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Concerts from the Library of Congress 2020-2021

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Concerts from the Library of Congress 2020-2021 CONCERTS FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 2020-2021 The McKim Fund in the Library of Congress JENNIFER KOH, VIOLIN THOMAS SAUER, PIANO Thursday, November 19, 2020 ~ 8:00 pm The Library of Congress Virtual Event The MCKIM FUND in the Library of Congress was created in 1970 through a bequest of Mrs. W. Duncan McKim, concert violinist, who won international prominence under her maiden name, Leonora Jackson; the fund supports the commissioning and performance of chamber music for violin and piano. Conversations with the Artists Join us online at loc.gov/concerts/jennifer-koh.html for conversations with Jennifer Koh, Julia Wolfe and George Lewis, available starting at 10am on Thursday, November 19. Facebook Post-concert Chat Want more? Join other concert goers and Music Division curators after the concert for a chat that may include the artists, depending on availability. You can access this during the premiere and for a few minutes after by going to facebook.com/pg/libraryofcongressperformingarts/videos How to Watch Concerts from the Library of Congress Virtual Events 1) See each individual event page at loc.gov/concerts 2) Watch on the Library's YouTube channel: youtube.com/loc 3) Watch the premiere of the concert on Facebook: facebook.com/libraryofcongressperformingarts/videos Videos may not be available on all three platforms, and some videos will only be accessible for a limited period of time. The Library of Congress Virtual Event Thursday, November 19, 2020 — 8:00 pm The McKim Fund in the Library of Congress JENNIFER KOH, VIOLIN THOMAS SAUER, PIANO Audio Engineer: Ryan Streber Video Production: Ryan McCullough Oktaven Studios • 1 Program Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata in G major for piano with violin accompaniment, op. 30/3 (1801-2) Allegro assai Tempo di Minuetto: ma molto moderato e grazioso Allegro vivace Nina Shekhar warm in my veins (2020) Anthony Cheung Springs Eternal (2020) Lester St. Louis Ultraviolet, Efflorescent (2020) Missy Mazzoli Hail, Horrors, Hail (2020) George Lewis The Mangle of Practice (2014) Commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress Wang Lu Hover and Recede (2020) Tonia Ko The Fragile Season (2020) Qasim Naqvi HAL (2020) Inti Figgis-Vizueta Quiet City (2020) 2 Nina Young There had been signs, surely (2020) Julia Wolfe Mink Stole (1997) Commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress • About the Program Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in G major for piano and violin, op. 30/3 In the spring of 1802 Beethoven retreated from Vienna to the small town of Heiligenstadt, just north of the city. His doctor had ordered him to seek quieter surroundings to preserve his hearing. Confronting the loss of such a vital sense for a composer created enormous despair. Beethoven wrote (but did not send) to his brothers Carl and Johann an emotionally wrenching letter (the Heiligenstadt Testament) on October 6 and 10, 1802, and revealed that his circumstances seemed so overwhelming and isolating that he had contemplated suicide. Heard against the background of this level of despair, the energetic, fresh, and even joyous Sonata op. 30, no. 3, written during this summer at Heiligenstadt, seems even more remarkable for its night and day contrast with his state of mind at the time of composition. How is a composer, depressed enough to consider suicide, able to write a work so full of life, energy, and humor? Thankfully, Beethoven managed to focus on his creative ideas instead of his sorrow and survived this period of crisis. In other letters to friends around this time he indicated how much he was flourishing professionally. Indeed, around this time Beethoven was also composing his Symphony no. 2, op. 36, the charming set of Bagatelles for piano solo, op. 33, and two of the three pianos sonatas from op. 31, among other works. The three sonatas of op. 30 (no. 1 in A major, no. 2 in C minor, and this work, no. 3 in G major), were published in 1803 with the title "Trois sonates pour le pianoforte avec l'accompagnement d'un violon," revealing a different approach to chamber music for violin and piano. The roles are flipped; the piano part dominates the music, with the violin in more of an accompanying, although essential, part. The technical demands for the pianist are considerable, further justifying the title. Beethoven acquired 3 permission from Tsar Alexander I (1777-1825), Emperor of Russia, who was greatly admired in Vienna, to dedicate this set of sonatas to him, eventually securing a fee some 12 years later in exchange for the honor of the dedication. This uncomplicated sonata has three movements. The first movement is marked Allegro assai, the second designated Tempo di Minuetto, and the third marked Allegro vivace. The first movement opens with