MASKS
Masks exist also in music! Not only people disguise themselves during Carnival and some writers used masks as characters of their stories but also composers wrote musical works representing masks and disguisements.
This recital is a pianistic Carnival throughout different epochs. The first float is a masterwork: Schumann’s Carnaval op.9. The German composer depicts in 22 miniatures a.o. masks by the ‘commedia dell’arte’, himself, his friends and fellow composers. Afterwards, it is the turn of Leopold Godowsky’s fine humor. This Polish-American virtuoso disguises himself as the great masters of the 19th century. He integrates in original brilliant waltzes stylistic elements of past composers. Claude Debussy’s perspective in his ‘masques’ is much more abstract and inspired composers as Gian Francesco Malipiero and Karol Szymanowski. The former came from Venice, the world famous Carnival city. His ‘Maschere che Passano’ shows an evident link with it. Szymanowski takes his inspiration from the literature and succeeds in developing an original virtuoso piano writing.
Robert Schumann – Carnaval Op.9
Leopold Godowsky – Walzermasken (selection)
Karneval - Pastell (Fr. Sch.) - Skizze (Joh. Br.) - Profil (Fr. Ch.) - Silhouette (Fr. L.)
Claude Debussy – Masques
Gian Francesco Malipiero – Maschere che passano
Karol Szymanovski – Masques op.34
Scheherazade/Shéhérazade (lento assai, languido)
Blazen Tantris/Tantris the Clown (vivace assai, buffo e capriccioso)
Serenada Din Juana/Don Juan’s Serenade (vivace, quasi improvvisando)