PREVIEW NOTES

Garrick Ohlsson Thursday, October 24 – 8:00 PM Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center

Program Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 complex fugue ultimately leads back to the original Johannes Brahms theme played in C Major. Born: May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany Died: April 3, 1897 in Vienna, Austria Six Etudes TBA Composed: 1879 Claude Debussy Last PCMS performance: Warren Jones, 2006 (No. 2) Born: August 22, 1862 in St.Germain‐en‐Lave, France Duration: 15 minutes Died: May 25, 1918 in Paris, France Last PCMS performance: Richard Goode, 2008 Despite the title, both movements that make up Composed: 1915 Brahms’ Opus 79 have very clear formal structures. The first movement is in a ternary form (ABA). The Debussy wrote a set of twelve etudes near the end of bombastic ‘A’ section travels through a mix of major and his life that would ultimately serve as his last important minor keys before the start of the slower, more melodic contribution to solo piano. The etudes are divided into ‘B’ section. This central section stands as a drastically two books, each different in conception. Book I is different interpretation of the opening themes, which devoted to exploring the technical problems and are now set in B Major. The return to section A is quite musical possibilities inherent in different intervals literal and includes a coda that resolves the B‐section (thirds, sixths, etc.), while Book II engages in the melody to the tonic. An arpeggiated triad opens the exploration of musical syntax and style. Although second Rhapsody, set in G Minor. In many ways the academic, the etudes are witty, challenging, and piece is the most traditional of Brahms' late piano inspired. works, cast in a straightforward sonata form. A majestic heaviness pervades the second movement, even in its Fantasy in F Minor, Op. 49 most transparent passages. Frédéric Chopin Born: May 1, 1810 in Zelazawa Wola, Poland Fantasis on Ad Nos, Ad salutarem undam Died: October 17, 1849 in Paris, France Franz Liszt Composed: 1841 Born: October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Hungary Last PCMS performance: Garrick Ohlsson, 2010 Died: July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Germany Duration: 13 minutes Composed: 1850 First PCMS Performance The loosely structured Fantasy in F Minor is one of Duration: 23 minutes Chopin’s longest works for solo piano. A clear example of the composer’s mastery of miniatures, the work The Fantasis on Ad Nos is the fourth in a series of works opens with a slow march‐like theme that is never heard based on Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Le Prophète. from again. Ending abruptly with repetitive blocked Originally composed for organ in 1850, the work is chords, the march theme is replaced by a flurry of neither a direct transcription of music from the opera themes and styles that increase in tempo and passion. nor a compilation of arias (similar to an overture) but a Quasi‐improvisatory, the work challenges the performer completely independent work based on a brief chorale and listener with its breadth of moods and colors. melody from the first act of Meyerbeer’s opera. The harmonically complex work is a constant development for the initial statement. At the height of the work a