Beethoven at 250: THE PIANO
CONCERTOS
PIANISTS JOYCE YANG I DAVID FRAY I JON NAKAMATSU GEORGE LI I TILL FELLNER AND THE FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA CONDUCTOR
SATURDAY I JANUARY 4, 2020 I 2:30 & 7:30 PM BASS PERFORMANCE HALL
PERFORMANCES SPONSORED BY
The Board of Directors of the Cliburn salutes with gratitude the generosity of
NANCY LEE & PERRY R. BASS†*
for supporting these performances of
BEETHOVEN AT 250: THE PIANO CONCERTOS
PA G E
26
† Deceased *Made possible by a generous gift to the Cliburn Endowment
CLIBURN AT THE BASS Bass Performance Hall Saturday, January 4, 2020 I 2:30 p.m.
BEETHOVEN AT 250: THE PIANO CONCERTOS JOYCE YANG 2005 CLIBURN SILVER MEDALIST DAVID FRAY JON NAKAMATSU 1997 CLIBURN GOLD MEDALIST WITH THE FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA CONDUCTOR
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 Allegro con brio Largo Rondo. Allegro Joyce Yang, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 19 Allegro con brio Adagio Rondo. Molto allegro David Fray, piano
intermission Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 Allegro con brio Largo Rondo. Allegro–Presto Jon Nakamatsu, piano
This performance is made possible in part by the cooperation of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association. Jon Nakamatsu and Joyce Yang appear by arrangement with Arts Management Group. David Fray appears by arrangement with IMG Artists. Steinway & Sons is the official piano of the Cliburn. This concert is being recorded. Please silence all electronic devices.
THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES!
5 CONCERTS 4 DAYS
Beethoven 2020 CLIBURN FESTIVAL:
at 250
FEBRUARY 27–MARCH 1, 2020
MODERN ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH
ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE KENNY BROBERG
SEAN CHEN
FILIPPO GORINI
2017 CLIBURN SILVER MEDALIST
2013 CLIBURN THIRD-PRIZE WINNER
2015 TELEKOM-BEETHOVEN FIRST-PRIZE WINNER
VERONA QUARTET
JONATHAN ONG & DOROTHY RO, violins; ABIGAIL ROJANSKY, viola; JONATHAN DORMAND, cello
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CLIBURN AT THE BASS Bass Performance Hall Saturday, January 4, 2020 I 7:30 p.m.
BEETHOVEN AT 250: THE PIANO CONCERTOS GEORGE LI TILL FELLNER WITH THE FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA CONDUCTOR
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58 Allegro moderato Adante con moto Rondo. Vivace George Li, piano
intermission
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73 Allegro Adagio un poco moto Rondo. Allegro Till Fellner, piano
This performance is made possible in part by the cooperation of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association. George Li appears by arrangement with Opus 3 Artists. Till Fellner appears by arrangement with Colbert Artists Management. Steinway & Sons is the official piano of the Cliburn. This concert is being recorded. Please silence all electronic devices.
