Friday, April 21, 2017, 8pm Hertz Hall Saleem Ashkar, piano

PROGRAM

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770 –1827) Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2 Allegro Allegretto Presto

Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 5 7, Appassionata Allegro assai Andante con moto — Allegro ma non troppo

INTERMISSION

Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a, Les​Adieux Les Adieux: Adagio—Allegro L’Absence: Andante espressivo— Le Retour: Vivacissimamente

Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 Moderato cantabile molto espressivo Allegro molto Adagio, ma non troppo – Arioso dolente – Fuga: Allegro, ma non troppo – L’istesso tempo di Arioso – L’istesso tempo della Fuga poi a poi di nuovo vivente – Meno allegro—Tempo primo

​Support​for​the​presentation​of​Israeli​artists​is​provided​by​the​Sir​Jack​Lyons​Charitable​Trust. Funded,​in​part,​by​the​Koret​Foundation,​this​performance​is​part​of​Cal​Performances’​ 2016–17​Koret​Recital​Series,​which​brings​world-class​artists​to​our​community.​

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PROGRAM NOTES

Ludwig van Beethoven The three sonatas of Op. 10 were begun dur - ing the summer of 1796 and completed by July Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2 1798, when the Viennese publisher Joseph Eder In November 1792, the 22-year-old Ludwig van issued them as a set. The Sonata in F Major, Op. Beethoven, bursting with talent and promise, 10, No. 2 is one of Beethoven’s most compact arrived in Vienna. So undeniable was the ge - such works, and one of his sunniest. The scam - nius he had already demonstrated in a sizable pering melodic fragments tossed off at the out - amount of piano music, numerous chamber set not only provide thematic material for the works, cantatas on the death of Emperor Joseph ensuing movement but also establish its playful II and the accession of Leopold II, and the score mood. These little motives pop up throughout for a ballet, that Maximilian Franz, the Elector the movement, intruding upon the longer of Bonn, his hometown, underwrote the trip to melodic lines that bear a family resemblance to the Habsburg Imperial city, then the musical them—rather like a six-year-old barging into capital of Europe, to help further the young his parents’ conversation. Junior throws things musician’s career (and the Elector’s prestige). completely askew when he speaks up near the Despite the Elector’s patronage, however, end of the development to announce that it is Beet hoven’s professional ambitions quickly time to start the recapitulation—but in the consumed any thoughts of returning to the pro- wrong key. Some lyrical admonitions and a few vincial city of his birth, and, when his alcoholic pointed corrections set things back on the ex - father died in December, he severed for good pected course, and the movement proceeds to his ties with Bonn in favor of the stimulating its happy, bustling close. Though the second artistic atmosphere of Vienna. movement is titled Allegretto, it is really a Among the nobles who served as Beethoven’s scherzo, more reserved than Beethoven’s later patrons after his arrival in Vienna was one examples of the form but nevertheless sharing Count Johann Georg von Browne-Camus, a their rhythmic energy and romantic nature. If descendent of an old Irish family who was at the reports are true that Beethoven loved rough that time fulfilling some ill-defined function in practical jokes, then that aspect of his person - the Habsburg Imperial city on behalf of the ality finds its musical analogue in the finale. A Empress Catherine II of Russia. Little is known little ditty of opera​buffa​ jocularity is proposed of Browne. His tutor, Johannes Büel, later an ac - as the subject for learned fugal treatment, but quaintance of Beethoven, described him as “full proves that it can support nothing more than of excellent talents and beautiful qualities of some flying scales and clangorously repeated heart and spirit on the one hand, and on the chords. The ditty, having shown itself impervi - other full of weakness and depravity.” He is said ous to fugue in the exposition, gets toured to have squandered his fortune and ended his through a variety of keys in the development days in a public institution. In the mid-1790s, section before the pretense of erudition is aban - Beethoven received enough generous support doned in the recapitulation in favor of a simple, from Browne, however, that he dedicated sev - boisterous romp to the end. eral of his works to him and his wife, Anne Margarete, including the Variations on “Bei Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” from Mozart’s Appassionata Die Zauberflöte for Cello and Piano (WoO 46), Beethoven spent the summer of 1804 in Döb - three Op. 10 piano sonatas, B-flat Piano Sonata ling, an elegant suburb of Vienna nestled in the (Op. 22), and three string trios of Op. 9. In ap - foothills of the Wienerwald north of the central preciation of these dedications, Browne pre - city. He wrote to his brother Johann, an apothe - sented Beethoven with a horse, which the cary in Vienna, “Not on my life would I have preoccupied composer promptly forgot, there - believed that I could be so lazy as I am here. If by allowing his servant to rent out the beast and this is followed by an outburst of industry, pocket the profits. something worthwhile may be accomplished.”

