CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM

Sunday, April 1, 2012, 3pm David Ludwig (b. 1972) Lunaire Variations (2011–2012) Hertz Hall I. Nostalgia: “a sighing crystal…” II. Trepan: “shrieks cut through the air” III. Parody: “mocking moon” IV. Moonspot: “a fleck of moonlight” Jonathan Biss, piano V. Serenade: “scrapes on his viola” VI. Barcarole: “moonbeam rudder” VII. Chorale: “a scent of ancient times” PROGRAM Played without pause.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1 (1798) Beethoven Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a, Allegro molto con brio “Les Adieux” (1809–1810) Adagio molto Finale: Prestissimo Les Adieux: Adagio — Allegro L’Absence: Andante espressivo — Le Retour: Vivacissimamente

Leos Janáček (1854–1928) In the Mists (1912)

Andante The program is subject to change. Molto adagio — Presto Andantino — Presto — Meno mosso

Beethoven Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (Sonata quasi una Fantasia), Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” (1801)

Adagio sostenuto — Allegretto — Presto agitato Funded by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. Additional funding is also provided by Patron Sponsors William and Linda Schieber.

INTERMISSION Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) two of the town’s noted keyboard luminaries, by violent dotted rhythms, which is immediately vengeful warrior maiden, to add to its repertory. Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1 he became all the rage among the gentry, who countered by a smooth, soothing idea of closely He could not, however, obtain permission for a exhibited him in performance at the soirées in packed chords. The tension inherent between performance from the libretto’s author, Julius Published in 1798. their elegant city palaces. In catering to the aris- these sharply contrasted thematic cells is little Zeyer (who had already promised the text to the tocratic audience, Beethoven took on the air of exploited, however: most of the movement deals established composer Zdeněk Fibich), and Sárka In November 1792, the 22-year-old Ludwig van a dandy for a while, dressing in smart clothes, with the smooth shape and steady rhythms of the was not to be staged until 1925. Janáček had bet- Beethoven, bursting with talent and promise, learning to dance (badly), buying a horse, and second motive, with the craggy opening phrase ter luck with the one-act opera The Beginning of arrived in Vienna. So undeniable was the genius even sporting a powdered wig. This phase of his reiterated only to mark the end of the exposition Romance, premiered in Brno in 1894, but that he had already demonstrated in a sizable amount life did not outlast the 1790s, but in his biog- and the arrival at the development and the reca- work remained unknown elsewhere. That same of piano music, numerous chamber works, can- raphy of the composer, Peter Latham described pitulation. Indeed, even the movement’s formal year he began an opera based on a tragic story of tatas on the death of Emperor Joseph II and Beethoven at the time as “a young giant exult- second theme is nothing more than a domesti- village life titled Jenůfa and toiled over it for the the accession of Leopold II, and the score for ing in his strength and his success, and youthful cated, major-key transformation of the opening next decade. Jenůfa was warmly received at its a ballet, that Maximilian Franz, the Elector of confidence gave him a buoyancy that was both motive. TheAdagio is a slow rondo, with the two Brno premiere in 1904, and Janáček longed to Bonn, his hometown, underwrote the trip to the attractive and infectious.” returns of the tender main theme separated by have it produced in Prague, but it was rejected Habsburg Imperial city, then the musical capi- Among the nobles who served as Beethoven’s highly decorated episodes. The finale is a tightly by the theaters of the Bohemian capital. He tal of Europe, to help further the young musi- patrons after his arrival in Vienna was one compacted sonata form anchored by an agitated continued to teach and compose, mostly cho- cian’s career (and the Elector’s prestige). Despite Count Johann Georg von Browne-Camus, a main subject with wide leaps and a perky second ral numbers, folksong arrangements and some the Elector’s patronage, however, Beethoven’s descendent of an old Irish family who was at theme of scalar motion. modest pieces for orchestra and for piano, while professional ambitions quickly consumed any that time fulfilling some ill-defined function dreaming of recognition on a national, perhaps thoughts of returning to the provincial city of in the Habsburg Imperial city on behalf of the even international, scale. By 1908, he had com- his birth, and, when his alcoholic father died Empress Catherine II of Russia. Little is known Leos Janáček (1854–1928) pleted his