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carte blanche concert ii: The Solo Violin: Soovin Kim, violin HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ VON BIBER (1644–1704) July 21 Passacaglia (Sonata XVI from Mystery Sonatas) (ca. 1674) Sunday, July 21, 10:30 a.m., Stent Family Hall, Menlo School GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN (1681–1767) Fantasia no. 9 in b minor (1735) PROGRAM OVERVIEW Siciliana Violinist Soovin Kim makes his Music@Menlo debut with a for- Vivace Allegro midable recital program traversing the evolution of the solo violin repertoire. Biber’s Mystery Sonatas are known to have inspired JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Bach in writing his own Sonatas for Solo Violin, whose equal Violin Sonata no. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 (1720) Adagio Largo parts of artistry and athleticism paved the way for the pyrotech- Fuga: Alla breve Allegro assai nic virtuosity of Paganini and Ysaÿe, a tradition extended into the twenty-first century. BRIEF INTERMISSION Carte Blanche Concert II features a lunch-break intermission. A NICCOLÒ PAGANINI (1782–1840) gourmet boxed lunch may be purchased for $18. Selections from Caprices for Solo Violin, op. 1 (ca. 1817) no. 1 in E Major: Andante no. 11 in C Major: Andante no. 3 in e minor: Sostenuto no. 14 in E-flat Major: Moderato no. 6 in g minor: Lento no. 24 in a minor: Finale: Tema con variazioni SPECIAL THANKS no. 7 in a minor: Posato Music@Menlo dedicates this performance to HEINRICH WILHELM ERNST (1812–1865) Joan and Allan Fisch with gratitude for their generous support. Variations on “The Last Rose of Summer” (1864) CARTE BLANCHE CONCERTS CARTE LUNCH INTERMISSION EUGÈNE YSAŸE (1858–1931) Violin Sonata no. 6 in E Major (1923) BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz. 117, BB 124 (1944) Tempo di ciaccona Melodia Fuga Presto BRIEF INTERMISSION JOHN HARBISON (b. 1938) Four Songs of Solitude, nos. 1 and 2 (1985) ESA"PEKKA SALONEN (b. 1958) Lachen verlernt (2002) JÖRG WIDMANN (b. 1973) Étude III (2002) Soovin Kim, violin Music@Menlo 2013 Program Notes: The Solo Violin Violinist Soovin Kim discusses his Carte Blanche program with Artistic for both the audience and me to watch the repertoire develop. Not only is Administrator Patrick Castillo. it a chronological development in terms of the years but really in terms of how the writing developed for the violin, almost as if each composer studied Patrick Castillo: It’s an ambitious recital program that you’re giving us. Tell each work that came preceding it. In some cases that was certainly the case. me what the idea was in putting this together. In others, who knows. Soovin Kim: Yes—I don’t entirely take credit for it. It was done in conjunc- tion with some conversations with David Finckel and Wu Han. I think these HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ VON BIBER programs are the result of some overambitious personalities who love (Baptized August 12, 1644, Wartenberg, Bohemia; died May 3, 1704, Salzburg) music, who want to include a whole spectrum of repertoire and give an interesting perspective. Passacaglia (Sonata XVI in g minor from Mystery Sonatas, The solo violin repertoire is a special genre. It’s very unnatural in a way, C. 90–105) because the violin is a single-voice instrument, essentially, most often play- Composed: ca. 1674 ing a single melody. This is very different from a keyboard instrument, for Other works from this period: Missa Christi resurgentis (ca. 1674); example, which can play multiple voices or harmonies at the same time, Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (ca. 1676); Lux perpetua (1673) which is why the violin is most often heard in ensembles, duos with a piano, Approximate duration: 9 minutes or most famously in symphony orchestras—you have armies of violins in those. It sort of makes the solo violin repertoire even more miraculous; it SK: We start with a composer in the seventeenth century, Biber, who wrote seems like it’s defying the odds. And it takes a great amount of skill—when a set of fifteen sonatas for violin and continuo called the Mystery Sonatas you talk to composers who are alive today, they really take it as a challenge (or Rosary Sonatas), with an additional passacaglia for solo violin. It was cer- to write music that is understandable and interesting and, even beyond that, tainly one of the earlier if not earliest solo violin works, and it’s the best known moving, hopefully, for this single-voice instrument. of the solo violin works. The beginning is built on a very simple descending four-note bass line, which rather than just being suggested throughout, as PC: So, talk about that from a performer’s perspective a little bit. You point in the more famous Bach Chaconne from the Partita in d minor, where the out