Anniversaries
Twice, for a composer’s birthday, the series has done something larger than a recital — several artists, a full program, and a dinner cooked for the room. These are those evenings.
A Lilacs recital is one pianist and one program. An anniversary is not: it is a whole day built around a composer, with several artists, food from the composer’s country, and a room that stays late.
There have been two so far. Both were birthdays, and neither will come around again.
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Rachmaninoff’s 150th
Happy 150th, Seryozha!
Rachmaninoff was born on April 2, 1873. We marked the day itself with six artists, two concerts and a dinner — the largest thing the series has done.
The series takes its name from his song “Lilacs,” Op. 21 No. 5, so this was, in a sense, the evening the whole thing is named after.
Who played
Wynona Yinuo Wang · Zitong Wang · Konstantin Soukhovetski · John-Henry Crawford, cello · Vyacheslav Gryaznov · Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone
The program
- Rachmaninoff — Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 28 (Wynona Yinuo Wang)
- Rachmaninoff — Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 (Zitong Wang)
- Rachmaninoff — Prelude in B minor, Op. 32 No. 10; Vocalise (Konstantin Soukhovetski)
- Rachmaninoff — Cello Sonata, Op. 19 (John-Henry Crawford, Wynona Yinuo Wang)
- Rachmaninoff — Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3 (Vyacheslav Gryaznov)
- Rachmaninoff — Aleko’s Cavatina and selected songs (Joseph Parrish, Vyacheslav Gryaznov)
The dinner
Everything played that evening is in the archive.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Ravel’s 150th
Happy 150th, Maurice!
All-Ravel, on his 150th birthday, with a Basque dinner cooked in the kitchen behind the piano and a Ravel quiz for the room.
Three late works, in the order he wrote them.
Ravel was somewhat a renegade, forged his path without seeking establishment approval. He experimented a lot but was a classicist at heart. His music is uncompromisingly virtuosic and sensuous in a distinctly French way.
Le tombeau de Couperin is the last solo piano work he composed, after he returned from the war. Each movement is a tribute to a friend who died in the fighting.
from my welcome, that evening
Who played
Henry Kramer · Nadejda Vlaeva · Claire Bourg, violin · Leland Ko, cello · Vyacheslav Gryaznov
The program
- Ravel — Le tombeau de Couperin (Henry Kramer)
- Ravel — Piano Trio (Nadejda Vlaeva, Claire Bourg, Leland Ko)
- Ravel — Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Vyacheslav Gryaznov)
The dinner
Everything played that evening is in the archive.
Both evenings are in the archive with everything that was played. There is no schedule for the next one — it depends entirely on whose anniversary comes around.