Motoki Hirai piano
Thursday, 27 February 2014 – 7:30pm

Would patrons please ensure that mobile phones are switched off.
Please stifle coughing as much as possible and ensure that watch alarms andany other electronic devices which may become audible are switched off.

PROGRAMME
J.S.Bach (arr. Motoki Hirai): Organ Concerto in D minor, BWV596 after Vivaldi[New Arrangement – UK première]
I.
Andante Maestoso - GraveII.
Largo (Tempo di Siciliana)
III.
Toccata (finale)
Motoki Hirai: Grace and Hope (2011) – dedicated to the victims and survivorsof the earthquake and tsunami
Motoki Hirai: Scenes from a Native Land (2005)(‘Fantasie-Japonaise’)Tchaikovsky: Dumka – Scene in a Russian Village, Op.59

INTERVAL
Edvard Grieg: Poetic Tone Picture, Op.3-4: Norwegian Dance, Op.35-2: Scherzo, Op.54-5 from Lyric Pieces: At the Cradle, Op.68-5 from Lyric Pieces: Dance Caprice, Op.28-3 from Album Leaves: Anitra’s Dance, Op.46-3 from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1: Gone (In Memoriam), Op.71-6 from Lyric Pieces
Motoki Hirai: Homage to Grieg (1987/rev.2007)
Motoki Hirai: Improvisation on EDvArD GriEG (2014)[New Work – UK première]
Edvard Grieg: Arietta, Op.12-1 from Lyric Pieces: Little Bird, Op.43-4 from Lyric Pieces: To the Spring, Op.43-6 from Lyric Pieces: Solitary Traveller, Op.43-2 from Lyric Pieces: Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op.65-6 from Lyric Pieces

Programme Notes

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto in D minor (after Vivaldi) BWV 596 –arr. Motoki Hirai [UK première]
I.

Andante Maestoso - GraveII.

Largo (Tempo di Siciliana)

III.

Toccata (finale)

Whilst a century and more ago much of the music performed inorchestral concerts and in chamber music and solo recitals had been
written in the previous 60 years, the generally-held belief that music of
the 18th-century was almost wholly unknown in the 19th is not entirely

Motoki Hirai (1973-)
Grace and Hope (2011) –dedicated to the victims and survivors of theearthquake and tsunami.
It has been nearly three years since the devastating Earthquake andTsunami, with the ensuing nuclear fall-out, hit my native country ofJapan on the 11th of March (which, by a sad coincidence, was mybirthday). I have so far organized and participated in over 20 charity
concerts to raise funds for the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods, as aresult of which I feel that the path to full recovery could be extremely
long, though disaster relief is definitely underway.

true. Beethoven, for example, greatly admired Handel’s music, and,following Mendelssohn’s ground-breaking performance of Bach’s St
Matthew Passion in 1829, a wholesale revival of interest in Bach’s music
began, but the revival of interest in Mozart’s music during the 19th
century took somewhat longer to become established.
As knowledge of music of the baroque period grew in the 19th-century,
a little-appreciated feature was the interest taken by those earlier
composers in the music of their contemporaries: Handel’s oratorio Israelin Egypt recomposes and recycles music by Stradella and Rameau;
Mozart made a reorchestration of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s interestin the music of his contemporaries was particularly wide, to the extent
that in 1713-14, for example, he arranged no fewer than nine concertos
by Vivaldi as solo organ and harpsichord works. One of them, from thetwelve Concertos that make up Vivaldi’s Opus 3, ‘L’estro armonico’, opens
tonight’s programme, but in a newly transcribed version for solo piano

I composed this piece following the 3.11 disaster, not only as a prayer forthe victims and the survivors, but also hoping that such a tragedy would
never happen again. My main goal was to come up with a universal andsimple melody that can be shared among people not only in Japan but
across the world, to reflect my sincere wish that the world will be abetter, more peaceful place in which to live for us all. I premièred thepiece at my piano recital at the Wigmore Hall, London in October 2011,and gave its Japan premiere in Shichigahama, Miyagi (epicentre of the
Tsunami) the following month.
Whilst I am performing the piece on solo piano today, it can easily betranscribed for choir, orchestra or solo instruments as it is ultimately asimple song. I have always been hearing the theme through humanvoices whilst composing or playing on the piano since I conceived it at
the very beginning. If it could be performed repeatedly to give people
hope and courage, it will give me sheer delight as a composer.

by Motoki Hirai, receiving its UK premiere.

