Cecilia Concerts | Classical Music | Halifax, Nova Scotia | Podcast: Cellist David Liam Roberts & pianist LaLa Lee
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DAVID LIAM ROBERTS & LALA LEE

PODCAST – EPISODE ONE

As part of our 32nd season, we welcomed cellist David Liam Roberts and pianist LaLa Lee to our stage in Halifax's Lilian Piercey Concert Hall for a socially-distanced but riveting program of works that included Luigi Boccherini’s challenging Cello Sonata in A major, G. 4, Robert Schumann’s simple but boldly expressive Five Pieces in Folk Style, and Frédéric Chopin's dazzling Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3. The pair also performed Christos Hatzis’ coaxing and dramatic Atonement, which impressively fuses tango, jazz elements, and a Jewish theme, as well as Swiss-born composer Ernest Bloch’s From Jewish Life: Prayer, a work that captures the complex, ardent Jewish spirit and soul. Known for his extraordinary technique and sincerely communicative performances, Métis cellist David Liam Roberts is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting Canadian cellists of his generation. A local audience favorite, pianist LaLa Lee has delighted audiences worldwide as well with solo, chamber, and orchestral performances. Both artists have been featured on CBC Music’s list of Canada’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians under 30”. Hosted by Jules Chamberlain. We acknowledge the support of Arts Nova Scotia.

PROGRAM

Cello Sonata in A major, G. 4

I. Adagio
II. Allegro
III. Affetuoso

Luigi Boccherini was born into a musical family in Lucca, Italy. His father was a noted cellist and double bass player who began his son’s musical education by teaching him to play the cello when Luigi was only five years old. After further musical training in Lucca and in Rome, the fourteen-year-old prodigy joined his father in Vienna where they were both employed as court musicians.  In 1761, Boccherini went to Madrid where he found employment at the royal court. He spent the rest of his life-based in Spain, although he gained recognition as a composer throughout Europe. Much of his chamber music follows the classical models of Haydn, although as a cellist, in composing his numerous string quartets, Boccherini understandably gave more prominence to the cello than did Haydn, who generally relegated it to an accompaniment role. The cello sonatas are apparently youthful works, and in the style of pre-Romantic writing, the cello is the star, with the piano providing accompaniment. The Sonata in A major is listed in the catalog by the French musicologist Yves Gerard as G4. It is, like much of Boccherini’s music, elegant, optimistic, and even affectionate. 

Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102

I. Mit Humor (Vanitas vanitatum)
II. Langsam
III. Nicht schnell, mit vielen Ton zu spielen
IV. Nicht zu rasch
V. Stark und markirt

Robert Schumann took cello lessons as a young man, and yet this favorite instrument of the romantic era is seldom given a prominent role in Schumann’s early work. It wasn’t until very late in his life, in 1849, that he acknowledged the cello more intensely.  The Five Pieces in Folk Style are miniatures containing the simplicity, bold expression, and broad humor of German folk songs and dances. According to Schumann authority Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, “Folk style is not meant as a loud display of virtuosity, rather it is the especially vibrant way of telling an intensely imagined narrative.” He goes on to point out as an example the first piece, entitled Mit Humor, bears the subtitle “Vanitas vanitatum” (“All is vanity”). It portrays someone in love with himself, who simply cannot understand why everyone is making fun of him. This person’s situation is funny and sad at the same time. And immediately King Solomon’s well-known aphorism turns into a real story that a cello player, together with the pianist, can “tell” and make graspable. In contrast, Langsam (slowly) is like a lullaby or meditative ballad focusing largely on the cello’s melody. The third piece marked Nicht schnell (not fast), begins and ends as a little wistful waltz; then, surprisingly, the meter and mood become more assertive and declarative. Nicht zu rasch (not too quickly), is one of Schumann’s passionate moments often associated with his manic side. In his writings, he ascribed this mood to a character named “Florestan.” The final piece, marked Stark und markirt (strong and well-marked), is more dance than song. Again showing Florestan alternately lyrical and impetuous, this concluding music moves energetically, with both cello and piano asserting their individual but collaborative messages.  

From Jewish Life: Prayer

Ernest Bloch was born in Geneva to Jewish parents in 1880 and is generally viewed as the greatest Swiss composer. He emigrated to the United States in 1916 and became an American citizen in 1924.  During the 1920s,  he served as the first Music Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and then the first Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He spent most of the 1930s in Switzerland, returning to America in 1939. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley until 1951 where he influenced a generation of American composers. 

Bloch studied violin with Eugene Ysaye, met Claude Debussy, and corresponded with Gustav Mahler and these influences show up in his work. Many of his works draw heavily on his Jewish heritage.  He said that he felt that to write music that expressed his Jewish identity was “the only way in which I can produce music of vitality and significance”. Bloch composed From Jewish Life in 1924. It is a triptych. The first piece, “Prayer” is reflective, expressive, and emotionally intense. Bloch said that his aim was “not to reconstruct authentic Jewish music or melodies, but to capture the complex, ardent Jewish spirit and soul.” 