JOYCE YANG
piano
Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Grammy®-nominated pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity. She first came to international attention in 2005, when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: Best Performance of Chamber Music, and Best Performance of a New Work. In 2006, Joyce made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall before joining the orchestra’s tour of Asia, making a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. Her subsequent appearances with the New York Philharmonic have included opening night of the 2008 Leonard Bernstein Festival–an appearance made at the request of Mr. Maazel in his final season as music director. The New York Times pronounced her performance in Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety a “knockout.” In the last decade, Joyce has blossomed into an “astonishing artist” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung), showcasing her colorful musical personality in solo recitals and collaborations with the world’s top orchestras and chamber musicians through more than 1,000 debuts and re-engagements. She received the 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant and earned her first Grammy nomination (Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance) for her recording of Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann with violinist Augustin Hadelich. In 2019–2020, Joyce shares her versatile repertoire in over 70 engagements throughout America and Australia. She appears as soloist with the St. Louis, Dallas, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Pacific, Fort Worth, Utah, Rhode Island, Minas Gerais, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, among others, and presents solo recitals in Boston (Celebrity Series), St. Paul (Chopin Society), and Rochester, NY (Eastman School of Music). As an advocate of new music, she gave a world premier performance with Kansas City Symphony in the fall of 2019 of Jonathan Leshnoff’s piano concerto written expressly for her. Born in 1986, in Seoul, South Korea, Joyce received her first piano lesson from her aunt at the age of 4. She quickly took to the instrument, which she received as a birthday present, and over the next few years won several national piano competitions in her native country. By the age of 10, she entered the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts and went on to make a number of concerto and recital appearances in Seoul and Daejeon. In 1997, Joyce moved to the United States to begin studies at the pre-college division of The Juilliard School with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky. She graduated from Juilliard with the special honor of receiving the school’s 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2011, she won its 30th Annual William A. Petschek Piano Recital Award. Joyce appears in the film In the Heart of Music, a documentary about the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She is a Steinway artist.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
DAVID FRAY
piano
Described by the press as the “perfect example of a thinking musician” (Die Welt) and acclaimed for his interpretations of music from Bach to Boulez, David Fray performs in world’s major venues as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. He has collaborated with leading orchestras under distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jaap van Zweden. Orchestral appearances in Europe have included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, London Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Salzburg Mozarteum, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestre de Paris, and Orchestre National de France. David made his U.S. debut in 2009 with the Cleveland Orchestra followed by performances with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has given recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory in New York, and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and appears regularly at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Mozarteum Salzburg, London’s Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and many other major venues. This season, David tours the United States with the Wroclaw Philharmonic and Giancarlo Guerrero, returns to the Baltimore Symphony with Marin Alsop, and appears at Cliburn Concerts and with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He embarks on recital tours with Bach Goldberg Variations in Europe, Russia, and China, where he also tours with the Vienna Radio Symphony. David will perform Bach keyboard concertos for two, three, and four pianos in Abu Dhabi and will collaborate in recital with violinist Renaud Capuçon, as well as baritone Benjamin Appl. He also starts his residency at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as a visiting professor. David released two discs this past season: Bach Concertos for 2, 3, and 4 pianos, a “musical family affair” along with his teacher Jacques Rouvier and his former students Audrey Vigoureux, and Emmanuel Christien, and Bach Violin Sonatas with Renaud Capuçon. The previous disc called Fantaisie, an album of Schubert’s late piano works, was named Gramophone Editor’s Choice and Sinfini Music called it “one of the most appealing listening experiences of present times” and “exceptionally thoughtful and touching.” David records exclusively for Erato/ Warner Classics, and his first album with works of Bach and Boulez was praised as the “best record of the year” by the London Times and Le Soir. David Fray holds multiple awards including the German Echo Klassik Prize for Instrumentalist of the Year and the Young Talent Award from the Ruhr Piano Festival. In 2008, he was named Newcomer of the Year by the BBC Music Magazine. At the 2004 Montreal International Music Competition, he received both the Second Grand Prize and the Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Canadian work. David Fray started taking piano lessons at the age of 4. He furthered his studies with Jacques Rouvier at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
JON NAKAMATSU
piano
The distinguished American pianist Jon Nakamatsu—known internationally for the panache and elegance of his solo, concerto, and chamber performances—has become a favorite with audiences throughout the world. This season, Jon will perform as soloist with Austin Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and Symphony Silicon Valley. He collaborates with the Miró Quartet in two programs at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in summer 2019, and appears in chamber concerts with the Jupiter and Modigliani Quartets, as well as Imani Winds. Recital performances include engagements with the Steinway Society of the Bay Area, International Classical Concerts of the Desert, Reynolds Chamber Concerts, and Chamber Music San Francisco. Among the many chamber ensembles with which Jon has collaborated are the Brentano, Escher, Jupiter, Miami, Tokyo, Parker, Prazak, St. Lawrence, and Ying String Quartets, the San José and Mission Chamber Orchestras, and Imani Winds. He also tours frequently with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet and in 2008, debuted on the Philharmonic’s chamber music series performing with the Quintet and members of the orchestra. That