Spring Break
Aylward comes home
by Katharine Roller
Music | 9/25/07
Posted online at 8:23 PM EST on 9/24/07
After traveling the world, composer and pianist John Aylward (GRAD) brought his talents home Wednesday night for his first Brandeis recital, featuring a program of music from across the globe that pushed the instrument to its limits.
"I hope [the recital] will broaden understanding of the possibilities of the piano," Aylward said in an interview before the performance. He called the evening's program, which included works by other Brandeis composers as well as established greats like Ravel, "a personal program," built around a pair of études by Aylward's teacher, Brandeis composition professor David Rakowski (MUS).
Not surprisingly, the Rakowski etudes were the highlight of the program. The first, "Chorale Fantasy," mixed unhurried and lush passages requiring great dynamic sensitivity with more urgent repetitive passages that recalled the chiming of a grandfather clock. The second work, "Sliding Scales," clearly echoed Ravel's Jeux d'Eau, which was performed earlier in the program. Its virtuosic technical difficulty actually proved too demanding for Aylward in his first attempt, forcing him to stop, briefly apologize to the audience and begin the piece again. The precarious nature of the performance actually seemed to boost its emotional impact, forcing a raw performance from the sometimes distant Aylward and heightening the piece's frantic, often delirious mood.
While the first half of the recital focused on pieces that reflected a French sensibility, the second half was comprised of pieces that Aylward said were influenced by the experimental musical school of thought that originated in Germany. This part of the program made use of prerecorded sounds and amplification, culminating in "Synchronism #6," by the contemporary Argentinian-born contemporary Mario Davidovsky. While technical problems (the recorded sound was too loud, the plucked piano strings sometimes completely inaudible) kept the work from reaching its full potential, Aylward's obvious enjoyment of the piece and unswerving engagement with it kept the audience engrossed right along with him.
"I hope [the recital] will broaden understanding of the possibilities of the piano," Aylward said in an interview before the performance. He called the evening's program, which included works by other Brandeis composers as well as established greats like Ravel, "a personal program," built around a pair of études by Aylward's teacher, Brandeis composition professor David Rakowski (MUS).
Not surprisingly, the Rakowski etudes were the highlight of the program. The first, "Chorale Fantasy," mixed unhurried and lush passages requiring great dynamic sensitivity with more urgent repetitive passages that recalled the chiming of a grandfather clock. The second work, "Sliding Scales," clearly echoed Ravel's Jeux d'Eau, which was performed earlier in the program. Its virtuosic technical difficulty actually proved too demanding for Aylward in his first attempt, forcing him to stop, briefly apologize to the audience and begin the piece again. The precarious nature of the performance actually seemed to boost its emotional impact, forcing a raw performance from the sometimes distant Aylward and heightening the piece's frantic, often delirious mood.
While the first half of the recital focused on pieces that reflected a French sensibility, the second half was comprised of pieces that Aylward said were influenced by the experimental musical school of thought that originated in Germany. This part of the program made use of prerecorded sounds and amplification, culminating in "Synchronism #6," by the contemporary Argentinian-born contemporary Mario Davidovsky. While technical problems (the recorded sound was too loud, the plucked piano strings sometimes completely inaudible) kept the work from reaching its full potential, Aylward's obvious enjoyment of the piece and unswerving engagement with it kept the audience engrossed right along with him.
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