fourth opera, Osud (“Fate”), but plans in December, he severed for good his ties with of Browne. His tutor, Johannes Büel, later an In the Mists for its production in Prague collapsed; it would Bonn in favor of the stimulating artistic atmo- acquaintance of Beethoven, described him as not be staged until 30 years after the composer’s sphere of Vienna. “full of excellent talents and beautiful qualities Composed in 1912. Premiered on January 24, death. He immediately began another opera, During his first years in Vienna, Beethoven of heart and spirit on the one hand, and on the 1914, in Brno by Marie Dvoráková. The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, but, like Jenůfa, was busy on several fronts. Initial encourage- other full of weakness and depravity.” He is said progress on it was slow and prospects for its per- ment for the Viennese junket came from the to have squandered his fortune and ended his Janáček’s ambition was bigger than his Brno. formance were dismal. In 1912, when his ambi- venerable Joseph Haydn, who had heard one days in a public institution. In the mid–1790s, Born in 1854 to a teacher and choirmaster in tions as a composer had largely been thwarted, of Beethoven’s cantatas on a visit to Bonn ear- Beethoven received enough generous support Hukvaldy, in the mountains east of Brno, the when his marriage offered little comfort, when lier in the year and promised to take the young from Browne, however, that he dedicated sev- Moravian capital, Janáček received most of his he was having problems with severe rheumatism composer as a student if he came to see him. eral of his works to him and his wife, Anne general and musical education in Brno, with and apprehensively facing his 58th birthday, Beethoven, therefore, became a counterpoint Margarete, including the Variations on Bei some advanced study in Vienna, Leipzig and Janáček channeled his remorse and frustration pupil of Haydn immediately after his arrival Männern, welche Liebe fühlen from Mozart’s Die Prague. During the 1870s, he taught and di- into a set of four disquieting piano pieces that he late in 1792, but the two had difficulty getting Zauberflöte for Cello and Piano (WoO 46), the rected choral groups in Brno and began com- titled, perhaps in contemplating his own uncer- along—Haydn was too busy, Beethoven was too three Op. 10 Piano Sonatas, the B-flat Piano posing. In 1881, he founded the Brno Organ tain future, In the Mists. bullish—and their association soon broke off. Sonata (Op. 22) and the three String Trios of School, and soon thereafter took up the study of In the Mists is music of strong, unsettling Several other teachers followed in short order— Op. 9. In appreciation of these dedications, the region’s indigenous folk music, which helped emotions: the phrases are fragmented, or of ir- Schenk, Albrechtsberger, Förster, Salieri. While Browne presented Beethoven with a horse, to shape the style and ethos of his own creative regular lengths; the harmony is unstable; the he was busy completing fugal exercises and which the preoccupied composer promptly for- idiom. Janáček came to understand that music rhythms proceed fitfully; ferocious outbursts practicing setting Italian texts for his tutors, he got, thereby allowing his servant to rent out the inextricably wrapped around the language, cus- collapse into brooding introspection; the epi- continued to compose, producing works for solo beast and pocket the profits. toms, stories and beliefs of his homeland could sodes of aural beauty or melodic continuity— piano, chamber ensembles and wind groups. The three Sonatas of Op. 10 were begun dur- become a rallying point for Moravian and Czech the Debussian chord streams of the first move- It was as a pianist, however, that he gained his ing the summer of 1796 and completed by July culture, and might well raise him from a small ment, or the folk tune of the third—seem ironic first fame among the Viennese. The untamed, 1798, when the Viennese publisher Joseph Eder town music master to a national figure. In 1884, rather than restful, and only heighten the appre- passionate, original quality of his playing and issued them as a set. The first sonata of the set, in he founded a journal to chronicle the operatic hension of the surrounding music. “In the Mists his personality first intrigued and then capti- the tragic-heroic key of C minor epitomized by activities of the newly established Provisional does not contain a single moment of cheerful vated those who heard him. When he bested in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, opens with a crag- Theater in Brno, and four years later composed respite,” Jaroslav Vogel wrote in his 1981 biog- competition Daniel Steibelt and Joseph Wölffl, gy motive driven across much of the keyboard a work, Sárka, based on a Czech legend of a raphy of the composer. “It is one long struggle

