Christian Tetzlaff & Lars Vogt Programme

INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES 2019/2020

Christian Tetzlaff violin Lars Vogt piano SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2019

Joseph Calleja

Justin Doyle

Natalie Clein

International Concert Series 2019/2020 NEXT CONCERT Sat. 23 Nov. 2019, 8pm RIAS Kammerchor Justin Doyle chief conductor Bahar & Ufuk Dördüncü pianos Programme: Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes with love songs

by Reger, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov and Sibelius.

Mon. 9 Dec. 2019, 8pm Joseph Calleja tenor Claudia Boyle soprano RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Proinnsías Ó Duinn conductor

Wed. 22 Jan. 2020, 8pm English Chamber Orchestra José Serebrier conductor Natalie Clein cello Thurs. 20 Feb. 2020, 8pm Simon Trpčeski piano Mon. 9 Mar. 2020, 8pm Bach Collegium Japan Masaaki Suzuki conductor Sat. 4 Apr. 2020, 8pm Tenebrae Aurora Orchestra Mon. 20 Apr. 2020, 8pm Emanuel Ax piano Thurs. 30 Apr. 2020, 8pm Vienna Chamber Orchestra Paul Lewis piano

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Wed. 13 May 2020, 8pm Camerata Ireland Barry Douglas piano/ conductor Lynn Harrell cello Dmitry Sitkovetsky violin Sat. 23 May 2020, 8pm Joyce DiDonato mezzo-soprano Il pomo d’oro Maxim Emelyanychev conductor/harpsichord Tue. 2 June 2020, 8pm The Hallé Sir Mark Elder conductor Benjamin Grosvenor piano

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Welcome You are very welcome to the third concert of our International Concert Series for 2019/20 featuring violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt.

Tetzlaff is hailed as one of the greatest violinists of our time. Equally renowned as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist he has been Artist-in-Residence with Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Berliner Philharmoniker and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and just last year he won the Gramophone Classical Music Award for his album of Bartók’s concerti Nos.1 & 2 with Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Pianist and conductor Lars Vogt is also regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation and has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras such as the Vienna, Berlin and New York Philharmonic, London and Boston Symphony orchestras. As a conductor he has worked with many leading ensembles and has been Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead since 2015. Last month, he was announced as the next Music Director of Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, commencing July 2020.

Our fourth instalment of the International Concert Series on November 23rd sees widely acclaimed RIAS Kammerchor with chief conductor Justin Doyle joined by Turkish-Swiss piano duo Ufuk and Bahar Dördüncü for a programme featuring Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes Op. 52 and Op. 65, interspersed with love songs by Reger, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov, Sibelius and Slavonic Dances by Dvořák.

Our thanks to our media partner The Irish Times for its ongoing support of the International Concert Series and to all our Friends, Corporate Associates, Patrons, sponsors and you, our audience. We hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and we look forward to welcoming you back to many more wonderful concerts in the season.

Maura McGrath Simon Taylor Chairman CEO Board Of Directors Maura McGrath Chair • James Cavanagh • Rebecca Gageby Gerard Gillen • Eleanor McEvoy • Máire O’Connor John Reynolds • Don Thornhill Patron Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland 1

London Mozart Players

Tonight’s programme weaves together 19th and 20th century works, opening with Beethoven’s Sonata in A major and concluding with César Franck’s A major sonata, considered to be one of the finest sonatas for violin and piano ever written. In between, we will hear two contrasting 20th century compositions – the Sonata No.2 by Shostakovich and the György Kurtág’s Tre Pezzi.

“Tetzlaff, playing as if his life depended on it, transported his audience from the Hungarian gypsy camp to the salons of Vienna. It was the trip of a lifetime�

Independent On Sunday

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Programme

Beethoven

Sonata No. 6 for Violin and Piano in A major Op. 30 No. 1

Shostakovich

Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major Op. 134

INTERVAL Tre pezzi Op. 14e

Franck

Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major

London Mozart Players

Kurtรกg

REMINDERS Mobile Devices Please ensure all mobile devices are switched off during the performance.

