【HKU MUSE House Programme】CATEEN Returns! Hayato Sumino Piano Recital

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© Ryuya Amao

CONCERT I 4 JAN 2025 | SAT | 8PM

J.S. BACH

Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 870 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

J.S. BACH

Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826 Sinfonia Allemande Courante Sarabande Rondeaux Capriccio

SUMINO

Three Nocturnes I. Pre Rain II. After Dawn III. Once in a Blue Moon

SUMINO

Human Universe - INTERMISSION -

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MOZART/SUMINO

Turkish March Variations in All 24 Keys

SCRIABIN

Sonata No. 5, Op. 53

RAVEL

Pavane pour une infante défunte

RAVEL (arr. SUMINO)

Boléro

CONCERT II 5 JAN 2025 | SUN | 3PM

J.S. BACH

Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 870 from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

J.S. BACH

Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826 Sinfonia Allemande Courante Sarabande Rondeaux Capriccio

SUMINO

Three Nocturnes I. Pre Rain II. After Dawn III. Once in a Blue Moon

SUMINO

Human Universe - INTERMISSION -

GERSHWIN (arr. SUMINO) An American in Paris (melodica × grand piano) RAVEL

Pavane pour une infante défunte

RAVEL (arr. SUMINO)

Boléro

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BIOGRAPHY

H AYATO S U M I N O Hayato Sumino bursted onto the classical music scene with his Grand Prix win at the 2018 PTNA Piano Competition. However, it was his captivating and characterful performances as a semi-finalist at the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw that truly established him as a rising star. His profound artistry and impeccable technique left both audiences and critics in awe.

Renowned for his vibrant stage presence and technical brilliance, Hayato has performed with some of the world's top orchestras, including the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Pops, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His performances have mesmerised audiences across North America, Europe, and Asia, both in concert halls and through his dynamic online presence.

In 2024, Hayato embarked on a highly anticipated tour of Japan, performing 24 soldout recitals. This extensive tour culminated in a grand celebration of his July 14 th birthday at Budokan in Tokyo, where he performed for over 13,000 fans. That summer, he also made his debut at several prestigious festivals, including the Rheingau Musik Festival in Germany, Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, and Ravinia Festival in the United States, where he debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The 2024/25 season fur ther solidifies Hayato's status as one of the most in-demand pianists of his generation. He kicks off the season with an 11-concert tour across Japan with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Marin Alsop.

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© Ryuya Amao

He is also set to make his debut at some of Europe's most prestigious concert venues, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Munich Prinzregententheater, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zürich, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. In addition, he will perform Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie with the New Japan Philharmonic under the legendary Maestro Joe Hisaishi and go on tour with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jakub Hrůša.

A significant milestone in his career is his signing as an exclusive Sony Classical artist in March 2024, a partnership that promises to elevate his international profile even further. In addition to his musical achievements, Hayato holds a Master of Engineering from The University of Tokyo and was honoured with the university's President's Award in 2020 for his exceptional contributions to both music and academia.

Hayato's unique style—melding classical virtuosity with innovative arrangements and improvisation—has also made him a digital sensation. His YouTube channel 'Cateen', with over 1.4 million subscribers and 200 million views, showcases his original compositions and arrangements, further cementing his influence in the modern music landscape.

Named to Forbes Japan's '30 Under 30' list in 2023, Hayato Sumino has been a Steinway Artist since 2021 and serves as an Ambassador for both Apple Music Classical and CASIO. With his fresh and innovative approach to piano music, Hayato continues to inspire and captivate audiences worldwide.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 870, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

The two books of J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier (Das wohltemperierte Clavier), composed respectively in 1722 and around 1740, each consist of 24 preludes and fugues. Paired in each major and minor key, they are arranged in ascending chromatic order from C to B. Bach wrote these preludes and fugues primarily for young keyboard students for pedagogical purposes. The Well-Tempered Clavier continued to be considered by many as the foundation of keyboard studies, with Hans von Bülow once hailing it as the 'Old Testament' of keyboard music. Prelude and Fugue in C major from Book II opens with a long sustained octave pedal in the left hand, with the right hand performing an ongoing series of descending melodic lines, followed by the fugue that is lively and momentous in character.

Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826

Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, was written in 1727 but published later as part of Bach's Clavier-Übung I in 1731. The suite consists of six movements: Sinfonia (Grave adagio, andante, allegro), Allemande (Allegro moderato), Courante (Allegro), Sarabande (Andante con moto), Rondeaux (Allegro vivace), and Capriccio (Allegro moderato).

The Sinfonia impresses listeners with brilliance, evoking the style of the French overture with the entrance of dignifying dotted rhythm. The influence of this movement seems significant, with Sir András Schiff suggesting the dotted gestures which open Beethoven's famous 'Pathétique' Sonata in C minor, Op. 13 may be traced back to the dotted figures from the Grave adagio of Bach's Sinfonia from this C minor Partita.

The subsequent movements each emit a distinct character, with the Sarabande being rather melancholic.

Johann Nikolaus Forkel whose 1802 biography of the composer, titled Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work, contributed greatly to the 19 th-century revival of the composer, once described the Partita as a work that "made in its time a great noise in the musical world"—that it could be counted among the most remarkable compositions by Bach which "had never been seen and heard before". He went on to argue that "anyone who had learnt to perform well some pieces out of them could make his fortune in the world thereby; and even in our times, a young artist might gain acknowledgment by doing so, they are so brilliant, well-sounding, expressive, and always new". A beloved piece embraced by many pianists today, Forkel's words seem to ring true.

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HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) Three Nocturnes

Sumino found inspirations for his Three Nocturnes from exploring the different night skies from around the world. Each Nocturne seeks to bring a peculiar mood and aura into existence while revealing the beauty and mystery of the night sky. The first, Nocturne I, which he named as Pre Rain, intends to sketch the atmospheric scene of the dark cloudy sky just before rainfall—something that Sumino experienced when he was in South Korea. The second, Nocturne II, titled After Dawn, summons a serene but vibrant landscape, drawing listeners' attention to the shimmer of rain and light. The third and final nocturne, Once in a Blue Moon, distinguished by a motif inspired by Johannes Kepler's 'planet scales' with minor adjustments made by Sumino, expresses a midnight moment when the moon divulges a slight hint of blue, underscoring the timeless and dreamlike quintessence of the night sky.

Human Universe

According to Sumino himself, he composed Human Universe to explore not only the cosmic universe but also his personal 'inner universe'. He decides to open the piece with 11 beats as a reflection of the Superstring Theory, since this theory suggests the universe consists of 11 dimensions. The rhythmic design in the form of 3+2+3+3 sets the basic structure, but it later shifts to a paradigm of 4+3+3. The piece begins with a simple but dark melody and harmony, but it eventually evolves into an energetic, catchy, and memorable groove.

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WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) / HAYATO SUMINO (b. 1995) Turkish March Variations in All 24 Keys (4 JAN ONLY)

The third movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331, known commonly as Rondo alla Turca or Turkish March, remains perhaps one of the most famous sonata movements in the history of solo keyboard music, often played even as a separate showpiece. Written in the rondo form with a coda, the bright and energetic movement shows inspirations from the music of Turkish Janissary bands, popular in Mozart's time. The Rondo alla Turca or Turkish March has been rearranged by pianists previously in jazz and improvisatory styles. The pianist Fazıl Say, for example, conceived the Alla Turca Jazz in 1993, originally intended to be performed as an encore.

Sumino released his recomposing of the movement as Turkish March Variations in All 24 Keys on YouTube. In creating variations on the Turkish March using all 24 keys, Sumino shows his imagination and power through playing with a wide spectrum of harmonies, textures, ornamentations, and articulations while integrating a variety of stylistic elements taken from different musical genres. In reworking Mozart's materials, Sumino also evokes, in an improvisatory manner, a range of emotive characters, spanning from the more gentle and lyrical to the very tempestuous and stormy.

