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BACH: CHACONNE FROM VIOLINPARTITA NO. 2 IN D MINOR, BWV 1004The last movement of a five-movement soloPartita, Bach’s Chaconne draws upon the Baroqueform known as a chaconne, in which a basictheme stated at the opening is then repeatedly restated in gradually varying ways. Tofully follow the intricacies, listeners are advised tofocus upon the open measures in which one first encounters the basic theme, so as to betterrecognize what is happening to it as the work progresses. In this specific case, Bach's basictheme is all of four measures long, short enoughand simple enough to allow nearly endless room for variation, finally totaling sixty-four variations. From a stern and commanding moodat the beginning, Bach gradually increases thecomplexity of his theme, mixing in more andmore varied compositional effects. Some twistsupon the theme are spacious and grand; othersflow nimbly. Fast runs and large interval skips arefrequent, requiring much dexterity from the performer. Bach also calls upon changes of emotional intensity, as some variations are dominated by long notes and others by many,more urgent short notes. Bach builds up his workover two-hundred-fifty-six measures, finallyrestating the theme at the end with new, evenstronger, harmonies.

–Copyright by Betsy SchwarmAlthough rare, all dates, times, artists, programs and prices are subject to change.Photographing or recording this performance without permission is prohibited.

Kindly disable pagers, cellular phones and other audible devices.

(SIM CANETTY-CLARKE)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019, 8PMSegerstrom Center for the Arts, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELINPIANO

Chaconne from Violin Partita Johann Sebastian Bach No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 arr. Busoni

(1685-1750)

Fantasie in c major, Op. 17 Robert SchumaNN (1810-1856)

Durchaus phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen Mässig: Durchaus energisch Langsam getragen: Durchaus leise zu halten

- I N T E R m I S S I O N -

Six arrangements of Songs alexis WEISSENBERgSung by charles Trénet (1732-1809)

Coin de rueVous oubliez votre chevalEn avril, à ParisBoum!Vous qui passez sans me voirMénilmontant

cipressi mario caSTElNuOVO-TEDEScO(Cypresses), Op. 17 (1895-1968)

Polonaise-fantaisie Frédéric chOPINin a-flat major, Op. 61 (1810-1849)

Scherzo No. 4 Frédéric chOPINin E major, Op. 54 (1810-1849)

Marc-André Hamelin records exclusively for Hyperion Records, Ltd.

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SCHUMANN: FANTASIE IN C MAJOR,OP. 17Schumann’s Fantasie, Op. 17 (published in1839) is a work in dialogue with the composer’smusical past, present, and future—commemora-tive of his artistic hero Ludwig van Beethoven,dedicated to his colleague and ideological opponent Franz Liszt, and suffused with hiddenmeaning for his then-inaccessible muse ClaraWieck. True to its constellation of influences,Op. 17 balances virtuosity and large-scale formalambitions with the unbridled imagination and interiority of the fantasia style: it is simultaneously monolithic and miniature,sprawlingly vast and almost unbearably intimate.

In 1836, Schumann began work on a single-movement piece to honor a Beethovenmonument that was to be erected in Bonn (Liszt was also involved in the monument project). At this time he was deeply in love withClara, the piano-prodigy daughter of his Leipzig teacher Friedrich Wieck, but Wieck bitterly opposed the pairing. The couple would finally marry in 1840 after a protracted court battle. Meanwhile, Schumann poured his unrealizable ardor into his new composition,which eventually grew into three movementstitled “Ruins,” “Triumphal Arch,” and “TheStarry Crown” (though his publisher laterrescinded these).

Schumann inscribed the Fantasie with a stanzafrom Friedrich Schlegel:

Through all the notesIn earth’s many-colored dreamThere sounds one soft long-drawn noteFor the one who listens in secret.

