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Leslie Howard, Samantha Ward & Maciej Raginia: Two Pianos & Six Hands
3rd August 2019 | 7:30 pm
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PERFORMERS | |
LESLIE HOWARD | SAMANTHA WARD |
MACIEJ RAGINIA | |
|
Programme
Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961)
English Dance
For two pianos, six hands
Jutish Medley
For two pianos, six hands
The Warriors
For two pianos, six hands
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)/Leslie Howard (1948 – )
Kavallerie-Geschwindmarsch S.460
For one piano, six hands
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)
Valse & Romance
For one piano, six hands
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)/Leslie Howard (1948 – )
Galop in A minor S.218
For one piano, six hands
Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961)
Ye Banks and Braes
For one piano, six hands
George Gershwin (1862 – 1934)/Leslie Howard (1948 – )
Oh I Can’t Sit Down
For one piano, six hands
Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961)
Zanzibar Boat-Song
For one piano, six hands
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)/Leslie Howard (1948 – )
Ungarischer Sturmmarsch S.119
For one piano, six hands
Frederick Delius (1862 – 1934)/Leslie Howard (1948 – )
La Calinda
For one piano, six hands
Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961)
Green Bushes
For two pianos, six hands
Duration
This concert will last approximately 2 hours, including an interval.
Revered worldwide as the only pianist to have recorded Liszt’s complete oeuvre for solo piano, Leslie Howard joins forces with festival directors Samantha Ward and Maciej Raginia in a rare programme celebrating works for two pianos and six hands by Australian composer Percy Grainger. The evening opens with his fiery English Dance (1924), echoing Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic writing with its rich textures and emotionally charged compositional style. This is followed by the eclectic Jutish Medley (1927/1930), a movement from Grainger’s Danish Folksongs Suite with its ‘elastic scoring’ set for two instruments to full-size orchestra. The tumultuous Warriors (1913 – 1916) interspersed with the lyricism of its slow melodic lines and sudden raptures of true orchestral writing forms the beating heart of the first half of the recital. The concert continues with a series of miniatures by Grainger and Rachmaninoff alongside original transcriptions of Liszt, Delius and Gershwin arranged for six hands by Leslie Howard. The concert comes to a close with Green Bushes (1921) for two pianos, an arrangement of an English and a Scottish folk song dating back to the 1820s. The popularity of the original theme was aided by the success of William Buckstone’s melodrama A Hundred Years Ago (1845), in which the main character sings it on numerous occasions. The brisk melody in F Major soon unravels in all three piano parts in a meandering passacaglia, which slowly draws the listeners into following its every turn.