New Program Notes.docx

Part I I. FRENCH SUITE IN E-FLAT BWV. 815,

J.S. Bach

I. ALLEMANDE II. COURANTE III. SARABANDE IV. AIR V. GIGUE II. PIANO SONATA NO. 10 IN G MAJOR, OP. 14, NO. 2, L.V

Beethoven i. Allegro ii. Andante iii. Scherzo III. NOCTURNE IN LEFT HAND OP. 9 NO. 2, A. Scriabin IV. Allegro Barbaro, B. Bartok

Part II

ASSISTING ARTISTS:

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4, D MINOR, OP. 70, A. RUBINSTEIN

Prof. Isabel Dimaya-Vista, second Piano Keyboardists: Mr. Guide Dadang, strings

Mr.Herman Glenn Magdura, Brass Ms. Lyndrhea Bagaboyboy, woodwinds

Instrumentalist: Mr. Rojan Max, flute

Part II

ANTON RUBINSTEIN (1829 - 1894) WAS A RUSSIAN PIANIST, CONDUCTOR AND COMPOSER. HE WAS PART OF THE TRADITION OF THE 19TH CENTURY VIRTUOSO PERFORMER/COMPOSERS SUCH AS FRANZ LISZT. ALTHOUGH HIS COMPOSITIONS ARE SELDOM HEARD NOW, AT ONE TIME HE WAS EQUALLY VALUED AS A COMPOSER AS A PERFORMER.

RUBINSTEIN PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4, D MINOR, OP. 70 IS A ROMANTIC CONCERTO THAT WAS ONCE HIGHLY ESTEEMED AND WAS IN THE REPERTOIRE OF THE RUSSIAN AND POLISH PIANO VIRTUOSOS SERGEI RACHMANINOFF AND IGNACY JAN PADEREWSKI. RUBINSTEIN COMPOSED THE 4TH CONCERTO IN1864 AND PUBLISHED A FINAL REVISION OF IT IN 1872. IT IS COMPOSED OF THREE

MOVEMENTS: MODERATO ASSAI, ANDANTE, AND ALLEGRO. RACHMANINOFF PRAISED TO CONCERTO AS VERY BRILLIANT AND INCOMPARABLE ONE.

MATTHEW PASSION AND THE MASS IN B MINOR. SINCE THE 19TH-CENTURY BACH REVIVAL HE HAS BEEN GENERALLY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST COMPOSERS OF ALL TIME.

I. MODERATO ASSAI - MARKED MODERATO ASSAI, FEATURES A STATELY BUT MELANCHOLY MAIN THEME OF RUSSIAN CHARACTER THAT IS REWORKED IN A LOVELY, FLOWING VARIATION FORM. THE POWERFUL CADENZA NEAR THE END OF THE MOVEMENT IS QUITE LISZTIAN, BOTH IN SOUND AND IN ITS TECHNICAL DEMANDS.

FRENCH SUITE IN E-FLAT BWV. 815

PART I JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, A GERMAN COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD, IS KNOWN FOR INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITIONS SUCH AS THE BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS AND THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS, AND VOCAL MUSIC SUCH AS THE ST

AS ALWAYS IN BACH'S FRENCH SUITES, THIS WORK BEGINS WITH AN ALLEMANDE, COURANTE, AND SARABANDE. THE ALLEMANDE IS WARM AND FLOWING, A STREAM OF ARPEGGIOS THAT TEND TO EDDY IN THE HARPSICHORD'S UPPER REACHES.. THE COURANTE BEGINS WITH A REPEATED B FLAT FEATURED IN THE ALLEMANDE. IT'S A BRIEF ALLEGRO MOVEMENT WHOSE DOTTED RHYTHMS MAKE IT SEEM MUCH MORE LIKE A GIGUE. THIS LIVELY PIECE CONTRASTS WITH THE ELEGANT SARABANDE, MORE LITHE THAN WAS BACH'S STATELY NORM FOR THIS DANCE FORM. THE FOURTH SPOT IS OCCUPIED IN BACH'S LAST THREE FRENCH SUITES BY A GAVOTTE; THIS ONE IS A LIGHTHEARTED LITTLE CANON. THE NEXT MOVEMENT IS CALLED AIR, BUT IT'S FAR MORE SPRIGHTLY THAN THE MORE FAMOUS AIR IN BACH'S THIRD ORCHESTRAL SUITE. WITH A MOTORIC BUT NOT EXCESSIVELY FAST DRIVE, THE MUSIC MAKES ITS EFFECT WITH NONSTOP RUNS UP AND DOWN THE SCALE. THIS IS FOLLOWED BY A VERY BRIEF MINUET AT A MORE MEASURED PACE. THE LAST ITEM, AS USUAL, IS A GIGUE, HERE A VIVACIOUS PIECE THAT MANAGES TO SOUND LILTING EVEN THOUGH ITS OPENING FIGURE IS TAKEN FROM THE CALL OF A POSTHORN. OVER A JOYOUSLY SKIPPING RHYTHM, THE MELODY SPINS ITSELF INTO A SEQUENCE OF ALMOST DELIRIOUS TRILLS.

