Petrushka: Three Movements for Piano 14

Home , Apollo (ballet), Carol Rosenberger, Petrushka (ballet), Petrushka chord, Sergei Diaghilev

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Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Preludes, Book I 1. Danseuses de Delphes (The dancers of Delphi) (2:49) 2. Voiles (sails/veils) (3:45) 3. Le vent dans la plaine (The wind on the plain) (1:56) 4. Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir (Sounds and perfumes swirl in the evening air) (3:44) 5. Les collines d’Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri) (3:08) 6. Des pas sur la neige (Footprints in the snow) (3:41) 7. Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest (What the west wind saw) (3:17) 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) (2:36) 9. La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted Serenade) (2:37) 10. La cathédrale engloutie (The sunken cathedral) (6:09) 11. La danse de Puck (Dance of Puck) (2:40) 12. Minstrels (2:25)

13. L’isle joyeuse (Isle of Joy) (5:52)

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Petrushka: Three Movements for Piano 14. Danse Russe (Russian dance) (2:32) 15. Chez Petrouchka (Petrushka’s Room) (4:36) 16. La semaine grasse (The Shrovetide Fair) (8:43)

17. Piano Rag music (3:02)

David Newman (b. 1954): 18. Prelude (world premiere recording) (2:39) 19. Antipodal Rag (4:57)

Total Playing Time: 71:11 NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

“Andrew von Oeyen (is), in my opinion the best pianist of his generation.”

