(In English 英語主講)
Speaker: Carl Vine
Step into the captivating world of celebrated Australian composer Carl Vine! In this lecture, Vine explores how the very shape of the piano keyboard, the physical "landscape" beneath a pianist's hands, informs melody, harmony, and expression. At the heart of the lecture is his new work for solo piano, Fantasia Divina, written especially for the acclaimed Thai pianist Poom Prommachart. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of today's leading composers reflect on his creative process just before the work receives its world premiere, presented by Prommachart himself on October 26 at HKU Grand Hall.
Abstract
DIVINE TOPOGRAPHY, how the shape of the diatonic keyboard and the way the pianist's hands move across it influence melody and harmony in Fantasia Divina (the Divine Fantasy)
My piano compositions are often differentiated by virtuosic performance techniques. The aim is not to torture the performer but to aim for more complex musical events that inspire and mystify the audience while being, within their purpose, as easy to achieve as possible.
Accomplished composers of piano music are acutely aware of the limitations of ten fingers moving across the odd asymmetrical shape of the diatonic keyboard, and use that knowledge to create apparently complex manoeuvres which are, in fact, easy to achieve. Fantasia Divina is the first work in which I have concentrated specifically on keyboard topography and the ways in which it can inform harmonic and melodic material in composition.
