Hastings International Piano Concerto Programme 2014 by Wordsmith Design

10th Anniversary

Monday 3 to Saturday 8 March 2014

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Welcome 3 Looking forward 4 Jury profiles 6 Competition timetable 8 2014 International

13 Concerti programme notes 19 The Piano Concerto 20 St Mary in the Castle 21 Hastings Pier 22 Calendar of events

List of Friends and Sponsors

23 Become a Friend or Patron

competitors

12 The Royal Philharmonic

Sponsor a piano key Competition Prize Winners

Concert Orchestra

Competition Week Timetable Monday 3 March

Tuesday 4 March

Wednesday Thursday 5 March 6 March

Morning

Stage 2 Concerto Main Auditorium

Afternoon

Stage 2 Concerto Main Auditorium

9.30pm

2pm

Evening 6pm

Semi-final Recitals Main Auditorium 5–6.30pm Interval 7–8.30pm

Friday 7 March

Saturday 8 March

6pm Masterclass with members of the Jury Recital Room

6pm Piano Concerto Final with the RPCO Main Auditorium

Fairlight Hall

A full Stage 2 Timetable can be found on pages 6 and 7.

Tickets: Please call 01424 462288 or visit www.whiterocktheatre.org.uk 2nd Stage Concerto performances: Individual session: £5 / Day ticket: £12 Semi-Final Recitals: £8 / Members: £5 Masterclass at the Recital Room, Fairlight Hall: £12 incl. wine and canapés Piano Concerto Final: Tickets £10 / £15 / £20

Introduction I wish you an especially warm welcome to our tenth Anniversary Competition. In the last two years the competition has made a meteoric rise amongst its fellow international competitions. This year we had 100 contestants of 30 different nationalities and selected 44 young pianists to compete this week. All our prizes have increased, and concerts for the Prizewinners are growing rapidly too.

“Our competition offers the chance for contestants to compete against their peers from all over the world and is now able to give some real help on their career ladders.”

We have an eminent and larger international Jury and I am particularly delighted to welcome Dame Fanny Waterman of the Leeds International Piano Competition to the Final – both as an honorary jury member and to present the prizes. We also welcome back the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and express our gratitude to Yamaha as our new ‘instrument’ sponsor. Our competition offers the chance for contestants to compete against their peers from all over the world and is now able to give some real help on their career ladders. We offer performance opportunities including a chance to appear as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the worlds leading orchestras, as well as several other engagements. It has been a fantastically stimulating personal challenge to develop the competition in my two short years as Artistic Director and I offer congratulations to everyone for what has passed in the last ten years and a real excitement and passion that HIPCC will

be able to continue to help many exceptional young pianists in its next ten years. If you are not already a volunteer, member or patron, I hope you might consider supporting us and join our growing ‘Friends of HIPCC’. I must pay tribute to our wonderful volunteers who help us to manage and run the competition, and also an enormous thank you to all our Sponsors. Without them we could not sustain such a special event, let alone continue to develop. For 2015, I am considering live auditions in six centres around the world, an extra Stage in the competition, more contestants in Hastings and more events, not only in East Sussex but throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. Our events already engage with seasoned music lovers but we also try to introduce both classical music and young pianists to new audiences across all ages. Thank you all for coming and for supporting these young pianists. I hope we shall see you again next year so... Book early for March 2015!

Professor Frank Wibaut ARCM, Hon RAM Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

www .H astings C oncerto C ompetition . co . uk

Chairman’s welcome

elcome to the Tenth Anniversary of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition which is a very special occasion for the Festival, for Hastings, and for those of us who were involved in 2004 when the possibility of reviving the historic Hastings Concerto Competition was first mooted. This is a good opportunity for me to thank Jonathan Marten for his vision, and also my colleagues in the first Piano Concerto Competition Sub-Committee. Ken Johnson (then General Secretary) Richard Eldridge, Ann Hohenkerk, Steve Hollamby, Peter Silk, and Lucinda Smallman, and of course the late Sir Philip Ledger CBE who guided us through the first year of the renaissance of the Hastings Piano Concerto Competition in 2005. We were fortunate from the outset to have the financial support of friends and sponsors, but never so fortunate as in 2010 when David and Sarah Kowitz of the Kowitz Family foundation promised to help us to go forward with confidence. Our next important step in the development of the Competition was when Frank Wibaut, international concert pianist and Juror of many Piano Competitions in countries around the world, agreed to be our Artistic Director. This has been a very exciting ten years in the 107 year history of the Hastings Musical Festival, and we are proud to present the 10th Anniversary of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, and to look forward to its future development and success as it takes its place amongst the best Piano competitions in the world.

Molly Townson Chairman, Hastings Musical Festival and Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

President’s welcome Happy 10th anniversary! I am so sad that I am not able to be with you this special year. The Hastings Musical Festival, so dear to me, is a true delight, brimming with energy and exciting new talent. I am told that we have even more international entrants this year – wonderful! Hastings is the place to be!! I am sending my good wishes, and gratitude, for the hard work and ‘drive’ so essential in making the Festival and the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition a joy for us all.

Petula xxxxxxxx Petula Clark, CBE President, Hastings Musical Festival

Looking forward by the Artistic Director

fter one year of CD and DVD recordings for entry into Stage 2, this year we introduced all DVD recordings either on disc or online for entry. As I already travel so much, I am now thinking about the possibility of live auditions in some major centres around the world. London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, New York, Beijing or Shanghai. As we are one of the more rare ‘concerto’ competitions, I would like to introduce another stage for a compulsory Mozart or Beethoven concerto. This means the first two live stages in Hastings will be the contestants’ chosen concerto and a compulsory Mozart or Beethoven concerto. This would be followed by Semi Final Recitals and the Final with (maybe) either concerto. To accommodate these changes we might have to move Stage 2 in to a different venue during the previous week. This would enable us to accept more contestants into the live competition and to put on a Masterclass/Concert of Jury Members/Past winners, over the middle weekend. The new Stage 3 would then begin on Monday in the White Rock Theatre. One of my uppermost tasks is to secure more prestigious concert engagements for our Prizewinners both in East Sussex, throughout the UK and beyond and especially, a major concert in London. I also wish

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM DALE © IMAGEN ART

to further develop our outreach programme into more Schools and other educational and community centres. Naturally, I would like to sustain the present first prize if possible and to further develop all other prizes, to have jury members from other continents and be able to video more of the whole competition experience and to get TV and Radio involved. I would also like to have the Semi Finals Recorded so contestants could use those recordings for self promotion. To help our young entrants from all over the world we need to find even more suitable practice pianos in the area and find sufficient willing Hosts to give accommodation to contestants during the competition, as many other competitions already do. You never know, you might be the one to host the winner or a future star! Lastly, to achieve all this we would need to increase our sponsorship, so finding more people of corporate or personal means to support this amazing event is crucial to ensure both its continuity and development. Hastings should take great pride that an event of this calibre takes place every year within this historic town. At present everyone running the competition is a volunteer. So, if you think you might be able help in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@hastingsconcertocompetition.co.uk.

Jury profiles

Frank Wibaut

Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Frank Wibaut is an international soloist and chamber musician who has performed, recorded and broadcast in major concert halls in over 30 countries. His performed repertoire of 70 concerti have been with all the leading British orchestras – London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham, Halle, Liverpool

Dame Fanny Waterman DBE DMus FRCM Dame Fanny Waterman occupies a pre-eminent position in the piano teaching world and is a co-founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition and has served on more than a hundred international juries. In recognition of her services to music, Dame Fanny was awarded was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005. She has also been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan and York and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. The Incorporated Society of Musicians bestowed on her its Distinguished Musician Award in 2001 and in 2002 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Federation of International Music Competitions, of which she was Vice-President for nine years. In 2004 Dame Fanny received the Freedom of the City of Leeds and in 2009, was invited to become President of the Harrogate International Festival. She is Patron of Live Music Now, Yorkshire and Humberside and in 2010, Dame Fanny became an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Siegfried Mauser

Dina Yoffe

Paul Roberts

Born in Bavaria, he studied piano under Rolf Koenen, Rosl Schmid and Alfons Kontarsky at Munich Music University. He read musicology, philosophy and history of art at the universities of Munich and Salzburg where he earned his doctorate. Professor at the University of Wurzburg and Mozarteum in Salzburg, in 2002 was appointed director of music at the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. Since 2003, has been President of the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. He lecturers internationaly – piano, song interpretation and chamber music. As soloist, has performed with.. Bavarian State Orchestra, German Symphony Orchestra Berlin and the Munich Chamber Orchestra and worked with many renowned conductors and chamber musicians. His recordings are complete piano compositions of P. Hindemith, A. Zemlinsky and K. A. Hartmann etc. His Mozart’s piano sonatas will be released this year. He also writes and pioneers publications on musical analysis, aesthetics and the history of 19th and 20th century music. Mauser has been decorated with various prizes and awards, include the Bavarian Maximilian Order.

