While searching the wide web to listen to
classical music different from my usual mega-idols, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninov,
and the like, I discovered British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. I chose a
new release, Piano Works, performed by Canadian pianist Luke Welch, released
last May.
اضافة اعلان
From the first notes, I liked what I was
listening to — fresh, uncomplicated music on the traditional side of classical,
simple, and, sonically speaking, very aesthetic. Sixteen short pieces that you
cannot but like. Most are written in major keys, stressing the bright, joyful
mood of the entire set.
Listening to the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a composer I admit I had never heard of before, came to me as a reminder that alongside the most celebrated ones … there are also musicians who are worth listening to, and who can bring us more enjoyment, with a welcome change of flavor.
Before even knowing the biography of
Coleridge-Taylor or his background, the music conjured up to me the sound of
American Scott Joplin, in the harmonic, the structure, and the colors parts,
not in the rhythm. My impression of this similitude was confirmed when I
discovered that the two musicians were contemporaries (end of the 19th,
beginning of the 20th centuries) and had American-African roots for Joplin and
British-African for Coleridge-Taylor. The main difference, perhaps, is that the
British composer did not venture into the ragtime style that characterized
Joplin’s works.
Most of the pieces on the album are rather
slow-paced. The one titled Papillon, however, allows Welch to demonstrate his
skills when the tempo is pushed up to the highest speed. He is a virtuoso
pianist by any measure. Apart from the above analogy with Scott Joplin, parts
of the album are reminiscent of Rachmaninov, a contemporary of
Coleridge-Taylor.
The Valse Suite is an exquisite composition. It
is more elaborate than the other tracks on the album, has more minor keys, and
is closer to the works of Frederic Chopin, for example. It is also more on the
melancholic side of music, whereas all the other tracks are bright, joyful.
Coleridge-Taylor, just like Scott Joplin, and
perhaps Brazilian Ernesto Nazareth, also a contemporary of all the musicians
mentioned above, worked on integrating elements of their native roots in the
music they composed. They brilliantly succeeded and contributed authentic music
with an exquisite and exotic flavor.
In addition to the intrinsic beauty of
Coleridge-Taylor piano works the combination of simplicity and refinement will
please a wide range of listeners. Those, for instance, who do not appreciate
overly intellectual modern classical will be happy to listen to the British
musician’s compositions.
The immaculate performance of Luke Welch and
the superlative quality of the recording is what essentially make the album so
attractive. Welch plays with perfect clarity, a critical aspect of classical
music, a tour de force that only great performers can achieve. His tempi are
perfect, and his dynamics are ideal for the kind of music he plays. The
technical production generates a vivid sound but not excessively — it is just
right. The listener is immersed in a dream-like sonic scape.
From the first notes, I liked what I was listening to — fresh, uncomplicated music on the traditional side of classical, simple, and, sonically speaking, very aesthetic. Sixteen short pieces that you cannot but like. Most are written in major keys, stressing the bright, joyful mood of the entire set.
I played the entire album three times. The
first time on my high-definition stereo system, on big speakers. The second
time on noise-canceling studio-grade headphones and the third time on my laptop
computer's humble, tiny speakers. Although there were, naturally, big
differences in the sound quality each time, the recording by Luke Welch was
such as I enjoyed it the three different ways.
Luke Welch is an award-winning Canadian pianist
who was born in Toronto. Last year, he was appointed to the Faculty of Piano at
the Royal Conservatory of Music Oscar Peterson Program.
Listening to the music of Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor, a composer I admit I had never heard of before, came to me as
a reminder that alongside the most celebrated ones — the composers that
everyone knows, the mega-idols I mentioned at the beginning of this story —
there are also musicians who are worth listening to, and who can bring us more
enjoyment, with a welcome change of flavor.
Jean-Claude Elias is a computer engineer and a classically trained pianist and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles, reviewing music albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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