The stillness of the night

NOCTURNES: Internationally celebrated concert pianist, chamber musician, and educator, Dr Jian Liu performs nocturnes, written by a range of composers, in Gisborne this month. Picture supplied

In the stillness of night, our senses are opened up to mystery and beauty, writes pianist Dr Jian Liu in notes for his programme composed of nocturnes.

Selections include works by composers such as Irish pianist John Field, American pianist and conductor Samuel Barber, Polish composer and virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin, and New Zealand composer Gillian Whitehead.

Liu, who performs in Gisborne this month, describes nocturnes as “intimate, dreamy, wistful, mysterious, melancholic, nostalgic, and sensual”.

While the term “nocturne” had been used prior to the 19th century, the genre of the dreamy nocturne for piano solo was a romantic invention, writes Liu.

“Unlike many nineteenth-century genres defined by form, the nocturne was defined by character, evoking moods and feelings of night time.

“The reputed inventor of the nocturne was John Field, an Irish-born composer. But it is Frederic Chopin who is held up as the undisputed master of the genre. The musical characteristics of the nocturne suited Chopin’s shy and sensitive nature. There are several 19th-century accounts of the exquisite sounds Chopin produced with his intimate performing style, and of the imaginative (inner) sounds he induced in the minds of his listeners.”

Works selected for Liu’s concert programme feature some or all qualities of vocally-inspired melody, a feeling of improvisation, an attention to silence and space, a clear separation of hands and their functions (the right hand playing a clear, vocally-inspired melody, and the left hand playing an arpeggiated, undulating accompaniment more instrumental in nature), and a fine attention to resonance and colour, often achieved through widely-spaced registers, says Liu.

“While some of the nocturnes revel in nocturnal bliss, others explore the more mysterious or even sinister sides of night time.”