On Oct. 3th, during Brandeis University’s concert series, named Primary Motivations, these three composers were very much alive and present thanks to the duo of Joshua Gordon, cello and Randall Hodgkinson, piano. Besides invoking the deftness of such prodigies through their compositions, the night marked the debut of Brandeis University Department of Music’s new Steinway & Sons Model B Grand Piano, which was funded by the Ilse H. Perlman Trust and the Dean of Arts and Sciences.
The program started with Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Cello Sonatas,” also known as, sonata in C major, Op. 102 no. 1. “It is worth illustrating here Beethoven’s economical yet masterful approach to motivic usage in the opening of his C major sonata,” said Joshua Gordon, cello, and added, “[It] subverts the usual antecedent-consequent scheme by having what ought to be a consequential answer from the piano become a continuation of the question.” The piano gently joined the cello’s initial closing gesture in contrary motion, and both ornaments actually created new motives from fragments of the …show more content…
Hodgkinson has made several appearances with major orchestras, including Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, the American Symphony among others. During the time he was in Boston Musica Viva, he travel around through Europe and the United States. He is currently part of faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, which is in Boston and the Longy School of