hus wrote distinguished composer David Newman, who created this album’s final two Tselections specifically for Andrew. We at Delos thus take particular pride in releasing Andrew’s second album – following his spectacular and critically acclaimed survey for us of piano music by Franz Liszt in 2011, the bicentennial year of the composer’s birth. In the notes to that release, the historical role of Liszt as “the first impressionist” was emphasized. How fitting, therefore, that Andrew’s current recording is devoted largely to keyboard masterpieces by Claude Debussy (1862-1918): the first and greatest of the French impressionists. Continuing Andrew’s penchant for anniversaries, 2013 marks the cen- tennial year of Debussy’s 24 Preludes (composed between 1909 and 1913) passages of pentatonic and chromat- – of which the first book of twelve is ic harmonics. Debussy leaves the lis- offered here. tener guessing as to which of the title definitions (if either) he favors. Some As his Preludes, Book I are discussed have “seen” in the music the billow- below, bear in mind that the com- ing of a ship’s or sailboat’s sails as a poser rarely described the sonic “pic- gentle wind fills them and then fades tures” he was trying to “paint” be- away, with a steady B-flat pedal tone yond the word(s) of each piece’s title. functioning throughout as the boat’s ever-solid “anchor.” Another of- “Danseuses de Delphes” (The Danc- ten-cited impression is of vague, but ers of Delphi) evokes mystic-toned alluring feminine forms partially hid- scenes of languorously dancing den by gauzy veils that also obscure maidens at the site of the Temple of their demurely flirtatious glances. Apollo in the ancient Greek city of Delphi, home to the legendary Oracle Unlike the preceding piece, there’s no of Delphi. The music breathes a gen- ambiguity as to the musical imagery tly quaint and exotic air of antiquity. of “Le vent dans la plaine” (The wind Many of the harmonic and structur- on the plain). It’s not hard for the lis- al devices that Debussy employed in tener to inhabit the vast expanses of the pieces that follow are first heard Debussy’s windswept plain, whether here: elements of modal, chromatic light, skittering breezes or blustery and diatonic harmonies – as well as gusts prevail. But you should know quasi-orchestral textures and isolat- that it serves as a companion work of ed chords surrounding the slow and sorts to Voiles, different though the sensual melody. impressions may be. Reversing that The whole-tone scale predominates piece’s harmonic patterns, this one in “Voiles” (Sails or veils), framing sandwiches a whole-tone central section between pentatonic outer ep- isodes. “Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir” (Sounds and perfumes swirl in the evening air) is definitely the most languorous of the Book I preludes. This lush and lovely “nocturne” features haunting melo- dies within rich harmonic tapestries, evoking the sultry atmosphere of a soft and quiet summer night suffused with subtle sounds and sweet, aim- lessly wafting scents. The two prevailing themes are first heard separately, but appear later cunningly interwo- ven, to magical effect. The energetic and dancelike “Les collines d’Anacapri” (The hills of Anacapri) is named for the spectacularly scenic higher-elevation region of the island of Capri in the Bay of Naples; Debussy visited there often. We first hear the tolling of bells as if from afar, interspersed by spright- ly outbursts before a manic, taran- tella-like theme in Neapolitan style bursts forth. This gives way to an agreeable folk-like tune from the pi- In “Ce qu’a vu le Vent d’Ouest” ano’s lower registers and the central (What the West Wind saw) – the section’s sensual melody. The open- most virtuosic of the Book I preludes ing “bells” then reappear to usher in – swirling, quietly ominous figura- a reprise of the original dance, fin- tions soon erupt into a hard-driving ishing the piece with a sense of giddy depiction of prevailing winds as they excitement. blow a destructive storm onshore In stark contrast, “Des pas sur la from the sea. The listener’s senses are neige” (Footprints in the snow) pres- quickly overwhelmed by mounting ents what is surely the bleakest and winds and swells that cascade land- most depressive soundscape of all the ward with burgeoning violence; you preludes. We enter a chill and deso- can almost “see” the explosive plumes late world with the opening ostinato’s of watery spume as huge waves break slow footsteps trudging through deep against the rocky shoreline. snow. This prelude’s genius is apparent Perhaps Debussy’s most beloved and in the adroit layering of melodic ele- frequently heard individual prelude ments both above and below the re- is “La fille aux cheveux de lin” (The lentlessly plodding ostinato, building girl with the flaxen hair). Sweetly into a feeling of sadly searing inten- soothing and deliciously lyrical, this sity. A brief major-key interlude near comparatively uncomplicated mu- the end seems poised to bring mo- sic depicts a young girl caught up mentary respite – but the wintry aura in a personal reverie as she sings of soon returns to stifle all hope as a se- her dreams. The composer’s gentle quence of descending bass notes and impressionistic wizardry here lies in contrasting upper-register melodic his use of a pentatonic scale for the elements end the piece with a partic- melody, while harmonizing its notes ularly keen sense of empty desolation. with diatonic chords. Debussy loved a good musical joke, God’s punishment for the sins of its and one of his wittiest and best is “La inhabitants. This eerie masterpiece sérénade interrompue” (The inter- is an impressionistic tour-de-force – rupted serenade). It tells the story of employing both pentatonic and mod- a young Spanish Romeo who is re- al scales, ghostly bell-tones, echoes peatedly thwarted in his attempts to of plainchant, and seismic low-C serenade a lovely señorita with his pedal points. The music unfolds in guitar. The serenade begins as the pi- a huge arch as the structure emerg- ano recalls both the strumming and es from the subdued depths into full plucked notes of a guitar – only to above-water sonic glory before slow- be interrupted by the slamming of a ly sinking again beneath the waves. window just as his “song” gets going The piece’s blend of a “submerged” properly. After several further inter- feel and its aura of vast internal spac- ruptions, our suitor realizes that he is es is unique in all of music. getting nowhere and slinks away. Lis- ten for how effectively Debussy “or- “La danse de Puck” (Dance of Puck) chestrates” the music, with fluid lega- gives witty and whimsical musical life to lines layered over the guitar effects to the mischievous sprite of Shake- – all the while maintaining the piece’s speare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s steadfast Spanish character. Dream. The music – structured in sonata form – unfolds in a merry Another prelude that’s often per- romp. It has a generally modal feel formed separately is “La cathédrale to it, though bitonal and chromat- engloutie,” (The sunken cathedral), ic harmonies are also heard as Puck inspired by the legend of the cathe- flits and flutters through his fairytale dral at Ys: the mythical city that is surroundings. Listen for the playfully said to have been sunk off the coast teasing effect that Debussy achieves of Brittany during the dark ages as by means of the precise figurations in the opening passages – like his syn- ter five years of marriage, he left his copated rhythms and his two-note wife for the singer Emma Bardac, and slurs with the staccato second note. spent the summer with her on the “Minstrels” (Minstrels) – another Isle of Jersey off the Normandy coast example of Debussy’s penchant for – where he wrote the piece. While it’s humor in music – was inspired by only natural to think that the sheer minstrel shows: a popular form of excitement of being with a new lover public entertainment in 19th-centu- could have been the sole inspiration ry America that began to appear in for this impassioned music, the Isle Europe around the turn of the cen- of Jersey was but one of two “Islands of Joy” that Debussy apparently had tury. They consisted of stylized Af- th rican-American song-and-dance in mind (or in heart). 