International Concert Series 2024-25
Thursday,7th October2024
PictureGallery, Founder’s Building
with Paul Kam Piano
Jason Fan Piano
Elisabeth Egel Piano
Estimatedfinishtime:9 15pm
Pleasenoflashphotographyor visual/audiorecording throughouttheevent.
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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, ‘Les Adieux’ Op. 81a
Performed by Paul Kam (piano)
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1970)
Consolations, S. 172 No. 3
Performed by Jason Fan (piano)
Heino Eller (1887 – 1970)
Kodumaine viis (‘Homeland
Melody’)
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
‘Jardins sous la pluie’ from Estampes
Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941)
‘Rosemary’ from Three Sketches
Performed by Elisabeth Egel (piano)
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770 – 1827)
SonataNo.26inE-flatmajor, ‘Les Adieux’ Op. 81a
I. DasLebewohl (The Farewell)
II. Abwesenheit (The Absence)
III. DasWiedersehen (The Return)
1809 was a year of turmoil for Vienna. As the French Army surrounded and captured the city, Beethoven took shelter in his brother’s cellar to protect his deteriorating hearing. Only six days prior, he had said farewell to his patron, Archduke Rudolph, who had left Vienna along with the royal family in advance of the city’s subjugation. In dedication to his patron, Beethoven wrote the start of ‘Les Adieux’ : a piano sonata comprised of three movements. They are titled: Das Lebewohl, meaning “farewell”; Abwesenheit, meaning “absence”; and Das Wiedersehen, meaning “return”, or “meeting again”.
The first movement, ‘Das Lebewohl’ , begins with a sorrowful introduction. The first three chords form an interrupted cadence, encapsulating the loss and disorientation emerging with his patron’s departure. On the original manuscript, Beethoven inscribed “Le-be-wohl" over the trio of chords, outlining them with the three broken syllables of this word. The introduction is only brief, and we move quickly from the solemn Adagio to a powerful Allegro Two themes are introduced: the first is velocious and painful; while the second takes an introspective, alleviating approach. The piece continues by following sonata form, which includes a repetition of the two themes to create the exposition, a passionate development, recapitulation and coda, before closing the movement with a perfect cadence.
In the second movement, titled ‘Abwesenheit’ , we revisit these emotions of loss, but in a far more sustained and prolonged setting. Much of the harmony is based around the diminished chord and developments of its structure, producing an uncomfortable restlessness that is reminiscent of the arduous wait for someone’s return. We move swiftly into the third and final movement, not allowing a final resolution to the ‘Abwesenheit’ , and instead linking it to the return of Beethoven’s patron.
‘Das Wiedersehen’ , the final movement, is a joyous and uplifting work that makes good use of its vivacissimamente performance direction. Throughout the movement there are contrasting section of lively semiquavers, which create a shimmering effect, and calmer moments of retrospectivity and gratitude. The left and right hand often switch between melody and accompaniment roles, conveying a prodigious enthusiasm that is impossible to contain.
Robert Schumann is best remembered for his piano music and vocal songs, as well as some of his symphonic and chamber work, but he also made significant contributions to most music genres of his day. Schumann studied law and soon became a piano student as well. He studied piano under Friedrich Wick, whose daughter, Clara, he would later marry. Despite continual practice, Schumann never became the virtuoso pianist he wished to be, because of a numbness in one of his fingers. His focus therefore centred around his work as a music critic and a composer.
Schumann had a lot of pent-up emotions, which he would release inside of his compositions. In 1840, he had an enormous creative outpouring, which resulted in him composing nearly 140 songs that year.
Schumann himself wrote this about his compositions in a letter to his wife:
I am affected by everything that goes on in the world and think it all over in my own way –That is why my compositions are sometimes difficult to understand, because they are connected with different interests; and sometimes striking, because everything extraordinary that
happens impresses me, and impels me to express it in music.
Kinderszenen was composed in 1838. Made up of thirteen pieces (selected from 30 he had composed), all of them expressed an adult’s reminiscence of childhood. The music is not technically demanding and of innocent simplicity. To his wife, Clara, Schumann wrote this about the compositions:
I have been waiting for your letter and have in the meantime filled several books with pieces.... You once said to me that I often seemed like a child, and I suddenly got inspired and knocked off around 30 quaint little pieces.... I selected several and titled them Kinderszenen You will enjoy them, though you will need to forget that you are a virtuoso when you play them.
