Sunday, October 22, 201 7, 3pm Hertz Hall ,

Robert SCHUMANN (1810 –1856) Kinderszenen , Op. 15 Von fremden Ländern und Menschen Kuriose Geschichte Hasche-Mann Bittendes Kind Glückes genug Wichtige Begebenheit Träumerei Am Kamin Ritter vom Steckenpferd Fast zu ernst Fürchtenmachen Kind im Einschlummern Der Dichter spricht

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770 –1827) Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2 Allegro vivace Largo appassionato Scherzo: Allegretto Rondo: Grazioso

INTERMISSION

Rodion SHCHEDRIN (b. 1932) Notebook for Young People Arpeggio – Medieval Russian Chant – Let’s Play an by Rossini – Chorus – Thirds – Song of Praise – Chord Inversions – Mourning Village Women – Fanfares – Conversations – Russian Bell Chimes – Tune of Peter the Great – Chase – Twelve Notes – Etude in A

Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891 –1953) Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 Allegro inquieto Andante caloroso Precipitato

Major support provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation. Cal Performances’ 2017 –18 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Opposite: photo by Outi Montosen 25 ProGrAM noTEs

Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood ), op. 15 Unable to communicate by word, the young robert schumann lovers resorted to a code of tones. In the sum - Friedrich Wieck of Leipzig was one of the most mer of 1836, Robert sent Clara a copy of his renowned piano pedagogues of his day, eagerly just-published Sonata in F-sharp minor, which sought out for the discipline and efficacy of his he headed, “Piano Sonata dedicated to Clara by teaching by many talented and ambitious stu - Florestan and Eusebius,” a reference to the dents, including Robert Schumann, who placed impetuous-mercurial and dreamy-romantic himself under Wieck’s stern gaze in 1829. aspects of his character that he evoked in sev - Schu mann showed such promise that Wieck eral of his early piano works. Prominent in the took him into his household for full-time in - sonata’s opening movement was a motive struction, and there the 20-year-old musician Schumann borrowed from a piano piece of worked up not only the obligatory scales and her own that Clara had sent to him the year be - études but also an infatuation for Wieck’s young fore ( Scène Fantastique: Le Ballet des Revenants daughter, Clara, whom her father was groom - [“Ghosts”]), which in turn quoted from a Fan - ing for the life of a piano virtuoso. Love devel - dango that Robert had written in 1832. Clara oped slowly but steadily between the couple— and Robert remained faithful and determined Clara was nine years younger than Robert— through the following difficult months, de - and was sufficiently advanced by the mid-1830s pending on a trusted mutual friend to carry an to cause Papa Wieck serious concern. Schu - occasional secret message between them, and mann by that time had abandoned hopes of a Clara brazenly included Robert’s new sonata on career as a concert and turned instead her Leipzig recital of August 13, 1837. Robert to composing and editing the fledgling music was there and he received Clara’s message as journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , endeavors she had intended. The following day, by sur - that Wieck judged offered slim prospects for reptitious letter, he proposed that they become producing an appropriate marriage partner engaged: “Let me know by a simple ‘Yes.’” She for his daughter, who was just then beginning to responded immediately: “Do you only ask for a establish her international reputation. simple ‘Yes’? Such a little word—and yet so im - Early in 1836, Wieck shipped the still- portant—how could a heart so full of ineffable underage Clara off to Dresden to get her away love as mine fail to pronounce this little word from Schumann, but Robert followed his be - with all its soul? I do so, and my inmost heart loved there and won a declaration of mutual whispers it to you for ever.” Three years later, love from her. When Wieck learned of this having weathered Friedrich Wieck’s ceaseless development, he retrieved Clara to Leipzig and barrage of litigation to keep them apart, they forbade her further contact with Schumann in were married on the eve of Clara’s 21st birthday. person or even by letter; Wieck filled the void On February 11, 1838, Robert wrote to Clara by spawning unfounded rumors of new liaisons that he had been composing “wonderful, crazy, intended to make the lovers distrust each other. solemn stuff. I sometimes feel simply bursting Schumann, referring to the volatile emotions with music. Perhaps it was an echo of what that troubled him throughout his life, later you once said to me, ‘that sometimes I seemed wrote to Clara about those days, when he was to you like a child,’ but I suddenly got an inspi - afraid not just of losing her but even his reason: ration, and knocked off about 30 quaint little “Being unable to learn anything about you, things, from which I have selected 13 and called I wished, with all my might, to forget you. It was them Kinderszenen (“Scenes from Childhood” ). at that time that we had become strangers to They will amuse you.” Though Schumann one another. I was resigned. Then my old suf - added that these pieces are “as easy as possible,” fering burst out afresh, and made me wring they are decidedly not pedagogical exercises for my hands. Often at night I would implore God: young fingers but rather expressive, adult-view ‘Grant me at least one night of tranquility in vignettes of memories and reflections of child - which my mind would not give way. ’” hood. “They all explain themselves,” Schumann

