Rebecca Boese’s Piano Recital Highlights

Performing pieces by Sibelius, Shostakovich, Soler, and Bliss, Rebecca Boese played with grace and elegance. Boese is known for her work ethic which is shown in the excellence of her product. Along with her solo pieces, Peter Holloway (violin) and Janet Tschida (piano) joined Boese to complete the repertoire for this outstanding recital.

After her performance, Brown reflected, “Rebecca has been a joy to work with through her college years…Though some piano students skate by with minimum effort, Becca put in maximum effort, and her work exhibited thoroughness in practicing details and in meeting her goals.” Highlights of Rebecca’s recital along with her program notes are available below.

 

Romance Op 24, No. 9, Sibelius

“Romance” is the ninth of a ten-piece collection written by Sibelius between 1895 and 1903. These pieces are some of Sibelius’ most popular piano works. I was drawn to this piece because it features a beautiful melody at the beginning that is developed throughout the rest of the piece. The piece climaxes in a cadenza-like section that is simultaneously tedious to learn, but a ton of fun to play.

I’d Rather Have Jesus, Shea, Arr. by Hudson

This song has come to mean so much to me over the last few months. I didn’t know this song well before I came across it in a book Mrs. Brown gave me. This song reflects the aching I feel after being disappointed over and over again with the struggles that life brings. In the end, I am continually reminded that all peace, satisfaction, and joy is found in the love and beauty of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Piano Concerto No. 2, Op 102 in F Major, Dmitri Shostakovich

Shostakovich wrote this piece for the birthday of his son, Maxim. It premiered during Maxim’s graduation from the Moscow Conservatory. The second movement displays a beautiful melody on top of recurring triplets. The rhythmic challenges in this piece are seen in the two or four-against-three rhythms interspersed throughout. The third movement is a lively dance that uses pentatonic scales and modes. It switches between duple time and seven-eight time. It also features a motif of Hanon exercises, exercises often written for young students, that often occur in sixths. Given that this was written for Maxim’s graduation, this is a 20th-century musical dad joke from good ole’ Shosty.

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Rebecca Boese prepared her recital under the direction of Mrs. Ruth Brown as part of her Music Education Degree with a Piano Pedagogy Add-on.