A musical journey with Raffi Kasparian

Dr. Raffi Kasparian

A musical odyssey narrating the evolution of western classical music spanning four centuries was presented by American pianist and mathematician Dr. Raffi Kasparian in various cities and campuses in the country recently.

Entitled Tones Through Time: A Musical Odyssey, this lecture/performance tour was presented by the Silaw Foundation as part of its outreach program in the country, led by its founder, Joyce Kasparian, Dr. Kasparian’s wife.

One of the tour's stops was at the Far Eastern University where the FEU community and guests were treated to an afternoon of piano music sprinkled with music history at the equally historic FEU Auditorium.

Tones was like a guided tour through various music eras starting from the Baroque, moving into the Classical, the Romantic, the Impressionistic up to the 20th Century, and more.

Before playing the pieces, Kasparian introduced music elements and concepts that characterized each of the eras. He also played on the piano short phrases to demonstrate how these elements and concepts are applied musically. Hearing bits of the music served as cues that guided the audience, giving them a better appreciation of the music performed in its entirety,

The Baroque pieces performed included Johann Sebastian Bach's Invention No. 1 in C major, BWV 772 ,François Couperin's Les Barricades Mystérieuses, and Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in D minor K. 517 with Kasparian emphasizing the concept of polyphony.

Moving on the Classical period, Kasparian tackled homophony and the period's adherence to form and structure that enables the music to tell a story. And a story did Kasparian tell with his playing of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, K.397 that had a clear finale and Ludwig van Beethoven's Rondo a capriccio in G major, Op. 129 'Rage Over a Lost Penny' highlighting its repeated rondo theme.

Dr. Raffi Kasparian

Form and structure took a step back to give way to lush harmonies and emotional expression during the Romantic era with Franz Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat major, S.541/R.211 being a prime example. This period also saw national and folk idioms figure more in music as composers reacted to historic events unfolding at the time. Frédéric Chopin's yearning for his home country Poland led him to compose mazurkas and polonaises, including Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 'Heroic'  during his self-imposed self exile in France.

Kasparian then explained that during the Impressionistic period, mood prevailed with harmony becoming more ambiguous as exemplified in Alexander Scriabin's Poème in F-sharp major, Op. 32, No. 1 and Claude Debussy's Voiles.

As the music progressed to the 20th century, Kasparian mentioned that harmonies and rhythm during this time had become so complex that even a dissonant chord resolves tension in a musical phrase. To give the audience examples of this and more, he performed Samuel Barber's Nocturne, Op. 33 'Homage to John Field', the Allegretto and Sostenuto from Béla Bartók's Suite, Op. 14, Sz. 62, BB 70, and Alfredo Ginastera's Danza del gaucho matrero from his Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2.

During the early part of the 20th Century, Popular (Pop) music came to the fore. Not as serious compared to the music that came before, pop music is more for entertainment and  Scott Joplin's aptly titled The Entertainer fits the bill. And when ragtime fell out of fashion, Jazz emerged. Kasparian then played some jazz chords to show how harmonies have evolved throughout the centuries. A composer whose work spanned both popular and jazz styles was George Gershwin and Kasparian included Gershwin's Three Preludes in the program.

It was inevitable that western classical music would eventually find its way to Philippine shores and that locals would compose works in a similar vein. One such work is Mayon Fantasy by Francisco Buencamino, Sr. that contained elements from various music eras. Kasparian received an enthusiastic response from the audience that after the Buencamino, he obliged with an encore of Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod's Ave Maria. This was a full circle moment since it was this piece that served as the opener during his last performance at the FEU with the Manila Symphony Orchestra back in 2019.