Melvin Chen, piano, January 22, 2020

horowitz piano series Boris Berman, artistic director

Melvin Chen

Wednesday, January 22, 2020 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Program Leoš Janáček 1854–1928

In the Mists (1913) I. Andante II. Molto adagio III. Andantino IV. Presto

Hannah Lash b. 1981

Six Etudes and a Dream (2015) 1.

Fast and slow 2.

Four voices 3.

Fast chords 4.

Melody line 5.

Thumbs and pinkies 6.

Petit rêve pour les pétunias défuntes 7.

Trills

intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich 1906–1975

Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 I. Allegretto II. Largo III. Moderato

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Artist Profile Pianist Melvin Chen has performed at such major U.S. venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Boston’s Jordan Hall, in addition to appearances in Canada and Asia. His performances have been featured on radio and television stations around the globe.

Solo recordings include Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations on the Bridge label and a recording of Joan Tower’s piano music on the Naxos label.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Chen has collaborated with such artists as Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, Pamela Frank, and Peter Wiley, and with the Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami, Penderecki, and Miró string quartets. Chen has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire, among others.

Chen has a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University and a double master’s degree from The Juilliard School in piano and violin. He received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and physics from Yale University. At Yale, he also studied piano with Boris Berman and violin with Paul Kantor and Ida Kavafian. Chen is the Director of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and is Professor in the Practice of Piano and Deputy Dean at the Yale School of Music.

Program Notes

by Rachel Glodo In the Mists janáČek The life of Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) spanned the gradual shift from nineteenth-century “romanticism” to twentieth-century “modernism.” From this loosely-defined period emerged a new compositional style characterized by increased chromaticism, freedom of form, and evocation of mood and atmosphere.

This style became known as “impressionism” and is exemplified by the works of French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

refracted through a cloud. The resulting experience is like walking through a series of watercolor paintings: outlines are suggested but hazy, beautiful but indistinct, intimate but always just out of reach.

Six Etudes and a Dream Lash YSM faculty composer Hannah Lash found inspiration in acclaimed pianist Lisa Moore, whose “extraordinary charism and energy” was the creative impetus for Six Etudes and a Dream. “I wanted to write her a set of pieces that would play to her wonderful range and character as a performer,” Lash explained.

Like the solo piano pieces of his French contemporaries, In the Mists revels in shapely melodic contours, passing chromatic tones, and frequent changes of meter and tempo. Yet Janáček’s compositional voice remains distinct throughout, perhaps foreshadowing his later renown as a composer of operas. Although he faced rejection by Prague opera houses during the period of In the Mists, Janáček would eventually be lauded for developing a compositional style endebted to the accents and contours of the Czech language.

The movements take the form of etudes, short solo pieces designed as an exercise to improve or demonstrate the player’s skill.

Like the well-known etudes of the nineteenth century, Lash’s etudes are far from mere “practice pieces.” Each emerges from a particular compositional or performance technique, such as timing and rhythm (Fast and Slow) and the “touch” of the keys (Melody Line). The result is a thoughtful, whimsical exploration of the capabilities of both piano and performer.

In this four-movement cycle, Janáček’s tonal palette explores the relationship between shadow and light. The opening and closing key signatures feature five flats, literally utilizing all five of the piano’s “darkest” keys. Bright shimmering runs and swirling fortissimo interludes break through meditative andante sections like ephemeral shafts of sunlight. Janáček’s gestures both obscure and illuminate this soundscape, like light

Lest the audience not grasp the extent of Lash’s wit and humor, a “dream” is inserted before the final movement. The composer writes: “‘Petit rêve pour les pétunias défuntes’ was written as a kind of elegy for some house plants: Lisa was away from home for a few weeks and asked me to water her plants. Much to my dismay, her petunias didn’t make it. I felt terrible, not only because I had killed my friend’s plants,

but because I have a special fondness for plants. So I wrote a piece to express this sad memory of Lisa’s petunias.”

Piano Sonata No. 2 shostakovich Shostakovich dedicated his second piano sonata to Leonid Vladmirovich Nikolayev, his piano instructor at the Petrograd (later Leningrad) Conservatory. The young composer began studying with Nikolayev in his second year, and his temperament and artistry were particularly well-suited to Nikolayev’s teaching style. When Nikolayev died during a war-time evacuation to Tashkent, Shostakovich composed a piano work in his honor, with premiered in 1943.

The resulting sonata is characterized by intense melodic and rhythmic clarity: each note — from the nimble sixteenth runs of the first movement to the wandering lines of the Largo — is executed with the exactitude and artistry befitting its dedicatee.

Notably, the Second Piano Sonata was included on the list of banned works published by the Soviet censorship board in 1948.

Accused of “formalism” by the cultural authorities, Shostakovich faced professional ostracism and personal danger, including constant monitoring by the secret police and fear of arrest. Although he was stripped of his professorships at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories, many students remained loyal to their teacher. After his “rehabilitation,” Shostakovich would go on to become an important mentor to many Soviet musicians.

It seems appropriate for this piece to be performed here at the Yale School of Music by faculty pianist and deputy dean Melvin Chen. It is a reminder of the immense musical and personal influence that teachers can exert on their pupils, and of the musical lineage that connects generations of musicians. Like Shostakovich, we salute the pedagogues who shape our musical lives.

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Horowitz Piano Series About the 2019–2020 Season Horowitz Piano Series feb 12 7 pm

Hung-Kuan Chen Faculty pianist Hung-Kuan Chen pays tribute to Beethoven with a performance of the composer’s last six sonatas.

mar 4

Lucille Chung and Alessio Bax A performance of Stravinsky’s piano four-hands arrangement of Petrushka, Ravel’s piano fourhands arrangement of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and music by Lutoslawski and Poulenc.

Mar 25

Wei-Yi Yang A program that in part follows Chopin’s musical language into the works of Debussy and Scriabin.

The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz chose to leave his papers to Yale upon his death in 1989. Today, Yale honors his legacy through the Horowitz Piano Series, which brings many of the world’s great keyboard artists to Yale and presents the distinguished pianists of the Yale faculty.

Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and Radu Lupu are among the guest pianists who have performed at Yale. The series also presents pianists who are less known in the United States, such as Paul Lewis, Pierre Réach, and Mikhaïl Rudy.

Upcoming Events Peter Oundjian, principal conductor Yale Philharmonia The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth is celebrated with a performance of the composer’s Choral Fantasy, with the Yale Glee Club and faculty pianist Boris Berman; the Triple Concerto, with violinist and YSM alumna Sunmi Chang, faculty cellist Paul Watkins, and faculty pianist Melvin Chen; and the revolutionary Third Symphony, “Eroica.”

7:30 pm | Woolsey Hall Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/ staff $8, students free $3 surcharge at the door jan 24

Brentano String Quartet Oneppo Chamber Music Series A performance of Bruce Adolphe’s Coiled and the work on which it’s based, Beethoven’s “Serioso” Quartet, along with music by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich.

7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall

Tickets start at $28, students $13 jan 28

feb 14 Florencia en el Amazonas feb 15 Yale Opera feb 16 Christopher Franklin conducts the Yale Philharmonia and Candace Evans directs the cast in a new production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas.

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Zukerman Trio Oneppo Chamber Music Series “Their combination of outsized string sound, exciting ensemble precision, and compelling interpretation puts them at the head of the Piano Trio division in the Chamber Music Major League” — The San Diego Union-Tribune 7:30 pm | Morse Recital Hall

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