Most of us think of classical pianists as serious types, practicing alone, studying mostly dead composers, interacting only with other musicians, all day, every day. That would not be Alpin Hong. Even very young classical musicians seem adult-like. Not Alpin Hong. He’s an adult in age, but still a kid with kid interests, like skateboarding and video games. That makes for a very refreshing and fun performer!
At his January 14 concert at Kahilu Theater, Alpin demonstrated his extreme-sport approach. He’s focused, risk-taking, athletic, coordinated, inventive, and having a great time. If you’re on a skateboard, you must be one with the board. Alpin is one with the piano. There were moments when it was hard to tell if he was playing the piano – or if the piano was playing him! He’d fling himself away as if the keys were burning his fingers or look terrified that it might beat him up, or he’d smile at its humor or swoon as if it was a lover. His impish grin implied a pact between him and the piano to surprise and play tricks on us.
Technical virtuosity? Wow! Chopin’s Tarantella Op. 13, the first piece is played like a race; he’s going full blast down a hill, and you’re holding your breath to see if he crashes. In the second, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor, which doesn’t work quite as well. In the Fugue, the theme is passed between the left hand and the right, and theme fragments keep arising like a current below a wave. I prefer a slower pace where you can identify the many ways the theme gets varied; that’s part of the enjoyment. But the piece was over before I knew it.
So, I was relieved that he chose the slower, more emotional Brahms Intermezzo from Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118. It’s written in ABA form, with a melancholy middle section of mostly eighth notes that unexpectedly resolves into quarter note chords, a sudden brightening. The A and C sections go into a low questioning mode, and then without warning, soars into a heart-stopping melody two octaves up before ending in a peaceful, simple phrase in a major key. As Alpin said, it’s a good piece for COVID times, conveying both sorrow and despair, happy memories, and hope.
Not only a natural athlete, but Alpin is also a natural teacher. In his morning program for our island school kids, he connects information on the piano and how music works on our emotions to children’s current interests. (You can see this program yourselves on Kahilu TV.) For us adults, the instruction was no less welcome. As he introduced “Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations),” a contemporary piece by Polish American composer Robert Muczynski, he first demonstrated how the Paganini theme was used by other composers as well. Alpin also decoded Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor by pulling out for us the three musical ideas in the piece’s Introduction, which then get re-purposed throughout the sonata. They are not even melodies; one is mostly a scale, another mostly a rhythm. Like “Where’s Waldo,” it added to our pleasure to look for those themes. I love that he didn’t just play the pieces but first helped us to understand them.
Alpin chose “Rhapsody in Blue” to end his program. Jewish composer George Gershwin hung out in Black jazz clubs and composed a piece that has become beloved by people of every nationality and political persuasion, proving that music can be a healing force in socially fractured times.
And his final final piece, what did you expect – was for kids! He took Ernesto Lecuona’s Malagueña and added new variations “in the style of Alpin Hong,” based on songs from musicals, pop songs, movies, and maybe video games? Confession: I wouldn’t recognize a video game theme if I could win at Jeopardy! See what themes you can recognize when watching this concert on Kahilu TV. Sink into the beautiful sound he produces on Kahilu’s superb Steinway. Admire his mastery. And experience how Alpin Hong, this iconoclastic classical pianist, brings out the curious, fun-loving kid in all of us.
About the author: Meizhu Lui didn’t know there was any other kind of music except classical until she hit junior high! Piano and flute have been her own instruments of choice. She is now pursuing her bucket list goal of deepening her musical knowledge and skills.
Photos: Steve Roby