Acknowledgments Producer, Editor and Recording Engineer: Matthew Snyder Dates of Recording: September 24, 2012 and November 20, 2012 Location: Matthew Snyder Recordings (Burbank, California) Cover Photo: Yvette Young Photo of Xiao-Dan Zheng by Jeff Bandy Photo of Clara Yang by Kate Lemmon Funding for this recording was provided by a Junior Faculty Development Award (UNC-CH); IAH Support for Scholarship, Research, or Creative Activity in the Humanities and Fine Arts (UNC-CH); and the UNC-CH Faculty Start-up Fund.

Xiao-Dan Zheng cello Clara Yang piano Grieg & Prokofiev

www.albanyrecords.com TROY1485 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2014 Albany Records made in the usa DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. Grieg was also an accomplished pianist of his time, and as a result, he had produced a considerable amount of works for the piano. His ten volumes of Lyric Pieces contain some of his best-known pieces. The last piece on this album Notturno is from his Lyric Pieces Op. 54, published in 1891. Four out of six pieces from Op. 54, including Notturno, were later orchestrated by New York Philharmonic Conductor Anton Seidl and revised by Grieg. The Music An overarching dramatic trajectory is delineated on this album: The impassioned Grieg Cello Sonata Also a composer-pianist, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) is regarded as one of the greatest compos- is followed by the lighthearted Prelude for Solo Piano by Prokofiev. This prelude is used here as an ers of the 20th century. Often seen as a rebel at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, he already started introduction to the Prokofiev Cello Sonata. Grieg’s Notturno for solo piano serves as an afterthought experimenting with chromaticism and dissonance in his early works. His Prelude in C Major, Op. 12 and closes the entire program. No. 7 is from Ten Pieces for Piano, composed from 1906-1913. The nickname “The Harp” for this prelude comes from the fact that a version for the harp also exists. Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was a major promoter of Norwegian music in the 19th century. A leading Romantic-era composer, he often drew inspiration from Norwegian folk tunes. His gift of melodic During World War II, Prokofiev’s music had gained considerable attention in the west, but it deviated lyricism and his innovative harmonic language have made many of his works popular and memorable. from the ideal of “socialist realism,” according to the Soviet government. Andrey Zhdanov, a leading Freedom from his duty as the conductor of the Bergen Harmonic Society in 1882 allowed him to ideologue of the Stalinist period, established and passed four major resolutions from 1946-1948, focus on works such as a second piano concerto, which was never finished, and his cello sonata. censoring artistic, theatrical, and musical works that did not conform to the party line. Zhdanov The Cello Sonata in A Minor, Op. 36 was dedicated to Grieg’s brother, John, who was an amateur denounced the works of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and several other composers for “formalistic distor- cellist. Ludwig Grützmacher, a renowned cellist of the time, premiered the sonata with Grieg himself tions and anti-democratic tendencies” and for the “dissemination of atonality.” It was during this playing in Dresden. difficult time Prokofiev composed his cello sonata in 1949. This sonata was required to be privately screened by the Composers’ Union for approval. The favorable response allowed its premiere in The agitated opening theme leads to a tender second theme that is reminiscent of a folksong. The Moscow by Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter in 1950. first movement explores a wide range of emotions. The lyrical Andante draws the thematic material from his Homage March composed as incidental music to a play about King Sigurd Jorsalfar of Most of the major themes in this sonata are folk-like. The first movement opens with a calm and Norway. The last movement begins with a brief cadenza for solo cello and leads into a rustic folk expressive solo cello theme, which is responded by a beautiful and nostalgic melody played on the dance. In this sonata one can certainly hear the shadow of Grieg’s A-minor Piano Concerto, which piano. Following a rather traditional sonata form, this movement culminates in an exciting coda, which was composed in 1868. is gradually dissolved into a tranquil ending. Sarcasm and playfulness characterize the second movement. The emotional journey in the last movement takes us to an extended coda that ends triumphantly. —Clara Yang Ms. Zheng’s awards include the National Endowment for the Arts Award, the ASCAP Ira Gershwin Award, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Young Artist Award, first prize at Great Neck Young Artist Competition (in both Solo and Chamber Music categories), and second prize at the Corpus Christi International Young Artists’ Competition. She is also a winner of the Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition and Juilliard Honor Strings Competition. Her piano trio with violinist Yumi Cho The Performers and pianist Weiyin Chen appeared on NPR’s From the Top radio show hosted by Christopher O’Riley Born in China, raised in Russia, Xiao-Dan Zheng [pronounced: Shiao-Den Jung] is and New York’s WQXR radio show hosted by Robert Sherman. Ms. Zheng’s performance with the one of seven professional cellists in her extended family. Influenced by her father’s Salastina Music Society was aired on NPR’s Performance Today. career as a cellist in opera houses, she is now a tenured cellist of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, working with Plácido Domingo and James Conlon. Ms. Zheng is Ms. Zheng received her early training from the Novosibirsk State Conservatory’s Glinka Academy for also a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, New West Musically Gifted Children, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Pre-Conservatory, Juilliard Pre-College