40 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 41 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES between resignation and newly felt pain—pain to describe the Sonata in terms of “a vision of School of Music (M.M.), and continued his inspired by Arnold Schoenberg’s groundbreak- which gains the upper hand at the end. In my a boat on Lake Lucerne by moonlight,” a sobri- post-graduate work at the Curtis Institute and ing cabaret-melodrama Pierrot Lunaire. This opinion, the title In the Mists should be interpret- quet that has since inextricably attached itself to the before earning a doctor- year, 2012, is the hundredth anniversary of the ed as meaning not so much memories of child- the music. ate from the University of Pennsylvania; his premiere of Schoenberg’s work, and few pieces hood or impressions of nature, as the expression In noting the experimental nature of the teachers include Richard Hoffmann, Richard of music fire up my imagination as much as this of Janáček’s mental state at the time, in view of form of this work, Beethoven specified that it is Danielpour, , and Expressionist masterpiece. Each movement be- the petty indifference shown by the world to his a sonata “in the manner of a fantasy” (“Sonata . In 2002, Ludwig was appoint- gins and ends with the same motive, descend- work in general and to Jenůfa in particular.” quasi una Fantasia”). The Classical model for ed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute, where he ing and ascending, that, combined, contains the instrumental sonata comprised three inde- now serves as the Artistic Chair of Performance all twelve notes. This exists both to unify the pendent movements: a fast movement in sonata- and Director of the Curtis 20/21 Contemporary piece and to give a nod to Schoenberg’s influ- Beethoven allegro form; an Adagio or Andante arranged as a Music Ensemble. He was Young-Composer-in- ential concept of composing with twelve notes Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (Sonata quasi variations or a three-part structure; and a closing Residence at the Marlboro Music Festival from (one that he would discover well after writing una Fantasia), Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” rondo in galloping meter. In the “Moonlight” 1997 to 1999, and has also held residencies at Pierrot.) Though my piece is in no way a ‘twelve- Sonata, Beethoven altered the traditional fast– Yaddo, Aspen Music Festival, Atlantic Center tone’ work, Schoenberg’s musical fingerprints Composed in 1801. slow–fast sequence in favor of an innovative or- for the Arts, Académie Musicale de Villecroze, appear throughout. ganization that shifts the expressive weight from Pacific Music Festival, Isabella Gardner Art “But it is ultimately the original text of Beethoven fell in love many times, but never the beginning to the end of the work, and made Museum in Boston, and the Atlantic Center Pierrot that influenced me the most in writing married. (The thought of Beethoven as a hus- the cumulative effect evident by instructing that Composers and Singers Program in Florence, this piece, perhaps more so than Schoenberg’s band threatens the moorings of one’s presence the movements be played without pause. Instead Italy; he was Resident Composer with the music. Pierrot’s themes, which juxtapose the of mind!) The source of his infatuation in 1801, of opening with a large symphonic-style, sonata- Vermont Symphony from 2004 to 2007, and wispy and ethereal with the grotesquely maca- when he was thirty and still in hope of finding form essay, the “Moonlight” initially falls upon is now the permanent New Music Advisor for bre, are also themes that run through my work. a wife, was the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, the listener with a somber, minor-mode Adagio that orchestra. David Ludwig has received And the fantastical characters of the piece, who was 13 years his junior, rather spoiled and of the greatest introspection. Next comes a sub- commissions from the Orchestra, including the clown Pierrot himself, appear reportedly something of a vixen. She seems to dued scherzo and trio whose delicacy is under- Richmond Symphony, Curtis Institute, New throughout my music