Steinway

University of Montevallo

All-Steinway Dedication Recital

All-Steinway Dedication Recital Cynthia Jones and Anthony Pattin, Duo Pianists Tuesday, October 23, 2007 • 7:30 p.m.

LeBaron Recital Hall • University of Montevallo

PROGRAM Scaramouche I. Vif II. Modéré III. Brazileira. Mouvement de Samba

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)

Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Opus 56b

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Ritmo, from Danses Andalouses

Manuel Infante (1883-1958) INTERMISSION

Fantasia in F Minor, K. 594

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Paganini Variations for Two Pianos

Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)

La Valse, un poème choréographique

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Welcome to the University of Montevallo’s “Steinway Dedication” recital. I can think of no better way to celebrate our becoming an All-Steinway school than a performance by our two wonderful piano teachers and performers, Cynthia Jones and Anthony Pattin. It is from the efforts of these two people, along with the administration of the University, and through the generosity of EBSCO Industries, Inc. and its employees, that our students will, for years to come, have the opportunity to practice and perform on the finest pianos made in the United States. We are eternally grateful for all who have labored to make this night possible and this dream become a reality. For generations of students who are here and those to come, THANK YOU ALL!

– Robert E. Wright, Chair

Now an All-Steinway School

Thanks to a generous gift from EBSCO Industries, Inc. and its employees, 22 new pianos have been delivered to the University of Montevallo over the past several months. This corporate gift, along with three other upright pianos purchased with the help of University funds and the University of Montevallo National Alumni Association, has now added UM to the elite list of schools that carry the “All-Steinway School” designation.

Montevallo is one of only two schools statewide to carry this distinction.

Steinway is a name traditionally associated with excellence in piano craftsmanship. Steinway pianos are known for their longevity, and most Steinway instruments appreciate in value over time. Each piano is handcrafted, which can take up to one full year per instrument. It is no surprise that Steinway can boast of being the preferred performance instrument for 9 out of 10 concert artists worldwide. The UM purchase will be a mix of Steinway grand pianos and uprights, as well as a number of pianos carrying the Boston label. Boston is a mid-priced brand designed by Steinway, and will serve UM well in a number of practice rooms and teaching studios.

Much of UM’s previous piano inventory has been traded in toward the purchase price of the new instruments.

Some of the older upright pianos have been donated to area schools and churches, and most of the early model Steinway pianos are being retained for use in practicing and teaching.

This significant purchase of Steinway and Boston pianos will not only provide improved instruments for teaching and practicing, but will serve as a lasting statement of the Department’s and the University’s commitment to excellence. For years to come, students and faculty will benefit from the use of these quality instruments. This is just one of the many ways that the UM Department of Music has created and maintained its longstanding tradition of excellence.

PROGRAM NOTES

by Dr. Robert Cowan, Professor Emeritus

Scaramouche, the well-known and much performed suite for two pianos by Milhaud, was partially extracted from an incidental production, first given in Paris at the Theatre Scaramouche on May 23, 1937 called Le Medecin Volant, a play by Moliere. Scaramouche, a Buffoon-like character in old Italian comedy, is more than adequately characterized in Milhaud’s music and it may not be entirely coincidental that the title is also the name of the theater in which some of the music was originally heard.

Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn is one of the monumental works in the two-piano repertoire.

It is divided into ten sections, i.e., the theme, eight variations, and a brilliant finale, the latter in the form of a passacaglia. The orchestral version of this work is well known, though the two-piano version preceded it.

The three Danses Andalouses: Ritmo, Sentimento, and Gracia, were written by Infante in 1921. Based on characteristic rhythms and the Andalusian scale, which is the Phrygian mode with a raised third, they are colorful and appealing with a flare and occasional lyric melodies.

The practice of playing four hands at one piano was a natural outgrowth of Mozart’s musical relationship with his sister, Nannerl. Various occasions during his lifetime made it necessary for him to develop a small repertoire of four-hand music which resulted in a legacy of several sonatas, two fantasies (originally for mechanical organ), a set of variations and a fugue. The Fantasia K. 594 opens and closes with a poetic Adagio, with a spirited Allegro as the work’s centerpiece.

