Streaming Premiere – Thursday, October 1, 2020, 7pm Tessa Lark, violin Andrew Armstrong, piano

Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances on location at Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center, New York City, on August 17, 2020.

Major support for this program provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation. Patron Sponsors: Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith

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PROGRAM

Béla Bartók (arr. Székely) Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56, BB 68 Jocul cu bâtă (Dance with Sticks) Brâul (Sash Dance) Pe loc (Stamping Dance) Buciumeana (Hornpipe Dance) Poarca Românească (Romanian Polka) Mănuntelul (Fast Dance)

Eugène Ysaÿe Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin in G major, Op. 27, Mathieu Crickboom L’Aurore Danse rustique

Franz Schubert Fantasy in C major, D. 934 Andante molto Allegretto Andantino (Theme and Variations on “Sei mir gegrüßt”) Allegro vivace

INTERMISSION

Edvard Grieg Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 Allegro molto ed appassionato Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza Allegro animato

Maurice Ravel Tzigane – rapsodie de concert

Tessa Lark plays a ca.1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. Tessa Lark is represented worldwide by Manhattan-based Sciolino Artist Management (www.samnyc.us). Note: following its premiere, the video recording of this concert will be available on demand through December 30, 2020.

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PROGRAM NOTES

Musical Passports Béla Bartók (1881–1945) “The only true voyage of discovery,” Marcel Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56, BB 68 Proust famously wrote, “would be not to visit Béla Bartók’s efforts to bring a scientific rigor to foreign lands but… to behold the universe the study of folk music helped pave the way for through the eyes of another”—through the a new way of thinking about the relationship perceptions, that is, provided by artists. This between vernacular sources and so-called “high insight has acquired unexpected new relevance art.” In the early decades of the 20th century, in the era of the coronavirus. With the curtail- together with such colleagues as Zoltán Kodály, ment of physical travel—even to a live per- he applied a more systematic approach that her- formance venue—music lovers have become alded the emergent discipline of ethnomusicol- even hungrier for the vicarious experiences ogy. For his own artistic purposes, Bartók found afforded by composers and their interpreters. elements in folk music that he could use as Tessa Lark almost seems to have anticipated the basis for a fresh musical language. And the this hunger when she released her solo debut process of exploring old Magyar and other eth- album last year. Titled Fantasy, it celebrates nic folk musics would go on to enrich Bartók’s the power of the imagination with a focus on own musical palette. It aided him in evolving a variations on the fantasia idea, which Lark compelling alternative to the stalemate between describes as pieces “directed by the composer’s “reactionary” styles oriented toward past and whims… essentially written-down imitations self-proclaimed Modernist revolutionaries. of an improvisation.” Bartók’s interest in folk music extended be- The present program, with Lark accompa- yond his native Hungary to embrace other peo- nied by pianist Andrew Armstrong, includes ples and traditions of Eastern Europe (including two works that appeared on that recording— Slovak, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Croatian Franz Schubert’s extraordinary, single-move- music) and even to Turkey and North Africa. ment Fantasy in C major, the centerpiece of He not only transcribed folk music but also both the album and this performance, as well used the new invention of the phonograph to as Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane—but also continues record what he was discovering at the source, its exploration of improvisatory impulses. Béla eventually classifying thousands of folk melo- Bartók reminds us how closely linked music dies and dances. often is to folk sources, while Eugène Ysaÿe’s Before the First World War, Bartók had al- unaccompanied Mathieu Crickboom sonata, ready gathered a number of dances that he had which almost cinematically evokes the sunrise, encountered when listening to Romanian fid- underscores the true meaning of virtuosity as a dlers. He was particularly fascinated by this col- tool to liberate the imagination. Even the for- lection, making numerous arrangements of it mal structural rigor of Edvard Grieg’s C minor over the years: for piano (he recorded his own Violin Sonata gives way, at moments, to im- rendition), for a pair of guitars, and even for a pulses from Norwegian folk dance. recorder quartet. Bartók published his version Each piece on this program transports us to of this material as miniatures for piano in 1915 a different spot in Europe deeply connected and, in 1917, in an orchestrated form. We hear with its respective composer. At the same time, the arrangement for violin and piano made by we can expect to encounter hints of the styles his friend Zoltán Székely, for whom the com- that Lark, a native Kentuckian, grew up with. poser later wrote his Violin Concerto No. 2. “My first musical influences came from blue- Bartók’s settings emphasize the individual grass, Appalachian, and other American folk characters and rhythmic profiles of each of styles,” she says, “and as a result, my primarily these very brief dances. The collection opens classical training, career, and recital programs with the proud poise of the “Dance with Sticks” have always been affected by my fiddler’s soul.” (No. 1), followed by the graceful “Sash Dance” (No. 2), named for the folk costume of its ori- gins. No. 3 (“Stamping Dance”) pits a bagpipe-

