Sat, December 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM
BOULEZ ENSEMBLE & MATTHIAS PINTSCHER
Lichtspielszenen: Mozart, Schoenberg, Ligeti, Chin
Pierre Boulez Saal
The Old High German word gougalon is the origin of the modern verb gaukeln, which describes the performance of medieval street entertainers. In her eponymous ensemble piece, Unsuk Chin employs contemporary musical means to imagine “Scenes from a Street Theater,” inspired by a blend of hypermodern urbanity and the labyrinthine, history-rich alleyways of 1960’s Seoul during the composer’s childhood. Matthias Pintscher and the Boulez Ensemble combine Chin’s “imaginary folk music” with Schoenberg’s “accompaniment” to an equally imaginary film scene and the suggestive polyrhythms of Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, featuring Barenboim-Said Akademie alumna Julia Hamos as the soloist. Mozart’s C-minor Serenade opens the program.
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Pushing the Boundaries A Conversation with Julia Hamos
You’re making your solo debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal with Ligeti's Piano Concerto, which is notorious for its extremely virtuoso piano part…
It’s a challenge to play, and can also be challenging to listen to, but in a live performance it becomes very, very exciting. Musically speaking, it’s a masterpiece that draws on African rhythms and Hungarian folk songs. A lot of it is written with the piano and the orchestra in different meters—for example, the conductor might beat in four but you’re playing in six, and when the music is fast and loud, this can throw you off. There are often different key signatures for the right and left hand, and you also need a lot of rhythmic coordination between the two hands. So you have those three elements creating a challenge. I played the piece for the first time last year with a big orchestra, where most parts are doubled or tripled, but I actually think it works better in the ensemble version we’re doing at the Pierre Boulez Saal, because you can hear the individual lines more clearly, including the piano.
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