26 PLAYBILL ProGrAM noTEs told Clara, but added a title to each one (after time, however, and had been widely circulated the music was composed, his usual practice) in manuscript copies. The Op. 2 sonatas were to suggest its emotional content: “Von fremden dedicated to “Mr. Haydn, Doctor of Music of Ländern und Menschen” (“Foreign Lands and Oxford University” upon their publication, and People”); “Kuriose Geschichte” (“Curious are often cited as Beethoven’s admiring homage Story”); “Hasche-Mann” (“Playing Tag”); “Bit - to his distinguished older colleague. Beethoven, tendes Kind” (“Pleading Child”); “Glückes however, declined to list himself as a pupil genug” (“Perfect Happiness”); “Wichtige Bege - of Haydn in Artaria’s edition, a common cus - ben heit” (“Important Event”); “Träumerei” tom for emerging professionals of the day, and (“Dreaming”); “Am Kamin” (“By the Fireside”); he once told his amanuensis Ferdinand Ries “Ritter vom Steckenpferd” (“Knight of the Hobby that “though he had taken some lessons from Horse”); “Fast zu ernst” (“Al most too Serious”); Haydn, he had never learned anything from “Fürchtenmachen” (“Fright ening”); “Kind im him.” Though they were slipping apart person - Einschlummern” (“Child Falling Asleep”); and ally by the time of the Op. 2 sonatas, the two “Der Dichter spricht” (“The Poet Speaks”). maintained a mutual respect— Haydn invited Beethoven to play one of his own sonata no. 2 in A Major, op. 2, no. 2 at his concert of December 18, 1795, a sign that Haydn still considered him his pro - During his first years after arriving in Vienna tégé; Beethoven always admitted an indebted - from his native Bonn in November 1792, ness to Haydn’s music and in his later years he Beet hoven was busy on several fronts. Initial acquired and carefully preserved an autograph encouragement for the Viennese junket came of one of the London symphonies. from the venerable Joseph Haydn, who had The Sonata No. 2 in A Major is the sunniest heard one of Beethoven’s cantatas on a visit to work of the Op. 2 set, though even here Beet - Bonn earlier in the year and promised to take hoven’s quintessentially dramatic expression is the young as a student if he came to much in evidence. The opening movement’s see him. Beethoven, therefore, became a coun - principal theme contains an entire storehouse terpoint pupil of Haydn immediately after of pregnant motives: two falling figures, one his arrival, but the two had difficulty getting based on an arpeggio in even notes, the other, along—Haydn was too busy, Beethoven was too a fragment of a scale, passes by in a flash; an bullish—and their association soon broke off. arch-shaped lyrical phase; long staccato scales, Several other teachers followed in short order— both rising and falling; and scurrying ribbons Schenk, Albrechtsberger, Förster, Salieri. While of triplets. After this cache of A-Major materi - he was busy completing fugal exercises and als to open the work, the movement takes an practicing setting Italian texts for his tutors, extraordinary detour for the second theme into he continued to compose, producing works the stormy region of E minor, just the sort for solo piano, chamber ensembles, and wind daring expressive and structural iconoclasm groups. It was as a pianist, however, that he that made Beethoven’s works such powerful en - gained his first fame among the Viennese. The gines of the burgeoning musical Romanticism. untamed, passionate, original quality of his The development section manages to treat all playing and his personality first intrigued and of the main theme motives, save the ribbons then captivated those who heard him. of triplets. The recapitulation provides a no- Beethoven was also working to establish nonsense reiteration of the exposition’s music himself as a composer at that time, and his three in appropriately adjusted keys. The Largo, based Piano Trios, Op. 1, gained him notice in 1793, on a hymnal strain buoyed upon a lovely stac - but it was not until three years later that the cato bass line, looks forward to the peerless slow publisher Artaria brought out the 26-year-old movements of Beethoven’s full maturity in its musician’s Op. 2, a set of three sonatas for solo serenity and floating timelessness. The Scherzo, piano. The works were written well before that delicate and witty, is nicely juxtaposed with the