Atonement (2012)

Multiple Juno award-winning composer Christos Hatzis was born in Volos, Greece. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and the State University of New York (SUNY) before immigrating to Canada in 1982, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1985. His music often deals with spiritual themes from diverse cultures including his own Byzantine, Canadian Inuit, and Jewish. The following note on Atonement was provided by the composer: 

Atonement was commissioned by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto for cellist Yegor Dyachkov and pianist Jean Saulnier. The work owes its title to the fact that its composition began on the eve of Yom Kippur 2012, the Jewish Day of Atonement. The music opens with aggressive gestures and extreme dynamic fluctuations over the low cello C string and its “overtone” chord, punctuated by syncopated stabs on the low piano. From this obsessive, asymmetrical backdrop two themes emerge, first a Jewish-sounding theme (which is likewise built loosely on the overtone series) and later a “gentile,” tango-like theme. The first theme evolves significantly over time and, in the course of its evolution, it coaxes the music to ever-deepening moments of introspection marked by quiet cello melodies in artificial harmonics. By contrast, the exuberant (“gentile”) second theme does not evolve at all, except for a fleeting moment of reckoning towards the end, and it is not instrumental in the process of Atonement, at least not to the extent that the first theme is. Appropriately, the music ends with variants of the first theme, which is ultimately the only theme that has left a strong impression on the music.” 

Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3

Chopin graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory in July 1829. In October of that same year, he visited Berlin and stayed as a guest of Prince Antoni Radziwill, governor of the Grand Dutchy of Posen. The prince was himself a composer and an aspiring cellist and his daughter, Princess Wanda, was an accomplished pianist. Chopin wrote his Polonaise Brillante in C major for cello and piano for them during his stay. He added an Introduction in 1830 and the entire piece was published the following year. It is one of Chopin’s earliest published pieces, and one of the few he wrote that featured an instrument other than the solo piano. In a letter to a friend, Chopin wrote somewhat dismissively that it was “merely a salon piece to be enjoyed casually”, yet he thought enough of it that he featured it on a concert tour in 1830. The Introduction is full of piano flourishes and a lovely theme introduced by the cello; the Polonaise is festive and full of youthful zest marked by Chopin’s gift for melody.  It is not “merely” a salon piece; it is a highly entertaining example of the joy music engenders. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

David Liam Roberts, cello

Winner of the 1st Prize and Grand Award at the 2018 National Music Festival, David Liam Roberts is establishing himself as one of the most exciting Canadian cellists of his generation. Named one of Canada’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians under 30” by CBC in 2019, David Liam is known for his extraordinary technique and sincerely communicative performances. The Métis cellist is the 2020 recipient of the Michael Measures 2nd Prize, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. After winning the grand prize of the Winnipeg Music Festival on his fourteenth birthday, David Liam was lauded by the Winnipeg Free Press as “prodigiously gifted…displaying an artistic sensibility well beyond his tender age”.

Engagements in the 2020-21 season include a recital in the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg’s subscription season as part of the Zyra Trio, as well as appearances at the Lunenberg Academy of Music Performance and Cecilia Concerts in Halifax with pianist LaLa Lee.

As a soloist, David Liam has appeared with the Winnipeg Youth Symphony and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) on several occasions. Most notably, he performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto as soloist with the WSO as the 2nd Prize winner of the 2018 Doris McLellan Competition. Equally at home in an orchestral setting, David Liam has recently performed as principal cellist of both the Royal Conservatory Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

Originally from Winnipeg, David Liam was a student of Yuri Hooker for eight years. He now studies with Hans Jørgen Jensen and Andrés Díaz at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he holds the Chisholm full scholarship and is sponsored by the Manitoba Arts Council.

David Liam’s cello was made for him in 2017 by Canadian luthier, Garth Lee.

 

LaLa Lee, piano

Praised for her sensitive expression and profound understanding of music, LaLa Lee is described by Juno Award winning composer Dinuk Wijeratne as “undoubtedly a talent to watch”. She has delighted audiences worldwide with solo, chamber, and orchestral performances and was named as one of CBC’s 30 Hot Classical Musicians under 30. LaLa has competed in the Manchester International Piano Competition, was the youngest finalist at the Stepping Stone Competition in 2018, and is a three-time national laureate at both the Canadian Music Competition and the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals. In 2019 LaLa was invited to perform at a private function for Renee Fleming and Alexander Shelley. She also performed as a Featured Artist on several Highlights Concerts at the Scotia Festival of Music and collaborated with Phil Myers, former Principal Horn of the New York Philharmonic.

This year, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, LaLa gave a recital at Mazzoleni Hall featuring only his works and performed two violin sonatas with her duo partner in a Beethoven Violin Sonata marathon concert at the Conerts@100 Series. She gave another all-Beethoven recital on October 24th at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance as a guest artist for their Beethoven Piano Sonata Festival. She has also been engaged to perform Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto with Ensemble Testori in the Spring of 2021 in Milan, Italy.

Despite her young age, LaLa has performed with many great musicians including conductors Bernhard Gueller, Muhai Tang, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. She has performed with orchestras including the Shanghai Philharmonic, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Nova Sinfonia, and Chebucto Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, an extensive recital tour in China saw her perform in halls such as the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Shanghai Symphony Hall, and Hefei Grand Theatre, Poly Culture Group.

LaLa is regularly programmed at concert series such as Cecilia Concerts, The Music Room Chamber Players Series, and the Scotia Festival Recital Series. LaLa has had the distinct honour of performing in masterclasses for Martha Argerich, Leon Fleisher, Scott St John, and Andrew Armstrong, and has worked with Denise Djokic, Janina Fialkowska, Walter Delahunt, and Tim Fain. Since the age of 4, LaLa began playing fundraising concerts for the IWK Children’s Hospital and Foundation, The Great Big Dig, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, and Gilda’s Club.

LaLa currently studies at the Glenn Gould School in the studio of John Perry and David Louie. From the age of three, LaLa began learning piano, studying at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, then with Lynn Stodola of Dalhousie University.