Ian Scarfe to Kick Off New Groupmuse Series

Ian Scarfe at the keyboard (from the Groupmuse Web page for this month’s Centuries of Sound recital)

Readers may recall that, this past April, the Century Club of California hosted a Groupmuse performance by pianist Ian Scarfe and his colleagues from the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival that featured the suite that Aaron Copland extracted from the music he composed for Martha Graham’s “Appalachian Spring.” This marked the end of a series of Groupmuse concerts for the season, and the new season will begin towards the end of this month. The title of the series will be Centuries of Sound, and the first performance will be a solo recital by Scarfe.

The first half of the program will be structured around Robert Schumann, his wife Clara, and their close friend Johannes Brahms. Scarfe will begin with Schumann’s Opus 18 “Arabeske” in C major. This will be followed by the F major “Notturno” from Clara’s Soirées musicales collection. The first half of the program will conclude with two movements from Brahms’ Opus 116 collection of seven Fantasies. These will be the fourth and fifth pieces, both entitled “Intermezzo” in the keys of E major and E minor, respectively.

The second half of the program will explore a variety of approaches to virtuosity by five different composers. Scarfe will begin with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G-sharp minor, the penultimate selection in the Opus 32 collection of thirteen preludes. This will be followed by Alexander Scriabin’s prelude in G-flat major, presumably from his Opus 11 collection of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys. (He later wrote another prelude in the same key for his shorter Opus 16 collection.) The next selection will be the “Notturno” from Ottorino Respighi’s Sei pezzi per pianoforte (six pieces for piano) collection. Somewhat more familiar, at least to some, will be Franz Liszt’s “Un Sospiro,” the last in his three Concert Études collection. Scarfe will then conclude the program with a selection of études by Philip Glass.

The Century Club of California is located at 1355 Franklin Street, between Post Street and Sutter Street. However, all arrangements must be made through a Groupmuse Web page. Ticket prices begin at $25, with $5 to hold a reservation. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 27; and the performance should begin around 2:15 p.m. Drinks will be provided (both with and without alcohol); and this is being presented as a “kid-friendly event.” However, the club itself is not wheelchair accessible.