McCARTER THEATRE CENTER

William W. Lockwood, Jr. Michael S. Rosenberg SPECIAL PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR

presents YUJA WANG,

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 in the Matthews Theatre

The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment of any kind during performances is strictly prohibited.

Made possible by funds from the McCarter’s 2019-2020 Series New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner sponsored by the Edward T. Cone Foundation agency of the National Endowment of the Arts THE PROGRAM

Baldassare Galuppi Ravel Sonata in C major, first movement Une Barque sur L’Ocean

Bach Berg Toccata in C minor Piano Sonata

Brahms Federico Mompou in A minor Op. 116, No.2 Secreto

Chopin Scriabin Op. 67, no.4 Sonata No.5, Op.53

Brahms Intermezzo in E minor, Op. 119, No.2 NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Chopin Mazurka Op.30, No.4 By David Wright Liszt’s Big Harpsichord Brahms Intermezzo in C sharp mior Op.117, No.3 It took about three-quarters of a cen- bold and expressive music to exploit the tury for what a 1711 writer called the pianoforte’s capabilities. (Another name Chopin “big harpsichord with soft and loud”— in circulation then, fortepiano, is often Mazurka Op.68, No.3 gravecembalo col piano e forte, later used today to denote replicas of those shortened to pianoforte, and finally -pi early instruments.) ano—to dominate the music world, at Most people in the mid-18th century Brahms home and in the concert hall. But by played works such as the sonatas of Bal- Romance in F major, Op.118, No.5 the last decades of the 18th century, the dassare Galuppi and the toccatas of J.S. time of Haydn, Mozart, and the young Bach on the harpsichord. But the rare in- Beethoven, the musical advantages of dividual who owned a pianoforte surely found –– INTERMISSION –– the new instrument were clear: leather- new expressive possibilities in those or cloth-covered hammers striking the pieces, as pianists do today. And as did strings instead of plucking them (as in Frédéric Chopin, a devotee of Bach, Do- Scriabin the harpsichord) could produce not just menico Scarlatti, and Mozart who taught Sonata No.4 in F sharp major, Op.30 soft and loud, but infinite gradations and their music to his piano pupils in the colors of tone. Composers began writing 1840s. Chopin’s own great contribution to music world, and we’re just living in it. Jo- amateur players. , and his allegros are not shy about was the development of the Romantic hannes Brahms was among the first to Which is not to say he skimped on musical challenging the home player with Scarlat- for piano, made possible by give the modern piano a new sound, rich ideas. The soulful arc and colorful harmo- ti-like brilliance and wit. countless improvements in piano design. and often deeply autumnal. He called his ny of his slow movements seem to have Playing his beloved Pleyel and Érard in- meditative late piano pieces “,” stepped straight out of a superb struments, he beguiled audiences in the as if he’d written them in the waiting intimate recital rooms of with noc- room for the next world. turnes, polonaises, and . wrote his early piano Toccata in C minor, BWV 911 But concert tours were growing more works under the spell of Chopin and Liszt, JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH ambitious, and concert halls larger. A but his own vision of the next world—or Born March 21, 1685, in Eisenach