© Motoki Hirai 2014

The original is one of Vivaldi’s better-known works: it is a concerto
grosso, for two main solo violins, plus solo cello and string orchestra
with continuo; Bach’s version for organ has itself a chequered history,
having come down for its publication in 1844 as being not by him but
by his son Wilhelm Friedrich; subsequent research, however, hasestablished that the transcription is by the Master himself.
However Bach’s transcription was made, there is no doubt that his‘recomposition’ has presented us with an eminently valid keyboard work,and Motoki Hirai’s new version, for the modern concert grand piano, iswhat might be termed a ‘transcription of a transcription’. As the great
Bach scholar Basil Lam claimed: ‘It is possible to play Bach’s music on a

Motoki Hirai (1973-)
Scenes from a Native Land (2005)
This piece reflects my concern with a number of issues which affect us
today. Composed in 2005 which marked the 60th anniversary of the endof the Second World War, I thought it was an appropriate time to pause
for thought. After 60 odd years of relative peace, there are still many
conflicts as well as natural disasters which affect the lives of vast
numbers of people from all over the world. I now offer this composition
as a memorial to the past and with hopes for lasting peace and stabilityof the world for the future.

clothes line with a couple of pegs yet it remains great music’, but wemust admire the inherent respect and success of tonight’s arrangement– especially when performed by the musician who has made it possible.
© Robert Matthew-Walker 2014

As it was originally composed for a concert held at St. John’s, Smith
Square in London on Europe Day as part of the 2005 EU-Japan Year of
People-to-People Exchanges, an EU-wide initiative to promote a greater
mutual understanding of European and Japanese society and culture,Programme Notes

I, as a Japanese person, have drawn on images evocative of my native
land and its rural life past and present in all its forms, including
landscapes, tranquility, folk festivals, even religious themes and legends.
The piece itself consists of several sections of varying lengths played
continuously, representing scenes from Japanese rural life including
sounds of nature, children at play, dancing and singing in a small village,
and traditional instruments such as bamboo flute and Taiko drum.
Another section is based on the Okinawa pentatonic scale which consistsof five notes, uniquely skipping the second and sixth of the octave.
Although some motifs have been influenced by Japanese folk styles, I
have not used any particular source for my composition.
As music is a live art, I have focused on improvisation whilst composing
this piece in order to make the performance more spontaneous. With thisin mind, I hope members of the audience will let their imagination run
freely and just enjoy what they hear.
© Motoki Hirai 2014

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Dumka, Op.59 (1886)
Tchaikovsky’s love of Mozart’s music was well-known; he published an
edition of Le nozze di Figaro and his Fourth Orchestral Suite, Opus 61,
Mozartiana, is a set of orchestrations of four of Mozart’s works,
composed soon after Tchaikovsky wrote this delightful solo piano piecein C minor, marked Andantino cantabile, which paints a picture akin toa rustic Russian scene. The Dumka was composed in February 1886 andis dedicated to Antoine Marmontel. It was written in response to arequest from a Parisian music publisher, Felix Mackar, who by all
accounts was delighted with the result. So he should have been, for thisis one of the finest of all of Tchaikovsky’s shorter solo piano works,
although it is far from being a miniature. The dedicatee, Antoine
Marmontel, was professor of the piano class at the Paris Conservatoire.
© Robert Matthew-Walker 2014

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Poetic Tone Picture, Op.3 no 4 (1863)
Norwegian Dance, Op.35 no 2 (1881)
Scherzo, Op.54 no 5 from
Lyric Pieces Book V (1891)
At the Cradle, Op.68 no 5 from
Lyric Pieces Book IX (1898)
Dance Caprice, Op.28 no 3 fromAlbum Leaves (1878)
Anitra’s Dance, Op.46 no 3 from
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 (1875)
Gone (In Memoriam), Op.71 no 6 from
Lyric Pieces Book X (1901)

