Happy 2020：Beethoven and Gershwin!

Happy New Year to my readers!

To celebrate the arrival of this new year in my own way, let me announce the recital program I will be touring with this year. Entitled “Musical Bridge: The Old World & The New World // Beethoven & Gershwin.” Please contact me if you are interested in booking this program> Unconventional venues, including salons, museums and home concerts are all welcome!

• Beethoven（1770-1827）Sonata No. 28, Op. 101（1816）21 min.
• Beethoven（1770-1827）Sonata No. 32, Op. 111（1823）28 min.
• Gershwin（1898-1937）”Rhapsody in Blue (solo version)”（1924）15 min
• I will supplement smaller pieces to give the three major works some context. Some of the possibilities are…
  • Ravel “Alborada del Gracioso” “Pavane pour une Infante Defunte” etc.
  • An African-American composer, e.g. William Grant Still, Scott Joplin, etc.
  • Shorter Pieces by Beethoven and Gershwin

Of course, this year celebrates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, in 1770. There are some cynics – one suggested that perhaps we could renew our appreciation for this otherwise-frequently-composer by taking a year of moratorium. I thought I was one of them. In my doctoral dissertation, I argued I argued that Beethoven’s status as a “creative genius” was largely a cultural construct. However, I had to consider Beethoven for my program this year, because some of my supporters requested his late sonatas. I only meant to give them a cursory look – then, I was hooked! What sense of humor, and ecstatic bliss he expresses!

The general consensus is that Beethoven’s late works are difficult to understand. However, now that I am confident in my understanding of his historical context and background, I feel free to make up my own mind about these pieces. Re-discovering Beethoven is a joy. People think of him as the deaf composer, who had to struggle his faith. But is it that simple and formulaic?

I wonder if his deafness liberated him from certain social, and musical, constraints? I imagine Beethoven chuckling as he created his own sound world in these late sonatas. The presumption that if you are not normal bodied, your life must be miserable may be just our lack of imagination. This leads to the spirit of Paralympics. There is another thing that may have liberated him from social expectations: his appearance, and possibly his genealogy (there is a theory that he had an African ancestor). In any case, he had nicknames that referred to his dark skin growing up, marking him. One may see these as social obstacles, and handicaps. On the other hand, these things may help you see yourself as an outsider, setting you free from social conventions and constraints. If we are to consider Beethoven fortunate, this gives us a new insight into his sound world.

All of these considerations lead to understanding Gershwin. His parents were Russian Jews, who immigrated to the U.S. seeking better lives for themselves. George Gershwin was the first generation American. In the world where antisemitism was rampant, many Jews projected their own struggles for equality on the plight of African-Americans. Gershwin’s juxtaposition of classical tradition to jazz and American musicals may be seen as a manifestation of this historical context. Playing Rhapsody in Blue, drawing parallels between Gershwin and Beethoven both as outsiders of their respective worlds in this program seems perfect to me. In addition, this program 2020 commemorates the 30th year of my living in the States, and the 20th year of going back to Japan annually to perform. What better ways to celebrate diversity and inclusion on this 400-year anniversary of Mayflower, and the year of Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics than for me to play Beethoven and Gershwin?

Writing this out makes me look forward to my daily practice and performances all over the world this year. I hope to get to play for many, many of you!