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872-1915) Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 (4 JAN ONLY)

Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 5 was composed in 1907 as a single-movement work.

Described by the composer himself as "a great poem for the piano" and "the best of my works for piano", the Sonata is often considered one of Scriabin's most challenging compositions. For the legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter, the Sonata was among the most technically demanding in the history of piano literature—the "devilishly difficult pieces, the most difficult… you have to practice them endlessly". Sonata No. 5 exemplifies Scriabin's venture to break away from conventional harmonic functions.

Musicologist Richard Taruskin observes that "rapid ascents and a predilection for high registers eventually took the role of ersatz cadential function when Scriabin, as first demonstrated in Piano Sonata No. 5, eliminated conventional tonal resolution". The Sonata also demonstrates Scriabin's devotion to mysticism and occultism, serving as the companion piece to The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54 (1908). Scriabin's late works, including Ecstasy, were driven by his occult vision recounted his notebook dated 9

1905, the year he started composing Ecstasy. Some intriguing markings in the Sonata also attest to his fascination with the idea of ecstasy. The expression which appears in measures 289 and 401 respectively, con una ebrezza fantastica (with fantastical intoxication), for example, is inspired from his reading of Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy (1872) in which the German philosopher proclaims: "He is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art: in these paroxysms of intoxication the artistic power of all nature reveals itself."

GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937) arr. HAYATO SUMINO An American in Paris (5 JAN ONLY)

Composed in 1928 and premiered at Carnegie Hall, Gershwin's An American in Paris, called a "rhapsodic ballet" by the composer himself, is a symphonic piece fused with jazz and pop elements, one that sketches the experience of the American exploring through the city of Paris. Gershwin once commented on this music: "My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere." Gershwin integrates several 'walking themes', including one that opens the piece. The musical fragment titled 'Very Parisienne' was specifically inspired by the sounds of Paris taxi horns. Sumino has reimagined this classic through a captivating arrangement for melodica and piano, bringing a fresh perspective to Gershwin's vibrant portrayal of Paris.

JOSEPH MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Pavane pour une infante défunte

Ravel wrote Pavane pour une infante défunte for solo piano in dedication to his patron the Princesse de Polignac in 1899, although he later also created a version scored for the orchestra in 1910, which premiered in 1911. The pavane was a 16th-century Spanish court dance, grave and stately in character. Although the title of the work refers to a dead princess, Ravel has expressively indicated that the music is not intended to be a funeral lament for a dead child but primarily a work of pavane that could have been danced by a little princess in the court of Spain. Ravel's pavane is tender and delicate, displaying a remote sense of beauty. The piece is to be played very slowly, but without forsaking expressiveness: Ravel had once, upon hearing a sedate but dull performance by a pianist, complained that the piece is named "Pavane for a dead princess" and not "Dead pavane for a princess".

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Boléro arr. HAYATO SUMINO

In 1928, Ravel sought to compose ballet score of music with Spanish characteristics for his friend, the Russian dancer and actress Ida Rubinstein. Ravel initially tried to write an orchestral transcription of Iberia, a piano suite of Issac Albeniz, but the project was deemed impossible, since the orchestration rights were owned by the Spanish conductor Enrique Arbós. Ravel then proceeded to compose Boléro, which consists of 18 orchestral variations based on an original two-part theme. Ravel himself depicted this piece as one made up of "orchestral tissue without music"—of "one very long, gradual crescendo". During the premiere, a woman among the audience shouted concerning Ravel: "Help, a madman!" Ravel, however, was not offended but affirmed her, claiming that the woman "understood the piece". Sumino's rendition of Boléro highlights his exceptional improvisational skills, breathing new life into Ravel's masterpiece.

Programme notes by

Keri Hui

PhD in Musicology The University of Hong Kong and Kings College London

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