same year, the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo released its first CD (Brahms Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano) which received the highest praise from The New York Times Classical Music Editor James R. Oestreich, who named it a “Best of the Year” choice for 2008. In addition to their joint concert performances, Jon Nakmatsu and John Manasse serve as artistic directors of the esteemed Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival. He records exclusively for harmonia mundi USA and has released 12 CDs to date. All have garnered high critical praise. Notable releases include an all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F which rose to number three on Billboard’s classical music charts and a trio disc of works by Brahms, Beethoven, and Weber with Mr. Manasse and cellist Clive Greensmith, which has elicited brilliant reviews from The New York Times, Gramophone, and audiophile edition. A high school teacher of German with no formal conservatory training, Jon Nakamatsu’s electrifying performance of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto won him the gold medal at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition amidst a field of experienced competition warriors. Jon had studied privately with the late Marina Derryberry from the age of 6, and worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, son of the great pianist Artur Schnabel. He also studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California, and pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. Jon is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in German studies and a master’s degree in education. In the fall of 2016, Jon Nakamatsu joined the piano faculty of the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
GEORGE LI
piano
Praised by The Washington Post for combining “staggering technical prowess, a sense of command and depth of expression,” pianist George Li possesses an effortless grace, poised authority, and brilliant virtuosity far beyond his years. Since winning the silver medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, George has rapidly established a major international reputation and performs regularly with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors such as Dudamel, Gaffigan, Gergiev, Gimeno, Honeck, Orozco-Estrada, Petrenko, Robertson, Slatkin, Temirkanov, Tilson Thomas, Long Yu, and Xian Zhang. Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles, New York, London, Rotterdam, Oslo, and St. Petersburg Philharmonics; the San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt Radio, Sydney, and Montreal Symphonies; as well as the Philharmonia, DSO Berlin, and Orchestra National de Lyon. In the 2019–2020 season, George performs with the Orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, appears at the Vienna Musikverein with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, and embarks on an eight-concert tour of Germany with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, performing at venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich, and the Stuttgart Liederhalle. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including performances at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxembourg Philharmonie, New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music, Graffenegg Festival, and in various venues throughout Russia. In recital, George performs at venues including Carnegie Hall, Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Mariinsky Theatre, Elbphilharmonie, Munich’s Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo’s Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, Shanghai Poly Theater, and Amici della Musica Firenze, as well as appearances at major festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Montreux Festival. An active chamber musician, George has performed alongside Benjamin Beilman, Noah Bendix-Balgley, James Ehnes, Daniel Hope, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Kian Soltani. He is an exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, with his debut recital album released in October 2017 which was recorded live from the Mariinsky. His second recording for the label features Liszt solo works and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, which was recorded live with Vasily Petrenko and the London Philharmonic, was released this Fall. George gave his first public performance at Boston’s Steinway Hall at the age of 10, and in 2011, performed for President Obama at the White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. Among his many prizes, he was the recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and the first prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory, continuing to work with Wha Kyung Byun. When not playing piano, George is an avid reader, photographer, and sports fanatic.
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES
TILL FELLNER
piano
Till Fellner’s international career began in 1993 with the 1st prize at the renowned Concours Clara Haskil in Vevey (Switzerland). Since then, he has been a soughtafter guest at the major orchestras and the major music centers of Europe, the United States, and Japan, as well as at numerous festivals. During the 2019–2020 season, Till will perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra. Last season he made his debut with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, London Symphony Orchestra, and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and at the Kulangsu Piano Festival in China. In autumn 2019, Till served as jury president of the 62nd International Piano Competition Ferruccio Busoni in Bolzano. Till has collaborated with Claudio Abbado, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph von Dohnnyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, Kirill Petrenko, and Hans Zender, among many others. In the field of chamber music, Till regularly collaborates with British tenor Mark Padmore and with the Belcea Quartet. In spring 2019, he toured the United States with cellist Johannes Moser. Over the past few years, he has dedicated himself to two milestones of the piano repertoire: The Well-Tempered Clavier of Johann Sebastian Bach and the 32 piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. He performed the Beethoven cycle from 2008 to 2010 in New York, Washington, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Vienna. Till has premiered works by Kit Armstrong, Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Larcher, Alexander Stankovski, and Hans Zender. The ECM label, for whom Till is an exclusive recording artist, has released the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Two & Three-Part Inventions of J. S. Bach, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano, chamber music by Harrison Birtwistle, and most recently a CD Till Fellner in Concert with live recordings of works by Liszt and Beethoven. In 2016 Alpha Classics released the recording of the piano quintet by J. Brahms with the Belcea Quartet, this recording received the “Diapason d’Or de l’Annee”. In his native Vienna, Till Fellner studied with Helene Sedo-Stadler before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg, and ClausChristian Schuster. He has taught at the Zurich Hochschule der Künste since autumn 2013.
MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA
conductor
Celebrating more than 30 years of professional conducting, Miguel Harth-Bedoya is in his seventh season as chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and his 20th and final season as music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Miguel regularly conducts the upper level of American orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Minnesota. He has also nurtured close relationships with orchestras worldwide, including the Helsinki Philharmonic, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, National Orchestra of Spain, Atlanta Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. In the 2019–2020 season he will appear as a guest with the New World Symphony, BBC Scottish Orchestra, National Orchestra of Lyon (France), Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and National Orchestra of Spain. In 2015, Miguel conducted the world premiere performances of Jennifer Higdon’s first opera Cold Mountain at Santa Fe. He has also led two productions of Golijov’s Ainadamar, with the Cincinnati Opera and at the New Zealand Festival, as well as productions with the English National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Minnesota Opera. June 2020 will be the inaugural season of his Summer Orchestral Conducting Institute (SOCI), a three-week program with the mission of inspiring talented musicians of all levels to explore the art and craft of orchestral conducting in a rigorous and encouraging environment. He is also the founder and artistic director of Caminos Del Inka, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching, performing, and preserving the rich musical legacy of South America. Miguel’s impressive discography includes critically-acclaimed albums on harmonia mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, FWSOLive, LAWO, Naxos, and MSR Classics. Current recordings include an album on the MSR Classics label of orchestral music by Jimmy López Bellido and an upcoming disc devoted to works by Alberto Ginastera to be released on the Norwegian label, LAWO Classics. Born and raised in Peru, Miguel received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, both under the guidance of Otto-Werner Mueller.
FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is deeply committed to uniting its community through performance, education, and outreach, reaching an audience of more than 200,000 annually. Since its beginnings in 1912, the FWSO has been an essential thread in the city’s cultural fabric and the very foundation of Fort Worth’s performing arts. Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya, now in his 20th and final season at the artistic helm of the FWSO, has led the orchestra into the 21st century to new levels of excellence. Under his leadership, the FWSO has performed at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. Throughout his tenure, the FWSO has released 13 recordings–with several being world premiere releases–garnering international acclaim. Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the FWSO have embraced creative collaborations through residencies, partnerships, and commissions. As the principal resident company of the acoustically superb Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, the Orchestra performs a full season of concerts featuring internationally-acclaimed guest artists and works by living composers. The Orchestra performs and partners with the Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, The Cliburn, and Performing Arts Fort Worth. Each summer at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the FWSO presents Concerts In The Garden–a series of family-friendly concerts that has become a city-wide tradition. Additionally, the orchestra hosts an annual Festival of Orchestras, providing an opportunity for non-professional orchestras across the state of Texas to perform in Bass Performance Hall. The FWSO keeps exceptional musical experiences at the heart of its community. After all—life is better with music!
MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA MUSIC DIRECTOR Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Chair ROBERT SPANO PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR STEPHANIE RHODES RUSSELL CONDUCTING FELLOW Rae and Ed Schollmaier/Schollmaier Foundation Chair ALEX AMSEL CONDUCTING FELLOW JOHN GIORDANO CONDUCTOR EMERITUS VIOLIN I Michael Shih, concertmaster Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair Swang Lin, associate concertmaster Ann Koonsman Chair Eugene Cherkasov, assistant concertmaster Mollie & Garland Lasater Chair Jennifer Y. Betz Ordabek Duissen Qiong Hulsey Ivo Ivanov Izumi Lund Ke Mai Rosalyn Story Kimberly Torgul
BASS William Clay, principal Mr. & Mrs. Edward P. Bass Chair Paul Unger, assistant principal Jeffery Hall Julie Vinsant The seating positions of all string section musicians listed alphabetically change on a regular basis.
VIOLIN II Adriana Voirin DeCosta, principal Steven Li, associate principal Janine Geisel, assistant principal Symphony League of Fort Worth Chair Molly Baer Marilyn d’Auteuil Tatyana Smith Matt Milewski Kathryn Perry Andrea Tullis Camilla Wojciechowska
OBOE Jennifer Corning Lucio, Principal Nancy L. & William P. Hallman, Jr., Chair Tamer Edlebi, Assistant Principal
VIOLA Anna Kolotylina, principal° HeeSun Yang, acting associate principal Aleksandra Holowka, Acting Assistant Principal Joni Baczewski Sorin Guttman Dmitry Kustanovich Daniel Sigale CELLO Allan Steele, principal Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass Chair Mr. Sid R. Bass Chair Leda Dawn Larson, associate principal Keira Fullerton, assistant principal Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation Chair Deborah Brooks Lesley Cleary Karen Hall Shelley Jessup
FLUTE Jake Fridkis, principal Shirley F. Garvey Chair Gabriel Fridkis, assistant principal Pam Holland Adams PICCOLO Pam Holland Adams
CLARINET Stanislav Chernyshev, Principal Rosalyn G. Rosenthal Chair* Ivan Petruzziello, Assistant Principal Gary Whitman E-FLAT CLARINET Ivan Petruzziello BASS CLARINET Gary Whitman BASSOON Kevin Hall, principal Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair Cara Owens, assistant principal
TROMBONE Joseph Dubas, principal Mr. & Mrs. John Kleinheinz Chair John Michael Hayes, Assistant principal Dennis Bubert BASS TROMBONE Dennis Bubert Mr. & Mrs. Lee M. Bass Chair TUBA Edward Jones, principal TIMPANI Seth McConnell, principal Madilyn Bass Chair Nicholas Sakakeeny, assistant principal PERCUSSION Keith Williams, principal Shirley F. Garvey Chair Nicholas Sakakeeny, assistant Principal Adele Hart Chair Deborah Mashburn Brad Wagner KEYBOARD Shields-Collins Bray, principal Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn & Van Cliburn Chair STAGE MANAGERS Lisa Stallings Jacob Pope PERSONNEL MANAGERS Brenda Tullos Marilyn d’Auteuil, assistant
HORN Molly Norcross, principal† Nikolette LaBonte, principal° Elizabeth H. Ledyard Chair Alton F. Adkins, associate principal Kelly Cornell, associate principal Aaron Pino
ORCHESTRA LIBRARIANS Douglas Adams James Andrewes
TRUMPET Kyle Sherman, principal Cody McClarty, assistant principal Dorothy Rhea Chair Oscar Garcia
The Concertmaster performs on the 1710 Davis Stradivarius violin.
*In Memory of Manny Rosenthal †On leave for 2019-2020 °2019-2020 Season Only
The Associate Concertmaster performs on the 1685 Eugenie Stradivarius violin.
