On 25 October Cédric Tiberghien gives the world premiere of Lisa Illean’s Sonata in ten parts for piano at London’s Wigmore Hall. The new work, which will be around twenty minutes in length, is a companion piece to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Each of its ten parts is an elaboration of moments – often just one or two bars – in the Beethoven, from which Illean expanded new layers and patterns, drawing together disparate starting points to create a nocturnal atmosphere. Sonata in ten parts was commissioned by Wigmore Hall and is Illean’s first work for solo piano.
Wigmore Hall’s autumn season will also include Illean’s Cantor, premiered in 2017 by Ensemble Offspring, Jessica Aszodi, and Roland Peelman at Sydney’s Carriageworks. It will be performed in November by Alice Rossi and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson. The 15-minute piece was named Instrumental Work of the Year at the 2018 Australian Art Music Awards.
Illean’s text is adapted from April Twilights by Willa Cather. The soprano line is embedded in a string quartet made up from violin, viola, cello, bass, joined by piano – played also with soft mallets and toothbrush – percussion, flute, and clarinet. She writes,
Breathing sounds and gestures permeate Cantor, and recurring flaring patterns evoke glowing shafts of light. Cantor superimposes cycles of lines, waves or impulses…musically, the texture is like a tableau upon which the voice carves its line...Bearing solitude gracefully is a recurring theme: in atmosphere, Cantor is by turns desolate and intimate.