Celebrated as the Nobel Prize awarded author of Dr Zhivago and one of Russia's most beloved poets, Boris Pasternak's first love was music. Raised amongst the Russian elite, his mother was a renowned concert pianist, and Scriabin and Rachmaninoff were regular household visitors. As a teenager Pasternak was an accomplished pianist with aspirations to become a composer; this concert provides a rare opportunity to hear his only surviving works.
Pasternak's parents were both friends and followers of Leo Tolstoy, and tonight Hannah performs a specially commissioned work by Salford-born composer Daniel Lee Chappell based on music attributed to Tolstoy himself. This commission has been generously sponsored by the Marchus Trust.
Programme:
Boris Pasternak: Prelude No. 2 in G-sharp minor
Alexander Scriabin: Mazurka Op. 3 No. 6 in C-sharp minor
Alexander Scriabin: Prelude Op.11 No.15 in D-flat Major
Boris Pasternak: Prelude No. 1 in E-flat minor
Alexander Scriabin: Etude Op. 42 No. 5 in C-sharp minor
Boris Pasternak: Piano Sonata in B minor
Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49
Interval
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de salon, Op. 10:
- Waltz in A Major
- Romance in F minor
Daniel Lee Chappell: Rhapsody on Tolstoy
Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 "États d’âme"
New Zealand born Hannah-Elizabeth Teoh studied at the Royal Academy of Music, the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and the Royal College of Music, and has won numerous awards including the Harold Samuel Prize, the Florence Murray Award, the Lesley Holland Scholarship and the Ivy Corkill Recital Award. As a concerto soloist she has performed around the world, including a premiere recording of Ross Harris’ Concertina for Piano and Orchestra with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and most recently making her Italian debut with the Master Orchestra in Brescia playing Saint-Saëns’ second piano concerto. Supporting her musical life, Hannah draws inspiration from literature and art and has a Masters in Philosophy from Birkbeck University.
