VIDEOS

"a splendid performance... [by] a top pianist."

– Cecilia Rodrigo

Daughter of the composer Joaquín Rodrigo

Marquesa de los Jardines de Aranjuez

President, Victoria and Joaquín Rodrigo Foundation

19:21

Interpretation and Realization: Shawn Okpebholo's 'An Echo, An Ending'

In this video, I delve into questions of interpretation and realization in Shawn Okpebholo's art song "An Echo, An Ending." The video covers 8 measures of the song, and involves score study, discussion of pianistic challenges, analysis of phrasing and shaping, and the use of retaking and redistributing notes for the sake of precise execution of note values and rests.

01:57

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez - "I, Too," from "Three Dream Portraits"

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez perform "III. I, Too," from "Three Dream Portraits," by Margaret Bonds. Live at the International Piano Series, College of Charleston, Sottile Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina, April 19, 2022.

06:33

Paul Sánchez performs "Landscapes with Angels"

Paul Sánchez presents the world-premiere of Graham Lynch's "Landscapes with Angels," the final work of WHITE BOOK 3. Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. ______________________ www.paultsanchez.com www.facebook.com/SanchezComposer www.instagram.com/SanchezComposer ___________________________________________ NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH White Book 3 is unified by the work of the artist Christopher le Brun, whose paintings and woodcuts have inspired these five pieces. Before the last sounds [of "The Rhine," the previous work in White Book 3] have died away, the lustrous opening of Landscapes with Angels begins. This is the one piece in the set in which the title is not from a specific Le Brun painting, instead reflecting a number of his works, including the studies for the Parables at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral as well as ‘Travellers in a Landscape’. Angels walk among men, and the world is momentarily transformed by a heavenly presence.

02:13

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez - "Dream Variation," from "Three Dream Portraits"

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez perform "II. Dream Variation," from “Three Dream Portraits,” by Margaret Bonds. Live at the International Piano Series, College of Charleston, Sottile Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina, April 19, 2022.

09:41

Paul Sánchez performs "The Rhine"

Paul Sánchez presents the world-premiere of Graham Lynch's "The Rhine," from WHITE BOOK 3. Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. ______________________ www.paultsanchez.com www.facebook.com/SanchezComposer www.instagram.com/SanchezComposer ___________________________________________ NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH White Book 3 is unified by the work of the artist Christopher le Brun, whose paintings and woodcuts have inspired these five pieces. The first three pieces of the set have surface qualities of colour and light, and move easily from one to the next. These pieces reveal Lynch’s predilection for the qualities of French music, but with The Rhine a new world opens out, one of a Northern European sensibility. This work is by far the longest of the set and the individual ideas are subordinated within the textures, sometimes breaking the surface of the music before falling back again - the abundance of the notes threatening to blur the distinction between line and decoration, dragging the music into the world of the unconscious. This is music of a much darker nature, its primal energy gathering weight as it moves towards a climax, before concluding, with a nod to the Wagnerian Rhine, on a series of hushed E flat chords.

03:26

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez - "Kashmiri Song,” from "Five Songs of Laurence Hope"

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez perform "III. Kashmiri Song,” from "Five Songs of Laurence Hope," by Henry Burleigh. Live at the International Piano Series, College of Charleston, Sottile Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina, April 19, 2022.

02:27

Paul Sánchez performs "Glow"

Paul Sánchez presents the world-premiere of Graham Lynch's "Glow," from WHITE BOOK 3. Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. ______________________ www.paultsanchez.com www.facebook.com/SanchezComposer www.instagram.com/SanchezComposer ___________________________________________ NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH White Book 3, a set of five works that take their inspiration from the paintings and woodcuts of British artist Christopher Le Brun. The first three pieces of the set have surface qualities of colour and light, and move easily from one to the next. Glow, where constantly shifting foreground rhythms are framed within a more regular, formal architectural structure. These pieces reveal Lynch’s predilection for the qualities of French music.

03:04

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez - "The Jungle Flower,” from "Five Songs of Laurence Hope"

Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez perform "II. The Jungle Flower,” from "Five Songs of Laurence Hope," by Henry Burleigh. Live at the International Piano Series, College of Charleston, Sottile Theatre, Charleston, South Carolina, April 19, 2022.

05:08

Paul Sánchez performs "The Hesperides"

Paul Sánchez presents the world-premiere of Graham Lynch's "The Hesperides," from WHITE BOOK 3. Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. ______________________ www.paultsanchez.com www.facebook.com/SanchezComposer www.instagram.com/SanchezComposer ___________________________________________ NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH White Book 3, a set of five works that take their inspiration from the paintings and woodcuts of British artist Christopher Le Brun. The first three pieces of the set have surface qualities of colour and light, and move easily from one to the next. The Hesperides tunes into the magical and enigmatic zone of imagery created by Le Brun’s painting of the same name.