barnstorming virtuoso such as of a higher plane of existence in this Died July 28, 1750, in Leipzig or Louis Moreau Gottschalk could come one—eventually drove him to ecstatic to town and entertain the crowd not just heights at the instrument. His nine piano Since there have been keyboard in- diately put his own stamp on it. His dra- with his own compositions but with his sonatas, of which we hear the middle two struments, there have been players eager matic organ toccatas––especially the D piano transcription of a Beethoven sym- tonight, are significant landmarks along to put them through their paces, and for minor, famous from Walt Disney’s Fantasia, phony or an act of a Verdi . Everyone that journey. these virtuosos the “toccata” has been a hundred horror movies, and a thousand wanted more power, more singing tone, Among the composers influenced by the genre of choice (eclipsed only briefly organ recitals––are heard often today, more ability to imitate all the instruments Debussy’s novel conception of piano in the nineteenth century by the “etude” but his seven toccatas for harpsichord, of the . sound were and Federico of Chopin and his successors). The title, composed when he was in his early twen- The turning point came at the Paris Mompou, who ushered in the 20th century derived from the Italian word for “touch”, ties, have had difficulty competing for Exposition of 1867, when the American with music of pictorial vividness and quietly says it all: this is music that revels in the program space with his more “modern” firms of Steinway and Chickering shocked personal expression, respectively. sheer tactile joy of coaxing music from a sounding pieces, such as the Italian Concerto. the Old World by taking top honors in Although tonight’s trip through piano mechanism. Speed and agility were part Not that these toccatas lack drama and the piano competition. Their innovative, history pauses there, the masters of jazz of the genre from the beginning, but Italian variety––far from it. Just like the D minor superbly engineered instruments imme- and pop, along with composers such as composers of the late Renaissance also organ toccata, this C minor piece opens diately became the model for most Euro- Stravinsky and and today’s included sections in vocal-style counter- strikingly with an attention-getting single pean (and not much later, Japanese) piano avant-garde stars, have never stopped point, as if to show that their organs and note, emphasized with a down-up “mordent.” production. The design of a Steinway exploring the potential of Liszt’s big harp- harpsichords could not only dazzle with A flourish of scales leads to a somber grand piano has changed little since. sichord. Its day is far from done. scales and leaps, but caress the ear in im- fugue, adagio, which ends in a deeply Therefore, where composing new pi- itation of a madrigal choir. expressive coda. In maximum contrast, ano music is concerned, it’s Franz Liszt’s Early in the Baroque era, Frescobaldi the Toccata concludes with a high-energy brought the toccata to a peak of volatile bril- double fugue, whose hopping subject is liance and expressiveness. As a young eventually matched with an even livelier Sonata in C major, first movement keyboard virtuoso, J.S. Bach received the countersubject. BALDASSARE GALUPPI tradition by way of North German masters Born October 18, 1706, in Burano, near Venice such as Buxtehude, and of course imme- Died January 3, 1785, in Venice

