By Adrian Serrato Munoz
On April 9, 2025, I attended the 8 pm livestream concert of Siyuan Xu, a classical pianist. There were also string players included in the live stream but information on them will be provided later on. The live stream was provided by the Manhattan School of Music at no cost, and the concert lasted about an hour and forty minutes. The venue in which this performance took place was the Solomon Mikowsky Recital Hall. It consists of a stage big enough to fit two grand pianos with moveable seating. It has perfect acoustics for solo recitals and is ideal for such performances. Although I could not see the audience I could still hear them applaud and it does sound like a group of people watching the performance happen. I decided to watch a live stream of a performance instead of attending in person as I was in Florida during this time, but I made sure to set myself up for the best experience possible. I set the live stream up on my tv, had my LED lights on to set mood, and watched it with my girlfriend, who enjoyed the performance as well. Now enough introduction, I am sure you want to know more about the pieces themselves, what they contained, sounded like, as well as felt like so let’s get right into it.
The first piece was played by three musicians: Siyuan Xu on the piano, Wenqi Ke on violin, and Wenbo Xin on the viola. The piece is named Farewell at Yangguan Pass. For historical context, Yangguan pass is located in China, at the western end of the Great Wall. It was an often used passage that headed west, and in literature, is symbolized as a farewell since travelers or merchants would go through Yangguan to western areas. This piece is definitely reminiscent of that sad feeling of saying farewell, especially the end of the piece as it decrescendos and becomes a piano (soft) volume, with the violin and piano complimenting each other, seemingly fading away from each other as well with the piano having a final say. All three played this piece piece amazingly, having their personal touch and sentiment towards the piece. It also seems to me as though it is culturally enriching, with common Chinese motifs and chords being present within the piece. I was very engaged with this piece, often swaying to how it was performed.\
Moving onto the second piece of the program, which was by far my most favorite one of the three performed. This piece was again performed by three musicians, pianist Siyuan Xu, Wenqi Ke again on the violin, and Owen Graham on the cello. The composition is called Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32, by Anton Arensky. It is consists of four movements, following the classical form of symphonies with the first movement being a sonata, the second being slower, and again picking back up in pace in both of the last movements. Arensky composed this piece in 1894, dedicating it to Karl Davidov, a principle cellist of the St. Petersburg opera who later become director of conservatory there. The reason as to Arensky’s piece was my favorite is because of the first movement of the piece. I loved how it began, with the violin starting the motif that will be heard throughout and be returned to in the first movement. The best thing is that the motif is not just played by the violin, but by all three instruments, with different interpretations adding flavor to the idea.
It is now that we move onto the last piece of the program, called Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49, by Felix Mendelssohn, played by our previously mentioned performers. Like Arensky’s piano trio, it consists of four movements. Written in 1839, it found immediate success, noted by influential music critic composer, Robert Schumann, in the fact that it is a master trio, on the same level as Beethoven’s B flat and D major trios. I agree with Schumann’s analysis — it is a beautiful piece with each movement becoming more expressive than the last. My favorite movement being the scherzo (light, playful composition) with the piano starting in staccato, and the string instruments starting lightly but very quickly became expressive. The violin is beautiful in this piece, while also being very powerful. All three performers were exceptional, being very technical and talented in playing their respective instrument. They present themselves well and clearly love doing what they do, creating music and filling the concert hall with emotion.
In conclusion, the live stream was phenomenal. I loved how even though I wasn’t present, I could still feel the emotion being presented by all performers. I would have preferred to go in person so I could feel the rawness of each instrument, the excitement that each performer displays. I can also see how much they respect each other as instrumentalist, looking at each other to make sure they are on the same tempo, and not getting ahead. My girlfriend and I would definitely watch another, or maybe even better, attend one live when she visits me in the next coming months..