Top prize-winner at the R. Schumann International Piano Competition in Germany and Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Artistic director of Festival and Master Classes ‘Musical Summer’ in Malaga. Originally from Riga, Dina Yoffe graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow, under the tutelage of Professor Vera Gornostayeva. High points in her international career – concerts with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Neville Marriner, Valery Gergiev, Dmitri Kitayenko and James De Pries. with the Israel Philharmonic, the Japanese Radio Orchestra NHK and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. She has also played with many world renowned musicians, such as G. Kremer, Y. Bashmet, V. Tretiakov, M.Brunello and has made numerous recordings. Jury – Chopin (Warsaw), Cleveland (USA), Horowitz (Kiev), Liszt (Weimar), Maria Canails (Barcelona), Hamamatsu(Japan) etc. Currently Professor at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg. Her students are winners of national/international competitions and she gives master classes in Europe, USA and Japan, including the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg.

Paul Roberts divides his time between Europe and the United States. He teaches/performs for Portland Piano International, is a guest at the University of Washington, San Francisco Conservatoire, Juilliard School and Peabody Institute, Baltimore. Recently a guest artist at the International Keyboard Festival in New York. He is a professor of piano and Associate Research Fellow in performance at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Frequent performance at the Wigmore Hall – most recently, a lecture recital on Debussy and Ravel. He is a director of the international piano summer school, Music at Ambialet. Paul Roberts is a leading exponent of French piano music. His book Images: The Piano Music of Claude Debussy, and his new book Reflections: The Piano Music of Maurice Ravel, have received outstanding reviews from all over the world. Paul Roberts has recorded for France Musique and for the BBC, numerous recordings of Debussy and is shortly to release a disc of Ravel and Liszt.

solo and chamber music repertoire and has played with many of the world’s most famous musicians. His recording labels include: EMI, Hyperion, Chandos, Regis, Bongiovanni (Italy), HNH (USA), Hugo (Hong Kong) and Polydor etc. Formerly Professor of Piano and Head of Postgraduate Performance Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he is now a Senior Piano Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music and has been a regular Professor at the Mozarteum Summer Academy, Salzburg. This year he will join the faculties of Nice

Summer Academy and ‘Musical Summer’ in Malaga and will be a visiting Professor in several other countries. He is invited to join many international Juries and became Artistic Director and Jury Chairman of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition in 2012. Frank Wibaut is sought after throughout the world for his teaching, Masterclasses and Chamber Coaching. The Royal Academy of Music have awarded him their highest honour, an Hon RAM, for his outstanding service to Music.

Helen Krizos

Peter Katin

Jonathan Marten

Brian Wright

Helen Krizos is currently Deputy Head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, in Manchester, a position she has held for 9 years. As a performer Helen formed a piano duo with Peter Noke which established itself as one of the foremost ensembles in England. They made regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, appeared on BBC television and performed with many of the leading orchestras including Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, and the BBC Philharmonic. On Hyperion Label their recordings of Schubert and Dvorak were highly acclaimed. Success as a teacher has led to Helen’s students achieving top prizes in national and international competitions, and recording contracts in Spain, Italy, Germany and the USA. Students have performed at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Carnegie Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. Helen has given master classes in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Norway, and Austria. She has adjudicated extensively in the UK and abroad.

Peter Katin, after an international career spanning over seven decades, remains this country’s most highly regarded pianist. His repertoire is extensive and his recorded output includes complete works of several composers including Chopin, of whose works he is regarded as a leading interpreter, Liszt, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Grieg and Mozart, and he is in great demand as a teacher. He made his debut at the Wigmore Hall on 13 December 1948 where the programme included works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Chopin. He went on to give concerts in England, Europe, Africa, the USA, and Japan. In 1952, Katin debuted at The Proms and in 1953 was acclaimed for his performance there of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. In 1958, Katin became the first British pianist to make a post-war solo tour of the Soviet Union.Katin specialises in Romantic music, particularly Frédéric Chopin, and Impressionist music. He also directed concerti by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven from the keyboard. He lives in Bexhill-on-Sea and is currently writing his autobiography.

Jonathan Marten studied organ, piano and conducting at the Royal College of Music. In May 1987 he was the first organist chosen by Chichester Cathedral to study the Lutheran Tradition of Church Music and training of organists in Berlin, attending the Berliner Kirkenmusikschule. He has performed in concerts and given organ recitals in Cathedral and Parish Churches in the UK, Germany, New Zealand, Bahrain and the Caribbean, as well as performing concerti on piano and organ and accompanying choirs in France, New Zealand and the USA. He has examined throughout the world for the Royal Schools of Music and has adjudicated piano and other classes in various Festivals such as in Kingston (Jamaica and UK). He has been a Jury member in Concerto Competitions in Hong Kong and Hastings. He continues to perform as a soloist, and as piano and organ accompanist for Instrumentalists, Singers and Choirs. He plays annually in a North London Concert for two pianos using 4, 6, 8, and 12 hands.

Brian Wright studied conducting as a Gulbenkian scholar in London and Munich and with George Hurst, Jascha Horenstein and Rudolf Kempe. He won major prizes in competitions with the London Symphony Orchestra and at La Scala, Milan. He was Assistant to André Previn and the LSO and spent ten years as Associate Conductor with the BBC, conducting concerts and broadcasts with all of its orchestras. He won acclaim for performances at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and for a television production of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, now on DVD. Brian has conducted all the major UK orchestras, toured in Europe with the BBCSO, in Europe and China with the RPO, and has been a guest conductor in nearly twenty countries. He has recorded for EMI, Decca, Teldec, Crystal and Regis Tro. Brian enjoys a close relationship with the RPO and regularly conducts in their London International Series.

JURY PROFILES

Philharmonic, BBC orchestras and with many other orchestras around the world. He has now played Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto more than 500 times. His first prizes include the London Chopin Competition aged 17 and in 1968 the Hastings Concerto Competition, the Royal Overseas League and BBC Piano Competitions. These events started his busy international career. His teachers included... John Barstow, Cyril Smith and Gordon Green, with help from Ilona Kabos, Bela Siki and Nadia Boulanger. He has a very wide

Competition Stages Stage 1 Application and DVD video recording for audition

Monday 3 March MORning: 9.45am–1pm

Stage 2

1 Lucy Chang Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op.21

Mon 3–Wed 5 March, 9.45am–8pm Chosen concerti. 25 minutes long, live on two pianos.

