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Category Archives: Blog

VRSchubert – Day 18: Paul Lewis in Local Conversation

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Over the Thanksgiving weekend Alexander Varty, contributing writer to the Georgia Straight, had a phone interview with Paul Lewis from his London home. The article was published online in the Georgia Straight yesterday. With the media abuzz, we eagerly await Paul Lewis’ performance on Tuesday, from which, as the Straight puts it, “audience and musician alike should emerge from the concert hall with a feeling of having shared an emotional journey.”

 

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 17: The formative years of Lewis

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Born in 1972 to a dockworker father and a local council worker mother, music was not a major part of Paul Lewis’ familial life. His parents may have been non-musical, but they encouraged him through the early years.  Starting to play cello at age eight, and moving to the piano at twelve, Paul says about being a musician, “I don’t ever remember thinking about doing anything else.”

As mentioned in an earlier posting, the most direct influence on Paul Lewis’ musical career was Alfred Brendel, whom he first met in 1993. Before that he studied with Ryszard Bakst at Chethams School of Music and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Here is a recorded example of Ryszard Bakst, the Polish pianist and prize winner at the 4th Chopin International Piano Competition (1949).

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 16: Fantasia

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As described in earlier posts, Franz Schubert is no stranger to contemporary popular culture. Perhaps the most enduring example of this modern day crossover is Disney’s Fantasia. Here Schubert’s Ave Maria seamlessly spins out of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, signaling dawn and the retirement of the demons from the nighttime mayhem. Leopold Stokowski created a new version for the film, adding chorus and strings to the familiar vocal soloist. CLICK HERE TO VIEW

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert- Day 15: Lewis and the music

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“Yes, it’s wonderful to walk on to a stage and have everyone applaud, and applaud again when I’ve finished. But that is not what this is about. It’s not about me, it’s about the composer and the music, and the message of the music, the feelings and emotions it is trying to convey. The music is more important than me…” -Paul Lewis

 

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 14: Ziggy played…Schubert?

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Even pop stars need to engage in classical music therapy every now and then! Pictured here is music legend David Bowie rocking out to some Schubert cello music.

 

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 13: Beauty in sadness

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“There is no such thing as happy music.” -Franz Schubert

Next Saturday in New York city Paul Lewis will perform Schubert’s tragically beautiful final three sonatas as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival; the same concert he will give rapt Vancouverites at the Chan Centre on October 23. Click here to read the New York Times raving preview and interview article,  “The Sad Beauty in Schubert’s Last Sonatas.”

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 12: Schough (Hough on Schubert)

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English pianist Stephen Hough – performing for the VRS on November 25 – is a true Renaissance man. He is a critically acclaimed musician, composer, journalist, painter and blogger. In a recent blog posting Stephen describes his reaction to a YouTube clip featuring the music of Franz Schubert:

“A friend sent me the video below recently and I was haunted by it for days. The pathos of the final song in Schubert’s bleak cycle Winterreise is almost unbearable, and in this performance it seemed to me that all artifice had been stripped away and that there was something raw and utterly authentic in Harry Plunket Greene’s singing, despite it being in English and despite its lack of vocal sophistication.”

With an alarmingly spare interpretation, Stephen shares this performance of Schubert’s Der Leiermann, sung without artifice and vanity, yet offers “genuine musical (even human) authenticity.”

As it did for Stephen, this interpretation is likely to stay with you for days.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert- Day 11: Schubert on the Big Screen

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If Schubert is to appear in a graphic novel, it is not surprising to learn that he has made numerous appearances in film.

It would seem he first made his big screen appearance in the 1926 film Franz Schuberts letzte Liebe. More recently, his music was featured on the soundtracks of films such as The Sixth Sense, Good Will Hunting, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Avengers.

According to the International Movie Database (IMDb), there are 390 films and television shows in which Schubert’s music has made an appearance. From Looney Tunes, to Batman, to Glee – the legacy of Schubert’s music has filled the speakers of the silver screen.

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price sections only and cannot be combined with other offers.

VRSchubert – Day 10: The late Schubert

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Robert Schumann

 

Despite years of well-documented health problems, which eventually cut his life short at 31 years, Schubert retained an astonishing facility to write music. Quite possibly knowing his life would soon end, Schubert’s final works display astonishing maturity and genius. From this period come the “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, symphony no. 9, and Winterreise. Also from this period are the three late piano sonatas which will be performed on October 23 by Paul Lewis, one of today’s greatest Schubert interpreters.

These sonatas were published posthumously in 1839 by Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli who dedicated the sonatas to composer Robert Schumann, himself a great admirer of Schubert.

“Where other people keep diaries in which they record their momentary feelings, etc, Schubert simply kept sheets of music by him and confided his changing moods to them; and his soul being steeped in music, he put down notes when another man would resort to words.”
— Robert Schumann

SPECIAL TICKET OFFER! As part of the #VRSchubert campaign we’re offering a 25% discount* on Paul Lewis tickets. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE or call the VRS box office at 604-602-0363. Use code TWEET when ordering.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price section and cannot be combined with other offers.

 

VRSchubert – Day 9: Paul Lewis in Conversation

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In this podcast from London’s Wigmore Hall podcast, Paul talks about this career, his love of Schubert and Beethoven, and his relationship with his mentor Alfred Brendel. CLICK HERE to listen now!

 

Spread the word and save: if you re-tweet or re-post any of our VRSchubert posts, you have the opportunity to save 25% on regularly priced tickets*. Call our box office to reserve your tickets: 604-602-0363.

VRScubert: In anticipation and celebration of Paul Lewis’ performance of the Late Schubert Sonatas on October Tuesday, October 23, the VRS is embarking on 23 days of tweets, Facebook and blog posts about the life and work of Franz Schubert and the celebrated interpreter of his music.

Follow us daily on Twitter with the hashtag #VRSchubert, visit facebook.com/vancouverrecitalsociety, or check back in with us each day at vanrecital.com/blog.

* Discount on A, B, C, D price section and cannot be combined with other offers.

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