5 PROGRAM NOTES

like drone against eerie, whistle-like musings at Thus Sonata No. 5 in G major gives a nod to the top of the violin’s register. Following the fellow Belgian Mathieu Crickboom (1871– melancholy pastoral sensibility of the “Horn pipe 1947), one of Ysaÿe’s favorite students, who later Dance” (No. 4), a festive spirit pervades the last became an important pedagogue in his own two dances: a zesty Romanian polka (No. 5) and right. (Crickboom also played second violin in “Fast Dance” (No. 6), which gathers speed to the influential Ysaÿe Quartet.) Cast in two conclude the set in a mood of restless frenzy. movements, this sonata conveys something of the quality of a tone poem in its evocation Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931) of sunrise in the first movement (subtitled Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin in G major, “L’Aurore,” or “Sunrise”). Ysaÿe makes fascinat- Op. 27, Mathieu Crickboom ing use of difficult violin techniques—such as Eugene Ysaÿe ranks as a giant in the history of pizzicato with the left hand—to summon his the violin. He’s also a key figure in the transi- soundscape. The music gradually builds up a tion from the flamboyance of the Romantic era sense of motion, suggesting awakening and in- to a more austere, Modernist attitude about creasing illumination. music-making. Ysaÿe’s sensitive, controlled use The two-movement pattern of the Fifth So - of the lush vibrato of an earlier era became nata happens to mimic that of the old Baroque a signature of his style. The Belgian violinist en- Sonata da chiesa (“church sonata”)—a slow in- joyed a brilliant career as a soloist, but he also troductory movement followed by a fast one. helped shape generations of influential players Subtitled “Danse rustique” (“Rustic Dance”), through his teaching. Moreover, he promoted the second movement turns to vivid rhythms new music and was a gifted conductor. that frame a central lyrical section. Ysaÿe used When declining health prevented Ysaÿe to enjoy picnics on occasion with students, and from performing, he turned increasingly to some commentators suggest an evocation of composition, and his six sonatas for unaccom- these memories lies behind this music. panied violin are the composer’s best-known works. He wrote them in a single burst of in- Franz Schubert (1797–1828) spiration in the summer of 1923, taking his Fantasy in C major, D. 934 lead from a performance he had heard by the Heading backward in time to 1827, we en- younger Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti— counter Schubert. He had lately befriended the another of Bartók’s close friends—of J.S. Bach’s Bohemian Josef Slawjk and in October 1826 works for unaccompanied violin. composed the Rondo brillant in B minor (D. Ysaÿe was himself an admired Bach inter- 895) for the virtuoso violinist. Slawjk and pia- preter, and he turned to the German compo - nist Karl Maria von Bocklet premiered it in ser’s gold-standard set of sonatas and partitas January 1827, and 11 months later, Schubert (three of each, gathered into a characteristically composed his Fantasy in C major (D. 934) for Bachian collection of six) as a model for the six Slawjk. Premiered (again with Bocklet) at a solo violin sonatas he published in 1924. At the lunchtime concert on January 20, 1828, the same time, the Belgian virtuoso incorporated a Fantasy was not published until 22 years follow- kind of cultural survey of contemporary styles ing Schubert’s death, in 1850 (as Op. posth. 159). of violin playing. Each of the six sonatas is ded- Although it is generally played without a icated to a particular violinist (including Szigeti break, the Fantasy falls into discernible sections, himself in No. 1), while Bach is paid tribute following a “circle of fifths” key pattern from the through direct quotation in No. 2 and in other opening C major via A (major and minor), kinds of allusions elsewhere in the set. For each E-flat, then oscillating between C and A-flat to sonata, Ysaÿe devises a specific form, instead of end in C. It follows other such Schubertian Fan - repeating the standard format that was devel- tasies as the solo piano Wanderer Fantasy (D. oped in the Classical and Romantic eras. 760, also in C major) and four Fantasias for

