Midori Performs the Music of Huw Watkins, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Toshio Hosokawa

World-renowned violinist Midori is presenting a program of new music in a series of winter recitals featuring works of Schott composers Huw Watkins, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Toshio Hosokawa.

Watkins's Coruscation and Reflection may be performed as separate works for violin and piano, but the composer's predilection is for the two pieces to be performed side-by-side. Coruscation, with its ascending violin motives and rhythmic piano lines, is a heartfelt proclamation of sorts. Reflection contains similar compositional themes, but with a decidedly more introspective approach.

Penderecki's five-movement Sonata No. 2 represents a somewhat rare occurrence of the violin-as-chamber music instrument in his oeuvre. The violin and piano are treated here as equal players and the sonata makes full use of the violin's emotive and technical possibilities, to brilliant effect.

Vertical Time Study III, the third in a three-part series by Toshio Hosokawa, displays a unique combination of Eastern and European musical characteristics. Hosokawa has also described the work as a kind of musical calligraphy, with the violin acting as the brush and the piano as canvas. In this work, silence is as vital a compositional force as sound.

Midori's "New Music Recitals, Winter 2010" is already well along. Recitals include:

• January 15 & 16: Institute for Advanced Studies; Princeton, NJ
• January 31 & February 6: San Francisco Performances, Herbst Theatre; San Francisco, CA
• February 4: Icicle Creek Music Center; Leavenworth, WA

Visit www.gotomidori.com to learn more about Midori and her upcoming performances.

Visit www.masterclassblog.wordpress.com to learn about San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra violinist Michelle Lee's preparation of Watkins's Coruscation and Reflection for the SF Performances Masterclass on January 31.

Composer profiles:

Huw Watkins
Toshio Hosokawa
Krzysztof Penderecki.

Huw Watkins
Coruscation and Reflection (1998)
for violin and piano
8'

Krzysztof Penderecki
Sonata No. 2
for violin and piano
35'

Toshio Hosokawa
Vertical Time Study III (1994)
for violin and piano
12'