International Concert Series 2023-2024
SCHOENBERG WITH PINA NAPOLITANO EVENT PROGRAMME
OCTOBER 19, 2023 ROYALHOLLOWAY.AC.UK/MUSIC
Department of Music
School of Performing & Digital Arts
International Concert Series 2023-24
OUR 2023-24 SEASON We are pleased to welcome you to our 2023-24 International Concert Series at Royal Holloway. We, at the Department of Music, cannot wait to showcase the varied talent of our students and staff, but also bringing internationally renowned musicians to the College. For 2023-24, we are back and better than ever with more student and staff opportunities through the creation of 'The Platform', an open opportunity for the community at the Department of Music to share with you what makes us so special. Alongside our popular Midweek Music and Pocket Concert Series, we are excited to continue our special partnerships with the Young Classical Artists Trust and BBC New Generation Artists and continue our alumni recital series by bringing back the epoch ensemble. We are pleased to also bring a wealth of international artists to our series, including pianists Pina Napolitano, Mary Dullea, Sholto Kynoch, Alexander Soares, and Joseph Havlat, violinst Darragh Morgan, guitarist Laura Snowden, clarinettist Jonathan Leibovitz, 1|P a g e
sitarist James Pusey, mezzosoprano Helen Charlston, jazz group Solstice, and the London Mozart Players. 2023 also marks the final season for our quartet-in-residence, the Tippett Quartet, as we say farewell to this stellar group with their final concert at Royal Holloway. All in all, this season is representative of the world-class talent our community at the Department of Music has fostered as we showcase our students and the range of music performance we programme and encourage; from jazz to world music, orchestral performance to solo piano, as well as presenting performers from the international stage. We look forward to welcoming you to our series this year. Nathan James Dearden Music Performance Manager & Curator of the International Concert Series
International Concert Series 2023-24
Schoenberg with Pina Napolitano International Concert Series 2023-24 Thursday, 19 October 2023 Picture Gallery, Founder’s Building with
Pina Napolitano Piano
Estimated finish time: 9.30pm There will be a short 10-minute interval during this evening’s event. Please no flash photography or visual/audio recording throughout the event. For news about our future events, please visit royalholloway.ac.uk/music/events
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International Concert Series 2023-24
EVENT PROGRAMME Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 I. II. III.
Mässige (at a moderate speed) Mässige (very slowly) Bewegte (with motion)
Arnold Schoenberg Suite, Op. 25 I. II. III. IV. V. VI.
Präludium (1921) Gavotte (1923) Musette (1923) Intermezzo (1921–1923) Menuett. Trio (1923) Gigue (1923)
INTERVAL
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) Sonata No. 2, Op. 2 in F-sharp minor I. II. III. IV.
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Allegro non troppo, ma energico Andante con espressione Scherzo: Allegro — Poco più moderato Finale: Sostenuto — Allegro non troppo e rubato — Molto sostenuto
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PROGRAMME NOTES Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 I. II. III.