6 PROGRAM NOTES piano four-hands, the last of which, in F minor Grieg even faced the critique from one of his (D. 940), was composed earlier in 1827. Like the teachers, the Danish Niels Gade, that he had Wanderer and such works as the Trout Quintet made the second of his three sonatas for violin and both the Death and the Maiden and Rosa- and piano sound “too Norwegian.” But the munde quartets, here Schubert revisits one of Piano Concerto showed how Grieg had also his own songs. He had composed “Sei mir internalized German methods of composing gegrüsst” (“I greet you,” D. 741), setting a text and structuring a piece—it follows Robert by Friedrich Rückert, in 1822 and reused some Schumann’s Piano Concerto as a model—and of its material here as the basis of four varia- a similar situation is found in the Violin Sonata tions, the first three exploiting a violinist’s vir- No. 3, a work of his mature period that dates tuosic skills. from 1886. As early as the second bar, there is a C minor Grieg was, in general, more comfortable with inflection haunting the piano’s pianissimo os- miniatures than with the larger forms of the cillations, before the violin quietly intones the mainstream tradition. Moreover, he never felt first theme. The pianist needs stamina and dex- at ease during his student years at the Leipzig terity to negotiate Schubert’s fingerings: some Conservatory, where the rigid rules of German say this is one of the hardest piano parts ever training were not a good match for his tem- written. With one last fall and rise from the perament. Still, he found imaginative ways to piano, the violin assumes the upbeat to the work with the sonata form in his violin sonatas. jaunty Hungarian Allegretto, moving to a lilt- Separated by almost two decades from its pred- ing Andantino that modifies the refrain from ecessor in the genre, the Sonata No. 3 achieved the Rückert song for evermore dazzling varia- instant success upon the premiere of its revised tions. This then melts into a truncated reprise version in 1887—in Leipzig, as it happened, of the opening theme. Quickly building to for- with the composer himself at the keyboard. tissimo, this leads into a joyous Allegro vivace It was also the composer’s own favorite. The in C, eventually culminating in shivery figura- Sonata No. 3, according to Grieg, shows a later tions for violin that—a brief Allegretto respite stage of his development by casting its gaze be- (a final reprise of the very opening) notwith- yond a focus on Norwegian idioms toward standing—is topped by a Presto coda, with “a wider horizon.” He dedicated the score to the thunderous rising triplets added at the end. German painter Franz von Lenbach. The first movement adheres to the sonata’s Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) core idea of dramatic conflict by opposing two Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 themes of very different character—the first, in- It’s interesting to recall that it was a violinist who troduced after a stormy preludial section, rises helped ensure that Edvard Grieg pursued a mu- up from the violin’s very lowest note, while the sical career: the legendary Ole Bull, also of Nor- second radiates a simple serenity. Yet both ideas way, who happened to be a family friend. Grieg are subtly connected. Notice how Grieg inten- grew up in a musical household, but it was Bull sifies the drama by playing the violin’s loftiest who recognized the depth of his talent and register against its full-voiced sound low in its advised his parents to send the teenage Edvard range—or how he denies the implication of a to conservatory in Germany. Grieg himself “happy ending” by reprising harmonies that became a celebrated concert pianist and made turn the music darker in the final pages of this his international breakthrough with his Piano movement. Con certo of 1868. During this era of national A songful oasis that Grieg labels a “Ro mance” cultural awakenings across Europe, Grieg—the follows, with a brightening of the key from descendant of a Scottish immigrant to Nor - C minor to E major (a particularly “Romantic” way—would soon be cast to play the role of shift). But drama enters here as well, with a Norway’s “national composer.” more troubled central section that is flanked by

