Valerie Tryon: Understanding and playing Chopin
He gave fewer than 20 public concerts during his lifetime, but his music continues to be heard in concert halls the world over.
Though he left his native Poland at the age of 20 in 1830, many feel his music is suffused with Polish spirit.
He cared not a whit for organized religion, but his heart now rests in a sealed glass jar in Warsaw’s Church of the Holy Cross.
Paradoxical perhaps, but then again we are dealing with none other than Fryderyk Chopin.
The latest English language biography of Chopin is McMaster professor emeritus Alan Walker’s 727-page “Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times” published last fall by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Exquisitely written, Walker’s prose flows as he examines Chopin’s family origins, his early life, his years abroad up to his death in 1849, weaving in commentary on many of his compositions.
The book does contain some points that are difficult if not impossible to prove or disprove.
Did Chopin die of tuberculosis as Walker states or pericarditis as has been recently suggested? Were Chopin’s “widely acclaimed harmonic innovations” the result of his fingers leading “his ears into uncharted territory” as Walker claims, or rather, if not the other way around, then perhaps
his auditory cortex (Chopin is widely believed to have had perfect pitch) and his primary motor cortex working hand in hand with how his brain was wired?
And what of Walker’s statement that, “Chopin’s compositions are woven so closely into the fabric of his personality that the one becomes a seamless extension of the other”?
If this is true, then what can we deduce about Chopin’s personality simply from his music?
Who better to ask than Ancaster-based pianist Valerie Tryon who’s played Chopin throughout her entire career, and has programmed a number of his works on her annual Valentine’s recital at the Hamilton Conservatory
this Sunday at 2 p.m.
“For everybody, it’s immediately understandable. Everything, all the emotions he puts out are received straight away,” said Tryon.
“He’s obviously got wonderful harmonic changes and interesting variety in every piece. So, I think you probably know Chopin through his music. That’s probably right. I think it’s the same with any composer. You probably know them better than you would if you actually met them.”
Tryon’s recital will open with three Chopin waltzes. The first, op. post. 69 no. 1, carries the sentimental nickname “L’Adieu” which, as Walker reminds us, was a tag unknown to Chopin.
The waltzes op. 64 no. 2 and op.
post. 70 no. 1 will be followed by Chopin’s “Ballade no. 1,” the “Impromptu” op. 29, and the “Fantaisie” op. 49.
“The ‘Impromptu’ I just picked because I haven’t played it for a long time, and it’s a rather nice middle piece between the ‘Ballade’ and the ‘Fantaisie,’ which is a big piece,” said Tryon.
The second half is all Liszt, beginning with “My Joys,” a transcription of Chopin’s song “My Darling,” which will be followed by two “Consolations.”
Though HCA artistic director Vitek Wincza encouraged Tryon to play an easy program for the audience to enjoy, she hasn’t made it easy on herself by ending with Liszt’s challenging “Grandes études de Paganini”
nos. 4, 5, and 6.
Tryon’s latest CD, an all-Mozart affair with pianists Peter Donohoe and Mishka Rushdie Momen plus the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors Boris Brott and Jac van Steen, is out on the Somm label.
She also has some available spaces in her teaching studio and can be contacted via Facebook.
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The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s “From The Beatles, With Love” concert, a traversal through some of the Fab Four’s greatest hits with conductor Darcy Hepner, Ian Thomas, Steve Strongman, Bill Dillon, Paul Intson, Rick Gratton, Dusty Micale and others, on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in FirstOntario Concert Hall is nearly sold out.
Tickets for the show on Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. (a 90-minute set, no intermission) are still available. Tickets: Adult $26 to $71, senior $24 to $67, child $10 (taxes, fees extra).
Call 905-526-7756.