as well. Lunaire Variations have been flattered by the attentions of the fa- mined by its off-beat syncopations. The expres- York Youth Symphony, eighth blackbird, are variations not on a motive or melody or mous musician, but probably never seriously sive goal of the Sonata is achieved with its clos- Concertante, choral conductor Judith Clurman, ground bass, but on the vivid imagery described considered his intimations of marriage; her so- ing movement, a powerful essay in full sonata pianist Jonathan Biss, violinist Lara St. John, within the words and music of Pierrot. cial station would have made wedlock difficult form filled with tempestuous feeling and dra- flutist Jeffrey Khaner and other noted ensembles “Some of this imagery is otherworldly, as with a commoner such as Beethoven. For his matic gesture about which John N. Burk wrote, and performers. His distinctions include the in the Variations’ first movement Nostalgia( ), part, Beethoven was apparently thoroughly un- “It is the first of the tumultuous outbursts of First Music Award, Independence Foundation where Pierrot delicately sighs in yearning for a der her spell at the time, and he mentioned his stormy passion which Beethoven was to let loose Fellowship, Theodore Presser Foundation Career distant, fabled past, or in the sixth movement love for her to a friend as late as 1823, though through the piano sonatas. It is music in which Grant, Fleischer Orchestra Award and two nom- (Barcarole), where he journeys home on a lily by then she had been married to Count Wenzel agitation and urgency never cease.” inations for the Stoeger Award of the Chamber pad steered only by moonbeams. Some of the Robert Gallenberg, a prolific composer of ballet Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also imagery is grotesque, as in the second move- music, for two decades. A medallion portrait of received grants from Meet the Composer, ment (Trepan), where Pierrot drills a hole in his her was found among Beethoven’s effects after David Ludwig (b. 1972) American Composers Forum, American Music rival’s skull to turn it into a makeshift tobacco his death. The C-sharp minor Sonata was con- Lunaire Variations Center and National Endowment for the Arts; in pipe, or in the fifth movement Serenade( ), where temporary with the love affair with Giulietta 2009, he was honored as a City Cultural Leader he decides to stop playing his viola and instead and dedicated to her upon its publication in Composed in 2011–2012. Premiered on March 30, by the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia. chooses to fiddle away on his rival’s bald spot. 1802, but the precise relationship of the music’s 2012, in Aspen, Colorado, by Jonathan Biss. Ludwig writes, “The Lunaire Variations The middle fourth movement (Moonspot) offers nature and the state of Beethoven’s heart must was commissioned in 2011 by San Francisco some comedy: describing Pierrot’s struggle to remain unknown; he never indicated that the David Ludwig, born in 1972 in Doylestown in Performances for Jonathan Biss. Jonathan is an scrub a fleck of moonlight off of his new coat. piece had any programmatic intent. It was not Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is the descendant incomparable artist and I am honored to write There is some pathos, too: the third movement until five years after his death that the work’s of a distinguished musical family—pianists this work for him to play. He is also an incom- (Parody) tells of a woman who has grown old mood and emotional intensity inspired the and are his grandfa- parable friend, and I offer this piece with warm waiting for her lover Pierrot to return, only to Romantic German poet and music critic Ludwig ther and uncle, and his great-grandfather was the wishes for his continued incredible success. be mocked by the moon himself for waiting in Rellstab (whose verses Schubert set in 1828 as renowned violinist Adolf Busch. Ludwig studied “My Lunaire Variations originated in a vain. This range of emotion becomes focused in the first seven numbers of his Schwanengesang) at Oberlin College (B.M.) and the Manhattan project I have undertaken to write piano works the last movement (Chorale), which is seen from