45:57

Seria Ludo: New Piano Music by Graham Lynch

Paul Sánchez presents premiere performances of new piano music by Graham Lynch: Absolute Inwardness (world premiere) The Couperin Sketchbooks (U.S. premiere) White Book 3 (world premiere) Co-presented by the San Francisco International Piano Festival and the International Piano Series. NOTES BY THE COMPOSER, GRAHAM LYNCH Absolute Inwardness was Hegel’s definition of the true content of Romanticism (‘infinite subjectivity’). This piece draws on elements of late romantic style, and fragments them until the work disintegrates into a constellation of ideas that look inwards. There are echoes of chorales, of late Brahms, and at the end the piece dissolves into a chord that covers the entire range of the piano. This work is something of a companion piece to The Couperin Sketchbooks, being its opposite in many respects. The Couperin Sketchbooks is about ten minutes long, and is made up of many short sections which have ‘Couperinesque’ titles, and share something of the spirit of Couperin’s music. In a number of places these fragments are linked by short passages from the Couperin ordres. The music moves seamlessly between the different styles, and passes through a wide range of moods and textures. The final bars of the piece are taken from the opening of a harpsichord piece Lynch wrote a number of years ago, Pastorale, which in itself was a response to the idea of the unmeasured prelude. White Book 3 is unified by the work of the artist Christopher le Brun, whose paintings and woodcuts have inspired these five pieces. The first three pieces of the set have surface qualities of colour and light, and move easily from one to the next. Seria Ludo has a playful, free-wheeling energy, spiced with syncopations and a devil-may-care attitude to every gesture that rushes past. The Hesperides tunes into the magical and enigmatic zone of imagery created by Le Brun’s painting of the same name, at times conjuring translucent harmonies from the piano that counterpoint the balanced tread of the opening and closing sections. And finally, Glow, where constantly shifting foreground rhythms are framed within a more regular, formal architectural structure. These pieces reveal Lynch’s predilection for the qualities of French music, but with The Rhine a new world opens out, one of a Northern European sensibility. This work is by far the longest of the set and the individual ideas are subordinated within the textures, sometimes breaking the surface of the music before falling back again - the abundance of the notes threatening to blur the distinction between line and decoration, dragging the music into the world of the unconscious. This is music of a much darker nature, its primal energy gathering weight as it moves towards a climax, before concluding, with a nod to the Wagnerian Rhine, on a series of hushed E flat chords. Before the last sounds have died away, the lustrous opening of Landscapes with Angels begins. This is the one piece in the set in which the title is not from a specific Le Brun painting, instead reflecting a number of his works, including the studies for the Parables at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral as well as ‘Travellers in a Landscape’. Angels walk among men, and the world is momentarily transformed by a heavenly presence.

04:26

A Hymn, from "Dunbar Songs," by Edward Hart. Saundra DeAthos-Meers, Soprano; Paul Sánchez, piano.

A Hymn, from "Dunbar Songs," by Edward Hart. Saundra DeAthos-Meers, Soprano; Paul Sánchez, piano. Text by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Recorded at the Sottile Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina. 2020.

01:00:20

Composer Interview: Edward Hart

12:02

Franz Liszt: Funérailles, from Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. Paul Sánchez, live performance.

01:19:56

Composer Interview: David M. Gordon

18:34

Far Song performs "La Tierra," by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis.

Far Song (Kayleen Sánchez, soprano; Paul Sánchez, piano) performs "La Tierra," by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis. Text by Pablo Neruda. Live performance in Charleston, South Carolina, March 9, 2019.

52:17

Composer Interview: Yiorgos Vassilandonakis

05:45

"Granada: Serenata," from "Suite Española, Op. 47,” by Isaac Albéniz. Paul Sánchez, piano.

11:28

Summer's End

"all three of Lynch’s scores were technically demanding unto an extreme.... Sánchez deserves not just credit but accolades for the confident interpretation he brought to each of these pieces...."

- The Rehearsal Studio

Funerailles

Franz Liszt

Fáeth fiada

Paul Sánchez

"The premiere of my ‘Sappho Fragments’, given by Kayleen and Paul Sánchez, was one of the best first performances I’ve ever been fortunate enough to have. Not only was there a complete technical command of the music and fabulous attention to detail, but there was also a deep understanding of what I’d written. The result was that the music came alive in exactly the way I intended, and was full of colour, tonal shading, and vitality. A beautiful performance."

- Graham Lynch

"Stepping out from the shadow of heroes and gods, the lyric poem began in song scaled to the measure of human experience. Paul Sánchez’s “ὁδοιπορία (the journey)” brilliantly captures Sappho's spectral, eerie, sensual voice, an incarnation of one of the most "carnate" sensibilities in Western literature. At the same time, the song cycle gives rise to an expressive grandeur that is uniquely inspired, uniquely its own, as if to prove once again that music is a process, not of being, but of becoming. This is a magnificent achievement, a work of great innovation and hypnotic effect, impossible to walk away from unmoved."

- Sherod Santos

Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 (1931)

Serge Rachmaninov

L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera)

Georges Bizet

Oh, Glory

Shawn Okpebholo

Ballade No. 2 in B minor

Franz Liszt

Cants Magics

Federico Mompou