Suvan Agarwal's Junior Recital

Following Conservatory protocols, Suvan shared his official Junior Recital with another junior, Conservatory piano major Yuhki Ueda. They had been playing together for his Guitar Ensemble project and were able to include the duet in the performance, as a perfect combined finale. In a guitar studio first, the concert took place in Warner Concert Hall, the Conservatory’s primary large room, at 645 seats (though not our largest—that would be Finney Chapel, site of our Orchestra and major guest artist concerts, at 1,200 seats). To date, the only previous guitar performances in Warner were Randall Avers, in a concert of two guitar concertos with a chamber orchestra when he was a student here, and of course the 2005 GFA Convention evening concerts.

Suvan Agarwal in Warner Concert Hall

Suvan found himself in Warner because it is the room pianists use for their recitals. To compensate for the room size, he used our Guitar Studio-owned amplifier to reinforce his sound. The effect was excellent, with a highly effective true-guitar sound coming from the little Fishman amp. He was able to use a normal touch and not over-play, a danger in a large room like that.

Yuhki opened proceedings with three modest-length works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. Suvan followed with his Bach work, the second Violin Partita (sans Chaconne). It was handled masterfully. (The full program is at the end of the post).

After a short intermission and some more solo piano music, this time by Bach and more Rachmaninoff, Suvan returned to the stage to play his set of two Barrios works, the gorgeous and famously challenging Mazurka Appassionata and the ravishing tremolo masterwork, Sueño en la Floresta.

Finally, Yuhki joined Suvan on stage for their reading of the first movement of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata. Conventionally, guitarists will play the piano part, but this time, Suvan presented as the soloist, and let the piano adopt its normal role in the music. The effect was captivating and most impressive. Bravo Suvan, and Yuhki, both, for brilliant and engaging performances!