Paul Chihara - Concerto-Fantasy; Bagatelles; Reveries; Ami (Quynh Nguyen)

Information

Composer: Paul Chihara (b. 1938)

• Concerto-Fantasy
• Bagatelles (Twice Seven Haiku)
• 4 Reveries on Beethoven (2021 Version)
• Ami

Quynh Nguyen, piano

London Symphony Orchestra

Stephen Barlow, conductor

Rieko Aizawa, piano 2

Date: 2023

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.559894

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Review

The music of Paul Chihara, who spent part of his childhood in an internment camp in Idaho, takes Asian-Western dichotomies as points of departure, but that statement is too simple for all the variety of ways the combination can play out. The marquee item here is the recent Concerto-Fantasy for piano and orchestra, written for the young pianist Quynh Nguyen and premiered by her with the Vietnamese National Orchestra; here, it is sympathetically read by the London Symphony under conductor Stephen Barlow. The concerto has a unique concept, loosely describing the career of pianist Nguyen, although there is also a Vietnam War movement from before her time. The startling entrance of boogie-woogie in the second movement after the Vietnamese-inspired first movement is typical of Chihara's aesthetic. In some ways, this album would make a good introduction to Chihara's style, which is boiled down to its essentials in the Bagatelles ("Twice Seven Haiku for Piano") of 2011. These little pieces have the concision of Beethoven's Bagatelles, with such delightful titles as "Drinking Song for Kittens" (based on a Japanese song) and "Hip Hop Farmer." Beethoven takes center stage in the Four Reveries for piano, each a quasi-improvisatory essay in which bits of Beethoven's piano sonatas emerge from reflective material (the "Sayonara" movement is based, naturally, on "Les Adieux"). Sample the opening "RAG 109," based on the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109. The final Ami for piano four hands was written for the wedding in Japan of two of the composer's friends. Both ingenious and richly evocative and beautifully and quietly played besides, this is a wonderful release.

-- James Manheim, AllMusic

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Paul Chihara (born July 9, 1938 in Seattle, Washington) is a Japanese American composer. He received his degrees from the University of Washington and Cornell University, and also studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in West Berlin, and Gunther Schuller in Tanglewood. Chihara's prize-winning concert works, which include symphonies, concertos, chamber music, choral compositions, and ballets, have been performed to great acclaim both nationally and internationally. His music reflects interest in a variety of musical styles, and often shows influence from Asian music and culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Chihara

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Quynh Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Thuý Quỳnh) is a Vietnamese-American classical pianist. She studied at Hanoi Conservatory, Moscow's Gnessin College, Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, and CUNY Graduate Center. Quynh has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. She also participated and performed at various international music festivals such as the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the Mozarteum in Austria. Quynh currently teaches at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, and at Hunter College, City University of New York.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quynh_Nguyen

https://www.quynhpiano.com/

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