Streaming Premiere – Thursday, December 3, 2020, 7pm

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at Håkon’s Hall, Bergen, Norway, on September 23, 2020.

PROGRAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Fantasy in C minor, K. 475 (1785)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, Pathétique (1798) Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio Adagio cantabile Rondo: Allegro

INTERMISSION

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) Selections from On an Overgrown Path, Book 1 (1911) 1. Our Evenings 2. A Blown-Away Leaf 3. Come with Us! 4. The Madonna of Frydek

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Selections from Poetic Tone Pictures, Op. 85 (1889) 1. Nocturnal Route 2. Toying 4. Spring Song 6. Reverie 7. Furiant (Folk Dance) 9. Serenade 10. Bacchanal 13. On the Holy Mountain

Leif Ove Andsnes records exclusively for Sony Classical and is managed by Enticott Music Management in association with IMG Artists. Note: following its premiere, the video recording of this concert will be available on demand through January 3, 2021.

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PROGRAM NOTES

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven Fantasy in C minor, K. 475 (1785) Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, It’s disheartening to consider that the bulk of the Pathétique (1798) world’s music is irretrievably lost. But there it is. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking, claimed By its very nature, music cannot persist; sounds spokesman John Cameron Swayze regarding a arise, linger briefly, then dissipate. We have con- Timex watch. (You’ll need to be certain age to served a trifle of humanity’s music-making via catch the reference!) The same can be said for notation, a smidgen more via recordings. But Beethoven’s ubiquitous Pathétique sonata, that’s it. Everything else—the sound of people school-recital piece par excellence, hapless vic- singing and playing over the ages—is gone for- tim of inadvertent muggings from student pi- ever. Short of cobbling together a time machine, anists who make up in ardor for what they may there’s no retrieving all that music. lack in insight. Which makes those reports of Mozart’s ex- Yet the Pathétique soldiers on, sublimely in- traordinary improvisational abilities all the different to whatever indignities might befall it. more tantalizing. “What a wealth of ideas! What The odds of it ever becoming some tired old variety!” gushed German critic Johann chestnut calculate somewhere between mini- Friedrich Schink in 1785. Apparently Mozart mal and nil. It’s that good, that innovative, and was so good that, having neglected to write that unbreakable, an early instance of down the solo piano part to a new concerto, he Beethoven in C-minor mode: storm and tur- played the premiere as a quasi-planned im- bulence, supercharged drama that may or may provisation, faking it with a sheath of blank not culminate in triumphant resolution. Think manuscript paper placed on the piano. Fifth Symphony. Think Third Piano Concerto. (According to one account, Emperor Joseph II Think that astounding final Op. 111 piano spotted the dodge and called him out for it.) We sonata. can only imagine what an unbuttoned and There’s a story floating around that the spontaneous Mozart might have been like, his Pathétique title originated with Beethoven him- astounding musical fertility let off the notational self, but the honor actually goes to the publisher, leash, free to wander, ramble, and explore. albeit with Beethoven’s approval. It’s an apt label, At least we have a few hints hither and yon, redolent of pathos, deep feeling, and tragedy. among them the Fantasy in C minor, K. 475, a But not pity. Beethoven had no truck with pity. free-form (as the name implies) affair with a “ThePathétique is, first of all, music of the will,” distinctly improvisatory vibe. At the same time, writes Kenneth Drake in The Beethoven Sonatas this is Mozart and not some glib hack, so we and the Creative Experience. “The sound of may expect a certain dramatic arc to the thing. primitivism in this work is the language of The opening section (in C minor) is possibly someone reaching into the unknown.” the most spontaneous, its constantly sighing It could be that very primitivism that has al- figurations and frequent interruptions savoring ways drawn young pianists to the sonata. “The of the empfindsamkeit (sensitive or tender style) novelty of its style was so attractive to me,” rem- of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Inner sections inisced august 19th-century pianist Ignaz are both more organized and upbeat: a D-major Moscheles about his youthful first encounter passage is borderline chipper and a subsequent with Opus 13. “I became so enthusiastic in my extended section in F major savors of Mozart’s admiration of it, that I forgot myself so far as to best aria style. Eventually the resigned mood of mention my new acquisition to my teacher, the opening re-asserts itself, and the work ends who reminded me of his injunction, and in a sudden upwards burst, almost as if Mozart warned me not to play or study any eccentric had acknowledged the need to close things off. productions until I had based my style upon Even if he could have kept playing all night! more solid models.” That warning is not likely