42 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 43 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES the point of view of a narrator who smells an Among the most important and durable safety in the distant countryside. That very day, The comings and goings of 18th-century ancient perfume and is reminded of a happier of Beethoven’s many aristocratic Viennese pa- Beethoven began a piano sonata “written from carriages were customarily signaled by blasts on time (away from the dark themes of the rest of trons was the Archduke Rudolph, the youngest the heart on the occasion of the departure of His the postilion’s horn, and the sound of the post the piece!).” son of Emperor Leopold II and the brother of Imperial Highness, Archduke Rudolph,” as he horn was taken over into cultivated music as a Emperor Franz. Rudolph first appeared in the recorded on the title page; he headed the first symbol for parting. “Les Adieux” opens with composer’s life around 1803 as a piano student, movement “Das Lebewohl”—“The Farewell.” just such a musical gesture, here enriched with Beethoven an indication of the high regard that Beethoven (When Breitkopf und Härtel published the score the open-interval harmony of the old valveless Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a, had won among Austrian music lovers by even in July 1811, they changed Beethoven’s preferred instruments (“horn fifths”) and inscribed with “Les Adieux” that early date in his career. Rudolph received German titles to more easily marketable French. the phrase “Lebewohl”—“Fare Thee Well.” An instruction in both performance and composi- The Sonata is still most widely known with its upward leaping motive immediately balances Composed in 1809–1810. tion from Beethoven, and he displayed a genu- French sobriquets, though Beethoven did not the descending horn fifths, and is transformed ine if limited talent for music. (Questioned once like them.) The slow movement (Abwesenheit— into the movement’s main theme when the ar- The year 1809 was a difficult one for Vienna, and whether Rudolph played really well, the diplo- L’Absence) was written before the French with- rival of the fast tempo marks the beginning of for Beethoven. In May, Napoleon invaded the matic teacher answered with a hoarse chuckle, drew from Vienna on November 20th; the finale its sonata form. The descending scale notes of city with enough firepower to send the residents “When he is feeling just right.”) It was for his (Das Wiedersehen—Le Retour) was begun when “Lebewohl” are recalled in the second theme, scurrying and Beethoven into the basement of noble pupil that Beethoven created the “Triple” Rudolf and his royal clan returned to the city, and are combined with the leaping motive in the his brother’s house—the bombardment was close Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello, in whose on January 30, 1810. Beethoven, fulfilling a compact development section. A full recapitula- enough that he covered his sensitive ears with pil- premiere Rudolph participated sometime in promise made during the autumn to Breitkopf tion and a reflective coda round out the move- lows to protect them from the concussion of the 1805 or 1806. When Beethoven was considering und Härtel to “let you have a few pieces for ment. Beethoven summarized the emotional blasts. On July 29th, he wrote to the publisher abandoning Vienna in 1808 to accept the offer solo piano,” sent the “Les Adieux” Sonata to essence of the Andante with its title—Absence— Breitkopf und Härtel, “We have passed through of a position in Kassel from Jerome Bonaparte, the publisher the following week, along with and its performance instruction: “with much a great deal of misery. I tell you that since May brother of Napoleon and King of Westphalia, the Op. 78 Sonata and the little Sonatina in expression.” A sudden shift of mood and tempo 4th, I have brought into the world little that is Rudolph joined with the Princes Lobkowitz G major (Op. 79). The “Les Adieux” Sonata (“as fast as possible”) indicates the start of the connected; only here and there a fragment. The and Kinsky in establishing an annual stipend acquired its curious opus number—81a—be- exuberant sonata-form finale Return( or, better, whole course of events has affected me body and for the composer to encourage him to remain cause the Viennese hornist and sometime pub- Reunion), which is based on a main theme of soul.... What a disturbing, wild life around me; in the city. Beethoven accepted their proposal, lisher Nikolaus Simrock had recently issued joyous naïveté and a second theme whose fast, nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all and made Vienna his home for the rest of his Beethoven’s early Sextet for Horns and Strings rocking rhythms may be intended to evoke the sorts.” He bellowed his frustration at a French life, though the financial reverses and difficulties as Op. 81. Breitkopf subsequently took over the swaying of the coach heading home. officer he chanced to meet: “If I were a general inflicted by Napoleon’s invasions forced Kinsky Sextet, and distinguished the two works in its and knew as much about strategy as I do about and Lobkowitz to suspend their payments after catalog as Opp. 81a and 81b. © 2012 Dr. Richard E. Rodda counterpoint, I’d give you fellows something to a short time—Rudolph fulfilled his part of the think about.” Austria’s finances were in sham- bargain until Beethoven died. In appreciation bles, and Beethoven was placed in a precarious for Rudolph’s unflagging support, Beethoven pecuniary predicament when the annual stipend dedicated some 15 of his most important works he had been promised by several noblemen who to him—including the Fourth and Fifth Piano supported his work was considerably reduced Concertos, “Les Adieux” and “Hammerklavier” in value. As a sturdy tree can root in flinty soil, Sonatas, Op. 96 Violin Sonata, Op. 97 Piano however, several significant musical works grew Trio and Grosse Fuge—and wrote the Missa from those unpromising circumstances—by Solemnis to celebrate his election as Archbishop the end of that year, 1809, Beethoven had com- of Olmütz in 1819. pleted the “Emperor” Concerto, String Quartet On May 4, 1809, as the French forces swept in E-flat major (Op. 74), Op. 79 Sonatina and inexorably toward Vienna (so ill prepared to de- Op. 77 Fantasy for Piano, and Piano Sonatas, fend itself that some soldiers had to be armed Opp. 78 and 81a (“Les Adieux”). Indeed, the with muskets and swords commandeered from Op. 81a Sonata was not only composed during the prop rooms of the city’s theaters and op- the French invasion of Vienna in 1809—it was era houses), the imperial family, including prompted by it. the 20-year-old Rudolph, was evacuated to

