OPUS 3 ARTISTS presents JONATHAN BISS piano

NOVEMBER 12, 2020 NOVEMBER 13, 2020 Concert Sponsors: Edward Jones, Judy Hull, and Matt Hull Concert Sponsors: Frank and Carol Morsani

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 4 in E-flat BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 8 in C minor, (1770-1827) Major, Op. 7 (1770-1827) Op. 13 “Pathétique” Allegro molto e con brio Grave: Allegro di Largo con gran molto e con brio espressione Adagio cantabile Allegro Rondo: Allegro Rondo: Poco Allegretto BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 22 in F Major, e grazioso Op. 54 BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp In Tempo di Menuetto minor, Op. 27 No. 2 Allegretto “Moonlight” Adagio sostenuto BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a “Les Adieux” Allegretto Presto agitato Adagio: Allegro Andante espressivo Vivacissimamente 5-MINUTE PAUSE

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp 5-MINUTE PAUSE Major, Op. 78 Adagio cantabile: Allegro BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 32 in C minor, ma non troppo Op. 111 Allegro vivace Maestoso: Allegro con brio ed appassionato BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 25 in G Major, Arietta: Adagio molto Op 79 semplice e cantabile Presto alla tedesca Andante Vivace

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 Moderato cantabile molto espressivo Allegro molto Adagio ma non troppo BEETHOVEN’S SHADOW Program Insights

Excerpt from the Kindle e-book Beethoven’s 2, No. 3 for him, one of so many early works that Shadow by Jonathan Biss (2011), a chronicle of the give the lie to the notion that spirituality was a pri- author’s lifelong relationship with Beethoven’s mary concern for Beethoven only in his last years. Piano Sonatas: At one point during the lesson, I struggled to execute something Mr. Fleisher had asked for, and My first experience of the Beethoven Sonatas as I remarked at how difficult it was. It was a throw- a body of work came when I was 13 years old. I had away comment, but his reply was dead serious: travelled to the Peabody Institute in Baltimore “That’s right. As my sainted teacher used to say, to play for , who several years later no performance of a great piece of music can ever would become my teacher and one of the great be as great as the work itself; it remains more per- influences of my life. Coincidentally, that same fect in the imagination.” In the years since, I have weekend, his students, between them, were per- both consoled myself with these words, and worn forming the sonatas, complete, in a marathon them as a badge of honor; they form the basis of session beginning early in the morning and ending a philosophy that I carry with me as I address this somewhat past midnight. I arrived in time for the music each day (and that has proved indispensable Op. 31 Sonatas (numbers 16 through 18, of 32) and whenever the struggle has threatened to over- stayed, excepting a short dinner break, to the end. whelm me). I had rather dutifully brought the scores with me; the experience was so powerful — so visceral — that The other memorable moment in the lesson came I can still, when looking at certain places in those as we were working on the Sonata’s second move- scores, recall both the most mundane details (the ment, one of the first of Beethoven’s many experi- modesty of the bow that preceded what seemed ments with stopping time, a movement in which to me a titanic performance of the Hammerklavier; silence and space are at least as important as the way my legs were crossed during the celestial sound. This sort of music, which requires tremen- modulation into E flat major in the second move- dous patience and an impossible degree of inner ment of Op. 111) and the accompanying sensations calm, does not exactly come naturally to a 13-year- (an actual physical pain in my head at the effort to old, and Mr. Fleisher, for all his wisdom and all his process what I was hearing in the former case, an restless brilliance, struggled for the words that actual inability to breathe in the latter). When you would produce something like the desired effect are 13, with an abiding love for music and the ambi- out of me. Then suddenly, his typically laser-beam tion to make a life with it, you assume you know eyes went all vague, staring off into the middle — at least in the most rudimentary sense — what distance. “This music isn’t about what’s here; it’s Beethoven is. I staggered out of Peabody that about what’s there.” I was utterly confused until I night thinking, for the first of what would be many followed his gaze to the walls of the studio, which times over the subsequent years, that besotted as were covered, almost in their entirety, with posters I was, I didn’t have a clue. of the Milky Way. “Most composers are interested in the sensory, the tactile — what we can see, feel, The following day, in Mr. Fleisher’s studio on touch. He is interested in what is beyond our per- Peabody’s fourth floor, this feeling was not only ception. That over there, the galaxy, the infinite: reinforced, but actively encouraged. In the les- That is Beethoven.” son’s immediate aftermath, I felt that the things we worked on opened countless new avenues to —Jonathan Biss be explored, but 17 years (and many, many subse- Beethoven’s Shadow by Jonathan Biss is available as a quent lessons) later, I remember only two things Kindle Single from Amazon.com. Mr. Fleisher said that day. I played the Sonata Op. JONATHAN BISS Piano

