SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Ivan Ilić Tours Wales in March  with a new work by John Metcalf (MS)


For his first tour of Wales award-winning star of the Paris music scene Ivan Ilić decided to alter his programme and include a solo piano piece by Welsh composer John Metcalf.

Such was the audience’s response Ivan not only performed Metcalf’s Endless Song across Wales but played the work 45 times in the last year including concerts in France, Ireland, England and Scotland.

Now the virtuoso pianist, who studied mathematics and music at the University of California, Berkeley, is to give the premiere of a new work by Metcalf, at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in March.

Ivan met John Metcalf after a concert in Fishguard in the spring of 2007 which in itself was the start of a special relationship with the country.  “That concert was part of my first tour of Wales, and at the time I had no idea that I would play 25 concerts in Wales in the 12 months to follow,” said the 29-year-old performer who has Serbian parents but was born and raised in California.

As a student Ivan was awarded a Premier Prix in piano at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. Aged 20, he launched a solo recital career that has taken him throughout Europe and America and most recently extensive touring in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England.  “For my Welsh debut last February I shifted the repertoire and played Endless Song as an encore. The public's reaction was the most demonstrative I have encountered for any piece by a living composer at one of my concerts. Initially, I thought that the hymn-like, pastoral qualities of Endless Song were particularly resonant for Welsh concertgoers, but I soon played the piece in France, Scotland, England, and Ireland where it received an overwhelmingly positive reaction.”

With both audience and critical approval ringing in his ears, Ivan was keen to have a companion piece to Endless Song “something in a brisk tempo to provide an obvious contrast with Endless Song”. The new work, Appassionata is the result. “Last autumn I stayed with John near Lampeter to work on the piece. We listened to several recordings of his orchestral music, and I was particularly taken with his Cello Symphony especially the mysterious opening, which starts in the very low registers, and builds into a compelling, beautifully lyrical melody. At the time, John was trying out various ideas for the opening of Appassionata. The opening he eventually decided upon is very similar in character and construction to that of his Cello Symphony, although compressed into 20 seconds. I like to think that the decision was made as a result of my enthusiastic response to the parallel passage in his Cello Symphony. Looking at Appassionata under a microscope, I also see similarities to Endless Song: the pacing of the music, the long lines, the use of the full scope of the keyboard, and even the voicings of individual chords.”

Ivan is convinced the work will become a firm favourite of concert goers. “I feel that it is doubly appropriate that it will receive its premiere at the Royal College in Cardiff: firstly because of the college's commission, and secondly because John is one of Wales' foremost living composers.  I imagine that in years to come students at the college will study and later perform Appassionata as a tribute to their Welsh heritage. Along with Endless Song it is one of the most successful pieces for solo piano by a Welsh composer.”

This will be Ivan’s first recital at the college which will also include Endless Song and works by Debussy and Liszt, and it will be followed by a master class. Ivan will also perform the new piece when he returns to Aberdovey later in the spring in a concert sponsored by Night Out, the touring scheme run by the Arts Council of Wales and Gwynedd Council. My tour of Wales last year including Aberdovey was further proof  that nothing can replace the experience of going to a live performance; the expression on the faces of audience members was transformed by the end of each concert,” he said.

Speaking of his pleasure at having Appassionata played by Ivan Ilic, Welsh composer John Metcalf said that  working  with Ivan Ilić was an opportunity he was happy to grasp with both hands when creating the new work Appassionata. Having heard Ivan play  Endless Song at the West Wales Arts Centre in Fishguard and with an open commission to write a new work for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, John realised the collaborative possibility that presented itself.

The composer was considering the possibility of the RWCMD commission being a test piece for the Newport Piano Competition and therefore beyond his own keyboard skills. “When writing a piece that involves virtuosic performance, a display piece, it was very, very helpful to have collaborated with Ivan,” said Welsh-Canadian John who now lives near Llanfair Clydogau, Lampeter.  Valuing working with an artist when creating a new piece is something John ascribes to his love for writing opera.  He has now composed six,  two of which were commissioned by Welsh National Opera, and has given himself the goal of writing five in his 80s (in 20 years time).

“Opera is a form that is immensely complex and a multi-faceted medium; I learned to take advent of the best skills of people I am working with.  In between opera projects, when I was writing instrumental pieces and chamber music, there was an opportunity to collaborate I took it with both hands. I was very flattered when Ivan said he thought Endless Song and Appassionata were similar because often the word that goes before ‘display piece’ is ‘empty’ and Endless Song is certainly not an empty piece; I didn’t want to write one.  When they heard I was writing the piece, a couple of trusted colleagues said that would be interesting as they didn’t think it was the sort of challenge you would want as a composer.  So, yes, I am delighted Ivan thinks it sounds like my music and I take it as a very favourable comment.”

John said the challenge was also encouraged by the college’s head of keyboard studies Richard McMahon. “In conversation Richard commented that it would be good if I wrote that kind of piece because when you have singing melody in the context of virtuosity it is very moving. It is like having deep feeling in a context of comedy: the comedy is the virtuosity and the feeling is the singing melody.” Regarding Appassionata’s similarities with his previous work, he added, “As a composer I think it is like family resemblances – if you are a member of the family you can’t see them.”
 

Mike Smith

 

·         Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, 1.05 pm, (master class 2.30-5pm), March 14. Recital £4, £2. Master class free. Tel: 029 2039 1391
 

·         Neuadd Dyfi , Aberdovey. 7:30pm Sunday, April 20. £4.00 Concessions Children £3.00 Tel: 01654 767251

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