Opposite: Saleem Ashkar. Photo by Peter Rigaud. 1 PROGRAM NOTES

The country air and fizzy Heurigen wine of got engaged that May, and, indeed, the lady did Döbling must have been true inspiration to present him with a fine oil portrait of herself Beethoven, because during the following three which she inscribed, “To the rare genius, the years he produced a stunning series of master - great artist, the good man, from T.B.” She would pieces simply unmatched anywhere in the en - almost certainly have accepted a proposal of tire history of music: the Waldstein Sonata (Op. marriage from him at that time (the thought of 53), F-Major Piano Sonata (Op. 54), Eroica Beethoven as a husband threatens the moorings Symphony (Op. 55), Triple Concerto (Op. 56), of one’s presence of mind!), but he seems also Appassionata Sonata (Op. 57), Fourth Piano to have harbored strong feelings for her sister Concerto (Op. 58), three Razumovsky Quartets Josephine, recently widowed at age 26, and a (Op. 59), Fourth Symphony (Op. 60), Violin woman who exerted a strong sensual appeal for Concerto (Op. 61), and Coriolan​Overture (Op. the composer very different from the spiritual 62). The three piano sonatas were all apparently attraction of Therese. Beethoven, as always, was largely formed in Döbling, because Beethoven stymied in this affair of the heart and remained offered them on August 26th to Breitkopf und a bachelor, throwing himself into his work. Härtel for publication as a set, but was refused. “There could be room enough in his life for The Waldstein and Op. 54 sonatas were there - only one of the two things he most cared for: after finished quickly, but knowledge of the full music and love. And, being the most purpose - gestation of the Appassionata is sketchy. That ful of composers and the most vacillating of much of the material for the work was fixed be - lovers, can we wonder that his decision went in fore he returned to Vienna that fall is confirmed favor of his art?” observed Eric Blom. by an anecdote attributed to his student Ferdi - That the Appassionata was completed by nand Ries, who presented himself in Döbling September 1806 can be deduced from a fasci - for his regular lesson one summer day in 1804: nating and characteristic shred of Beethoven - “[We went on a walk] so far astray that we did iana that attaches to his visit that month to the not get back to Döbling until nearly eight castle of Prince Karl Lichnowsky at Grätz in o’clock. He had been humming and sometimes Silesia. Lichnowsky, in the spirit of international howling, always up and down, without singing cooperation and self-preservation, was enter - any definite tones. [Beethoven’s hearing had taining a group of French officers (whose com - become a serious problem by that time.] In an - rades had spent several months occupying swer to my question what he was singing, he Vienna the previous year and would do so again said: ‘A theme for the last movement of the in 1809—their presence in 1805 spoiled the pre - sonata has occurred to me.’ When we entered miere of Fidelio ), and asked Beethoven if he the room, he ran to the pianoforte without tak - would honor them with some of his piano se - ing off his hat. I took a seat in the corner, and he lections, jokingly threatening to place him soon forgot all about me. Now he stormed for at under house arrest if he refused. Beethoven, least an hour with the beautiful finale of the whose sense of humor was more gruff than so - sonata. Finally he got up, was surprised to see phisticated, took offense at the suggestion, an - me, and said: ‘I can’t give you a lesson today. I grily gathered up his things, and stormed out of must do some more work.” the house and back to Vienna in a torrential The next definite reference to the Appas​- rain storm. His luggage, which contained the sionata does not occur until the summer of finished manuscript of the Appassionata, be - 1806, when Beethoven was visiting the ances - came soaked. When he got home, Beethoven tral Hungarian estate of his patron and friend fired off a letter to Lichnowsky proclaiming, Count Franz von Brunsvick at Martonvásár, “Prince, what you are, you are by accident of where the Count’s sisters, Therese, Josephine birth; what I am, I am through myself. There and Caroline, were also in residence. Thayer, in have been and will be thousands of princes; his pioneering biography of the composer, there is only one Beethoven.” The rain-stained spread the rumor that Beethoven and Therese copy of the sonata in Beethoven’s hand can still

