hung-kuan chen piano
horowitz piano series Boris Berman, Artistic Director December 16, 2015 • Morse Recital Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Horowitz Piano Series
hung-kuan chen Wednesday, December 16, 2015 • 7:30 pm • Morse Recital Hall Boris Berman, Artistic Director
Joseph Haydn 1732–1809
Keyboard Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI: 6 I. Allegro II. Menuetto — Trio III. Adagio IV. Finale allegro molto
Franz Schubert 1797–1828
Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958 I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Menuetto — Trio IV. Allegro
intermission
Tonight's program is dedicated to the memory of
dr. joel sheveloff
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
Préludes, Op. 28 I. Agitato II. Lento III. Vivace IV. Largo V. Molto allegro VI. Lento assai VII. Andantino VIII. Molto agitato IX. Largo X. Molto allegro XI. Vivace XII. Presto XIII. Lento XIV. Allegro XV. Sostenuto, “Raindrop” XVI. Presto con fuoco XVII. Allegretto XVIII. Molto allegro XIX. Vivace XX. Largo XXI. Cantabile XXII. Molto agitato XXIII. Moderato XXIV. Allegro appassionato
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.
Notes on the Program
joseph haydn Keyboard Sonata in G major, Hob. XVI: 6 Haydn’s Sonata in G major is one of his earliest keyboard works, published in 1766 first as a keyboard ‘partita’ rather than a sonata. More like the former, each movement is in the same key, and the fourmovement structure is unusual for Haydn; the majority of his keyboard sonatas have a three-movement (slow-fast-slow) structure. Further, each movement has the agility and transparency one might expect from a dance suite or collection of pieces evoking dance. The Allegro is playful, bright, and heavily ornamented. In contrast to this splashing and leaping, the Minuetto is stately and unhurried. The trio section infuses this unhurried quality with the mild angst of delicate chromaticism in the parallel minor. The Adagio, also in G minor, usurps the lively ornamentation of the Allegro for more somber and sentimental purposes. The flirtatious trill in the previous two movements seems now to be characterized by a sense of longing or nostalgia. In the finale, Allegro molto, the embellishments of the first movement regain their joy and liveliness. The chromaticism in this movement is an indication not of melancholy, but rather mischief and play.
franz schubert Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958 Schubert’s Sonata in C minor, written in 1828, is the ‘first of the last’ three piano sonatas composed in the final year of his life, the beginning of a prolific outpouring of music in the midst of extreme illness. Schubert’s Sonata in C minor is rarely written about without mentioning Beethoven: the first movement opens with a gestural and melodic nod to Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor for piano, and Schubert’s Adagio in A-flat major seems to ponder the adagios of Beethoven’s early C minor piano sonatas, particularly the A-flat major Adagio of the “Pathetique.” Schubert was a deep admirer of Beethoven: he even asked on his deathbed to be buried alongside him, which he was, less than a year after Beethoven’s death. The entire four-movement, 30-minute long sonata fluctuates between lightness and heaviness. In the first minute of the first movement alone, the stormy opening is suddenly and mysteriously buoyant, and then again it is weighed down. The smoothness with which Schubert moves between the worlds of major and minor, density and transparency, is perhaps what makes this music so affecting: by eliminating the tension and space between these supposed opposites, he exposes a refined and poignant expressive vocabulary. Schubert’s music captures the continuous ebb and flow of the human experience, the crevices and contradictions of our emotions, the beauty in every tiny moment of feeling, whether sorrowful or joyful.
Notes on the Program
frédéric chopin Préludes, Op. 28 Chopin completed the 24 Preludes between 1835 and 1839, partially while vacationing in Valldemossa, Majorca for the winters of 1838 and 1839 with his lover, French novelist George Sand (Amantine-LucileAurore Dupin). During these winters in Majorca, Chopin kept and studied a copy of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, a set of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. Inspired by Bach’s masterwork, Chopin’s Preludes also comprise a complete cycle of the major and minor keys. Each of Chopin’s twenty-four Preludes focuses on a single textural or gestural moment, offering the listener a sonic amuse-bouche. While the name ‘prelude’ usually signifies an introduction to a more substantial work, such as the fugues proceeding Bach’s preludes, Chopin’s Preludes are self-contained. But perhaps these carefully constructed little pieces, ranging from under thirty seconds to over five minutes, can be thought of as expressive points of departure for the contemplative listener. In this way, they function as a prelude to an evening of delight in the sentiments, the beginnings of more lengthy emotive inquiries and divulgences. George Sand reflected on this quality of the 24 Preludes in her autobiography: “He made a single instrument speak a language of infinity. He could often sum up, in ten lines that a child could play, poems of a boundless exaltation, dramas of unequalled power.” — Katherine Balch
Artist Profile
Hung-Kuan Chen, piano Hung-Kuan Chen is one of the great personalities of the music world: enigmatic, brilliant and versatile. He is a pianist of uncompromising individuality and a remarkably 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, which presented him in his New York debut on the Young Concert Artists Series and followed it with a second major New York concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. One of the most decorated pianists of his generation, Mr. Chen won top prizes in the Arthur Rubinstein, Busoni, and 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 collaborated with many 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; with 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. In September 2009, he was appointed to the piano faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston. In 1992 Hung-Kuan Chen suffered an injury to his hand which caused neurological damage and eventually resulted in focal dystonia. Through Qi Gong meditation and his own unique research he was able to heal and return to his life as a concert artist. His first post-accident solo recital in March of 1998 received rave reviews, and he was described as a transformed artist. Following his 2006 Jordan Hall concert, Richard Dyer wrote in The Boston Globe, “Hung-Kuan Chen is back in prime technical form after years of struggle following an injury, but those years have made him a different pianist, and a better one. This man plays music with uncommon understanding and the instrument with uncommon imagination.”
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MASTER CLASSES 2015–2016
Boris Berman Artistic Director
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Upcoming Events
Pierre Réach, piano
Carolyn Kuan, guest conductor
january 20 Horowitz Piano Series Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm Beethoven: Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2, “Tempest”; Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9; Berlioz-Liszt: Symphonie Fantastique Tickets start at $13, Students $7
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Music for Brass
Crossing the Rhine
january 21 Yale in New York Preview Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 7:30 pm Featuring faculty, alumni, and student brass players in music from the Renaissance to Ezra Laderman to David Lang Free admission
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