Preview Notes

PREVIEW NOTES Ida Levin, Violin; Peter Stumpf, cello; Cynthia Raim, piano Sunday, November 3 – 3:00 PM American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street Program Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12 (“La Folia”) Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Op. 42 Arcangelo Corelli Sergey Rachmaninov Born: February 17, 1653 in Fusignano, Italy Born: April 1, 1873 in Semyonovo, Russia Died: January 8, 1713 in Rome, Italy Died: March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California Composed: 1700 Composed: 1931 First PCMS performance First PCMS Performance: Nareh Arghamanyan, 2012 Duration: 11 minutes Duration: 19 minutes The last work in Corelli’s Op. 5 set is a collection of Written in the same year that he denounced the Soviet variations on a Portuguese melody. A theme and 24 Union’s leaders as “Communist grave‐diggers,” this icy variations are presented over 11 tempi. The subject, in a and cerebral work was Rachmaninov’s last original solo triple meter, has an emphasized second beat. Corelli piano work and the only one he composed outside alters this rhythmic inflection throughout to create very Russia. Consisting of a theme, 20 variations, an interesting textures. Despite the source material, this intermezzo, and coda, the work is cast in three sonata linked the melody so closely to Corelli’s name movements: Allegro and Scherzo, Adagio, and Finale. that Rachmaninov would later call his own exploration of the tune Variations on a Theme by Corelli. Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90. “Dumky” Antonín Dvořák Bukoliki [Arr.] Born: September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, Bohemia Witold Lutosławski Died: May 1, 1904 in Prague, Czech Republic Born: January 25, 1913 in Warsaw, Poland Composed: 1890‐91 Died: February 7, 1994 in Warsaw, Poland Last PCMS performance: Ivan Chan, Che‐Hung Chen, Efe Composed: 1952 Baltacigil, and Natalie Zhu, 2007 First PCMS performance Duration: 30 minutes Duration: 6 minutes Based on Ukrainian songs of lament, the Op. 90 trio is Perhaps the most important Polish composer of the formally unlike any other Dvořák work. Consisting of six later 20th century, Witold Lutoslawski spent much of his dumky (plural of dumka), each movement is in a early career arranging Polish folk music and writing different key. The result seems more like a suite of music for children. Considered a formalist by many, songs and dances than a traditional piano trio, avoiding Lutosławski was heavily influenced by the techniques standard development or even true variation of themes. developed by other composers. Many of his works The first begins in E Minor with a cello lamentation, feature pitch organizations similar to the twelve‐tone which is soon picked up by the violin. The second music of Arnold Schoenberg, as well as aleatoric movement again finds the cello taking the lead in a C‐ passages inspired by the work of John Cage. The five Sharp Minor meditation, which gives way to an movement Bukoliki is based on a collection of folk increasingly lively dance. For the third movement, the melodies by Father Wladyslaw Skierkowski and key shifts to A Major for a lyrical interlude, which showcases the musical maturation of the composer. unexpectedly lurches into the minor for the faster Chromatic use of successive minor thirds and minor material. The fifth is a strongly rhythmic Allegro in E‐Flat seconds, superimposed passages in distinctly different Major. The final movement contains one of the most meters, and embellished harmonic progressions create vigorous dances in the trio, which ends the work on an an energetic and melodic work. exuberant note. .

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