BENJAMIN GROSVENOR, PIANO
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Shannon Hall at Memorial Union
This performance is part of the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series and supported by The David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Support Fund.
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PROGRAM
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Three Intermezzi, Op. 117
I. Andante moderato
II. Andante non troppo e con molto espressione
III. Andante con moto
Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17
I. Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen; Im Legenden-Ton
II. Mäßig: Durchaus energisch
III. Langsam getragen: Durchweg leise zu halten
INTERMISSION
Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition
PROGRAM NOTES
On this evening’s program, Benjamin Grosvenor has brought together three beloved works from the piano repertoire: Brahms’ Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 (1892); Schumann’s Fantasie in C, Op. 17 (1836); and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1874). In each work, the composers integrate personal elements to convey their inner world of feelings, illustrating the heroic individualism of 19th-century music. The idea that music expresses feelings has become such a commonplace today that we often take it for granted as universally true. This perspective, however, comes to us from the 19th-century Romantics and the eminent philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who argued that the highest priority of art was to reveal the inner spirit of the human experience, and moreover, the inherent freedom of that spirit. For Hegel, art was meant to be judged by how well it offered a material manifestation of the inner world of concepts, feelings, and ideas. In Romantic poetry, this concept is commonly described as the lyric “I”; the personality and perspective of the speaking voice of a poem is of equal importance to the words spoken in the poem. While musicologists have tended to prefer the term “subjectivity” to describe this aesthetic, the three works on this evening’s program offer unique examples of how the lyric “I” finds a close analogy in Romantic music.
THE COMPOSER, THE PERFORMER, AND THE LYRIC I
While the lyric “I” in poetry tends to indicate a persona (authentic or artificial) of the poet as speaker of the words, the nature of music as a performance art means the “I” is not so easily mapped onto the composer. The musician performing the work has an important and historically established role. Long before the Romantics centered interiority in their artistic pursuits, music became closely aligned with the inner world of the performer, famously in the keyboard performances of Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (a son of Johann). Known for his facial expressions and
bodily movement while improvising, C.P.E. Bach had a capricious musical style—called in German Empfindsamer Stil (“sentimental style”)—that captured the ever-shifting nature of feelings. His one-to-one alignment of spontaneous feelings improvised at the keyboard that coincided with bodily and facial expressions would ultimately come to undergird the foundational Romantic assumption that music is—in a grand philosophical sense—a pure manifestation of the composer-performer’s inner world.
In his groundbreaking Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17, Schumann doubled down on this foundational assumption in radically explicit ways. Not only did Schumann ultimately change the title of the work to Fantasie (“Fantasy”) from an earlier title identifying it as a sonata, the instructions for the first movement are “to be performed as a fantasy with a lot of imagination throughout.” Here, Schumann has given license to performers to open the work up to their own interpretive imagination. The pianist, then, is not just an actor performing as an avatar of a composer’s vision, but rather the music—though scripted by Schumann—is simultaneously a manifestation of the pianist’s interiority. The lyric “I” of this work, and most Romantic music, is thus a synthesis of the composer’s and performer’s subjectivities, and this crucial aesthetic feature lies beyond any notes printed in the score, inviting us all to listen for Benjamin Grosvenor’s interpretative modes.
BRAHMS’ THREE INTERMEZZI, OP. 117
Looking at them objectively for a moment, Brahms’ Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 (1892), illustrate what he is best known for as a composer. They are carefully wrought with explicit formal clarity that shows his Classicist tendencies. All three follow an ABA form, and the textural variety further elucidates the form. Moreover, Brahms creates clear climaxes by reserving the highest and lowest pitches only for significant moments. In other words, he practices moderation—all of which makes this set immediately comprehensible.
Yet in the subjective experience of listening to Brahms’ works, there is always the sense that this music expresses deep, albeit reserved, feelings. Brahms writes his personal
experience—his lyric “I”—into the work through thematic references to Clara Schumann, the woman he loved throughout his life. Drawn from Clara’s Romance variée, Op. 3, her theme is a five-note descending scale that Robert first used decades before in several of his works. (Brahms learned it from his close personal relationship with the couple.) In the first of his Three Intermezzi, Brahms integrates Clara’s theme in a melodic inner voice. After two quick steps up, the descending five-note pattern forms the core of the melody that repeats through the A section. Moving from the middle register, it appears in the base, and then again in the highest register at the climax of the A section before returning to the middle register. In this final statement, Brahms has modulated to minor, foreshadowing the key of the meditative and contrapuntal B section. With this opening reference to Clara, the dedicatee of Op. 117, Brahms imbues the works’ otherwise unmarked sentimentality with a deeper personal meaning.
