Royal Liverpool Philharmonie Society

Patron Her Majesty the Queen

Artur Rubinstein

Recital

Wednesday 14 May 1969 at 7.30 p.m. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society

Patron Her Majesty the Queen

President The Lord Mayor of Liverpool

Honorary Vice-Presidents D. J. Lewis, j.p. Harry Livermore

Management Committee

Chairman Andrew McKie Reid, M.C., T.D., F.?.C.Ç. Deputy Chairman J. T. Edwards, ' J. Lindsay Alexander Aiderman H. M. Allen Councillor F. Burke F. J. Camenisch Aiderman C. Cowlin J. K. Harrison Harry Livermore L. A. B. Pilkington Councillor B. Shaw Arts Council Assessor John Cruft D. A. Solomon, m.b.e. General Manager and Secretary K. J. Stern Stephen Gray Aiderman H. Macdonald Steward Musical Director S. R. C. Walmsley Charles Groves, c.bj Philharmonie Hall, Liverpool

Artur Rubinstein

Schubert Two Impromptus, Op. 90

Brahms Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5

Interval

Chopin Ballade in G minor, Op. 23

Chopin Two Etudes

Chopin Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 12

Tonight’s recital is supported by the Special Activities Fund - see page 14

Programme One Shilling Photograph by Eva Rubinstein, New York Artur Rubinstein

2 Programme Notes © by Mosco Carrier

Two Impromptus, op. 90 (D.899) Schubert (1797-1828)

In a letter to his father which Schubert wrote from Steyr in Upper Austria on 25 July 1825 we find the following sentence: ‘What pleased me especially were the Variations of my new Sonata (op. 42) which I performed . . . not without merit, as several people assured me that the keys become singing voices under my hands’. ‘Singing voices’ - this was the soul not only of Schubert’s piano playing but of his style of writing for the instrument. He was a born singer, and just as his songs are the vehicle for his inspired lyricism, his piano music displays his wonderful gift as an instrumental lyricist. In both these media sensuous, warmly expressive and beautifully shaped melodies are the most distinguished feature. Moreover, in composing for the keyboard Schubert frequently thought in terms of song. Witness for instance the first of the Four Impromptus, op. 90 whose opening theme recalls, in it shape and slow walking gait, ‘Der Wegweiser’ from Die Winterreise while the third Impromptu is in all but name a ‘Song without Words’. Schubert was a pianist all his life and to the piano he entrusted his most intimate personal experiences, especially when he wrote small- scale pieces such as Impromptus, Moments musicaux and Waltzes. As for the Impromptus, there is nothing improvisatory or sketchy about them - on the contrary, they are compact, self-sufficient and com­ pletely rounded pieces. Admittedly, Schubert was not the inventor of the Impromptu. His chief predecessors in that romantic genre were the Czech composers, Jan Vaclav Tomasek (1774-1850) and the latter’s pupil, Jan Hugo Vorisek (1791-1825) whose Impromptus, op. 7 appeared in Vienna in 1822. Schubert’s Impromptus undoubtedly owe something of their form and their ‘national’ characteristics - irregular phrase lengths and accentuations as well as the folk song flavour of the melodies and marked contrast of mood - to these Czech musicians. But, if Schubert was not the creator of the Impromptus he stamped them with his inexhaustible invention and rich poetic imagination. The Four Impromptus, op. 90 were written in 1827, a year before Schubert’s premature death. The first two were published in Vienna in that year but the remaining two did not come out until 1857. It was not the composer but his publisher, Tobias Haslinger, who gave the 3 Royal Manchester College of Music presents the R.M.C.M. Orchestra Conductor David Jordan Soloist Carolyn Sparey BraAms/Tragic Overture Wa/ton/Viola Concerto MaA/er/Symphony No. 1

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool Saturday 24 May at 7.30

Tickets (3/6 to 10/-) from Philharmonic Hall, Rushworth's and Crane's pieces the title ‘Impromptus’. It is, incidentally, noteworthy that all four Impromptus are in flat keys - No. 1 in C minor, No. 2 in E flat major, No. 3 in G flat major, and No. 4 in A flat major.

Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. 5 Brahms (1833-1897)

Allegro maestoso Andante Scherzo: Allegro energico Intermezzo: Andante molto Finale: Allegro moderato ma rubato