Arietta, Op.12 no 1 from
Lyric Pieces Book I (1866)
Little Bird, Op.43 no 4 from
Lyric Pieces Book III (1886)
To the Spring, Op.43 no 6 from
Lyric Pieces Book III (1886)
Solitary Traveller, Op.43 no 2 from
Lyric Pieces Book III (1886)
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op.65 no 6 from
Lyric Pieces Book VIII (1896)
As Tchaikovsky added to Mozart’s music in his Fourth Suite, so Edvard
Grieg did the same for four of Mozart’s piano sonatas, publishingversions with an added second piano part – the original is played on thefirst piano. A mutual love of Mozart’s music – and the desire to dosomething practical to spread knowledge of it – was but one of theattractions each composer felt for the other’s art, and whilst the 150th
anniversary of Grieg’s birth in 1993 coincided with the 100th of
Tchaikovsky’s death, the anniversaries affording excellent opportunities
to focus attention on these remarkable composers, it may still bethought that the more original achievements of both men are not as
wholly appreciated as they might be, even today. Although, in each case,they came to prominence at the time of the rise of nationalism in art,
and there were great Russian and Scandinavian musicians before them,in some ways it was their contemporary use of folk-based material thatboth separated and united their approach to music, and the range ofmusic they created remains far wider than is generally appreciated – aswas the influence they exerted upon their successors.
Tchaikovsky and Grieg met at a famous party in Leipzig on New Year’s
Eve 1887, at which Brahms and the English composer Ethel Smyth werealso present: by that time, their mutual admiration ran deep. Tchaikovsky
once wrote of Grieg: ‘What charm, what inimitable and rich musicalimagery! What warmth and passion in his melodic phrases, what
teeming vitality in his harmony, what beauty and originality in the turnof his piquant and ingenious modulations and rhythms, and in all therest what interest, novelty, and independence.’
And Grieg of Tchaikovsky: ‘His Russian art – which I regard as so
significant because of its grand conception, richness of colour, andadvanced technique – can never be taken away from me. I carry it in myheart with endless gratitude.’
Hearing the generous selection of Grieg’s solo piano music in tonight’s
recital, it is impossible not to agree with Tchaikovsky, for we begin with
one of the composer’s very earliest solo piano pieces, from the set of six
Poetic Tone Pictures, composed in 1863 and the first of his works to be
published.
It was Dr Max Abraham of Peters Edition who had first discerned Grieg’s
original qualities in these pieces and had undertaken to publish themthat same year, an association between composer and publishing housethat was to last until the composer’s death 44 years later.
Hearing this early example from the Poetic Tone Pictures it is clear thatthe qualities we regard (as did Tchaikovsky) as essentially Griegian were
there from the start. And although Grieg’s influence in turn on asurprisingly wide range of succeeding composers is today littleappreciated, four months before Bartók’s death in 1945, he told the
conductor Antal Dorati: ‘Altogether, one has to take Grieg very seriously.
He was a very important composer. Don’t you know he was one of thefirst of us who threw away the German yoke and turned to the music of
his own people?’
Nor is it at all well-known that the first commission Serge Diaghilev
gave Stravinsky in 1909 was to orchestrate a group of Grieg’s piano
pieces for the Ballets Russes – sadly, these orchestrations have been lost,
neither do we know which pieces Diaghilev chose – but within the large
number of short piano pieces, principally perhaps from the 66 whichmake up the ten books of Lyric Pieces composed between 1866-1901 wemay find distilled the essence of Grieg’s genius, from the very first, theArietta which opens book 1, to the most famous, Wedding Day at
Troldhaugen of 1896 – composed to mark the silver wedding anniversaryof Grieg and his wife Nina at their home, Troldhaugen, just outside
Bergen, and which originally had the title ‘The celebrators are coming’(i.e., the guests, walking up the hill on that beautiful summer’s day in1892 to the fine house which was built for the couple with money
advanced by Max Abraham’s publishing company).
Thus the ‘poetic tone pictures’ from Grieg’s earliest years continued
throughout his creative life. He often drew pictorial inspiration from avariety of sources, as the titles of the individual pieces reveal, and which
continue to exert their fascination through, as Tchaikovsky wrote: such‘inimitable and rich musical imagery!’.
© Robert Matthew-Walker 2014

Motoki Hirai (1973-)
Hommage à Grieg (1987/rev.2007)

