Hobart Mercury (Australia) June 8, 2017 Thursday TAKE A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH EUROPE by PENNY THOW BULGARIAN pianist Gergana Manoilova will perform music by Eastern European and French composers in Hobart tomorrow. The program will include Six Dances for Piano by Armenian priest Komitas, and six sections from the 18-section piano cycle Spring Caprices by Bulgarian Lubomir Pipkov. Manoilova will also perform Three Preludes Opus 45 and Etude No.1 Opus 38 by Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun, and pieces by French composers Pierre Boulez (Twelve Notations for Piano) and Olivier Messiaen (Canteyodjaya). "They all play games with the rhythms," Manoilova said. "I want to explore how this is done by the Eastern composers, and by the Western composers. "Six Dances was Komitas's first major piano work and is based on Armenian regional folk dances." Manoilova feels a special affinity with Pipkov's work, because she is also from Bulgaria. "He studied in France with the same teacher as Messiaen, then established a contemporary composers' society in Bulgaria," she said. "He is a prominent example of socialist realistic music of the time. "I will play Etude, Return, Rhythms, Lullaby, Rachenitsa and Burlesque from Spring Caprices, which is based on Bulgarian folk music." Saygun also studied in France before returning to Turkey to establish a national music style. "The preludes explore the spaces between the sounds," Manoilova said. "The etude is the opposite - very virtuosic, fast with lots of movement." The Boulez was his first work using the 12-tone system. "It is like a dedication to the number 12," Manoilova said. "It uses 12-tone and consists of 12 contrasting pieces each of 12 bars. "Messiaen's Canteyodjaya is like a collage that explores contrasting rhythmic chains or progressions." Gergana Manoilova's concert will be held in the Conservatorium Recital Hall on Sandy Bay Rd from 1pm tomorrow. Tickets are $10, available from www.utas.edu.au/music- PENNY THOW <span class="sewsyq6ycywsakb"><br></span>