GREENVILLE

New music is pianist’s passion

Pianist Matthew McCright doesn’t have the opportunity to talk with Haydn and Chopin about their works, so he cherishes that composer Martin Bresnick is around and willing to chat.

And while the works of Haydn and Chopin have withstood the test of time, Bresnick’s pieces and those of another modern composer, Frederic Rzewski, should also have their chance to be heard, the former Hempfield Township man said.

They will when McCright plays works by all four in a concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of his alma mater, Greenville High School.

Even though the average classical music fan tends to prefer familiar compositions, McCright said he loves playing pieces that no one has heard before,

"It’s very important because some composers never get their music performed," he said. "That’s so unfortunate. There are so many composers with good ideas."

At the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music, where he is studying for a degree in piano performance, McCright revels in "hot-off-the-press" compositions.

He is privy to new works by composers and students, many of which are just being written and not considered finished. In some cases, he helps the composers understand that a piece cannot be performed for technical reasons, or doesn’t work well in the format for which it’s written, such as two pianos. McCright is a member of the New Century Duo with conservatory doctoral student and pianist Christine Taylor of Kansas City.

"It’s really thrilling to see if you can bring these pieces together," he said. "I will miss that when I leave Cincinnati."

The challenge as a performer is to make the audience believe that a new piece is legitimate, he said.

Part of McCright’s preparation for the Bresnick work was to talk to him.

"I love to find out what’s inside the composer’s brain," he said. "It helps you, hopefully, to impart that on the audience."

In Bresnick’s case, he met the composer through McCright’s piano coach, Lisa Moore. The only other person to have performed Bresnick’s "Dream of the Lost Traveller" was Ms. Moore, to whom the piece is dedicated.

"Dream of the Lost Traveller" is from a William Blake poem and engraving. The traveler has fallen asleep on the side of the road and Satan comes upon him and tempts him.

"The piece goes through a series of dark, harsh, back-and-forth type things," said McCright, who also sings during it. "It’s a very powerful, religious piece, sort of in a medieval vein."

Rzewski’s Piano Piece No. 4 allows McCright to show power in a different way. It was suggested to him by Ms. Moore, who has recorded it.

"It sort of suited my temperament," he said. "As a pianist, I’m very rhythmic, very aggressive and very controlling."

After working on a modern piece, McCright feels refreshed when tackling an older, more established composition, such as Chopin’s Ballade in F minor, a classic in the Romantic mode that has been played "by pianists from here to everywhere," he said.

McCright said he has been criticized by traditionalists for playing a piece his way, and not the way the composer is believed to have intended it. He argued there is no way to understand every nuance of a piece. Even renowned pianists find new things in works they have played many times before.

"The pieces are never ready," he said of preparing for a concert. "They’re never finished. That’s why we pursue these pieces."

McCright added that Chopin composed on a design of piano that is generally only found in museums today. Who’s to say that if Chopin had a Steinway grand he wouldn’t play it the way some modern pianists do? he said.

McCright will repeat the program, which includes Prokofiev’s fourth sonata, before a faculty jury later this year. He is scheduled to finish his master’s degree in piano performance in December, he said.

"I learned this quite difficult program here and I felt it a waste to just play it once," he said of the decision to do the Greenville concert.

McCright said he will feel little pressure in playing before his family and friends. While critics tend to look for mistakes, the Greenville audience will have the opposite intent.

"It’s really nice to play before an audience that doesn’t want to see you fail," he said.

McCright graduated last year from Westminster College, New Wilmington, and has performed with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra.

After finishing at the conservatory, he hopes to pursue a doctoral degree.

"I want to get the last degree while I’m still young and not go back," said the 24-year-old.