In this piece I have tried to capture through a tone picture the uniquestillness of Nordic nature and atmosphere which Grieg himself would
have experienced especially in the winter. In the middle section I haveincluded what I imagine to be the sounds of reindeer sleigh rides
gradually approaching from afar, whilst the distinctive and increasing
sounds can be heard of numerous church bells being rung in harmony by
campanologists throughout old Bergen where the composer grew up.
© 2014 Motoki Hirai

Motoki Hirai (1973-)
Improvisation on EDvArD GriEG (2014)[UK première]
As one might guess from the title, the main motif of this piece consistsof the seven letters within the name of Edvard Grieg which correspondto musical notes. This traditional technique has been used by various
composers for many years, for example in Schumann’s ‘ABEGG
Variations, Op.1’, ‘Carnaval - Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little
Scenes on Four Notes), Op.9', and Liszt’s ‘Prelude and Fugue on BACH’,
to name but a few.
It was just by chance that I came up with the idea of using Edvard
Grieg’s name as a motif for my composition. When I was requested togive a solo recital featuring Grieg at the Norwegian Ambassador’s
Residence in London, organised by the Greig Society of Great Britain in
October 2013, I tried playing the notes ‘Edvard Grieg’ at the piano
without much thought or planning. At first glance, I thought the lettersthat could be used were the seven letters: ’E, D, A, D, G, E, G’ (this is whenread in English – there may be other possibilities in German for
instance). After playing these notes a couple of times, the second last
‘E’ naturally became prolonged to double the length of the other notes,
forming a four-beat cradle-like rhythm. From then on, the music justflowed through my head, and I was just improvising until the end of thepiece. This has formed the basis of ‘Improvisation on EDvArD GriEG’.
I gave an unofficial première of the piece at the above-mentioned
concert where it was not included in the programme but was done as a

Whilst receiving its world première in London’s Wigmore Hall in 2007
commemorating the centenary of Edvard Grieg’s death, ‘Hommage àGrieg’ was originally conceived in 1987. From early childhood I havebeen familiar with and greatly admired the work of Grieg, and havealways enjoyed listening to the composer playing his own compositions
on old gramophone records that he made in 1903. Amazing as it may
sound, the composer appeared one night in my dream, seated at his old
upright piano with candlesticks, smiling and improvising especially forme in his studio in Troldhaugen. On waking I immediately jotted down
what I had heard, and that formed the basis of the piece I will play for
you this evening.

surprise performance. However, I made further updates to the piece later,
giving the world première in its completed, official form in Carnegie Hall
(Weill Recital Hall) in New York on February 5th 2014.
The quiet and gentle motif comprising the seven letters ‘E, D, A, D, G, E
- G’ is repeated throughout the piece, gradually increasing its intensity
until the climax where it is interrupted for a while, followed by a codawith the completely different melody reminiscent of lieder or chambermusic by Grieg. After this, the cradle-like motif is re-introduced, leading
to an absolutely quiet ending.
© 2014 Motoki Hirai

Profile: Motoki Hirai – Pianist & Composer“a most brilliant and sensitive musical talentboth as pianist and composer”
THE GUARDIAN
Acclaimed worldwide for his imagination and sensitivity, Motoki
Hirai has appeared in the music capitals of the Far East, America
and Europe, performing regularly in prestigious venues including
Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. During
recent years, Motoki has performed in Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Denmark, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Oman,
Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka,
Switzerland, Tanzania, UK, USA and his native Japan.
Highlights of the current season and beyond include solo recitals
in Carnegie Hall (NY), Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam),Konzerthaus (Vienna), South Bank Centre (London), Ginza Oji Halland Kioi Hall (Tokyo) and concerto performances with orchestras
such as Czech Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra as well as concert
tours across Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America andJapan.
Whilst being a leading interpreter of the standard repertoire for
piano solo, Motoki is equally at home with chamber music andlieder, shedding an inspiring and personal light on music from all
periods. Since 1991, Motoki has collaborated with several artists
including Vilnius String Quartet, Michael Cox, Kalman Berkes, Barry
Craft, and his father, the celebrated cellist Takeichiro Hirai, whom
Pablo Casals once designated as his successor.

