Peter Frankl, 80th Birthday Celebration, Oct 21

peter frankl 80 th Birthday Celebration with Boris Berman Robert Blocker Hung-Kuan Chen Melvin Chen Michael Friedmann Wei-Yi Yang

horowitz piano series Boris Berman, Artistic Director October 21, 2015 • Morse Recital Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Horowitz Piano Series

peter frankl

80 th Birthday Celebration Wednesday, October 21, 2015 • 7:30 pm • Morse Recital Hall Boris Berman, Artistic Director Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791

Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448 I. Allegro con spirito II. Andante III. Allegro molto Peter Frankl, piano Robert Blocker, piano

Franz Schubert 1797–1828

Rondo in A major, Op. 107, D. 951 Peter Frankl, piano Michael Friedmann, piano

Johannes Brahms 1833–1897

Waltzes, Op. 39 No. 1 in B major. Tempo giusto No. 2 in E major No. 3 in G-sharp minor No. 4 in E minor. Poco sostenuto No. 5 in E major No. 6 in C-sharp major. Vivace No. 7 in C-sharp minor. Poco più Andante No. 8 in B-flat major No. 9 in D minor No. 10 in G major No. 11 in B minor No. 12 in E major No. 13 in C major No. 14 in A minor No. 15 in A major No. 16 in D minor Peter Frankl, piano Boris Berman, piano

Horowitz Piano Series

intermission Mozart

Andante and Variations in G major, K. 501 Peter Frankl, piano Melvin Chen, piano

Schubert

Allegro in A minor, Op. 144, D. 947, “Lebensstürme” Peter Frankl, piano Wei-Yi Yang, piano

Béla Bartók 1881–1945

Seven Pieces from Mikrokosmos for two pianos I. Bulgarian Rhythm II. Chord & Trill Study III. Perpetuum Mobile IV. Short Canon and its Inversion V. New Hungarian Folk Song VI. Chromatic Invention VII. Ostinato Peter Frankl, piano Hung-Kuan Chen, piano

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, please silence all electronic devices.

Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

Artist Profiles

Peter Frankl, piano Pianist Peter Frankl made his London debut in 1962 and his New York debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell in 1967. Since that time he has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, all the London orchestras, and the major American orchestras. He has collaborated with such eminent conductors as Abbado, Boulez, Davis, Haitink, Maazel, Masur, Muti, Salonen, and Solti, and his world tours have taken him to Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. He has appeared over twenty times at London’s BBC Promenade Concerts and has been a regular participant at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Verbier, Kumho, and Casals Festivals.

In the United States, Peter Frankl has been a regular guest artist at festivals including Aspen, Chautauqua, Marlboro, Norfolk, Ravinia, Santa Fe, and Yellow Barn. For many years the Frankl-PaukKirshbaum Trio traveled the world. His many chamber music partners have included Kyung Wha Chung, Peter Csaba, Ralph Kirshbaum, and the Tokyo, Takács, Guarneri, Bartók, Fine Arts, and Lindsay quartets. He has given master classes all over the world, including the Royal Academy and Royal College in London, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Van Cliburn Institute in Texas, and in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Seoul.

Among his recordings are the complete works for piano by Schumann and Debussy, Bartók and Chopin solo albums, a Hungarian anthology, concertos and

four-hand works by Mozart, the two Brahms piano concertos, the Brahms violin and clarinet sonatas, the Brahms trios, Bartók pieces for violin and piano, and the piano quintets by Brahms, Schumann, Dvořák, Martinů, and both Dohnányis.

In recognition of his artistic achievements, Mr. Frankl was awarded the Officer’s Cross by the Hungarian Republic, and on his seventieth birthday he was given one of the highest civilian awards in Hungary for his lifetime artistic achievement in the world of music. He is an honorary professor of the Liszt Academy and has been on the Yale School of Music faculty since 1987.

Robert Blocker, piano Robert Blocker, the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music at Yale University, is internationally regarded as a pianist, a leader in arts advocacy, and an extraordinary contributor to music education.

Dean Blocker is Professor of Piano and holds a joint appointment as an affiliate professor with the Yale School of Management.

Mr. Blocker concertizes throughout the world. Recent orchestral performances include the Beijing, Shanghai, Hartford, Monterey, Korean, and Daejeon Symphonies, as well as the Prague Chamber Orchestra. The Los Angeles Times called him a pianist of “…great skill and accomplishment, a measurable virtuoso bent and considerable musical sensitivity.”

