dénes várjon
horowitz piano series Boris Berman, Artistic Director February 17, 2016 • Morse Recital Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Horowitz Piano Series
dénes várjon Wednesday, February 17, 2016 • 7:30 pm • Morse Recital Hall Boris Berman, Artistic Director
Joseph Haydn 1732–1809
Sonata in E minor, Hob. XVI/34 I. Presto II. Adagio III. Vivace molto
Robert Schumann 1810–1856
Fantasie in C major, Op. 17
intermission
Leoš Janáček 1854–1928
On an Overgrown Path (1911) I. Our Evenings II. A Blown-Away Leaf III. Come With Us VII. Good Night! IX. In Tears X. The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!
Horowitz Piano Series
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
Ballade in F major, Op. 38 Mazurka in A minor, Op. 67, No. 4 Mazurka in C major, Op. 24, No. 2 Nocturne in B-flat major, Op. 9, No. 1 Scherzo in B-flat minor, Op. 31
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 Profile
Dénes Várjon, piano Dénes Várjon studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. He won first prize at the Piano Competition of Hungarian Radio, the Leó Weiner Chamber Music Competition, and the Anda Géza Competition in Zurich. He is a regular guest at the most prestigious international festivals, including Salzburg, Luzern, Schleswig-Holstein, Marlboro, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Kunstfest Weimar, and Edinburgh. He has performed with such major orchestras as Camerata Salzburg, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Camerata Bern, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Hungarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Bremen Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, and the Russian National Orchestra. Deeply committed to chamber music, Dénes Várjon has partnered with artists such as Steven Isserlis, Leonidas Kavakos, Miklós Perényi, András Schiff, Carolin Widmann, Jörg Widmann, Joshua Bell, Radovan Vlatkovic, Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, and Heinz Holliger. He often performs works for piano four hands and two pianos with his wife, Izabella Simon. He has recorded for the Naxos, Capriccio, Teldec, Hyperion, PAN-Classics, Hungaroton, and ECM labels. His last CD, featuring the complete Beethoven concertos, was released in 2016 by Hungaroton. Dénes Várjon is a professor at the Ferenc Liszt University in Budapest and was the recipient of the Liszt and Sándor Veress Awards.
Notes on the Program
joseph haydn Sonata in E minor, Hob. XVI/34 Haydn’s Piano Sonata in E minor was completed in late 1770 and published in London in 1783. This sonata, along with many of Haydn’s works for keyboard after 1770, shows an increased attention to the dynamic and timbral range of the newly designed pianoforte, which came to replace the harpsichord during this period as the preferred keyboard instrument. The pianoforte’s leather-covered hammers and lighter action make the instrument much more responsive to a performer’s touch, giving the instrument a greater expressive range than the harpsichord, whose action works by plucking a string rather than striking it with a hammer. The E minor sonata embraces this wider expressive range: the first movement, Presto, is a crisp and precise scherzo in G minor. The music seems to come to an abrupt halt before the more lyrical material can completely flourish. Contrarily, the Adagio in G major is light and delicate, with one bizarre chromatic quirk at its close, perhaps to remind the listening of the heavier movement that precedes it. The finale, Vivace molto, is sweet and playful, a joyful display of the newfound lighter touch of the fortepiano. robert schumann Fantasie in C major, Op. 17 Schumann’s Fantasie in C major begins with a luscious texture upon which an impassioned melody grows. If this melody evokes a sense of lamentation or longing, it is perhaps because it was originally written in June of 1836, when the father of Clara Weick (Schumann’s wife-to-be)
ordered that Schumann return to Clara the love letters she had written him. Separated from his beloved and in anguish, Schumann composed a work entitled Ruines, which became the first movement of this Fantasie. Schumann later added two movements to this first rhapsodic outburst, and dedicated the final product to Lizst in 1839. The second movement, a rondo, begins with an energetic march theme. Episodic digressions recall the emotional anguish and textural complexity of the first movement. The final movement begins with tranquil arpeggios that rise from the depths of the piano register. A gentle, but somewhat contorted melody stretches out from this tired ascent. It is as if the intensity of the preceding two movements causes the music to collapse in exhaustion. Schumann’s preface to the score perhaps explains this idiosyncratic finale: Durch alle Töne tönet Im bunten Erdentraum Ein leiser Ton gezogen Für den, der heimlich lauschet. (Resounding through all the notes In Earth’s colorful dream There sounds a faint long-drawn note For the one who listens in secret.) leoš janáČek On an Overgrown Path JanáČek began his piano cycle On an Overgrown Path in 1900. By its completion in 1911, it comprised fifteen intimate and affectually diverse pieces. The title references Moravian folk poetry, evoking a sound or tradition from the past that