As a composer, Motoki’s works have been performed andpremièred in venues such as Carnegie Hall (NY); National Cherry
Blossom Festival (Washington, D.C.); Wigmore Hall, South Bank
Centre, Cadogan Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Unicorn Theatre,
Chelsea Flower Show (London); St. George’s (Bristol); Eden
Project (Cornwall); Lincoln Cathedral (Lincolnshire); Smetana Hall
(Prague); Cultural Summer Festival (Bratislava); Maison de laculture du Japon à Paris (Paris); Auditori Pau Casals (Barcelona);
Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, Auditorium in Haifa Museum of Art(Israel); as well as La Folle Journée, Tokyo Opera City and NHK
Hall (Tokyo).
To commemorate the centenary of Grieg’s death in 2007, Motoki
premièred his own piano work ‘Hommage à Grieg’ in venues suchas Wigmore Hall and Tsuda Hall (Tokyo), in performances whichwere critically acclaimed by the press internationally including
the Norwegian leading newspaper Aftenposten. His music has
also been used in films such as ‘Voice’ (2004) and ‘The Emperor’s
Tram Girls’ (2005).
Born in Tokyo in 1973 into a highly gifted musical family, Motoki
Hirai studied piano and composition with his grandfather, theeminent composer Kozaburo Y. Hirai, and violin with his
grandmother. Since his first professional appearance at the age of
13 playing his own piano works to great critical acclaim, he has
been highly active in both performance and composition. Afterreading philosophy and aesthetics at Keio University in Tokyo,
Motoki came to London in 1996 to study at the Royal Academy ofMusic, and later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Over the years, Motoki Hirai has performed for the promotion ofworld peace and for people in need worldwide in association
with organizations such as the Great Britain Sasakawa
Foundation, Japan Society, Motor Neurone Disease Association,
Red Cross, UNESCO and UNICEF. In 2010 Motoki was invited to
Lithuania to give a charity concert, commemorating Sempo(Chiune) Sugihara who saved the lives of over 6000 Polish Jews
during World War II. Since the Earthquake and Tsunami
devastated Japan on 11 March 2011 (which, by a sad coincidence,
was his birthday), Motoki has been giving a series of charity
concerts for fundraising, supported by Steinway & Sons, acrossthe UK and Europe and the most affected areas in Japan, raisingover £75,000 so far.
As an artistic emissary of the Japanese government, Motoki has

REVIEWS“a superb pianist…
his musicianship is incomparable”
THE GUARDIAN“Consistent musicality…
Being a composer himself has endowed theperformer [Motoki Hirai] a special insight into theworks of others, enabling him to capture theessential character of each composition.”
THE SUNDAY TIMES“His interpretation was refined and left a strong
impression on the audience. It was as though thedoors to the most sublime music of our time werebeing opened note by note right before our eyes.”EL MUNDO

visited numerous countries since 1994. He has also been involvedin fascinating educational programmes to promote Japanese art
and culture across the world, such as the ‘World of Japanese
Picture Books – brought to life through Reading and Music”
project (2007-) as artistic director, producer and composer. Motoki
has broadcast internationally on radio and television (Classic FM,
BBC, ITV, and NHK) and has made a number of CD recordings.

www.motoki-hirai.com“…superbly performed, technically perfect andinfused with keen intelligence”
MUSICAL OPINION“Mr. Hirai’s unhurried approach and ample
breathing between phrases brought to mind agreat singer or string player . . . warm lyricism anda uniquely improvisatory feeling”
NEW YORK CONCERT REVIEWSupported by: Embassy of Japan in the UK

Sponsored by: ANA (All Nippon Airways), Berry Bros. & Rudd,
Daiwa Capital Markets, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation,
Honda Motor Europe Ltd., IIJ Europe Limited, Japan Centre,
Central Japan Railway Company, Kajima Europe, Matsuri
Restaurant, Mitsui OSK Lines, Nikkei Europe Limited, OCS(Deutschland) GmbHIn Association with: The Grieg Society of Great Britain,
The Japan Society*, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity*,
Steinway & Sons

*Proceeds from this concert will go to the Japan Society Tohoku
Earthquake Relief Fund, for the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods
through local projects in the most affected areas, which will need
years of continuous support.
*The artist has worked in association with the Royal Marsden
Cancer Charity to invite children fighting against cancer
alongside their families, in order to encourage them and givethem hope for the future.

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Culford Room
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