2 Kitkin German Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

Semi-final

3 Misako Osada Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26

Thu 6 March, 5–8.30pm Solo recitals. 25 minutes each of own choice music

Final Sat 8 March, 6pm Three complete chosen concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

Awards

Supported by The Kowitz Family Foundation and Frank Wibaut First Prize: £5000 + £5000 (10th Anniversary Prize) plus engagements: - A concerto performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - A London concerto performance with Finchley Chamber Orchestra - A concerto performance with the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra. - Country House Recital - Alfriston Summer Festival Recital - The Hastings International Piano Concerto Trophy (in memory of Sir Philip Ledger CBE) Second Prize: £2500 plus engagement Third Prize: £1250 plus engagement British Prize: £750 This prize is awarded at the discretion of the jury for an outstanding British Contestant in the SemiFinal or Final. Donated by Alistair and Arran Keith Audience Prize: £500 Semi-Finalists: £200 each

Stage 2 Timetable

15 minute break 4 Florian Mitrea Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23 5 Rudin Lengo Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E l minor, s.124 6 Nora Bartosik Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11

Afternoon: 2–5.15pm 7 Ekaterina Litvintseva Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op.21 8 Anna Dmytrenko Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23 9 Yoshio Hamano Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 15 minute break 10 Asiya Akperova Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.54 11 Aliaksei Pshanichny Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 12 Yuanfan Yang Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.16

Evening: 6–8pm 13 Annika Treutler Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26 14 Kuan-Ting Lin Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 15 John Granger Fisher Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23 16 Mihai Ritivoiu Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15

Wednesday 5 March

MORning: 9.45am–1pm

17 Reina Ando Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23

33 Yun-An Lee Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11

18 Yuliya Yermalayeva Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op.21

34 Selim Mazari Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, op.15

19 Mishka Rushdie Momen Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11

35 Daria Bitsiuk Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

15 minute break

20 Alexander Karpeyev Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15

36 Oxana Shevchenko Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30

21 Beatrice Magnani Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23

37 Mami Nishio Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23

22 Yekwon Sunwoo Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30

38 MinJung Baek Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

Afternoon: 2–5.15pm

23 Asaki Ino Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11

39 Angie Zhang Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

24 Martyna Jatkauskaite Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, op.26

40 Jean-Selim Abdelmoula Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58

25 Alexej Outekhin Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op.18

41 Ilya Maximov Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26

15 minute break

C O M P E T I T I O N timetable

Tuesday 4 March

15 minute break

26 Daniel Petrica Ciobanu Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.16

42 Dinara Klinton Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23

27 Marcin Koziak Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B l minor, op.23

43 Eun-A Kim Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11

28 Taek Gi Lee Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30

44 Hyo-Geon Shin Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

Evening: 6–8pm

Jury deliberation and announcement of results

29 Yui Yoshioka Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

HIPCC Accompanists

30 Riyad Nicolas Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 31 Primavera Shima Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E l major, s.124 32 Alexander Panfilov Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

Alan Brown

Tadashi Imai

Francis Rayner

2014 International Competitors Concerto and Recital Choices Competitors must choose from a prescribed list of concerti and for the recital stage of the competition they select pieces from their own repertoire, with the proviso that they play works by at least two different composers for a recital which lasts for a maximum of 25 minutes.

LUCY CHANG, 27 USA

KITKIN GERMAN, 19 Russia

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op.21

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18

Semi-final: F. Chopin: Etude in F Major, op.10 no.8 L. v. Beethoven: Sonata in E flat Major, op.31 M. Ravel: “Ondine” from “Gaspard de la Nuit”

Semi-final: Bach/Siloti: Prelude in B minor J. Brahms: Variations on a theme of Paganini op.35 Book 1 S. Prokofiev: “Sarcasms” op.17

MISAKO OSADA, 24 Japan

FLORIAN MITREA, 24 Romania

RUDIN LENGO, 27 Canada

NORA BARTOSIK, 27 USA

Concerto: S. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26 Semi-final: J. S. Bach: Toccata in E minor, BWV.914 C. Franck: Prelude, Choral et Fugue

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: D. Scarlatti: Sonata in E major, K.135 F. Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1, s.514 S. Prokofiev: Sonata No. 6 in A major op.82 (1st mvt.)

Concerto: F. Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major, s124 Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:50 F. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 in C sharp minor, s.244

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: C. Debussy: Etude no.10 Pour les sonorites opposees C. Debussy: Etude no.11 Pour les arpeges composes Bach/Busoni: Chaconne in D minor

7 EKATERINA LITVINTSEVA,27, Russia Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op.21 Semi-final: S. Rachmaninov: Moments Musicaux op.16 no. 2,3,4 F. Chopin: Scherzo No.3 op.39 S. Prokofiev: Toccata op.11

ANNA DMYTRENKO, 21 USA

YOSHIO HAMANO, 24 Japan

ASIYA AKPEROVA, 27 Russia

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: A. Dorman: Piano Sonata No.2 (2nd mvt.) S. Rachmaninov: Preludes op.23 no.1,5,9,10 Wagner/Liszt: Isolde’s Liebestod

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: J. S. Bach: Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 904 S. Prokofiev: Sonata No.4 in C minor, op.29

Concerto: Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.54 Semi-final: L. v. Beethoven: Sonata op.57 in F minor, “Appassionata” (1st mvt.) F. Liszt: Spanish Rhapsody s.254

ALIAKSEI PSHANICHNY, 25 Belarus Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 Semi-final: S. Taneev: Prelude and fugue in G sharp minor, op.29 L. v. Beethoven: Sonata in A flat major, op.110

15 JOHN GRANGER FISHER, 29 Australia Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op. 23 Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Sonata in B minor Hob XVI:32 J. Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Paganini, op.35 Book 1

YUANFAN YANG, 17 UK

ANNIKA TREUTLER, 23 GermanY

KUAN-TING LIN, 22 Taiwan

Concerto: E. Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.16 Semi-final: F. Schubert: Impromptu No. 3 in B flat major, op.142 C. Debussy: Prelude Bk2 No.7 La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune Y. Yang: The Haunted Bell F. Liszt: Grandes Etudes de Paganini No.3 in G sharp minor “La campanella” s.141

Concerto: S. Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30

Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Fantasy in C major, Hob.XVII:4 R. Schumann: Fantasy op.17

Semi-final: G. Ligeti: Etude No.13 ‘’L’escalier du diable’’ F. Liszt: “Schlaflos, Frage und Antwort” s.203 F. Liszt : En reve Nocturne s.207 F. Liszt: Bagatelle sans tonalite s.216a F. Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1 A major, s.514

MIHAI RITIVOIU, 24 Romania

REINA ANDO, 24 Japan

Concerto: J. Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15 Semi-final: F. Chopin : Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major op.61 A. Scriabin : Etude in C sharp minor op.42 no.5 O. Messiaen : from ‘Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesus’: No.10 ‘Regard de l’esprit de joie’

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: R. Schumann: Faschingsschwank aus Wien op.26 C. Debussy: Prelude Bk1 No.7 “Ce qu’a vu le d’Ouest”

MISHKA RUSHDIE MOMEN, 22 UK

ALEXANDER KARPEYEV, 30 Russia

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: F. Schubert : Sonata in C minor, D.958 (1st mvt.) F. Chopin: Nocturne in B major, op.9 no.3 M. Ravel: “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs M. Ravel: Toccata from “Le Tombeau de Couperin”

Concerto: J. Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, op.15 Semi-final: Bach / Busoni: Prelude and Fugue in E flat, “St Anne”, BWV 552 G. Ligeti: Etude No.4 “Fanfares” R. Schumann: Toccata op.7

2 0 1 4 i n ter n atio n al competitors

18 YULIYA YERMALAYEVA, 21 Belarus Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, op. 21 Semi-final: F. Schubert: Impromptu in B flat major, op.142 no.3 C. Debussy: Etude Bk2 No. 7 ‘’pour les degrés chromatiques’’ F. Liszt: ‘’Spanish Rhapsody’’ s.254

BEATRICE MAGNANI, 25 Italy

YEKWON SUNWOO, 25 SOUTH Korea

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Sonata in D major Hob. XVI:37 L. Berio: Wasserklavier F. Liszt: Mephisto waltz No.1, s.514

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 Semi-final: F. Chopin: Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor G. Ligeti: Etude No.10 “Der Zauberlehrling” M. Ravel: La Valse

23 ASAKI INO, 26 Japan Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: R. Schumann : Bünte Blatter op. 99–1,2,3. C. Schumann : Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann op.20 A. Berg : Piano Sonata

MARTYNA JATKAUSKAITE, 29 Lithuania Concerto: S. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26 Semi-final: G. Ligeti: Etude Bk1 No. 5 Arc-en-ciel S. Rachmaninov: Etude-Tableau Op.39 No.1 D. Scarlatti: Sonata in E minor, K.98 S. Prokofiev: Sonata No.7 op.83

25 ALEXEJ OUTEKHIN, 27 GermanY Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: J. F. Rameau: ‘’La Poule’’ from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin F. Chopin: ‘’Quatre Mazurkas’’ op.67 Schubert/Liszt: ‘’Standchen’’ F. Liszt: Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto

26 DANIEL PETRICA CIOBANU, 22 Romania Concerto: E. Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.16 Semi-final: S. Prokofiev: Sonata No.7 in B flat major, op.83 Strauss / Grunfeld: Soirée de Vienne “Die Fledermaus” op.56

MARCIN KOZIAK, 24 Poland

TAEK GI LEE, 17 SOUTH Korea

YUI YOSHIOKA, 22 Japan

RIYAD NICOLAS, 25 Syria

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Piano sonata No. 47 in B minor, Hob.XVI:32 C. Debussy: Prelude Bk1 No.10 “La Cathédral Englouite” B. Bartok: Piano Sonata (1926)

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 Semi-final: J. S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor Bk1 No.22, BWV 867 F. Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante, Fantasia quasi Sonata

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: L. v. Beethoven: Sonata op.27 no.1 (1st mvt.) J. Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Paganini, op. 35 book 2 S. Rachmaninov: Six Moments Musicaux, op.16 no.1,2

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: D. Scarlatti: Sonatas K.446, K.445 F. Chopin: Nocturne in B major op.9 no.3 M. Ravel: Scarbo from “Gaspard de la Nuit” G. Ligeti: Etude No.4 “Fanfares”

31 PRIMAVERA SHIMA, 30 Australia Concerto: F. Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major, s.124 Semi-final: F. Liszt: Ballade No.2 in B minor, s.171 Stravinsky/Agosti: Three Dances from the Firebird Suite

32 ALEXANDER PANFILOV, 24 Russia Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: I. Albeniz: “Evocacion” from “Iberia” I. Stravinsky: “Petrushka”

YUN-AN LEE, 20 Taiwan

SELIM MAZARI, 21 France

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: W. A. Mozart: Sonata D major KV.576 F. Liszt: Ballade No.2 B minor, s.171 I. Stravinsky: Etude op.7 no.4 Vivo in F sharp major

Concerto: L. v. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, op.15 Semi-final: D. Scarlatti: Sonata in C major, K.132 R. Schumann: Papillons, op.2 T. Adès: Darknesse Visible

DARIA BITSIUK, 25 Ukraine

OXANA SHEVCHENKO, 26 Russia

MAMI NISHIO, 27 Japan

MINJUNG BAEK, 29 SOUTH Korea

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: A. Scriabin: Preludes op.11 no. 4, 6 F. Schubert: Impromptu D.935 no. 2 in A flat major L. Liebermann: “Gargoyles”, op.29

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30 Semi-final: L. v. Beethoven: Sonata in F sharp major, op.78 G. Enescu: Pavane in D from Suite No.2 op.10 Stravinsky/Agosti: Firebird

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: D. Scarlatti: Sonata in F minor, K.466 F. Schubert: 3 pieces D.946 No.1 in E flat minor C. Debussy: Preludes Bk 2 No.12 “Feux d’artifice” D. Scriabin: Sonata No.4 op.30

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: A. Scriabin: Sonata No.2 G sharp minor, op.19 D. Scarlatti: Sonata in G major, K.427 M. Ravel: La Valse

39 ANGIE ZHANG, 18 USA Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: S. Prokofiev: Etude in C minor, op.2 no.3 L. v. Beethoven: Sonata in D major, op.10 no.3 (1st mvt.) M. Ravel: La Valse

40 JEAN-SELIM ABDELMOULA, 22 Switzerland Concerto: L. v. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58 Semi-final: C. Debussy: Prelude Bk2 no.7 “La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune” Images “Poissons d’or” Prelude Bk1 no.4 “Les collines d’Anacapri” and no.5 “Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l’air du soir” F. Chopin: Ballade No.4, op.52

2 0 1 4 i n ter n atio n al competitors

ILYA MAXIMOV, 26 Russia

DINARA KLINTON, 24 Ukraine

Concerto: S. Prokofiev: Concerto No.3 in C major, op.26 Semi-final: J. S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C major from BK2, BWV.870 S. Rachmaninov: Preludes op.23 no.1 F sharp minor, op.32 no.12 G sharp minor, op.23 no.2 B flat major S. Rachmaninov: EtudesTableaux op.33 no.3, 6, 9

Concerto: P. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B flat minor, op.23 Semi-final: D. Scarlatti: Sonatas K466, K455 F. Liszt: Transcendental Etude No.5 ‘’Feux follets’’ Gounod/Liszt: Valse from the opera ‘’Faust’’ s.407

EUN-A KIM, 24 SOUTH Korea

HYO-GEON SHIN, 24 SOUTH Korea

Concerto: F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, op.11 Semi-final: A.Scriabin: Sonata No.3 in F sharp minor, op.23 J. Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Paganini op.35 Book 2

Concerto: S. Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, op.18 Semi-final: F. J. Haydn: Piano Sonata No 24 in D major, Hob XVI:24 F. Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante, Fantasia quasi Sonata M. Ravel: “Alborada del Gracioso” from Miroirs

he Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, who will accompany the three contestants in the final of the competition, was formed in 1987 and has built up an international reputation in its own right. Performing in the major concert halls and concert venues in the UK and around the world, from China and the Far East to North and South America, the RPCO is known for its versatile programming of classical, light classical and popular music. The RPCO is regularly seen working with renowned artists in the worlds of classical music, pop music and West End musicals. Appearances during 2013 included four performances with Boston Ballet at the London Coliseum, an Elgar celebration concert in his home town of Malvern on the composer’s birthday and live performances to the screening of two iconic films at the Royal Albert Hall: Singin’ in the Rain and Fantasia. Appearances at the summer festivals include Hampton Court Palace, Kenwood House, Canary Wharf and Rochester Castle. Touring commitments this year include invitations to perform as far afield as Bahrain, Moscow and China as well as major cities within the EEC. Among many appearances at the Royal Albert Hall will be six performances of Bernstein’s soundtrack to West Side Story, synchronised with the screening

of the original classic film, which received critical acclaim in July 2012 (‘the RPCO, crisply conducted by Jayce Ogren, brought verve and boppish swing to the score…. Little wonder that the audience burst into applause after so many of the key scenes’ The Times). Other high profile projects of 2013/14 include an invitation to perform with Dame Shirley Bassey for a Charity Gala held at Windsor Castle in the presence of HRH Prince Andrew. The RPCO has a worldwide reputation for working with internationally renowned artists ranging from opera luminaries Andrea Bocelli, José Carreras, Lesley Garrett, Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa and the late Luciano Pavarotti to popular culture icons Burt Bacharach, Tina Turner, Henry Mancini, Liza Minnelli, Barry Manilow, Sting and Stevie Wonder, to name but a few. Highlights of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra’s recent seasons have included two sellout performances at the London Coliseum with pop/ opera quartet Il Divo and performances with Neil Sedaka in October 2012 and Broadway stars Idina Menzel and Marvin Hamlisch at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2011 and two dance performances of Mozart and Mahler with Scottish Ballet at Sadler’s Wells in November 2011.

PHOTOGRAPH © ALEXANDER BRATTELL

The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

Concerti programme notes Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Piano Concerto no.1 in C major, op.15

Piano Concerto no.4 in G major, op.58

Allegro con brio Largo Rondo. Allegro scherzando

Allegro moderato Andante con moto Rondo. Vivace

This is not Beethoven’s first piano concerto. A youthful concerto in E flat, dating from 1784, survives in short score, and what we call the second concerto, op.19, was actually written before the present work but published slightly later. So the C major is chronologically the third concerto. Beethoven began to sketch it in 1795–96, and it was completed, and first performed, in 1798. If we take into consideration the fragmentary Romance for flute, bassoon, piano and orchestra of 1786, the much more important fragment of the first movement of a violin concerto written around 1790–92 and the lost oboe concerto supposedly completed in 1793, the Beethoven of the “first” piano concerto emerges as anything but a stranger to the medium. He handles it here with a confidence born of experience. This is a bigger work than the B flat concerto, a fact reflected in the scoring, which now includes clarinets, trumpets and timpani, and in the scale of its movements – particularly the first. It is tempting to identify Mozart’s concerti as an obvious model for the young Beethoven, although that observation should come with the caveat that at this stage only a handful of these works were even moderately well known. Nevertheless, it is the Mozartian archetype which lies behind Beethoven’s opening movement, albeit with the occasional hint that Beethoven wants to push its tonal scheme to new limits. This expanded tonality defines the scale which will determine the whole movement. It is the Mozartian precedent, not denied but taken a logical step further. The piano writing in this and the last movement, which is a sonata rondo, is another step in the direction of the nineteenth century concerto, moving towards the kind of explicitly virtuoso figuration that had been hinted at, for instance, in Mozart’s Coronation concerto (K.537) and developed more fully in the works of composers such as Hummel or Weber. In the same way the cantabile style of the central Largo, in A flat major, is a link between that of some of Mozart’s slow movements and the bel cantoinspired writing of Chopin’s generation.