His many contributions to the music community have included service on the advisory boards for the Avery Fisher Artist Program, the Stoeger Prize at

Artist Profiles

Lincoln Center, the Gilmore Artist Advisory Board, the Curatorial of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, and the Van Cliburn Foundation. A Steinway Artist, he appears regularly on national radio and television as an artist and commentator and is active as a consultant to several major educational institutions and government agencies. In 2000, Steinway and Sons featured him in a film commemorating the tercentennial year of the piano, and his recording of three Mozart concerti on the Naxos label garnered rave reviews. In 2004, Yale University Press published The Robert Shaw Reader, a collection of Shaw’s writings edited by Blocker and now in its third printing.

Michael Friedmann, piano Michael Friedmann’s career has encompassed activities as a theorist, pianist, pedagogue, and composer. His specialties involve analytical articles about the music of Schoenberg and performances of that composer’s complete piano music. He has evolved a method in teaching ear training especially focused on 20th-century music, and wrote a book (Ear Training for 20thcentury Music, published by Yale University Press) which received special recognition from the Society of Music Theory.

In addition to Schoenberg, his piano performances have focused on late Beethoven and Schubert. His teaching specialties have included classes relating the analysis of Brahms’ and Schumann’s chamber music to their performance. In addition to his teaching at Yale, Friedmann has recently taught at Beijing University and at that city’s Central Conservatory of

Music, and has lectured and performed at the Beijing Modern Music Festival.

Boris Berman, piano Boris Berman is well known to the audiences of over fifty countries on six continents. He regularly appears with leading orchestras, on major recital series, and in important festivals. He studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the distinguished pianist Lev Oborin.

An active recording artist and a Grammy nominee, Mr. Berman was the first pianist to record the complete solo works by Prokofiev (Chandos). Other acclaimed releases include all piano sonatas by Alexander Scriabin (Music and Arts) and a recital of Shostakovich piano works (Ottavo), which received the Edison Classic Award in Holland, the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy. The recording of three Prokofiev concertos with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducting (Chandos), was named the Compact Disc of the Month by CD Review. Other recordings include works

by Mozart, Beethoven, Franck, Weber, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Joplin, and Cage.

In 1984, Mr. Berman joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he is professor of piano, coordinator of the piano department, and music director of the Horowitz Piano Series. He also conducts master classes throughout the world.

Berman was named an Honorary Professor of the Shanghai Conservatory in 2005, and in 2013, an Honorary Professor of Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen.

In 2000, Yale University Press published Mr. Berman’s Notes from the Pianist’s Bench,

Artist Profiles

which has since been translated into several languages. In 2008, the same publisher released Mr. Berman’s new book Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer. In 2011, Shanghai Publishing House published a new bilingual edition of the scores of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas, revised and edited by Mr. Berman. Based on manuscripts and first editions, this is the most authoritative edition of this repertoire available.

Melvin Chen, piano A native of Tennessee, pianist Melvin Chen has received acclaim for performances throughout the United States and abroad.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Chen has performed at major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to other appearances throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia.

Mr. Chen’s performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe, including KBS television and radio in Korea, NHK television in Japan, and NPR in the United States. Solo recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on the Bridge label, praised as “a classic” by the American Record Guide, and a recording of Joan Tower’s piano music on the Naxos label. Recordings of the Shostakovich piano sonatas and Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice were released in 2007.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Chen has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, and with the Shanghai,

Tokyo, Miami, Penderecki, and Miró quartets. He has performed at the Bravo!

Vail Valley Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others.

Melvin Chen completed a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, and also holds a double master’s degree from The Juilliard School in piano and violin.

Previously, he attended Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and physics, and studying with Boris Berman, Paul Kantor, and Ida Kavafian. Mr. Chen was previously on the piano faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he was also associate director. In 2012 he rejoined the faculty of the Yale School of Music, where he serves as Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Piano and Deputy Dean.

