CONCERT #4 - Released February 13, 2021

Robert Schumann Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102 Mit humor “Vanitas vanitatum” Langsam Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen Nicht zu rasch Stark und markiert

Edward Arron / Jeewon Park

Jean Sibelius Four Pieces for Vioin and Piano, Op. 78 Romance Religioso Rigaudon

Benjamin Bowman / Jeewon Park piano

JULES MASSENET Méditation from Thaïs Benjamin Bowman violin / Jeewon Park piano

Sergei Prokofiev for Flute and Piano in , Op. 94 Moderato Scherzo: Presto Andante Allegro con brio

Demarre McGill flute / Orion Weiss piano In the third piece, Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu (1810–1856) spielen (“Not fast, to be played with much feeling”) Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102 (1849) the cello presents a rising minor theme over a gently Most recent SCMS performance: Summer 2011 insistent piano accompaniment. In the middle of the movement the cello moves up on the neck to provide Robert Schumann shared love and inspiration for a more lyrical theme over supportive piano chords. with other composers of early German For contrast, Schumann changes the piano part from , which he set in accord with the practice block chords to rippling arpeggios. of his time, i.e., with “standard” classical music harmony. Composers of the modern era have tended The penultimate movement, Nicht zu rasch (“Not to adopt modal and other non-standard scales, too brisk”), ramps up the energy with an upward resulting in music that more closely resembles figure on the piano that serves to introduce the original folk sources and sounds. With this distinction cello. Shortly the dynamic level drops, though not in mind, Schumann’s folkish pieces still engage without maintaining an anxious, rippling piano the imagination and provide a congenial diversion accompaniment. Soon the temperature rises again, from the more passionate and learned works that and the brief movement ends forcefully. comprise the major part of his canon. Stark und markiert (“Strong and marked”) begins A year before Schumann and his family moved to with a single emphatic piano chord that immediately Düsseldorf, he composed the Stücke im Volkston for sets things in motion. Comparatively tempestuous, Cello and Piano, Op. 102 (“Five Pieces in Folk-Song a number of sforzandos and rapid mood changes Style”). He dedicated the new work to the principal create the essence of a mini-music drama. cellist of the famed Leipzig Gewandhaus , Andreas Grabau. As with several of Schumann’s chamber works with piano, there are alternative versions that replace the cello with either oboe or Jean Sibelius clarinet. Composed before his final and terrible lapse (1865–1957) into psychosis, the attractive miniatures give no hint Four Pieces for Vioin and Piano, Op. 78 of the dire consequences of his mental illness that (1915—17) would hasten his death just a few years hence. SCMS premiere

The “cycle” opens with Mit humor. Cast in the minor, Jean Sibelius’ standing in the pantheon of composers the piece opens with a simple, skittish theme on seems assured as we enter a new century, but it was the cello supported initially by a basic “oom-pah” not always thus. Born in 1865, the Finnish composer piano accompaniment. A brief contrasting episode was branded as a progressive in his youth, found his posits a more flowing countermelody. The two music accepted with great passion through World instruments switch roles mid-piece, with the piano War I, saw it eclipsed by the new revolutionaries taking the melodic lead, though only briefly, before in the 1920s (mainly Schoenberg and Stravinsky the cello resumes primacy. After another brief and and their conductorial minions), experienced a slower episode, the song-like piece ends with a quick resurgence of popularity during the ‘30s due to upward scale on cello and final single chord on piano. championship by Sir and other Brits, then fell into a long decline beginning in the Marked Langsam (“slowly”), the following ditty opens ‘40s. It was not until the pendulum swung away from with a tender, lullaby-like rising triadic theme on the atonalism in the 1970s that younger composers cello. A sudden and brief shift into the minor brings and new audiences caught up with ’s most a sadder mood, though Schumann quickly returns to beloved composer. the major.