44 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 45 ABOUT THE ARTIST ABOUT THE ARTIST

of St. Martin in the Fields and who has recorded In 2000, at age 20, Mr. Biss made his Mozart with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y’s will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, Tisch Center for the Arts and his New York K. 466, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Philharmonic debut under . Among in three cities in Scotland in May. In January the many conductors with whom he has worked 2012, he joined in Salzburg for are Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert the Mozartwoche festival, performing Mozart’s Blomstedt, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Sonata in F major (for piano four hands). Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Last season, Mr. Biss made his much-antici- Sir Neville Marriner, Andris Nelsons, Antonio pated recital debut with a program Pappano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Christoph of works by Beethoven, Schumann, Janáček and von Dohnányi and Pinchas Zukerman. Jillian Edelstein Jillian a new work written for him by . Mr. Biss represents the third generation in onathan biss is widely regarded for his This season, Mr. Biss will perform solo recit- a family of professional musicians that includes Jartistry, musical intelligence and deeply felt als in Europe at London’s Southbank Centre his grandmother, , one of interpretations, winning international recog- and in Berlin under the auspices of the Berlin the first well-known female cellists (for whom nition for his orchestral, recital, and chamber Philharmonic, with recitals in the United States composed his cello concerto), music performances and for his award-winning in New York City, Washington, D.C., Berkeley, and his parents, violinist Miriam Fried and vio- recordings. He performs a diverse repertoire Santa Barbara, Princeton, Omaha and Kansas. list/violinist Paul Biss. Growing up surrounded ranging from Mozart and Beethoven, through He will also perform chamber programs with by music, Mr. Biss began his piano studies at the Romantics to Janáček and Schoenberg as the Elias Quartet at London’s Wigmore Hall and age six, and his first musical collaborations well as works by such contemporary composers in Belgium, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. were with his mother and father. He studied at as György Kurtág and commissions from Leon In January 2012 Onyx Classics released the Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart and Kirchner, and Bernard Rands. first CD in a nine-year, nine-disc recording at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia Mr. Biss made his cycle of Beethoven’s complete sonatas. Mr. Biss with . In 2010, Mr. Biss was ap- debut in 2001, and since then has appeared wrote about this recording project and also and pointed to the piano faculty of the Curtis with the foremost orchestras of North America, about his relationship with Beethoven’s music Institute, and he performed with the Curtis Europe, Asia and Australia. He is a frequent per- more generally for a 19,000-word essay called Symphony in October 2011 in Philadelphia at former at leading international music festivals Beethoven’s Shadow that was published electroni- the Kimmel Center. and gives recitals in major music capitals both at cally by RosettaBooks as a Kindle Single and is Mr. Biss has been recognized with numerous home and abroad. available from Amazon online stores. Beethoven’s awards, including the Leonard Bernstein Award This season, Mr. Biss’s return engage- Shadow has subsequently ranked as the bestsell- (presented at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein ments include the Baltimore Symphony with ing music e-book title on Amazon in the United Festival), Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Günther Herbig, the Boston Symphony with Jiří States and United Kingdom. Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Bělohlávek, the Cleveland Orchestra with Fabio Mr. Biss’s previous recordings include an Music Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Luisi, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra album featuring two Schubert sonatas and two Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, with Robin Ticciati, the Royal Stockholm short Kurtág pieces from Játékok that was re- the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the Philharmonic with Sakari Oramo and the leased in October 2009 on the Wigmore Hall 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award. He was an Toronto Symphony with Peter Oundjian. He Live label and named by NPR Music as one of artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s makes his debut with the Dresden Staatskapelle the best albums of the year. It follows four ac- Performance Today and was the first American with Sir Colin Davis and his subscription de- claimed recordings for EMI Classics, includ- chosen to participate in the BBC’s New but with the Cincinnati Symphony under ing an all-Schumann recital album, which Generation Artist program. For more informa- Ludovic Morlot. won a Diapason d’Or de l’Année award, and a tion about Mr. Biss and to read his blog about Mr. Biss began the 2011–2012 season with a recital album of Beethoven piano sonatas that his life as a musician, go to www.jonathanbiss two-week residency with the Saint Paul Chamber received an Edison Award. With the Orpheus .com or visit his fan page on Facebook. Orchestra centered on programs that juxtapose Chamber Orchestra he recorded Mozart’s Piano Jonathan Biss is managed exclusively by Mozart concerti with works by Kurtág, directing Concertos Nos. 21 and 22 in a live performance. Opus 3 Artists, 470 Park Avenue South, Ninth the orchestra from the keyboard as well as per- His first recording for EMI Classics was a 2004 Floor North, New York, New York 10016. forming chamber music. Mr. Biss, who last sea- recording on EMI’s Debut series of works by son toured the United States with the Academy Beethoven and Schumann.

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