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Cover Design: Nicholas Surbey | Program Design: Bebe Rogers Emmanuel Pahud Photos by Fabien Monthubert | Alessio Bax Photos by Marco Borggreve
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Emmanuel Pahud, flute
Alessio Bax, piano
Friday, January 24, 2025, 8:00 p.m.
Emerson Concert Hall
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.
This concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts and is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.
Program
Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor, K. 304 (1778) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I. Allegro (1756–1791)
II. Tempo di Menuetto arr. Emmanuel Pahud
Three Romances, op. 22 (1853) Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
I. Andante molto arr. Pahud
II. Allegretto: Mit zartem Vortrage
III. Leidenschaftlich schnell
Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030 (ca. 1736-7) Johann Sebastian Bach
I. Andante (1685–1750)
II. Largo e dolce
III. Presto
Intermission
Sonata No. 3 for flute and piano, op. 156 (2020) Nicolas Bacri
I. Sonatine (in memoriam H. Dutilleux) (b. 1961)
II. Menuetto lirico
III. Canzona semplice
IV. Rondo scherzoso
Violin Sonata in A Major (1886) César Franck (1822–1890)
I. Allegretto ben moderato arr. Pahud
II. Allegro
III. Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato
IV. Allegretto poco mosso
Program Notes
Notes on the Program by Ken
Meltzer
Violin Sonata No. 21 in E Minor, K. 304 (1778)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, and died in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1791. Approximate performance time is twelve minutes.
In September of 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began an 18-month journey to Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris. Mozart hoped to secure employment that would allow him to leave his native city of Salzburg. Mozart’s search for a position outside of Salzburg proved to be unsuccessful. And so, when Mozart returned to Salzburg in January of 1779, he accepted the position of court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg. Mozart did not leave Salzburg for good until the spring of 1781. Mozart’s mother accompanied her son on his trip. On July 3, 1778, while in Paris, Anna Maria Mozart died, at the age of 57. In a letter to his friend, Abbé Joseph Bullinger, Mozart revealed:
Her life flickered out like a candle. Three days before her death she made her confession, partook of the Sacrament and received Extreme Unction. During the last three days, however, she was constantly delirious, and today at twenty-one minutes past five o’clock the death agony began and she lost all sensation and consciousness. I pressed her hand and spoke to her—but she did not see me, she did not hear me, and all feeling was gone. She lay thus until she expired five hours later at twenty-one minutes past ten.
It was around the time of his mother’s death that Mozart completed his Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 304, originally begun in Mannheim. The Sonata K. 304 was one of six (K. 301–306) that Mozart composed during his stays in Mannheim and Paris. The Sonata, K. 304, is the only one of the six in the minor key.
I. Allegro—The violin (flute) and piano immediately present a unison statement of the somber, arching first principal theme. The violin
leads the restatement of the melody. A forte proclamation heralds the contrasting G-Major second theme, a skipping, playful melody with dotted rhythms. The piano’s restatement of the opening theme launches the intense development section. The violin initiates the recapitulation with the opening theme, this time to insistent accompaniment by the piano. The recapitulation for the most part remains in the minor key, with a final statement of the opening theme leading to a brusque conclusion.
II. Tempo di Menuetto—The piano intones a sotto voce statement of the Minuet’s central melody, soon repeated more emphatically by the violin. The piano also introduces the hymn-like melody of the central trio section, in E Major. The key returns to E minor for a reprise of the Minuet and the Sonata’s forte conclusion.
Three Romances, op. 22 (1853)
Clara Schumann was born in Leipzig, Germany, on September 13, 1819, and died in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 20, 1896. Approximate performance time is ten minutes.
Clara Wieck Schumann was one of the finest pianists of the nineteenth century. Under the tutelage of her father, the prominent German music educator Friedrich Wieck, Clara developed into a superb keyboard artist, celebrated for her impeccable technique, singing tone, and the absence of any gratuitous display that might detract from the music. When one of her students attempted to impress by playing a passage at lightning tempo, Clara admonished: “Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?”
In 1830, Robert Schumann came to live with Friedrich and Clara Wieck. Schumann, then twenty years old, hoped that, under the guidance of Friedrich Wieck, he would become a great piano virtuoso. But an injury to Schumann’s hand ended all thoughts of a concert career. At first, Schumann took a brotherly interest in Clara. But as time passed, their friendship turned to love. The two wanted to marry, but Friedrich Wieck, perhaps fearful the relationship would destroy Clara’s musical career, obstinately withheld his consent. Robert Schumann was forced to institute legal action. Robert and Clara finally wed on September 12, 1840, the day before Clara’s twenty-first birthday.
Clara Schumann was a constant source of musical inspiration to Robert. He composed his great Piano Concerto, op. 54 (1845) for Clara, who was the soloist in the work’s December 4, 1845 premiere. After Robert’s attempted suicide and subsequent institutionalization in 1854, Clara resumed an active concert and teaching career. Until her death in 1896,
she remained a tireless advocate of her husband’s music.
Clara Schumann was a highly–accomplished composer in her own right. Schumann dedicated her Three Romances for violin and piano, op. 22, to the great Austro-Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim. In 1853, the year Clara composed the Three Romances, Joachim facilitated the first meeting between the Schumanns and a gifted 20-year-old pianist and composer named Johannes Brahms. Joachim and Clara Schumann often performed the Three Romances, as well as Robert Schumann’s A Minor Sonata, op. 105 (1851).
Both Joachim and Clara Schumann were among the finest virtuosos of their time. In the Three Romances, op. 22, Clara sought a more lyrical and reflective mode of expression, spiced with a touch of the restless passion also characteristic of her husband’s music.
I. Andante molto
II. Allegretto: Mit zartem Vortrage (With tender declamation)
III. Leidenschaftlich schnell (Passionate, fast)
Flute Sonata in B Minor, BWV 1030
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685, and died in Leipzig, Germany, on July 28, 1750. Approximate performance time is eighteen minutes.
The Sonata in B Minor is considered by many to be the crowning achievement of Bach’s compositions for solo flute. The work survives in a manuscript in the composer’s own hand, circa 1736. An earlier version of the harpsichord part exists in the key of G Minor. However, it is uncertain as to exactly when Bach composed that G Minor version, and whether it was, in fact, part of a sonata for flute, or perhaps, written for some other instrument.
The 1736 date coincides with a period of increased composing activity by Bach in Dresden. That fact, coupled with the considerable technical demands of the work, suggest Bach may have composed the B-minor Sonata for the virtuoso talents of Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin. The Dresden Court’s principal flutist, Buffardin was considered the foremost transverse flute virtuoso of his day. Bach probably first met Buffardin in 1717 during the composer’s visit to Dresden. No doubt Bach, like everyone who heard Buffardin, was greatly impressed by the flutist’s remarkable dexterity and breath control. Bach may well have composed several works for Buffardin, including the Partita in A Minor for Solo Flute, BWV 1013 (ca. 1722-3).
I. Andante—The cornerstone of the B Minor Sonata is the expansive Andante, whose remarkably expressive flute writing compares in breadth and eloquence to the vocal music in Bach’s great St. John and St. Matthew Passions. The Andante is also notable for the intricate harpsichord accompaniment, often echoing the flute’s outpouring of melody.
II. Largo e dolce—The central Largo e dolce is in binary form, with a repeat of each section. This slow-tempo movement continues in the same lyrical vein as its predecessor, but now couched in D Major.
III. Presto—The concluding movement divides into two principal sections. The first, an animated Presto, features intricate contrapuntal writing for the performers. A lively dance (Allegro), comprising a pair of repeated episodes, concludes the B Minor Sonata.
Sonata No. 3 for flute and piano, op. 156 (2020)
Nicolas Bacri was born in Paris, France, on November 23, 1961. Approximate performance time is twenty-two minutes.
One of France’s leading composers, Nicolas Bacri has authored more than 160 published compositions, spanning a wide range of vocal and instrumental genres. His music has been commissioned and performed throughout the world by leading artists and ensembles. A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, and winner of the Prix de Rome, Bacri received the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 2017. In his early compositions, Bacri pursued an aesthetic he now characterizes as “modernist orthodoxy,” incorporating atonality and complex textures. Beginning with such works as the Cello Concerto, op. 17 (1985-7), Bacri embraced tonality, with its capacity “to create dissonances and to modulate. Dissonance gives meaning to consonance; modulation gives meaning to tonal anchoring.” In his book Notes étrangères: et autres écrits sur la musique (Editions L’Harmattan, 2020), Bacri observes:
My music is not Neoclassical, it is Classical, for it retains the timeless aspect of Classicism: the rigor of expression. My music is not Neo-romantic, it is Romantic, for it retains the timeless aspect of Romanticism: the density of expression. My music is Modern, for it retains the timeless aspect of Modernism: the broadening of the field of expression. My music is Postmodern, for it retains the timeless aspect of Postmodernism: the mixture of techniques of expression.
Many of Bacri’s compositions showcase the flute, which Bacri refers to as “the instrument of dreams.” The Sonata No. 3 for flute and piano was jointly commissioned in 2020 by Editions Robert Martin, La Traversière and the Association Jean-Pierre Rampal.
The premiere of the Bacri Sonata No. 3 took place at the International Flute Convention in Aix-en-Provence on October 26, 2022, performed by Emmanuel Pahud and pianist Fuminori Tanada (2022 marked the centenary of Rampal’s birth). On October 30 in Rome, those same artists presented the work’s Italian premiere. On November 14, at the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium in Washington, DC, Pahud and Alessio Bax performed the United States premiere. On September 23, 2023, Pahud and Bax gave the Sonata’s first performance in Asia, in Aichi, prefecture of Japan. Jean Michel Allepaerts and the New Baroque Festival Verbiers have, in commemoration of the ensemble’s 15th anniversary, commissioned Bacri to create a version of the Third Sonata for flute and string orchestra. The premiere of Bacri’s Sonata da concerto, op. 156a, is scheduled for a 2027 premiere.
I. Sonatine (in memoriam H. Dutilleux)
II. Menuetto lirico
III. Canzona semplice
IV. Rondo scherzoso
Violin Sonata in A Major (1886)
César Franck was born in Liège, Belgium, on December 10, 1822, and died in Paris, France, on November 8, 1890. Approximate performance time is twenty-eight minutes.
In the final decade or so of his life, César Franck composed several masterpieces, including the Piano Quintet in F Minor (1879), the Prélude, Choral, and Fugue for solo piano (1884), the Symphonic Variations (1885), and the Symphony in D Minor (1888). Perhaps his most beloved work from that period is the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major. Franck dedicated the Sonata to the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Franck presented the work to Ysaÿe on the morning of the violinist’s September 26, 1888 wedding to Louise Bordeau. Ysaÿe gave an impromptu performance of the Sonata for the wedding guests. On December 16, 1888 in Brussels, Ysaÿe and Bordes-Pène offered the work’s public premiere.
For the remainder of Ysaÿe’s concert life, the Franck A Major Sonata was a mainstay of his repertoire. The violinist delighted in telling his audiences that the circumstances of the Sonata’s creation and dedication
always inspired him to play it “con amore.” The Franck Sonata remains a favorite of the violin/piano repertoire. It is also frequently performed (as in this concert) with arrangements of the violin part for other solo instruments.
I. Allegretto ben moderato—After a brief, hushed introduction by the piano, the violin (flute) sings the opening movement’s beguiling principal melody; cast in a flowing 9/8 meter that suggests a barcarolle. The melody serves as the basis for rhapsodic statements by the duo, both solo, and in tandem. A forte statement of the melody resolves to a pianissimo whisper.
II. Allegro—The second movement, in stunning contrast to the first, opens with the piano’s fiery, virtuoso episode, with brilliant, agitated writing that would be at home in a Chopin Scherzo. The tumultuous, chromatic music alternates with more lyric episodes. The final measures hurtle to a stirring close.
III. Recitativo-Fantasia: Ben moderato—The third movement opens with an exchange between piano and violin, by turns passionate and tender. The sense of rapt, affectionate dialogue continues throughout. As the movement approaches its pianissimo resolution, Franck offers echoes of the first movement, as well as premonitions of the finale.
IV. Allegretto poco mosso—The piano launches the finale’s principal melody (dolce cantabile), echoed in canon by the violin. Soon the roles are reversed, and the violin initiates the exchange. The finale’s wealth of tender lyricism continues to the ecstatic final bars.
“Pahud’s playing is stunning with perfectly focused tone at all dynamics, immaculate articulation and a technique so supreme that one can simply enjoy it . . .”
—Limelight magazine
Performer Biographies
Emmanuel Pahud, flute
French and Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud began studying music at the age of six. He graduated in 1990 with the Premier Prize from the Paris Conservatoire and went on studying with Aurèle Nicolet. He won First Prize at the Duino, Kobe, and Geneva Competitions, and at age 22 he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker as Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado, a position which he still holds today. In addition, he enjoys an extensive international career as a soloist and chamber musician.
Pahud appears regularly at prominent concert series, festivals, and orchestras worldwide, and has collaborated as a soloist with leading conductors such as Abbado, Antonini, Barenboim, Boulez, Fischer, Gergiev, Gardiner, Harding, Järvi, Maazel, NézétSéguin, Orozco-Estrada, Perlman, Pinnock, Rattle, Rostropovich, and Zinman.
Pahud is a dedicated chamber musician and regularly gives recitals with pianists Eric Le Sage, Alessio Bax, Yefim Bronfman, Hélène Grimaud, and Stephen Kovacevich, as well as jazzing with Jacky Terrasson. In 1993, Pahud founded the Summer Music Festival in Salon-de-Provence together with Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer, which is still a unique chamber music festival today. He also continues chamber music performances and recordings with Les Vents Français, a premiere wind quintet featuring François Leleux, Paul Meyer, Gilbert Audin, and Radovan Vlatkovic.
He is committed to expanding the flute repertoire and commissions new flute works every year from composers such as Elliott Carter, Marc-André Dalbavie, Thierry Escaich, Toshio Hosokawa, Michaël Jarrell, Philippe Manoury, Matthias Pintscher, Christian Rivet, Eric Montalbetti, Luca Francesconi, and Erkki-Sven Tüür.
Since 1996, Pahud has recorded forty albums exclusively for EMI / Warner Classics, which all have received unanimous critical acclaim and awards, resulting in one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. Pahud was honored to receive the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contribution to music, is HonRAM of the Royal Academy of Music, an Ambassador for UNICEF, and recipient of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize for 2024.
Alessio Bax, piano
Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the 2000 Leeds International Piano Competition and the 1997 Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and is now a familiar face on five continents as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist. He has appeared with over 150 orchestras, including the New York, London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the Tokyo and NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Hannu Lintu, Fabio Luisi, Sir Simon Rattle, Ruth Reinhardt, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.
As a renowned chamber musician, he recently collaborated with Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Ian Bostridge, Lucille Chung, James Ehnes, Vilde Frang, Steven Isserlis, Daishin Kashimoto, François Leleux, Sergei Nakariakov, Emmanuel Pahud, Lawrence Power, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Paul Watkins, and Tabea Zimmermann, among many others.
Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a summer music festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, Music@ Menlo, Aspen, and Tanglewood.
“Alessio Bax is a musician who oozes grace and class, both in his stage manner and in his playing.He is capable of great delicacy . . . as well as power and muscle.”
—Sydney Daily Telegraph
In 2009, he was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Four years later he received both the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.
Bax’s most recent album releases are Forgotten Dances and Debussy & Ravel for Two with Lucille Chung. His celebrated Signum Classics discography also includes Italian Inspirations; Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and Moonlight Sonatas (a Gramophone Editor’s Choice); Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto; Bax & Chung, a duo disc with Lucille Chung; Alessio Bax plays Mozart, recorded with London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month, and quite possibly, of the year” by MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays Brahms (a Gramophone Critics’ Choice); Bach Transcribed; and Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide Critics’ Choice). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. He performed Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available on DVD from EMI.
At the age of 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. He has been on the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory since the fall of 2019 and serves as co-artistic director of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation for emerging pianists.
Bax lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila.
The Flora Glenn Candler Concerts Committee
Elena Cholakova, Committee Chair | Department of Music
Rachael Brightwell, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Greg Catelier, Emory Dance and Movement Studies Program
Joseph Crespino, Department of History
Stephen Crist, Department of Music
Sara Culpepper, Theater Emory
Patricia Dinkins-Matthews, Department of Music
Allison Dykes, Vice President and University Secretary
Rosemary Magee, Member Emeritus
Bethany Mamola, Department of Music
Pablo Palomino, Oxford College, Department of Humanities
Emorja Roberson, Oxford College, Department of Humanities
Upcoming Schwartz Center Concerts
Visit schwartz.emory.edu to view complete event information. If a ticket is required for attendance, prices are indicated in the listings below in the following order: Full price/Emory student price (unless otherwise noted).
Friday, January 31, noon, Chee-Yun, violin, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free, registration required
Sunday, February 2, 4:00 p.m., Elena Cholakova, piano, Miroslav Hristov, violin, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall
Friday, February 7 and Saturday, February 8, 8:00 p.m., CompFest 2025, Performing Arts Studio
Sunday, February 9, 4:00 p.m., Bach Bowl, ECMSA: Emerson Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall
Friday, February 14, 8:00 p.m., Emory Jazz Fest 2025, Schwartz Artist in Residence David Sánchez, saxophone, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $30/$10
Saturday, February 15, 8:00 p.m., Emory Jazz Fest 2025, Emory Big Band, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free, tickets required
Friday, February 21, 7:00 p.m., Pajama Concert | Musical Stories, ECMSA: Family Series, Carlos Museum, Ackerman Hall
Wednesday, February 26, 8:00 p.m., Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra and University Chorus, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall
Friday, February 28, noon, Jessica Tong, violin, ECMSA: Cooke Noontime Series, Carlos Museum, Ackerman Hall, free, registration required
Friday, February 28, 8:00 p.m., Daniel Hope with Polish Chamber Orchestra, Candler Concert Series, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, $65/$10
Sunday, March 2, 7:00 p.m., Emory Wind Ensemble, Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall
Schwartz Center Staff
Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director
Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator
Kathryn Colegrove, Assoc. Director for Programming and Outreach
Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations
Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager
Jeffrey Lenhard, Operations Assistant
Brenda Porter, House Manager
Bebe Rogers, Communications Specialist
Alan Strange, Box Office Manager
Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer
Alexandria Sweatt, Marketing Assistant
Mark Teague, Stage Manager
The Schwartz Center for Performing Arts offers a variety of classical, jazz, and crossover music each season. Visit schwartz.emory.edu for more event details and up-to-date information.
Next in the Candler Concert Series
Daniel Hope with Polish Chamber Orchestra
Friday, February 28, 8:00 pm | Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall
Acclaimed violinist Daniel Hope marks his return to the Schwartz Center with long-time collaborative partner, Polish Chamber Orchestra of Sinfonia Varsovia. The concert features some of the most beloved classical works from Gluck, Haydn, and Mozart—in addition to Orawa by celebrated Polish composer Wojciech Kilar.
Photo by Daniel Waldhecker
SCHWARTZ CENTER UPCOMING CONCERTS
Emory Jazz Fest 2025
Lecture/Demonstration with David Sánchez
Thursday, February 13 at 2:30 p.m.
Free—No tickets required
David Sánchez, saxophone, and the Gary Motley Trio
