement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in C minor, which he wrote in 1808: “From darkness to light; through struggle to victory.”

In the development section, the conflict deepens. The new theme in G minor that appears in bar 35 (see video 4:12-4:39) is a reminiscence of the opening theme. We can detect a struggle between evil and goodness. In the recapitulation, the main idea prevails; thus, the music states triumph over evil.

As I think about this piece, I see the timeless value of this great idea. Isn’t it what we all need in a controversial world of good and evil?

Mozart’s music deals with timeless aspects of human nature, such as the search for beauty, romance, and the conflict between good and evil. It is the creation of a genius with unbelievable beauty, depth, drama, and imagination.

Piano Reflections: Exploring the pieces of Glinka, Balakirev, and Tchaikovsky

In this program of Russian music I wanted to express my love and appreciation for my country of birth. In these dark times for Russia, I wanted to paint an ideal image and bring out the best of Russian music. My aim is not to write an essay on Russian music; my playing can tell you much more than my words, but I want to add some short program notes, which follow.

MiKhail Glinka

Mikhail Glinka was the first Russian composer to become famous internationally.

He laid the foundation of the Russian national school of composition. Among his most famous works are two operas, Ruslan and Ludmila and Life for the Tsar, as well as some beautiful orchestral compositions, songs for the voice and piano, and piano pieces. I will be performing some of them in this program.

Glinka skillfully developed a traditional Russian song into a beautiful set of variations in Variations on the Russian Theme. Variations have been widely used in Western European music for centuries, starting from music compositions of the Renaissance and later in baroque, classical, and romantic music. This piece is an example of early romantic style, where you can hear a lot of influence of Italian opera, which Glinka knew very well as he lived and studied in Milan for three years.

In the Nocturne, Glinka develops the tradition of his teacher, Irish composer John Field, the first composer to create the piano nocturne genre. Glinka dedicated this charming and sad music to his sister.

In the Mazurka, we can see the elegance and sophistication of harmonies and melody. Glinka, a talented and sensitive composer, captured the spirit of this Polish dance very well. That is not surprising, considering that Glinka was the grandson of a Polish aristocrat.

Glinka wrote many beautiful songs for the piano and voice. One of them, Song of the Lark, was used by Mily Balakirev in his famous piano transcription Song of the Lark. Very well written, this music is one of the treasures of the Russian piano repertoire. In this composition, Balakirev follows the steps of F. Liszt’s famous piano transcriptions of Schubert's songs.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

In many ways, Tchaikovsky continues and develops Glinka’s music tradition. Glinka’s orchestral composition “Kamarinskaya” was said by Tchaikovsky to be ”the acorn from which the oak of the Russian symphony grew.”

Unlike Chopin, who primarily wrote music for the piano, Tchaikovsky was an outstanding symphonist. Among his works are 11 operas, three ballets, five suites, three overtures, three piano concertos, works for the choir, chamber music, romances for the voice and piano, and many more beautiful pieces. Piano music is only a tiny part of Tchaikovsky’s heritage. However, the beauty of this music is difficult to overestimate.

Tchaikovsky’s Nocturnes were inspired by the Nocturnes of Glinka and Chopin. From the first note of the Nocturne op. 10 #1, we hear very intimate and sophisticated music. The melody flows like a breath. It develops and modulates surprisingly beautifully into the second theme. With the remark “con grazia e sentimento,” this music sounds like trees whispering a beautiful lullaby at night. The first theme returns, refreshed with the imitations in the left hand. In these imitations, one can imagine two people talking to each other.

Feuillet d'album is a charming and humorous little piece. How much can the composer express on only two pages of sheet music? In this tiny masterpiece, we hear exceptional use of harmonies and a diversity of themes.

Nocturne op.19 #4 is a very well-known piece. This heartbreaking music is one of the most tragic pieces in this program. When listening to this music, one can feel how deeply Tchaikovsky suffered.

Theme and Variations in F major, op.19 #6, is known to have been performed by Hans von Bulow in 1874 in London, representing the earliest known performances of Tchaikovsky outside of Russia. This piece is written in a style of late romantic variations and follows the tradition of variations written by Schumann, Mendelsohn, and Brahms. In Variation Eleven, Tchaikovsky writes the remark ”Alla Schumann,” acknowledging this connection.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, two distinct schools of classical composers emerged in Russia: The Mighty Five and the Westernizers. The Mighty Five were slavophiles who sought to create a uniquely Russian musical identity by drawing inspiration from traditional folk music and rejecting Western European influences. This program represents the opposite camp: Westernizer composers who embraced the western tradition.

Knowing how much Russian culture owes to Western European tradition is essential. When Peter the Great founded the city of St. Petersburg, he set the goal of building a Venice of the North. Famous Italian architects Rastrelli, Rossi, Quarenghi, and many others contributed their talents to create this beautiful city; the Russian Ballet flourished thanks to the efforts of the great French choreographer Marius Petipa. The Russian piano school has German, Austrian, Polish, and French roots: Polish-Austrian professor of piano Theodor Leshetizky, who studied with Czerny in Vienna, lived in St Petersburg from 1852 to 1877. He was the head of the piano department and one of the founders of St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music in 1862. There are much more similar examples of the connection between Russian and Western culture.

It is with sadness I see the conflict between Russia and the Western world. Progress and peace only come with cooperation and respect, not hate and conflict.

Tribute to Linda Niamath

Linda Niamath at my house.

I knew and taught Linda Niamath’s music well before I met her in person. Her pieces are fun to teach and to play, and have quickly become my students’ favorites.

We met at a performance of her music held by the Richmond Branch of the British Columbia Registered Music Teachers Association (BCRMTA). I was very excited to meet her, and was impressed with her friendly personality and wonderful sense of humor. I invited Linda and her husband Kent to one of my solo recitals, and they were very enthusiastic, friendly, and approving. I began occasionally visiting Linda and Kent in their house, and we became closer. Linda loved people, and people loved her back. As I got to know Linda better, I realised that she was an extremely positive person, always seeing the best in everyone. When she talked about her music, Linda was very modest, emphasizing that she only wrote short pieces for little kids. In fact, Linda was a highly regarded composer and later in her life became an Honorary fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

In 2015 I invited Linda and Kent to my music studio, where my students played Linda's piano pieces, and she talked about her life and compositions. I have a recording of the event, and though the quality is not perfect, the excerpt where Linda talks about herself is so unique that I decided to share it with you today.

A few months after Linda’s passing in 2020, when I was teaching online, some of my beginners prepared and recorded her music from their homes. I compiled these performances into an online memorial concert in Linda’s honor.

In the spring of 2023, at the Kiwanis Festival, two of my students performed four pieces from “Outer Limits”, a suite of Linda Niamath’s compositions for four hands. Phinehas and Tryphaena Cheng worked with interest and enthusiasm. I was very pleased to find out that their performance was scheduled for April 21, which happened to be Linda Niamath’s birthday. We recorded the entire Outer Limits suite in my studio.

I also want to share a recording of Linda’s beautiful unpublished composition “Clouds” that she gave me during one of my visits to her house. This unknown piece, performed by my student Sarah Wen, is so beautiful, it deserves to be published.

I’m excited to let you know that on April 14, 2024, the Richmond Branch of the BCRMTA is planning a memorial recital for Linda Niamath. Join me in remembering and acknowledging a wonderful person and a talented composer for her contributions to Canadian piano music for children.