18 -century routines, spirituals and instrumen- French painter Antoine Watteau’s tal pieces as well as comedy sketch- painting, L’Embarquement pour es, all done in blackface. The music Cythère, portrays a group of revelers consisted of jazz forms of the day, as they depart for the island of Aph- like ragtime and blues. After opening rodite, the ancient Greek goddess of with what sounds like a banjo shuf- physical love – and it’s not hard to fle-tune, the piece takes on the var- imagine that Debussy also sought to ied melodic flavors, rhythmic vital- express the travelers’ excited sense of ity and quick-change excitement of erotic anticipation. the typical minstrel show – complete After a series of trills, the piece’s main with snippets of a sentimental song motif appears – a fast and festively and recurrent drumbeats. dancelike outpouring in rondo form Debussy wrote L’isle joyeuse, a meaty that’s almost orchestral in effect, and virtuosic stand-alone composi- overflowing with triplets and synco- tion, in 1904. In June of that year, af- pated rhythms, to ecstatically exu berant effect. The music soon calms ture in pre-Lenten Russian carnivals. down into a 3/8 meter episode that suggests the boat’s rocking – but the The solo piano spinoff appeared ten sense of eager expectancy (and the years later, written specifically for tempo) increase as the island comes (and dedicated to) his friend, the into view as the music hurtles head- virtuoso Arthur Rubinstein. Stravin- long to an exciting finish. sky carefully re-composed the music so as to make it highly “pianistic” in Trois mouvements de Petrouchka nature, and thus appealing to a bril- (Petrushka: Three Movements for liant pianist (he always insisted that Piano) has its roots in the second of it was not a transcription). While he Igor Stravinsky’s (1882-1971) three drew the musical materials direct- full-fledged ballet scores that were ly from the orchestral original, he written at the behest of his mentor, sought to transform everything into the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Af- a keyboard tour-de-force that would ter the immense success of his first challenge the finest players. Being an ballet, The Firebird, Stravinsky had excellent pianist himself, he succeed- intended to compose another ballet ed wildly well, and this music contin- next, The Rite of Spring – but Diaghi- ues to challenge top pianists to this lev instead urged him to transform day. In all three movements, you’ll a non-theatrical orchestral piece he hear breakneck tempos, huge jumps, had written about a mischievous speedy runs, profuse glissandos and puppet brought to magical life into frequent tremolos; also intricate his next ballet. Stravinsky complet- polyrhythms and bitonal harmonies ed the score in May 1911, naming it – like the famous “Petrushka” chord Petrushka, a Burlesque in Four Scenes (simultaneous C major and F# major – after the stock “Punch-and-Judy”- triads) that one hears whenever the style puppet character that was a fix- title character appears (a “Leitmotif” of sorts). Much of the music is based quite a European following, especial- on Russian folk-tunes. It’s interesting ly in Paris. This one was also written to note that Rubinstein – though he for Arthur Rubinstein. The piece is performed this music often and (by a prime example of the cubist in- all accounts) spectacularly well – fluence in music – in that the com- never recorded it. poser fragments the harmonic and The first movement, the manic “Danse rhythmic elements of ragtime, then Russe” (Russian dance), comes from restructures them so as to achieve the conclusion of the ballet’s first sort of a three-dimensional “collage” scene, in which Petrushka and the effect in music, much as the original other main characters appear for the cubists (like Picasso) did with imag- first time and dance together. “Chez es. He further added shifting accents Petrouchka” (Petrushka’s room) en- to the already syncopated rhythms, compasses the entire second scene, as well as a bitonal approach to har- delivering mostly a musical portrait mony. While the essential format, of the title character, to typically musical characteristics and spirit of “floppy,” puppet-like effect. The fi- the ragtime genre remain readily ap- nal movement, “La Semain Grasse,” parent, Stravinsky transformed it all (Shrovetide fair), spans almost the into something much more complex, entire fourth scene, where – after a abstract and stylized than, say, Scott series of colorful introductory danc- Joplin’s original piano rags. Still, lis- es – Petrushka is murdered by his ri- teners will find the music’s ready wit val, but returns as a ghost. as well as its almost improvisatory, start-and-stop nature to be fascinat- Stravinsky – one of many composers ing and fun. who were influenced by American jazz – wrote his Piano Rag Music in While Academy Award-nominated 1919, by which time jazz had gained composer David Newman (b. 1954) has built his reputation primarily on The word “antipodal” is defined as the 100-plus films he has scored, he “diametrically opposite – entirely op- has also attracted considerable notice posed.” The composer sought here for his concert works. As mentioned to illustrate the contrasting nature above, both of his piano pieces of- of the classic piano rag’s (or “stride fered here were written for Andrew, piano,” as he prefers to call it) com- who premiered “Antipodal Rag” at ponents. In his own words, “The left the Ravinia Festival in 2001; “Pre- hand, with all its jumps and leaps, lude” is heard here in its world pre- acts like a rhythm section, (low bass, miere recording. higher snare) while the right hand, “Prelude,” as explained by the com- in an almost completely independent poser, was written as a short intro- way, plays the melody, rhythm, varia- ductory companion piece to the more tions, etc. It has an antipodal sense to substantial “Antipodal Rag.” Newman it; a physical, dancelike motion – as actually had the moods and qualities if the two hands are almost dancing of French piano composers in mind with each other. Two hands are in- when he wrote it: tunesmiths like dependent and opposed, yet there is Debussy and (particularly) Poulenc an intoxicating sense of chaotic fun.” – whose senses of Gallic whimsy and The title is further characterized by emotional contrast are especially pal- the piece’s contrasting ABA struc- pable. The piece alternates between ture, with contrary motion explored moments of brusque dissonance, in all three sections … even the lyri- flights of fantasy and pensively lyrical central episode. cal reflection – with upward-turning, —Lindsay Koob seemingly questioning phrases that are emphatically answered with “An- tipodal Rag.” BIOGRAPHY