Camera, Video and Recording Equipment Camera, video and recording equipment are NOT permitted in the auditorium.

Intervals and Timings Interval will be 20 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted until there is a suitable break in the performance.

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VIOLIN

International Concert Series 2019/2020

©Giorgia Bertazzi

Christian Tetzlaff

Christian Tetzlaff has been one of the most sought-after violinists and exciting musicians on the classical music scene for many years.

With an extensive repertoire and equally at home in Classical, Romantic and contemporary repertoire, he sets standards with his interpretations of the concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Berg or Ligeti, and is renowned for his innovative chamber music projects and performances of Bach solo repertoire. He frequently turns his attention to forgotten masterpieces, such as Joseph Joachim’s Violin Concerto which he successfully championed, while attempting to bring new works to the mainstream repertoire such as Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto, which he premiered in 2013.

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Tetzlaff follows the musical manuscript as closely as possible, foregoing standard performance tradition and without indulging in usual technical short-cuts on the instrument, which often allows a renewed clarity and richness to develop in works that are already well-known to audiences.

A former Artist-in-Residence with Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Berliner Philharmoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and hr-Sinfonieorchester, his recordings have also received numerous awards, most recently the Gramophone Classical Music Award in 2018 for his album of Bartók’s concerti Nos.1&2 with Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His most recent recording for the label Ondine of Beethoven and Sibelius violin concerti with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati, released in the autumn 2019, immediately received a mention as Album of the Month in Gramophone Magazine.

London Mozart Players

Other awards include a Diapason d’Or and the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2018, Midem Classical in 2017, the Edison, and several Grammy nominations. His discography includes violin concerti by Dvořák, Mozart, Lalo, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Jörg Widmann; Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Mambo Blues and Tarantella; violin sonatas by Mozart, Bartók, Schumann and Brahms; and of special significance, Bach’s complete solo Sonatas and Partitas, which he recorded three times over time, the latest having been released in September 2017.

Chamber music is as an important component to his musical facets as his work as a soloist, with and without the orchestra. Christian founded the Tetzlaff Quartett in 1994, which received the Diapason d’Or in 2015, while the trio with sister Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt was nominated for a Grammy award.

Born in Hamburg in 1966, Christian Tetzlaff studied at the Lübeck Conservatory with Uwe-Martin Haiberg and in Cincinnati with Walter Levin.

He plays a violin by German maker Peter Greiner and teaches regularly at the Kronberg Academy, near Frankfurt.

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International Concert Series 2019/2020

Lars Vogt

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PIANO

Lars Vogt has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for over twenty-five years. His versatility as an artist ranges from the core classical repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto.

Howard Shelley

Lars is now increasingly performing as a conductor and in September 2015 took up his post as Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead. With Lars the orchestra has developed a strong international profile with concerts in Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest and Istanbul and regular visits to the La Roque d’Antheron International Piano Festival and Festival de Musique de Menton in France as well as the Rheingau Festival in Germany. This season sees the orchestra and Lars return to Asia with concerts in Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul and perform at the Barbican in London as well as in Scotland and France. Their complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle released on the Ondine label has been critically acclaimed with the final disc described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘a beautiful example of soloist and orchestra in perfect accord’.

This season Lars makes conducting debuts with New Japan Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Dortmunder Philharmoniker and continues his collaboration with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris with whom he will give concerts at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and lead their Play-direct Academy. Previous conducting collaborations include Cologne and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Hannover Opera Orchestra, Frankfurt Museumorchester Warsaw Philharmonic, and the Sydney, Singapore and New Zealand symphony orchestras. In May 2019 he undertook a highly acclaimed tour of Germany and France leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra including concerts in Berlin, Munich and Paris.

Already this season Lars returned to North America with Christian Tetzlaff for an extensive tour including Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington and following this Dublin performance the duo travel to London. As a soloist Lars continues to appear with leading orchestras 7

around the world and later this season returns to Toronto Symphony, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and travels with Concertgebouworkest and Paavo Jarvi to Asia. Lars also performs with Ian Bostridge in Moscow and gives solo recitals in Paris, at the Flagey Piano Festival in Brussels and Edinburgh International festival.

