[INTERNAL] Forum Series: Text and Absence
1 March 2022 • 5:30pm
Steven Baxter Recital Studio
* Internal events will only be open to YST faculty, staff and students.
ABIGAIL SIN, presenter
ABOUT THIS EVENT
Text and Absence: A Performer’s Exploration of Kirchner’s Five Pieces For Piano
Leon Kirchner’s Five Pieces For Piano (1987) was adapted from his song cycle The Twilight Stood (1982) for soprano and piano based on poems by Emily Dickinson. In re-working the song cycle’s material for solo piano, Kirchner omitted much of the vocal material, while retaining virtually all of the original piano part. The expressive power of the text and the vocal line was thus subsumed by the domineering piano writing.
As a pianist, I have dearly loved and played Kirchner’s Five Pieces for many years but have only recently been made familiar with the song cycle. I am interested in exploring the artistic potentialities of a performer “reverse engineering” Kirchner’s transcription of his own material. I explore the dramatic tension and performance decisions that arise in comparing the solo piano material with the song cycle, particularly regarding the implications of the text setting and its absence in the solo piano pieces. Some other practical considerations discussed include issues of rhetorical emphasis, pacing and tone colour. In this process of gleaning and evaluating information from the two scores, the values that inform both analysis and performance, and their intricately-linked relationship, are brought into greater relief.
This lecture recital will feature demonstrations of my analysis and decision-making process as a performer, as well as performance excerpts of Kirchner’s Five Pieces For Piano recorded at various stages of my familiarization process with the original song cycle.
This event will be livestreamed on the Conservatory’s YouTube channel. Visit the livestream page here. Follow and subscribe to be notified of upcoming streams.
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TICKETING INFORMATION
- Internal events will only be open to YST faculty, staff and students.
* All event information is correct at the time of print.
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