1 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES be seen at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. ears with pillows to protect them from the con - The Appassionata was published by the fash - cussion of the blasts. On July 29th, he wrote to ionably titled Bureau des Arts et d’Industrie in the publisher Breitkopf und Härtel, “We have Vienna in February 1807 and dedicated to passed through a great deal of misery. I tell you Count Brunsvick. Its sobriquet was applied not that since May 4th, I have brought into the by the composer but by the Hamburg publisher world little that is connected; only here and Cranz when he issued a two-piano version of there a fragment. The whole course of events the work in 1838. has affected me body and soul. … What a dis - The Sonata in F minor is in three move - turbing, wild life around me; nothing but ments: two massive sonata-form essays anchor drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts.” it at beginning and end, and surround a short, Austria’s finances were in shambles, and rapt set of variations in which Beethoven tried Beethoven was placed in a precarious pecu - to make time itself stand still. When Glenn niary predicament when the annual stipend he Gould’s recording of the Appassionata was is - had been promised by several noblemen who sued in 1974, he provided for it a surprisingly supported his work was considerably reduced curmudgeonly set of liner notes that, neverthe - in value. As a sturdy tree can root in flinty soil, less, penetrate straight to the essence of however, several significant musical works grew Beethoven’s creative procedure in the outer from those unpromising circumstances—by movements of this composition: “The Appas-​ the end of that year, 1809, Beethoven had com - sionata, in common with most of the works pleted the Emperor Concerto, String Quartet in Beethoven wrote in the first decade of the 19th E-flat Major (Op. 74), Op. 79 Sonatina and Op. century, is a study in thematic tenacity. His con - 77 Fantasy for Piano, and piano sonatas, Op. 78 ceit at this period was to create mammoth and Op. 81a ( Les​Adieux ). Indeed, the Op. 81a structures from material that, in lesser hands, Sonata was not only composed during the would scarcely have afforded a good sixteen-bar French invasion of Vienna in 1809—it was introduction. The themes, as such, are usually prompted by it. of minimal interest but are often of such primal On May 4, 1809, as the French forces swept urgency that one wonders why it took a Beet - inexorably toward Vienna, the imperial family, hoven to think them up.” Sir Donald Tovey including the 20-year-old Archduke Rudolph, noted exactly the same abundance of inspira - Beethoven’s student and patron, was evacuated tion derived from a paucity of material in the to safety in the distant countryside. That very nearly contemporary Symphony No. 5, about day, Beethoven began a piano sonata “written which he counseled the listener that the power from the heart on the occasion of the departure of the music is not contained in its themes, but of His Imperial Highness, Archduke Rudolph,” rather in the “long sentences” that Beethoven as he recorded on the title page. (When Breit - built from them. It is this sense of inexorable kopf und Härtel published the score in July growth and change, of driving toward the next 1811, they changed Beethoven’s preferred Ger - goal, of constantly seeking, that places the man titles to more easily marketable French. Appassionata Sonata upon the highest plateau The sonata is still most widely known with its of Beethoven’s achievement. French sobriquets, though Beethoven did not like them.) The slow movement was written be - Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a, fore the French withdrew from Vienna on Les Adieux November 20th; the finale was begun when The year 1809 was a difficult one for Vienna, Rudolf and his royal clan returned to the city, and for Beethoven. In May, Napoleon invaded on January 30, 1810. the city with enough firepower to send the res - The comings and goings of 18th-century car - idents scurrying and Beethoven into the base - riages were customarily signaled by blasts on ment of his brother’s house—the bombardment the postilion’s horn, and the sound of the post was close enough that he covered his sensitive horn was taken over into cultivated music as a

