Joe Howson – Recital

This was Joe’s second recital with us and his passion for music comes out both in his playing, and in the introduction he gave us before each of the four examples of what he called Salon Music.

Salon Music developed in the late nineteenth century when the height of middle-class culture was to have a piano in the living room (there were no records) and music was composed for this. It was melodious, light and with many flourishes and trills. The first piece by Chaminade was a fine exemplar of this and we could watch Joe’s hands floating over the keyboard.

Joe told us that Wagner’s music had become popular in part as a result of Liszt’s reworking for the piano (Salon Music again) and he played us Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral.

The third piece – and the “meat” of his recital – was Hindemith’s Sonata No. 3. Hindemith came on the scene in the early 20^th century as musical composing had split with the Traditionalists rejecting what they felt was experimental nonsense and returning to the 19^th century for their inspiration, and the other group saying that they needed a complete break with tradition and a new challenge in musical composing. Hindemith was in the middle and pleased neither group, but Joe feels it’s where the interesting music is – and this certainly comes over in his performance. Hindemith may not have pleased some of his contemporaries, but I think he certainly pleased us.

The final part – two pieces actually – from Godowsky was a return to pure Salon Music, but by the 1920 ies, it had become a profession, music no longer for the living room and much more technically demanding. Godowsky had been to Java and was enchanted by what he experienced there. On his return he wrote a series of ‘Musical Postcards’ called the Java Suite, from which Joe played us two examples.

Great music and definitely worth a second airing.