Miles Walter, piano

Miles Walter, pianist, thirteen years old, is a native of Keene and a piano student of Vladimir Odinokikh. In addition to his concerto appearance on May 11, 2008 with KCO, Miles has been invited to perform as concerto soloist with the Windham Orchestra in Vermont during the 08-09 season. Miles was a participant in the Apple Hill Summer Festival in 2007, and will also participate in the Apple Hill 2008 Festival. He is in a piano trio with KCO members Ian and Jacob MacKay, and they will be performing Shostakovich's Piano Trio in E Minor on May 18, 2008 (E-mail info@keenechamberorchestra.org for further information.)

Photo Caption: Left to right, KCO violinist Ian MacKay, Miles Walter, and KCO cellist Jacob Mackay.

Meet Mark Ferguson

Mark Ferguson began studying music seriously at the age of 8. His piano teachers have included Peter Yazbek and Françoise Regnat in California, Marc Alain in Paris, France, and Eric Stumacher, NH. He studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg's student, Aurelio De La Vega, and with Daniel Kessner. Mark also studied film composition with Don Ray, the Music Coordinator for CBS. Since 2005, Mark has been directing, arranging music for and performing with The Sinfonietta, a community orchestra based in Wilton, NH that he founded. Mark also performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber music groups in the Southern New Hampshire area.

Program Notes

Mark Ferguson: Tango 101 (2008), premier 
Notes by the composer

The word "tango" comes from the Nigerian-Congolese word "tangu", to dance, but the music and the dance were popularized in the early 1900's in Argentina and Uruguay. What was interesting about writing one, besides the fact that I'm not a dancer nor do I have Latin American or Africa roots, is that a tango has no set structure; it is more feeling than form. So when I was asked to write this piece, I had to think of what "tango" meant to me. The words sultry, playful, passionate, rhythmic, melodic, and surprising quickly came to mind. All of these elements are intended to be found in "Tango 101."

The title "Tango 101" comes from two ideas: 1) A crash course in writing my first tango, and 2) As I teach piano at the Keene Community Music Center while living in Wilton, a great portion of this piece was composed in the car while commuting on Route 101.

The Moderato fogoso of the introduction sets the mood. It is strong and, as the Spanish word forgoso implies, fiery. It dissolves into a soft, breathy little melody on the soprano and alto flutes, which recurs several times throughout the piece.

The first section alternates between feminine and masculine aspects: between the opening cautious, flirtatious melody and other persuasive, at times aggressive and even playful, melodies. This section comes to an end with the recurrence of the intro theme.

The second section, calmado y romantico, begins with solo violin and piano. The slow piano melody is accompanied by the opening theme fragmented into several registers throughout the orchestra.

The third section, urbano y apasionado (suave and passionate), takes a short but vigorous jazz-like turn. Starting with the solo trumpet "shouting out" a fragment of the calmado melody, the entire orchestra eventually explodes inot a robust version of melodies from the first section. This dissolves once again into breathy flutes, and fragments of the introduction are tossed about ever softer and softer. With one last, short burst of energy, the piece comes to an end.

Serge Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat, Op 10
Notes by Frank Behrens

Just as Prokofiev's First Symphony is the shortest of his seven symphonies, his First Piano Concerto is the shortest of his five piano concertos, practically whizzing by in an average performance time of 15 minutes. The composer was only 21 when he performed the world premier of this work in Moscow in 1912. Prokofiev later claimed the he found the sources of its classical aspects in Beethoven's piano sonatas which his mother used to play for him, and he found its "grotesque" aspects in his own need to deviate from all influences.

The concerto itself is in a single movement, divided into three parts. In the Allegro brioso section, Prokofiev introduces the main themes, and this introduction is  repeated after the development as in classical sonata form. The Andante assai begins with a beautiful blend of muted strings and a solo clarinet before the piano enters and is joined by the full orchestra. In the Allegro scherzando, the themes are further developed and the piece ends in a joyous and triumphant mode.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Notes by Frank Behrens

If Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony is one of the most favorite symphonies of the concert hall, it is only because it is so tuneful that people want to hear it again and again. Today, in the age of recorded music, the many versions of this symphony available on CD and DVD testify to its continued popularity. After all, how many symphonies send the audience home humming the memorable themes that flow from the work?

Before Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance of his Symphony No. 5 in 1888, he had begun to think he had written himself out. The public liked the work, but the critics did not. Tchaikovsky considered it a failure. As they say, no one is a good judge of his own creations.

The first of five movements, Andante-Allegro con anima, begins with a sort of "Fate knocking on the door" theme not unlike the opening theme of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Some think that this theme comes from a Polish folk song. The second movement, Andante contabile, is a "romanza" that lingers in the memory even after a single hearing. Notice how the "fate" motif twice interrupts the flow of the melody.

The third movement, Allegro moderato, has a waltz replace the usual scherzo (joke); here too is heard the opening motif. It is also like a calm before the tremendous power of the last movement, Andante maestoso, unleashes yet again the opening motif, this time insistent and declamatory. The last movement, severely criticized by Brahms, who praised the first three movements, has been variously interpreted as running the gamut from the composer's triumph over despair to the composer's falling into a mad despair. Whatever one imagines, the effect on the audience at the conclusion is overwhelming.