BEATRICE RANA

PRELUDE 7 PM

Lecture by Kristi Brown Montesano

Laughter and Lessons in the City of Lights

Th e delightful variety of this program fi nds a common thread in Paris, the city where Chopin, Debussy, and Stravinsky all lived, loved, and created. We will explore the idiosyncratic humor of Chopin’s Scherzos, the serious business of Debussy’s formidable concert Études, and the Russian traditions and modernist innovations of Stravinsky’s Petrushka—and how Paris off ered the perfect milieu for these works.

Support for this program generously provided by:

Sam B. Ersan

La Jolla Music Society’s 2021-22 Season is supported by The Conrad Prebys Foundation, The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, Banc of California, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, ProtoStar Foundation, Vail Memorial Fund, ResMed Foundation, Bright Events Rentals, Ace Parking, Brenda Baker and Steve Baum, Raffaella and John Belanich, Gordon Brodfuehrer, Mary Ellen Clark, Joy Frieman, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Dorothea Laub, Jeanette Stevens, Debra Turner, Bebe and Marvin Zigman.

Ms. Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics More information on Beatrice Rana can be found at www.beatriceranapiano.com Management for Beatrice Rana: Primo Artists, New York, NY www.primoartists.com

BEATRICE RANA, piano

FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022 · 8 PM

THE BAKER-BAUM CONCERT HALL

CHOPIN Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor, Opus 20 (1810–1849) Scherzo No. 2 in B-fl at Minor, Opus 31 Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Opus 39 Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Opus 54

INTERMISSION

DEBUSSY Études for Piano, Book I (1862–1918) No. 1 Pour les cinq doigts d’après Monsieur Czerny No. 2 Pour les tierces No. 3 Pour les quartes No. 4 Pour les sixtes No. 5 Pour les octaves No. 6 Pour les huit doigts

STRAVINSKY Three Movements from Petrushka

(1882–1971) Russian Dance In Petrushka’s Cell The Shrove-Tide Fair Beatrice Rana, piano

The Four Scherzos FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

Born February 22, 1810,

˙ Zelazowska Wola, Poland Died October 17, 1849, Paris Composed: 1830–42 Approximate Duration: 37 minutes

Though the term had been used earlier, it was Haydn who conceived of the scherzo in its modern sense. In 1781 he called the third movement of some of his string quartets a “scherzo.” What had been the old minuet-and-trio movement now became a scherzo (and trio), and Haydn’s choice of that name indicated that he wanted more speed and liveliness. Beethoven took this evolution one step further: His scherzos, usually built on very short rhythmic units, explode with violent energy and with enough comic touches to remind us that scherzo is the Italian word for joke.

In his four scherzos, Chopin does not copy the forms of Haydn or Beethoven, but adapts the general shape of the classical-period scherzo for his own purposes. He keeps the quick tempo, the 3/4 meter, and (usually) the ABA form of the earlier scherzo, but makes no attempt at humor—the emphasis in this music is on brilliant, exciting music for the piano. The general form of the Chopin scherzo is an opening section based on contrasted themes, followed by a middle section (Chopin does not call this a trio) in a different key and character; the scherzo concludes with the return of the opening material, now slightly abridged.

Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor, Opus 20

Chopin began work on his first scherzo in Vienna in 1830. He was twenty years old and had just left behind forever his native Poland, then in the throes of an unsuccessful revolt against Russian rule. Some claim to hear signs of the composer’s anxiety for his country in the turbulence of this music, but Chopin always insisted that his music referred to nothing but itself. He completed this scherzo in Paris in 1832. It opens with powerful chords marked Presto con fuoco, and this music seems to slash upwards with furious energy. The quiet center section, Molto più lento, is based on an ancient Polish Christmas song, “Sleep, little Jesus, sleep,” and Chopin encases this gentle melody within quiet, bell-like octaves. This calm is sharply punctuated by powerful chords from the very beginning as the music makes its way back to the opening material, and after a brilliant coda the scherzo concludes on the same chords with which it began.