It was common in the mid-18th century though Baldassare Galuppi was admired for celebrated opera composers to cap- not just for his but for his harp- italize on their fame by writing keyboard sichord playing, he kept his 130 or so sonatas for the home music market. Al- sonatas fairly simple, so as to appeal to Four Mazurkas had produced sprawling, romantic works of Vienna’s next generation, especially FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN in his youth. Composing piano charac- Schoenberg and Webern. Brahms under- Born probably March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw ter pieces for the first time in 13 years, scored this music’s abstract character by Died October 17, 1849, in Paris Brahms pointed Beethoven-like to the giving it the most offhand, non-descrip- future; as Beethoven’s freedom and sub- tive titles he could find: “Intermezzo” Like Chopin himself, the mazurka orig- Chopin published his mazurkas in sets, jectivity paved the way for Schumann and for the slow pieces, “Capriccio” for the inated in the Polish province of Mazovia. usually of four, occasionally three, and in Liszt, so Brahms’s compression, counter- fast ones. He did permit himself the title Irving Kolodin has described it as “a dance one case five. The Mazurka in C-sharp point, and complex rhythms set a prece- “Romance” for one especially warm and of encounter and separation, in which the minor, the fourth and final piece in the dent for the densely wrought piano pieces lyrical piece, Op. 118, No. 5, in F major. couples trace a prescribed course of ex- Op. 30 set, is an epic poem in miniature, change and return.” It would not be sur- hinting at important events, seamlessly prising to learn that the sensitive, fatalistic transforming its initial theme from dark Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30. Chopin saw in such a dance a metaphor brooding to defiant fortissimo to insou- ALEXANDER SCRIABIN for life. His mazurkas are perhaps his most ciant dance and back again. The other Born January 6, 1872, in Moscow idiosyncratic music, and they often fell on mazurkas on this program are simpler in Died April 27, 1915, in Moscow uncomprehending ears; one influential design, but evocative nonetheless. They critic lambasted those of Op. 7 for their were published after Chopin’s death in Alexander Scriabin always composed transfigured. From 1911 to 1914, while at- “ear splitting discords, forced transitions, 1849, and their dates of composition like a man possessed. In his early years–– tempting to develop a grand multimedia harsh modulations, and ugly distortion of range from 1830 for Op. 68, No. 3, when when he was still “just” a gifted and pro- work that would bring together his ideas melody and rhythm.” Besides being lit- Chopin was 20 years old, to 1846 for Op. gressive pianist/composer, second in his on the synesthetic relationship between erally “offbeat”––stressing the second or 67, No. 4. Moscow Conservatory class only to Rach- color and musical harmony, he composed third beats of the three four bar––these maninoff––the ghost of Chopin seemed many piano pieces, which were gathered pieces are primitive, chromatic, asymmetrical to enter into him, dictating a host of new into his Opuses 61 through 74. in ways that wouldn’t be seen again until preludes, , mazurkas, impromp- Actually, Scriabin composed piano the 20th century. tus and etudes. The resemblance was un- music throughout his career; the Fourth canny: the highly-colored poetry, the fluid and Fifth Sonatas date from the years cross-rhythms, the fastidiousness border- 1903 and 1907 respectively, during a Four Piano Pieces ing on dandyism, the aching dissonanc- period when he was intensely involved es, the feeling of nerves rubbed raw with in composing the orchestral works Le Born May 7, 1833, in Hamburg sensation. It all seemed not merely to poème de l’extase (The Poem of Ecstasy) Died April 3, 1897, in Vienna imitate Chopin’s idiom, but to revive his and Prométhée, le poème du feu (Pro- personality, and to carry it several steps metheus, The Poem of Fire). No other An implacable perfectionist, Brahms lure him out of retirement, but we probably further toward––what? Scriabin’s answer, significant composer, Wagner included, vowed to cease composing at the first have that housecleaning to thank for the it later turned out, was mysticism, theoso- so completely identified the erotic - im sign of failing powers. On completion invaluable piano pieces that were pub- phy, a half-mad vision of cataclysm. pulse with the yearning for spiritual tran- of his String Quintet, Op. 111, in 1890, lished in four sets (Opp. 116-119) during Although Scriabin’s tragically early scendence. although he was only 57 and in robust 1892 and 1893. death from an infection was unexpect- These sonatas are brief as sonatas go, health, Brahms informed his publisher Not that these were old goods––in fact, ed, one can’t help looking at his life and but each strives mightily to expand the that the hour had come. He began a only a few of the pieces seem to look back seeing a single arc from the early Chopin- range of emotions and ideas the piano thorough housecleaning, destroying un- to an earlier Brahms. Rather, reviewing esque piano works, through the visionary can express. The Sonata No. 4 represents usable manuscripts and polishing others those few items apparently sent the com- and symphonic poems, and a large step