1 PROGRAM NOTES

symbol for parting. Les​Adieux opens with just was the most productive he had known in a such a musical gesture, here enriched with the decade: the Missa​Solemnis was completed, as open-interval harmony of the old valveless in - were the Consecration​of​the​House​Overture , struments (“horn fifths”) and inscribed with the most of the Diabelli​Variations , and a few phrase “Lebewohl”—“Fare Thee Well.” An up - smaller works, and substantial progress was ward leaping motive immediately balances the made on the Ninth Symphony and the Op. 127 descending horn fifths, and is transformed into String Quartet. It was in the three piano the movement’s main theme when the arrival sonatas that launched this burst of creativity of the fast tempo marks the beginning of its that Beethoven first realized the essential tech - sonata form. The descending scale notes of nique—the complete fusion of sonata, varia - “Lebewohl” are recalled in the second theme, tion, and fugue—that fueled the soaring and are combined with the leaping motive in masterpieces of his last period. the compact development section. A full reca - The Op. 110 Sonata, one of the very few of pitulation and a reflective coda round out the Beethoven’s major works to have been published movement. Beethoven summarized the emo - without a dedication (though Anton Schindler, tional essence of the Andante with its title with the composer’s companion and eventual biog - its performance instruction: “with much ex - rapher, claimed that the intended inscription to pression.” A sudden shift of mood and tempo Antonie Brentano, whom Maynard Solomon in (“as fast as possible”) indicates the start of the his study of Beethoven convincingly identified exuberant sonata-form finale, which is based as the “Immortal Beloved,” was omitted on a main theme of joyous naïveté and a sec - through publisher’s oversight), is one of the ond theme whose fast, rocking rhythms may be towering peaks of the piano literature. Or, per - intended to evoke the swaying of the coach haps more appropriately, one of its sublimely heading home. peaceful Alpine valleys, since its essence is hal - cyon rather than heaven-storming. In his fine Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 book on Beethoven’s last decade, Martin Cooper Beethoven’s painful five-year court battle to se - noted that in this music the composer moved cure custody of his nephew Karl from his away “from the dramatic principle of contrast brother Caspar’s dissolute widow finally came with its implicit idea of struggle. In its place we to an end early in 1820. He “won,” but lost the find a unified vision where music borrows boy’s affection (Karl, half crazed from his uncle’s nothing from the theater … and aspires to its overbearing attention, tried, unsuccessfully, to own unique condition. … The listener is taken kill himself); the case also exploded his preten - as a friend whose interest and understanding sion that he was of noble blood. Beethoven was can be taken for granted, rather than an audi - further troubled by deteriorating health and a ence to be captured, dazzled, touched or ex - certain financial distress (he needed a loan from cited. In this work, the rhetorical element is his brother Johann to tide him over that diffi - virtually non-existent.” In place of the dramatic cult period), so it is not surprising that he com - gesture, which he had used so successfully in his posed little during the time. With the resolution middle-period works, Beethoven here posited a of his custody suit, however, he returned to cre - language of pure music, one impenetrable by ative work, and began anew the titanic struggle mere words and upon which even the most to embody his transcendent thoughts in musi - learned technical analysis seems little more cal tones. In no apparent hurry to dispel the ru - than an inquisitive flee upon an elephant. mors in gossipy Vienna that he was “written Cooper: “However we regard it, we can hardly out,” he produced just one work in 1820, the avoid the impression that Beethoven’s [goal] is Piano Sonata in E Major, Op. 109. The A-flat the contemplation of a harmonious world Sonata (Op. 110) was dated on Christmas Day, whose laws are absolute and objective, neither 1821, and his last piano sonata, Op. 111, ap - subject to human passion nor concerned with peared just three weeks later. The year 1822 anything beyond themselves.” The forms and