PROGRAM NOTES
BY SANDRA DOAN
Beethoven stands as a singular, dazzling force in the history of music: a legendary behemoth whose genius propelled classical music into modernity and whose imprint on the entire music industry endures. Professional orchestras were created and the art of conducting refined for the repeated performances of his symphonies. His demand for a larger range, more resonance, and greater flexibility advanced the development of the modern piano. Concert halls were no longer built for amusing entertainment, but as appropriate settings to showcase artistic greatness. Recording technology evolved for Beethoven: the first commercial LP was released in 1931 with his Fifth Symphony, and the first CDs were fixed at 75 minutes to accommodate his Ninth. Music became a force of drama, emotional power, human idealism, and sonic revelation. The Cliburn pays homage to the iconic composer in 2020, on the occasion of his 250th birthday. We open our Beethoven celebrations with his five glorious concertos, featuring five extraordinary pianists with our long-term partner, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, its acclaimed music director. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN b. December 1770, Bonn, Germany d. March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 into a family of musicians; his grandfather was the Kapellmeister in Cologne, but his father’s musical career never went further than being just a court musician. It seems he poured his failed ambition into his son and tried to promote Beethoven as the next child prodigy—the next Mozart. Though the childhood career did not take, Beethoven continued to study with a series of violin, piano, organ, and composition teachers, each of whom he quit, claiming he knew more. By age 10, he left school to concentrate solely on music, and by age 13 had his first professional appointment as an assistant organist at court. During this time, Beethoven’s father descended into alcoholism, and the family was virtually destitute. Beethoven’s ambitions and talents far exceeded his father’s, however, and in 1787, he made his way to Vienna, the musical capital of the world, in hopes
of meeting and studying with Mozart. Just weeks later, the musician was called home, as his mother, with whom he had a very close relationship, was dying. Shortly after, his father lost his job in disgrace, and Beethoven remained with his family in Bonn. It was not until Haydn passed through the city in 1790 and met with the young composer that Vienna became a possibility again. Impressed by his early works, Haydn invited Beethoven to study with him in Vienna, which he finally did in 1792. Over that first year in Vienna, Beethoven developed a wide circle of friends and patrons, and began building a reputation as a virtuoso pianist with a new style of piano-playing. Patrons were taken by his passion and sheer intensity of feeling, and critics praised his “unheard-of bravura and facility.” Everyone was taken by his brusque charm and energy. Soon regarded as one of Vienna’s best pianists, Beethoven composed the first four of his five concertos for his own concerts—opportunities to display his own virtuosity on the piano. Keen on keeping these as showcases for himself, he would seldom write out the piano parts or cadenzas until he needed to for publication. By the time Beethoven premiered the Fourth Concerto, though, his hearing was already failing, and he was unable to perform his last concerto in 1811. Perhaps that is why he abandoned the form altogether; a sixth piano concerto was begun, but not even one movement was completed. Even though the piano concertos don’t span his career—as his piano sonatas, symphonies, and string quartets do—they offer insight into Beethoven’s musical evolution and creativity. They were recognized early on as some of his most important works and remain beloved by pianists and audiences alike today.
PROGRAM NOTES
BY SANDRA DOAN
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15 Composed in 1795. Premiered December 18, 1795, in Vienna with composer as soloist. Approximately 35 minutes in duration. Imagine Beethoven as a young man, finally settled in the world’s music capital, Vienna. His childhood troubles are behind him, he’s begun lessons with Haydn, someone he actually respects; one of the city’s most influential musical patrons, Prince Lichnowsky, champions his performances; and nothing can hold him back. It’s in this spirit that Beethoven wrote his First Piano Concerto in 1795 at the age of 24. He premiered his first version in December 1795 at a concert benefiting the widows of the Vienna Musicians’ Guild, but continued to revise and polish it until a performance in Prague three years later. The cheerful work is clearly part of Beethoven’s “early period” and firmly rooted in the Viennese traditions built by Mozart and Haydn. Mozart’s influence is heard in the classical concerto-sonata form of the first movement, in the orchestration technique, and in the way that the piano and orchestra are integrated. The slow movement offers a simple, richly colored song, and the concerto closes with a spirited rondo. It’s worth noting that this was actually his third attempt at writing a concerto. His first effort, written a decade earlier, did not survive, except for the piano part, and it shows Beethoven may, as a 14 year old, have been more interested in showing off his virtuoso talent than in refining his compositional technique. The next concerto he composed is now known as his Second Piano Concerto, as it was published months after the First.