Pianist Showcase: Andrew Wright @alkanliszt

Pf: Andrew Wright
CZcams: / @alkanliszt
Website: www.andrewwrightpianist.com/
Spotify: open.spotify.com/playlist/4fA...
Facebook: / operatranscriptionsfor...
SoundCloud: / andrew-wright-35
Andrew Wright is a fellow CZcamsr, having joined the site in 2006 and posting many of his incredible performances since then. Despite his longevity on CZcams, he hasn't gained the notoriety that someone with his skills and talent deserves, in my opinion. Not only is Wright a masterful performer, but he is also a composer and improviser. His technical prowess is undeniably impressive at a passing glance, but when I really delved into his artistry, I was astonished at the spirit of romanticism that Wright waltzed into modernity with.
His musicianship is very reminiscent of Liszt, injecting improvisations and artistic liberty into many of his performances with an otherworldly ease. Improvisation was an art that the masters of classical music often utilized that is unfortunately lost in most classical pianists today, save for an exceptional few. When asked if he would consider writing a method for improvisation, part of Wright's response was "...maybe [it's] because I've improvised since I was a child, [but] it would almost be like me trying to explain how to walk."
His improvisations, while impressive, unfortunately seem to acquire the least attention from the general audience, which is why I (with Wright's guidance) decided to start this video with two of his improvised works, to display his ability to invent interesting and rich pieces as he navigates the keys. I included three other improvised pieces in this video as well: Procession Solonelle, Berceuse, and a four-movement Sonata. (I unfortunately had to use a concert recording of the Goblins Prelude, because of a copyright issue. I also used concert recordings of Procession Solonelle and Berceuse because I found the audio quality to be better than the original improvisation recordings.)
With pianism that would have given him a namesake in the era of Liszt and Thalberg, Andrew Wright is a precious gem in the world of classical music. If the music in this video at all connected with you, I highly encourage you to seek out more of his performances and works, of which there is a great wealth out there. I will also urge you to purchase or stream his albums, “The Operatic Pianist I”, “The Operatic Pianist II”, and “Piano Impressions”, which are easy to look for on his website above.
Please read the pinned comment for notes about the program.
0:00 - Andrew Wright - Goblins Prelude (Improvisation)
0:54 - Andrew Wright - Halloween (Improvisation)
12:43 - Andrew Wright - Thalbergiana, Op.1
19:10 - Sigismond Thalberg - Concert Fantasy On La Traviata, Op. 78
27:38 - Rossini-Thalberg - Fantaisie sur des motifs de Moise, Op. 33
43:08 - Bellini-Thalberg - Casta Diva, Op.70 No.19
48:35 - Bellini-Jaell - Réminiscences de Norma, Op. 20 (After V. Bellini)
1:00:00 - Andrew Wright - Fantasy on La Sonnambula by Bellini, Op.3
1:08:02 - Wagner-Liszt - Isolde's Liebestod
1:15:52 - Franz Liszt - Paraphrase de concert sur Ernani II, S.432
1:21:59 - Franz Liszt - Grandes étude, S.137 No.6
1:27:01 - Sergey Lyapunov - Étude d'exécution transcendante, Op.11 No.5, “Nuit d'Eté”
Andrew Wright - Sonata for Piano (Improvisation)
1:37:04 - Mvt.I, Idyll
1:41:05 - Mvt.II, Funérailles
1:45:49 - Mvt.III, Intermezzo
1:47:06 - Mvt.IV, Orage - Spectres - Marche à l’enfer
1:55:30 - Andrew Wright - Concert Fantasy On Robert Le Diable, Op. 4 (after G. Meyerbeer)
2:00:55 - Andrew Wright - Procession Solonelle (Improvisation)
2:02:40 - Andrew Wright - Paraphrase on Il Trovatore's "Miserere" (after G. Verdi)
2:08:16 - Andrew Wright - Berceuse (Improvisation)
Andrew Wright - Concerto for Solo piano
2:10:02 - Mvt.I, Allegro deciso
2:18:17 - Mvt.II, Reverie - Lento placido
2:24:03 - Mvt.III, Dies Irae - Andante minacciosamente
2:30:20 - Mvt.IV, Il ritorno - Allegro maestoso

[@TheExarion]