Witold Lutoslawski, one of the most prominent 20th-century Polish composers, has contributed what many believe is one of the most important and effective works for two pianos in the twentieth century. The Paganini Variation, based on the familiar theme used by Rachmaninoff in the set of variations for solo piano and orchestra, reaches new heights of craftsmanship in its complete exploitation of duo-piano compositional techniques, while at the same time retaining significant virtuosic impact and musical quality.

This transcription of La Valse for two pianos of the brilliant choreographic poem for orchestra was done by the composer, and published in 1920. The orchestral version was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for his Ballet Russe in 1919, and was later turned down by the famous ballet master, since he considered the work only a group of waltzes. However, La Valse has become an important orchestral composition and appears frequently on concert programs. It has been described as a kind of history of the waltz, or as a satire of it, perhaps influenced by the melancholy and cynical mood of the composer at the end of the First World War.

Pianists’ Profile

Cynthia Jones has been a member of the piano faculty at UM since 1993, and served as Chair of the Department of Music from 2003 to 2007. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she was a frequent guest on the public television series “The Pianist at Work”. Her major teachers include Allison Lee, Amanda Penick and Barry Snyder. A native of Birmingham, Dr. Jones has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician, and has conducted masterclasses, given lecture presentations, and adjudicated competitions across the Southeast and throughout the country. She has appeared as soloist with the Alabama Symphony, the Alabama Youth Symphony, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in Tennessee, the University of Alabama Symphony, and the Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra.

Anthony Pattin, a native of Toledo, Ohio, is Professor of Music at UM where he has taught since 1987. He received the Bachelor of Music degree from Toledo University where he studied with Beatrice Erdely and Frances Renzi and received the Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a student of Theodore Lettvin. After moving to Alabama he completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1994 where he studied with Amanda Penick. He is the recipient of both the Distinguished Teacher Award (2001) given by the College of Fine Arts, and the University Scholar Award (2002-2003). He has performed with the Alabama Symphony, the Tuscaloosa Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the Arkansas Symphony, the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra as soloist as well as in recitals, including three in New York City (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall-1998/2006; Merkin Concert Hall-2002). In 2006 while on sabbatical from the University of Montevallo he performed several concerts in Tokyo, Japan. He has recorded six CDs, which includes “Live from New York”(2002) recorded in concert at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. He has had several “duo-piano” partners over the years, including his brother Leslie, with whom he has performed many concerts.

The Celebration Continues…

Eduardo Rojas, piano, November 12, 2007, 7:30 p.m., LeBaron Recital Hall Program: French Suite No. 5 in G Major by Bach, Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor by Chopin, Prelude in B minor, Op. 32 No. 10 by Rachmaninoff, Etude-Tableau in E-flat Major, Op. 33 No. 6, by Rachmaninoff, Etude-Tableau in D Major, Op. 39 No. 9, by Rachmaninoff, Paraphrase on the “Four Questions Song”, by Vignes, Danza en tres por cuarto (Dance in three by four), by Lecuona, Intermezzo Lejano Azul (Distant Blue Sky), by Calvo, Joropo, by Moleiro Anthony Pattin, piano, November 26, 2007, 7:30 p.m., LeBaron Recital Hall Program: Arabeske, Op. 18 by Schumann, Children’s Corner Suite by Debussy, Intermezzo by Poulenc, Ballade in F Minor, Op. 52 by Chopin, Transcendental Etude in F Minor by Liszt, and Sonata in E-flat, Op. 31 No. 3 by Beethoven Marcel Worms, piano, January 27, 2008, 7:30 p.m., LeBaron Recital Hall A recital dedicated to the works of Federico Mompou Cynthia Jones, piano, February 25, 2008, 7:30 p.m., LeBaron Recital Hall Including works by Haydn and Scriabin

University of Montevallo Department of Music

Inspired by the past, dedicated to the future