Composed between 1800 and ’09, Beethoven’s last three piano concerti effectively define the scope of his second period. The fourth was begun in 1805 and finished the following year, and first performed in March 1807 in a concert which also included the premières of the fourth symphony and the Coriolan overture. Hindsight allows us to recognise these years as among the most prolific in Beethoven’s career, marked by a preoccupation with the expansion of traditional forms. In the concerti this as much about integrating the soloistic with the symphonic as with pushing at the tonal boundaries of the music. Beethoven’s decision to open the concerto with the solo piano is a radical move, but less so than the immediate journey into far flung keys initiated by the orchestra’s response, since this creates an immediate tension which the expanded discourse of the movement then has to resolve. The wind drop out of the Andante, whose dialogue Liszt likened to Orpheus taming the furies. The abruptness of the string writing is gradually mollified by the poetic retorts of the piano, and the movement ends in mid-air only to lead straight into the final Rondo where trumpets and timpani, silent so far, are added to the orchestra. Beethoven’s little tonal joke here is to begin in the wrong key, but this too is a move calculated to create tension. The tonal journey here allows in the development for one of the concerto’s most beautiful passages. The music moves to E flat, and out of the tutti comes a newly lyrical version of the main theme played by divided violas. It is transformed one more time, when after the cadenza it appears in canon between piano and woodwind, before the whole movement builds towards an affirmative climax.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) Piano Concerto no.1 in E minor, op.11 Allegro maestoso Romance. Larghetto Rondo. Vivace

Any criticism which has been levelled at Chopin’s two piano concerti has to be viewed in the light of broader circumstances. So, while it is true that Chopin was no Berlioz in matters of orchestration, his decision after completing them to concentrate on the solo repertoire does presuppose an awareness of his strengths and weaknesses. And any carping about structural failings must take into account that these remain remarkably confident works for a composer who had not yet reached his twentieth birthday. On a more positive note, both of them show that, even at this early stage, Chopin was not only a formidable pianist but that the formative influences on his piano writing had already been absorbed into a coherently individual style. Both concerti were written in 1829-30. The E minor was actually the second but was published before the F minor. Comparing either with what we might assume to have been familiar models is misleading and serves only to reveal our tendency to see history as a series of linear events. For, while it is true that the concerti of Mozart or Beethoven provide some of the finest examples of the genre in the generation before Chopin, it is more than likely that at this stage in his career he knew little or nothing of either. The early Romantic era in which he lived and which shaped his outlook as a pianist-composer was an age which prized virtuosity. Its heroes were men like Hummel, Moscheles or Kalkbrenner (to whom the E minor concerto is dedicated), who had promoted a new breed of concerto in which structural subtlety ceded to technical display. This helps explain why Chopin’s first movement looks on paper to acknowledge Classical precedent but in reality uses its structural outline as no more than a series of staging posts providing a context for the piano writing. To accuse Chopin of failing to integrate his material more closely is to make the mistake of assuming he intends to. The Romance follows the pattern laid down in the F minor concerto in being a reverie for the piano in which the orchestra’s rôle is minimal. For his finale Chopin once more turns to an inherited structural type – a rondo – as a peg on which to hang a series of brilliant display passages for the soloist.

“The early Romantic era in which he lived and which shaped his outlook as a pianist-composer was an age which prized virtuosity.”

Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) Piano Concerto no.2 in F minor, op.21 Maestoso Larghetto Allegro vivace As has been hinted at elsewhere, the F minor concerto was completed first but published second, a situation analogous with Beethoven’s first two piano concerti. However, it is unlikely that at this stage in his career Chopin had encountered any of that composer’s concerti. The more obvious influences are those of the first generation of Romantic composer-virtuosi, such as Hummel or Moscheles. It is instructive, for instance, to compare Chopin’s opening movement with what might be expected of a similar movement by Beethoven or, for that matter, Mozart. The lengthy opening tutti is still in place, albeit with a second subject (with echoes of Weber) already in the relative major. But from there on piano and orchestra, although they share common material, lead fairly separate existences. The latter, instead of playing its part in the musical argument, merely becomes a passive accompanist to the pianistic bravura. There is no cadenza, but then none is necessary. Similarly, in the Larghetto, once the brief introduction is over, Chopin launches into what is effectively a solo nocturne with minimal interference from the orchestra. And in the finale the piano carries on with its energetic Chopin waltz-rondo largely oblivious to what the orchestra is doing. Chopin was, after all, simply following current fashion, which is this case conveniently justified his decision to concentrate on what he was best at.

Piano Concerto no.1 in E flat major, s.124

Allegro affettuoso Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso Allegro vivace

Allegro maestoso Quasi Adagio – Allegretto vivace – Allegro animato Allegro marziale animato

This, the most successful of Schumann’s concerti, is also the earliest. The intention to compose a concerto for his own instrument had, understandably, been with him since his youth, but its realisation was a slow process in which can be identified two motivating factors. One was Schumann’s growing confidence in handling the orchestra, the other his courtship of and later marriage to, the woman who was hailed as the finest female pianist in Europe. The first movement of the concerto, to which Schumann had referred as early as 1833, was completed in 1841. It was initially intended to stand alone as a Concert fantasy, ‘a mixture of concerto, symphony and grand sonata’ as Schumann wrote to Clara. This is no doubt an allusion to the way the movement eschews the lengthy opening tutti associated with the form, and introduces the soloist straight away, or the fact that the central part of the movement presents not an intensification of the drama but a relaxation in the form of a dreamy Romantic dialogue between piano and orchestra. The remaining movements were added in July 1845. The Intermezzo takes its cue from the passage mentioned above, inhabiting a world familiar from Schumann’s solo piano music. It leads without a break into the rondo finale, which is in the tonic major. The first performance of the concerto was given by Clara Schumann at a concert in the Hotel de Saxe, Dresden; a second performance which she gave shortly afterwards in Leipzig was conducted by Mendelssohn.

The first of Liszt’s two piano concerti is typical of many of his works in having reached its final form only after a long process of gestation and revision. Sketches for it go back as far as 1830. Liszt carried out the bulk of the work on both concerti during the 1840s, subjecting the first in particular to a whole chain of revisions before he gave its first performance in Weimar in 1855, conducted by Hector Berlioz. It is logical to assume that any concerto Liszt might have written in 1830 would have been a bravura work, showcasing his talents as a formidable pianist rather than as a composer. But by the 1850s the roles were largely reversed. Liszt was no longer the youthful darling of the salons so much as the composer who was soon to produce original but purely orchestral works like the Faust symphony or the majority of the symphonic poems. This helps us to appreciate why the archetypal Romantic pianist should not have written the archetypal Romantic piano concerto. True, pianistic brilliance is far from absent, but the greater interest lies in the way that Liszt adapts the traditional three-movement form to accommodate the technique of thematic metamorphosis with which he was experimenting elsewhere. None of the movements here is self-contained. Almost all the material in the first is derived from the opening motif, the main contrast being provided by an arpeggio theme which is itself subjected to various modifications. This brief, tonally unstable movement acts really as an extended prelude to the second, which is part slow movement, part scherzo and part development of what has gone before. The final movement provides yet another development of existing ideas in which the concerto, in principal keys of E flat and B major battling for supremacy, with E flat finally being established in a long recapitulationcum-coda. The whole concerto is thus one in which the traditional idea of statement and development has been stretched to cover, not one movement, but three which are heard as a unity sharing common material. If we seek a precedent for this outside Liszt’s music we have to look back to a work like Schubert’s Wanderer fantasy of 1822, which is known to have fascinated Liszt and which, two years after completing this concerto, he transcribed for piano and orchestra.