in that direction, freeing itself for publication. New stimuli would later poser back to the instrument for which he ending in piano music again, fantastically from the constraints of conventional to- nality to hover in harmonic suspense. The Sharp desire, voluptuous and crazed foam. Although fresh air, sun and spray well for the barque. At the very end, Prestissimo volando follows the Andan- yet sweet pervade the scene, the massive swells however, our vessel rights itself and sails te without a break and shares thematic Endlessly with no other goal than longing and precipitate descents do not bode blithely on. material with it. Both movements throb I would desire. with Lisztian sensuality and yearning. In case we might overlook Scriabin’s iden- But no! I vault in joyous leap tification of the erotic with the mystical, Freely I take wing Sonata, Op. 1 he prefaced this sonata with a free verse ALBAN BERG poem (originally in French), which begins: Mad dance, godlike ! Born February 9, 1885, in Vienna Intoxicating, shining one! Died December 24, 1935, in Vienna In a light mist, transparent vapor In 1904, a shy, 19-year-old Alban Berg On the other, it is the first of Berg’s adult Lost afar and yet distinct It is toward thee, adored star brought Arnold Schoenberg some songs works composed “out of the blue,” not A star gleams softly, My flight guides me he had composed––”in a style between for a class assignment. By declaring it and Johannes Brahms,” his Opus 1, Berg signaled the end of his How beautiful! The bluish mystery Toward thee, created freely for me Schoenberg later recalled––and was ac- apprenticeship. The relationship with Of her glow To serve the end cepted into the master’s theory class. Schoenberg, while remaining filial to the Beckons me, cradles me. My flight of liberation! Berg, whose father had died four years be- end of Berg’s life, was never quite the fore, found a substitute in the demanding, same after that. O bring me to thee, far distant star! ... magnetic Schoenberg. He hurled himself True to its title, this one-movement Bathe me in trembling rays into the rigorous course of study, but it work is in sonata form, with identifiable Sweet light! wasn’t until nearly three years later that themes in a repeated exposition, an im- he could write to a friend: “Now, next autumn, passioned development rising to quadruple comes composition. This summer I am fortissimo, and a much-altered recapit- “Une barque sur l’océan,” from Miroirs to work hard, partly composing out of ulation. The rules of tonality, however, MAURICE RAVEL the blue (I am making a piano sonata for are little help in getting one’s bearings Born March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, my own benefit) and partly repeating the here; although the key signature is two Died December 28, 1937, in Paris counterpoint exercises...” Schoenberg sharps and B minor is clearly the key at Miroirs continues the story: beginning and end, all else is wrapped in The instruction in composition that layer upon layer of chromatic mist. Berg If, as Hamlet says, the actor’s task is “to poser’s ever-changing sensibility. The col- followed proceeded effortlessly and identifies new themes entering and oth- hold the mirror up to nature,” how much lection dates from 1904-05, the time of smoothly up to and including the Sonata, er structural points by the shifts in tempo more is this true of the musician, and Debussy’s first book of Images for piano, Op. 1. Then problems began to appear, carefully indicated throughout the score. particularly one who practices the sound and, as Ravel wrote later, “they represent the nature of which neither of us under- The Sonata is a last hurrah for both the chemistry of Impressionism? That label, such a considerable change in my har- stood then. I understand today: obvious- architecture of Beethoven and Brahms which Debussy detested, doesn’t stick monic development that even musicians ly Alban...had a burning desire to express and the Romantic coloring of Chopin very well to much of Ravel’s output either, who were accustomed to my manner up himself in a way different from the classical and Wagner; as Schoenberg eventually but the collection of five piano pieces ti- to then were somewhat disconcerted.” form, harmonies and melodies... realized, Berg’s own twelve-tone idiom is tled Miroirs is too richly evocative to be “Une barque sur l’océan” (“A Sailboat The Sonata, then, is a turning point. right around the corner. called anything else. The title is plural–– on the Ocean”) begins as a quasi-mini- On the one hand, it demonstrates Berg’s not “the mirror,” but “mirrors” or “reflec- malist sail over gentle, regular waves of assimilation of tradition, and it proudly tions”––because these images are not arpeggios. Then a wind comes up, and wears the warm of youth. fixed or literal, but reflected in the com- the waves grow huge and topped with plane. “I am a translator,” he cried....His scale, which anticipates Debussy’s 1913 “Secreto” from Impresiones intimas problem was how to render it from con- piano piece “Fireworks”; a yearning yet FEDERICO MOMPOU cealment into palpable life, to transfer indolent melody marked Languido; and Born April 16, 1893 in Barcelona it into corporeal music without losing its an eager, lustful Presto con allegrezza, Died June 30, 1987 in Barcelona original sensation. He did not want his derived from a phrase of the Languido and

