MUSIC BOX
Melinda Coffey Armstead, piano & organ
Mark Neiwirth, piano
Chapel Concertino
Selected Preludes Op. 28 . . . Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
1. Agitato 3.Vivace 4. Largo
5. Molto allegro 6. Lento assai 9. Largo
10. Molto allegro 11. Vivace 20. Largo
21. Cantabile 23. Moderato
Musical Interlude
Prelude 7. Andantino . . . F. Chopin
Offertory
Piano Solo TBA by Mark Neiwirth, Steinway Artist
Communion
Selected Pairings from 18 “Little Preludes”
and 371 Four-Part Chorales . . . J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Postlude
Two “Little Preludes” in C . . . J. S. Bach
The English pianist, BBC presenter and scholar Jeremy Siepmann wrote in Chopin: The Reluctant Romantic, a marvelous biography of Chopin and analysis of his music (he also married a college friend of mine from UCSB):
“It was in Majorca that Chopin competed one of his most remarkable and innovative works: the set of 24 preludes, one in each key, on the model of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (a monumental work that Chopin carried in his memory and played, generally to himself, throughout his life). Contrary to popular mythology, most of them appear to have been finished before Chopin arrived on the island. It is ironic that this most neutrally titled work by the nineteenth century’s most reluctant Romantic is among the most definitively Romantic things he ever wrote. In its startling brevity (almost half of the preludes last less than a minute), its subversion of traditional tonality, its myriad colors and its spell-binding virtuosity, Chopin’s Op. 28 could well be enshrined as a keyboard Romantic’s manifesto.”
A warm welcome back to Mark Neiwirth, dear friend and pianist extraordinaire, who is visiting this weekend from Pocatello, Idaho, where he is on the faculty of the University music department. We are so fortunate to enjoy his artistry today in a solo to be announced.
