miriam gómez-morán piano
Sunday 19 November 2023, 3pm · Holy Trinity Church, Haddington
A very warm welcome back to the Spanish pianist Miriam Gómez-Morán, best known to us as an authoritative and sensitive performer of the works of Franz Liszt, so ably demonstrated in Summer 2022 when she gave a memorable recital for us in aid of Ukrainian humanitarian efforts. The programme she has chosen for us today offers the opportunity to hear her in three great works of the repertoire, ending with Liszt’s sparkling evocation of the sounds of Venice and Naples.
MIRIAM GOMEZ-MORAN piano
Miriam Gómez-Morán has a busy concert schedule in her native Spain and also in Hungary, where she is renowned particularly for her insightful and revelatory performances of the works of Franz Liszt.
After 'discovering' the piano relatively late (aged 12) and early lessons in Madrid with Carmen Deleito and Manuel Carra, Miriam’s formative years were spent at the Liszt Academy in Budapest where she studied with the renowned teacher Ferenc Rados. "Through him, I realized that the pieces 'had a behaviour', the notes 'had a face' and there was an 'activity between sounds'. It ... enriched beyond any expectation my interpretative views. [He] also worked the technical aspects with me, but never separately from the expressive content of the fragment. In that sense, he was a true pianistic descendant of Liszt, who said that 'technique emanates from spirit, not from the mere mechanics'."
Post-graduate studies at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, where she majored in historical keyboard instruments under the guidance of Robert Hill and Michael Behringer, gave her "a deep insight into the repertoire and made me much more conscious of my technique, which I had to adapt to each instrument. Not only did it teach me how to play the harpsichord and period pianos, but it improved my playing on the modern instrument as well."
A busy performing career took a back seat for several years when Miriam took up a post as a professor at one of Spain's leading conservatories, Salamanca's Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León. During the years she spent sharing her musical skills and insights with a younger generation of pianists, she continued to perform as a soloist and chamber musician (notably with the leading Spanish horn player Javier Bonet). She also carried out extensive research into Liszt's performance practice—the subject of her doctoral dissertation—and is widely regarded as an expert in this field.
Her most recent project is a recording of Liszt's entire Années de Pèlerinage cycle, scheduled to appear at the end of the year. It includes the lively supplement to Book 2 of the cycle, Venezia e Napoli, that she will play at her Haddington recital.
Widely admired ed for her unassuming virtuosity and empathetic interpretations, she was recenty praised by the music commentator Christopher Axworthy for her “aristocratic control and sumptuous sound. A sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing out so naturally. Here was an artist who had a story to tell of great beauty and poetry where even the pauses between the differing episodes were pregnant with meaning. A sound that had a golden glow and gave great shape and meaning to all she did.”
Miriam Gómez-Morán has a busy concert schedule in her native Spain and also in Hungary, where she is renowned particularly for her insightful and revelatory performances of the works of Franz Liszt.
After 'discovering' the piano relatively late (aged 12) and early lessons in Madrid with Carmen Deleito and Manuel Carra, Miriam’s formative years were spent at the Liszt Academy in Budapest where she studied with the renowned teacher Ferenc Rados. "Through him, I realized that the pieces 'had a behaviour', the notes 'had a face' and there was an 'activity between sounds'. It ... enriched beyond any expectation my interpretative views. [He] also worked the technical aspects with me, but never separately from the expressive content of the fragment. In that sense, he was a true pianistic descendant of Liszt, who said that 'technique emanates from spirit, not from the mere mechanics'."
Post-graduate studies at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, where she majored in historical keyboard instruments under the guidance of Robert Hill and Michael Behringer, gave her "a deep insight into the repertoire and made me much more conscious of my technique, which I had to adapt to each instrument. Not only did it teach me how to play the harpsichord and period pianos, but it improved my playing on the modern instrument as well."
A busy performing career took a back seat for several years when Miriam took up a post as a professor at one of Spain's leading conservatories, Salamanca's Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León. During the years she spent sharing her musical skills and insights with a younger generation of pianists, she continued to perform as a soloist and chamber musician (notably with the leading Spanish horn player Javier Bonet). She also carried out extensive research into Liszt's performance practice—the subject of her doctoral dissertation—and is widely regarded as an expert in this field.
Her most recent project is a recording of Liszt's entire Années de Pèlerinage cycle, scheduled to appear at the end of the year. It includes the lively supplement to Book 2 of the cycle, Venezia e Napoli, that she will play at her Haddington recital.
Widely admired ed for her unassuming virtuosity and empathetic interpretations, she was recenty praised by the music commentator Christopher Axworthy for her “aristocratic control and sumptuous sound. A sense of balance that allowed the melodic line to sing out so naturally. Here was an artist who had a story to tell of great beauty and poetry where even the pauses between the differing episodes were pregnant with meaning. A sound that had a golden glow and gave great shape and meaning to all she did.”
