Program Notes for Lincoln Center Series Since 1982
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Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 11 –12, 2015, at 6:30 m a Pre-concert Recital r g Charlie Albright, Piano o r P BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (“Moonlight”) (1801) e Adagio sostenuto Allegretto h Presto agitato T CHOPIN Four Etudes, Op. 25 (1835 –37) Etude No. 1 in A-flat major Etude No. 7 in C-sharp minor Etude No. 11 in A minor Etude No. 12 in C minor Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off. These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Steinway Piano Avery Fisher Hall Mostly Mozart Festival I Notes on the Program By David Wright m Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”) (1801) a LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN r Born December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany g Died March 26, 1827, in Vienna o r Approximate length: 13 minutes P Both of the piano sonatas that comprise Op. 27 startled listeners by begin - ning with a slow movement, keeping the character of the rest of the work e hidden. By obliging listeners to experience the present moment rather than h following a clearly indicated musical argument, Beethoven anticipated the t most vital large -scale piano works of the Romantic era. In return, posterity bestowed the most Romantic of nicknames on Op. 27, No. 2: “Moonlight.” n The poet Ludwig Rellstab first compared the opening movement in 1835 to o “a boat visiting, by moonlight, a primitive landscape.” For sheer driving force, the concluding Presto agitato has no precedent and only a few successors. s Remarkably, its seething rage is channeled into an orderly sonata form, complete e with contrasting themes, development, and coda. t o Four Etudes, Op. 25 (1835 –37) FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN N Born March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland Died October 17, 1849, in Paris Approximate length: 15 minutes It was through his 12 Etudes, Op. 10, that the 20 -year -old Chopin, then known as a composer of pleasant dances and virtuoso vehicles, first revealed his genius. His Op. 25 developed the art and science of piano performance fur - ther still. The unprecedented harmonies of these pieces seem to grow out of the keyboard figurations themselves, as if in the act of stretching what his fingers could do, Chopin were extending the language of music as well. The nickname “Aeolian Harp” for Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat major originated as Schumann’s description of the delicate arpeggios that seem to hover, shimmering, in mid -air; meanwhile, the fifth finger (the weakest of the five) must sing its melody in a full -bodied cantabile . Inspired by Chopin’s love of opera, No. 7 in C-sharp minor is a dramatic duet, combining a melancholy melody in the right hand and a restless, impassioned one in the left. The swashbuckling No. 11 in A minor is known as the “Winter Wind” for the way Chopin’s right hand turns a simple wrist-rotation figure into a keening, roaring storm. Technically, No. 12 in C minor is an exercise in rapidly opening and closing the hands in arpeggios; imaginatively, it depicts a scene of such elementa l power and rhythm that its traditional nickname, the “Ocean” Etude, is well earned. —Copyright © 2015 by David Wright Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings, August 11 –12, 2015, at 7:30 m a r Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Louis Langrée , Conductor g Matthias Goerne , Baritone o r P MOZART Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K.183 (1773) e Allegro con brio h Andante Menuetto and Trio T Allegro BACH Ich habe genug, Cantata BWV 82 (1727) Aria: Ich habe genug Recitative: Ich habe genug. Mein Trost ist nur allein Aria: Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen Recitative: Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das schöne: Nun! Aria: Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod RANDALL ELLIS, Oboe Intermission SCHUBERT An Silvia (1826) (orch. Schmalcz) Alinde (1827) (orch. Schmalcz) Erlkönig (1815) (orch. Reger) MOZART Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550 (1788) Molto allegro Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Allegro assai Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off. These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Avery Fisher Hall Mostly Mozart Festival The Mostly Mozart Festival is made possible by Sarah Billinghurst Solomon and Howard Solomon, Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, Chris and Bruce Crawford, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation, and Friends of Mostly Mozart. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. Artist Catering provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center United Airlines is a Supporter of Lincoln Center WABC-TV is a Supporter of Lincoln Center “Summer at Lincoln Center” is supported by Diet Pepsi Time Out New York is a Media Partner of Summer at Lincoln Center UPCOMING MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL EVENTS: Thursday Evening, August 13, at 7 :30 in the David H. Koch Theater Saturday Afternoon, August 15, at 3 :00 in the David H. Koch Theater Written on Skin (U.S. stage premiere) George Benjamin , Composer Martin Crimp , Text Mahler Chamber Orchestra M|M Alan Gilbert , Conductor M|M Christopher Purves , The Protector M|M Barbara Hannigan , Agnès M|M Tim Mead , Angel 1/Boy M|M Victoria Simmonds , Angel 2/Marie M|M Robert Murray , Angel 3/John M|M Katie Mitchell , Director Sung in English with English supertitles Presented in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic Written on Skin is a production of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, in co-production with the Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam, Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, and The Royal Opera, London. Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for Faber Music Ltd., London, publisher and copyright owner Thursday Night, August 13, at 10 :00 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse A Little Night Music International Contemporary Ensemble Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Pianos ALL –DAI FUJIKURA PROGRAM flicker; Calling; halcyon; Returning; Sakana; The Voice; Glacier; Breathless M|M Mostly Mozart debut For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit MostlyMozart.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or request a Mostly Mozart brochure. Visit MostlyMozart.org for full festival listings. Join the conversation: #LCMozart We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. Mostly Mozart Festival Welcome to Mostly Mozart I am pleased to welcome you to the 49th Mostly Mozart Festival, our annual celebration of the innovative and inspiring spirit of our namesake composer. This summer, in addition to a stellar roster of guest conductors and soloists, we are joined by composer-in-residence George Benjamin, a leading contemporary voice whose celebrated opera Written on Skin makes its U.S. stage premiere. This landmark event continues our tradition of hearing Mozart afresh in the context of the great music of our time. Under the inspired baton of Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra delights this year with the Classical repertoire that is its specialty, in addition to Beethoven’s joyous Seventh Symphony and Haydn’s triumphant Creation. Guest appearances include maestro Cornelius Meister making his New York debut; Edward Gardner, who also leads the Academy of Ancient Music in a Mendelssohn program on period instruments; and Andrew Manze with violin - ist Joshua Bell in an evening of Bach, Mozart, and Schumann. Other preemi - nent soloists include Emanuel Ax, Matthias Goerne, and festival newcomers Sol Gabetta and Alina Ibragimova, who also perform intimate recitals in our expanded Little Night Music series. And don’t miss returning favorite Emerson String Quartet and the International Contemporary Ensemble, our artists-in- residence, as well as invigorating pre-concert recitals and lectures, a panel discussion, and a film on Haydn. With so much to choose from, we invite you to make the most of this rich and splendid festival. I look forward to seeing you often. Jane Moss Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Mostly Mozart Festival By David Wright t o Of Mozart’s 41 symphonies, only two are in a minor key, and both are in G h minor—the key to which Mozart confided his darkest, most turbulent emotions. s The Symphony No. 25, while less often heard than No. 40, is an arresting early work, ablaze with Italianate fire à la Vivaldi. The 17-year-old composer p summoned such Sturm und Drang in this symphony’s first movement that a the director Miloš Forman chose it to accompany the snowstorm and n attempted suicide scene that began his Oscar-winning 1984 film Amadeus. S Fourteen years later, Mozart’s exploration of G minor expanded in his Symphony No. 40, the suave yet melancholy middle sibling of his great symphonic trilogy of 1788. By pushing chaos and dissonance to the limit for a symphony composed in the 18th century, Mozart assured that this work would be a favorite in the Romantic era, when much of his other music was being ignored. Between these two dark masterpieces, this program examines death and dissolution from a more hopeful angle in Bach’s Cantata BWV 82, “Ich habe genug.” Yet even here, the insightful composer has set his cheerfully pious, death-welcoming texts to music that aches with the sadness of leave-taking.