Lisa Marie Mazzucco Streaming Premieres Thursday, November 12, 2020, 7pm (Sonatas Nos. 1–3) Thursday, November 19, 2020, 7pm (Sonatas Nos. 4–5) David Finckel, cello Wu Han, piano Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) The Five Sonatas for Cello and Piano Filmed exclusively for Cal Performances at ArtistLed Studio, Ardsley, NY, on September 30, 2020. David Finckel and Wu Han appear by arrangement with David Rowe Artists (www.davidroweartists.com). Public Relations and Press Representative: Milina Barry PR (www.milinabarrypr.com). David Finckel and Wu Han recordings are available exclusively through ArtistLed (www.artistled.com). www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com Wu Han performs on the Steinway Piano. 1 PROGRAM PREMIERING NOV 12 Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5, No. 1 (1796) Adagio sostenuto – Allegro Rondo: Allegro vivace Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2 (1796) Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo – Allegro molto più tosto presto Rondo: Allegro INTERMISSION Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 (1808) Allegro ma non tanto Scherzo: Allegro molto Adagio cantabile – Allegro vivace PREMIERING NOV 19 Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102, No. 1 (1815) Andante – Allegro vivace Adagio – Tempo d’andante – Allegro vivace Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102, No. 2 (1815) Allegro con brio Adagio con molto sentimento d’affetto Allegro fugato Note: the complete set of sonatas will be available on demand beginning on November 13; it will remain online through February 10, 2021. Opposite: David Finckel and Wu Han. Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco. 3 PROGRAM NOTES Notes on the Music: and the piano introduces the Allegro main by David Finckel and Michael Feldman theme, ornamented in the style of Mozart, full of details and virtuosity. The second theme The Early Works: begins with serious-sounding chromaticism but The Sonatas & Variations of 1796 ends light and carefree, moving through vir- These pieces are milestones of the cello litera- tuosic scales to a sequence in staccato eighth- ture. Although during the 18th century, the notes full of playful rhythmic confusion. In the cello had gradually come to be regarded as a exuberant closing material, the pianist’s hands solo as well as an accompanying instrument, leap over one another with forceful answers neither Mozart nor Haydn had composed from the cello, followed by a contemplative a cello sonata. Beethoven was the first major coda leading to the repeat of the exposition. The composer to write works with equally impor- development section shows the composer’s tant roles for the cello and piano. ever-lurking stormy side and a surprise forte announces the recapitulation. As in many of Cello Sonatas Op. 5, Nos. 1 and 2 Beethoven’s concertos, there is a lengthy writ- Composed: Berlin, in the late spring or summer ten-out cadenza, beginning with a short fugato of 1796. Beethoven was on his first and only passage. An obsessive sixteenth-note figure in significant concert tour, which also included the the right hand of the piano leads to an unex- cities of Prague, Leipzig, and Dresden. He was pectedly droll and sleepy Adagio that is inter- 25 years old. rupted by a wild Prestissimo. The movement Dedicated to: King Friedrich Wilhelm II, concludes happily and vigorously. nephew and successor to Frederick the Great. The last movement is an exciting ride full of The king was an amateur cellist and devotee virtuosic outbursts from both instruments. One of the instrument who had entertained both can imagine the court’s amazement at the spec- Mozart and Haydn at his court. Both of these tacle of Beethoven devouring the keyboard in composers had already dedicated string quar- this finale. The only calm moments are dreamy tets featuring prominent cello parts to the king. interludes of piano arpeggios over cello drones. First performance: 1796, during the visit to Near the finish, a longritard winds the action Berlin, at the royal palace. Beethoven played the down to a standstill, and once the composer has piano, and it is thought that Jean-Louis Duport, us in the palm of his hand, he ends the work with rather than his older brother, Jean-Pierre, was an explosion of notes from both instruments. the cellist. The Duports were renowned virtu- osos who lived in Berlin and played in the king’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2 orchestra. It is likely that Beethoven and Jean- Beethoven enjoyed surprising and even scaring Louis Duport performed the G major Judas his listeners. The opening Adagio sostenuto ed Maccabaeus variations on this occasion as well. espressivo does just that. A jarring G minor Published: February 1797, Vienna chord is quickly hushed by the marking forte- Other works from this period: the Piano Trios piano, itself a novel idea, and a spooky scale Op. 1, Piano Sonatas Op. 2 and Op. 