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1970)
Consolations,S.172No.3
Franz Liszt was a child prodigy who became one of Europe’s greatest piano virtuosos in the nineteenth century. As a composer, he took full advantage of his mastery of the instrument, “filling his compositions with all the pianistic fireworks he could so effortlessly set off in his playing.” Liszt was a Catholic and had created a great amount of religious works, in which he expressed his religious beliefs. He inspired composers of the next generations with his tuned approach to chromatic harmony. The normally unimpressionable critic, Matthew Arnold, reported after a Liszt concert that “as soon as I returned home, I pulled off my coat, flung myself on the sofa, and wept the bitterest, sweetest tears.”
Consolations, written in 1849, is thought by some to be Liszt’s response to the death of his good friend Frederic Chopin. As an example, the beginning of Consolations No. 3 shows striking similarities to the opening of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 27/2 However, Liszt was clearly inspired by poems of Alphonse de Lamartine and Charles Sainte-Beuve as well. Consolations is not as virtuosic as Liszt’s music usually is, but it is its lyrical expressiveness, emotions and intimacy that makes the music shine.
Kodumaine viis (‘Homeland Melody’)
Heino Eller was one of the pioneers of Estonian contemporary music. He studied composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and later taught at Tartu Higher School of Music. There he laid the foundation for the Tartu composition School, which was influential in Estonian music in the beginning of the 20th century. In his works he used features from the classical and romantic traditions, modernism, and folk music inflections. Eller was mainly a composer of instrumental music, having composed around 40 orchestra work and over 200 piano works, but he has also written a few vocal works. Much of his orchestral music reflects scenes of nature and expressionist moods. Musicologist Guido Alder describes Eller’s music as a continuation of “Grieg’s Northern style and a successful synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.”
Kodumaine viis (‘Homeland Melody’) is one of Eller’s best-known works and is often performed on festive occasions in Estonia. Eller composed this when he was a student in St. Petersburg, but it was not completed and remained hidden in his drawer for several decades; Heljo Sepp, a piano student of the composer’s wife, Anna Eller, discovered the piece in 1950. Sepp named the piece, and she also premiered it. In the first printed edition of the piece, Eller dedicated the work to her. In 1953, Eller orchestrated some of his older piano works and the compilation became one of his most famous works – Five Pieces for String Orchestra The last piece of this compilation is Kodumaine viis, which has subsequently become an independent work.
Claude
Debussy (1862 – 1918)
‘Jardinssouslapluie’ from Estampes
Meaning ‘prints’ or ‘engravings’ , Debussy’s Estampes, composed in 1903, is a musical journey that spans nearly half the world. It begins with evocations of East Asia in the opening piece, ‘Pagodas’ ; then takes the listener to Spain in ‘La soirée dans Grenade’ ; and, finally, returns to Debussy’s own country with ‘Jardins sous la pluie’
Following in the tradition of the French keyboardists before him, the finale of Estampes is essentially a toccata. A highly energetic and rhythmic piece, ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ (‘Gardens in the Rain’) gives the impression of a rather heavy
rainstorm. At times, one can wonder if there are not hints of thunder in the music. Two French folksongs are used in the piece, Nous n'irons plus aux bois (‘We'll Not Return to the Woods’) and Dodo, l'enfant do (‘Sleep, Child, Sleep’), suggesting that a child unable to go outside and play is also part of the musical portrait.
Programme Notes by Joseph DuBose
Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941)
‘Rosemary’ from Three Sketches
Frank Bridge’s piano music was mostly written for particular performers or with particular people in mind. Bridge had a unique musical personality despite its clear roots in such composers as Fauré and Skryabin, and his kinship with British contemporaries such as Ireland, Bax and Delius.
Brdige’s Three Sketches were composed in 1906 but not published till 1915. No 2, Rosemary, starts with a simple downward path towards its tonic key of G major, where its simple journey might have ended but for a surprising detour down a more troubled avenue, of allegro, ff and syncopations.
Programme Notes by Roderick Swanston
The notes created for this event programme have been written by a team ofstudentsattheDepartmentofMusic,as part of the Concert Management & Artist PersonnelProgramme.
This is a professional development initiative run by the Concert Office where students are able to experience first-hand what goes on behind-the-scenes, who organises the publicity for an event, to even how to coordinate and manage a rehearsal schedule. All members of the programmearementoredbytheCollege's Performance Administrator, James Mark, and receive training from industry specialists.
Programme notes for tonight’s concert were written by Celine Olsen (Schumann, Liszt, Eller) and Millie Shurmer (Beethoven).