Wei-Yi Yang, piano Pianist Wei-Yi Yang has earned worldwide acclaim for his captivating performances and imaginative programming. Most recently, he was praised by the New York Times as the soloist in a “sensational” performance of Messiaen’s TurangalîlaSymphonie at Carnegie Hall. Gold Medal winner of the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Mr. Yang has also performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and across Europe, Australia, and Asia. A dynamic chamber musician with a diverse repertoire, Mr. Yang has collaborated with the Alexander, Brentano, Cassatt, Pacifica, and Tokyo String Quartets, as well as Clive Greensmith, Frederica von Stade, and Richard Stoltzman, among numerous others.

Artist Profiles

Mr. Yang has curated inventive interdisciplinary projects, including a collaboration with actress Miriam Margolyes as part of the “Dickens’ Women” world tour; lecture-recitals on the confluence of Czech music and literature; and multimedia performances of Granados’ Goyescas with projections of Goya’s etchings. He has given world premieres of new works by contemporary composers, including Howard Boatwright, Jonathan Cole, Daniel Godfrey, and Ezra Laderman. Mr. Yang studied first in the United Kingdom and then with Arkady Aronov in New York.

Under the guidance of Boris Berman, he received his D.M.A. from Yale in 2004.

Mr. Yang frequently presents master classes and performances in Italy, Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea, and at Princeton University, Ithaca College, and the Hartt School. He has adjudicated the Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial and the San Antonio International Piano competitions, and the Concert Artists Guild auditions. He regularly appears at festivals across the United States, from Napa Valley to Norfolk and abroad, including Germany, Serbia, Montenegro, Scotland, and Mexico. In 2005 he joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music.

Hung-Kuan Chen, piano Hung-Kuan Chen is a pianist of uncompromising individuality and an inspiring pedagogue. Born in Taipei and raised in Germany, Mr. Chen’s early studies fostered strong roots in Germanic Classicism, which he tempered with the sensibility of Chinese philosophy; the result is a dynamic and

imaginative artistry. He is regarded as an extraordinary interpreter of Beethoven’s music. Mr. Chen’s career was launched when he won first prize in the Young Concert Artists’ Auditions. Now one of the most decorated pianists of his generation, Mr. Chen won top prizes in the Arthur Rubinstein, the Busoni, and the Geza Anda International Piano Competitions, along with prizes in the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal, Van Cliburn, and Chopin International Competition. He is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Hung-Kuan Chen has appeared in the music capitals of Asia, Europe, and the Americas and has collaborated with major orchestras including Houston, Baltimore, Israel, Montréal, Pittsburgh, the Tonhalle, San Francisco, and Shanghai. He has performed with highly esteemed conductors; Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, George Cleve, Josef Silverstein, Andrew Parrett, and Sui Lan; and colleagues including Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Roman Totenberg, Denes Zsigmondy, Bion Tsang, Anthony Gigliotti, David Shifrin, and Laurence Lesser; and pianists Tema Blackstone and Pi-hsien Chen.

Mr. Chen has served as Chair of the Piano Department of the Shanghai Conservatory, and is the Director of the International Piano Academy in Shanghai. He teaches at the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music.

Notes on the Program

In today’s concert hall, it is difficult to reproduce the intimacy of chamber music in the households and salons of the 18th and 19th centuries. Perhaps no genre expresses this intimacy better than piano music for four hands. In a society where physical closeness was restricted, four-hand piano music was not only a playful way to bring amateurs and professionals together in music making, but also a gesture of friendship and affection. The music on tonight’s program reinvigorates this tradition of displaying affection through music to celebrate a very special musician, teacher, and friend. wolfgang amadeus mozart Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448 Mozart had written several piano pieces for four-hands in his youth for duo performances with his sister, Maria Anna (such as the Piano Sonata in C major, written when he was just nine years old!) but the Sonata in D major, written in 1781, is his only substantial work for two pianos.

Perhaps this instrumentation was a way of avoiding intimacy with the intended duo partner, former student Josepha Barbara Auernhammer, who was supposedly in love with the still-eligible bachelor (Mozart would marry Constanze the next year).

Though Mozart did not return Auernhammer’s advances, he did give her a wonderfully elegant piece to premiere.