International Concert Series 2019/2020

During his prestigious career Lars has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony and NHK Symphony. In 2015 Lars featured in the First Night of the BBC Proms season in London and the opening of the Orchestre de Paris’ season at the Philharmonie in Paris, repeated at La Scala, Milan. He has collaborated with some of the world’s most renowned conductors including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski and Robin Ticciati. His special relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker has continued with regular collaborations following his appointment as their first ever “Pianist in Residence” in the 2003/4 season.

Lars enjoys a high profile as a chamber musician and in June 1998 he founded his own chamber festival in the village of Heimbach near Cologne. Known as Spannungen, the concerts take place in an art-nouveau hydro-electric power station. Its huge success has been marked by the release of several live recordings on the CAvi and EMI labels. In addition to Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars has enjoyed regular partnerships with colleagues such as Thomas Quasthoff and Julian Pregardian and collaborates with actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher. A prolific recording artist, Lars now works closely with the Ondine label, with recent solo releases including works by Mozart, Schubert and the Bach Goldberg Variations which had unprecedented success in download charts as well as receiving widespread acclaim.

Adding to his growing list of chamber recordings, recent releases on Ondine include Brahms, Mozart and Schumann sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff, and their GRAMMY nominated Brahms’ piano trios with Tanja Tetzlaff. In earlier years as an EMI recording artist, Lars made over ten 8

London Mozart Players

discs with the label including the Hindemith Kammermusik No. 2 with the Berliner Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado, plus the Schumann, Grieg and first two Beethoven Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle.

A passionate advocate of making music an essential life force in the community, in 2005 Lars established a major educational programme Rhapsody in School which brings his colleagues to schools across Germany and Austria, thereby connecting children with inspiring world-class musicians. He is also an accomplished and enthusiastic teacher and in 2013 was appointed Professor of Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, his former teacher and close friend. Lars lives in Berlin with his wife, the violinist Anna Reszniak, and his family.

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Programme Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Sonata No. 6 for Violin and Piano in A major Op. 30 No. 1

International Concert Series 2019/2020

i. Allegro ii. Adagio molto espressivo iii. Allegretto con variazioni The Beethoven sonata beginning this evening’s programme brings a timely reminder, if one is actually needed, that 2020 celebrates the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Beethoven was born in Bonn on 16th December 1770. No doubt a proliferation of his works will be heard in the coming year but, that being so, Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt’s performance of his 6th Sonata for Violin and Piano provides a genial introduction to the commemorative activities.

Dating from 1802, the Sonata was written in Heiligenstadt, then a quiet village with a view across the Danube to the distant mountains but now subsumed into the greater metropolis of the Austrian capital.

Beethoven had gone there on the advice of his doctor who felt the peaceful countryside would be beneficial to the composer’s health in general but, away from the noisy city, particularly to his hearing. Three years earlier Beethoven had become aware of a disturbing buzzing in his ears and tried various alleged remedies including oil of almonds, hot and cold baths and concoctions of pills and herbs. Alas, all were to no avail.

However, while Beethoven’s stay in Heiligenstadt did nothing to help his hearing it certainly stimulated his creative processes. This resulted in a number of compositions including the three Op. 30 Violin Sonatas, 10

the three Op. 31 Piano Sonatas and the completion of his Second Symphony. While there are occasional moments of turmoil to be found in these works, they are among the sunniest of his compositions.

At the same time let us not forget that during the summer of 1802 Beethoven also wrote what is known as his Heiligenstadt Testament – an extraordinary letter to his brothers, Caspar Karl and Johann, but not to be opened until after his death. In the document, among other things, he mentioned the closeness of his consideration of suicide. Yet, none of these darker thoughts are reflected in his Op. 30/1 Violin Sonata.