7 PROGRAM NOTES

one of the composer’s greatest melodic inspira- Tzigane, a gypsy piece “of great virtuosity.” tions. Grieg also uses dramatic contrasts in the When d’Arányi took the work to Paris, the ac- final movement, introducing a lyrical interlude companiment was given with a special piano amid the lively, dance-like impulses of the main attachment called a “luthéa,” which aspired to idea, which evokes more distinctly Norwegian make the instrument sound like a cimbalom associations. (the contraption did not catch on). Having studied both Liszt’s Hungarian Rhap- Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) sodies and Paganini’s 24 Caprices, Ravel con- Tzigane ceived his Tzigane in two parts: an extended In July 1922, Maurice Ravel attended a per- solo introducing various themes and amount- formance in London by Hungarian violinist ing to almost half the work, before the piano Jelly d’Arányi (Joseph Joachim’s niece) in which enters (cimbalom-like) with an extended trill. she and Hans Kindler played Ravel’s violin and Themes from the opening are revisited and cello Duo Sonata. Afterwards, at Ravel’s request, developed gracefully and playfully, followed d’Arányi played (reportedly until 5am) gypsy by a final perpetuum mobile section that, as music from her homeland. Nearly two years tradition demands, gets ever faster in true bra - later, this impromptu performance bore fruit vura fashion. when Ravel wrote to d’Arányi and told her that the Violin Sonata he had promised her for a Introduction and notes on Bartók, Ysaÿe, and concert at London’s Aeolian Hall scheduled for Grieg by Thomas May, © 2020; notes on Schu - April 26, 1924 had been put aside in favor of bert and Ravel by Nick Breckenfield, © 2019.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Tessa Lark, violin Highlights of her 2020–21 season are expected Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivat- to include a return to the Alabama Symphony ing artistic voices of our time. A 2020 Grammy Orchestra; debuts with Friends of Chamber nominee in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo Music (Denver) and the Arkansas and West category, recipient of a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Michigan symphonies; and multiple online Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career appearances in the La Jolla Music Festival’s Grant, Silver Medalist in the International Violin Summerfest at Home. Lark is delighted to take Competition of Indianapolis, and winner of the part in tonight’s inaugural recital for Cal Per- 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competi - formances at Home. tion, Lark has won widespread praise from crit- Three recordings featuring Lark were re- ics and audiences for her astounding versitility, leased in 2019: Fantasy, which includes fan- technical agility, and musical elegance. A bud- tasias by Schubert, Telemann, and Fritz Kreisler, ding superstar in the classical realm, she is also Ravel’s Tzigane, and Lark’s own Appalachian a highly acclaimed fiddler in the musical tradi- Fantasy; SKY, a Grammy-nominated Albany tions of her native Kentucky. Symphony Orchestra release whose title selec- Lark has been a featured soloist at numer- tion is a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto writ- ous US orchestras, recital venues, and festivals ten for Lark by Michael Torke; and Invention, since making her concerto debut with the the debut album of the violin-bass duo Tessa Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age 16. Her Lark & Michael Thurber comprising arrange- 2019–20 season included debuts with the Royal ments of Two-Part Inventions by J.S. Bach along Scottish National Orchestra, Philadelphia with non-classical original compositions. Chamber Music Society, Rochester Philhar - Scheduled for 2021 is Lark’s fourth album, monic Orches tra, and the Pasadena, Tucson, The Stradgrass Sessions, which will include and West Virginia symphony orchestras. collaborations with composer-performers Jon

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Batiste, Edgar Meyer, Michael Cleveland, and Seat tle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter Sierra Hull; works by Bartók and Ysaÿe; and Symphony Chamber Players. the premiere recording of John Corigliano’s solo Along with his performance activities, violin composition Stomp. Armstrong serves as the artistic director of Tessa Lark is a graduate of the New England the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music Con ser vatory and completed her Artist Diplo - on Main series in South Carolina, and enters ma at the Juilliard School. his fourth year directing the Chamber Music Institute at Wisconsin’s Green Lake Festival Andrew Armstrong, piano of Music. Praised by critics for his passionate expression Arm strong’s debut solo CD was released to and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Arm - great critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists strong has delighted audiences worldwide in play [Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata], performances at venues including Alice Tully recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clar- Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the ity and confidence” American( Record Guide). Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and He has also released several award-winning Warsaw’s National Philharmonic. recordings with his longtime recital partner Armstrong’s international orchestral engage- James Ehnes, most recently Beethoven’s Sonatas ments have featured a sprawling repertoire of Nos. 4, 5, and 8, to stellar reviews. more than 50 concertos with orchestra. He Armstrong is devoted to outreach programs has performed with such conductors as Peter and playing for children. In addition to his Ound jian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, many concerts, his performances are heard reg- Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and ularly on National Public Radio and WQXR, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in New York City’s premier classical music station. solo recitals in chamber music concerts with the He lives happily in Massachusetts, with his Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan wife Esty; their three children—Jack (14), Elise string quartets, and as a member of the Cara- (nine), and Gabriel (three); and their two dogs, moor Virtuosi, Boston Chamber Music Society, Comet and Dooker.