PROGRAM NOTES:
The three improvised preludes in the playlist are short character pieces, with more in common with Alkan than Liszt and other virtuoso improvisers. The first of them, Goblins, is a mischievous piece with frequent impish acciaccature, perhaps reminiscent of Alkan's Les Diablotins.
Halloween, a highly allusive improvisation, is formed largely from two motifs: The Dies Irae and a slow funeral march in triple time. It begins with low bass notes and a quotation from Dies Irae. The music grows more impassioned into a funeral procession; bats fly overhead as the procession grows more martial in nature but retains its sombre character. A storm breaks, with rain, thunder and lightning gathering in intensity. The Devil appears (the tritone-based cadenza is a piece of very deliberate musical symbolism, the tritone being "the Devil's interval"). As the cacophony recedes, the Four Horsemen appear from the mists to the sound of Dies Irae - it is the Apocalypse. Another tritone-based cadenza symbolises the final triumph of the Grim Reaper.
My introduction to operatic paraphrases came through Earl Wild’s 1964 recording of Thalberg’s Don Pasquale Fantasy - a delightful performance which elevated lightweight music through charm and panache. Thus in Thalbergiana, an affectionate tribute, my primary thematic material is the closing theme from that particular paraphrase.
Thalberg's Fantasy on La traviata, one of his last operatic paraphrases, contains some ferociously difficult piano writing. We find Thalberg utilising his celebrated "three-hand effect" in the context of chordal and octave writing (especially during the D major section and the coda) rather than the typical arpeggios and passagework.
Thalberg's Moses Fantasy is one of the most notorious relics of a time when virtuosity was of prime importance to aspiring composer-pianists. Indeed it has a special place in musical history by dint of having been performed at Thalberg's informal "piano duel" with Liszt. Both pianists performed flamboyant virtuoso paraphrases: Liszt offering his Fantasy on Niobe and a solo piano arrangement of Weber's Konzertstück, while Thalberg contributed his Fantasy on God Save The King and Moses. The spectacular finale gave the illusion of three hands playing simultaneously - the bass notes, the melody, and the all-enveloping arpeggiation.
Thalberg was fascinated by the process of producing singing lines on the piano and his Op.70, L’art du chant appliqué au piano, is a collection of vocal melodies rearranged for piano. Bellini’s famous aria Casta Diva, from Norma, is presented in a gentle - far removed from the pyrotechnics of the codas of La Traviata and Moses - but ingenious arrangement. Once again Thalberg does not place the melodic burden solely on one hand: The vocal line is passed from hand to hand during the final peroration.
Operatic fantasies were very much in vogue in the mid-19th century, and there is a wealth of almost unknown literature to be explored by the curious. One such piece is Alfred Jaell's Reminiscences de Norma, which bears some resemblance to Liszt's justly famous fantasy. Jaell also includes an attractive setting of Casta Diva, which Liszt did not include in his Norma Fantasy, although it is present in the alternate offering by his great rival Thalberg.
Both Liszt and Thalberg wrote substantial concert pieces on themes from Bellini’s La Sonnambula. My own composition is written in a manner which takes elements from both composers - Lisztian octave and chordal passages in addition to melodic passages embellished with Thalbergian filigree. The arpeggiated accompaniment surrounding the return of the main theme was, as we have already seen, a favorite device of Thalberg’s.
Liszt's setting of Isolde's Liebestod is perhaps one of the finest of all operatic arrangements. Liszt held Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in very high esteem, and here he recreates the final scene. This work is in many ways a testament to Liszt’s ability to separate his admiration for Wagner’s music from his feelings for Wagner the man. It was written in 1867, when the Wagner-von Bülow-Cosima Liszt romantic triangle reached crisis point and Liszt’s personal relations with Wagner became extremely strained.
Liszt's S.432, his second paraphrase on Ernani (essentially a condensed rewrite of the earlier version), was written for a series of Berlin concerts given by Hans von Bulow, and ultimately formed part of a wider trilogy of Verdi paraphrases, including the more famous Rigoletto and Miserere, published in 1860 as the Liszt-Verdi album.
Liszt's 1837 Grandes études are a more difficult precursor to what we now know as the Transcendental études. In the sixth of these études, the main difference is that Liszt asks the pianist to play the opening peroration with the left hand alone. It is very rare to encounter the 1837 études, either in public performance or on recordings, and the full set is a fine representation of pianistic demands at their most extreme.
Inspired by Liszt's transcendental études, the Russian Sergei Liapunov chose to create his own group of 12, completing the key sequence initiated in Liszt's grouping. This idiomatic collection has been sadly neglected, perhaps due to the technical demands present in some of the cycle. We are fortunate to have a pioneering recording by Louis Kentner. Number 5, Nuit d'été, is a wonderful mood piece standing in a sound world somewhere between Liszt and French impressionism.
Sonata improvvisata represents probably my most ambitious full-scale improvisation. It comprises four movements: The opening two are in the form of an introductory pastoral idyll, representing peace and serenity, followed by a slow funeral procession. A short interlude follows, the calm before the storm. In conclusion a final movement begins with the depiction of a violent storm. Following a brief, summery interlude, the music embarks on a march to Hell, leading to an apocalyptic final scene. This was improvised in one session at home and ultimately written out.
Earl Wild was once again an inspiration for my arrangement of themes taken from Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable, including the celebrated Valse Infernale. Many virtuosi wrote paraphrases on the Valse, and Liszt’s is of particular note; it was such a success that one audience refused to allow Liszt, giving an all-Beethoven recital, to continue until he had played it. Wagner, then working as a music reviewer, was appalled.
Returning to the short improvised preludes, Procession Solonelle depicts a midnight cortege of monks, wending their way through the night gloom in silent contemplation, and Berceuse is a gentle lullaby with soft, rocking bass ostinati.
Placed between the two of them is my paraphrase on Verdi's Miserere, in which I sought to combine a close replica of the original aria with technical devices similar to those used by Liszt, Thalberg and their contemporaries. Heavy bass chords are used to simulate the bells of Verdi's introduction, and subsequent material is embellished with tremolandi, arpeggios, trills, thirds, and interlocking alternate hand chords and octaves.
My solo concerto is an essentially cyclical work constructed mainly from two themes, both presented at the beginning of the first movement and then mutated in a variety of ways. The first movement opens with a trumpet call prefacing the entry of the first motif, a questioning, wary theme. As the mood becomes more demonstrative in the second motif, a quasi-Rachmaninovian theme, enters with a flourish. The theme is developed with the addition of softly trilling flutes, and then with the melody in the celli. Following a tutti and a cadenza, the "questioning" motif returns in the strings over a drum roll, leading to a harp cascade, depicting a rain-shower. The first motif returns in a harmonised form: The right hand presents it in thirds, then in sixths, and thereafter with denser harmonies as the mood becomes more impassioned. Following a brief cadenza we move to a melancholy transformation of the second theme. The mood intensifies as a tender interlude ensues before returning to the melancholia. The music grows more animated until a transition back into sunlight and a triumphant re-presentation of the second theme, followed by arriving at rest.
The second movement opens with a placid echo of the opening motif from the first movement; likewise the main thematic material of the movement is a mutation of the second motif. There is less drama in this movement: It represents a peaceful reverie. The external sections of the movement are for soft piano and strings; woodwinds enter to carry the melodic lines in the middle section with its hints of animation and fervor.
The third movement begins with a violent iteration of the Dies Irae. The motif then descends into the bass of the keyboard, full of foreboding, ushering in a cascade of thunder and rain. As this subsides, a cortege of praying monks pass by, softly intoning the Dies Irae. As they fade away in despair, a violent storm breaks. As the storm subsides, bells are heard tolling in the bass. The Dies Irae reemerges amongst a cluster of interlocking octaves, the gates of Hell open, and its contents spill forth onto the Earth. As chaos prevails, conventional tonality breaks down and is supplanted by harmonies formed around the tritone. The symbolism is obvious. Amidst the carnage emerges a perverse reharmonisation of the first four notes of the Dies Irae. The keyboard is submerged under a torrent of augmented harmonies, before the Dies Irae is defiantly hammered out in alternate chords in the bass. As all seems lost, an ascending motif (derived by inverting the descending motif from the first movement) leads to a redemptive passage, transitioning to a return and triumphal return of the "romantic" theme from the first movement, as the work ends in a blaze of glory.