Brahms began his composing career with three big piano works - the Sonatas in C major, op. 1, in F sharp minor, op. 2 and F minor, op. 5. They were written when the composer was in his twentieth year and were in the first place intended for his own use. For Brahms was a formidable pianist endowed with a pair of exceptionally large and powerful hands capable of spanning a tenth with ease. This partly accounts for the tremendous difficulties of the sonatas which contain passages impossible of full realization except by a few players of the front rank. Moreover, the young Brahms took far less account of the distinctive characteristics of the keyboard than he did towards the latter part of his life, not aiming at an intrinsically pianistic style but being far more concerned with his thematic material and its logical working-out. Volume, force and strong contrasts mattered to him more than sensuous tone colours and subtle dynamic gradations. The sonatas are therefore to be regarded, not so much as music born out of the specific nature of the keyboard but as the product of a highly inventive, and height-storming young genius. In their sentiments and moods they are very typical of Brahm’s early romantic vein but in their formal mould and thematic elaboration they adhere to the classical model. The material is clear-cut and terse, and the contrast between themes is very marked, putting us in mind of Beethoven who was indeed Brahms’s chief mentor. The F minor Sonata, op. 5 has five movements. The opening Allegro maestoso is broadly conceived and illustrates, perhaps best, the composer’s remarkable skill in working with strongly contrasted ideas, as witness the exposition with its dramatic juxtaposition of themes of the most diverse character. The Andante is headed by a verse by the poet Sternau describing 5 a moonlit scene with two lovers in an ecstatic embrace. This typically romantic image is captured in the music with extraordinary felicity. The movement is in fact a miniature tone-poem whose lyrical expres­ sion is of the utmost delicacy and tenderness. It is the most rhapsodic part of the sonata: it begins in A flat major and ends in D flat major; the time-signature and tempo markings change four times, and just when the music seems to be drawing to a close, Brahms adds an entirely new section {andante molto). The rounding-off is provided by an adagio coda which brings a last allusion to the opening theme. The Scherzo is a powerful, tempestuous piece, tellingly contrasted by the tranquil mood of the Trio. Between the Scherzo and Finale Brahms inserts an Intermezzo, subtitled Rublick - a retrospect to the first Andante whose lyrical theme is now transformed into a funeral march in B flat minor. With its ominous drum rolls and suggestion of menacing orchestral brass chords the Intermezzo seems to indicate that the lovers’ bliss has turned into tragedy. The Finale is a rondo of a broad melodic sweep and great thythmic variety, and displays extraordinary contrapuntal skill. Brahms here is seen to apply Liszt’s ‘theme transformation’, for a subsidiary idea in D flat major gradually takes charge of the movement, and changes from a solemn chorale to a brilliant mercurial strain which is several times treated in canon.

interval of approximately fifteen minutes during which the Box Office will remain open

Ballade in G minor, op. 23 Chopin (1810-1849)

Chopin’s four Ballades belong to his major and most original composi­ tions. It was he who created this instrumental form for which he borrowed the title from the vocal ballad and filled it with a narrative content of a heroic-dramatic character. What is more, in his Ballades he assimilated elements from the sonata, the rondo and the variation and thus arrived at a new and highly malleable genre eminently suited to his particular imaginative purpose. Much has been made of Schumann’s sweeping remark that Chopin’s Ballades were inspired by poems of the Polish national writer, Adam Mickiewicz, and com­ mentators have not been slow in attaching to each piece a detailed and definite programme. Yet, with the possible exception of the 7 Royal Liverpool Philharmonie Society Summer Subscription Series

1 Saturday 7 June at 7.30 5 Saturday 28 June at 7.30 Mozart Symphony No. 35 (Haffner) Bax Tintagel Haydn St. Nicholas Mass Mozart Piano Concerto in E flat (K.482) First performance in Robbins Landon edition Brahms Symphony No. 1 Vaughan Wiliams The Lark Ascending Conductor Rudolf Schwarz Elgar Enigma Variations Piano Paul Badura-Skoda Conductor Charles Groves Hazel Holt, Meriel Dickinson 6 Thursday 10 July at 7.45 Duncan Robertson, Benjamin Luxon Liverpool Anglican Cathedral BBC Northern Singers Wagner Good Friday Music (Parsifal) Violin Hugh Bean Johansson Requiem Haffner Symphony conducted by Gordon Mackie First performance in Britain Vaughan Williams Job 2 Saturday 14 June at 7.30 Conductor Charles Groves Schumann Overture, Genoveva Baritone Kim Borg Butterworth Banks of Green Willow Liverpool Philharmonic Choir Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 Beethoven Symphony No. 4 Conductor Charles Groves Piano Tong II Han

3 Tuesday 17 June at 7.30 t Berlioz Overture, Les Francs Juges Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Britten Four Sea Interludes (Peter Grimes) Booking now open Lutoslawski Symphony No. 2 Conductor Charles Groves Ticket Prices Violin Nathan Milstein Concerts 1, 2 and 5: 12/6 10/- 7/6 5/-. Concerts 3, 4 and 6: 15/- 12/6 10/- 7/6 5/-. 4 Monday 23 June at 7.30 Mendelssohn Overture, Fingal’s Cave Patrons booking for four or more concerts will be allowed a 20% Beethoven Violin Concerto reduction on the total value of the tickets. This concession does not Delius Brigg Fair apply to the 5/- tickets. Sibelius Symphony No. 7 Conductor Hugh Rignold Tickets available from Philharmonic Box Office (051-709 3789) and Violin Henryk Szeryng agents. 8 9 F major Ballade, op. 38 which may have been suggested to Chopin by Mickiewicz’s poem, Switez, based on a legend of a haunted lake, the other three Ballades refuse to be forced into the strait-jacket of a literary programme. All that can be said on that score is that they sprang from the composer’s vision and memories of his country’s heroic past but what assures them immortality is the fact that they combine musical imagination and poetic beauty with an immense constructive skill and a masterly exploitation of keyboard resources. The G minor Ballade, op. 23, composed in 1835, sets the legendary atmosphere in the opening eight bars of the slow introduction. It is as if a bard were beginning with ‘Once upon a time’ collecting his thoughts before starting with his ancient tale. There follows a narrative theme in G minor which is complemented rather than contrasted by another idea in E flat major which is of the utmost tenderness. These two themes undergo manifold transformations in the further course of the music which in expression ranges from a subdued, inward sentiment to passionate dramatic outbursts. The piece ends with a coda, Presto con fuoco, which like a whirlwind carries everything before it and ends with a highly turbulent passage in double octaves.