WINTer festival // Sibelius originally studied in hopes of a career as a Its story is drawn from an ancient tale of an Egyptian violinist but gave up on that venture when he realized courtesan who renounces the world of flesh in favor of he didn’t have the requisite “chops.” His decision to newly found spiritual relief and release. If tunes from focus on composition yielded longer-lasting fame the opera do not spill readily from the lips of most opera than that of a performer. and attendees, the poignant and familiar “symphonic ” from Act II, an extended violin The piano provides a rippling introduction to the solo over a discrete accompaniment, gives a taste of the opening Impromptu marked commodo that maintains work’s beguiling charms. The attractive and sentimental a basic pulse throughout the piece while the violin theme grows effortlessly out of basic arpeggiated quietly weaves an increasingly energetic if short- materials. The prevailing sweetness is leavened by brief lived foray above the keyboard. episodes of fervent emotion.

A Romance (Andante) follows, its mood is established by the piano, which sets the stage for the violin’s lyrical persuasion. A rhapsodic episode raises the temperature before the subsiding to the opening (1891–1953) calm. Sonata for Flute and Piano in D Major, Op. 94 (1943) Coming third and marked Religioso (Sostenuto Most recent SCMS performance: Winter 2006 assai) a stately piano introduction suggests a slow Sarabande-like reminiscence of the Baroque era. During World War II Prokofiev and many other The violin’s lengthy flowing theme and occasional Russian artists left Moscow for the comparative chromatic harmonies is another nod to Baroque safety of Naltchik in the Caucasus Mountains. In practice. 1942, Prokofiev moved to Alma-Ata on the border of Eastern Turkestan to collaborate with famed The concluding Rigaudon (Allegretto) recalls a later film director Sergei Eisenstein on the two-part epic style, that of the 19th and 20th centuries’s age of film, Ivan the Terrible. The two creative artists had such violin-playing composers as , previously collaborated on Alexander Nevsky in 1938, Henri Vieuxtemps and Fritz Kreisler. The ebullient a film of such strong anti-German sentiment that it and festive dance-like rhythmic élan could well be a was shelved with the signing of the non-aggression fond reminiscence of the composer’s early violinistic pact. aspirations. While at work on Ivan Prokofiev began setting down ideas for a flute sonata, commenting, “This instrument had for a long time attracted me and JULES MASSENET it seemed to me that it had been made little use (1842—1912 of in musical literature. I wanted this Sonata to Méditation from Thaïs (1893-94) have a classical, clear, transparent sonority.” The Most recent SCMS performance: Summer 2007 completed Sonata for Flute and Piano in D Major, Op. 94, received its premiere in Moscow shortly before Jules Massenet represents the tradition of sweetly Christmas in 1943. (Violinist fell in lyrical French opera, shared by Charles Gounod and love with the sonata and asked the composer to ultimately rejected, along with Wagner-ism by Debussy transcribe it for violin. The two musicians worked and subsequent 20th century French composers. together on the collaboration.) Still, such works as Werther and Manon show up with regularity on opera house stages around the world, The Flute Sonata opens with a Moderato boasting augmented by an occasional performance of Thaïs. two lyrical themes in the exposition. A new,

february 13, 2021 // program notes rhythmically precise theme joins in during the central episode dominated by chromatic triplet development section, which heightens the expressive alternations between the two instruments. While level. The recapitulation and coda retreat to the the flute maintains the triplet figuration, the piano calmer spirit of the exposition. revisits the opening theme. The movement ends gently and quietly. The second movement, Scherzo: Presto, posits a skittish, rollicking primary theme before positing The Allegro con brio concluding movement leaps a jovial second theme. After reprising the first forward with an energetic theme that recalls the tune, there is a marked slowing down that leads spirit of his “Classical Symphony” and opera, The to a central lyrical section punctuated by sudden Love for Three Oranges. A second theme consists of outbursts. The first and second themes return before two ideas—a parodistic evocation of those endless a coda that pits the two tunes against each other. Czerny exercises piano students must contend with, and contrasting ascending arpeggios. Eventually Prokofiev never forsook tonality and had a a new and lyrical tune insinuates itself into the Romantic’s ear for ingratiating melody. In the A-B-A proceedings, adding poignancy and depth. Prokofiev third movement, marked Andante, the beguiling ramps up the energy, bringing the popular sonata to simplicity of the opening section is followed by a an appropriately virtuosic conclusion. .

Program Notes by Steven Lowe

WINTER festival //