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, op. 19 Composed in 1788–1795, revised in 1801. Premiered March 29, 1795, in Vienna with the composer as soloist. Approximately 33 minutes in duration. Presented with the opportunity to have his public debut—a charity concert in Vienna—Beethoven offered a new work, hoping to make a grand, memorable impact. This would be a completely different event from the salons in which he had made his name, where he introduced chamber and solo works. For this occasion, he offered something he had been working on since his days in Bonn, before he permanently moved to Vienna in 1792. The first iterations of the Second Piano Concerto were written in 1788–1790. Later, during his study with Haydn in Vienna, he revised the slow movement and leading up to his big debut concert in March 1795, continued to work furiously to replace the last movement. A friend from Beethoven’s Bonn years, who was visiting Vienna for the composer-pianist’s debut, related, “not until the afternoon of the second day before the concert did he write the rondo… in the anteroom sat four copyists to whom he handed sheet after sheet as soon as it was finished.” This was the version introduced to the public in 1795; it was further revised in 1798 for a performance in Prague, and not until he sold the work for publication did he finally write down the solo piano part. These labors paint a portrait of a striving genius: constantly revising, looking to improve his work, never satisfied. Like the First, the Second Concerto reflects Mozart’s influence. In structure, he stuck with the Classical norm—three movements: an elegant first movement in traditional concerto-sonata form; the second a highly original, lovely slow movement; the third a witty rondo. But in the details, Beethoven’s voice is already undoubtedly heard; harmonic and dynamic swerves abound, a strong personality in the piano soloist shines through, and the boundaries of emotional range are expanded.
PROGRAM NOTES
BY SANDRA DOAN
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 Composed in 1797–1803. Premiered April 5, 1803, in Vienna with the composer as soloist. Approximately 38 minutes in duration. By the time Beethoven published his two early concertos in 1801, he had already moved on to his Third Concerto. Sketches were begun in 1797, and the first version completed by 1800. It was modeled after one of Beethoven’s favorite works: As the story goes, one summer morning in 1799, Beethoven was taking a walk through the gardens with a new acquaintance, pianist Johann Baptist Cramer (one of the few pianists whom Beethoven found worthy of praise), when they heard Mozart’s Concerto in C Minor, K. 491 being played; he stopped, exclaiming, “Cramer! Cramer! We shall never be able to do anything like that!” Though clear allusions to Mozart’s Concerto exist, it’s also apparent that Beethoven was looking to emerge from Mozart’s shadow with his own unique voice, and his style had changed significantly since writing the earlier concertos. In 1800, he had declared, “I am not very well satisfied with the work I have thus far done. From this day on, I shall take a new way.” Beethoven was on the cusp of his middle period. The concerto is expanded into a more symphonic form, and a new relationship is forged between the piano and orchestra, with the soloist standing out as the star. The emotional drama is ratcheted up. At the same time, the composer took advantage of major advances in the piano, and for the first time, a work stretches beyond a five-octave range. The Third Piano Concerto was not premiered until three years after he completed it, during a self-produced concert in 1803 to introduce several new works. By this time, he was firmly established as Vienna’s greatest pianist—having bested the current piano virtuoso of the day in an improvisation contest—and he intended to keep this concerto to play for himself. During the premier, the pianist-composer performed the score from memory, having again decided NOT to write down the piano part and instead scribbling out cues for the orchestra on his blank scores. His page turner—the conductor for the Theater an der Wien—wrote, “I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs, wholly unintelligible to me, were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all of the solo part from memory… my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly and he laughed heartily during the jovial supper which we ate afterwards.” The Concerto’s reception at the premiere was lukewarm; notes indicate the performance might have reflected fatigue by the pianist himself as well as the orchestra musicians, and no wonder, as they had gone through a 6½hour rehearsal earlier in the day. Subsequent performances, however, quickly established the Third Piano Concerto as “indisputably one of Beethoven’s most beautiful compositions” and cemented his leading stature as a composer at the turn of the century.