Division, Symphony, and Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra. She held the position of ten- and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Arts and Performing Arts. Her teachers during ured principal cellist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2012. pre-college years include Yevgeni Nilov, Alexei Seleznev, and André Emelianoff. She earned her Bachelors of Music degree in cello performance from the Thornton School of Music at the University Ms. Zheng has collaborated in concerts with a variety of artists, including Itzhak of Southern California, where she studied with Ronald Leonard. Ms. Zheng was a Richard and Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, James Levine, Leon Fleisher, Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Mica Hadar Foundation Scholar, a Getty Scholarship recipient, a Maestro Foundation Young Artist, Ma, Lang Lang, Bryn Terfel, Andrea Bocelli, John Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Reba and a Richard Colburn Foundation instrument loan recipient. McEntire, Willie Nelson, Blue Man Group, and Earth, Wind & Fire. She has performed in prestigious concert venues throughout the world, such as Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Avery Fisher In addition to her orchestral career, Ms. Zheng is a freelance recording musician for film and televi- Hall, Sydney Opera House (Australia), Suntory Hall (Tokyo, Japan), National Grand Theater (Beijing, sion scores in the Los Angeles area. She has worked with award-winning film composers including China), Wiener Musikverein (Vienna, Austria), Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv, Israel), National Arts Centre John Williams on The Book Thief, Hans Zimmer on The Lone Ranger, Randy Newman on Monsters (Ottawa, Canada), Tonhalle Zurich (Switzerland), Rachmaninoff Hall (Moscow, Russia), and the University, and Alexandre Desplat on Argo, winner of the 2013 Academy Award for Best Motion Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow, Russia). Picture of the Year. Ms. Yang has given successful solo recitals in major conservatories, including the Musical College of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia, the Beijing Central Conservatory, the Shanghai Conservatory, and the Central Conservatory Piano Academy in Xiamen, China. She has also been invited to give a solo recital and masterclass at the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona and King’s College in London. She has performed in renowned music festivals such as the Music Academy of Praised by the Classical Voice of North Carolina for her “breath-taking the West, the Sarasota Music Festival, the International Holland Music Sessions, and the Aspen technical prowess and keen interpretive insights,” Chinese-American Pianist Music Festival. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with artists such as members of Clara Yang has performed in notable venues such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and the Remonstrantse Kerk (The Netherlands), the Seymour Centre (Sydney, Australia), Hong Kong Philharmonic. the Barclay Theater (Irvine, California), Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater (Rochester, New York), the Sunset Center (Carmel, California), Memorial Hall (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), Meymandi Concert Hall (Raleigh, North Carolina), A sought-after teacher, Ms. Yang has frequently given masterclasses in the United States and abroad. and the Chicago Cultural Center. She has been Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill since 2011. She received her D.M.A. in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music, where she was Her live solo recitals were broadcast on ABC Classic FM in Australia and New a student of Nelita True. She studied with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music (M.M., Artist Zealand, and on 98.7 WFMT in Chicago, Illinois as part of the Dame Myra Hess Diploma) and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California as a student of Series. Her performance of Chopin’s Sonata No.3 was featured on Wayne Picciano’s John Perry. Her former principal teachers during her pre-college years include Hans Boepple (Santa Grand Piano series, which was broadcast on television in multiple states across the country. She Clara University), Guangren Zhou and Huili Li (Beijing Central Conservatory of Music). She has also recorded Lee Weisert’s “Érard,” which was written for her, for Weisert’s album Wild Arc on the New worked with numerous renowned performers and pedagogues, such as Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Focus label. Concert highlights as a soloist include performances with the European Union Youth Karl Heinz Kammerling, Robert Levin, Lee Kum-Sing, Jerome Lowenthal, David Shifrin, the Emerson Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Longview Symphony under Tonu Kalam, the Eastman String Quartet, the Ysaye String Quartet, and the Raphael Trio. Philharmonia under Jeff Tyzik, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra under Carl St. Clair, and numerous appearances with the North Carolina Symphony under Grant Llewellyn and William Curry. Xiao-Dan Zheng & troy1485 Edvard Grieg Xiao-Dan Zheng Clara Yang Grieg & Prokofiev

cello Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 36 Clara Yang 1 I. Allegro agitato [10:01] 2 II. Andante molto tranquillo [6:32] piano 3 III. Allegro - Allegro molto e marcato [12:48]

Sergei Prokofiev 4 Prelude, Op. 12, No. 7 for Piano [2:14]

Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 119

5 I. Andante grave [11:34] 6 II. Moderato [4:56]

7 III. Allegro ma non troppo [8:18]

Edvard Grieg 8 Notturno, Op. 54, No. 4 for Piano [4:11]

Total Time = 60:33

Clara Yang Grieg & Prokofiev www.albanyrecords.com TROY1485 albany records u.s.

915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 troy1485 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2014 Albany Records made in the usa DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. Xiao-Dan Zheng &