Ludwig van Beethoven, A GERMAN COMPOSER AND PIANIST WAS A CRUCIAL FIGURE IN THE TRANSITION BETWEEN THE CLASSICALAND ROMANTIC ERAS IN WESTERN ART MUSIC, HE REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS AND INFLUENTIAL OF ALL COMPOSERS. HIS BEST-KNOWN COMPOSITIONS INCLUDE 9 SYMPHONIES, 5 PIANO CONCERTOS, 1 VIOLIN CONCERTO,

32 PIANO SONATAS, 16 STRING QUARTETS, HIS GREAT MASS THE MISSA SOLEMNIS, AND ONE OPERA, FIDELIO. THE PIANO SONATA NO. 10 IN G MAJOR, OP. 14, NO. 2, COMPOSED IN 1798–1799, IS AN EARLY-PERIOD WORK BY LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, DEDICATED TO BARONESS JOSEFA VON BRAUN. A TYPICAL PERFORMANCE LASTS 15 MINUTES. WHILE IT IS NOT AS WELL KNOWN AS SOME OF THE MORE ORIGINAL SONATAS OF BEETHOVEN'S YOUTH, SUCH AS THE PATHÉTIQUE OR MOONLIGHT SONATAS, DONALD FRANCIS TOVEY DESCRIBED IT AS AN 'EXQUISITE LITTLE WORK.'[1] THE SONATA IS IN THREE MOVEMENTS:

1. ALLEGRO IN G MAJOR 2. ANDANTE IN C MAJOR, SUBDOMINANT OF G MAJOR 3. SCHERZO: ALLEGRO ASSAI IN G MAJOR

ALEXANDRE NIKOLAYEVICH SCRIABIN (1872-1915) WAS ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC RUSSIAN COMPOSERS AND PIANISTS OF HIS TIME. IN HIS EARLY LIFE, SCRIABIN’S MUSICAL LANGUAGE CONSISTED OF A ROMANTIC AND LYRICAL STYLE AND WAS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY PIANIST AND COMPOSER, FREDERICK CHOPIN. HOWEVER, IN HIS LATER CAREER, SCRIABIN DEVELOPED AN ATONAL AND DISSONANT STYLE OF WRITING, SEPARATELY FROM SCHOENBERG'S ATONAL MUSICAL SYSTEM, THAT INFLUENCED MANY RUSSIAN COMPOSERS DURING HIS TIME, SUCH AS SERGEI PROKOFIEV AND IGOR STRAVINSKY. NOCTURNE IN LEFT HAND OP. 9 NO. 2

IN SUMMER 1891 SCRIABIN INJURED HIS RIGHT HAND THROUGH TOO MUCH PRACTICE WHILE LEARNING LISZT’S DON JUAN.. FOR THIS REASON HE CULTIVATED HIS PLAYING WITH HIS LEFT HAND FOR WHICH HE COMPOSED HIS PRÉLUDE ET NOCTURNE OP. 9 IN 1894. BOTH PIECES WERE PRINTED THE FOLLOWING YEAR, AND QUICKLY BECAME VERY POPULAR. IN 1906 THEY WERE BOTH EVEN SO WELL LIKED IN AMERICA THAT SCRIABIN REPORTED FROM NEW YORK: "IT HAS EMERGED THAT THE PUBLISHER HERE HAS REPRINTED MY NOCTURNE FOR THE LEFT HAND AND THOUSANDS OF COPIES HAVE BEEN SOLD. [...] I AM IMMENSELY POPULAR!"

BELA BARTOK

WAS A HUNGARIANCOMPOSER, PIANIST AND AN ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST. HE IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPOSERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY; HE AND LISZT ARE REGARDED AS HUNGARY'S GREATEST COMPOSERS (GILLIES 2001). THROUGH HIS COLLECTION AND ANALYTICAL STUDY OF FOLK MUSIC, HE WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF COMPARATIVE MUSICOLOGY, WHICH LATER BECAME ETHNOMUSICOLOGY.

ALLEGRO BARBARO WAS COMPOSED IN 1911 FOR SOLO PIANO. HOWEVER, THE FIRST PERFORMANCE DIDN’T OCCUR UNTIL 1921. LIKE MANY OF BARTÓK’S COMPOSITIONS, THERE ARE

SEVERAL DIFFERENT EDITIONS OF ALLEGRO BARBARO. THE PIECE WAS PERFORMED IN PRIVATE BY BARTÓK MANY TIMES BY MEMORY BEFORE HE EVEN STARTED TO NOTATE THE MUSIC. IN MANY EARLY PRINTED VERSIONS OF THE COMPOSITION, THE TEMPO MARKINGS WERE INDICATED AT A MUCH SLOWER SPEED. CERTAIN ACCENTS AND DYNAMICS WOULD ALSO BE PERFORMED BY THE COMPOSER, BUT WOULD NOT MAKE IT TO PAPER BECAUSE EACH PERFORMANCE WAS UNIQUE. THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE COMPOSITION THAT TOOK PLACE IN 1918 IN VIENNA HAS BECOME TO STANDARD AND FINAL EDITION.

La Noctune Barbare Christian P. Gonzales, Clavier 27Janvier 2018, Samedi, 18heure Music Sala, Copva 1