Chopin’s second scherzo dates from 1837. This is the most popular of the four, full of blazing spirits and wonderful writing for the piano—Schumann called this piece “Byronic.” The very beginning is especially effective, with its ominous, whispered opening motif and the powerful chordal answer. By contrast, the middle section is calm and lyric, broken at two points by effortless, cascading runs across the entire keyboard. In this center section appears the brief rhythmic figure, based on a triplet, that Chopin will use to drive the opening material to its dramatic climax. This scherzo is unusual in that Chopin does not return to the opening key but instead concludes in its relative major, D-flat major.

Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Opus 39

The third scherzo, composed in 1839, has the most unusual structure—it lacks the clearly defined ABA form of the others and in some ways approaches traditional sonataform structure. The beginning, again marked Presto con fuoco, presents tentative bits of sound, and out of these the true first theme bursts to life. Marked Risoluto, this theme is in powerful, plunging octaves, and in fact much of the writing throughout this scherzo is in octaves. The second idea is a quiet chorale tune, but what makes it distinctive is Chopin’s elaboration of the end of each phrase: He decorates the end of each line of the chorale with a falling arpeggio, almost silvery in its quietly sparkling color— the combination of the sober chorale tune and its sensual decoration is striking. These themes alternate until the close, where powerful octave chords drive the scherzo to its cadence.

Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Opus 54

Chopin’s final scherzo, composed in 1842, is suffused with a spirit more relaxed than one generally associates with the scherzo—it is full of sunny, almost rhapsodic music. It is also his longest, and the entire scherzo is to some extent unified around the first five notes, which will reappear throughout in a variety of guises. Particularly striking is the trio in C-sharp minor, in which a flowing melody moves along easily over a rocking accompaniment. The return of the opening material is extended, and the final pages are brilliant.

Born August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France Died March 25, 1918, Paris Composed: 1915 Approximate Duration: 40 minutes

In 1914, the first year of World War I, Debussy’s publisher Durand asked him to edit a new version of Chopin’s works. This was not a happy time for the composer. Already suffering from cancer of the colon, he was in agony over the war, which seemed to threaten everything he held dear. But close contact with the music of Chopin had the best possible effect on Debussy. It got him interested once more in the piano, and in the fall of 1915— which he spent in the village of Pourville on the English Channel—he composed a set of twelve études for the piano and dedicated them “To the Memory of Frédéric Chopin.”

The Études are Debussy’s final work for the piano, and they present pianists with a variety of technical challenges, including studies in chromatics, repeated notes, chords, arpeggios, different intervals, and so on. Debussy himself took note of their difficulty when he described these études as “a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands.” The Études are some of Debussy’s least familiar keyboard works, and pianists usually choose to perform only a few at a time. Debussy divided the Études into two “books” of six each, and in this recital Ms. Rana performs Book I.

No. 1 Pour les cinq doigts d’après Monsieur Czerny Carl Czerny (1791–1857) was a virtuoso pianist and friend of Beethoven. He is best remembered today for his countless pedagogical exercises, and Debussy had to master many of these as a young pianist. Here Debussy begins with a simple melodic pattern in C major for the left hand (drawn from one of Czerny’s études) and suddenly violates it with a “wrong” note, an A-flat in the right. At that point the battle between Czerny and Debussy is on, and it becomes more and more violent as it proceeds. After all this conflict, Debussy’s étude concludes consonantly on a unison A-flat, the note with which he had intruded on Czerny’s world of order. Characteristically, Debussy marks this étude Sagement: “well-behaved.”

No. 2 Pour les tierces This study in thirds flows smoothly along a constant murmur of sixteenth-notes (Debussy instructs the pianist to play legato e sostenuto), but soon the music grows agitated, shifting keys as it proceeds and pulsing forward and holding back. It rises to a great climax marked Con fuoco (“with fire”) before its powerful concluding measures, which Debussy stresses should be played with tutta la forza.

No. 3 Pour les quartes Debussy builds this study in fourths around the sharp contrast of different kinds of music: Soft, evanescent passages marked murmurando or lointain (“distant”) can give way to powerful responses with such markings as sonore martelé: “with a hammered sound.” Tempos shift subtly throughout, and the music fades into silence on a final chord marked estinto: “extinct.”

No. 4 Pour les sixtes Like its predecessor, this study in sixths alternates music of contrasting moods and speeds. The subdued, reflective opening idea, marked at one point sempre dolce, gives way to more animated and chordal writing marked un poco agitato. The music can slip between these two tempos almost by the measure, and finally it is the opening material that draws this étude to its pianissimo conclusion.

