Wednesday, May 10, 2017 • 9:00 p.m ​

Kelsey Ann Castellanos

Senior Recital

DePaul Recital Hall 804 West Belden Avenue • Chicago

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 • 9:00 p.m. ​ DePaul Recital Hall

Kelsey Ann Castellanos, Senior Recital Beilin Han,

PROGRAM

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) (1947-49)

Beilin Han, piano

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) Clarinet , Op. 28 (1945) Allegro Allegretto Adagio

Beilin Han, piano

Intermission

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2 (1894) Allegro amabile Allegro appassionato Andante con moto-Allegro

Beilin Han, piano

Kelsey Ann Castellanos is from the studio of Stephen Williamson. This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the degree Bachelor of Music.

As a courtesy to those around you, please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. Flash photography is not permitted. Thank you.

Kelsey Ann Castellanos • May 10, 2017

PROGRAM NOTES (1900-1990) Clarinet Concerto Duration: 18 minutes Aaron Copland was one of the most successful musicians of the twentieth century, mastering numerous styles and sustaining many major roles as a composer, teacher, writer, and conductor. An interest in jazz and a considerable influence from numerous composers of many different genres shaped Copland’s style to arguably become the most exceptional of his time. In 1947, not long after finishing his Third Symphony, Copland was ​ ​ lecturing in Rio de Janeiro when legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman contacted him to commission a clarinet concerto. Blending many influences that included popular music, classical music, jazz, and even some Brazilian tunes, Copland created a concerto that would immediately become a staple in the clarinet repertoire. When Copland finished writing the concerto, he sent it off to Benny Goodman, who responded, “With a little editing, I know we will have a good piece”. Minor changes included taking the final page down a step due to it being too high, as well as editing the high parts of the because Goodman did not believe that it would be able to be played well in the non-jazz setting. The concerto is in ABA’ form and includes two movements with a showpiece cadenza that connects them with no break. This form showcases the clarinetist’s ability to execute an even and legato sound, as well as a precise awareness of style and variable musicality. The first movement is in 3/4 time and reflects the “pas de deux” theme that Copland incorporated to give the opening of the concerto a “languid” feel, saying, “I think it will make everyone weep”. The second movement of the concerto contains a fusion of elements like Charleston rhythms and Brazilian folk tunes through polyrhythmic figures and syncopation. The final section of the piece prepares a grand ending through a large crescendo at an accelerated pace that arrives at an eccentric glissando to end the piece.

Kelsey Ann Castellanos • May 10, 2017 Program Notes

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) , Op. 28 Duration: 20 minutes Mieczysław Weinberg was born in 1919 in Warsaw, Poland. Influenced by his father who was a musical director at a Jewish Theater, Weinberg simultaneously played alongside him while also studying piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. Plans to continue his studies in the United States were disrupted by the German invasion of Poland in 1939, so Weinberg fled to Minsk, Belarus and carried on his studies at the Minsk Conservatory where he studied composition with Vassily Zolotaryov. After Weinberg completed his studies he moved to Moscow with the help of Dmitri Shostakovich. Although Weinberg never studied with Shostakovich, he was influenced by his compositional style, recalling that “it was as if I had been born anew.” Weinberg was a prolific composer who pushed the boundary of modernist works even further than that of his teachers in musical form, genre and style, carefully balancing elements of Jewish, Polish, Russian and Moldavian folklore. With twenty-two symphonies, four concertos, seven operas, seventeen string quartets, and an abundance of film scores, piano works, and other small pieces, one might wonder why Weinberg is not better known in the music world today. In 1948, Soviet politician Andrei Zhdanov announced the official denunciation of prominent Soviet composers, which included Weinberg and negatively impacted his career. Had it not been for the friendship and support of Shostakovich, perhaps he may not have been released from jail after being wrongfully imprisoned in 1953. Most of Weinberg’s musical works reflect the tragedies of war and of his own life as both of his parents were murdered by the Nazis and his father-in-law was murdered by the Stalinist régime. In 1945, Weinberg wrote his Sonata Op.28 for Clarinet and Piano at the age of 26. Weinberg premiered the sonata in 1946 at the piano with clarinetist V Getman in the Small Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. This sonata invites the listener into Weinberg’s intensely personal expressive world through a wide range of dynamics, tonal inflections and klezmer music. Weinberg chose to have this sonata played on the darker A clarinet, perfect for the relaxed lyricism that develops throughout the piece. The first movement slowly builds through fervent lyrical lines, building in intensity and dynamic.

Kelsey Ann Castellanos • May 10, 2017 Program Notes

The second movement of the sonata showcases the style of Jewish klezmer music through harmonic minor and expressive grace note inflections. The final Adagio showcases a cadenza for the clarinet before the music lyrically concludes in D major.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2 Duration: 22 minutes At the end of 1890, Johannes Brahms officially announced his retirement as a composer to his publisher, Fritz Simrock, at the age of 57. Only months after announcing his retirement, he attended an inspiring performance by a German clarinetist of the Meiningen orchestra, Richard Mühlfield. Brahms claimed to be moved by Mühlfield’s “rich clarinet tone, expressive playing, and superb musicianship”. As a result of this performance, Brahms had acquired an entirely new and fresh appreciation for the clarinet that stimulated his interest to come out of retirement to write again. This newly lit passion for the clarinet produced four more works that include a Trio for Clarinet, , and Piano, Op.114 (1891), a Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, Op.115 (1891), and two for Clarinet, Op.120, which he published together in 1894. Brahms premiered both clarinet sonatas with Mühlfield. What makes Brahms’ Clarinet Sonata No.2 in Eb Major one of his most quintessential works is not only the fact that it was his very last piece of , but also how he subtly reinvented the traditional forms and compositional techniques. Brahms unfolded music in a way that was perhaps the best said by great composer Arnold Schoenberg: “That only the strongest ideas could become great pieces by surviving the infinite traceable variations of a creative mind”. The sonata has a three movement structure with no slow movement, and each movement is in modified sonata-allegro form. The opening of the sonata unveils that this is not a solo piece for clarinet, but a collaboration between both the clarinet and the piano, illustrating one main idea interchangeably. In the first movement of the sonata, both the mood and speed can be defined by its marking of Allegro amabile, showcasing the clarinet and the piano to be ​

Kelsey Ann Castellanos • May 10, 2017 Program Notes trading off a light and pleasant melody as if they are communicating with each other. The second movement is in E-flat minor and in ABA form, as well as the form of a scherzo. The “A” section is passionate and direct, whereas the “B” section is more dolce, giving the movement a proper ​ ​ balance. The final movement is a theme and variations that contains more diversity in tempo, character, and rhythm. There are five variations of the theme, and a calmer coda that brings back all of the previous ideas in the movement. The sonata comes to an end in one final exhilarating flourish.

Notes by Kelsey Ann Castellanos.

804 West Belden Avenue Chicago, IL 60614 773.325.7260 music.depaul.edu