Two Studies Chopin (1810-1849)

Like the Ballades, the Studies represent a type of composition of which Chopin may be said to have been the ‘first begetter’. What sets them apart from the studies of Czerny, Moscheles, Thalberg and other composers of Chopin’s time, is the perfect fusion of imaginative beauty and poetic feeling with a sovereign command of technical resources. Chopin was prompted to his Studies by the need he felt to provide for himself and other pianists a series of pieces which would enable them to cope with the technical problems posed by his other piano music. There are two sets of twelve Studies each - op. 10 (published 1833) and op. 25 (published 1837). Most of them confine themselves to a single idea whose musical and technical possibilities are realized with an incomparable skill. A noteworthy tonal feature of the Studies is their sequence of keys - many are conceived in pairs of which the second study is in the relative minor of the first study in the major. In his 24 Preludes, op. 28 Chopin adopted this design with the strictest consistency. 10 Nocturne in D flat, op. 27, no. 2 Chopin (1810-1849) It was with his Waltzes and Nocturnes that Chopin had his first great success in the Paris salons. Their elegance and sophisticated refinement were a reflection of a milieu in which polished manners and the absence of all vulgarity were as conspicuous as a pervasive air of artificiality. Admittedly, the Nocturnes display only one aspect of Chopin’s many­ faceted personality, yet the best of them can well stand comparison with his more significant and more ambitious compositions. Chopin took as his point of departure the type of nocturne written by John Field (1782-1837) who was the creator of this intimate lyrical genre. But, while Field’s nocturnes are today all but forgotten, Chopin’s are gloriously alive, thanks to their melodic felicities, harmonic ingenuity and the originality of the piano writing. The Nocturne in D flat, op. 27, no. 2 is a perfect example of Chopin’s art as a writer of nocturnes. It is a most tender song, with an Italian melody (a la Bellini) of the utmost suppleness accompanied by gently undulating arpeggios in the bass. Its form is that of a rondo in which the opening theme occurs three times, and each time it is followed by a different episode of a highly ornate character in which the melody dissolves into a wealth of arresting filigrees. The effect of this is greatly heightened by Chopin’s wonderful harmonic sense, as witness the frequent elliptical steps.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 Liszt (1811-1886)

It was in 1840 that Liszt began to take an active interest in Hungarian music, notably in that of the Hungarian gypsies with which he had been familiar in his boyhood. This attraction was to last till the end of his life and its chief fruit was his famous Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano. Liszt also wrote a book on the Hungarian gypsies in which he tended, however, to overestimate the part they played in the propagation of Magyar folkmusic, and it was not until the researches of Bartók and Kodaly in the first decade of our century that the nature of authentic native folktunes was established. What Liszt admired particularly in the gypsies’ performances was the improvisatory element which he imitated in his Rhapsodies. Moreover, in transcrib­ ing their music for the keyboard, he took care to reproduce the special sound effects of the solo violin and the cimbalom, which were the most characteristic instruments in a gypsy band. 11 The Rhapsody No. 12 in C sharp minor is one of the most effective. The Hungarian themes are treated with the panache typical of the Tzigane style - quick note-repetitions, trills, rapid runs and percussive chords; Liszt also makes use of the so-called ‘gypsy scale’, i.e. the minor mode with the raised fourth. Like the rest of the Rhapsodies, No. 12 has a slow and a fast section recalling the lassu and friss of the csardas.

12 Artur Rubinstein was born in Warsaw eighty-two years ago, the youngest of seven children. At the age of three he showed an aptitude for music and at the age of eight was ready to impress the distinguished violinist, Joseph Joachim, with his progress at the piano. He was put under the care of Heinrich Barth and at the age of eleven made his for­ mal debut in a Mozart concerto with Joachim conducting the orchestra. He subsequently played all over Germany and Poland and in 1906 played in America with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia and a few days later with the same orchestra in New York. The response was far from ecstatic and he returned to Europe and for the next few years dropped out of sight. He reappeared in 1910 and success greeted him all over Europe. By 1914 he had toured all over the continent and when the war broke out he was in London, where his knowledge of languages enabled him to find work as an interpreter for the Allies. In 1919 he confronted New York again. He was well received but it was not until his return in 1937 - he had not played in America for ten years by this time - that he made an all conquering return. At once he was hailed as one of the great living musicians. Artur Rubinstein’s last visit to Liverpool was in May 1963 when he gave a recital in the Week-End Series. The Society is very pleased to welcome him again to Liverpool.

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