Christopher Banks

10/03/16
Awadagin Performance
Awadagin Pratt’s performance was the first of its kind that I had ever
attended. The event lasted about an hour and a half and consisted of Mr. Pratt
playing on a black Steinway and Sons piano. While I waited for the performance to
begin, I shuffled through the pamphlet which listed his accolades and
achievements throughout his life. I quickly realized that Mr. Pratt was no second
rate artist. He attended college at the age of 16 and eventually received an
honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. He has performed in a variety
of venues including his multiple visits to the White House.
None of these writings could compare to the actual presentation we received
Sunday though. He was very quiet during the first half of the performance and
didn’t say anything to the audience at the beginning which, admittedly, was a little
esoteric to me. He played four major compositions for us during the concert. The
first was a variation of a Fugue and Prelude by Cesar Frank. This piece was mostly
dramatic with sudden highs and subtle lows. It brought to my attention the
heaviness of the air and how focused the musician was on his art. It almost
reminded me of a person running or sprinting as I perceived the piece as exciting
and fast paced (yet marathon-like with its softer parts). The second piece and
third piece were by Beethoven, one of my favorite Romantic era composers due to
the magnitude of evoked emotion I feel in his pieces. These sonatas were no
different, they were full of loud and expressive movements such that Mr. Pratt
could hardly contain his movements. He was often seen sprawled across the piano,
contorted in a variety of ways. The pieces had plenty of rifts in them as they
transitioned from the bass tones to higher notes and back again. Surprisingly
enough, the last sonata reminded me of Christmas music in the light-hearted
atmosphere it created. I enjoyed it the most out of all the pieces since I could
relate it to one of my favorite holidays.
The last piece followed the intermission and Mr. Pratt even gave us some
context on why he chose to play those compositions. He explained how the
previous pieces related to the last one in that you could hear an underlying fugue
tone playing throughout the last piece that could be heard from start to finish. This
gave light to an interesting musical phenomenon that I’d like to think I heard.
Whatever the didactic purpose of the piece, I felt like I recognized some of the
movement which is always exciting for an audience member. Overall, his
performance was one to remember and I hope that I will be able to see more
performances like it.