By Liz Hammond Staff Writer
David Kim, adjunct faculty music, will give a faculty recital on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Stretansky Concert Hall.
The pianist will perform two pieces, Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” which will take the listeners on a walk through a dazzling gallery of images and emotions, and Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit,” which to some pianists is considered the apex of technical difficulties, based off French Romantic poetry.
Each piece has its own significance. Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” is his most famous piano composition and is a common pick for virtuoso pianists.
The music is a depiction of Mussorgsky’s tour of the art exhibit, and each group of ten numbers of the suite serve as a musical illustration of the individual works by Russian architect and painter Viktor Hartmann.
The second piece, Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit,” is described as a realistic dream of darkness and terror.
Ravel’s piece was inspired by French poet Aloysius Betrand’s works, revealing Ravel’s take on Betrand’s poems.
It is considered to be the most challenging and virtuosic composition ever written. There are three distinct movements that listeners can recognize.
The first movement is “Ondine,” described as the most colorful and sensuous movement out of the three.
In the poem by Betrand, Ondine is a mermaid who sings to a man, and she describes to him her world and tries to seduce him.
Next is “Le Gibet,” which is the opposite of the light dreamy music in the first movement. The story behind the music tells of a lonely corpse, and the music reflects the hopelessness of the tale with its mournful sound.
When playing this movement, it is common for the pianist to even hold their breathe, waiting to hear the last B-flat.
Lastly, the final movement is “Scarbo.” This is the most famous movement from “Gaspard de la Nuit.” Every key on the piano is used while playing it.
In the poem, the narrator describes his fear of Scarbo, who is an evil dwarf who plays with his mind. The movement may start with a darker sound, but it does acquire some color as it goes on.
