Enigma Variations and more at TPO
Pianist Christopher Janwong McKiggan joins Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Spanish maestro José-Luis Novo to perform Gershwin’s Concerto In F in the concert “Elgar’s Enigma” on June 15 and 16 at Prince Mahidol Hall at Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, in Nakhon Pathom.
A top prize-winner as laureate and finalist at the prestigious 12th Unisa International Piano Competition (WFIMC) 2012, Christopher Janwong McKiggan is one of Thailand’s most successful pianists on the international stage. Following the concerto, the TPO delves into the mystical and surprising Enigma Variations,
Edward Elgar’s masterpiece.
Gershwin wrote his piano Concerto In F
in 1925, a year after the success of his more daring “experiment in music”, Rhapsody In Blue.
Though audibly more conservative, the Concerto In F is still classic Gershwin — a composer who lived comfortably in both the popular and non-commercial music worlds. At times subtle, jazzy and rhythmic, the concerto comes alive in the hands of pianists who, like the famed songwriter, understand the lyricism and phrasing of early 20th-century jazz.
With Elgar’s Enigma Variations, one hears the orchestra at its most intimate. The theme came to Elgar after a long day’s teaching in October 1898. A striking melodic and harmonic creation, Elgar used the theme to improvise 14 variations, all character studies of friends — some known to us and some not. In effect, to listen to the Enigma Variations is to view musical portraits of people we don’t know but who nevertheless inhabit the musical world created by Elgar. Nimrod, one the final variations, is recognised the world over as one of the most beautiful and striking parts of the whole — dramatic, eloquent, solemn.
Tickets are 1,500, 1,000, 800, 600 and 400 baht available at www.thaiticketmajor.com or 02-262-3456.
For more information, email Thailandphil@ gmail.com or call 02-800-2525-34 ext 3106/3117.