“Hong Kong Artists” Series: Piano Recital by Hui Ling
ProgrammeAbout the PerformerProgramme NotesTicketing
Haydn
Sonata in D, Hob. XVI:42
Brahms
7 Fantasien, Op. 116
Scriabin
Two Poems, Op. 32
Prokofiev
Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 84
The performance will run for about 1 hour and 30 minutes including a 15-minute intermission.
Members of the audience are strongly advised to arrive punctually. Latecomers and those who leave their seats during the performance will only be admitted and allowed to return to their seats respectively during the intermission or at a suitable break.
The presenter reserves the right to refuse admission of latecomers, or determine the time and manner of admission of latecomers.
The programme does not represent the views of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
The presenter reserves the right to change the programme.
Hui Ling is one of the most renowned pianists and educators in Hong Kong, as well as a faculty member at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University.
Born in a musical family in Beijing, Hui began her musical journey at the age of three. Her early musical training took place at the secondary school of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She achieved a Professional Diploma with High Distinction at the HKAPA and obtained her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, completing both in four years on a full scholarship. Her piano teachers include Yang Jingchuan, Li Qifong, Yin Chengzong, John Winther, and Mack McCray.
As a remarkable soloist, Hui has collaborated with various orchestras, including the Sierra Community Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Marin Symphony in California, as well as the Queensland Youth Orchestra of Australia. She was a featured artist at the San Luis Obispo (California) Mozart Festival in 1991, and the resident pianist for the Lancaster Festival in Ohio between 1994 and 1999 where she performed twice with pianist Jon Kimura Parker in piano duo recitals and four-piano extravaganza concerts.
Since her return to Hong Kong in 1994, Hui has given numerous solo and chamber recitals, radio and television performances. She has actively engaged in educational work, conducting music lectures and masterclasses, as well as serving as a judge for piano competitions. In 2000, she formed a piano duo namely "HK Duo" with Julie Kuok, performing concerts both locally and internationally, premiering their own arrangements and original compositions.
Information provided by the artist
Sonata in D, Hob:XVI:42
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Andante con espressione Vivace assai
Haydn wrote at least 62 sonatas for keyboard (initially for the harpsichord and later for the fortepiano), ten of which have been lost. While most of these are in three movements, there are a number in only two – slow, then quick – and some with more than three. Haydn's inexhaustible musical imagination means that each of the 52 sonatas remaining to us has a distinct character, although of course sharing in both the expressive powers and delight in humour that inform all of this amazing composer's works.
The first movement of this sonata consists of a 20-bar theme in two parts, each of which is repeated, and three variations, one of which has an orchestral feel, in the minor. The overall effect is of an improvisation, quite common in Haydn's slow movements for keyboard. The Vivace assai is a typically playful movement having fun with the two motifs heard at the very beginning. There's lots of enjoyment to be had by both performer and listener.
7 Fantasien, Op. 116
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Capriccio: Presto energico Intermezzo: Andante – Non troppo presto - Andante Capriccio: Allegro passionato Intermezzo: Adagio Intermezzo: Andante con grazia ed intissimo Intermezzo: Andantino teneramente Capriccio: Allegro agitato
Brahms wrote a good many works for the piano, including the three early sonatas, which Schumann described as "veiled symphonies", sets of Variations, two Rhapsodies and several sets of shorter pieces, as well as works for piano duet and two pianos. Brahms' publisher Simrock issued the Op. 116 and 117 pieces (a total of ten) in 1892, and Op. 118 and 119 a year later (another ten pieces). These are the last piano pieces which came from Brahms' pen. The exact date of composition is not known, as Brahms tended to hold onto individual pieces until there were enough to make a set.
In giving titles to his short piano pieces Brahms shows little imagination, which, as Ivor Keys said, he leaves for the music itself. The opening piece is full of boundless energy, but contrasted with lyrical sections, and uses interesting rhythms. It covers a wide range, and in a short space makes a towering effect. The following Intermezzo is wistful and has a glittering middle section. The passion of the next piece, in G minor, is balanced by the broad melody in the middle in E flat major, which rises to an impressive climax. The whole piece ends almost more powerfully than the first one.
