When Eshantha Peiris presents his solo concert ‘Evocative’, audiences can look forward to much more than just a typical instrumental recital. The concert to be held at the Lionel Wendt next Sunday, July 18 will showcase a broad range of musical styles from Western composers to contemporary Lankan composers evoking varied cultures, locales, attitudes, eras, all through the sounds of a single instrument with the use of visual multimedia to heighten the moods expressed in the music.
The programme of ‘Evocative’, includes compositions from Spain (Manuel de Falla – Fantasia Baetica), Argentina (Astor Piazzolla – Histoire du Tango), France (Debussy – Images), Germany (J.S. Bach – Italian Concerto), and South Asia (Dinuk Wijeratne – Colourstudy in Rupaktaal), as well as a new piece by Rohan de Livera.
Eshantha will play Bach’s Italian Concerto BWV 971 where the lively first and third movements feature both soloistic and orchestral textures alternating in ‘riternello’ style (i.e. with a recurring refrain played by the orchestra), contrasted with the slow ‘melody-with-accompaniment’ second movement. ‘Italian Concerto’ was first published in 1735.
In Claude Debussy’s Images pour piano (book 1), Eshantha plays ‘Reflets dans l’eau’ - a musical observation of the rippling effect created by a pebble being tossed onto calm water, ‘Hommage à Ramea’u (‘Homage to Rameau’) a wistful Sarabande (a slow dance-form from the Renaissance) based on a melody by Jean-Philippe Rameau and the ambiguously titled ‘Mouvement’ (‘motion’) that literally moves forward, propelled by Debussy’s trademark pentatonic and whole-tone harmonies.
Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s Fantasia Baetica sees the imitation of the flamenco guitar evident throughout; the ‘Spanish flavour’ evoked through the use of chords derived from the guitar tuning, rapid ‘strumming’ patterns, and flamenco melodies and harmonic structures.
Eshantha will also play Sri Lankan- born Dinuk Wijeratne’s Colour Study in RupakTaal. Describing his work, the composer says “Although the piano is simultaneously playing both the character of ‘Tabla soloist’ and ‘sympathetic accompanist’, it was never my intention to recreate a traditional Indian tabla composition for the piano. I have chosen instead to use the original rhythmic concept – i.e. one line which accelerates incrementally away from another – as scaffolding upon which one can experiment quite liberally with colour, as the title suggests.
Astor Piazzolla: L’Histoire du Tango, by Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), traces the musical evolution of Argentine tango music over the course of the 20th century. L’Histoire du Tango was originally composed for flute and guitar; this version is arranged for solo piano by Kyoto Yamamoto.
Eshantha concludes his concert with another Lankan composer and pianist Rohan de Livera’s ‘The Nokia Variations’ based on the ubiquitous Nokia ring tone, which according to the Nokia Company's own statistics is heard an estimated two billion times a day.
“This piece was commissioned by Eshantha for this recital about three weeks ago, when he 'friended' me on Facebook and asked me to compose something to end the recital. Since the Nokia Ringtone is a melodic fragment, I first had to complete it into a rounded 'Theme'. This is followed by six variations: Rag - a frenetic Piano Rag, with a typical stride pattern in the left hand; Fanfare - a brassy ceremonial variation; Mauricesque - an impressionistic take on the original theme; Passacaglia for Lou Reed - a variation on a repeating ground bass, reminiscent of a bass line from the 1972 hit 'Walk on the Wild Side" by the American rock musician; Tango - a presentation of the theme as a Tango and its corresponding Habanera; and finally, Snap, a jazzy variation of the theme which will require some audience participation,” De Livera writes.
Tickets for the concert priced at Rs. 1000, 750, and 500, are available at Titus Stores, Liberty Plaza (tel: 011-2574446).
The Sunday Times is the print media sponsor for the show with Yes FM and Channel 1 MTV as the electronic media sponsors.
About Eshantha
Returning to Sri Lanka in 2008 after earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Performance and Composition at New York University’s Steinhardt School from 2003-2008, Eshantha now 24, has immersed himself in the local music scene as a freelance collaborative-musician and music director.
Currently conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka, co-director of the Old Joes Choir, and director of Contempo Choir and the choir of The British School in Colombo, he is also a lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts, and plays keyboards in the fusion band Thriloka <www.thriloka.com>. |
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