[@vojtaqa7123]

I am happy to see him on this channel. Andrew is Good composer, improvisator and it is nice that he plays Thalberg's pieces! Thanks 🙂

[@Pianistic_Jade]

Thank you for Wright to perform those rare opera transcriptions, not to mention his cool compositions!!

[@fiokomjutub972]

All my respect goes to such outstanding pianists.

[@composerjalen]

Oh this is exciting, I love all of Andrew's performance

[@danielagentile5355]

Well I've listened to all of them😂

[@herobrine1847]

1:24:36 the imposter hiding in etude 6 was Mazeppa all along 😢

[@LisztAddict]

This looks insane

[@christopherczajasager9030]

What a terrible piano

[@composerjalen]

You should buy him a Steinway

[@christopherczajasager9030]

@@composerjalen how about you? I don't know the chap

[@Varooooooom]

@@christopherczajasager9030you’re the one complaining about the piano quality (which varies throughout the video btw, depending on home/live/studio recordings) lol. if you’re not willing to fund for a piano, I personally don’t see the point in complaining about the sound quality.

[@alkanliszt]

@@Varooooooom I'd kind of like to point out that the two home improvised recordings (which I guess are those at issue) were both made during lockdown, at a point where months had passed during which under local regulations it was specifically illegal to have a piano tuner in the house: so while this obviously isn't ideal, there isn't a whole lot which could have been done about it. The majority of these recordings are in fact on a Hamburg D!

[@LisztAddict]

@@composerjalen no, a FAZIOLI