Solo performance review formative assignment due to 29th October

The concert that the student selected to review is called “From the Eastern Mountains:
Saxophone Music from Prokofiev and beyond”. It was held in Royal Holloway University of
London in the picture gallery by acclaimed-international artists Kyle Horch playing the
saxophone and Yshani Perinpanayagam playing the piano.

The concert started of with a beautiful Sonata by Alexander Tcherepnin called Sonata
Sportive Op. 63 and was written in 1939. The first movement is called “Lutte” which means
Boxing, and the saxophone and piano are boxers who face each other. Both artists were
really synchronised with the dynamics being represented accurately. The movement is
based on a fight, with leaps, and rhythm trying to let the audience imagine what the fight look
like. The second movement is called “Mi-temp” which means half time and represents the
rest that the two players are in the midst of a competition while the melody is more peaceful
and the artists are a lot more relaxed. The third movement is called “Course” which means
race. In this movement the saxophone is leading but the pianist tries to surpass him. The
melody is a lot more boisterous and the artists are playing with a lot more energy, until the
saxophone plays a sprint finish scale and the piece ends with a brief and entertaining end.
The second piece was called Complainte et Danse by Yvan Markovitch and was written in
1964. The piece is really short with a folk style, while the artists where kept really mysterious
and strange style which represents the “Complainte” and then played a more playful and
energetic style which represented “Danse”.
The third piece is a Sonata for alto saxophone and piano by Eduard tubin and is in three
movements. The first movement is full of darkly and brooding harmonies, while the second
movement is based on a melody from the 13th century with saxophone playing the melody
and piano accompanying it with rhythm chords. The third and final movement is a lot more
powerful and energetic than the last two movements and gives a positive finale to the work
The concert continued with a piece called Five melodies op. 35 written by Sergei Prokofiev.
The performance on the alto saxophone captures the vocal quality of the work very well,
while it is played as a tribute to Prokofiev. The artists had a really good control of there
dynamics, while the piano was accompanying, and Kyle Horch was playing everything with
just few breaths, which was really surprising, especially because the sound stayed the same
throughout the whole phrase.
Finally the concert ended with a piece called Bajkowe Opowiesci (Fairytale Stories) written
by Krzysztof Herdzin. It is an eight vivid piece with colourful miniatures of stories, which are
not named so the player and listener can use their imagination.
Solo Performance Programme Notes Formative Assignments due to 29th of October
Prelude and fugue in C minor, BWV 847,
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude and fugue in C minor is a keyboard composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach
in the first book of The well-tempered Clavier and is a series of 48 preludes and fugues by
the composer. The prelude is 38 bars long and is mostly a repeated motif of sixteenth notes
of broken chords in both hands. The fugue is 31 bars long and is written for 3 voices and as
most fugues it is a repeated melody in different keys and voices. Just like the prelude, the
fugue ends with a Picardy third.
Sonata No.8 in C minor, op. 13 (Pathetique)
Ladwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, op. 13 commonly known as Sonata Pathetique was written in
1798 by Ladwig van Beethoven. In its entirety all three movements take approximately 19
minutes to perform. The three movements are categorized as I. Grave – Allegro di molto e
con brio, II. Adagio cantabile and III. Rondo: Allegro.
Fantaisie-Impromptu in C# minor Op. 66
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Fantaisie-Impomptu in C# minor Op. 66 is a solo piano composition written in 1834 by
Frederic Chopin. It is one of Chopin’s most frequently performed and popular compositions.
The piece uses many cross-rhythms, the right hand plays sixteenth notes against the left
hand playing triplets and is in a cut time.