Mässige (at a moderate speed) Mässige (very slowly) Bewegte (with motion)
Before 1907, many of Arnold Schoenberg’s works embraced conventional means of functional harmony, a sonic world bred from Richard Strauss and Alexander Zemlinsky. This was explored in his book, Theory of Harmony (1922), which was largely inspired or ‘learned from [his] pupils,’ particularly top students or ‘disciples’, notably Anton Webern and Alban Berg. However, this key text for composers and musicians of the time (and today) reveals that the tonal writing of the early twentieth century, he felt, had become ‘exhausted’ (N. H. Taylor, 1939) and ultimately that music was headed for a soundworld that reflected the world around us, an atonal or (as he preferred to describe it) pantonal age. Even to this day, academic circles continue to debate the substance of this diverge in musical aesthetic and how Schoenberg applied his own doctrine in his music. Schoenberg’s new sonic and aesthetic toolkit created in the early twentieth century marked a 4|P a ge
remarkable and everlasting shift in music’s history. Without Schoenberg, the world would be void of Debussy, Stravinsky, and Bartók’s musical offerings in light of these musical explorations. No Pierre Boulez. No Karlheinz Stockhausen. No György Ligeti. However, here lies the ironic beauty in Schoenberg’s new age. Audiences do not like change. Music is subjective and vitalizes introspection, and thus creates feedback, countermovement, and retaliation from composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov. Whatever side of the track you sit on, there is no denying Schoenberg’s ability to open up a conversation about what music can do. *** Briefly, Schoenberg moved to Berlin in 1901, acquainted himself with Richard Strauss and secured a job as a composition lecturer at Stern Conservatory whilst also receiving support from Gustav Mahler back at home in Austria. His first major break
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as a composer was the premiere of his string sextet, Transfigured Night, which was, however, not best received, particularly due to some ambiguous harmonies; perhaps an early sign of his hunger towards tearing up the rulebook and the world of atonality. Contrastingly, today it is seen as one of his defining works. In 1907, the last movement of his second string quartet demonstrated a major shift in his style, through a lack of tonal centre, whilst concurrently weaving a spoken part for the instrumentalists. The shift in musical approach was afoot. It was none other than his set of piano works, Opus 11, where we find the earliest definitive indication of Schoenberg’s atonal writing, with techniques that would become inextricably linked with the ‘Second Viennese School’. Generally, when approaching pieces like Opus 11, the performer and audience require a different mindset. Atonality is a completely different sound-world to tonal composition, with music deeply saturated in occurrences in personal life or general introspection. This is not to say that tonal music is not born out of emotion, but the extremity in musical freedom of atonality enables the listener to embrace new possibilities. In the context of Opus 11, Schoenberg’s wife was having an affair with the painter Richard Gerstl, while Schoenberg’s early fame was being dismantled by critics through an onslaught of everincreasing resistance to his music. These personal troubles were arguably 5|P a g e
created a perfect storm for him to find his sound as a composer, acting as a release of building adversity. The lack of conventional tonality certainly does not mean that these works do not carry traditional musical techniques. In Opus 11, certain musical material, cells, and motifs are used across the three movements, which creates a sense of unity. The idea of space is created through the lack of a conventional tonal centre. The third movement somewhat foreshadows a true serialism, a method of atonality that was developed by many of Schoenberg’s admirers and students.
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Arnold Schoenberg Suite, Op. 25 I. II. III. IV. V. VI.
Präludium (1921) Gavotte (1923) Musette (1923) Intermezzo (1921–1923) Menuett. Trio (1923) Gigue (1923)
A theme of evolution is becoming apparent in this evening’s programme. Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano is another prominent work for the composer, since it was Schoenberg’s first trial of employing the tone-row or dodecaphonic technique into a published composition. This is an atonal technique, whereby the twelve tones are arranged in a certain order or ‘row’ and are thereby treated with equal importance. True equality of tone and colour in music. Throughout the piece, variations of this order are used such as inversions (‘backwards’), retrograde inversions (‘backwards and upside down’) and transpositions (changing the key, or in this case, modulating the pitches by a proportionate degree). This is all to ensure that variety is created whilst still serving each tone with equal importance. The original tone row pitches in this piece are as follows: E–F–G–D♭–G♭–E♭–A♭–D–B–C–A–B♭ The suite is in six movements, all of which hark back to the Baroque era, 6|P a ge
since they echo many styles of the period (dates refer to when each movement was composed): Präludium (1921), Gavotte (1923), Musette (1923), Intermezzo (1921– 1923), Menuett. Trio (1923), Gigue (1923).
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Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) Sonata No. 2, Op. 2 in F-sharp minor I. II. III. IV.