3 PROGRAM NOTES

to resonate with modern piano teachers, who Janáček tells us that these pieces “contain dis- view the Pathétique as solid, blue-chip reper- tant reminiscences. Those reminiscences are so tory; but back in the day, reactionary types dear to me that I do not think they will ever viewed it with apprehension, if not downright vanish.” No doubt they refer back to his child- alarm. hood in the mountains and woods around the From that stern opening chord—which hov- Moravian village of Hukvaldy, and while the ers tantalizingly in the air to kick off an ex- memories might be dear, not all are by any tended slow introduction that might remind means fond. Janáček was a melancholic man, listeners of the Mozart C-minor Fantasy— moody, touchy, prone to irritable outbursts at through the blazing Allegro di molto con brio, trifling provocations. As of 1911, he had suf- the first movement is an E-ticket ride, con- fered through a distressing series of difficulties, structed out of a few basic ideas from which particularly the lingering death of his daughter Beethoven extracts spectacular variety. A sec- Olga at the tender age of 21. Fortunately, On an ond-place Adagio cantabile offers listeners a re- Overgrown Path does not lapse into unmiti- ally fine (and popular) melody from a gated bitterness or wallow in its shadows; there composer not usually noted for lyrical effusion. is exquisite poetry here, captivating plays of The concluding Allegro restores the heat of the light, affectionate glimpses of country life, and opening movement but adds a technical tour de above all, a fascination with the natural world force by way of its brilliant use of sonata-rondo and its inhabitants. “I know a large fountain— form, an excessively repetitive structure prone nearly a small lake, choked by the darkness of to stupefying tedium but here transformed into ages…. There are no angels in this eternal dark- edge-of-the-seat drama. ness,” wrote Janáček in 1922. The seven piano sonatas preceding the The Schumann heritage is particularly Pathétique are superlative creations worth any marked in the opening “Our Evenings,” with its amount of hearing and study, but Opus 13 aphoristic style in which a brief melodic cell is marks a new stage in Beethoven’s evolution. By repeated numerous times with modest varia- way of its emotional range, technical wizardry, tion. Hearing it is akin to picking up a lovely innovative pianism, and sheer strength of char- small object and turning it around while ob- acter, it prefigures the barrage of thunderbolts serving it from different angles and orienta- soon to come, as Beethoven enters his middle tions. “Our Evenings” not only invites, but really period and transforms music forever. requires, thoughtful input on the performer’s part; playing it merely as written will not do. Leoš Janáček “A Blown-Away Leaf” is an exquisite bit of Selections from On an Overgrown Path, Romantic nature-painting à la Grieg, a whiff of Book 1 (1911) folk-ish melody in a quasi-improvisatory set- On an Overgrown Path is a rarity in the piano ting. The tempo increases steadily through its literature as having started out on the harmo- three main sections, followed by a da capo re- nium, with five pieces that by 1911 had grown turn that restores the original pensive quality. to 15 miniatures for the piano spread across two A walking, almost marching quality permeates volumes. The work of a composer mostly asso- “Come with Us!,” with hints of the dance adding ciated with opera, orchestral music, and choral a certain insouciance and lightness. To close, works, the pieces comprising On an Overgrown “The Madonna of Frydek” intones a reverent Path are anything but abstract Klavierstücke chorale-like passage that sets off a clean-lined in the Brahmsian mold; rather, they are Schu- but remote melody. Gradually we approach the mannesque—personal, confessional, positively source of the sound, as the markings change seething with extra-musical meanings, whether from lontano (far off) toda più vicino (closer) to subconscious or not. In that sense they are true da vicino (close), periodically contrasted by the Romantic piano miniatures—intimate mor - chorale, ending in a somber and utterly tradi- ceaux, the piano’s equivalent of the art song. tional cadence.

