THE ART OF TRANSCRIPTION
Forty pianists and 20 pianos performing together on the stage of the Pamoja Hall ; what else could be the dream of every keyboard player ?
The final performance of The Art of Transcription concert brought this dream to life , when Percy Grainger ’ s transcription of the old English folk tune ‘ Country Gardens ’ was played by all performers in an ensemble of massed pianos , in a rousing and rowdy last hurrah for both the audience and musicians .
The concert was acutely programmed , blending genres and composers sectioned into segments that led from one to the next . Some of the programme drew on the roots of keyboard transcription , which Ellie Curson explored by playing a 14thcentury intabulation of a motet . Transcription has also flourished in the world of the silver screen , including the soundtracks of Hans Zimmer , which were played by Ray Hayashi , and Howl ’ s Moving Castle , played by Ella-Marie Williamson and Lara Foulsham in a piano duet .
Avant-garde reinventions of nursery rhymes such as Charles Ives ’ s ‘ London Bridge is Fallen Down !’ were performed with relish by Niki Zhang , and the instrumentation of African American Spirituals , particularly Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ’ s glorious ‘ Deep River ’, were played with serene mastery by Eliza Ruffle .
It becomes apparent to modern audiences that he thought of reinvention in the same light as creation , with music being a shared and cooperative medium of expression . This sentiment was continued throughout the evening , with performances of ‘ Air on the G String ’ from Florence Lall and Theodore Jones , as well as an inventive iteration of his famous Toccata in D Minor on synthesiser in the electronica style of Wendy Carlos , interpreted with audacity by Nicholas Leung .
The evening of transcription also provoked deeper thought over the concept of originality , and the dynamic between what is truly genuine and what is simply copied . Where does one draw the line between a new work and something which has been partly or wholly influenced by other artists and works ?
For the past few years at Sevenoaks , it has been nothing short of a pleasure to take part in Mr Wey ’ s annual piano concerts , witnessing his inventive explorations into musical dichotomies and themes spanning immeasurable ranges of eras and composers . There was something distinctly refreshing and organic about his 2022 project , The Art of Transcription , which was a standout success .
Lachlan Edwards , Year 11
The concert also examined the presence of Bach in the world of transcription . A musical giant , his oeuvre is filled with arrangements of his own work and that of his contemporaries .
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