what distinguishes the solo violin repertoire—how do you approach it bass line is altered and suggested as the movement goes on, continuously differently in that case, without an accompanist or an orchestra behind you? repeats. Biber then writes these brilliant figurations that develop over the What does that do to you approaching the concert experience? course of the piece. This is similar to some of the other works, later, where it sort of starts off slowly and builds to a climax. In this case, it ends quietly SK: Well, first of all, just in simply learning the pieces, they are generally the rather than building all the way to the end. This becomes a theme that will most difficult pieces that we have to learn—partly because you’re just play- later close the second recital program, as well. ing more notes. We’re often playing two, three, or four notes at the same time. Large chords. Composers have to become very inventive with their technical writing. And also, we’re playing a lot of extended arpeggiated passages, for example, to suggest various harmonies. In the case of com- GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN posers like Bach, he was actually able to write multiple-voice fugues: an (Born March 14, 1681, Magdeburg; died June 25, 1767, Hamburg) unbelievable technical feat as a composer but then equally difficult for us Fantasia no. 9 in b minor to play, as well! Composed: 1735 That is the most obvious difference for students when they are start- Other works from this period: Six sonates corellisantes (1735); St. ing to learn these works. As performers, violinists are not as accustomed to John Passion (1737); Concerto for Oboe and Strings, TWV 51: G3 (ca. being onstage by themselves as much as pianists are, for example. It’s actu- 1725–1735); Trio in B-flat Major for Recorder, Harpsichord Concertato, and BLANCHE CONCERTS CARTE ally rare unless you are getting into this solo violin repertoire. It does take Basso Continuo, TWV 42 (1739–1740) an adjustment at first, which is another reason why, for young violinists, it’s Approximate duration: 5 minutes some of the most difficult music to perform because you simply don’t have as much experience doing it. Because we are not accustomed to that, we are trained to make music with others, which is wonderful. However, later SK: From Biber, we jump to the Telemann Fantasia no. 9, the one work that on, it can be incredibly liberating to be able to dictate all of the terms of is slightly out of order, written in 1735, just a little later than the Bach sonata the music in terms of timing and color and to be creative and even more that follows on this program. In terms of the development in the writing, it is improvisatory on your own without negotiating the difficulties of playing a good place for it in the program, because the Bach becomes much more with others. elaborate. The fantasia is one of a set of twelve for solo violin, and it is so wonderfully inventive and fresh that it was often said that no one could write PC: Let’s talk about the program a little bit. It is organized into four parts… single-voice polyphonic music like Telemann could. Single-voice polyphony is something used often in solo violin works. We play just one note at a time, but SK: It’s actually two recital programs, and each program will have two it suggests both the melody and the bass and all of the harmonies in between. halves, which I will need, as this is quite a challenge for my stamina! It’s It is a very difficult writing technique for a composer, but Telemann demon- arranged practically in chronological order, which offers a great opportunity strates it the best of all of these composers along with Bach. It is a very short, three-movement work, with a sort of dance quality to each of the movements. www.musicatmenlo.org JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH the first thing that today’s composition teachers will give to their students as (Born March 21, 1685, Eisenach; died July 28, 1750, Leipzig) an assignment, to simply study these works or copy them out. They really Violin Sonata no. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 do define what is possible on the instrument. Paganini is often unfairly labeled as primarily a technician. When Composed: 1720 you read accounts of his concerts, there is great mention of his incredible Six Suites for Solo Cello, BWV 1007–1012 Other works from this period: technical feats, yet you also read how people were moved to tears by his (ca. 1720); Partita for Flute in a minor, BWV 1013 (1723); Brandenburg performances. He was incredibly expressive and very inventive and was Concerti, BWV 1046–1051 (1721); Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042 humorously known to be able to make any sound on the violin.

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