STEINWAY SOCIETY THE BAY AREA
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SILICON VALLEY -- Because of the world's pandemic, and the shelter-in-place directive from our Governor, all public activities have been suspended in California, which is the reason why, starting today, CULTURAL WORLD BILINGUAL will be using Hi-tech to allow our readership to be able to see and listen to world's pianists, who sponsored by the STEINWAY SOCIETY The Bay Area, arrive in San José to play in monthly concerts. In cooperation with the society, and from this day on, until life gets back to normal, our cultural website will start publishing CONCERTS ONLINE starting with Russian pianist ALEXANDER SINCHUK, whose concert was going to be presented last Saturday, March 21st at 7:30 PM at the auditorium of West Valley College in Saratoga. He will be playing two RACHMANINOFF pieces that our readers will be able to listen and watch.
ALEXANDER SINCHUCKBorn in the Russian Far East, ALEXANDER SINCHUCK studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory of Music in Russia, where he still works as an Assistant Professor, and at the University of Southern California School of Music in Los Angeles. ALEXANDER SINCHUCK started being noticed in the musical world in 2008 when he won the first prize at the International RACHMANINOFF competition. The prize was followed by another first prize at the International HOROWITZ piano competition. Since then, SINCHUCK has performed all over the world giving recitals and master classes. In 20ll, his performance at the TCHAKOVSKY Competition received critical acclaim in the New York Concert Review which noted: "He hurled himself at the PROKOFIEV Seventh Sonata 'Stalingrad' as if we could see the carnage and smoking ruins in his mindful eyes." In their review of the artist, Literaturnay Gazeta compared his playing style with the style of SERGEI RACHMANINOFF, a masterful pianist, and described SINCHUK as "A bright, emotional powerful pianist...(who) does not lose exquisite, soulful lyricism. " To allow our readers to listen to the pianist, we are enclosing two of his performances:
Rachmaninoff - Piano Sonata 2 in B Flat minor part one A Sonata is a musical composition to be played by a solo instrument. This piano Sonata was originally composed in l913 by RACHMANINOFF and shortened in l931, after the composer determined that the piece was too long, so he shortened and removed some of the difficult parts. The Sonata form If we listen to the piece attentively we can identify (at its very beginning after a few chords) the six-note theme or Motif. played on the bass notes (the low sounding notes played by the left hand) . The Motif is repeated one more time and slowly changes as the piece continues with fast scales going up and down and will slowly, will move to the Soprano notes but reduced to five notes before the movement changes to A Non Allegro as the melody moves to the soprano voices of the piano, imitating the of the sounds of bells as the volume increases from Piano to forte. (loud). Now the mood of the music changes from gay to somber. as the notes move rapidly up and down the pentagram. If we listen carefully we may be able to detect the Motif re-appearing at intervals before the music moves to the upper keyboards and becomes mellow in sound. Little by little the music starts moving faster and faster, slows down, and then the sound is heard in the highest notes with the pianist playing both the melody and its accompaniment inthe highest range of the piano. And just when we heard the Motif and believe that the pianist will complete it, the music stops and dies. If as we listen, we also pay attention to the way the pianist interprets the music of this difficult RACHMANINOFF's SONATA , we become aware of many details: one of them is the dexterity that is required in the fingers of the pianist, to allow his listeners to hear, clearly, the sound of each note being played, even when played at fast speed going up and down the pentagram. We also become aware of the different 'feelings' the pianist projects when interpreting the the different Sonata's movements. The emotion he infuses in the music. Also, interested to note is the vitality he injects to the sound and the masterful way in which he handles the contrast between loud (Forte) and soft (piano) to shape the melodies. As critics, we could go on, but we are only mentioning here a few of the apparently "little details" which makes a pianist a "concert pianist" and ALEXANDER SINCHUCK is a great concert pianist.
Rachmaninoff. Concerto No 3 for piano and orchestra. Movement 1 In this second video, again playing RACHMANINOFF, instead of putting our attention on SINCHUCK technique, we will put our attention to the way the great Russian composer uses his composition around a piano solo. At times, the pianist plays with the orchestra as another instrument. In parts, the composer allows the piano to play a part of the music alone. In other parts, the piano is accompanied by a solo instrument, or group of instruments such as the strings or the winds. In each case, and this is interesting to note, that the sound of melody, which remain unchanged, conveys to us, the listeners a completely "different sound." The live STEINWAY SOCIEY CONCERTS in Silicon Valley, will resume as soon as feasible, but in the meantime, the society has suggested that those patrons who are holding tickets for their cancelled concerts may either apply for the value of these tickets or donate their tickets' cost for a tax deductible donations using the website below: https://steinwaysociety.com/support-us/donate/ The STEINWAY SOCIETY the Bay Area, operates on a very tight budget and their ticket sales do not cover the full cost of bringing us the world's best artists. Because of it, we would like to suggest that if you are able to make a donation to help the society during this challenging times , your contribution will ensure that The STEINWAY SOCIETY can continue bringing to us the greatest artists of our time and we all could benefit for it.
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