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legato, minor-mode music of its central trio. The free-lance composer, and now divides his time finale is a spacious rondo that achieves a fine between and . From 1973 to tension between the impetuous mood of the 1990, Shchedrin was Chairman of the Com - rocket-arpeggio that occupies its first two beats posers’ Union of the Russian Federation; in and the controlled, elegant music that immedi - 1990, he became the honorary chairman of ately follows. The movement never settles un - the organization. His many distinctions include: equivocally for one expressive state or the other, USSR State Prize; State Prize of Russia; Dmitri exhibiting the balance of ambiguity and fulfill - Shostakovich Prize; Crystal Award (Switzer - ment that often marks the finest works of art. land); membership in the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts of the German Notebook for Young People Democratic Republic, and International Music Council; honorary professorships at the conser - Rodion Shchedrin, one of the handful of Rus - vatories of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Beijing; sian composers of the generation after Shosta - 2002 Composer of the Year with the Pittsburgh kovich whose music has made an impact in the Symphony ; Russian Federation State West, was born in Moscow on December 16, Order; Russian State Order Second Class; and 1932. His father, a well-known musical theorist a 2011 Grammy nomination (“Best Classical and writer on music, encouraged Rodion’s Contemporary Composition”) for his opera interest in his piano lessons, but the boy’s for - The Enchanted Wanderer . mal training was interrupted by the German Music for students and young people has a invasion in 1941. Shchedrin resumed his musi - venerable history. In the 11th century, the Ital - cal education in 1948 at the Choir School in ian theorist Guido of Arezzo developed a sys - Moscow, where he began to compose, and tem of syllables associated with the steps of the he entered the three scale (do–re–mi) to aid in learning chants. Bach years later to study piano with Yacob Flier and taught throughout his life, and some of his most composition with . By the time he significant and characteristic creations— Two- graduated in 1955, Shchedrin had established a and Three-Part Inventions , The Well-Tempered distinctive idiom with a , a piano Clavier , The Art of Fugue , Orgelbüchlein —had quintet, and the Piano No. 1, which a frankly didactic purpose. Mozart wrote the incorporate the styles of both folk music from Piano Concertos No. 14 and No. 17 and two various Russian regions (which he studied on four-hand sonatas (K. 381 and K. 521) for a the field trips required by the conservatory gifted student. Beethoven composed two “easy” curriculum) and the simple urban street song sonatas (Op. 49) in 1795 –96 accessible to fledg - known as the chastushka . The First Piano Con - ling . Closer to our time, Béla Bartók certo attracted sufficient attention that he was issued an entire piano curriculum based on named to represent the USSR at the Fifth World Eastern European idioms in his Mikrokosmos ; Festival of Democratic Youth in Prague in 1954. wrote a sonata for each of the The following year he composed The Hump - orchestral instruments (he could play them all backed Horse , which became widely popular in except for harp); Benjamin Britten composed its original form as a ballet, as well as in two The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, and orchestral suites and a film version. Shchedrin Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf ; the Hungarian subsequently wrote about current trends in his master György Kurtág continues to work on country’s music in official publications, received a series of musical aphorisms collectively titled many awards (most notably the Lenin Prize in Games that he began as teaching pieces for his 1984), was made a People’s Artist of the USSR son in the 1960s; and in 1981 Rodion Shchedrin in 1981, and visited the United States on cul - created his Notebook for Young People . tural exchange programs in 1964, 1968, and Though Shchedrin’s formal teaching experi - 1986. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory ence has been limited to a stint at the Moscow from 1965 to 1969. He has since worked as a Conservatory in the late 1960s, he has long had

