The Harwood Museum of Art of UNM in Taos presents a free concert with pianist Peter Pesic on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. The program includes “Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm” by Béla Bartók (1881-1945), “Première communion de la Vièrge” by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), “Piano Sonata (1948)” by Leon Kirchner (1919-2009), and Franz Schubert’s (1797-1828) “Sonata in A major, op. post. (D. 959).”
Curator of Education Lucy Perera said, “Peter Pesic is providing this concert for the community in celebration of the birthday of long-time Taos resident and Harwood supporter May Harrover. We are fortunate to be able to present this concert free of charge, but hope that people will make a donation to the museum’s Exhibition Program in honor of both Peter and May.”
Pesic studied at Harvard, Stanford (where he received his doctorate in physics and studied piano with Naomi Sparrow), and the Aspen Music School. Currently, he is tutor and musician-in-residence at St. John’s College in Santa Fe. During recent seasons, Pesic has performed in Ann Arbor, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Seattle, South Bend (Notre Dame) and Turin. He has written many articles on music and science as well as four books. His books have been translated into Chinese, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Norwegian and Turkish. He received the Peano Prize in Turin, Italy, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Pesic writes of his choice of the contemporary music for the Harwood program: “Béla Bartók was deeply involved in collecting folk music throughout Central Europe and the Near East. He was a pioneer of ethnomusicology, recording folk artists, meticulously transcribing their music, and noting patterns of transmission and sharing across national and ethnic boundaries. His ‘Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm’ owe much to these studies, but are very much Bartók’s own creation, wedding his characteristic dissonant style to traditional dance rhythms, whose complex combinations of groups of two and three beats go back to ancient Greek poetic meters, such as the dactylic pattern (long-short-short, 3-2-2 beats) of Homer’s epics.
“Olivier Messiaen was one of most remarkable of 20th century composers, the musical heir of Debussy and the teacher of Boulez and Stockhausen. His unique style combines exotic rhythms and birdsong, suffused by his deep Catholic piety.
“Leon Kirchner was one of the most eminent living composers. After his studies with Arnold Schoenberg and Roger Sessions, he went on to a distinguished career. He taught for many years at Mills College and Harvard; he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1967. His first piano sonata exemplifies his characteristic style, improvisatory, brooding, and intense, which has been compared to the experience of reading Dostoyevsky.
“Schubert’s great A major sonata is expansive in scope and daring in harmonic invention. Its lyric atmosphere contains amazing emotional outbursts (such as the middle section of the Andantino) that bring to mind his sudden death a few months later. Though closely based on the structure of the finale of Beethoven’s Sonata op. 31, no. 1, in this movement Schubert outdoes his master.”
Media Contact: Lucy Perera, (575) 758-9826 ext. 105; e-mail: lperera@aol.com
Posted by scarr at October 20, 2009 03:15 PM