If you are a fan of Western music, you would have probably loved Joanne Kong’s song selection at her piano concert: a sonata by Mozart, a fantasy by Schumann, L’Isle Joyeuse by Claude Debussy, some etudes by Philip Glass, Birdsong by Daniel Leibovic, Charles-Valentin Alkan’s Barcarolle, some pieces by Gabriel Faure, Yiruma’s popular The River Flows in You , and finally, a little Bach.
“The Mozart sonata featured the first movement of his famous Sonata in A Major, the Schumann is actually a three movement work, Fantasie in C Major, Op 17, but I played the last part of it. These are famous pieces of romantic piano literature,” says Joanne, who was on her first visit to Bengaluru (and India), at the Bangalore School of Music. Joanne, a keyboardist, is the Director of Accompaniment and Coordinator of Chamber Ensembles at the University of Richmond. She is also a vegan advocate.
“I played two of Philip Glass’ etudes. He wrote this music for himself to increase his finger dexterity. They are beautiful pieces, almost meditative. In fact, Glass met Ravi Shankar, the sitarist in 1960s and was heavily influenced by his music. He tried to incorporate some of those Indian styles into his music. The two etudes that I played are constantly moving, colourful kaleidoscopes. It is similar in aesthetic to Indian music, in that sort of constancy of feeling and spiritual aspects.”
Her Bach pieces, part of her encore, featured an aria from his Goldberg Variations . Among Joanne’s most well-known recordings are those of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations , on the harpsichord and the piano. “The harpsichord is an early keyboard instrument from the Baroque period. I recorded the Goldberg Variations in their entirety, it is more authentic on the harpsichord and it takes about an hour to play. Both are masterpieces of the variation format, where you have a theme which is reiterated as it changes through the piece,” she explains.
“The harpsichord is a fragile instrument, which requires a lot of maintenance. There aren’t as many harpsichords around the world, there are more pianos. That’s why most of my concert performances as an artiste are on the piano.”
Joanne gave the world premiere of Pulitzer-prize winning composer Michael Colgrass’s Side by Side , the first concerto written for a soloist in the dual role of pianist and harpsichordist.
“ I actually play them both at the same time in parts. It is accompanied by an orchestra. It was an unusual work.”
The composer that she is most drawn to, however, is Johann Sebastian Bach. “I specialise in his music simply because to me his music is so universal. Spiritually, it is at such a high level, it is constructed so perfectly. It is the most perfect representation of what music is about. To me, music is about emotions, spiritual energy, and communicating,” she observes. “I feel that when I perform, I am providing a unique time and space for audience members be in touch with who they are. It provides an opportunity, in this busy life, to sit quietly and take in all of that beauty and everything else that music has, to offer.”
She points out that talent alone is not enough for a musician to succeed. “I work with talented young students and I can see that the ones who succeed are the ones who work the hardest. It is not just about talent, everyone has to practise. Sometimes I would work at the piano for four to six hours a day,” she says. “It takes enormous amount of work, concentration, focus and discipline, and long-range planning. Classical music is incredibly detailed, you are working on aspects of phrasing, rhythm, articulation, technique, and balancing out sound, colours and dynamics. It takes a lot of examination to craft what you want.” At the same time, she believes it is critical for youth to study music, even if they don’t take it up professionally.
“Music develops all these qualities, of perseverance, how to work and how to focus. A lot of us live in a fast world where we have a computer, and a cell phone and we expect to do things quickly. Music is one of those things you have to put a lot of time into. That’s why it’s valuable for young people to study music.”