“It was initially intended to stand alone as a Concert fantasy, ‘a mixture of concerto, symphony and grand sonata’ as Schumann wrote to Clara”

n otes

Piano Concerto in A minor, op.54

programme

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)

C o n cert I

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)

Piano Concerto no.1 in D minor, op.15

Piano Concerto in A minor, op.16

Maestoso Adagio Rondo – Allegro non troppo

Allegro molto moderato Adagio Allegro molto moderato e marcato

Goodness knows how much music Brahms destroyed as unsatisfactory before the appearance of the mighty piano sonatas which constitute his first published works. “Veiled symphonies” Schumann had called them, alluding as much to their size as to the expectations he had of his protégé. Brahms wrote no more solo sonatas, but in 1854 he composed three movements of a sonata for two pianos. Even then he felt that his ideas were too big for the chosen medium, and he began to orchestrate the first movement with the intention of turning the whole work into a symphony. But the perfectionist in him was still not satisfied and he channelled his efforts into rethinking the material as a piano concerto. With a good deal of advice from Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim this reached its final form in 1858. Brahms discarded his original slow movement, reusing it later in the Deutsches Requiem, and wrote instead an Adagio headed Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. This probably alludes to Schumann, whose death had occurred two years before, and also to the mass which Brahms is known to have sketched around this time. The D minor concerto was eventually published in 1861. It is a huge work, longer in three movements than the second concerto is in four. The first movement alone plays for nearly twenty five minutes. Nowhere is the music’s symphonic origin more apparent than in this powerful Maestoso. This is a young man’s music, seething with the struggles and passions which were to recede further beneath the surface as Brahms grew in maturity. The slow movement, like the first, is in six-four time; a bold risk to take, but one which Brahms justifies as a kind of fuller exploration of those moments of a more introspective nature which had appeared in the preceding movement. Its dynamic character returns in the Rondo which , like the Maestoso, displays a natural tendency towards B flat major, finding its fullest expression in a central episode which Schumann himself would have been proud to have written.

“I should like to play only my own compositions” Grieg wrote concerning his first visit to England in 1879 “and of these I prefer apart from the piano concerto, my solo pieces, chamber music and…songs.” There speaks a man eager not to be seen as a one-work composer. Yet Grieg did have a high opinion of the concerto and had been profoundly disappointed to have it returned from his publisher in 1870 as unworthy of publication. He had composed it in Søllerød, Denmark, in the summer of 1868, a period of personal happiness and genuine creative progress. Its dedicatee, Edmund Neupert, gave the first performance in Copenhagen the following year, but it was not until 1872 that the concerto was printed. In the meantime Grieg had made certain revisions to the text. By his own admission Grieg was never happiest in large scale genres and the concerto is an exception rather than a rule. There is a grain of truth in the idea that it succeeds by concentrating on the simple statement of ideas rather than attempting any complex development of them, but Grieg was able to turn to familiar models and take from them what he needed without compromising his own individual voice. Schumann’s concerto springs to mind, not just in the choice of key, but in the bold piano statement at the start of the first movement and the eschewing of the traditional classical first movement form in favour of what is effectively a sonata for piano and orchestra. But the harmonic piquancy is as often as not Grieg’s own, as in the main theme of the Adagio, where the piano writing more than once invokes the shade of Chopin. Grieg the nationalist surfaces in the finale, which alludes to two Norwegian folk dances, the halling and the springdans. The movement is a rondo, whose central episode is worked up into the grandiose Romantic peroration of the closing pages.

“I should like to play only my own compositions” Grieg wrote concerning his first visit to England in 1879.

Piano Concerto no.1 in B flat minor, op.23

Piano Concerto no.2 in C minor, op.18

Andante non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito Andantino semplice – Allegro vivace assai – Tempo primo Allegro con fuoco

Moderato Adagio sostenuto Allegro scherzando

n otes

Apart from the overture Romeo and Juliet this is the earliest of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works to enjoy a guaranteed place in the repertoire. When it was composed in 1874 he had already completed the first two symphonies, but neither has established for itself the sure-fire popularity of the concerto… or at least the big tune with which it starts. Looking beyond the opening it becomes immediately apparent that the big, surging melody for strings accompanied by bold piano chords is – to the despair of theorists but the delight of lovers of big, surging melodies – nothing more than an introductory gesture on the grandest scale . It is a daring experiment, which Tchaikovsky was to repeat with greater subtlety in his violin concerto. This may have contributed to Nicholas Rubinstein’s vitriolic attack on the piano concerto after Tchaikovsky had played it to him. The composer had hoped that Rubinstein would give the first performance. He accepted only on condition that Tchaikovsky subject the work to wholesale revision. Tchaikovsky held his ground – as did Rubinstein, although in time he retracted his criticism and did play the concerto. The eventual creator of the work was Hans von Bulow, its eventual dedicatee, who premièred it in Boston in 1875. Any other grounds for complaint on Rubinstein’s part were probably little more than a reflection of his own conservatism. Tchaikovsky’s first movement, when it gets going in earnest, dispenses with the Classical precedent of an opening orchestral tutti, but then by 1874 such a procedure was more the rule than the exception. Here and in the third movement Tchaikovsky typically creates sonata form structures where contrast of character between ideas is at least as important as tension between key centres. Tchaikovsky is more radical in the Andantino semplice, which combines the functions of both slow movement and scherzo in one. There is more than a touch of Rachmaninov in the way the finale introduces a broad second subject which is eventually apotheosised in the recapitulation. But we shouldn’t overlook the fact the concerto came into being at a time when Tchaikovsky was tentatively exploring Russian folk music in works like the second symphony and second quartet. Here the first subjects of both outer movements are based on Ukrainian folk songs.

Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto will always conjure up images of Celia Johnson being terribly, terribly noble and dutiful and Trevor Howard being dashingly caddish. In choosing this music to accompany the doomed, unconsummated affair of Laura and Alec in Brief Encounter director David Lean was acknowledging not merely its popularity but its reputation as the archetypal romantic piano concerto, chock full of rhetoric which a flourishing film industry had not been slow to imitate. The concerto which mirrors the imaginary moral crisis of Brief Encounter was born out of a genuine crisis in its composer’s own career. Rachmaninov had earned a certain amount of success with his first piano concerto of 1890-91, not least because it was given to the world by a composer still in his teens blessed with a phenomenal technique as a pianist. It was the failure of his first symphony which precipitated his breakdown and he produced nothing other than abortive sketches over the next three years. When the worst was passed and Rachmaninov regained the confidence to essay greater things, it bore fruit in a handful of works in which, sensibly, his own instrument played a major role, among them the second piano concerto. It was begun in 1900 and completed in 1901, six years before Rachmaninov was to complete the work which set the seal on his artistic regeneration, the second symphony. The two works have a fair amount in common. Both are conceived on a grand scale, both have intensely lyrical slow movements ushered in by extended clarinet solos, and neither shies away from the heart-on-sleeve emotional pull of the big tune which Lean was to exploit to the full. In truth, the concerto could well be said to be conceived symphonically since, in keeping with numerous mid to late concerti of the Romantic period, it eschews the structural tradition familiar from the classical concerto of, for instance, Mozart or Beethoven. Part of the enduring popularity of concerti like this one is that in them two traditions meet head on: the concept of the concerto as a heroic struggle between soloist and orchestra, and the overarching one of the Romantic symphonic tradition as a progress towards a triumphant and equally heroic climax – big tunes, big emotions…and that railway station.

programme

Sergey Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

C o n cert I

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Sergey Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

Sergey Prokofiev (1891–1953)

