Piano Recital with
Cordelia Williams (2006)

The recital will include:
Schubert: Ländler (German Dances), D.366
      A major - A major - A minor - A minor - A minor - G major - D major - B major - B minor - B major
Schumann: Five Songs of Dawn (Gesänge der Frühe), op. 133
      In a tranquil tempo - Animated - Lively - With motion - First tranquil, then moving
Kreisler: Praeludium & Allegro
Cordelia Williams, piano, and David Ralak, violin
Performed in Nairobi, Kenya

Schubert was often reluctant to play in public except in the role of accompanist - when he did play as soloist, it was improvising dance music like this for a small group of friends on Sunday afternoons. The Ländler is a folk dance in 3/4 time which was popular in Austria during the 18th-19th centuries. Originally it featured hopping and stamping (men wore hobnail boots) but later became more elegant, contributing to the evolution of the waltz. 

Schumann "Musical pieces depicting sensations at the approach and onset of morning, but more through the expression of feeling than tone-painting." These five pieces were written towards the end of Schumann's life, when he was already struggling with psychological instability, but unlike many of his late works, this music has a sense of true hope, of glory shimmering just beyond the horizon.

Cordelia's new album, Night Light, journeys between darkness and hope and will be released 1 August 2021. Her first book will also be released this summer. The Happy Music Play Book is written for any parents of young children who would like to introduce music and creativity into everyday family life. 

 Cordelia's film about aspiring Kenyan pianists, made during her recent months living in Nairobi and funded by the Royal Philharmonic Society, will be available to watch this July - if you'd like to see it, please subscribe to her channel at youtube.com/CordeliaWilliams