In each intermezzo, Brahms deftly modulates between distantly related keys to juxtapose major and minor harmonies at the same pitch level. These changes in color connote emotional shifts, whether extreme or subtle. His changes in texture also seem to connote personal meanings: In the second intermezzo, for example, the sprawling arpeggiation at the beginning contrasts the resolute homophonic B section, suggesting a move from an obscured, hazy reality to something centered and directed. In the third intermezzo, a rolling folk-like melody in the A section contrasts a syncopated and spindly syncopated B section, suggesting a temporary loss of comfort and stability. In his recent recording featuring the work, Grosvenor seems to capture, at least to me, the sweetness and purity of the works, suggesting perhaps sublimated affection without any hint of stifled desire. Brahms’ expressive music remains empathically felt, conveying a deep truth of our subjective experience and the inner world of the human condition even though the specific meaning is, at best, only loosely grasped.
SCHUMANN’S FANTASIE IN C
Composed nearly six decades earlier than the Brahms Intermezzi, Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C was inspired in part by Beethoven and composed to help raise funds for the publication of the definitive edition of the composer’s complete works. Originally pitched as a “sonata” by Schumann to the Beethoven publishing committee, the work undercuts and defies sonata conventions at every turn, leading to plenty of consternation among analysts intent on defining the form. The first movement features three key areas (rather than the conventional two) and moreover features an interloping character piece section marked Im Legenden-Ton (“with the tone of a legend”).
Schumann appended a romantic quotation by Friedrich Schlegel to the top of the score: “Resounding through all the notes / In the earth’s colorful dream / There sounds a faint long-drawn note / For the one who listens in secret.” Officially dedicated to Liszt, who in turn dedicated his groundbreaking B-Minor Piano Sonata to Schumann, the first movement was inspired by Schumann’s love for Clara. He uses Clara’s theme in octaves, juxtaposing dreamy Chopinesque writing with resolute melodies until the bald, homophonic Im Legenden-Ton interjects, pausing the developing themes’ gradual integration. In the coda, Schumann includes a quotation of a Beethoven lied “An die ferne Geliebte,” the text of which is “Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder” (“Accept, then, these songs [that I sang to you, beloved].” Because Schumann has used this melody as the basis of much of the earlier thematic material, it feels like organic reminiscence rather than quotation.
In the subsequent movements, Schumann continues writing his personality—or in this case, personalities—into the work through his well-known imaginary characters Florestan and Eusebius. Movement Two is pure Florestan— playful, joyful, and fundamentally melodious—yet it also recalls the twisting second theme of the first movement, especially at the end. The final movement, in contrast, is the dreamy and pensive Eusebius. Schumann made it known that his Fantasie held personal importance for him and the “one who listens in secret,” but the formal ambiguity, mixture of characters and personalities, and wide artistic license,
leave the work almost defiantly open to interpretation and a fascinating invitation to listen for the lyric “I.”
MUSSORGSKY’S PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Mussorgsky is not the most obvious example of a composer interested in the heroic individualism of Romanticism. In his lifetime, he was identified as one of the members of “Balakirev’s Circle,” as they called themselves (or “the Mighty Handful,” as they were sarcastically called): five Russian composers who created a unique national musical identity. Mussorgsky’s arch-nationalist style was mostly confined, however, to his large public works, like operas. In the smaller, more private genres of art song and chamber music, the composer was notably cosmopolitan. (He set texts in Russian translations by Goethe, Heine, and Byron, for example). Thus, although there are various folk elements in Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)—the main “Promenade” theme is modal rather than tonal. The work expresses the composer’s worldly cosmopolitan life rather than an idealized Russian folk culture.
