By SALINA POST
A variety of people at various stages of musical experience will share music during a free recital later this week.
Just Below the Noise, an intergenerational recital, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Christ Cathedral, 138 S. Eighth Street. The recital is open to the public at no charges, however, a freewill donation will be collected and given to Christ Cathedral for them making the venue and piano available for the recital.
Musicians from 10 years of age to more than 60 years of age are scheduled to perform. Selections include piano solos and duets, music for piano and violin, and original songs written by Brad Hoppock.
Following is performer information as provided by the recital organizers.
Florence Claassen will share some of her favorite Christmas songs.
Teen pianist Jade Beary will play some of her favorite solos. She will share the fun with her mother to play a four-hand piece written by Antonin Diabelli, the Venetian who published much of Schubert’s music. Diabelli was not so famous in his own right, but without him, we would know less of Schubert.
Cynthia Aramowicz and Ellen Schwindt, sisters raised in Salina in the 1970s and 1980s, will each play piano solos. Gabriel Faure wrote a piece called Clair de Lune, but it’s not the famous one you know. Faure’s Claire de Lune is full of nighttime mystery. Aramowicz said of the piece “even though the sunlight is gone from the day, there is so much going on from the play of moonlight in the night.”
Schwindt will play two pieces for piano. One is by Fanny Hensel and the other is one of Schwindt’s original compositions. Both pieces reflect energetic emotions.
Hensel’s piece was written when the composer was 17. Hensel is the sibling of the famous Frederick Mendelssohn. She was given the best available music instruction as a young person. She became an inventive composer and excellent pianist, but her father did not allow her to perform publicly and encouraged her to focus on her future role of being a wife and mother. Meanwhile, her famous brother was sent on a European tour meant to launch his music career. The piece Schwindt will play is marked agitato esspessivo, an Italian phrase that means “with agitated expression.” It’s no wonder she wrote music of this sort at that time in her life.
Schwindt’s original solo, titled Pastorale/Tocatta, follows in the footsteps of Hensel’s in its form and harmonic ideas. It is Schwindt’s habit to write a pastorale for her musician friends each Christmas. This pastorale is full of joyful energy and contrasting dynamics.
Hoppock will perform a set of three songs about making and missing human connections. These songs are from a forthcoming album. Hoppock is a regular performer in the Salina live music scene. He is an inventive lyricist and an entertaining performer who strives to craft his music to fit each song’s message.