The Adagio molto espressivo is actually in a rondo form based on three ideas in D major, B minor and D minor. A dotted semiquaver pattern retains an almost unbroken regularity in either the piano or the violin in the first and the last of the movement’s three sections. The Adagio also presents a passionately expressive cantilena stemming from the violin’s opening melody and turning into a graceful arc. The movement ranks among the most effective and loveliest music for violin and piano duo.

Writing about it the great Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi (1893-1966) commented, ‘The blend of the two instruments is so perfect a thing; that by itself is a joy, and besides the ethereal beauty of the theme every note of the accompaniment is full of expression and movement and quite as lovely to play as the theme itself. The whole movement has such a feeling of tenderness and sorrow it reminds me, if I am allowed the comparison, of Michelangelo’s Pietà and his unfinished marvel, the Descent from the Cross. I do not want to suggest that this Adagio could be called religious music, I am only thinking in both 11

Programme Notes

The Allegro first movement is mostly graceful in its demeanour and it opens with a motif that tends to dominate the movement overall.

Indeed, the first few bars’ rhythmic idea continues to make itself felt as the Allegro progresses. The principal theme grows smoothly from the piano’s opening with the violin taking its stance from this, mostly rising, sequence. The piano also summons the flowing and melodic second theme that is repeated by the violin. Both of these subjects are elegantly developed and, while there are also some dynamic contrasts, the grandeur of Beethoven’s writing is all the more effective in that it avoids engaging in dramatic extremes.

cases of the expression of infinite tenderness and sorrow, whether put into sound or carved in stone’.

Beethoven discarded his original Finale - he later used that music as the concluding movement of his Op. 47 Kreutzer Sonata - in favour of a set of variations. He based his A major theme on a modified version of an idea from the opening Allegro. The theme also has a relationship with his earlier and lovely setting of the poem Adelaide

by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761-1831), which Beethoven completed in 1797. Besides, the theme also has a prophetic Schubertian ring to it.

In the variations themselves the piano part gives more than a hint of Beethoven’s skill in improvisation. Variations two, three and five also show his assuredness in contrapuntal writing.

International Concert Series 2019/2020

Variation four is notable for its ‘clipped violin chords and lyrical piano lines’ while variation five tends to be somewhat sombre. The final variation is marked Allegro ma non tanto and is preceded by a transitional passage from variation five. Variation six also gives the impression of being both a fantasia and a coda. It changes from common to 6/8 time and brings the Sonata to a perfect conclusion.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major Op. 134 i. Andante ii. Allegretto iii. Largo Like his Violin Concerti – the first dating from 1948 and the second from 1967 – Shostakovich’s Violin Sonata was written for the great Ukrainian-born artist David Oistrakh (1908-1974). Although the composer meant his 2nd Violin Concerto as a 60th birthday present for Oistrakh he somehow got the date confused and completed the Concerto a year prematurely. Feeling obliged to correct his error Shostakovich composed a Violin Sonata, which he delivered to Oistrakh on time for his diamond jubilee. The delighted Oistrakh was not expecting it although he had been hoping against hope the composer would write a sonata for him.

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The private première took place before the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow on 8th January 1969 with the dedicatee and the composer’s friend, Warsaw-born composer Moisei Vainberg (1919-1996), playing the piano part. The first public performance took place on 3rd May 1969 with Oistrakh and Ukrainian-born pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997). Although in poor health, Shostakovich was present and, in her book Shostakovich – a life remembered, English author Elizabeth Wilson recalls that while he could hardly walk the composer insisted on coming on stage with the artists to acknowledge the applause and to thank them. He told them, ‘Today I am a really happy man’.

When writing for Oistrakh, Shostakovich took into consideration the violinist’s phenomenal artistry, the contrasting sweetness and tragic intensity of his tone and his tremendous capacity to make the music pound and throb with dancing rhythmic vitality.

A second, somewhat lighter, theme has a march-like quality. Both ideas share a related rhythmic freedom. The violin later presents another idea that slips downward in a rather eerie manner. The piano offers a chilling accompaniment with a tolling funereal character.

Imaginatively developed, these ideas have been described as having ‘a dark, sinewy and ascetic feel’. Before the conclusion, the violin plays sul ponticello (with the bow on the bridge of the instrument) to add to the music’s ghostly atmosphere.