CREDITS

For Cal Performances at Home Maytte Martinez, Head Stage Manager Tiffani Snow, Producer Emily Ballou, Assistant Stage Manager Jeremy Little, Technical Director Patrick Liang, Assistant Stage Manager Ras Dia, Operations Coordinator Special thanks to David Bridges For Ibis Productions, Inc. Jeremy Robins, Video Director KaufmanMusicCenter.org Zach Herchen, Audio Engineer Francis Adjei, Camera Operator For Cal Performances Kharon Benson, Camera Operator EXECUTIVE OFFICE Hugo Faraco, Camera Operator Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director Nara Garber, Camera Operator Kelly Brown, Executive Assistant to the Director For Future Tense Media Jesse Yang, Creative Director ADMINISTRATION Andy Kraus, Director of Strategy and For Kaufman Music Center Administration Kenneth Feldman, Recording Engineer Calvin Eng, Chief Financial Officer Ben Young, Editing and Mixing Rafael Soto, Finance Specialist

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Marilyn Stanley, Finance Specialist Matt Norman, Head Electrician Gawain Lavers, Applications Programmer Tom Craft, Audio Department Head Ingrid Williams, IT Support Analyst Jo Parks, Video Engineer Sean Nittner, Systems Administrator Amy Ferrara, Event Manager/Greek Theatre Tiffani Snow, Event Manager ARTISTIC PLANNING Ginarose Perino, Rental Business Manager Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning Rob Bean, Event Operations Manager Robin Pomerance, Artistic Administrator Marybeth Baluyot, Assistant Manager, DEVELOPMENT Audience Services Taun Miller Wright, Chief Development Loretta Hill, Office Manager Officer STAGE CREW Elizabeth Meyer, Director of Institutional Charles Clear, Senior Scene Technician Giving David Ambrose, Senior Scene Technician Jennifer Sime, Associate Director of Jacob Heule, Senior Scene Technician Development, Individual Giving Jorg Peter Sichelschmidt, Senior Scene Jamie McClave, Individual Giving and Technician Special Events Officer Joseph Swails, Senior Scene Technician Alex Higgins, Director of Annual Fund Mathison Ott, Senior Scene Technician EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Mike Bragg , Senior Scene Technician Rica Anderson, Interim Director, Artistic Ricky Artis, Senior Scene Technician Literacy Robert Haycock, Senior Scene Technician Laura Abrams, Artistic Residencies and STUDENT MUSICAL ACTIVITIES Public Engagement Manager Brad Brennan, Director, Student Musical HUMAN RESOURCES 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 Matthew Sadowski, Director, Cal Marching Jenny Reik, Director of Marketing and Band Communications Ted Moore, Director, UC Jazz Ensembles Ron Foster-Smith, Associate Director of Marketing TICKET OFFICE Mark Van Oss, Communications Editor Liz Baqir, Ticket Services Manager Louisa Spier, Public Relations Manager Gordon Young, Assistant Ticket Office Cheryl Games, Web and Digital Marketing Manager Manager Sherice Jones, Assistant Ticket Office Manager Jeanette Peach, Public Relations Senior Jeffrey Mason, Patron Services Associate Associate Elise Chen, Email Production Associate Lynn Zummo, New Technology Coordinator Major support for the Cal Performances Terri Washington, Social Media and Digital Digital Classroom is provided by Wells Fargo. Content Specialist Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided OPERATIONS by Bank of America. Doug Warrick, General Manager Jeremy Little, Production Manager calperformances.org Alan Herro, Production Admin Manager Kevin Riggall, Head Carpenter © 2020 Regents of the University of California

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