Notes on the Program
has since been overlooked or neglected. The first five songs of the cycle were intended to be Moravian folksong arrangements for harmonium (an instrument often available in Moravian village school houses), but became character pieces for piano that JanáČek entitled simply “moods.” The composer wrote: “The little pieces contain distant reminiscences. Those reminiscences are so dear to me that I do not think they will ever vanish… Whenever I have a moment to indulge myself undisturbed in these recollections, then I find another such little piece comes to mind.” frédéric chopin Ballade in F major, Op. 38 Mazurka in A minor, Op. 67, No. 4 Mazurka in C major, Op. 24, No. 2 Nocturne in B-flat major, Op. 9, No. 1 Scherzo in B-flat minor, Op. 31 Chopin’s seemingly endless collection of short pieces for the piano stemmed from popular dance and salon genres of the 19th century. But Chopin transforms these generic forms into magnificently virtuosic explorations of harmony, melody, and texture. The Ballade in F major was composed between 1836 and 1839 and dedicated to Robert Schumann. The title ‘Ballade’ is used by Chopin to refer to an interlude or dance piece, like the Italian ballata, but also evokes the heroic ballad, a medieval song genre that told stories of heroes, romances, and the supernatural world. The F major ballad starts quietly and simply, but over the course of six minutes, tumbles into an ecstatic upheaval in F minor. The opening melody is recalled in a minor key, revealing the tragic fate of the initially innocent material.
A mazurka is a type of traditional Polish dance, of which Chopin wrote at least 59. The Mazurka in A minor was published posthumously in 1855. Just over three minutes long, a melody spirals gracefully above a bass line dancing steadily in triple meter. In contrast, the Mazurka in C major varies in texture more freely, the bass departing from its accompanimental role to participate in the frivolity of the melodic line. Perhaps one of the most well known of Chopin’s pieces for piano, the Nocturne in B-flat minor endures as an icon of 19th-century romanticism. From the unbroken eighth-note arpeggiation in the lower register of the piano floats an unabashedly sentimental melody. Aptly titled, this music conjures up the dreams and desires of the night. The longest of this medley of piano pieces, Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, was written in 1837. At this time, Chopin began a tumultuous love affair with French writer George Sand (AmantineLucile-Aurore Dupin). However emotionally troubled the following decade would be, it proved to be immensely productive musically. The Scherzo starts with two gently rolled chords. This ominous beginning launches almost immediately into a perpetually fast and passionate drama. Even though most of the nineminute composition is in D-flat or A major, the music retains a frantic energy that continues to grow. Two brief moments of respite in the center of the piece are each respectively broken down into a frenzied display of virtuosity. — Katherine Balch
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HOROWITZ PIANO SERIES
MASTER CLASSES 2015–2016
Boris Berman Artistic Director
Most master classes take place Thursdays at 10:30 am in Morse Recital Hall
Wednesdays at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall
MAR 9
Robert Blocker
FEB 18 MAR 4 MAR 10 MAR 31 APR 7
Dénes Várjon
APR 14
Hung-Kuan Chen
Alexei Lubimov Melvin Chen Andrea Bonatta Peter Frankl
Upcoming Events
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Tetzlaff Trio
february 19, 20 & 21 Yale Opera Shubert Theatre | Fri & Sat, 8 pm | Sun, 2 pm This atmospheric new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is conducted by Rune Bergmann and directed by Claudia Solti With the Yale Philharmonia Tickets $19–$50, available at www.shubert.com or 203-562-5666
february 23 Oneppo Chamber Music Series Morse Recital Hall | Tuesday | 7:30 pm Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87 , and Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8; Dvořák: Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90, “Dumky” Tickets start at $26 • Students $13
Guitar Extravaganza february 20 Special Events Sprague Hall | Saturday | All Day Concerts, talks, master classes, and more Benjamin Verdery, director Featuring performances by Marc Teicholz Duo Ditirambo, Z.o.o. guitar duo, and more All-day passes starting at $44, Students $26 Three-concert passes starting at $30, Students $20 » music.yale.edu/guitar-extravaganza
Philharmonia in Sprague february 26 Yale Philharmonia Morse Recital Hall | Friday | 7:30 pm Heejung Park, conducting fellow Music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Lieberson With Artist Diploma students Wai Yin Wong, piano, and Evanna Chiew, mezzo-soprano Tickets start at $10 • Students $5
Tribute to Ezra Laderman march 2 Special Events Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 7:30 pm A concert in memory of Ezra Laderman, featuring selections from his compositions performed by YSM faculty, students, and alumni Free admission
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Robert Blocker, Dean