7. During descends in the piano (foreshadowing the slow the following year, Beethoven began compos- movement of the Ghost Trio, which he would ing sonatas for piano and violin. write in 1808). The motifs and themes of this music are more fully developed than those of the Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5, No. 1 F major sonata’s introduction, creating a move- Beetho ven begins his first cello sonata with cau- ment of much greater substance. Unbelievably tion—hesitations and tense silences lead to long silences near the end hold the listener melodic ideas that are left undeveloped, as under a spell that is broken quietly by the though the sonata is struggling to begin. After brooding Allegro molto più tosto presto. In a climactic cadential flourish, the music pauses contrast to the previous sonata, the cello takes 4 PROGRAM NOTES the theme first, passing it back and forth with Composed: sketches appear in 1807, among the piano. This is a remarkable movement, those for the Fifth Symphony. Completed in emotionally multi-layered even through the Vienna in the spring of 1808. Beethoven was 38. frequent stormy sections. In the development, Dedicated to: Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, the excitement continues until a new theme an amateur cellist and one of Beethoven’s enters, dance-like and delicate, the accompani- closest friends and advisers from 1807–10. ment changing from nervous triplets to steady Glei chen stein helped to organize a consortium eighth notes. At the recapitulation, the theme is of sponsors who offered Beethoven a guaran- beautifully harmonized, intensifying the emo- teed annual stipend to remain in Vienna. It is tion. The movement proceeds tempestuously to thought that the dedication of the sonata was the finish. a gesture of thanks to Gleichenstein. After the By contrast, the Rondo is a study in gaiety agreement was signed, Beethoven asked Glei - and the joy of virtuosity. The movement begins chenstein to help him find a wife. with a harmonic joke: it starts out squarely in First performance: not documented. A year C major instead of the expected G major. After after the work was completed, Beethoven com- a moment, the music slides into the home key, plained that the sonata “had not yet been well a trick Beethoven used later in the finale of the performed in public.” The first record of a per- Piano Concerto No. 4, also in G major. Virtu - formance is from 1812, when the sonata was osic stunts abound: for piano, for cello, and played by Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny and again for piano. A dark episode is dispelled Joseph Linke, the cellist who would later give by a chromatic passage returning to the main the first performance of the Op. 102 sonatas. theme, which leads to an extended middle Linke was the cellist of the Razumovsky Quar - section in C major and a new theme. The in- tet, which premiered many of Beethoven’s struments trade virtuosic displays in an almost string quartets. competitive fashion. The cello surprises by sub- Published: 1809, Leipzig. stituting an unexpected E-flat in the theme, and Other works from this period: the Fifth and this event wrenches the music into the foreign Sixth Symphonies, the Fourth Piano Concerto, key of A-flat major. the Choral Fantasy, and the Piano Trios, Op. 70. After a full recapitulation, sweeping scales in the piano herald an extended and brilliant coda. After presenting the noble theme alone, the One can imagine Beethoven, filled with the cof- cello rests on a low note while the piano con- fee he loved to drink, rattling away on the keys. tinues to a cadenza. The music is then repeated After some pompous closing music, the piano with the roles reversed, the cello playing an as- settles things down to a standstill only to have cending cadenza marked dolce. The mood is the cello burst in with the main theme in jump- rudely broken by a ferocious version of the ing octaves. Joyful wildness concludes the sonata. theme in minor that quickly dissipates to allow for the entrance of the second subject, a beau- tiful combination of a rising scale (cello) against The “Heroic Period” Sonata of 1808: a falling arpeggio (piano). The cello and piano Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 continue trading motifs, each repeating what One of the greatest works in the cello litera- the other has just played. A heroic closing ture, the A major sonata was composed by theme is the culmination of the section and a Beetho ven in the midst of one of his most phe- brief, contemplative recollection of the opening nomenally prolific periods. The new promi- motif leads to the repeat of the exposition. nence of the cello, the sweeping use of the The development explores even more in- instrument’s range, and the long, singing lines credible worlds, turning mysterious, rhapsodic, all herald the full flowering of the cello’s role in stormy, soaring, and mystical before reaching the duo sonata.