Orette Rhoden and Iris Whittaker deep in conversation at the launch of his CD and the celebration of their birthdays. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer CONCERT PIANIST Orett Rhoden combined the launch of his third album with the 42nd celebration of his birth. The launch, which was more of a birthday party, took place at a residence in Havendale. Rhoden noted that his decision to record his performance of Schumann came from the particular love he has for the composer.
The CD is titled Schumann Kinderszenen/Kreisleriana, which marks the first time Rhoden has focused on his favourite composer. He notes that what he does instead is make Godovsky-style arrangements of some composers.
Rhoden's earlier recordings featured his performance of the works of Brahms and Chopin (his first album) and Beethoven and Brahms on his second work.
Schumann Kinderszenen/ Kreisleriana features 21 tracks which include Catch Me If You Can, Pleading, Night of the Hobby Horse and Dreaming. The songs were recorded at an Anglican church in Manhattan in the United States on a Hanburg Steinway piano. Russian recording engineer Tatyana Libermann also worked on the project, which comes out on the Russian label LRP.
Rhoden points out that he is more of a performer than a serious writer. Nonetheless, his career has been a prestigious one. His performance for Queen Elizabeth during her 1983 visit to the island led to Rhoden's audition for and later performance with the London Symphony Orchestra. Rhoden has also played at Carnegie Hall and Barbican Hall where he performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto. Having received international acclaim, Rhoden has played in Italy, France Spain and of course, Jamaica.
Although he began his studies of the piano with his mother Norma-Levy Rhoden when he was only four, Rhoden has since gone on to the tutelage of renowned instructors such as Rosalyn Turec, Nina Svetlanova, Maxine Franklin, Arthur Rubenstein and Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse.
He notes, however, that classical music does not receive sufficient attention in Jamaica. Rhoden argues that it is a necessary complement to popular and folk genres in order to stimulate the growth and development of music. "As much as we'd like to say we have folk music and reggae, we need the tools in order to write decent music or you find yourself in a rut," he said.