27b PLAYBILL ProGrAM noTEs an interest in music education. He has com - spectively, in 1941, 1942, and 1944; inevitably, posed pieces for young singers and instrumen - they were dubbed the War sonatas. The Seventh talists, and in 2002 he established a festival and Sonata was finished in May 1942 in Tbilisi, competition for teenage students with his wife, where Prokofiev was evacuated after the Ger- the famed ballerina , at a music mans had invaded Russia the preceding June. school in Moscow named in his honor. The 15 Sviatoslav Richter premiered the work in miniatures comprising the Notebook for Young Mos cow on January 18, 1943; two months later, People , included among the required pieces Prokofiev received the Stalin Prize for the score. for the contestants, vary in their technical re - The Seventh Sonata’s three movements, quirements from one-finger exercises to near- arranged in the Classical succession of fast– virtuoso showpieces and present an equal slow–fast, progress from the anxious, unsettled challenge in their enormous range of style and Allegro inquieto, through the lyrical slow expression. Some are studies for a specific key - movement (to be played “with warmth,” board technique (“Arpeggio,” “Thirds,” “Etude according to the score), to the hammering in A”), some present compositional devices motorism and emphatic B-flat tonality of the (“Chord Inversions,” “Twelve Notes” [ an hom - finale. The opening movement juxtaposes two age to Schoen berg’s 12-tone theory]), some are broad musical paragraphs: one, approximating overtly referential ( “Let’s Play an Opera by a main theme, is given in pounding rhythms Rossini, ” “Mourning Village Women,” “Fan - immediately at the outset; the other, a contrast - fares,” “Russian Bell Chimes,” “Chase”), some ing melody in slower tempo, springs from are specifically Russian in nature (“Medieval a motive reminiscent of Beethoven’s Fifth Russian Chant,” “Chorus,” “Song of Praise,” Sym phony. Once more, with developmental “Tune of Peter the Great”), and one (“Con ver- elaborations, these sections alternate, and the sations”) is even downright funny. movement closes with a final return of the main theme to produce a five-part, symmetrical sonata no. 7 in B-flat Major, op. 83 structure: A–B–A–B–A. The second movement follows a musical arch form, beginning and Prokofiev returned to Russia from his years ending with a theme of surprising banality that in the West in 1933 and by 1939, when the utilizes some ripe, barbershop harmonies, while Seventh Sonata was conceived, he had become the middle portion rises to true passion. The the leading composer of his country with works finale has been called, because of its vigorous written in what he called “a style in which one and incessant rhythmic nature, a toccata, the could speak of Soviet life.” Lt. Kijé , Peter and modern scion of the moto perpetuo pieces of the the Wolf , and Romeo and Juliet are among the Baroque that were designed to show off the key - best-known realizations of his populist art. boardist’s digital dexterity. Prokofiev couches Many of Prokofiev’s efforts during the early the old, virtuoso form in his characteristic years of the Second World War continued in the harmonic acerbity and percussive pianism to same vein, including the Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, create one of the most invigorating keyboard 7, and 8, all begun in 1939, but completed, re - pieces of the 20th century. —© 2017 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