Andrew von Oeyen has already es- Von Oeyen commands an extensive tablished himself as one of the most and diverse repertoire, to include the accomplished and captivating pia- major concertos of the keyboard liter- nists of his generation. Since his de- ature – which he has performed with but at age 16 with the Los Angeles such ensembles as the Philadelphia Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Sa- Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philhar- lonen, he has performed to critical monic, and the San Francisco Sym- acclaim in recital and orchestral ap- phony, among many others. As both pearances around the world. Born in soloist and conductor, he has led var- the U.S. in 1979, Andrew von Oeyen ious concertos and orchestral works began his piano studies at age 5 and at the Spoleto Festival USA. On July made his first solo orchestral appear- 4, 2009, von Oeyen performed at the ance at age 10. He is a graduate of U.S. Capitol with the National Sym- Columbia University and The Juil- phony in “A Capitol Fourth,” reach- liard School; his principal teachers/ ing millions worldwide in the multi- mentors include Herbert Stessin, Je- award winning PBS live telecast. rome Lowenthal, Alfred Brendel and Leon Fleisher. He won the prestigious Andrew has appeared in recital at Gilmore Young Artist Award in 1999 the world’s most prestigious venues: and also took First Prize in the Leni Wigmore Hall and Barbican Hall Fe Bland Foundation National Piano in London, Lincoln Center in New Competition in 2001. Mr. von Oeyen York, the Kennedy Center in Wash lives in New York and Paris. ington, Boston’s Symphony Hall, tiade, Festival del Sole, Grant Park, Zürich’s Tonhalle, and Tchaikovsky Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, Bell- Hall in Moscow, to name but a few. A ingham and Gilmore. He maintains consummate chamber musician, he an incredibly busy schedule of inter- also appeared in recital with violin- national orchestral concert and recit- ist Sarah Chang throughout Europe, al appearances, to include frequent North America and Asia – leading touring engagements. to a recording for EMI. He has also released an award-winning album of For a more detailed bio, engagement Liszt’s works on the Delos label. calendar and other information, see Andrew’s website: In recent seasons, von Oeyen has appeared at the festivals of Aspen, www.vonoeyen.com Ravinia, Saratoga, Spoleto, Schuber- CREDITS Executive producer: Carol Rosenberger Producer/editor: Chris Alder Recording engineer: Wolf-Dieter Karwatky Mixing: Wolf-Dieter Karwatky Mastering: Wolf-Dieter Karwatky/Matthew Snyder Piano tuner: Gerd Finkenstein

Recording: Beethovensaal Hannover, August 2011