Murphy to Give Piano Recital Feb. 8
by Richard Veit
John Murphy, a member of the piano faculty at Loyola University in New Orleans, will present a recital at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in Roxy Grove Hall.
Murphy, who studied with Gerrit Vander Mei, Ruth Slenczynska, Béla Siki, and György Sándor, holds degrees from Southern Illinois University, the University of Washington, and the University of Michigan. In recent years he has presented recitals in such major halls as Kennedy Center and Carnegie Recital Hall.
The recital at Baylor will open with music of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Piano Sonata in D Major, Opus 10, Number 3 (the seventh of his 32 sonatas). This will be followed by Frédéric Chopin's Scherzo Number 2 in B-flat Minor, Opus 31.
William Bolcom is one of today's leading composers of ragtime music for the piano. His "The Garden of Eden" consists of four rags entitled "Old Adam" (Two Step), "The Eternal Feminine" (Slow Drag), "The Serpent's Kiss" (Rag Fantasy), and "Through Eden's Gates" (Cakewalk).
Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninoff, two of this century's greatest keyboard composers, are represented at the close of the program. John Murphy will play Ravel's "Jeux d'eau" and then Rachmaninoff's arrangements of violin music by Fritz Kreisler-"Liebesleid" ("Love's Sorrow") and "Liebesfreud" ("Love's Joy").
The recital is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor University School of Music at 755-3991.