presents The Shenson Piano Series Made possible by Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation Richard Goode, piano Friday, January 22, 2010, 8pm Herbst Theatre PROGRAM Johann Sebastian Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 883 Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 884 Franz Joseph Haydn Piano Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:21 Allegro Adagio Finale: Presto Piano Sonata in C minor, Hob. XVI:20 Moderato Andante con moto Finale: Allegro Piano Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40 Allegretto e innocente Presto INTERMISSION Robert Schumann Kreisleriana, Opus 16 Ausserst bewegt Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch Sehr aufgeregt Sehr langsam Sehr lebhaft Sehr langsam Sehr rasch Schnell und spielend San Francisco Performances acknowledges the generosity of Concert Partners: Anonymous, in memory of Peter F. Ostwald, M.D., David and Judith Preves Anderson, the Rev. Richard Fabian, Dr. Daniel J. Fourrier Jr., Ellen Friedman, Frederick D. Hammer, Mr. James Hayward, Kim and Judith Maxwell, Robert and Adelle Rosenzweig. Richard Goode is generously donating a portion of his fee for this concert, which San Francisco Performances is matching, as a contribution to Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS. Richard Goode is managed by Frank Salomon Associates, 121 W. 27th Street, Suite 703, New York, NY 10001-6262; franksalomon.com. Richard Goode records for Nonesuch and RCA Records. Hamburg Steinway Model D and piano technical services, Pro Piano San Francisco. 1 ARTIST PROFILE and he was invited to hold master classes at the their collection of some 5,000 volumes live in city’s three leading conservatories—Juilliard, New York City. Richard Goode has a long-standing relationship Manhattan and Mannes—and to give two il- with San Francisco Performances, appearing to- lustrated talks on his “Perspectives” repertoire NOTES ON THE PROGRAM night for the 15th time. Previous concerts were in at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His or- 1985 (with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman), 1989, chestral appearances included the Boston Sym- The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II January and October 1992 (with soprano Dawn phony, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 883 Upshaw), 1993, 1994, April and March 1996 (with Symphony, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 884 Upshaw), 1998 (with the Australian Chamber Or- Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. chestra), twice in 2002, 2004, and twice in 2007. His recording of the Beethoven Concerti Johann Sebastian Bach with Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Born March 21, 1685, Eisenach Richard Goode Orchestra was released in May 2009 by None- Died July 28, 1750, Leipzig such Records—the same label that released his Photo: Sasha Photo: Gusov historic recordings of the complete Beethoven In 1722 Bach wrote a set of pieces for key- sonatas. Other recent releases, both on None- board that has become one of the most popu- such, include a collection of Mozart sonatas lar and influential works ever composed, even and short pieces, as well as a recital disc with though it was not published until half a cen- Dawn Upshaw. Also among his more than tury after his death. Bach’s own description of two dozen recordings are Mozart Concerti this music suggests his intention: “Preludes and with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Fugues through all the tones and semitones… complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, the com- for the use and profit of young musicians an- plete Partitas by J.S. Bach, and most recently xious to learn as well as for the amusement of chamber and solo works of Brahms, Schubert, those already skilled in this art.” But Bach had Schumann, Chopin and George Perle. Goode two larger purposes in writing this music. He is the first American-born pianist to have re- wanted, first, to demonstrate the possibilities corded the complete Beethoven Sonatas, which of an instrument tuned to equal temperament: Richard Goode’s music-making speaks of a were nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award. such a “well-tempered” instrument could play sublime connection with composers, inspiring A native of New York, Richard Goode easily in all 24 keys. And he wanted to explore critics around the world to utter such praise as studied with Elvira Szigeti and Claude Frank, the musical possibilities of two quite different “you’d swear the composer himself was at the with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes Col- kinds of music: the free prelude—the extension keyboard, expressing musical thoughts that lege of Music, and with Rudolf Serkin at the of a single idea somewhat in the manner of a had just come into his head.” The American pi- Curtis Institute. He has won many prizes, fantasia—and the disciplined fugue, that most anist’s tremendous emotional power, depth and including the Young Concert Artists Award, complex of contrapuntal forms. Working in part expressiveness can be heard in recitals, cham- First