Sunday, April 9, 2017 • 7:00 p.m ​

Valentina Guillen Menesello Junior Recital

DePaul Recital Hall 804 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Sunday, April 9, 2017 • 7:00 p.m. ​ DePaul Recital Hall

Valentina Guillen Menesello, Junior Recital Lyudmila Lakisova, piano

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin (1720) III. Largo IV. Allegro Assai

Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Violin in E minor, Op. 64 (1844) Allegro molto appassionato Andante Allegretto non troppo - Allegro molto vivace

Lyudmila Lakisova, piano

Valentina Guillen Menesello is from the studio of Olga Kaler. 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. Valentina Guillen Menesello • April 9, 2017

PROGRAM NOTES (1685-1750) Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 Duration: 9 minutes J.S Bach completed the set of partitas and sonatas for violin solo in 1720, a period during which he also produced other secular music like the six suites for unaccompanied cello and the Brandenburg . At this time he was serving in the court of Prince Leopold, in Cöthen. The Sonata follows the form of church sonata (sonata da chiesa), slow-fast-slow-fast. The Largo is the third movement of Sonata n.3, a very pastoral, powerful and reflective movement. The solo voice is supported by a “plucked” bass line, and in some instances creates a conversational relationship.The Allegro Assai has a two and three voice texture at a dazzling speed, and is very cheerful and full of life. As Midori Goto, a Japanese-American violinist, says, “it is of interest that most of Bach’s music was virtually forgotten for about a century after his death, until the great revival initiated by Felix Mendelssohn in the 1800s. He, together with Ferdinand David, the concertmaster of Mendelssohn’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, supported performances of Bach’s music, which brought great and increasing interest in them. Certainly, today one cannot think of music without the presence of Bach, and each hearing is a new experience.”

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Violin concerto in E minor, op. 64 (1844) Duration: 28 minutes Mendelssohn dedicated his violin concerto to Ferdinand David, a close friend and concertmaster of his Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Mendelssohn demonstrates his uniqueness right from the beginning of the first movement by dispensing with the usual orchestral introduction and bringing in the soloist almost immediately with its beautiful melody. Throughout the movement there is an impeccable exchange between the soloist and orchestra as foreground and background at the same time. He then presents the cadenza before the recapitulation, a non-traditional and innovative placement of a cadenza. The first movement transitions to the Valentina Guillen Menesello • April 9, 2017 Program Notes second movement with a single held bassoon note, providing us with interconnected movements that achieve a single movement work with three distinct movements. The Andante rises mysteriously from the close of the first movement, unfolding to be a lovely melody greatly harmonized and scored. Mendelssohn provides a bridge between the second and third movement with a short intermezzo, leading to the start of the finale that is filled with playful and dazzling music. It feels like the uncertainty and question that the first movement presents is transformed when we get to the third movement to a communal joy and answer.

Notes by Valentina Guillen Menesello.