A recital in Paris, January 2017 in the winter Leopold Godowsky - In the Kraton
A recital in Paris, January 2017 in the winter that evoked among other images the tropical splendor of Indonesia. I love the idea that the inspiration for the Java Suite came from Godowsky’s travels as he visited Indonesia. These are for me musical post-cards or in Godowsky’s own words “Phonoramas” from a time (1925) before digicams and 24-hour travel channels.
Godowsky paints such a vivid picture of what he was privileged and intrepid enough to see. From out of the dark tropical night, screens are slipped aside to reveal antechambers or brassy courts replete with the clamour of gamelan orchestras. Arising and subsiding, these two works consume and breathe golden flame and glitter glamorously.
