Russian Pianist Anna Tsybuleva premiers Irish Composition "An Cailleach"
The wonderful Russian pianist Anna Tysbuleva will perform a specially commissioned piece called "An Cailleach" by Irish composer Siobhán Cleary at the Linenhall Arts Centre on Wednesday March 7th. The piece commissioned by Music Network is being premiered on Tysbuleva's current tour of Ireland.
Winner of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2015, Anna Tsybuleva has astounded audiences and critics alike with her daring and bravura-filled interpretations of classic works. Her muscular, rhythmic playing and overtly nuanced attack give every accent a meaning, infusing the most well-worn pieces with modernity and breathing new life into neglected works.
An Cailleach by Siobhan Cleary is a work in four parts
i) Dùbhlacht : “Darkness” : Bleak, frozen stillness of the shortest days of the year.
ii) Faoilleach: “Wolf” : Ravenous, wintery blizzards.
iii) Feadag: “Plover”: Sharp, piping cold.
iv) Scuabag: “Sweeper” A soughing wind that ushers in the Spring
In preliterate times, seasons were observed by the hours of light, weather patterns and lunar cycles, rather than any set calendrical date. Stories were invented and handed down generation by generation, in order to explain the astronomical divisions of the year; the vagaries of the weather and the shortening and lengthening of the days. In the folklore of Ireland and Scotland, the Cailleach was the embodiment of winter, among many other things. Incarnated as an old hag at the end of Autumn (Samhain) she brings winter’s elemental destruction until she is recreated once again at the beginning of Summer (Beltaine) as a young maiden. These four short piano pieces take their title from a Scottish Gaelic legend which depicts the multitudinous ways the Cailleach casts her hibernal spell from Ben Nevis over her lands, until she is transformed, inevitably (and annually) into Spring.
As well as Siobhan Cleary's work Anna Tsybuleva will perform works by Chopin (Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op 44; Three Mazurkas, Op.59; Nocturne in C minor Op.48 No.1; Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55 No. 2; Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 No. 1) and Tchaikovsky (The Seasons Op. 37 bis) on this current tour. A real treat in store! Here's the link for futher details and booking.
