Bruce Vogt, piano
Sunday, November 2 at 2:30 pm
Please note that this concert starts at 2:30
“Now, as we find ourselves in a time of confusion, chaos and bitter enmity throughout the world, it seems all the more important to listen to music together.” ~ Bruce Vogt. It can be consoling to remind ourselves of our civilization’s many great cultural achievements – in music and in all the arts.
The music for this program was written in past ages of great turmoil – the mid-17th century English Civil War period, the mid-19th century revolutionary period in Paris, the period of great political oppression in early 19th century Vienna. For Bruce, it is profoundly consoling to live among these works, and to have this opportunity to share them with others.
Programme
Two Early English Keyboard Works
Goe From My Window — John Munday (c. 1560-1630)
A sad pavan for these distracted times (1649) — Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
Three French Keyboard Works
L’Enharmonique. (c. 1728) — Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Les Cyclopes – Rondeau (c. 1731) — Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Feuilles mortes (1911) — Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Three Works by Chopin
Nocturne in G Major, opus 37 no. 2 (1839) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Mazurka in c# minor, opus 50 no. 3 (1842) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Nocturne in B Major, opus 62 no. 1 (1846) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Sonata in Bb Major, Opus post. D960 (1828) — Franz Schubert (1797-1828)i. Molto moderato
ii. Andante sostenuto
iii. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza
iv. Allegro, ma non troppo
Background information
Canadian pianist Bruce Vogt was born in southern Ontario but for the past 45 years has lived and worked in Victoria, BC where he has taught at the University of Victoria as Professor of Piano. As a soloist, he has appeared regularly in concerts within Canada and he tours yearly in many countries throughout Europe and Asia. His repertoire encompasses music from the sixteenth century to the present. In addition to having a special affinity for the music of Franz Liszt, he has performed on period instruments, and commissioned and premièred a number of new works.
Because he sees teaching and working with young pianists and with piano teachers as an important commitment, he makes himself available as much as possible for master classes, workshops, festival adjudications, and lectures.
In recent years, he has received many invitations in Canada and abroad to indulge another of his passions: improvising accompaniments to great films of the silent era. He has played for and lectured about films by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Griffith, Murnau and others.
“TECHNICAL PERFECTION PAIRED WITH EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVENESS … Compositions from Mozart, Chopin, Liszt resounded with seldom-heard perfection… What is apparent in his playing is the joy he takes in giving to others what he has so dazzlingly mastered…” – Usinger Anzeiger, ALTWEILNAU, GERMANY
“RARE GRANDEUR … I have never heard [Liszt’s] Norma Fantasy played with such consummate largesse … I was mesmerized by Vogt’s sheer control. In Liszt’s Dante Sonata the structure of the work was never exposed and the final triumph of the piece rang from the piano with spine chilling inevitability.” – The Times, LONDON, ENGLAND
“CONCERT OF THE YEAR … Splendidly subtle readings. Vogt made us listen to music that we might have missed, and some familiar items which we heard anew.” – Monday Magazine, VICTORIA, CANADA
“A VIRTUOSO … the audience was literally enraptured.” – Le Républicain, PARIS, FRANCE
” … THOUGHTFUL AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING … The sophisticated yet ungimmicky presentation left the dry didacticism of lecture-recitals in the dust.” – The Globe and Mail, TORONTO, CANADA
“MELANCHOLY MAGIC … Vogt’s concentrated pianistic command is to be respected along with his great empathy for poetic mood; he was able to draw from a great reserve of power without placing this power in the foreground.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FRANKFURT, GERMANY