UBC School of Music hosted Wednesday Noon Hours with David Jalbert on piano. The music played on this afternoon demonstrated Jalbert’s virtuosic abilities. Interestingly, Jalbert is one of CBC’s 15 best Canadian pianists of all time. He has studied at Juilliard School and the Glenn Gould school. He plays confidently, delicately, with power and control.
The first piece was entitled “Toccata in C minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach. This piece begins with monophony and later transitions to homophony. It also contains imitative polyphony and sweet sounding harmonies. It has a dark sound or tonal quality. Although it starts with some rapid notes, it turns to a passage that is rather slow and might even feel like it is dragging on to some. It then picks up speed with one part having a greater prominence, making it homophonic. Then it becomes polyphonic as both parts have an equal level of prominence. There is a short return to homophony and then the piece ends. The piece epitomizes classic Baroque.
The second piece was entitled “Nocturne No.2” by Gabriel Fauré. It begins with a rich sound due to the low bass notes and contains dissonant harmonies. It transitions to a darker tone and is homophonic in texture. The second portion of the piece was allegro containing unique arpeggiation. The third portion of this piece was slow, like the first.
The third piece was entitled “Légende No.2 ‘St-François de Paule: marchant sur les flots’” by Franz Liszt. It begins homophonic in texture, but transitions to being polyphonic. It also features chromatic passages. It has a grand sound, as do many of Liszt’s pieces. It has a passage of very low notes that competes with the main melody. The fast passages mellow down into a Lento (slow) portion of the piece.
The fourth piece was entitled “Sonata No.4 in C minor ‘After old notebooks’” by Sergei Prokofiev. It contained some homophony and some polyphony. The first movement was Allegro molto sostenuto. It had chromatic passages and peculiar melodies. The second movement was Andante assai. It began with low repeated chords and a low melody, followed by arpeggiation and then repeated chords once again. The third and last movement was Allegro con brio, ma non leggiere. It began rather brilliantly with striking arpeggios. Throughout the piece there were extended trills. Overall this piece sounded introverted and reflective in mood. It had complex harmonies, and was serious but somewhat light in nature. It uses a very controlled sonata structure, with many melodic and harmonic points of interest.
Overall it was a night of reasonable variety. My favourite piece of the afternoon was the “Toccata in C minor” by Bach as it was traditional Baroque music. It was interesting trying to follow the imitative polyphony and enjoying the complex parts and rich harmony. Also interesting was trying to follow the sonata-form present in Prokofiev’s “Sonata No.4 in C minor”. It was a challenge, but there were some recognizable portions. Jalbert did an excellent job at expressing these pieces – I would recommend attending his events.