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lli Mustonen has a unique place on Orchestra with the Melbourne Symphony; today’s music scene. Following the in the current season he conducts the work with Otradition of great masters such as and the Helsinki Philharmonic. Rach maninoff, Busoni, and Enescu, Mustonen In 2015 Mustonen conducted the world pre - com bines the roles of his musicianship as com - miere of his Sonata for and Orchestra, poser, pianist, and conductor in an equal followed by a European premiere at the 2016 balance that is quite exceptional, often bringing Amsterdam Cello Biënnale. them together in one fascinating triple-role Frequently bringing his own works to the performance. stage, Mustonen toured Ger - During a career spanning 35 years, Musto- many in 2015 with his own Quartet for , nen has displayed his extraordinary musical , Viola, and Piano, and performed the insight in many of world’s most significant world premiere of his Piano Quintet at the 2015 music centers, whether in a triple role, as soloist Spannungen Festival in Heimbach, followed by or conductor, or as recitalist and chamber mu - further performances in Stockholm, Kaposvar, sician. His intelligence and inspiring presence Bucharest, Amsterdam, Lofoten, and La Jolla, have led him to develop close connections with among others. In 2017 he was composer-in- some of today’s most eminent musicians, and residence at the Davos Festival in Switzerland. in appearances with such as the Ber - As a conductor, Mustonen has worked with lin Philharmonic, New York and Los Angeles all the major Finnish orchestras and many more philharmonic orchestras, Chicago Symphony, around the globe, including the Deutsche Kam- Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Con cert gebouw merphilharmonie, Camerata Salzburg, Verdi Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and all the Lon - Symphony Orchestra Milan, NHK Symphony don orchestras. Tokyo, and Queensland and West Australian Meanwhile his life as a composer is at the symphony orchestras. In 2017 he conducted heart of his piano playing and . two at the Opera Apriori International Mustonen has a deeply held conviction that Festival in Moscow. In a play/conduct capacity, each performance must have the freshness of Mustonen works regularly with orchestras such a first performance, so that audience and per - as the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Jerusalem former alike encounter the composer as a liv - Symphony, and has appeared recently with the ing contemporary. In this respect he recalls Atlanta Symphony, New Russia Symphony, Mahler’s famous dictum that tradition can be Riga Sinfonietta, and Estonian National Sym - laziness, yet he is equally suspicious of the per - phony; this season includes the Norwegian formance that seeks only to be different. This Chamber, Lucerne Symphony, and Kyoto Sym- tenacious spirit of discovery leads Mustonen phony orchestras. to explore many areas of repertoire beyond the One of Mustonen’s important musical established canon. friend ships is with Rodion Shchedrin, who In recent years, Mustonen has conducted the dedicated his No. 5 to Musto - world premieres of both of his large-scale or - nen and invited him to perform at his 70th, chestral works: Symphony No. 1, Tuuri , with 75th, and 80th birthday concerts. Another im - the Tampere Philharmonic in 2012; and Sym - portant musical partner is , with phony No. 2, Johannes Angelos , with the Hel - whom he has appeared numerous times with sinki Philharmonic in 2014. Under Mustonen’s the Mariinsky Orchestra, London Symphony baton, the First Symphony has gone on to Orchestra, and the Rotterdam and Munich receive further performances with the Tchai - Philharmonic orchestras. In 2011 Mustonen kovsky Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, had the honor of closing the Moscow Easter and Meiningen Court Orchestra, among oth - Festival at the personal invitation of Gergiev, ers. Also in 2014, Mustonen conducted the in a performance that was televised throughout world premiere of his Sonata for Violin and Russia. Mustonen is also a frequent guest at the

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Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi, Singapore Piano Festival, on a tour of Belgium having performed there often with the Moscow and the Netherlands, and to the Ruhr Piano Soloists and the New Russia Symphony Orch - Festival during his 50th birthday week. This estra with . season, Mustonen performs the complete sonata As a recitalist, Mustonen has appeared in cycle at the Festival Cervantino in Mexico. recent seasons at the Chopin Institute Warsaw, Also close to Mustonen’s heart is the music of Diaghilev Festival Perm, Flagey Brussels, Beet - Beethoven, all of whose concertos he conducted hoven-Haus Bonn, Dresden Festival, Sym pho - and played with the Melbourne Sym phony in ny Center Chicago, New York Zankel Hall, 2010 –12, and of Bartók, whose con certo cycle and Sydney Opera House. The current season he performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony includes solo recitals in Tokyo and on tour in in 2012. Mustonen’s repertoire also includes Germany. He has formed a duo with Steven Respighi’s Concerto in modo misolidio , which he Isser lis for more than 30 years. To gether they has recorded with the Fin nish Radio Symphony performed Mustonen’s Cello Sonata frequently and on the label. and have recorded the work for BIS. This sea - Olli Mustonen’s recording catalogue is typi - son they appear together at the Wig more Hall cally broad-ranging and distinctive. Prior to his and on a tour of Italy. recording of the complete Prokofiev piano con - A strong exponent of Prokofiev’s music, certos for Ondine, he released an acclaimed Musto nen has recently performed and recorded recording of his own cello sonata on the BIS all of Prokofiev’s piano concertos with the label with . His release on Decca Fin nish Radio Symphony under Hannu Lintu, of preludes by Shostakovich and Alkan received released in two volumes in 2016 and 2017 the and Gramophone Award for respectively on the Ondine label. In 2017 Mus - the Best Instrumental Recording. tonen performed Prokofiev’s Second Concerto Born in Helsinki, Olli Mustonen began his with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch estra. He is studies in piano, , and composition unusual in also offering the complete cycle of at the age of five. Initially learning with Ralf Prokofiev piano sonatas, in recent years bring - Gothoni, he subsequently studied piano with ing the project, in full or in part, to Helsinki Eero Heinonen and composition with Einoju - Music Centre, Amsterdam Muziek gebouw, and hani Rautavaara.

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