No. 5 Pour les octaves This “study in octaves” is very brief and extraordinarily difficult. Debussy marks it Joyeux et emporté. Joyeux is clear enough, but emporté is more provocative, translating as “hot-headed” or “hasty.” The étude is in a quick 3/8 that sometimes feels on the verge of breaking into a waltz, and it often seems to test things other than octaves, including a staccato touch, long muted passages, frequent tempo changes, and unusual harmonic freedom. It takes a general ternary form, with dynamic outer sections framing a central episode that requires very rapid octaves from the pianist’s right hand. This rushes to a climax marked Strepitoso (“noisy”) before the return of the opening material and an almost violent close.

No. 6 pour les huit doigts As its name suggests, this étude is for just eight fingers—no thumbs allowed here. This is a very fast étude (Debussy’s marking is Vivamente) as the fingers of each hand exchange rapid patterns of four notes. After all this frantic energy, the conclusion is wonderfully understated.

Three Movements from Petrushka IGOR STRAVINSKY

Born June 17, 1882, Oranienbaum, Russia Died April 6, 1971, New York City Composed: 1921 Approximate Duration: 17 minutes

In the early 1920s, Igor Stravinsky—one of the greatest orchestrators in history and creator of some of the finest music ever written for orchestra—began to write for solo piano. There were several reasons for this. In the aftermath of World War I, Stravinsky discovered that orchestras that could play huge and complex scores were rare (and expensive). And in any case Stravinsky did not wish to go on repeating himself by writing opulent ballets. But the real factor that attracted Stravinsky to the piano was that he was a pianist and so could supplement his uncertain income as a composer by appearing before the public as both creator and performer; this was especially important during the uncertain economic situation following the war.

While not a virtuoso pianist, Stravinsky was a capable one, and over the next few years came a series of works for piano that Stravinsky introduced and then played on tour. The impetus for all this piano music may well have come from Artur Rubinstein, who asked the composer to prepare a version of the ballet Petrushka for solo piano, which Stravinsky did during the summer of 1921. Rubinstein paid Stravinsky what the composer called “the generous sum of 5,000 francs” for this music, but Stravinsky made clear that his aim was not to cash in on the popularity of the ballet: “My intention was to give virtuoso pianists a piece of a certain breadth that would permit them to enhance their modern repertory and demonstrate a brilliant technique.” Stravinsky stressed that this was not a transcription for piano, nor was he trying to make the piano sound like an orchestra; rather, he was rewriting orchestral music specifically as piano music.

The ballet Petrushka, with its haunting story of a pathetic puppet brought to life during a Russian fair, has become so popular that it easy to forget that this music had its beginning as a sort of piano concerto. Stravinsky said: “I had in my mind a distinct picture of a puppet, suddenly endowed with life, exasperating the patience of the orchestra with diabolical cascades of arpeggi.” That puppet became Petrushka, “the immortal and unhappy hero of every fair in all countries,” as the story of the ballet took shape, but the piano itself receded into the background of the ballet. Perhaps it was only natural that Stravinsky should remember the ballet’s origins when Rubinstein made his request for a piano version.

Stravinsky drew the piano score from three of the ballet’s four tableaux. The opening movement, Russian Dance, comes from the end of the first tableau: the aged magician has just touched his three puppets—Petrushka, the Ballerina, and the Moor—with his wand, and now the three leap to life and dance joyfully. Much of this music was given to the piano in the original ballet score, and here this dance makes a brilliant opening movement. The second movement, In Petrushka’s Cell, is the ballet’s second tableau, which introduces the hapless Petrushka trapped in his room and railing against fate and shows the entrance of the ballerina. The third movement, The Shrove-Tide Fair, incorporates most of the music from the ballet’s final tableau, with its genre pictures of a St. Petersburg square at carnival time: various dances, the entrance of a peasant and his bear, gypsies, and so on. Here, however, Stravinsky excises the end of the ballet (where Petrushka is murdered and the tale ends enigmatically) and replaces it with the more abrupt ending that he wrote for concert performances of the ballet suite.