The fourth piece was originally titled Nocturne. This title suits it well. It's an Adagio in E major, making beautiful use of the sonorities of the piano. The next piece gives fleeting glimpses of some passing presence, without ever letting one see the whole picture, and a sense of longing (never far away in the music of Brahms) informs the final Intermezzo in E major. The last Capriccio, back in D minor, seems to be searching for something. The middle section, in A minor, changes the metre from 2/4 to 6/8, and brings a melody accompanied by arpeggios above and below, while the final powerfully scored bars, in 3/8, referring back to the first Capriccio, manage after all the stress and strain to end on a large D major chord.
Two Poems, Op. 32
Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)
Andante cantabile Allegro, con eleganza, con fiducia
Alexander Scriabin is a singular figure in the history of music as he developed his ideas of the extasy of creativity, and of music as part of a synthesis of sensations which would carry the listener into a state of extasy. He envisaged, but never carried out, a work in which music, dance, light, colour and perfume along with bells "suspended from the clouds" would all come together, with him at the centre on the piano. His considerable output includes 3 symphonies, the Poème de l' extase for orchestra, 10 piano sonatas, 24 Preludes, Poems, Dances and other works for the piano. The two poems of Op. 32 were written in 1903 at a time when, married with four children, he had an affair with a younger woman. The music reflects the sensuality of his nature at this point in his career.
The pianist is directed in the first of the poems to "mark well the two voices, but dolce". The piece is in F sharp major, and as usual, highly chromatic and individual in its harmonies. The second poem, at a fast speed, is directed to be played with elegance and confidence – an interesting idea. In D major, this poem is fiery and passionate.
Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 84
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Prokofiev was a very prolific composer, producing music in most genres – Symphonies, Ballets, Operas, Concertos, Cantatas and music for singers, much music for the piano including 9 sonatas, and a good deal of chamber music. Highly precocious, his first compositions date from when he was only 4, when his mother began teaching him the piano. He studied composition and piano at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1904, and in 1914 he was awarded the First Prize for his performance of his own Piano Concerto No 1. He was always keen to make his mark, and his early music is often challenging – loud and discordant. But he also had a pronounced lyrical side to his nature and this is not often far away in his music.
Like many artists he left Russia after the Revolution, in 1918, travelling to the United States, where he had a difficult time as he was in direct competition with Rachmaninov, who had already established a large following there, both as a pianist and composer. Between the years 1922 and 1936 Prokofiev lived in Europe, first in France and then Germany. In 1936 he returned to Russia, where he was able to adjust his approach to composition along the lines laid down by the authorities. In spite of this much of his music was banned in 1948, along with that of many other composers, including Shostakovich. Prokofiev never really recovered from this, and felt highly insecure in his last years. The ban was lifted in 1949 because Shostakovich was to attend the World Peace Conference in America at the behest of Stalin himself, and he bravely said he would not go as he would not be able to explain why his colleagues' compositions were not played in their home country.
Prokofiev started all three of his piano sonatas 6, 7 and 8 in 1939, and finished number 8 in 1944. The three works have become known as the "war sonatas". Number 8, lasting some half an hour, is basically in B flat, but the harmonic idiom is highly chromatic and the centre of gravity in the prevailing key centre shifts constantly in the outer movements, giving a sense of unease beneath the lyricism of many of the themes. The first movement is basically in sonata form, and Prokofiev changes tempo several times, again invoking a feeling of impermanence. This was perhaps an effect of the war that was raging at the time.
In the slow movement Prokofiev uses a theme from his then unperformed opera Eugene Onegin, providing a romantic interlude. The last movement gives the effect of a moto perpetuo, or toccata. There are many different sections, including a waltz-like one, and a slower section before the whole ends boldly.
Programme notes provided by Professor David Gwilt
Chinese translation provided by KCL Language Consultancy Ltd.
“Hong Kong Artists” Series: Piano Recital by Hui Ling
Tickets available from 27 March at all URBTIX outlets, self-service ticketing kiosks, on internet, by mobile app and telephone.
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“Hong Kong Artists” Series Package Discount
For each purchase of standard tickets for ‘Duo Recital by Alice Hui (Flute) and Tommy Liu (Bassoon)’, 'Piano Recital by Hui Ling’, 'Huqin Recital by Mak Ka-yin’ and ‘Piano Duo Recital by Stephen Wong and Amy Sze’, the following concession applies:
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For each purchase of standard tickets for ‘Duo Recital by Alice Hui (Flute) and Tommy Liu (Bassoon)’, 'Piano Recital by Hui Ling’, 'Huqin Recital by Mak Ka-yin’ and ‘Piano Duo Recital by Stephen Wong and Amy Sze’, the following concession applies:
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Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount offers.
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