A piece close to his heart: pianist Julian Chan on recording Leopold Godowsky's Java Suite for the Royal Academy of Music’s Bicentenary Series on Linn Records

Julian Chan

The Royal Academy of Music’s Bicentenary Series on Linn Records offers industry-level recording experience and the chance to release their music to students and since 2020, over 20 digital recordings have been released as part of this series. This month for the latest in the series, pianist Julian Chan marks the centenary of the completion and publication of Leopold Godowsky’s Java Suite with the release of his recording of the complete work.

Born in Malaysia, Julian studied at Wells Cathedral School before taking his place at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). In 2024–25, Julian was recipient of the Aud Jebsen Fellowship at the RAM, where he previously studied with Ian Fountain and Michael Dussek. Julian has been awarded prizes at competitions in Nanyang and Singapore, as well as receiving the Royal Over-Seas League Collaborative Piano Award. He made his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in June 2024 performing Godowsky's Java Suite.

Born in what was then Russia but is now Lithuania to Jewish parents, Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher, who became an American citizen in 1891. An important pedagogue, his pupils included the pianist Heinrich Neuhaus. Godowsky devoted his time to teaching and giving concert tours. Much of the 1920s was spent touring around the world; apart from concert appearances in Europe and the United States, Godowsky also gave extensive tours of South America and East Asia.

It was as a result of spending time in Java and experiencing gamelan music that Godowsky came to write his Java Suite. The suite consists of twelve movements, divided into four parts, and is not commonly performed complete. The first full recording of the work only dates from 2020.

The piece is very close to Julian's heart; he discovered it when he was beginning his studies at the RAM and during the holidays he explored a lot of music on YouTube. The work's blend of East and West was close to Julian's life experience, growing up in Malaysia and the UK. He sees the piece as being shaped by Godowsky's travels and different experiences. Julian points out that everyone experiences life differently; you cannot separate Godowsky from his travels and experiences abroad.

Leopold Godowsky

Godowsky spent weeks in Java, taking in the sights, sounds and the food, and Julian points out that not many composers did that. The eminent pianist performed no fewer than twenty recitals on the island of Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Many composers, like Debussy, first experienced gamelan as a result of the Paris Exhibition. Godowsky's travels in Java bring a new perspective to his Java Suite, and he described it as being inspired by the "marvellous scenery and picturesque inhabitants; huge volcanoes, active and extinct; majestic ruins and imposing monuments" of this island which so fascinated him. Above all, it was the "native music of the Javanese, in the heart of Java, at Djokja and Solo that made the most profound impression".

I was curious as to why the work is not better known. Julian admitted that he thinks about that often, and people ask him the same question after his performances of the work. One reason is perhaps that the work is challenging to perform, after all Godowsky was one of the giants of the piano. In recent decades, the piece has become better known and also people have greater experience of different cultures, including the gamelan. Julian is pleased to be able to contribute to its renaissance and releasing his album to celebrate the work's centenary.

The first work of Godowsky's that Julian played was his Passacaglia. This is a huge piece, some 20 minutes long, written in 1927 and based on the theme from the opening bars of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. Julian finds it an incredible piece, and he describes it as a set of variations with a jazzy cadenza ending in a colossal fugue. Musically, he sees similarities with the Java Suite, though the Passacaglia lacks the Eastern influences. There is a video on YouTube of Julian playing the Passacaglia at the Nanyang International Music Competition in Singapore in 2019.

Many people, however, know Godowsky for his Studies on Chopin's Études, which are even more challenging, including ones just for the left hand. And Julian comments that they are a great way of increasing your left-hand dexterity, though he is less certain about programming them and has not done so yet.

Parallel to his piano career, Julian also composes, though at the moment he does so 'when he has time'. He is currently working on a set of piano pieces, partly because he gets asked at recitals why he does not play some of his own music. But it is a question of finding both the time and the inspiration. However, he does feel that composing gives perspective on his piano playing, suggesting how the brains of other composers work. And whilst as a composer you might be expected to be more faithful to the score, what he finds is that it gives him a deeper understanding of the process. When he composes, he is not sure of everything, there is room for exploration and further development. Pieces can grow so much. And when listening to recordings of composers performing their own music, the result is often more about the idea rather than particular markings, and he feels this gives you greater insight.

As a pianist, Julian has been shaped by his teachers, of which there are so many. His most recent at the RAM was Ian Fountain, who Julian describes as having a unique style, being very delight and good at conveying what he intended. Julian worked a bit with Stephen Hough, who is a performer he admires, and at a masterclass played Hough's own Sonata Trinitas. Marc-André Hamelin is also another composer-pianist that Julian admires, and he feels that he follows in this tradition, though the idea of a composer-pianist is not so strong nowadays.

Coming up, he has a tour of Germany playing Berg, Schumann, Schubert and Beethoven, then in 2026 he has concerto performances, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 [in Northampton] and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 [in Worthing]. Neither work necessarily well-known, but both big pieces that he is looking forward to playing.

Leopold Godowsky: Java Suite - Julian Chan - LINN Records. Preview the album. 

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