Gabriel Weber
Staff writer
At 4 p.m. today in Sherwood-Marsh 101, students in the School of Music Piano Program will close out their season with their final concert — the Play-Out — as a “fun” farewell to Chautauqua.
The program will include Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1, Movement 2 “La nuit… L’amour” on two pianos; Nikolai Kapustin’s Etude No. 7; Franz Schubert’s Moments Musicaux D. 780 No. 3 in F Minor; Albert Lavignac’s Galop-Marche for Eight Hands on one piano; Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan” from “Carnival of the Animals” for four hands; Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Four Hands; Johannes Brahms’ 16 Waltzes, Op. 39 for Four Hands; Frédéric Chopin’s Preludes, Op. 28; Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche Op. 165b III. “Brasileira” on two pianos; Jean Sibelius’ 13 Pieces for Piano, Op. 76; George Gershwin’s “Somebody Loves Me” on two pianos; George Oakley’s “Toccata;” Richard Strauss’ Morgen, Op. 27 No. 4 (arr. Max Reger); Rachmaninoff’s “Waltz” from Two Pieces for Six Hands; and Manuel de Falla’s Danza No. 1 from La Vida Breve for six hands.
Leo Choi is set to play Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 Movement 2, “La nuit… L’amour” with Peijun Wang on two pianos facing each other. As they have known each other for three years, they have a good rapport and understanding of one another, which helps their instincts in playing together.
Starting piano at 4 or 5 years old, Choi has been under Alexander Kobrin’s tutelage at the Eastman School of Music. From Hong Kong, Choi has presented concerts internationally and won many awards like the Senior Concerto Competition, John Elvin Junior Prize Competition from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Sixth Asian Youth Music Competition.
He has studied under Kobrin for three years now, but this time offers a range of different mindsets. This is Choi’s first summer with the Chautauqua Piano Program, and he particularly appreciates his peers and teachers.
“I have really good chamber roommates and enjoy playing with them,” Choi said.
Choi finds that developing an opinion and researching a composer’s motivation in writing makes a great pianist, while still allowing one’s own character to shine through playing. As a performer, Choi believes that he is an interpreter first and foremost.
“Playing will inspire you to think about why they made the choices and how it makes sense,” he said. “Looking at the storyline leads to looking at life in a different way.”
While he finds playing piano enjoyable in general, the multifaceted nature of the instrument and available compositions offer another angle to look at humanity.
“It gives inspiration and space,” Choi said. “There is a tension in action and thinking … an individual doesn’t want to be a part of self-destruction but cannot escape it. … When playing, I look at the world differently.”
Jiin Kim will perform a solo to Kapustin’s Etude No. 7, and play Galop-Marche for Eight Hands by Lavignac. She is leading the cueing — meaning Kim will indicate the start with her breath and coordinate visually for a steady tempo — and handle the foot pedaling.
Etude No. 7 is jazzy in nature, which is both enjoyable and challenging, since it should sound effortless and improvised. The eight-hands piece, Galop-Marche, will even include some theater elements when there are a few people not playing.
“Everything I’m going to play is very light-hearted,” Kim said. “I know the Play-Out is not too formal and has a fun kind of vibe.”
The rhythms in the Kapustin piece are very complex, with technique that emphasizes downbeats and the utilization of double thirds — meaning playing two fingers at the same time to create a third part.
“What I’m trying to do while playing is just to enjoy, but then not rush and then still have a dance-like movement, emphasizing all those syncopations and accents here and there,” Kim said. “The harmonic language is totally different from someone like Beethoven.”
In giving the cuing for Lavignac’s Galop-Marche, Kim additionally has to think about volume for the three other people she is playing with. For a program like this, she would practice about three to four hours every day to ensure the expected excellence.
“If I have accompaniment, then I’ll drop the volume a little bit so that melody can stand out. Vice versa, if I have the melody, then I’ll bring it out more, so people can hear it — but not too much,” Kim said. “Sometimes, if it’s too fun, then you want to play faster and faster.”
In her first year at Chautauqua, Kim appreciates the well-rounded experience that the space provides in terms of lectures, orchestra, opera and environment.
Kim started piano at 3 years old, and found that playing was a stress-reliever.
“I was having a lot of fun with it, so that kept me playing piano for many years now, and I’ve never stopped,” Kim said. “Although now it’s my profession, so sometimes I get stressed because I’m doing it professionally. Still, performing on stage is very rewarding and sharing music with an audience is always fun and delightful.”
Style varies with personality for many performers, yet the delivery all comes back to the composer’s intention. Kim aims for stability between sensitivity and intensity.
“Our job is not to show who I am; it’s more of delivering what composers have in mind when they’re writing a piece. I want to deliver what the composer intended when they’re writing, but I also want to have my own color and variety, so that my performance can stand out from others,” Kim said. “Keeping that balance is very important and hard, and that makes a great mechanic. Be humble, because the performer is a bridge between a composer and the audience.”