an economical exposition, in which the first theme is presented in the space of the first four bars, with scales and arpeggiated figures that immediately establish the key and the athletic character of the music. The second theme, surprisingly in the dominant minor, appears after a brief transition. The development section is unusually brief. Beethoven dispensed with a coda, which, given the condensed nature of this movement, might have disturbed the balance. The second movement telescopes the traditional second and third movements into a single one that has the tempo, although not the form, of a minuet. The calm and gracefully ornamented melody provides a pleasing contrast to the more active outer movements. Its beautiful, lyrical melody is spun out through variations in ornamentation and alternations between major and minor mode. The last movement is a virtuosic chase between the violin and piano, which alternate patterns of runs and laughing grace notes in both parts. The rustic sound of a country hurdy-gurdy introduces this movement and later interrupts, but only briefly, before the chase resumes its breathless flight to the end. Great energy and humor infuse this transparent and amazingly light-hearted work, reflecting the influence of both Mozart and Haydn. The beautiful surroundings of Heiligenstadt seem to have inspired Beethoven in spite of his personal challenges. Laura Yust Senior Cataloguing Specialist Library of Congress, Music Division • In response to the unfolding pandemic, Jennifer Koh and arco collaborative swiftly organized a commissioning program entitled Alone Together that has yielded 40 micro-commissions for solo violin. Several works from this remarkable collection of pieces are included in this program alongside two classic commissions from the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress. 4 Nina Shekhar, warm in my veins The title warm in my veins comes from a quote by pioneering American nurse Clara Barton in which she states, “The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.” In the face of catastrophe, it is easy to lose sight of our essence of self and being. But our sense of identity is deep and impenetrable—the blood of our ancestors runs warm in our veins, carrying their culture, wisdom, and fieriness of spirit. Our present communities run warm in our veins. Our love for one another runs warm in our veins. And resilience will always run warm in our veins. Many thanks to Jennifer Koh and ARCO Collaborative for commissioning this piece for the Alone Together project.1 ~ Nina Shekhar • Anthony Cheung, Springs Eternal Springs Eternal is taken from the phrase "hope springs eternal." Hope is a very heavy word right now, having the sense of being somewhat powerless at the moment, but still hoping for a better future, for a better outcome, I think is what I was trying to get at in both the title and the piece. ~ Anthony Cheung, transcribed from spoken introduction2 • Lester St. Louis, Ultraviolet, Efflorescent So the piece is titled Ultraviolet, Efflorescent. It's thinking about the upside that many people see to this time of quarantine; that there will come a lot of unseen kind of growth. Like things that can't necessarily be measured on the public scale. That kind of pairing of words, it's like, yes it is particular to something I've been thinking about a lot recently. But at a general scale that's always true. That's kind of what our practice sessions time, that's what our walks are, that's what all our personal time is. So the 1 Notes from Nina Shekhar’s website: http://ninashekhar.com/warm-in-my-veins/ 2 https://youtu.be/NlhEbPoT08g 5 piece itself is more so often a vehicle to get towards those ideas versus it having some immediate relationship to the content. Because in a way it's like ultraviolet rays. It's unseeable or unknowable to have some kind of trace or set of connections to the title, to the content and meaning of the piece. ~ Lester St. Louis, transcribed from spoken introduction3 • Missy Mazzoli, Hail, Horrors, Hail The title of my piece is Hail, Horrors, Hail, and it's a quote from John Milton's Paradise Lost. This has this sort of elastic feeling of tempo, where you kind of get to go as fast as you want. The score has this sort of color coding system, so notes that are pink can be played at any duration. So the idea [is that] instead of writing it out in a very precise way, I wanted the player to also get into that idea of elastic time, where you play them faster and faster, but there's not a specified duration and [I] just wanted to explore a sort of different harmonic language in the work and so was using this to try a couple new things. ~ Missy Mazzoli, transcribed from spoken introduction4 • George Lewis, The Mangle of Practice I’ve borrowed the title of this piece from an essay by the sociologist of science Andrew Pickering, who deploys the word “mangle” in at least two senses, the first of which is nearly forgotten today.
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