 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTIST balances of the movements of Beethoven’s late special Schumann birthday concert in June 2010. works were no longer subject to the traditional The pianist toured extensively with Riccardo Classical models, but grew inexorably from the Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, perform - unique qualities and potentials of each individ - ing Mendels sohn’s First Piano Concerto on a tour ual composition. cele brating the bicentennial anniversary of the com - The opening movement of Op. 110 is tech - poser’s birth. Chailly re-invited Ashkar for con - nically in sonata form, but one so seamlessly certs and to record the Mendels sohn concertos made and so consistently sun-bright in mood for Decca. that unity rather than contrast is its dominant A dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, characteristic. Next comes an energetic move - Ashkar’s current focus is a complete Beethoven ment in the spirit (though not the meter) of a sonata cycle presented by the Konzerthaus Berlin, scherzo whose thematic material was appar - which spans the current season. He will perform ently inspired by two Austrian folksongs for the cycle in parallel in Prague, Osna brück, and his which Beethoven had provided simple piano home country of Israel. Ashkar has appeared in accompaniments in 1820. Closing the work is venues including the Con certgebouw (Amster- a musical essay whose lyricism and ultimate dam), Wigmore Hall (London), Mozarteum gentleness belie its stupendous formal concept. Salz burg, and Musik verein Vienna; at festivals A mournful scena , an arioso​dolente , is given as including Salzburg with the Vienna Philhar - the opening chapter, and leads without pause to monic, the Proms with the Gewand haus Orch - the life-confirming retort of a tightly argued estra, and Tivoli with the Israel Philharmonic and fugue. This fugue is not, however, one of those Zubin Mehta; and in Lucerne, Ravinia, Risor, mighty, gnarled constructions that Beethoven Menton, and the Ruhr Klavier Festival, collabo - employed elsewhere in his last years, but a pel - rating with artists including Daniel Barenboim, lucid, songful, joyous example of the form. The Nikolaj Znaider, and Wal traud Meier. arioso , with its thrumming, chordal accompa - Highlights of the current and future seasons niment, intrudes itself upon the undulant flow include performances with the Bamberg Sym - of the fugue, and is again answered by Beet - phoniker (Eschenbach), Orchestre Philharmonique hoven’s celebratory counterpoint, marked, on du Luxembourg (Znaider), Spanish National this last appearance, to be infused by the pianist Orch estra (Ono), Orchestra della Toscana, and a “more and more with new life.” three-week tour to Australia including a third —©2017​Dr.​Richard​E.​Rodda con secutive re-invitation from the Melbourne Sym phony Orch estra. Ashkar will also travel to Saleem Ashkar (piano ) made his New York North America for a re-invitation to the Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 22 and has National Arts Centre Ottawa with Alexander since worked with many of the world’s leading Shelley, and a residency at Brown University. orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Ashkar’s second Decca CD. released in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London Symphony spring of 2014, features both Mendelssohn piano Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, NDR Hamburg, concertos with Riccardo Chailly and the Ge - Maggio Musicale Firenze, Santa Cecilia Rome, wand haus Orchestra. His first Decca release Mariinsky Orchestra St. Petersburg, and Danish included Beethoven’s First and Fourth Piano Radio Orchestra . He appears regularly with con - Con certos with Ivor Bolton and the NDR ductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Hamburg Orchestra. Saleem Ashkar is Ambas - Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Fabio Luisi, Law - sador to Music Fund (www.musicfund.eu), which rence Foster, Philippe Jordan, Nikolaj Znaider, Pietari supports musicia ns and music schools in conflict Inkinen, and Jakub Hrusa. areas and developing countries. Following a highly successful debut with Chris - toph Eschenbach and NDR Hamburg, Eschen bach http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/instrumental - invited Ashkar to play the Schu mann Con certo ists/piano/saleem-ashkar with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orch estra in the www.saleemashkar.com

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