APA begins 2009 Classical Fellowship Awards with challenging moderns

whitney smith

September 21, 2008 by whitney smith

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As he launched the American Pianists Association's 2009 Classical Fellowship Awards Sunday at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Michael Kirkendoll played contemporary works that could be the hardest sell of any program the five finalists will play during the Premiere Series kicking off the contest.

As with all of the Premiere Series concerts finalists will perform through February, Kirkendoll's program included a recital and a concerto with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Past participants in the triennial Classical Fellowship Awards have featured modern pieces, but the 29-year-old Kansas resident's program pushed the envelope -- especially with his two largest pieces, Jerome Kitzke's "Sunflower Sutra" and Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings.

Kirkendoll closed his recital with "Sunflower Sutra," an edgy, theatrical piece for an amplified, speaking pianist. It's a weird, disjointed work based on a rambling Allen Ginsberg text purporting to be a chat with his friend, Jack Kerouac, in a railroad yard. Kirkendoll's performance was compelling, despite persistent, distracting microphone problems.

With the Chamber Orchestra, Kirkendoll gave a commanding performance of the Concerto for Piano and Strings from 1979 -- a challenging listen, even if it is deemed one of the finest works by the Russian composer influenced by German modernists. The often-dissonant concerto is laced with conflict that has been described as a battle between romanticism and dissonance.

The first four pieces of the recital showed Kirkendoll at more accessible moments. He began with a captivating take on David Rakowski's Etude No. 52, "Moody's Blues," a rousing, rhythmically driven, rock-and-roll study inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis. Kirkendoll followed with a gorgeous, contemplative rendering of Olivier Messiaen's "First Communion of the Virgin," riddled with bird twitters.

Frederic Rzewski's "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues" from "Four North American Ballads" pitted big, percussive, industrial-sounding phrases against a free blues section. "The Alcotts," the slow movement from Charles Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2 was pretty and controlled, a portrait of domestic tranquility in Louisa May Alcott's family home.

Michael Kirkendoll, pianist.

What: A concert with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, starting the American Pianists Association's 2009 Classical Fellowship Awards.

When: Sunday.

Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Bottom line: A well-played, hard-to-sell program long on dissonance.

Forum: Music

Tags: 

Music, American Pianists Association, arts&culture, Michael Kirkendoll

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4 comments

Jon Silpayamanant
Jon Silpayamanant, September 22
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Rzewski's piano pieces have got to be some of my favorite works--Ilove the "Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues"--it's about what I'd imagine Antheil and the Futurists meant by music!

whitney smith
whitney smith, September 22
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I'm also becoming a Rzewski fan. Michael Kirkendoll said Rzewski's music is being performed worldwide this year, to mark the composer's 70th birthday. I think one of the 2006 APA Classical Fellows, Spencer Myer or Michael Sheppard, played a Rzewski piece at the contest three years ago.

Jon Silpayamanant
Jon Silpayamanant, September 22
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Oh wow-good for Kirkendoll! That whole program sounded fantastic--I wish I had been in town. I've always loved Schnittke's work as well. These are really the kinds of concerts I would love to see more often, and not just during events like the Terre Haute Contemporary Music Festival. Rzewski had actually performed his own works at DePauw University a few years ago--I also missed that, but it seemed to be well received from what I've heard from some of the music faculty.

Ensemble_Music
Ensemble_Music, September 29
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If you want a chance to hear the two piano version of Rzewski's Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, come to the Ensemble Music concert presenting Quattro Mani on November 19th at the Indiana History Center. Some people say the one piano version needs more than two hands to play. So two pianos and performers should be able to play them all even if the composer added extra for this version. That concert will also include works by George Crumb, Alan Hovhaness, John Novacek, and Claude Debussy. Check our website for other great programs and ticket info. www.ensemblemusic.org.

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