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, op. 58 Composed in 1805–1806. Premiered December 22, 1808, in Vienna with the composer as soloist. Approximately 38 minutes in duration. The Fourth Piano Concerto had a private premiere in 1807 at the home of Prince Lobkowitz, one of Beethoven’s great patrons; the first public performance was given during a benefit concert in 1808. Along with the concerto, Beethoven presented the Choral Fantasy, op. 80; the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies; sections of the Mass in C Major; and other works—over four hours of new music. With little rehearsal time and only B-team musicians available, the concert was disastrous. The composer had a fight with the soprano and replaced her at the last minute; the theater was underheated; he antagonized the orchestra, who then refused to rehearse with Beethoven even in the room. It would be his last performance as soloist with orchestra. The Fourth Concerto made a weak impression that night, and with Beethoven no longer performing, it was largely ignored until Felix Mendelssohn rescued it from oblivion in 1836. By the time of this work’s genesis, Beethoven had written his famous Heiligenstadt Testament, reflecting on his despair over increasing deafness but also solidifying his commitment to reaching his artistic destiny. From that point, his music takes on a renewed fervor: there is greater experimentation, and he reiterates the heroic ideal of humans and art overcoming trials and tragedy. From the first notes of the Fourth Concerto, Beethoven shows extraordinary innovation: the piano opens alone with a series of gentle chords. Here, the soloist is declared the hero, not with grandeur but with a serene opening statement, and the orchestra follows. Not only is the solo entrance completely radical and unprecedented (and interestingly, still rarely done today), its gentleness also signals that this will be a different kind of work than the brilliant concertos that preceded it. Assertive gestures are replaced by intimacy and lyricism; the music is poetic and improvisatory; surprises come at every turn. The short second movement is perhaps Beethoven’s most famous: the contrast and separation of piano and orchestral strings (no other instruments perform in this movement), completely original in its construction, demands explanation. Liszt compared the soloist to Orpheus taming the wild beasts—represented by the austere, unrelenting string section—with his music, hoping to allow his wife Eurydice to move from the netherworld back into life on Earth. Here, the pianist does prevail, and the orchestra finally joins the pianist in a poignant close. He moves from this sublime slow movement into a witty, brilliant, lush rondo-finale, introducing trumpets and percussion for the first time in the concerto and ending with an exhilarating coda.
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PROGRAM NOTES
BY SANDRA DOAN
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 73 (“Emperor”) Composed in 1809. Premiered November 28, 1811, in Leipzig with Friedrich Schneider as soloist. Approximately 40 minutes in duration. The turn of the century marked huge political and intellectual upheaval, which were major influences in Beethoven’s philosophies on life and art. Napolean— one whom Beethoven considered a hero until he crowned himself emperor— was upending Europe. In April 1809, Austria declared war on France. A month later, Napoleon’s troops laid siege to Vienna, and after a brief bombardment, the city surrendered. Beethoven suffered a huge amount of stress from living under attack and constant pain in his deafening ears as the city was bombed; at his lowest point, he hid in his brother’s basement, covering his ears with pillows. In July, he wrote to his publisher, “I have produced very little coherent work, at most a fragment here and there. The whole course of events has in my case affected both body and soul… what a destructive, disorderly life I see and hear around me: nothing but drums, cannons, and human misery in every form.” But committed to his art, he overcame the chaos and began to compose again later that summer, and the majority of the Fifth Concerto was completed by December. It is a massive work, “music of sweeping imperious grandeur, unknown to any concerto written up to 1812, and beside which the dignity of emperors or archdukes loses all consequence.” Perhaps Beethoven’s most beloved piano concerto, it represents the culmination and termination of Beethoven’s “heroic” period. Both the act of its completion and its content embody this middle period: The music rises above the trauma of political and personal events, revealing instead power, nobility, and originality. Like the Fourth Concerto, Beethoven sought a means to open the work in a way that makes the listener sit up and take notice: he introduces a series of improvisatory cadenzas by the pianist. The first movement, still in a firm classicalsonata form, is music of spaciousness, sweep, and energy. The slow movement is centered around an intimate chorale presented by the strings with the piano responding in a gorgeous song, followed by two variations. The music slides from the stillness of the second movement into the energetic rondo of the final—a series of ebullient, elaborate variations on a German dance song.
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