September Encore Recital

Our Encore Recital on September 21st was held at Brooke Grove Retirement Village in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Brooke Grove, a retirement community situated on a 220-acre campus, offers older residents independent living cottages, group homes for those requiring assisted living, and a large nursing and rehabilitation center for those requiring skilled nursing as well as long-term care.  

They set up a large room for us with tables and flowers. Most importantly, it featured a lovely Yamaha grand. The room, known as their TLC room (standing for Terrace Level Community Room, but a cute name nonetheless) was also stocked with punch and cookies provided by the community. Clearly, they expected a nice crowd to attend. However, a couple of days before our event, there had been a Covid outbreak in the building, and that discouraged in-person attendance. As a result, the community very thoughtfully arranged to livestream our performance to all residents’ rooms through the community’s television system. To the best of our knowledge, having a livestreamed concert was a first for an Encore Recital. A handful of hardy residents showed up in person as well. 

Our program proceeded in chronological order by composer. Judith Block was our first performer, playing Mozart’s Rondo in A Minor, K.V. 511. Yukiko Takedai followed with the first two numbers from Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16.

At this point in the program, the recital appeared to develop a theme: namely, best-known and least-known pieces from famous composers. We had two performers presenting Chopin numbers. DuEwa Kamara performed his Fantasie-Impromptu, Op. 66, certainly one of the most popular of Chopin’s works. Louis Reichwein followed with Chopin’s Ballade No. 2, Op. 38, which he said is one of the least-performed of Chopin’s four Ballades.

We then had a similar situation, perhaps best called a sandwich, with respect to Debussy. First, Jodi Lipson performed his Reverie, a piece that has become very popular, but was actually disdained by Debussy himself. He wrote to his publisher about it saying, “I regret very much your decision to publish Rêverie. I wrote it in a hurry years ago, purely for material considerations. It is a work of no consequence, and I frankly consider it to be no good!” Our audience clearly disagreed. Carol Barth followed on the program performing Debussy’s Nocturn, a piece she noted is very seldom performed, as well as Clair de Lune, which we all know is a staple of pianists throughout the world. 

Our final two performers introduced us to composers who are only recently being rediscovered by pianists. First, Joan Magagna performed Impromptu in B Major by Croatian composer Dora Pejacevic (1885–1923). Joan said she is focusing all her efforts nowadays on female composers, trying to help popularize their beautiful, but little-known, works. Then, Carol Henry performed two Antillean Dances (Op. 2) by Curaçaoan composer and pianist Statius Muller, nicknamed “Curaçao’s Chopin.” The delightful dances she played included No. 13, named Tristeza (which apparently means “sadness,” though it didn’t sound very sad), and No. 22, Nostalgia, which provided a very lively conclusion to our Encore Recital at Brooke Grove. 

Program