In a rough-and-tumble world that tends he wrote these pieces after hearing the own shadow to dim its quartz-clear image. perhaps also from the whirling, dancing to reward brilliance and assertiveness, a warm, tender music of Fauré. They also Nevertheless, he could not resist quoting rhythms and trumpet calls of Debussy’s musical personality like that of Federico show the influence of Debussy’s hazy pi- these lines from his “Poem of Ecstasy” in L’isle joyeuse, composed three years Mompou comes along rarely. In his first ano sonorities, without that composer’s the score of the Sonata: before. After repeating the themes in published piano collection, composed sophistication and wry humor. “Secreto” somewhat altered form, Scriabin devel- between 1911 and 1914 and appropri- in particular inhabits a world of childlike I call you to life, O mysterious forces! ops them in earnest, including a fast, ner- ately titled Impresiones intimas, the shy, directness not unlike that of Mompou’s Submerged in depths obscure vous parody of the Languido. Now the sensitive composer offered music that is older contemporary Erik Satie, but again Of the Creator Spirit, timid embryons music is beginning to spill over its sona- sometimes so “intimate” it’s almost em- without the latter’s Gallic irony. of life, ta-form banks; the recapitulation is Pres- barrassing to overhear it. Mompou said To you I now bring courage. tissimo instead of Presto, and the coda (marked vertiginoso con furia, among For all their wildness and passion (the other things) brings back the Languido initial tempo marking is Allegro impetuoso theme in triumph, triple-fortissimo, before Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 con stravaganza), these mysterious be- surging up on a pyrotechnic wave and ex- ALEXANDER SCRIABIN ings presented themselves to Scriabin in ploding into nothingness. something resembling classical sonata form. Scriabin first encountered the mystical miracle I accomplished it...” His wife The themes, in order of appearance, are: Copyright © 2020 teachings of Madame Blavatsky in 1905. Tatyana reported in another letter: “I can- a passage of rumbling, spurting, skyrock- by David Wright From then on, his former idol Nietzsche not believe my ears. It is incredible. That eting figures based on the whole-tone was forgotten, and Theosophy occupied Sonata pours from him like a fountain. his thoughts daily, as he filled notebook Everything you have heard up to now is after notebook with musings on the life as nothing. You cannot even tell it is a so- force, creativity, and the Infinite. Among nata.” Although the principal theme (the these was a long piece of free verse he one in Presto chords) had come to Scriabin ABOUT THE ARTIST called “The Poem of Ecstasy,” which be- while he was in Chicago on a concert came the basis for a visionary orchestral tour, the actual composition of his Sonata YUJA WANG cies, and extensive tours with some of the work of the same name, begun in 1905. No. 5 took just a single week, December Critical superlatives and audience ova- world’s most venerated ensembles and In December 1907, Scriabin wrote a 8-14, 1907. tions have continuously followed Yuja conductors. friend from Lausanne, Switzerland to re- This “miracle” left Scriabin profoundly Wang’s dazzling career. The Beijing-born Season highlights include Yuja’s year- port that the long toil over this work was moved. According to his biographer pianist, celebrated for her charismatic long “Artist Spotlight” at the Barbican nearly done, but that despite his physical Faubion Bowers. artistry and captivating stage presence, Centre, where she curates and performs exhaustion he had already composed an- He said that for the first time he found is set to achieve new heights during the in four distinct events: the first London other piece: “It is a big poem for piano a composition outside himself. He saw it 2019/20 season, which features recitals, performance of ’ newest pi- and I deem it the best piano composition I as “an image,” a “sound-body” of three concert series, as well as season residen- ano concerto (premiered by her in Spring have ever written. I do not know by what dimensions with colors and from another 2019) titled Must the Devil Have All the soloist with some of the leading Good Tunes? with the Los Angeles Phil- of North America, including the Boston harmonic and , which Orchestra, under the baton of they take to Boston and New York City; Andris Nelsons; the Toronto Symphony recitals featuring cellist Gautier Capuçon Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno; and clarinetist ; and the , led by Mi- she concludes the residency with a solo chael Tilson Thomas; and the recital. Orchestra, under the musical direction of In autumn of 2019, she tours China Yannick Nézet-Séguin. with the , presenting Yuja received advanced training in concerts in Macao, Guangzhou, Shang- Canada and at Philadelphia’s Curtis Insti- hai, and Wuhan. The beginning of 2020 tute of Music under . Her sees Yuja and Gautier Capuçon reuniting international breakthrough came in 2007 for a recital tour featuring eleven dates when she replaced as presented in Europe’s premiere venues, soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. including the Philharmonie de Paris and She later signed an exclusive contract the Wiener Konzerthaus. She then em- with and has barks on an extensive solo recital tour, since established her place among the appearing in renowned concert halls world’s leading artists, with a succession throughout North America and Europe, of critically-acclaimed performances and including , Davies Symphony recordings. Hall, and the Het Concertgebouw, run- Yuja was named Musical America’s Artist ning from February to April. of the Year in 2017. Additionally, Yuja will be the featured

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