Virtual Masterclass

Max Tan and Friends [CD Fundraiser Launch]: The Evolving Score of Chausson's Poeme

New York City

Sat, August 28, 2021 7:00 PM, EDT

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Capacity: 83 of 100 spots still available
: Bring your own drinks
: No bathroom at this event

This is a Groupmuse Masterclass

An online specialized seminar or performance given by musicians; interactive and educational.

Host

Max T.

Dear friends,

A second season of live-streaming continues from my New York apartment! Not only is this the first stream of this season of "Max Tan and Friends," it is also my first interactive Groupmuse masterclass event AND a fundraiser for my debut CD recording this November. Please join me to learn more!

This lecture-recital focuses on Chausson's Poème and its many different versions. I will first present the story behind this magnificent work and discuss its many different versions with performance excerpts. We will have a chance to discuss the implications of these different versions on how we listen to music and what meaning it may hold for each of us. The event will conclude with an informal recording of an unpublished version of the Chausson's Poème for violin, piano, and organ. This musical work is the centerpiece of my debut CD.

For a more formal abstract of this talk/performance, please see below. It would also help me greatly if you could share this event with friends and fellow music lovers who might enjoy this or consider supporting this fundraiser. More details to come at the event. I hope to see you all very soon.

Warmly,
Max

Presentation abstract:
Although the Poème by French composer Ernest Chausson is highly regarded as a staple of the violin repertory, the story of its evolving score from conception to five different known versions today have been largely unexplored. Its conception has been loosely attributed as an adaptation of Ivan Turgenev’s novella The Song of Triumphant Love. The music more accurately symbolizes a remarkable friendship and collaboration between Chausson and the Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe. This talk will discuss how the five different versions relate, examining the musical provenance of an unpublished arrangement created by Ysaÿe for violin, piano, and organ nearly 30 years after Chausson’s death. An informal recording of the arrangement will be premiered at the conclusion of the talk. Artistic implications regarding how performers treat the ‘musical-work’ concept, freedom versus spontaneity in interpretation, and the prescriptive versus descriptive nature of musical scores will be addressed.