mini-cycles around the U.S. this season, includ- ing at the Perelman Theater in , 92nd Street Y in New York, The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and Meany Hall in Seattle, as well as abroad in Rome, Budapest, Sydney, and Melbourne. In 2011, Mr. Biss set out on a journey to record the composer’s complete piano sonatas on nine discs over nine years, and the project concludes with the November 2019 release of Volume 9 and March 2020 release of the complete box set on BIOGRAPHY Orchid Classics. Complementing this cycle is his Jonathan Biss is a world-renowned pianist who free, online Coursera lecture series Exploring channels his deep musical curiosity into per- Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, which surveys all 32 of formances and projects in the concert hall and these landmark works in the piano repertoire. Mr. beyond. In addition to performing with today’s Biss embarked on this project seven years ago, leading orchestras, he continues to expand his and with the release of the sixth and final install- reputation as a teacher, musical thinker, and one ment of lectures in January 2020, the course now of the great Beethoven interpreters of our time. examines the complete Beethoven sonatas. Mr. Biss was recently named Co-Artistic Director Mr. Biss has taken a different approach to sur- alongside at the Marlboro Music veying Beethoven’s five piano concertos, embark- Festival, where he has spent thirteen summers. ing on a commissioning project, Beethoven/5, He also leads a massive open online course that pairs each Beethoven concerto with a new (MOOC) via Coursera, which has reached more concerto composed in response. Launched in than 150,000 people from nearly every country in 2015 in partnership with lead commissioner the the world. He has written extensively about the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, this project has music he plays, and has authored three e-books, led to the world premieres of ’s The including Beethoven’s Shadow, the first Kindle Blind Banister, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Single written by a classical musician, published Music, ’s City Stanzas, Salvatore by Rosetta Books in 2011. Sciarrino’s Il Sogno di Stradella, and Caroline For more than a decade, he has fully immersed Shaw’s Watermark. This season, Mr. Biss pre- himself in the music of Beethoven, exploring the mieres ’s Gneixendorfer Musik with composer’s works and musical thought through The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, per- a wide variety of projects, several of which cul- forming the concerto in Stockholm alongside minate in 2019-20. Mr. Biss’s recital repertoire the work that inspired it, Beethoven’s “Emperor” this season is almost exclusively focused on the Concerto. He then brings the new commission to Beethoven piano sonatas, with complete, sev- the Dresden Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony en-program sonata cycles at London’s Wigmore Orchestra, and the Wrocław Philharmonic Hall, Berkeley’s Hertz Hall, the new McKnight in Poland. Additionally, Mr. Biss performs the Center for the Performing Arts at Oklahoma “Emperor” with orchestras worldwide, includ- State University, and Wells Cathedral School in ing with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra led by Somerset, U.K. In recent seasons he has per- Osmo Vänskä at and Philadelphia’s formed complete cycles at the Aspen and Ravinia Kimmel Center as part of a seven-city East Coast festivals and in recitals presented by the Atlanta U.S. tour. Symphony Orchestra. In addition to these com- Throughout his career, Mr. Biss has been an plete cycles, he performs sonata recitals and advocate for new music. Prior to Beethoven/5, he commissioned Lunaire Variations by David musical collaborations were with his mother and Ludwig, Interlude II by , Wonderer father. He studied with Evelyne Brancart at Indiana by , and Three Pieces for Piano and University and with Leon Fleisher at the Curtis a concerto by , which he premiered Institute of Music, where he is now on faculty and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has also holds the Neubauer Family Chair in Piano Studies. premiered a piano quintet by . He has since appeared with major orchestras Mr. Biss’s projects represent his complete around the world, including in the U.S. with the Los approach to music-making and connecting Angeles and New York Philharmonics; the Boston, his audience to his own passion for the music. Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies; and the Previous projects have included an exploration Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras. In Europe, of composers’ “Late Style” in various concert he has appeared with the BBC Symphony, Royal programs at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and San Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Francisco Performances. He also gave master Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, among many other classes at Carnegie Hall and published the Kindle ensembles. Single Coda on the topic. Schumann: Under the Mr. Biss has been recognized with numerous Influence was a 30-concert exploration of the honors, including the Leonard Bernstein Award composer’s role in musical history, for which Mr. presented at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Biss also recorded Schumann and Dvořák piano Festival, Wolf Trap’s Shouse Debut Artist Award, quintets with the Elias String Quartet and wrote the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, A Pianist Under the Influence. Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Mr. Biss represents the third generation in a Fisher Career Grant, the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni family of professional musicians that includes Trust Award, and a 2002 Gilmore Young Artist his grandmother , one of the Award. His albums for EMI won the Diapason first well-known female cellists (for whom Samuel d’Or de l’Année and Edison awards. He was an Barber composed his Cello Concerto), and his artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s parents, violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Performance Today and was the first American Paul Biss. Growing up surrounded by music, Mr. chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Biss began his piano studies at age six, and his first Artist program.

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