Shane van Neerden's Piano Recital - Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Van Veldhuizen

Catoire, Van Veldhuizen and Debussy

Shane van Nerden opens the program with five miniatures, or mood images, by the almost unknown Russian composer Georgy Catoire. Each piece is a jewel; this new composition is a kaleidoscope of expressive power. Afterwards, a new composition by the young Dutch composer Rick van Veldhuizen is surrounded by four etudes by Claude Debussy.

Van Veldhuizen's piece, Lantaarns (Lointaines), is played on two instruments: a normal concert grand piano and an upright piano in a completely newly developed, pure tuning based on the various tetrachords of Ptolemy. The piece begins subtly on the grand piano, where overtones are played like will-o'-the-wisps (the Lanterns). In this way, ghostly appearances are evoked from the piano, as it were, which interferes with the way the instrument is tuned. This creates an ever-flaring dance between the normal tones of the piano and the overtones, ultimately involving playing entire chords on one string. The second part, Lointaines, is played on the upright piano. The second movement is the opposite of the first: while the first shows the contrast between the piano and its overtones, the second uses the non-suspended sounds in which it is tuned. All the expressive and melodic resources of this tuning are exploited, from cascades of fifths to dark seventh sounds. This second part is also opposite to the first in terms of form. It starts tumultuously and thins out to a simple two-note gesture in the middle. Above this gesture are a few lines of poetry, recited by Shane, about the reflection of light from far away: the star map and the magic lantern become one, as it were. The program's first half ends again on the traditional concert grand piano with Debussy's Fifth Etude, Pour les octaves.

Scriabin and Rachmaninoff

The concert's second half consists of two large sonatas by Aleksandr Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff. In the middle, Van Nerden plays two short fairy tales by Nikolai Medtner. These pieces have a very expressive world, full of fantasy, colour, and depth.