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Antonín Dvořák ThePoetic Tone Pictures of 1889 mark a shift Selections from Poetic Tone Pictures, in Dvořák’s overall musical thinking, from the Op. 85 (1889) purely abstract realms of symphonic forms to It might seem like damning with faint praise to the pictorial and programmatic. It would not be describe Antonín Dvořák as a nice man, but in long before he would be creating his late or- so many ways that’s precisely what he was—a chestral tone poems The Noon Witch, The Water truly decent human being who was blissfully Goblin, The Golden Spinning Wheel, The Wild free of the neuroses, depressions, angers, and Dove, and A Hero’s Song. Each of the Poetic Tone egomaniacal posturings that infest—like so Pictures evinces an exploratory side to a com- many unpleasant weeds—biographies of major poser who is generally associated with careful composers. That’s not to say that Dvořák was development and structural organicism rather just some regular Joe who happened to write than flights of narrative fancy. “This time, I am music: he was indubitably among the great not only an absolute musician, but also a poet” ones, and he had his strengths and weaknesses wrote Dvořák of the cycle. “Each piece will have just like everybody else. For one thing, he was a its own title and is meant to express something: very heavy drinker, verging on alcoholism, thus, as it were, this is program music!” which led to problems in his professional and Each of the Poetic Tone Pictures conjures up personal life. On the brighter side, he was an ar- its own particular ambience, from the slightly dent pigeon fancier. And he loved trains and gloomy and serious “Nocturnal Route” through steamships. the meltingly affectionate “Serenade” and gen- His compositional catalog runs the gamut of tly rocking “Reverie” to the “Bacchanal,” which genres, but posterity has fastened more on the could double as a symphonic scherzo. Dance symphonies, chamber music, and (to a lesser rhythms pop up hither and yon, likely extent) operas than on his choral or solo piano (“Furiant”) or not (“Spring Song”). Dvořák’s music. The reason for that latter’s relative ob- piano writing generally eschews virtuoso dis- scurity isn’t all that puzzling. Dvořák just was- play, but both “Toying” and the afore-men- n’t a pianist and his keyboard writing lacks the tioned “Furiant” call on the pianist for some innate affinity for the instrument characteristic solid octave technique, while the multi-hued of virtuosos such as Chopin or Liszt. Not sur- sweep of the concluding “On the Holy prisingly, Dvořák was at his best when writing Mountain” savors of Lisztian grandeur. for piano four-hands, a medium that can ap- Like a good book of short stories, Poetic Tone proximate orchestral sonority—consider his Pictures offers something for everybody, listener marvelous Slavonic Dances, known in their or- and performer alike. Sometimes moody, other chestral guise at least as well as their piano-duet times exuberant, kaleidoscopic in their variety originals. That said, his solo piano music is well and highly effective in concert, they’re worthy worth exploring beyond the few lightweight candidates for restoration to the active reper- Humoresques and Album Leaves that have tory, late Romantic fantasies from one of the slipped through the cracks and onto the occa- era’s most renowned masters. sional recital program. —Scott Foglesong

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The New York Times calls Leif Ove Andsnes playing concertos and recitals in the world’s “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and in- leading concert halls and with its foremost or- sight,” and the Wall Street Journal names him chestras, while building an esteemed, extensive “one of the most gifted musicians of his gener- discography. He is the founding director of the ation.” With his commanding technique and Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, was the searching interpretations, the celebrated Nor- co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of wegian pianist has won acclaim worldwide, Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and has

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served as music director of California’s Ojai Gramophone Awards. His other accolades in- Music Festival. A Gramophone Hall of Fame clude the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instru- inductee, he holds honorary doctorates from men talist Award, the Gilmore Artist Award, Norway’s University of Bergen and New York’s and Norway’s Peer Gynt Prize and Commander Juilliard School. of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. Andsnes recently partnered with the Mahler He has been honored as the first Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra for “Mozart Momentum to curate Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives” series, 1785/86,” a major multi-season project explor- served as a pianist-in-residence of the Berlin ing one of the most creative and seminal peri- Philharmonic and artist-in-residence of the ods of the composer’s career. This marks the New York Philharmonic, and been the subject pianist’s second artistic partnership with the of a London Symphony Orchestra Artist Por - orchestra, following the success of their “Bee - trait Series. tho ven Journey.” An epic four-season focus on Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Nor- the composer’s music for piano and orchestra, way in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music this saw Andsnes give more than 230 live per- Conservatory. He is currently an artistic adviser formances in 108 cities across 27 countries, for the Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy in as chronicled in the documentary Concerto— Bergen, where he lives with his partner and A Beethoven Journey and captured on an award- their three children. winning Sony Classical series. Now recording exclusively for that label, the pianist recently re- www.andsnes.com ceived his eleventh Grammy nomination and www.facebook.com/LeifOveAndsnes has been recognized with no fewer than six twitter.com/LeifOveAndsnes