Piano Concerto no.3 in D minor, op.30

Piano Concerto no.3 in C major, op.26

Allegro ma non tanto Intermezzo. Allegro Finale. Alla breve

Andante – Allegro Tema con Variazioni Allegro ma non troppo

Although it has never quite managed to oust its predecessor from its prime position in the popularity stakes, Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto has never had to suffer the scandalous neglect with which the fourth has been treated. It followed the second concerto after a period of eight years, in the summer and early autumn of 1909, a near contemporary of two other major works: the Second Symphony and the symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead. The composer himself gave the first performance the following November as part of his first American tour. The third concerto is only superficially similar to the second. It is the more ambitious work of the two and consequently the longer, and the score contains a number of optional cuts which Rachmaninov is known to have made himself. It moreover attempts a conscious motivic unity between all three movements in a way that looks forward to the fourth concerto while obviously not yet achieving the conciseness which is one of that work’s hallmarks. Right at the outset Rachmaninov defines the scale upon which he intends to work by presenting an idea which is in no hurry to finish and which holds no clue as to the difficulties to come. Rachmaninov’s tune has an almost Franckian economy in the way it persistently clings to the same handful of notes, making its interest as much a rhythmic as a melodic one. This is important, since subsequent references to this idea will sometimes evoke its rhythmic shape. This is exactly what Rachmaninov does in the passage which follows the orchestral restatement of the tune and which leads to the second group. Here a short fanfare-like motif in the orchestra is transformed by the piano into another long-drawn melody. The eventual recapitulation is quite brief, since much of its function has been usurped by the development and the cadenza – which also involves the orchestra.

Prokofiev’s third concerto belongs to the period 1918-22, when he left Russia with the intention of forging a career as a pianist and composer in the USA. Lack of immediate success occasioned a move to Paris in April 1920. Thus much of the third piano concerto was composed in France. Prokofiev turned to sketches he had made as a student in 1911, and others from 1916 and ’17, incorporating them into the first two movements. The finale was partially reworked from a discarded string quartet of 1918. The whole concerto was completed in 1921. The concerto survives its heterogeneous origins very well, but remains work given to extreme contrasts. There is nothing, for instance, in the calm of the Andante which opens the first movement to prepare for the spikiness of the ensuing Allegro. Prokofiev treats this as a fairly orthodox sonata structure, with a grotesque little march for a second subject. For the development he returns to the Andante introduction, allowing its lyricism to shine through for an all too brief period before the leadback to the recapitulation interrupts it. The central Tema con variazioni cannot in any real sense be called a slow movement. The Andante tempo of the theme is maintained for the first variation, but then the pace quickens to an Allegro and we are plunged back into the world of the first movement. One of the most curious variations here is the fourth, marked Andante meditativo, which sounds like Chopin on acid. With the finale we are back with Prokofiev the youthfully provocative. The whole affair starts with a theme which seems to want to be treated as a fugue subject but has to wait for some time before its aspirations are momentarily fulfilled when the theme returns. In the meantime it has met its match in a rapid display of ascending and descending scales which becomes the movement’s main secondary idea. As in the first movement, the middle section here offers a measure of relaxation, but at greater length and introducing a new idea which is developed along with the scalic figure. This allows the closing section to devote itself largely to a recapitulation of the principal theme in what is really an extended and brilliant coda.

“Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto has never had to suffer the scandalous neglect with which the fourth has been treated.”

some reflections by Richard Osborne

t would be an unusual international piano competition which did not end with an evening of concerti, which is excellent news for the concerto whose standing in the world is not exactly what it once was. The piano concerto became an important player on the musical stage in the early 1770s when Mozart completed the first of his incomparable series of works. And it remained so until the early decades of the twentieth century as the last of the great composer-pianists – Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Bartók – continued to mesmerise and entertain. Nowadays it is rare to hear a concert given over exclusively to piano concerti, though I vividly recall Claudio Arrau playing both Brahms concerti in a single evening, one either side of the interval. It was a dish fit to set before any king. But, then, the Brahms concerti are symphonic in scope and mien. They are also German, which down the years has helped make them doubly respectable. There is no reason why a concert should not end with the Brahms B flat concerto or Beethoven’s Emperor. Sadly the old impresarios were adamant in their preference for sandwiching the concerto between an overture and a symphony, a strategy which only the fashionable elites could afford to subvert. (‘Darling, surely one leaves after the concerto?’ If Noel Coward didn’t write that line he should have done.)

“The piano is the best actor in the company of instruments” said Ferruccio Busoni. And there’s the rub. It was the whiff of greasepaint, the sense of the pianist as circus performer, which by the end of the nineteenth century had begun to give the concerto a bad name among seriousminded folk. They were wrong, of course. The stage – more particularly the operatic stage – is deep in the piano concerto’s DNA. Witness those game-changing Mozart concerti whose precocious mastery of long-term tonal relations created a new sound-stage on which his absorbing instrumental dramas could be played out. Mozart wrote for the fortepiano, as did Beethoven until the final decade of his life, when the mighty pianoforte made its entrance. For novelist and composer Anthony Burgess the new concert grand was a somewhat Byronic figure. ‘The Byronic hero detests war but glories in his own ego. He loves largely, suffers from perturbations of the soul, is essentially solitary and tries to commune with Alps and rivers. He is an animated grand piano.’ As you survey that formidable beast hunkered down on the stage before you, spare a thought for the young animators who will be risking life and limb as they spur it into action. Ponder too the remark of that most reluctant of jurists Artur Rubinstein. ‘If they play badly I feel terrible. If they play well I feel worse’.

The piano concerto

St Mary in the Castle

ince the early 1990s, various august bodies and passionate locals have worked hard to keep St Mary in the Castle open for business. A rare and stunning form of Neo-classical temple, Pevsner called it one of the “finest buildings of the 1820s.” In the early 19th century when Thomas Pelham, the Earl of Chichester, embarked on this ambitious development project to build St Mary and Pelham Crescent, Hastings had a burgeoning tourist industry. Sea bathing was becoming a fashionable alternative to the delights of more traditional spa towns, and the Pelham Crescent complex catered for needs both spiritual and material: a lofty domed church with spring-fed font, seating for 1500 worshippers, and an elegant glass-roofed shopping arcade – one of the first purpose-built covered arcades in the country. With its Palladian portico and a sweeping a crescent of elegant town houses, Pelham Crescent represented architect Joseph Kay’s masterpiece and was as fine and as fashionable a place to be seen in as any on the south coast. By the mid-1980s the building languished leaking and unloved, prompting national breast-beating and a rescue campaign supported by the Queen Mother. Hastings Borough Council stepped in, English Heritage stepped in, and St Mary-in-the-Castle was given a new lease of life with a repair grant and basic support to make the building sound. Since this life-saving repair, the building has been run variously as an arts centre, a non-conformist church and a putative youth centre. Its stunning interior and much-praised acoustics now make it a popular mid-size performance venue.

2 In 2013, funds from a further English Heritage grant and Hastings Borough Council have allowed for restoration of the crumbling roof lantern and the shopping arcade which fronts the crescent, two of which form the street level entrance to St Mary’s. In 2013, a local independent school, Buckswood, was granted the temporary lease by Hastings Borough Council to manage the building as an arts and entertainment venue. Using its own staff and finances to get the venue up and running and back on the arts map, Buckswood hopes to hand over to a newly-formed charitable trust to continue the work of building audiences and an exciting performance programme. Could this be the moment that Pelham Crescent begins to regain its Georgian status as one of the south coast’s most fashionable destinations? www.stmaryinthecastle.co.uk

1: Watercolour of the interior of the church by WH Brook painted at some point between the late 1830s and 1840s (courtesy of the Old Town Preservation Society at the Hastings History House) 2: Interior of the shopping arcade painted in 1824 by WG Moss (courtesy of Graham King, former conservation officer at Hastings Borough Council). 3: Show of Hands concert on the 23 October 2013 4: Emily Barker concert on 16 November 2013

Hastings Pier Ever thought of buying something right on the coast?

ow about a pier? A proper, good, old-fashioned Victorian pier. Hastings Pier, designed and built in 1872 and currently undergoing a £13.9m renovation programme. You can’t buy the whole thing – would you want a whole pier? But you can buy shares in the new pier through the community share issue that has already raised well over £200,000 to complete the rebuilding budget and now needs capital funds to get the pier into working order; to put great attractions onto the pier. Plans range from the obvious such as a proper deckchair rental operation through to a microbrewery (a beer on the Pier, anyone?), mirrored visitor pavilion (that’s mirrored on the outside) with rooftop viewing deck, farmers’ markets, outdoor cinema, performance and civil ceremony spaces, Xmas fairs, skating rinks and a visiting circus.

