CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE RECITAL AND CONCERTO WORKS BY BACH, BEETHOVEN, RACHMANINOFF, DEBUSSY, ZHAO, and SHOSTAKOVICH A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Music in Music, Performance By Aiting Zheng May 2016 The graduate project of Aiting Zheng is approved: _____________________________________________ ____________________ Pro. Edward A Francis Date _____________________________________________ ____________________ Dr. Alexandra Monchick Date _____________________________________________ ____________________ Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov. Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Table of Contents Signature Page…………...…………………………………….…………………..…......……ii Abstract…………...…………………………………………….……………….....……...…..iv French Suite No.5 in G Major, BWV 816, by Johann Sebastian Bach….……………..…..….1 Piano sonata No.27 in E minor, Op.90, by Ludwig van Beethoven…………..…..….........…..5 Etudes-Tableaux Op.39 No.4 in B minor and Op.33 No.4 in D minor, by Sergei Rachmaninoff………………………….…..…...………....8 Suite Bergamasque, by Claude Debussy………………….…………...……..….………........ 11 Pi Huang, by Zhao Zhang………………………………………………………....….….....…15 Concerto for piano, trumpet and string in C minor, Op.35 No.1, by Dmitri Shostakovich.…..17 Bibliography …………...……………………………………………………….…….…..…...20 Appendix A: Program I (Solo Recital).………………………….…………………….........…22 Appendix B: Program II (Concerto Recital)……………………...………………….…..…….24 iii ABSTRACT RECITAL AND CONCERTO By Aiting Zheng Master of Music in Music, Performance In the following paper, I will analyze works that I performed within a solo recital and a concerto recital. The recital consisted of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Claude Debussy, and Zhao Zhang, and the goal of the following analysis will be to research and explain the related performance practices of these composers. To a musician, interpretation is always of the utmost importance in the learning of a new work. One must consider the historical period in which the work was written in order to give a convincing and authentic performance. Different periods of music have different styles and the performer must therefore play the piece in the appropriate style in order to faithfully represent the composer’s intentions. Some composers such as Rachmaninoff—who lived during the Late Romantic era—had the opportunity to record their own pieces. Due to the existence of these recordings, contemporary listeners can have a clear sense of Rachmaninoff’s musical style. A performer can listen to Rachmaninoff himself play his own works: listening to such recordings can be very helpful to a pianist today in deciding how to play the works of Rachmaninoff. However, most works that pianists play today were composed before the twentieth century, when iv recorded sound did not even exist. Thus, in order for one to comprehend the musical intentions of composers that wrote prior to the twentieth century, one must simply discover the musical style through the study of the literature. In this paper, I will focus on the correct interpretation of these pieces from a stylistic prospective. I will introduce each piece by providing a brief historical background. Furthermore, I will provide a harmonic, rhythmic and structural analysis in order to gain a better overall understanding of each work. Ultimately, I will compare various references related to interpretation and discuss the style in which each piece should be performed. v French Suite No.5 in G Major, BWV 816 by Johann Sebastian Bach J. S. Bach was a German composer in Baroque period. He epitomized the musical thought of the Baroque period and absorbed different music styles from various countries, such as Germany, France and Italy. Bach composed more than twenty suites for keyboard. There are English suites, French suites, Partitas and others. Some of Bach’s suites were named after the composer’s death and refer to their style of music, such as the French Suite No.5, which was written in a French manner. This suite was composed around 1722 and the motive of this suite is based on a G major triad. The suite contains seven pieces, including Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte, Bouree, Loure and Gigue. The order of pieces follows the form of the traditional Baroque dance suite. Among these pieces, the set of Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue is a standard structure for many of Bach’s suites. The added movements are strongly related to French dance music. The Allemande, which means “German,” was a popular dance form in France in the sixteenth century. This piece is in 4/4 meter with a flowing tempo. It begins with B, which is the dominant note of E minor and ends in a G major chord. There are three voices that develop together and the soprano provides the main theme. The soprano melody gives the work an elegant and peaceful atmosphere. It is standard binary form. When I performed this Allemande, I added some ornaments in the repeat to make it different from the first time. During the Baroque period, improvising was one of the most important skills for any performer. By the twentieth century, such improvisation was no longer commonplace, and the written score became central to piano 1 performance. There are many repeated notes, as in measure seven, in which there are sixteenth notes in the right hand. In Classical music style, pianists are likely to bring out the B-A-G-F-E as a melody line. Nevertheless, in Baroque music, every note is individual and equal since the pieces were originally written for harpsichord, which is not able to play with dynamics in the manner of a modern piano. The second piece in the suite, the Courante, is a traditional French ballroom dance. In the same manner as the Allemande, it begins on the upbeat but in a faster tempo. The whole piece develops by scale-model and the melody appears in both hands alternately, like children playing hide-and-seek. I prefer to play the eighth-notes in detached order to make the piece sound animated and lively. The Sarabande is in 3/4 meter with a slow and expressive tempo. The Sarabande was originally a lively Spanish dance music. However, it became a slow court dance after it spread to Italy in the seventeenth-century. From the beginning, the left hand plays a low and solid base to support the right hand’s melody. The accent on the second beat is a feature of Spanish dance music. There is a very notable suspension from G to F in the last two measures before the first repeat. The G in left hand should be held until the next measure and the F should be played clearly. In the very last two measures the suspension from C to B should be played in the same way. 2 The Gavotte was named from a French folk dance and was famous in France during the eighteenth-century. It is in 4/4 meter with a moderato tempo. The vivid theme gives the piece a cheerful and bright atmosphere. In 4/4 time, the Bourree is also a French dance similar to the Gavotte. However, in contrast to the Gavotte, the Bourree has a rapid tempo. The Bourree begins in the bright key of G major key and ends in this key as well. The left hand accompanies with a four eighth-note pattern, giving continuous support to the right hand. However, this repeated pattern in the left hand can potentially cause the piece to come off as boring. There are plenty of ways to add variety to the performance by interpreting it in different ways. I add a slur on the first two eighth notes, and play the third and fourth notes in the eighth-note pattern in a staccato fashion. The Loure can be considered a kind of slow Gigue. In French Suite No.5, the Loure is in 6/4 meter with a slow tempo. The right hand presents the melody D-B-A-G and the left hand imitates the melody but in a different register. In the first measure, the grace note should be played on the downbeat and its value should equal one eighth note. The ornaments usually start on the upper auxiliary and should be played elegantly, not too fast. The closing piece is a Gigue in 12/16 meter. Although it has a compound meter, it should be counted in four beats per measure. There are twelve sixteenth notes in the first measure, three of them in a group. This Gigue is a three-voice fugue. In the second part, Bach inverses the subject of the first half. The Gigue is the most technically challenging movement in this suite. 3 Fingertip technique is of the utmost importance in this piece and every note needs to be played with the utmost clarity. Overall, all movements of French Suite No.5 are in typical binary Form. In the A section, they start with G major chord and end on the dominant chord. In the B section, they begin with the dominant chord and conclude with the tonic G major chord. The Allemande and the Bourree develop their melody with B-D-G, which is the first inversion of the G major chord. The Courante, Gavotte and Loure begin with a descending G major chord. Conversely, the Bourre and Gigue begin with an ascending G major chord. In this suite, every piece has its distinct character while they are also have an inner connection to the others, with regard to harmony, musical form and style. 4 Piano sonata No.27 in E minor, Op.90 by Ludwig van Beethoven This piano sonata is from Beethoven’s late middle period. Later in his life, he began to break free from the confines of traditional forms. He broke the structure of sonata form and blurred the line between different movements. In this piece, each movement is strongly connected to the others.