Allegro non troppo, ma energico Andante con espressione Scherzo: Allegro — Poco più moderato Finale: Sostenuto — Allegro non troppo e rubato — Molto sostenuto
A parallel between Schoenberg and Johannes Brahms can be seen when exploring the latter’s music. Rather fittingly for this programme is a featuring of his second ever music publication sonata, Op.2. For the importance of this programme, he was not only a traditionalist but also an innovator. Drawing on the earlier example from Schoenberg, both Op.11 and Brahms’ Op.2 are defining works in each composer’s career. The major difference was that Brahms was only 19 at time of publication, with Schoenberg into his thirties. Recently, in 2020, the virtuoso pianist Alexandre Kantorow performed No.2 and said: “Even though it’s No 2, it was the first one of these to be written. He makes enormous (what for the period could be described as) avant-garde moments of dissonance and structural decisions. It sounds more like a fantasy than a sonata.” What can be drawn on here is firstly the idea of Brahms’ ingenuity and genius at such a young age, open-eyed for undiscovered musical possibilities. 7|P a g e
Secondly, ‘avant-garde’ demonstrates his creativity and individual expression as a composer. Whilst Schoenberg’s music undoubtedly took a contrasting route to the context of his education and early life, Brahms shows similar aptitude for change and evolution so early on in his career. The first movement is in sonata form, but there lies uncertainty. There is not a clear sense of returning ‘home’ at the end. Nevertheless, it is extremely dramatic and virtuosic, something Beethovenian in nature. The most recognisable motif is the generous use of octaves across the movement. Similarly, it is also sometimes hard to keep a track of the tonal centre, again fitting for the Schoenbergian pairing in this evening’s concert. The movement concludes subduedly, opposed to the expectation of an explosive end like the start. The Andante is also intriguing in its ability to make the listener feel on edge. Brahms achieves this through much of the melodic material being
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commanded by the left hand with the right hand echoing faintly. There are harmonies which are dissonant and unnerving, which are enhanced through ever-changing quiet dynamics. Whilst it feels tonal, the harmony is every-changing, which makes it hard to predict the bars ahead. Movement three is very thrilling since it begins with the intimidating Scherzo and is interspersed by the lush sounding Trio sections. Whilst contrasting in nature, they feed off one another, one fuelling the other. The last bars offer a false sense of security since the trills modulate us to B major the tonic major, which is a very hopeful and bright sounding key. The trills offer a floating quality. Brahms flicks the supporting harmonies to B minor, continuing the trill in the right-hand. The movement concludes with the thematic left-hand octaves, doubled in the right-hand. The Finale is extremely virtuosic, demanding a range of techniques from the pianist, from the subtlety and cleanliness of the fast runs to the grit and drama of the chordal outbursts. Even though marked fortissimo in the last bars, the dynamic marking is almost counterintuitive since the chords are spread. This is yet one of the numerous instances of Brahms’ creativity and ingenuity as a composer, introducing new ideas into the musical ether.
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PERFORMERS
Pina Napolitano Piano Pina Napolitano made a splash with her debut CD in 2012 featuring the complete solo piano works of Arnold Schoenberg: Norman Lebrecht shortlisted it for his Sinfini Music Album of the Year; Guy Rickards in International Piano Magazine called the CD “outstanding”, citing the “tensile strength to her playing that is distinctly hers”, and Calum MacDonald in BBC Music Magazine gave it five stars for its “rare penetration, understanding, grace and elegance”. Pina Napolitano is, through her teacher Bruno Mezzena, a grand student of Arturo Benedetti 9|P a ge
Michelangeli. Her recent focus has been the music of the Second Viennese School, which she considers not as a primarily intellect ual venture, but a highly emotional and expressive one – “wholly saturated with expression” (Österreichis ch e Musikzeitschrift), a “perfect conjunction between microcellu la r dissection and almost heartbreaking expressive sensitivity” (Ritmo), a “heady romanticism both irresistible and unsettling” (Arts Desk). She is especially interested in the retrospective view looking from today, via early modernism, at the works of the romantic and classical periods. She enjoys programming the music of Schönberg, Berg, and