Marked Allegretto the second movement offers a much-needed contrast. Yet, while it suggests Jewish wedding, or Klezmer music, all is far from carefree. The principal theme may initially sound heroic but it soon takes an anxious turn with elements of aggression lurking 13

Programme Notes

Besides the influence of Oistrakh when working on the Sonata, Shostakovich was also fascinated with exploring the possibilities of what is known as ‘serial technique’ based on Arnold Schönberg’s method of composition where all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are heard before any can be repeated. Shostakovich alludes to this idea in the opening bars of his Andante with the pianist starting in the bass and rising to the instrument’s upper register playing all the notes of the scale before the violin enters with the movement’s first theme.

Like several of the composer’s works of this period, particularly the late string quartets, the mood is stark and uncompromising.

above and below the surface. The music is gruff and vigorous with unbounded energy and tension. A waltz-like figure tries to emerge but its attempts are quickly stifled by the ongoing frenzy. The movement ends abruptly.

International Concert Series 2019/2020

With fugal part-writing and echoes of chorales, it is possible Shostakovich had Bach in mind, and in particular the chaconne from his second solo Violin Partita, when compositing his passacaglia Finale. There is a sombre Largo introduction after which the violin, playing pizzicato, indicates the dark theme of the ensuing thirteen variations. The tempo moves to a slightly faster Andante in a series of shifting moods, some strangely playful but others pensive, some casting sinister shadows while others appear less troubled. The theme interrupts from time to time and halfway through an outburst from the piano leads to a climactic violin sequence. The passacaglia is also disturbed by hints of the march-like idea from the spectral first movement. Before it ends, the funereal air of the said Andante is heard tolling in the remote distance as the music dissolves into silence.

INTERVAL

György Kurtág (1926- ) Tre pezzi Op. 14e i. Öd und traurig ii. Vivo iii. Aus der Ferne It is said that György Kurtág ‘creates a sound-world all his own’ and that ‘he reduces music to the level of the fragment, the moment, with individual pieces or movements lasting mere seconds, or a minute, perhaps two. Most extreme of all, his piano piece, Flowers we are, mere flowers, from the eighth volume of his Játékok (Games), consists of just seven notes’. Because of his interest in miniatures, Kurtág’s music is often compared to that of Anton Webern and, like the latter’s expressionism, to say as little as possible while maximising the effect and impact of every gesture.

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Born in Romania to Hungarian parents on 15th February 1926, Kurtág moved to Budapest in 1946 and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy.

Permission to travel to Paris in 1957 brought him into contact with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud.

However, in Paris he developed a severe depression but being advised by art psychologist Marianne Stein to work from ‘the simplest musical elements’ stimulated his artistic development. It was also in Paris that Kurtág became acquainted with the music of Webern and the plays of Samuel Beckett.

Returning to Budapest he worked for a while as répétiteur at the Bartók School of Music before being appointed professor of piano and chamber music at his alma mater. He taught there until 1993, after which he worked abroad, in mainly Berlin, Vienna and Paris, with increasing frequency. With his wife and artistic partner, Márta, he lived near Bordeaux from 2001 to 2015. They now reside in Budapest.

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Having set many of Beckett’s texts over the years, Kurtág’s magnum opus, his opera, Samuel Beckett: Fin de partie (Endgame), was premièred at La Scala, Milan on 15th November 2018. Written over a period of eight years from 2010, it is considered to be ‘a fusion of Debussy’s poetry and Webern’s pith’.

Like a number of companion pieces, Kurtág’s Tre pezzi Op. 14e, composed in 1979, have their origins in his Op. 14 Herdecker eurhythmie for flute, violin, speaker and tenor-lira. The somewhat tragic first piece - Öd und traurig (Desolate and sad) - centres on the violin over the piano’s very soft accompaniment. This favours semiquavers while playing mostly sharps in contrast to the violin’s ‘natural resonances’.

