David Dalle
Thursday July 23rd, 2015 with David Dalle
Capital Ukrainian Festival; André Laplante and Franz Liszt; Ljova and the Kontraband

Today we look at this weekend's Capital Ukrainian festival which showcases some Ukrainian-Canadian musical and artistic talent. Friday night there is a Ukrainian pub night with bands Ukrainia and Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Saturday and Sunday there are many free performances of Ukrainian music and dance as well as art exhibits and other activities. We will hear Ukrainia, Lemon Bucket Orkestra as well as traditional Ukrainian folk music. http://capitalukrainianfestival.com/ We also hear one of my favourite performers of Liszt, pianist André Laplante in several works by Liszt, including his Sonata in b minor. Liszt's sonata is a monumental work that truly stands alone in 19th century European music. Despite some beautiful sonatas by Chopin, Schumann and others, the post-Beethoven piano sonata was stagnant and would remain so for the rest of the 19th century. Chopin's, Schumann's, Brahms' and other sonatas sound backwards and impoverished compared to Beethoven's late sonatas. This was the state of the piano sonata in the 19th century after Beethoven, with the single, brilliant, mercurial exception of Liszt's sonata. There was no composer besides Liszt who was able to understand Beethoven's late piano sonatas and to imagine where Beethoven's radical path might lead. 26 years after Beethoven's death and 31 years after Beethoven's final sonata, Liszt composed his only sonata: an incredibly complex, multi-layered form where in the space of a single unbroken movement, Liszt created a piece that simultaneously plays out the 4 movements of an overall sonata piece (sonata, slow movement, scherzo, sonata/rondo) as well as the traditional first movement sonata form (exposition, development, recapitulation) which gave the name to the overall piece. But the piece doesn't just play out as an incredible formal structure, it works seamlessly, naturally, organically using his thematic transformation. The result is an incredibly beautiful, passionate, sublime piece of music traversing an epic journey from silence to silence. The greatest piano work by one of the greatest pianists and composers for the piano. André Laplante's performance is inspired, and we will have a chance to hear him play it at the Ottawa Chamber Music festival next Friday, July 31st. Not to be missed! http://www.chamberfest.com/concerts/15-731-05/ We also hear a few pieces by Ljova and the Kontraband who play eclectic compositions mixing Roma and Eastern European, jazz & classical and other influences. They will be performing at the Chamber Music Festival on Tuesday July 28th: http://www.chamberfest.com/concerts/15-728-07/