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Webern alongside works of Mozart and Brahms for instance. Not only does she impress her public with intellectual clarity, elegance, and beauty of tone, but also with her virtuosity and an unusual feat of memory: she plays everything by heart – not to impress her public, but to create an atmosphere of utmost concentration, that, in her own experience, captures the public’s intense attention throughout. Her second disc Elegy was built around the Schoenberg and Bartok Third Piano Concerto and recorded with Liepaja Symphony Orchestra with Atvars Lakstigala conductin g. “Pina Napolitano allows the listener to be able to feel utterly at home in the work with what seems like little effort” (Gramophone), “a performance as musical as it is crystalline” (Thierry Vagne), “proof that dodecaphonic music can be both melodic and moving” (Graham Rickson), “a little as if we were dealing with scores of the nineteenth century reshaped into modern works” (Crescendo), “an account no less impressive than Uchida’s or Brendel’s…” (Guy Rickards, Musical Opinion). She performed Schoenberg’s piano concerto in Rundale Palace with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and then again in February 2020 in Milan with Orchestra Sinfonica LaVerdi with Pietro Borgonovo directing. Her enthusiasm for the Schönber g concerto led to the commission of a chamber reduction of the work, arranged by Hugh Collins Rice, which she premiered at the Ehbarsaal in 10 | P a g e
Vienna in February 2015 with the New Vienna International Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Georgi Nikolov. The arrangement was performed in Italy with Colibrì Ensemble in 2016, with Yoichi Sujiyama directing, and in 2017 with Facade Ensemble with Benedict Collins Rice directing for a tournée of performances in England stopping at Oxford’s Sheldonian, Cambridg e West Road Concert Hall, and London Cadogan Hall. In 2022, she recorded this arrangement of the concerto with the Wiener Concertver ei n Orchestra with Michael Zlabinger conducting, scheduled for release in 2024. Her third disc, Brahms the Progressive,explores the connecti on s between late Brahms and the Second Viennese School. “Napolitano’ s touch, which is at once forceful and seductive, helps bind everythin g together on this very enjoyable disc,” (Michael Church, BBC Music Magazine), “a masterful disc… where the fullness of timbres is matched only by the mastery of musical conception” (Thierry Vagne). “Superbly produced, recorded and with carefully considered repertoire, this is a disc of intense, infinitely rewarding music… This is great Brahms, up there with Gilels” (International Piano). “These seven beautifully played works seek to illustrate the titular essay by Schoenberg… The segue from his Op 27 Variations back into the tonal paradise of late Brahms is poignant” (Sunday Times), ” what a magical transition!…” (Gramophone), “the
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deep Brahmsian affinities of Berg and Webern feel neither forced nor artificial” (Diapason 5*), in a performance of “incredible sensitivity, understanding, elegant and expressive playing…” (MDR). Her “aerial playing, especially noticeable in Berg’s sonata No. 1, works wonders… Through this disc, the pianist tells us that the past never dies. And we can only agree…” (Hebdoscope). “Echoes of the past and reflections on modernity are at once conservative in form and progressive in style” (PianoNews). In a raving review of her performance at St John’s Smith Square Mark Berry wrote “Nothing was overstated: instead, we were made to listen.” The disc was awarded the 2018 August “Record Geijutsu” in Japan, 5 Stars in UK’s International Piano Magazine, and Five Diapasons in France. Her fourth album, released in July 2020, entitled Tempo e Tempi, was selected as The Times’ 2020 “Best Contemporary Classical Album of the Year”, and features Elliott Carter’s Night Fantasies and Two Thoughts about the Piano, alongside Beethoven’s Sonatas Opp. 110 and 111 and Jeffrey Mumford’s two Elliott Carter tributes. “A provocativ el y brave album” (BBC Music Magazine, 5* for performance and recording), “Napolitano shines” (Wiener Zeitung), “brilliantly executed, vividly recorded, vigorous yet precisely pointed.” (The Sunday Times), “Plus qu’intéressant, un disque passionnant.” (Musique Classique & Co), “Touch, phrasing, dynamics are 11 | P a g e