Pictures at an Exhibition depicts, in fact, Mussorgsky’s experience at an art exhibit of works by his recently deceased friend Viktor Hartmann, with movements inspired by the artist’s images. Mussorgsky’s lyric “I” is the glue that holds the entire work together: The opening “Promenade” theme, which represents the composer walking through the exhibition, is subjected to two of the most prominent Romantic techniques. First, most audibly, it undergoes thematic transformation—a technique pioneered especially by Liszt—as it comes back in later “Promenade” movements with different harmonization and new accompaniment styles to change the mood while remaining recognizable. The second, more subtle treatment is an idée fixe—a concept invented by Berlioz—in which the “fixed idea” returns in brief moments integrated into the different movements. In “Il vecchio castello,” the promenade theme appears augmented as long notes; in “Tuilieres,” an interpolation of it appears right before the final phrase; and in “Cum mortuis,” the atmospheric tremolos blur its appearance in the bass. Other movements, like “Gnomus” and “Bydło” take the theme as the basis for new music, loosely mimicking
the melodic contour while still sounding quite distinct. Yet this work is no mere documentarian exercise: In true Romantic fashion, Mussorgsky lets the artworks trigger his imagination, and as is the case in “Baba Yaga,” his music is not a depiction of the witch’s house from Hartmann’s image but rather a narrative about her life. Ultimately, Mussorgsky highlighted the dichotomy of subject and object (viewer and artwork, stimulus and response) and his inner world of imagination throughout the work, embodying the lyric “I” of Romanticism along the way.
—Eric Lubarsky
ARTIST BIO
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his sonorous lyricism and understated brilliance at the keyboard. His virtuosic interpretations are underpinned by a unique balance of technical mastery and intense musicality. Grosvenor is regarded as one of the most important pianists to emerge in several decades, with Gramophone recently acknowledging him as one of the top 50 pianists on record.
Concerto highlights of the 2024/2025 season include debuts with Bamberg and NHK symphony orchestras alongside a UK tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Karina Canellakis and returns to Montreal, Utah, Seattle, Bern, Dallas, BBC, and City of Birmingham symphony orchestras, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Grosvenor is also a featured artist at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, appearing for both concerto and solo recital performances during the same week in February 2025.
A celebrated recitalist, this season Grosvenor performs a program featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition around the world, including at Shanghai Symphony Hall; Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall; National Concert Hall, Taipei; Princeton University Concerts; Unione Musicale di Torino; and London’s Wigmore Hall.
Highlights of recent seasons include successful debuts with the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under conductor Maxim Emelyanychev at the Festival Radio France, varied projects as artist-inresidence at Sage Gateshead in the 2022/2023 season, Wigmore Hall in 2021/2022, and at Radio France in 2020/2021. A renowned interpreter of Chopin, in the 2022/2023 season he performed both concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. In recital he has performed at Konzerthaus Berlin, Chicago Symphony Center, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Frankfurter Hof Mainz as part of the SWR2 International Piano Series, the Chopin and his Europe Festival in
Warsaw, Festival de la Roque-d’Anthéron, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Spivey Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y.
A keen chamber musician, Benjamin regularly works with renowned ensembles—the Modigliani Quartet and Doric Quartet among them—and in chamber projects with other esteemed soloists such as Kian Soltani, Timothy Ridout, and Hyeyoon Park, including a forthcoming European tour of works by Strauss and Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3 with performances at Luxembourg Philharmonie, the Southbank Centre, and Palau de la Música Barcelona.
In 2011, Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician ever—and the first British pianist in almost 60 years—to do so. His recent solo release of Schumann and Brahms featuring Kreisleriana was praised as a “masterpiece” (Le Devoir), selected as Gramophone Editors’ Choice, and awarded Diapason d’Or de l’Année and CHOC Classica de l’année 2023. In 2020, he released Chopin’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which received the Gramophone Concerto Award and a Diapason d’Or de L’Année, with Diapason’s critic declaring the recording “a version to rank among the best, and confirmation of an extraordinary artist.” The renewal of his partnership with Decca in 2021 coincided with the release of Benjamin’s album of Liszt, awarded Chocs de l’année and the Prix Caecilia. The most recent addition to Grosvenor’s impressive discography includes Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside Nicola Benedetti and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and folk song settings with celebrated baritone Gerald Finley.
Grosvenor was invited to perform at the First Night of the 2011 BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he has since become a regular over the last decades, including at the last night of the Proms with Marin Alsop and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2015. He performed Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Paavo Järvi in 2020, a solo recital in 2023, and Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto in 2024.
Grosvenor has received Gramophone’s “Young Artist of the Year,” a Classical BRIT Critics’ Award, UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent, and a Diapason d’Or
Jeune Talent Award. He has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, on BBC Breakfast, Front Row, and CNN’s Human to Hero series. In 2016, he became the inaugural recipient of The Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize at the New York Philharmonic.
Following studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he graduated in 2012 with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence, and in 2016 was awarded a RAM Fellowship. Grosvenor is an Ambassador of Music Masters, a charity dedicated to making music education accessible to all children regardless of their background, and championing diversity and inclusion.
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