Pianist Brieley Cutting will perform a melodious program of piano music from the established canon presented alongside a new work from local Sydney composer Mark Oliveiro.

Commencing with a fresh opening, Brieley has selected three Scarlatti Sonatas. Concise, binary gems, these were composed by an Italian producing music for the royal court of Madrid in the first part of the 1700s. Selected from the 550 keyboard sonatas from this composer, these miniatures offer clean lyricism and clarity, and are examples of the style gallant with their post-Baroque focus on elegance instead of heavy formality.

The program will then move to the Parisian salons of the mid-1800s with three Romantic lyrical stories: Chopin’s Nocturnes in E major and E minor, followed by Liszt’s non-verbal Sonnet, also in E major. Inspired by words of Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet from the 1300s, Liszt’s Sonnet is based on a two chord idea - a warm, grounding major chord, followed by one that is augmented, and more unstable, tense. Perhaps Liszt was illustrating the dichotomy in the poetry, it commencing with, “I find no peace, but for war am not inclined; I fear, yet hope; I burn, yet am turned to ice; I soar in the heavens, but lie upon the ground; I hold nothing, though I embrace the whole world …”

Offering a different harmonic richness and timbrel contrast, Brieley will then perform a new electro-acoustic composition with Mark Oliveiro. Composed for piano with live electronics, Mark describes his new work as drawing upon late 20th century spectralism (referring to sound, the acoustic spectrum). Further refining his concept as 'via negativa’, the piano’s timbre will be decomposed and re-articulated, sounds deconstructed and redistributed, and internal harmonics will unfold as cascading sonorities and asynchronous gestures, all leading to a progression of music showcasing a variety of colours. Mark will also explore the double meaning of ‘spectral’, exploring not just sound, but also supernatural sounds via sub-harmonic frequencies, these offering a ghostly visage when mixed with decaying resonance from the piano.

And to complete the program will be one of Beethoven’s late piano Sonatas, his lyrical Op.110. Composed in 1821, this is the 31st of his 32 piano sonatas. Beethoven was a composer who grew from the European Enlightenment, this portrayed in this work as Beethoven demonstrates freedom of thought and representation of inner experience. Combining Classical precision with exploration of the emotional depth of Romanticism, he demonstrates the dissolving of the expectations of Sonatas and sonata form with the final movement of this Sonata taking listeners on a journey of profound inner turmoil and struggle, eventually leading, via hope and recovery, to feeling a culmination of ecstasy and ultimate triumph.

Program

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Sonata in E major K. 380

Sonata in D minor K. 9

Sonata in B-flat major K. 551

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Nocturnes Op. 62 No. 2 in E major & Op. 72 No.1 (posth.) in E minor

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Petrarch Sonnet 104, from Years of Pilgrimage (Second Year, Italy)

Mark Oliveiro

Upside/Downwater

I. Midnight Row

II. Undertow

performed with the composer on live electronics

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Sonata in A-flat major Op. 110

I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo (Moderate, singing, very expressive)

II. Allegro molto (Very fast)

III. Adagio ma non troppo - Arioso dolente (Slow, but not too much - sorrowful aria)

IV. Fuga - Allegro ma non troppo (Fugue: Fast, but not too much)

About the Artists

BRIELEY CUTTING

Piano

Described as “such a force!” (Tempo Rubato), “technically assured with excellent control of the keyboard” (Courier Mail), and as having “at her disposal a myriad of different colours and who knows how to take the time to let the music speak” (Auckland Scoop), Brieley is known for bringing her trademark energy and refinement to a career encompassing solo and collaborative performance, event curation, arts promotion and practice-focused research. Also a dedicated teacher, she enjoys sharing her love of music with young musicians. Brieley completed doctoral studies at Griffith University; is an alumna of the Royal College of Music and ANAM, as well as being a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Trust; and she has been winner of numerous competitions, including being National Keyboard Winner of the 2006 ABC Young Performers Awards. Brieley continues to produce DeClassified Music events, with the organisation and its concerts continuing to attract awards and rave reviews. Read more

MARK OLIVEIRO

Composer/Live Electronics

Mark Oliveiro is an Australian composer-researcher, performer, and educator working at the intersection of experimental electronics, post-glitch aesthetics, and analog synthesis. His practice couples generative systems with creative agency, integrating field recordings, live processing, and multimedia congruency. His research draws on digital autoethnography to situate composition as critical, practice-led inquiry. Oliveiro serves as President of the Australasian Computer Music Association and lectures at the Australian Institute of Music, embedding emerging technologies into pedagogy. His music has been performed by the Decibel Ensemble and collaborators across new-music, EDM, and media-art contexts. He has received commissions from Seamus, the Art Music Fund, and independent performers, creating works that span multimedia chamber music, site-responsive environmental pieces, and algorithmic systems employing Euclidean rhythms and stochastic textures. Across concert, installation, and studio settings, Oliveiro’s projects explore the intersections of culture, technology, and place through textured sound.

Contact the host of Brieley Cutting with Mark Oliveiro (Piano & Live Electronics)

There were 0 errors found in the information you submitted: