Mondavi
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Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Jay Campbell, cello CONOR HANICK, Piano sunday, february 16, 2014 Vanderhoef studio theatre
JAY CAMPBELL, Cello CONOR HANICK, Piano A Debut Series Event Sun • Feb 16 • 2PM Vanderhoef Studio Theatre
Seven Variations on Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for Cello and Piano, WoO 46
Mozart
Uriel for Cello and Piano
Pintscher
Sonata for Cello and Piano Prologue: Lent Sérénade: Modérément animé— Finale: Animé
Debussy
Intermission Occam’s Razor for Cello and Piano
Zorn
Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano Introduzione: Allegro moderato Serenata: Larghetto Aria: Allegro Tarantella: Vivace Minuetto e Finale: Moderato—Molto vivace
Stravinsky
The artists and fellow audience members appreciate silence during the performance. Please be sure that you have switched off cellular phones, watch alarms and pager signals. Videotaping, photographing and audio recording are strictly forbidden. Violators are subject to removal.
Program Notes Seven Variations on Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen (“A Man Who Feels the Pangs of Love”) from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”) for Cello and Piano, WoO 46 (1801) Ludwig van Beethoven (Born December 16, 1770 in Bonn Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna) In 1795, Beethoven appeared publicly as a pianist for the first time in Vienna, an event which gained sufficient notice that the following year he was invited to give concerts in Prague, Nuremberg, Dresden and Berlin. In the Prussian capital, he was introduced to the music-loving King Friedrich Wilhelm II, a capable amateur cellist who had received Mozart and Boccherini warmly at his court and graciously accepted the dedication of Haydn’s Op. 50 Quartets. While he was in Berlin in 1796, Beethoven also met Friedrich’s eminent French cello virtuoso, Jean-Louis Duport, and he was inspired by his playing to compose a pair of sonatas for his instrument and piano, which were published together the following year as Op. 5 with a dedication to the King. In recognition, Beethoven received a magnificent snuffbox “like those given to the ambassadors,” he reported, filled with gold louis d’or. In 1796, Beethoven also created sets of variations for cello and piano on themes by Handel (See the Conquering Hero Comes from Judas Maccabaeus, WoO 45) and Mozart (Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from The Magic Flute). In 1801, he again mined Mozart’s Masonic masterpiece for the theme for another cello and piano work, a set of seven variations on the duet of Pamina and Papageno, Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen (“A Man Who Feels the Pangs of Love”). The occasion and performer that inspired the piece are unknown, but the score was dedicated to Count Johann Georg von Browne-Camus, an important patron of Beethoven during his early years in Vienna. The first five variations on Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen are largely figural in nature, preserving the tempo and structure of the original theme, but the sixth variation, an expressive Adagio stanza, lends the composition a depth of feeling that sets it apart from many of the earlier Classical works in the form. The final variation is bounding in rhythm and outgoing in spirit, and reaches its closing measures by way of some harmonic peregrinations not attributable to Mozart’s original melody. Uriel for Cello and Piano (2011) Matthias Pintscher (Born January 29, 1971 in Marl, Germany) Matthias Pintscher, born in 1971 in Marl, fifty miles north of Düsseldorf, is one of Germany’s most distinguished composers and conductors. He took lessons in piano, violin, percussion and conducting growing up, and started composing as a teenager, soon after conducting a local youth ensemble had ignited his fascination with the orchestra. He took his professional training in composition and conducting at the Detmold Conservatory and continued his studies at Hans
Werner Henze’s summer classes in Montepulciano, Italy and with flutist-composer Manfred Trojahn in Düsseldorf. Pintscher’s quickly growing renown during the 1990s as a composer of works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments and the opera Thomas Chatterton was recognized with grants, scholarships, commissions, residencies and prizes that took him to Austria, France, England and throughout Germany. He became known in America when he served as Composer-in-Residence with the Cleveland Orchestra from 2000 to 2002, and his works have since been performed by many of this country’s leading orchestras, including commissions from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. Pintscher’s career has continued to flourish with a steady stream of compositions, residencies, faculty appointments (at New York University and Munich Academy of Music and Theater), and conducting engagements across Europe, America and Australia; he became Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris in 2013. The biography on Pintscher’s web site (www.matthiaspintscher. com) states that his “compositions are noted for the delicate sound world they inhabit, the intricacy of their construction, and their precision of expression,” qualities heard in Uriel for Cello and Piano, composed in 2011 for American cellist Alisa Weilerstein. The work was inspired by the Archangel Uriel, who claims a place in both Judaism and Christianity and is generally associated with sunlight (the name means “fire [or light or glory] of God”) as well as the enlightenment of the soul, spirit or intellect. Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) Claude Debussy (Born August 22, 1862 in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris Died March 25, 1918 in Paris) When the Guns of August thundered across the European Continent in 1914 to plunge the world into “the war to end all wars,” Claude Debussy was already showing signs of the colon cancer that was to end his life four years later. Apprehensive about his health and tormented by the military conflict, his creative production came to a virtual halt. Except for a Berceuse Héroïque written “as a tribute of homage to His Majesty King Albert I of Belgium and his soldiers,” Debussy wrote no new music in 1914. At the end of the year, he undertook (with little enthusiasm) the preparation of a new edition of Chopin’s works to help compensate Durand for the regular advances the publisher had been sending. The death of Debussy’s mother in March 1915 further deepened his depression. That same month, however, he appeared in a recital in the Salle Gaveau with the soprano Ninon Vallin, and his mood brightened somewhat during the following months. That summer he completed En blanc et noir for Two Pianos and the Études for Piano, and projected a series of six sonatas for various instrumental combinations inspired by the old Baroque school of French clavecinists. The first of the Sonatas, for Cello and Piano, was completed quickly in July and August 1915 during a holiday at Pourville, near Dieppe; the second one, for Flute, Viola (originally oboe) and Harp, was also written at Pourville before Debussy returned to Paris
on October 12th. Surgery in December prevented him from further work until October 1916, when he began the Sonata for Violin and Piano. A sonata for oboe, horn and harpsichord never went beyond the planning stage; the remainder of the projected set did not get that far. The Violin Sonata, completed in 1917, was his last important work; he premiered the piece on May 5, 1917 in Paris with violinist Gaston Poulet, and played it again in September at St.-Jean-de-Luz, where he was summering. It was his final public appearance. The Prologue that opens the Cello Sonata not only provides a gateway to the work but also a thematic source for its later movements. Debussy said that he tried in this work to evoke the spirit of the old Italian commedia dell’arte, and he achieved this quality most fully in the insouciant Sérénade that occupies the middle movement. The finale, a sectional structure, not only refers to the theme of the Prologue, but also hints at Debussy’s early song Fantoches, to a text by Verlaine. Occam’s Razor for Cello and Piano (2012) John Zorn (Born September 1, 1953 in New York City) John Zorn, the iconic artist of New York’s “Downtown” scene, is a protean figure in American music—composer, arranger, improviser, saxophonist, producer, record label owner and source of boundless invention and creative energy. Zorn was born in September 1953 into a New York City family of wideranging musical tastes, took lessons on piano, flute and guitar as a youngster, studied composition with the Barcelona-born recent Juilliard graduate Leonardo Balada, played in a variety of bands as a teenager, acquired an unquenchable interest in experiment and avant-garde music, took some composition classes at Webster University in St. Louis, and in the mid1970s began establishing himself across a breathtaking spectrum of styles ranging from jazz to classical, from heavy metal to ambient sound, from klezmer to film, from world music to chance. After stints on the West Coast and in Japan, Zorn returned permanently to New York, where he has since written and performed incessantly, been involved with hundreds of recordings as soloist, leader, collaborator, producer and arranger in his own and others’ music (in 1995, he established his own Tzadik label, “dedicated to releasing the best in avant garde and experimental music”), explored the culture and music of his Jewish heritage, fulfilled commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, BBC Radio 3 and other classical artists, and received Columbia University’s School of the Arts William Schuman Award (2007) and a MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” Grant (2006). Zorn said of his immersion in the entire realm of music, “All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I’m an additive person—the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do ...Composing is more than just imagining music— it’s knowing how to communicate it.” “Occam’s Razor” is the principle used in logic stating that a hypothesis should be reduced to its simplest assumptions until only greater complexity can yield a better solution. The term for the principle, commonly associated with the English monk and philosopher William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347)
though the concept can be traced as far back as Ptolemy and even Aristotle, is rooted in a Middle English word meaning “to scrape, or shave away.” Jay Campbell writes, “In many ways, John Zorn’s Occam’s Razor is relentlessly innovative, both in its sonic profile and its extraordinary technical demands, yet the structure of the work is simple: twelve canons [i.e., a melody in exact polyphonic imitation, like Row, Row, Row Your Boat] at every interval. Zorn restricts himself to this antique compositional process to trim the musical fat, so to speak; to leave only the most essential elements—only what really works. Yet, for me, the process of producing canons inherently places Zorn in the context of a larger tradition that includes some of the monumental works of the literature: J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and The Musical Offering and the ‘mensuration canons’ [i.e., in which the imitating voices move at different speeds] of Josquin and Ockeghem and so many others stretching back as far as the 13th century.” Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano (1932) Igor Stravinsky (Born June 17, 1882 in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg Died April 6, 1971 in New York City) For a recital tour in 1933 as pianist with violinist Samuel Dushkin featuring the recent Duo Concertant, Stravinsky arranged excerpts from some of his ballets, including The Firebird, The Fairy’s Kiss, Petrushka and The Nightingale. (Dushkin extracted the violin parts from the orchestral scores; Stravinsky made the piano arrangements.) The best known of this set of transcriptions is the Suite Italienne, derived from Stravinsky’s luminous score for Pulcinella, the 1920 ballet based on works of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), a musical meteor who flashed briefly across the Italian artistic firmament during the early years of the 18th century and created several important instrumental and operatic pieces that laid the foundations of the Classical style. In 1933, Stravinsky arranged the Suite Italienne for cello and piano. The plot of Pulcinella was based on an 18th-century manuscript of commedia dell’arte plays that Diaghilev discovered in Naples. Stravinsky provided the following synopsis: “All the local girls are in love with Pulcinella; but the young men to whom they are betrothed are mad with jealousy and plot to kill him. The minute they think they have succeeded, they borrow costumes resembling Pulcinella’s to present themselves to their sweethearts in disguise. But Pulcinella—cunning fellow! — had changed places with a double, who pretends to succumb to their blows. The real Pulcinella, disguised as a magician, now resuscitates his double. At the very moment when the young men, thinking they are rid of their rival, come to claim their sweethearts, Pulcinella appears and arranges all the marriages. He himself weds Pimpinella, receiving the blessing of his double, who in his turn has assumed the magician’s mantle.” Though the Suite Italienne is a sort of vest-pocket version of the original ballet, it fully captures the wit, insouciance and joie de vivre that place this music among the most delicious of all Stravinsky’s creations. ©2014 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
Jay Campbell, Cello Armed with a diverse spectrum of repertoire and eclectic musical interests, Jay Campbell is the First Prize Winner of the 2012 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition. He has been hailed by the press as an “astonishing cellist” (Seen and Heard International) and for his “electrifying” performances which “conveyed every nuance” (The New York Times). His adventurous inclinations have earned him awards from the BMI and ASCAP Foundations and led to collaborations with significant artists ranging from Elliott Carter and Pierre Boulez, to John Adams and David Lang, and to members of Radiohead and Einstürzende Neubauten. Jay appears as soloist with the New York Philharmonic this season, performing music from Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto for its Young People’s Concert Series. Other concerto engagements include the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Lucerne Festival Academy, Oakland East-Bay Symphony, The Juilliard Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra and others. Among the conductors he has collaborated with are Pierre Boulez, Michael Morgan, Jeffrey Milarsky and Ryan McAdams. This season’s recital engagements include performances at Smith College, Clark University, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the Stone, the Austrian Cultural Forum and Bargemusic. Jay is actively involved with the music of our time, having premiered nearly one hundred works to date, including concerti by Chris Rogerson and Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang. Highlights include six performances of Lang’s new work for solo cello and ensemble in collaboration with the Morphoses Dance Company. Already, the cellist has had the privilege of working with leading new music groups including ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), Ensemble InterContemporain, Da Capo Chamber Players and the Argento Ensemble. As a chamber musician, Jay has worked with members of the Arditti, Takacs, Kronos and Afiara String Quartets. He has been invited to the Marlboro and Music@Menlo Festivals and enjoyed artist residencies at Vermont’s Yellow Barn Music Festival and at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Texas. Born in Berkeley, CA, Jay is currently a student at The Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music degree and is pursuing his Master of Music degree. He studies with celebrated cellist Fred Sherry.
CONOR HANICK, piano The diverse artistic interests of New York City-based concert pianist Conor Hanick have led to solo and chamber music performances around the world, teaching roles at The Juilliard School and Smith College, concert, radio and festival curation, and collaborations with music’s most accomplished instrumentalists, conductors, ensembles and composers. Although Conor’s performances “def[y] human description” (ConcertoNet) for some, they inspire widespread praise from others. In a huge variety of repertoire, Conor’s performances have been described as “excellent,” “brilliant,” “astounding,” “colorful,” (New York Times) and “expert,” (Philadelphia Inquirer), demonstrating “technical precision and musical conviction” (Gramophone). Called a “true champion of contemporary music”
(National Public Radio’s “Classical Lost and Found”), Conor has been particularly acclaimed in performances of modern repertoire. A recent recital of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes was described by the New York Times’s Steve Smith as a “marvel of poetic concentration,” an interpretation “brimm[ing] with virtuosity, focus and imagination” that was “unrivaled in its suavity and grace”; while a “riveting” performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Céleste reminded the Times chief music critic Anthony Tommasini of “a young Peter Serkin.” Conor has been heard on the radio and in concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, performing at the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, Dock Street Theater, Nasher Sculpture Center, Krannert Center, KKL Lucerne Hall, the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Malaysia, and Kyoto Concert Hall, in addition to virtually every prominent arts venue in New York City, ranging from Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Miller Theater to (le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, The Greene Space, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. These performances showcased collaborations in a variety of musical mediums—rom concerto and solo to chamber and ensemble—with conductors Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Jeffrey Milarsky, David Robertson and James Levine, alongside members of the symphonies of New York, Saint Louis and Philadelphia, and ensembles that include the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Players, the Juilliard Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, the CFW Symphony, Eastern Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, Chatter Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, American Contemporary Music Ensemble, AXIOM Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Argento Ensemble and Metropolis Ensemble. Additionally, as an energetic proponent for contemporary music, Conor has worked closely with numerous composers, including John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Vivian Fung, Tan Dun, Mario Davidovsky, Charles Wuorinen, Magnus Lindberg, David Lang, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and others. The 2013–14 season features Conor in a variety of musical roles, highlighted by concerto appearances with the CFW Symphony in John Adams’ piano concerto Century Rolls, duo recitals with cellist Jay Campbell in New York City (Carnegie Hall and the Italian Academy), Urbana-Champagne (Krannert Center), and San Francisco (Mondavi Performing Arts Center), and solo performances at the Spoleto Festival, International Keyboard Festival, and Lucerne Festival. Conor also continues chamber music partnerships with members of the Chatter Ensemble and Trio Ariba—both based in New Mexico—and will collaborate with composers Ryan Francis, Elliot Cole, David Fulmer, and Eric Wubbels on new works. At age eight Conor began studying violin and viola in the Iowa City Community School District, before starting piano at age ten, two years later becoming a private student of Daniel Shapiro and Rene Lucuona at the University of Iowa. In 2005 he completed studies with Alan Chow and Ursula Oppens at Northwestern University, graduating with high honors in piano and journalism. Last year Conor completed his doctoral degree at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he also received his master’s degree in 2008 and was awarded the Helen Fay prize in piano. Conor studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio, and his thesis, “The Compositional Periods of Milton Babbitt: Structure and Surface” was written with advisement from Jonathan Dawe. Conor resides in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.