John EatonPiano Variations (1957) will be performed by the remarkable and amazing, Christopher Oldfather, at St. Peter's at Citicorp on 54th St.
(between Lexington and 3rd Ave.s) on Tuesday Feb. 15th at 8PM. The composer says: "That's right, 1957! I wrote them specifically for the first of several concert
tours consisting of programs dedicated to contemporary music and modern jazz
combined. Although inspired by sets of variations that I had played by Bach,
Beethoven and Mendelssohn to tie together several variations as a unit of
construction, they proceed much more freely in terms of developing elements of
the theme by rhythmic, melodic and harmonic expansion and contraction and
alterations of the time scale. They are my last totally chromatic piece and
contain a great variety of harmonic structure and emotional mood - still a goal
in my music."
And, Eaton's Sor Juana Songs (1998) will be peformed on Friday, Feb. 25th, by the incredible singer Christina Asher and the
wonderful pianist Taka Kigawa, at the Tenri Cultural Institute at 43A West 13th Street, at 8PM Composer's note: "Three sonnets by, in my opinion, the greatest Latin American poet, Sor Juana
Ines de la Cruz. To capture their themes of, respectively, illusive love,
defying the overbearing authority of her male detractors, and the loss of love,
I have used microtones in the voice as well as as well as singing into the
piano strings, and such piano techniques as holding "lesser"
sonorities with the middle pedal of the piano and catching sf passages
or chords by the quick change of the right pedal - the last three of which
create softer, echoing images of previous events. This is perhaps my favorite
and most moving song cycle."