not so many instruments of an expressive intention – also! – but above all the picklock to force open the musical architecture and penetrate into the composer’s workshop, where the intellect ual roots of song are finally recognized” (Classic Voice, 5*, Disco del Mese), “Napolitano’s performance of the Carter Night Fantasies boasts unflagging confidence and simply exudes authority. One never doubts the greatness of the piece, or of the performance. This is mature Beethoven playing that, Furtwängler-like, keeps the largescale always in view.” (Fanfare). Pina’s fifth album, Brahms the Progressive, vol. 2, features Webern’s Concerto Op. 24 together with Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto, recorded in Vilnius with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and Modestas Pitrėnas directing. “An almost poetic dramaturgy, an immense amount of emotion glows with poetic elegance.” (Pizzicato), “Napolitano shines as a member of Webern’s nonet as well as commanding proceedings in Brahms’ huge solo part… fine, poetic playing…” (International Piano), “superb in its clarity and color… one has the impression of rediscovering certain aspects of the score. Hats off to her!” (Musique Classique & Co), “a real and unexpected pleasure.” (BBC Music Magazine), “no sense of struggle… Napolitano’s fingerwork operates at its graceful, supple best… her dynamic range and burnished sonority truly blossom…”
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(Gramophone), “the very personal and almost analytical approach to Brahms’ masterpiece is singular… the Webern Concerto played with obvious mastery” (Classique c’est coul), “one of the most lyrical interpretations we have ever heard. Brahms the Progressive vol. 2 is a disc that makes us want to hold Napolitano’s hand and let her lead us wherever she wants to take us on the twelve-tone path. And we eagerly await vol. 3” (OperaClick). After studying with Giusi Ambrifi in her native Caserta near Naples, she attended masterclasses with Tibor Egly, Bruno Canino, Alexander Lonquich, Giacomo Manzoni, and Hugh Collins Rice. She graduated in Piano Solo Performance and in 20thCentury Piano Music with Bruno Mezzena at the Pescara Music Academy. She also earned two B.A.s from the University of Naples “L’Orientale” in Classical Philology and Slavistics, and then a doctorate in Slavistics with a thesis on the poetry of Osip Mandel’štam which won the 2011 Italian Slavists’ Association prize. She published an article on the Šostakovič cycle Op. 143 “Six poems of Marina Cvetaeva” in which she explored the connections between the poetic and musical text, and she translated for the first time into Italian the notebooks of Marina Cvetaeva for Voland Edizioni, awarded the 2014 “Premio ItaliaRussia. Attraverso i secoli” for best debut translation at a ceremony at Villa Abamelek, the Russian Embassy, Rome. 12 | P a g e
Her book Osip Mandel’štam: i Quaderni di Mosca was published by Firenze University Press in 2016 in the Studi Slavistici series. Her book of translations of Mandel’štam, Quaderni di Mosca, was published in 2021 with Einaudi Editore, co-curated with Raissa Raskina, and her volume of Cvetaeva’s last verses, Marina Cvetaeva: Ultimi Versi, was published by Voland Edizioni. She was the 2021 winner of the “Paul Celan Fellowship for Translators” at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen). Her music has been broadcast by Radio France Classique and Rai Radio 3, and presented live multiple times by BBC3, including InTune, Rai Radio 3, including for the Concerti del Quirinale. Alongside her performance activity, she has taught at the Conservatorio “Santa Cecilia” in Rome, the Istituto “Gaetano Braga” in Teramo, the Conservator y “Torrefranca” of Vibo Valentia, and currently teaches at Conservatori o Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna, as well as regular masterclasses in Europe. She continues to work as a literary translator.
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OUR PROGRAMME NOTES The notes created for this event programme have been written by a team of students at the Department of Music, as part of the Concert Management & Artist Personnel Programme (where listed). This is a professional development initiative run by the Concert Office where students are able to experience first-hand what goes on behind-thescenes, who organises the publicity for an event, to even how to coordinate and manage a rehearsal schedule. All members of the programme are mentored by the College's Performance Manager, Nathan James Dearden, and receive training from industry specialists.
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