Keyboard Sonatas
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rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 1 soler keyboard sonatas hinterhuber rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 2 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 3 antonio soler christopher hinterhuber keyboard sonatas 3 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 4 Antonio Soler (1729–1783) Keyboard Sonatas 01 Allegro (E Minor), R 106 02:55 02 Allegro (D Flat Major), R 23 02:53 03 Allegretto (D Minor), M 29 03:54 04 Allegro (“Del Gallo”, C Major), R 108 02:39 05 Allegro (F Minor), R 72 02:39 06 Allegro non tanto (C Minor), R 36 04:53 07 Allegro (G Minor), M 38 03:43 08 Largo cantabile (D Flat Major), R 110 04:13 09 Prestissimo (G Major), R 31 02:04 10 Allegro (D Minor), R 25 05:11 11 Andante (E Minor), R 113 03:50 12 Allegro (E Major), R 34 03:37 13 Allegro (D Minor), R 104 01:41 14 Presto (C Major), R 9 03:20 15 Molto moderato (in modo dorico), R 117 07:18 16 No 27: Allegro (E Minor) 04:19 TT 59:45 4 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 5 Christopher Hinterhuber, piano 5 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 6 From today’s perspective, Antonio Francisco Javier distant tonalities with the shortest connection possible. Jose Soler (1729–1783) is not easy to categorize. He These principles are reflected in his keyboard sonatas, spent his life as a priest, monk, student, teacher, math- where the listener is surprised and delighted by the sub- ematician, inventor, organist and composer, of course, tlety and rapidity of his modulations. Soler's treatise re- only in the service of the Catholic Church, mainly in the ceived much acclaim, but was heavily criticized by con- magnificent Residenz palace of El Escorial near Madrid, servative musicians, to whom he replied with biting incidentally the largest Renaissance building in the world. irony. Soon famous people like Palestrina or Scarlatti al- so expressed themselves in Soler’s defense. Given that Soler lived a monastic 20-hour work day, it is all the more astonishing that he managed to com- One of Soler's most outstanding students was the Infant pose more than 200 sonatas, six quintets for string Don Gabriel de Borbón, son of Carlos III. The prince was quartet and organ, six concertos for the rare combina- obviously talented, and many of the sonatas are probably tion of two organs, nine masses, 25 church hymns, five composed specifically for him. However, Soler’s relation- requiems, 60 psalms, 13 Magnificats, five motets, 132 ship with Domenico Scarlatti is of particular interest. Villancicos and several other works. He also found time Soler describes himself in a letter in Italian as a “scolare” to pursue his love of mathematics and wrote a book on of Sr. Scarlatti, 44 years his senior, which can mean both Castilian and Catalan exchange rates and developed “follower” and “student”. Since Soler in his Llave de la one of the first tuning devices for full- and semi-tones. Modulación lists all his teachers without mentioning Scarlatti, one must assume that he did not regard himself In 1761 Padre Soler wrote the treatise Llave de la as an student of Scarlatti, but as his admirer. Modulación Antiquedades y de la Música (“key to mod- ulation and to old music”), which appeared in two vol- There are undeniable similarities between the two: umes in the following year. Soler describes what modu- Both composers usually chose a two-part form for their lation techniques should be used to modulate between sonatas and worked with big jumps, crossings of the 6 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 7 hands or double stop passages in thirds and sixths, and foresee Eric Satie, Morton Feldman, Terry Riley or Philip both were influenced by the syncopated rhythms of tra- Glass from today’s point of view. ditional Spanish folk music. However, while Scarlatti prefers a virtuoso, brilliant style, Soler has more varia- Soler not only lived in the exciting period between tions in character and length of the sonatas, and often Baroque and the Classical era, but also during the tran- repetitive patterns give a strong direction to a piece. sition period from the harpsichord to the fortepiano. S- Some passages clearly anticipate and point towards ince he had both types of instruments at his disposal in Haydn and Mozart, in particular Soler’s way of treating the Escorial, one can also assume that both influenced the left hand (“Alberti bass”), and later he even com- him. Most of his sonatas require a five-octave keyboard posed sonatas with multiple movements. (61 keys). In his late works the range of G1 to a3 (63 keys) is sufficient, a range that (F1 to f 3) was not avail- Following the French trend – just think of Daquins able to Mozart on his five-octave piano (F1 to f3). “Le Coucou” or Rameau's “Le Rappel des Oiseaux” –, some sonatas bear meaningful nicknames: “De clarines” In the music world, Padre Antonio Soler has long re- (the trumpeter), “De la codorniz” (the quail) or “Del mained