From its opening in 1872 through to closure in 2006, Hastings Pier was the centre of tourism and entertainment for much of the South of England. Originally part of the Victorian seaside boom, it evolved with the times and even became an icon of rock music, Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Genesis Hawkwind, Suzi Quatro and Pink Floyd all played the pier. EIS status provides excellent tax advantages with the investment and though a community benefit share issue, plans are to offer prudent interest returns as the pier develops. The new pier in Hastings is planned as a modern icon of art, culture, regeneration and the renewal of the English coastal tradition, with a 21st century take on what the Victorians did for us. And a substantial shareholding in the pier will do a great deal of good for Hastings; the more attractive and cutting-edge the pier the more visitors to the town, the longer they stay and the more money they will leave behind. This isn’t just the future of the pier; there are uncomfortable parallels in how the pier and the town’s economy have both suffered terribly over the past 60 years. They will both benefit massively from this project. For more information, visit: www.hpcharity.co.uk. Share purchase: www.microgenius.org.uk

Calendar of events 2014–15 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2014 Season Mon 3–Wed 5 March, 9.45am–8pm Stage 2 performances Thu 6 March, 5–8.30pm Semi-final Friday 7 March, 6pm Masterclass with THREE members of the Jury

Recital Room, Fairlight Hall

Sat 8 March, 6pm Final

Three complete chosen concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra

Saturday 5 July Summer Picnic Recital with 2014 Winner Fairlight Hall

Thursday 24 July Prize Winner’s Lunch-time Recital Alfriston Summer Music Festival

Saturday 11 October Tae-Hyung Kim (2013 Winner) Emperor Concerto

With the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra The Mote Hall, Maidstone www.mso.org.uk

Saturday 22 November: Prize Winner’s Concerto Performance With Finchley Chamber Orchestra www.finchleychamber.org

Date/place to be arranged Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Winner’s concerto performance 2–7 March 2015 HASTINGS INTERNATIONAL PIANO CONCERTO COMPETITION

Cultural events in East Sussex and Kent 2014 Saturday 26 April, 7pm Hastings Philharmonic Choir Brahms Cherubini Requiem in C minor St Mary in the Castle www.hastingsphilchoir.org.uk

3–25 May Brighton Festival www.brightonfestival.org

Saturday 10 May VALERIE TRYON RECITAL

St Augustine’s Chuch , Bexhill Tickets from Second Spin, Sackville Rd, Bexhill from 15 April

17 May–24 August glyndebourne festival www.glyndebourne.com

18 & 25 May, 8 & 22 June wardsbrook festival Ticehurst

St Andrews Church, Fairlight

www.wardsbrookconcerts.co.uk

Saturday 10 May, 7.30pm Vinehall Instrumental Classical Concerts: Aronowitz Ensemble

23–25 May SACCONI CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL, FOLKESTONE

Cello: Guy Johnston, Marie Macleod; Violin: Magnus Johnston, Nadia Wijzenbeek; Viola: Lily Francis, Tom Hankey; Piano: Tom Poster www.vinehallschool.com

Saturday 17 May, 3pm PETER KATIN RECITAL

www.sacconi.com

Saturday 24 May. 7.30pm Imogen Cooper Recital De la Warr Theatre, Bexhill Tickets: dlwp.com 01424 229111

Saturday 7 June, 7.30pm Vinehall Instrumental Classical Concerts: Martin Roscoe and Peter Donohoe, Piano Duet www.vinehallschool.com

19–22 June PEASMARSH CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL www.peasmarshfestival.co.uk

Sunday 13 July Opera Garden Party Warrior Square, St Leonards-on-Sea

21–25 August RYE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL www.ryejazz.com

September HASTINGS INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS FESTIVAL www.composersfestival.com

13–28 September RYE ARTS FESTIVAL www.ryefestival.co.uk

October 2014–June 2015 VINEHALLMUSIC SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES www.vinehallschool.com

24 October–9 November BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL www.bremf.org.uk

Friends of Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition DIAMOND PATRONS Jonathan & Tricia Gray Dr Richard & Julia Wray

PLATINUM PATRONS Stamco

GOLD PATRONS Andrew Blackman & Richard Smith Peter Dengate Michael & Rosemary Foster Kendra McConnell & Morgan Giampaolo Dr Christine Pickard & Gordon Trewinnard

SILVER PATRONS John & Yvonne Everitt Lorraine Griffin Elizabeth & Alfredo Guttierez-Andres Richard Percy Janet Smallman Kevin Smith

MEMBERS Keith & Elizabeth Beal Jean Bryant Rosemary Craggs Nicholas & Stephanie Dent Betty Greenish Norman Howe Basil Jones Alistair & Arran Keith Lorna Knowles Ashley Luke & Scott Meek Michael Moor Ivora Rees John & Rosemary Searle

Become a Friend Competition Prize or Patron… Winners 2005–13 of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition and you can help us ensure this world-class event will continue for the future benefit of young classical pianists, as well as helping us bring concerto music to new audiences. Benefits will include priority booking for the Competition Events, exclusive Friends recitals and receptions, acknowledgement on our website and in the Competition Programme. Please complete the application card inserted into this programme,

2013: Tae-Hyung Kim with left to right Olivier Gardon, Petula Clark CBE, Michelle Candotti

see our website for details, or contact us. Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Care of: The Hastings Musical Festival office: White Rock Theatre Hastings TN34 1JX

2012: Eugenio Catone with left to right John O’Conor, David Lardi, Jonathan Marten, Alexander Mullenbach, Frank Wibaut

2008: Otis Beasley (middle) with left Olivia Sham, and right Diana Brekalo

2011: Jessica Wei-Zhu with left to right Molly Townson, Richard Powell, Zi Wang, Sir Philip Ledger CBE

2007: Natalia Loresch (middle) with left Hara Kostogianni, and right Shio Osaki

2010: Miwako Miki with Sir Philip Ledger CBE and Kenneth Roberts

2006: Gemma Beeson with left to right Richard Deering, Sir Philip Ledger CBE, Peter Katin, David Lardi

2009: Jonathan Wilson (middle) with left Philippa Harrison, and right Madalina Rusu

2005: Maria Mazo with Sir Philip Ledger CBE

www.HastingsConcertoCompetition.co.uk

Sponsor a Piano Key Why not help support the festival by sponsoring our life-size piano keyboard? You can have your name displayed at all related events for the forthcoming year for £100 a key as well as on our website. Email: info@HastingsConcertoCompetition.co.uk www.HastingsConcertoCompetition.co.uk

Thank you The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition is run by a host of committed volunteers and relies on sponsorship, support in-kind, donations and ticket sales to survive. We have been shown very generous support by individuals and organisations in the past year and would like to make a special mention of the following: The Kowitz Family Foundation Fairlight Arts Trust Yamaha Music Group GmbH (UK) Gustav Alink Arts Council England Kevin Boorman E.L. Chandler Pianos Christopher Charles Paine Builders Michael Cross Sue Dengate Jonathan Dolding Fastprint Clive Galbraith Michael Hambridge Harrison & Sons Piano Tuners Hastings and St Leonards Observer Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce Hastings Borough Council Hastings Print Company

Heidi Hampson Imagen Gallery susan johns Jerwood Gallery Tina Morris Priory Meadow Shopping Centre The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra David Sismore Erica Smith The Stables Theatre Stamco St Clements Restaurant Summerfields House Sussex Pianos Alex Thomson UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON Jamie Wickens

HASTINGS MUSICAL FESTIVAL wishes to thank the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition Team: Molly Townson, Frank Wibaut, Brenda Bailey, John Carter, Miwako Hosono, Julian Norridge, Mo Heard and the team of volunteers and Sarah Kowitz

w w w .H a s t i n g s C o n c e r t o C o m p e t i t i o n . c o . u k