Pro Musica Concert
Kevin Kenner
Sat–Sun, Oct 24–25, 5pm
Chopin discussion
Bryan Townsend
Sun, Oct 25, 4pm
St. Paul’s Church 
Cardo 6
250/150/80 pesos

Chopin reflections
By Randy Harriman

As those of us who have lived in Mexico for any length of time know, 2010 is a significant year for the country, as it marks both the centenary of the 1910 revolution and the bicentenary of the 1810 war of independence from Spain.

A significant year for fans of classical music as well, 2010 is the bicentenary of two of the greatest composers of the Romantic era of music: Robert Schumann (1810–1856) and Frederic Chopin (1810–1849). The life and music of Schumann will be the subject of another story, but Chopin’s career and works will be in the spotlight October 24 and 25, as the San Miguel Pro Musica presents pianist Kevin Kenner in two concerts featuring the music of the celebrated Polish composer.

Chopin was a “nationalist” composer in the sense that much of his output—the mazurkas, polonaises and scherzos—reflect his love of his native land and his anguish over the political dismemberment being imposed on it at the time. His nationalism was, however, counterbalanced by the wider world of music in which he flourished after he moved to Paris in 1830. There he became friends with, and was influenced by, the likes of Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Vincenzo Bellini, Felix Mendelssohn and Charles-Valentin Alkan.

He was a “Romantic,” given the emotional and sensual experiences that flavored his music and the flexible, rubato, style in which it was performed. Unlike other Romantic composers, though, he rarely gave thematic titles to his work—no “By a Brook,” or “Wandering Through a Forest” for him. He simply called his pieces “études,” “ballades,” “preludes” and so on.

In short, Chopin was unique. He was Chopin.

Both of the upcoming concerts are a bit early in marking Chopin’s March 1, 1810, birthday, but that date is fast approaching; and besides, why wait when a pianist of Kevin Kenner’s caliber is available now to provide a celebratory public traversal of pieces representative of the composer’s output?

The first concert, on Saturday, is an all-Chopin program featuring a number of smaller and lesser known early works juxtaposed to his colossal four scherzi.

In an email interview, Kenner has this to say about the program: “Chopin was a master of the miniature, of small character pieces, many of which stand on their own as masterpieces. His waltzes, mazurkas, preludes, nocturnes, some lasting only a few seconds, are among the most original and powerful works in the piano literature; so I wanted to perform a few of these smaller works in juxtaposition to his larger works, in this case the four scherzi, the “pillars” of the program.

“Most of the smaller works I have chosen are from Chopin’s pre-Paris period,” he continues, “and reflect the influence of his native Poland as well as the prevailing stile brillante of his youth. With the scherzi, the first of which was composed in 1833, one can see the transformation of his style towards greater experimentation with color and chromaticism, and in the last of the set his anticipation of French Impressionism half a century later.”

For the second concert, on Sunday, Kenner expands our musical perspective a bit, juxtaposing Chopin’s music against that of other masters, both within and outside the world of classical music to clearly illustrate the impact Chopin had on succeeding generations of musicians.

Again, quoting Kenner: “I call the second program ‘Chopin Reflections.’ It’s a tribute to Chopin's greatness and the widespread influence of his work. I grouped the program into six groups of three works, each group reflecting a particular quality of Chopin’s greatness. In the music of Mily Balakirev the poetry of Chopin comes through, in Alexander Scriabin his passion, in Karel Szymanowski his Polish heritage, in Claude Debussy his experimentation with musical color and harmony, in jazz pianist Bill Evans his improvisational genius; and the work of George Crumb reflects how fundamentally ingrained Chopin’s music has become in the minds of people throughout the world in the 200 years since his birth.”

“I like the idea of giving my audiences a program that encourages their own participation in the creative process,” asserts Kenner. “In this case challenging them to find imaginative associations and correspondences among the various works. Who would have thought Bill Evans and Chopin had anything in common? Whether Evans was familiar with a particular Chopin piece was not the relevant issue for me. What was significant was to show that the spirit of Chopin's music lives on hundred of years later, sometimes in the most unlikely places.”

Tickets are on sale at La Tienda in the Biblioteca, Insurgentes 25; La Conexión, Aldama 3; Border Crossings, Mesones 57; St. Paul’s Church, Cardo 6, Monday to Friday, 11am–2pm, and at the door half an hour before concert time.