The very fragmented Vivo has the violin in a ‘game of pianissimo harmonics against jagged and fierce pizzicati’. The final Aus der Ferne (From the distance) is very soft and extremely slow with the piano accompanying the violin’s melody with a three-note figure over several octaves.

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César Franck (1822-1890) Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major i. Allegretto ben moderato ii. Allegro iii. Recitativo-Fantasia: ben moderato iv. Allegretto poco mosso Liège-born César Franck wrote his Violin Sonata for another famous Belgian artist, violinist/composer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931). Presenting it to him on his wedding day - 26th September 1886 - Ysaÿe, with the distinguished pianist Léontine Bordos-Pène (1858-1924), one of his guests, hastily rehearsed it and then played it to the assembled gathering.

International Concert Series 2019/2020

An exceptional pianist, Franck entered the Liège Conservatoire in 1830 when he was eight and was giving solo recitals by the age of twelve. The family later moved to Paris where César was accepted into the Conservatoire, under Cherubini’s directorship, in 1837.

He won many coveted awards but, as a composer, he was largely self-taught although he had a few private lessons before entering the Conservatoire from Prague-born Anton Reicha (1770-1836), who had been a contemporary of Beethoven in Bonn.

He was also greatly encouraged and influenced by Liszt and several of Franck’s compositions, including the Violin Sonata, are in Lisztean cyclical structures whereby themes are transformed, not only within movements but also across multi-movement designs. An unquestioning religious faith – he was organist at a number of Parisian churches including the basilica of Sainte-Clotilde from 1858 until his death – coloured his entire musical thought.

The Violin Sonata’s first movement has two themes, which are opposed in intensity rather than character. The initial one is announced by the violin in a fluid curve while the second, heard on the piano alone, has a more exuberant strain. There is a brief development before the slightly altered recapitulation.

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The second movement is in complete contrast to the smoothness of the first. The passionately–driven main theme is played in full by the piano and then repeated in unison with the violin. A gentle interlude follows with a quiet, if sudden, violin descent using music from the opening Allegretto. This recall occurs again after a repeat of the Allegro’s own principal theme. Franck’s development is quite involved, but never clouded, while the coda is somewhat agitated.

The Recitativo-Fantasia begins with an oblique statement of the first movement’s opening theme. A short violin cadenza leads to some unusually reserved piano comments. The second section draws its material from the previous Allegro movement. This is transformed, over a delicate piano accompaniment, into an idea that will recur in the Finale. Another figure, terse and dramatic, is heard on the violin and, when this abates, the opening theme of the Sonata makes a somewhat broadened reprise. The movement ends with an elusive cadence.

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The Finale is really an old French rondeau. The main theme is an irresistible tune played on the violin and imitated in canon on the piano. It may have been intended as a symbol of married bliss, remembering the Sonata was Franck’s wedding present to Ysaÿe.

Music from the previous movements is interwoven with unfailing skill and the Sonata ends brilliantly with the canon effect identified as unifying both instruments in a stable musical liaison.

Programe Notes by Pat O’Kelly

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Ana Sokolovic

International Concert Series 2019/2020

Navarra String Quartet

Garrett Sholdice

Zoran Dukic

Amy Gillen

Chamber Music Series 2019/2020 Highlights • Fifty New Irish Art Songs to be premiered as part of Irish Language Art Song Project • Resound: NCH/Sounding the Feminist Series featuring work of female composers • International Guitar Series featuring six recitals by leading International and Irish musicians • Young Artist Series: four concerts by young Irish prize-winners • Sunday String Quartet Series: eight recitals by leading ensembles • Beethoven 250th Anniversary: two distinct series by The Degani Piano Trio and Irish pianist Hugh Tinney And lots more.

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THURSDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2019, 8PM NATIONAL CONCERT HALL FRIENDS GALA CONCERT Mairéad Hickey violin | Ed Creedon viola | Killian White cello Tom Myles clarinet | Kevin Jansson piano Haydn Cello Concerto in C Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E flat for violin & viola Mozart Clarinet Concerto Mozart Double Piano Concerto in E flat

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