CREDITS

For Cal Performances at Home For Ibis Productions, Inc. Tiffani Snow, Producer Jeremy Robins, Video Director Jeremy Little, Technical Director Zach Herchen, Audio Engineer

In Norway For Future Tense Media Yngve Moberg*, Technical Director Jesse Yang, Creative Director Marius Marthinussen Søreide**, Creative Director Eirik Svensen**, Video Director For Cal Performances Sinde Bowitz Larsen, Assistant Director EXECUTIVE OFFICE Atle Sekkingstad*, Audio Producer Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director Per Marius Larsen*, Lighting Designer Kelly Brown, Executive Assistant to the Director Ivar Skjørestad*, Lighting Assistant ADMINISTRATION Marius Børsheim*, Lighting Assistant Andy Kraus, Director of Strategy and Marius Veum*, Lighting Assistant Administration Calvin Eng, Chief Financial Officer Marius Marthinussen Søreide, Rafael Soto, Finance Specialist Camera Crane Operator Marilyn Stanley, Finance Specialist Synnøve Roppestad, Camera Operator Gawain Lavers, Applications Programmer Kristian Vaage, Camera Operator Ingrid Williams, IT Support Analyst Martin Jørgenvåg*, Project Manager Sean Nittner, Systems Administrator

* for Bright Norway ARTISTIC PLANNING ** for KolibriMedia Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning Robin Pomerance, Artistic Administrator 6 CREDITS

DEVELOPMENT STAGE CREW Taun Miller Wright, Chief Development Officer Charles Clear, Senior Scene Technician Elizabeth Meyer, Director of Institutional Giving David Ambrose, Senior Scene Technician Jennifer Sime, Associate Director of Jacob Heule, Senior Scene Technician Development, Individual Giving Jorg Peter “Winter” Sichelschmidt, Jamie McClave, Individual Giving Senior Scene Technician and Special Events Officer Joseph Swails, Senior Scene Technician Alex Higgins, Director of Annual Fund Mark Mensch, Senior Scene Technician Jocelyn Aptowitz, Major Gifts Associate Mathison Ott, Senior Scene Technician Mike Bragg , Senior Scene Technician EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Ricky Artis, Senior Scene Technician Rica Anderson, Interim Director, Artistic Literacy Robert Haycock, Senior Scene Technician

HUMAN RESOURCES STUDENT MUSICAL ACTIVITIES Judy Hatch, Human Resources Director Mark Sumner, Director, UC Choral Ensembles Shan Whitney, Human Resources Generalist Bill Ganz, Associate Director, UC Choral Ensembles MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Jenny Reik, Director of Marketing and Matthew Sadowski, Director, Cal Marching Band Communications Ted Moore, Director, UC Jazz Ensembles Ron Foster-Smith, Associate Director of Brittney Nguyen, SMA Coordinator Marketing TICKET OFFICE Mark Van Oss, Communications Editor Liz Baqir, Ticket Services Manager Louisa Spier, Public Relations Manager Gordon Young, Assistant Ticket Office Manager Cheryl Games, Digital Platform Program Sherice Jones, Assistant Ticket Office Manager Manager Jeffrey Mason, Patron Services Associate Jeanette Peach, Public Relations Senior Associate Elise Chen, Email Production Associate Opening fanfare used by permission from Jordi Lynn Zummo, New Technology Coordinator Savall from his 2015 recording of Monteverdi's Terri Washington, Social Media and Digital L'Orfeo on Alia Vox. Content Specialist

OPERATIONS Jeremy Little, Production Manager Major support for the Cal Performances Alan Herro, Production Admin Manager Digital Classroom is provided by Wells Fargo. Kevin Riggall, Head Carpenter Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided Matt Norman, Head Electrician by Bank of America. Tom Craft, Audio/Video Department Head Jo Parks, Video Engineer calperformances.org Tiffani Snow, Event Manager Ginarose Perino, Rental Business Manager © 2020 Regents of the University of California Rob Bean, Event Operations Manager Marybeth Baluyot, Assistant Manager, Audience Services

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