The Allegro con spirito begins with a stately unison in the pianos. This gives way to a gracious exchange of thematic material. A new, more chromatic theme introduced in the brief development does not end at the recapitulation, but rather, has a final say just before the closing material, giving the otherwise amicable

movement a subtle thorniness. Whatever physical intimacy Mozart sought to dodge with Auernhammer, he is unable to avoid evoking intimacy in his Andante, engaging the pianos in a sweet, song-like duet. The Molto Allegro finale turns the private warmth of the Andante into an extroverted, lively rondo. franz schubert Rondo in A major, Op. 107, D. 951 Schubert was one of the most prolific contributors to repertoire for piano fourhands. Much of his music premiered in the salons of friends and supporters, so perhaps his affinity for this genre reflects the intimate atmosphere of music sharing that Schubert was accustomed to. Schubert’s Rondo in A major was completed in June of 1828, just five months before his death.

This understated sonata-rondo lacks the heaviness of much of the music we associate with this period in Schubert’s output, but is no less rich. The main thematic materials pass between and modulate to distant harmonic areas, and are embellished with staccato triplets, trills, and delicate figurations that highlight the timbral and expressive scope of the keyboard. johannes brahms Waltzes, Op. 39 Brahms’ sixteen Waltzes range from thirty seconds to two minutes, and from joyful and spritely to brooding and melancholic.

Written in 1865 and dedicated to critic Eduard Hanslick (the same critic who would demolish Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at its premiere fifteen years later), this set of pieces is as much a tribute to

Notes on the Program

Hanslick’s advocacy as it is to the popular dance of 19th century Vienna, where Brahms resided. If it is possible to show affection towards a particular style, Brahms no doubt does so in these little pieces.

Though also arranged for solo piano by the composer, it is difficult to resist imagining that the original duet version emulates a sort of waltz between two pairs of hands in synchronized dance. wolfgang amadeus mozart Andante and Variations in G major, K. 501 Mozart’s Five Variations in G major was one of three piano duets written between 1786 and 1787, over a decade after having last written for the genre. A gift for the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister, the Variations would have been marketable at a time when household music-making was becoming increasingly popular in Vienna.

In a typical Mozartian appeal to both refined and casual music lovers, the diaphanous and transparent andante theme has one critical quirk: its second phrase is extended by two additional measures, a subtle imbalance that contributes to the unpredictability and playfulness of each variation.

Added to this structural disequilibrium is a sense of rolling chromaticism and accelerating figuration that seems to freeze in the fourth variation before a jubilant thawing and trickling away into a gentle coda. franz schubert Allegro in A minor, Op. 144, D. 947, “Lebensstürme” Schubert’s Allegro in A minor was written just two months before his Rondo in A major, and might have been the intended

first movement of a two-movement sonata in which the Rondo was second.

With this in mind, scholars have speculated that the two pieces as a whole were a response to Beethoven’s Sonata in E minor, Op. 90, a two-movement work whose lively first movement is answered by a tender sonata-rondo. Like the first movement of Beethoven’s Op. 90, Schubert’s Allegro is the passionate and tempestuous precursor to the comparatively gentle Rondo. Dramatically subtitled Lebensstürme (Storms of Life) by Austrian publisher Anton Diabelli in 1840, the music is not all gloom: the agitated primary theme in A minor is contrasted by a bright theme in the distant key of A-flat major, which is then repeated with glittering embellishment in C-major. This sun-kissed material returns in the recapitulation progressing from F major to A major before the sonata’s vociferous close. béla bartók Seven Pieces from Mikrokosmos for two pianos A celebration of a prolific teacher would be incomplete without a nod to the everevolving and dynamic pedagogy of great musicians. Written between 1926 and 1939 across six volumes (the first two of which are dedicated to his son, Pétér), Bartók’s Mikrokosmos progress from extremely simple to ferociously tricky studies in contemporary piano technique. But the Mikrokosmos teach something much more valuable than performance practice: they expose the young musician to adventurous harmonies and rhythms, thereby opening his or her ears to the endless sonic possibilities of concert repertoire. Each little piece focuses on a refined gestalt of material that

Notes on the Program

saturates both its technical and expressive experience. In this way, the Mikrokosmos are just as much lessons in composition as they are in piano playing. All in all, the six volumes of Mikrokosmos include 153 solo piano pieces. The selections on tonight’s program are the only seven of those that Bartok arranged for two pianos, none of which are from the first two volumes. But he was said to have encouraged pupils to make their own two-piano arrangements of earlier pieces as a pedagogical effort to infuse creativity with practice habit. The Mikrokosmos, as with the rest of tonight’s concert, illuminate the enduring union between teaching and artistry. —Katherine Balch

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