Prize in the Clara Haskil Competition, from preludes he had composed for his son Wil- ber and orchestral collaborations around the the Avery Fisher Prize and a Grammy Award helm Friedemann’s instruction, Bach compiled world, as well as in a series of highly acclaimed with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. a collection he called The Well-Tempered Clavier, Nonesuch recordings, including the recent re- Goode has appeared with many of the world’s a set of 24 preludes and fugues in the major and lease of the complete Beethoven Concerti. greatest orchestras, including the Boston Sym- minor of each of the 12 tones of the scale. Goode opens the 2009-10 season with Ivan phony Orchestra under Ozawa, the Chicago The Well-Tempered Clavier—full of won- Fischer and the Cleveland Orchestra, followed Symphony under Eschenbach, the Cleveland derful, ingenious and expressive music—has by an extensive tour of the U.S. and Europe, Orchestra under Zinman, the San Francisco moved and haunted composers ever since. with concerts in Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Los Symphony under Blomstedt, the Deutsches One of those haunted was Bach himself; two Angeles, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Cologne Symphonie Orchester under Ashkenazy, and decades later, in 1744, he wrote a second set and Dresden, among other cities. He also vis- the BBC Symphony under Belohlavek at the of 24 preludes and fugues. The “48,” as the its Philadelphia, Boston and New York in col- London Proms. He has also appeared with the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier are laborative performances with pianist Jonathan Orchestre de Paris and Ivan Fischer, and toured sometimes called, have been a part of ev- Biss of piano duos by Beethoven, Schumann, with Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orches- ery pianist’s repertory since then, from the Schubert, Stravinsky and Debussy. tra, as well as making his Musikverein debut humblest amateur to the greatest virtuoso. Goode was honored for his contributions to with the Vienna Symphony. He has been heard Though this music was not published until music with the first ever Jean Gimbel Lane Prize throughout Germany in sold-out concerts with 1801, it had wide circulation in manuscript in Piano Performance in 2006, which culmi- the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under copies: the young Beethoven dazzled audi- nated in a residency at Northwestern University Sir Neville Marriner. ences with these preludes and fugues during in Evanston, IL for the past two years. His most Richard Goode serves with Mitsuko Uchi- his earliest years in Vienna, and pianist-com- recent season included performances with the da as co-Artistic Director of the Marlboro posers of very different character have felt the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton Music School and Festival in Marlboro, Ver- pull of Bach’s achievement. Their number has of Herbert Blomstedt and the Cleveland Or- mont. He is married to the violinist Marcia included composers so diverse as Chopin, chestra with conductor Ivan Fischer. Carnegie Weinfeld, and, when the Goodes are not on Debussy, Rachmaninoff and (surprisingly) Hall featured Goode in an “engrossing” (New tour (with each new city offering the chance Shostakovich, who in 1951 composed his own York Times) eight-event “Perspectives,” series to visit a new or favorite bookstore), they and set of 24 Preludes and Fugues. 2 This program opens with two preludes and own professional orchestra, opera house and quire his own first piano until the 1780s, but he fugues from the second book of The Well- marionette theater. Those residences, however, doubtless had access to pianos long before that). Tempered Clavier. The Prelude in F-sharp mi- were on the broad plain that ran east from Vi- This is indeed very expressive music. Haydn nor is solemn, serious music, and Bach varies enna toward Hungary, and in an oft-quoted scholar H.C. Robbins Landon has hailed it its rhythmic pulse by constantly switching line Haydn said of this isolation: “I was set as “one of the very finest sonatas by Haydn” between triplets, steady sixteenths and synco- apart from the world, there was nobody in and has noted that it is “the first in a distin- pations. The fugue, in three voices, preserves my vicinity to confuse and annoy me in my guished line of C minor keyboard sonatas by the solemnity and the rhythmic complexity course, and so I had to become original.” each of the principal figures in the Viennese of the prelude, developing a great deal of ten- Haydn spent three decades with the Ester- Classical School, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven sion as its proceeds. ThePrelude in G Major, hazy family, and in his early years of service and Schubert.” The grave and shaded begin- in binary form, drives steadily forward along his symphonies, operas, quartets and much ning of the opening Moderato may establish its 3/4 meter, while the fugue, in 3/8, is ex- other music was written specifically for use an atmosphere, but it does not prepare one tremely concise (and brief); Bach rounds it at the court.