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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Liszt’s parallel octaves, Bach’s counterpoint, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff’s passion, Prokofiev’s toccatas, Chopin’s delicacy. These are just some examples of virtuosity concertgoers expect master pianists to readily convey. I posit another: stamina; not of the physical kind needed for Busoni, Shostakovich, Scriabin, or Bartók, but rather highlighting the mental focus required to perform such works. Mental stamina is required of all performers every given day, but in hearing R. Andrew Lee’s intimate performance of Tom Johnson’s An Hour for Piano in the lobby of the Avila University’s Goppert Theatre this past Friday, I had never been so confronted by the staggering necessity of mental fortitude in performance. 

The premise is in the title. Johnson’s piece is meant to last an hour. That may not seem like a mammoth span of time but for a performer to begin a piece in tempo and hope that it remains as steady as possible for 60 minutes is a daunting task.  Andy Lee’s live performance of one of the seminal works of minimalist repertoire was remarkable. The experience became less about how closely he could hit 60 minutes and more about hyperlistening. 

Because the piece’s six sections were oft-repeated and tonal, my ears began treating other sounds of the room as accompaniment—the click of heating elements, the girl scribbling a doodle a behind me, the subtle shifting in seats, a giggle from outside of the hall. This hyperlistening was at times distracting from the music and other times caused me to refocus intently on Lee’s performance. Mind-wandering was expected and encouraged, in fact, by three pages of Johnson’s original Ouroborosian program notes. The notes encouraged the reader/listener to stop reading, to start reading, to slow down, to speed up, to engage, to disengage, and to become aware.

The simple music material could have been hacked through by any number of pianists, but Lee’s intimate knowledge of the genre, sensitivity, and steadfastness was, without a doubt, virtuosic. And the performance lasted exactly 59 minutes and 58.8 seconds.

REVIEW:
Irritable Hedgehog CD Launch Party
Tom Johnson’s An Hour for Piano
R. Andrew Lee, piano
Friday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m.
Goppert Theatre
Avila University
11901 Wornall Road
Kansas City, MO
For more information visit http://irritablehedgehog.com

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com