unknown. The main reason is that there was no Gallo” (the rooster); the last can be heard as track of music publisher in Spain in his time. Soler's composi- this recording. tions slumbered in monasteries, libraries or were pri- vately owned – all the more pleasing is their rediscov- The special charm of Soler's music is, however, per- ery in recent decades. Nowadays, his reputation as a haps the specifically Spanish idiom, the frequent use of musical visionary becomes more and more settled. elements from the Spanish dance music, the quite large number of ornaments and a very personal, natural way of writing melodies. Soler’s daring harmonies and his obvious joy to use irregular periods, one could easily 7 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 8 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 9 “One of the best and most fascinating piano record- woche Salzburg, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Ruhr ings of the year“ read the German magazine Fono Forum Piano Festival and the Prague Autumn; under such con- about his recording of Sonatas and Rondos by Carl Philipp ductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Karabits, Jakub Emanuel Bach, followed by an “Editor‘s Choice“ by the Hrusa, Bertrand de Billy, Sylvain Cambreling, Beat Furrer, renowned British Gramophone Magazine for his record- Howard Griffiths, Yakov Kreizberg, Christian Arming, ing of works for piano and orchestra by Hummel. Adrian Leaper, Andres Orozco Estrada, Dennis Russell Davies, Ari Rasilainen, Hubert Soudant, Alfred Eschwe Another recording that gained international attention and Bruno Weil; with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and was his five-CD series of all Piano Concertos by the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Klangforum in Ferdinand Ries with the New Zealand Symphony Orches- Vienna, the Vienna and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, the tra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and other orchestras. MDR Orchestra Leipzig, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Born in Austria, Christopher Hinterhuber studied with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Alex Papenberg, Rudolf Kehrer, Lazar Berman, Avo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxem- Kouyoumdjian and Heinz Medjimorec at the University bourg, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the New for Music and performing Arts in Vienna and the Accad- Zealand Symphony Orchestra among others. emia “Incontri col Maestro“ in Imola, Italy acquiring additional artistic input from artists such as Oleg A special project was the sound recording (Schubert, Maisenberg and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He won numerous Rachmaninov, Schoenberg) and filming (his hands) for top prizes and honors at international piano competi- the French-Austrian movie “La pianiste” based on a novel tions in Leipzig (Bach), Saarbrucken (Bach), Pretoria by Elfriede Jelinek and directed by Michael Haneke, which (Unisa), Zurich (Geza Anda) and Vienna (Beethoven), to was awarded the Great Prize of the Jury in Cannes in name a few. As “Rising Star” in the 2002/3 season, he 2001. He plays frequently chamber music, eg as the performed with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in the pianist of the Vienna-based Altenberg Trio, which has international concert series at the Carnegie Hall, New its own series in the Musikverein in Vienna. Christopher York, and in all major musical centers in Europe. Hinterhuber frequently teaches master classes in Japan, Europe and South America and is a professor for piano at The last few years have seen him play in major festi- the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna. vals such as the Schleswig-Holstein-Festival in Germany, Styriarte Graz, Carinthischer Sommer Ossiach, Mozart- www.christopherhinterhuber.com 9 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 10 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 11 rz_pmr0036_BOOKLET-Hinterhuber-SOLER_18-stg_Layout 1 08.11.14 16:24 Seite 12 Desde una perspectiva actual, no resulta fácil encua- consigue unir con la mayor brevedad tonalidades incluso drar la vida de Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler muy lejanas. Estos principios de Soler vuelven a quedar (1729–1783) en una de las categorías al uso. Su vida reflejados en sus sonatas, en las que el oyente queda como sacerdote, monje, estudiante, profesor, matemático, sorprendido y regocijado por la sutileza y rapidez de sus inventor, organista y, desde luego, compositor, la dedicó modulaciones. El tratado de Soler obtuvo gran acepta- en exclusiva al servicio de la Iglesia católica, principal- ción, pero también fue muy criticado por músicos con- mente en el palacio de El Escorial, la espléndida residen- servadores, a lo cual él mismo respondió con mordaz cia real situada en las cercanías de Madrid -y, por cierto, ironía, y lo que le deparó defensores tan ilustres como la construcción renacentista más grande el mundo.