Notes for secret listeners are quite literallyembedded into the first movement: Schumann’sdescending “Clara” theme is ubiquitous, as is aphrase from the final song of Beethoven’s An dieFerne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved). Thischoice of musical quotation at once fulfills the

imperative to honor Beethoven and serves as aclandestine cipher for the separated lovers. TheClara and Beethoven motives anchor a formallycomplex movement that is shimmering, rapturous, and changeable, full of emotional outbursts and mysterious meanderings “im legenden-ton” (in an archaic/epic tone). Thesecond movement, an exuberant and ceremonialSchumann march, gets locked into obsessivedotted rhythms and culminates in a series ofdeath-defying leaps that challenged even Claraand Liszt. In the wake of this frenzied excitement, the final movement of the Fantasieturns inward again. It is one of the great slowmovements in all piano literature, transcendentaland starry.

–Copyright 2018 Alana Murphy

WEISSENBERG: SIX ARRANGEMENTSOF SONGS SUNG BY CHARLESTRÉNETIn 1956 or thereabouts, the Belgium-basedLumen label released an extended-play 45-rpmrecord called Mr. Nobody Plays Trénet. It contained unusually creative and entertainingpiano settings of six songs by the French singer-songwriter Charles Trénet (1913–2001).The identity of “Mr. Nobody” was kept secretuntil relatively recently, when it was revealed tobe that of Alexis Weissenberg. Before I met himfor the first time (2004), I had assumed that thereason for not issuing the recording under hisown name had something to do with the factthat, at that time, a serious classical pianist dabbling in such trivialities as popular songwould most likely have been compromising hisown career. (How times have changed…thiskind of thing is welcomed, even encouraged, byrecord companies now.) But I do remember himtelling me that he simply didn’t think the endresult was good enough…!

Anyone who is familiar with Trénet’s songs intheir original form is bound to be delightfullysurprised by what Weissenberg has done withthem. Unusual touches abound: in Coin de rue,

f

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CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: CIPRESSI(CYPRESSES), OP. 17Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cipressi (1920) is—likethe Schumann Fantasie—a solo piano piece published as Op. 17; it is also—like the Schumann Fantasie—dedicated to the composer’s fiancée, who happened to be namedClara! The resonances seem to end there,though.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) was a Florentine composer of Sephardic Jewishdescent, especially known for his prolific contributions to the guitar repertoire. As ayoung composer, he was championed by themore-established Alfredo Casella and began togain widespread European recognition; however,in 1939 Castelnuovo-Tedesco and his wife fledfascist Italy for America. On arriving in NewYork, the couple received support from ArturoToscanini, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco went onto write concerti for the likes of Heifetz andPiatigorsky. Eventually he carved out a career inHollywood as a film composer and a facultymember at UCLA, where Henry Mancini andJohn Williams were among his pupils.

But long before all of his luminous affiliations, ayoung Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed Cipressi,a tone-poem evoking the cypress groves of the Tuscan village of Usigliano. Here, the composer’s unique musical language balancestightly controlled post-tonal voice leading, folknostalgia, and impressionistic Mediterraneansumptuousness.

CHOPIN: POLONAISE-FANTAISIEIN A-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 61Like Schumann, Chopin often engaged the creative tensions of structure and fluidity, control and spontaneity; like Schumann,Chopin was repeatedly drawn to the fantasy“genre” because it could accommodate both of these impulses. His Fantaisie in F minor(1841) and Fantaisie-Impromptu (1843) weresignificant for their deft balancing of form and

an evocation of the narrator’s childhood, the listener is treated to the sounds of a barrel organ;the “oom-pah” rhythm of Boum! becomes a foxtrot; Vous oubliez votre cheval acquires elements of the Charleston; the opening of En Avril, à Paris evokes a carousel, while theleisurely-paced Ménilmontant is transformedinto a headlong moto perpetuo.

The moment I was introduced to this recordingby a friend, I was anxious to play the arrangements myself. But since I had no idea at the time whether Weissenberg had ever written them down, I had to create a score.Luckily, the whole experience of transcribing thesongs was pleasant, despite my devoting anentire month to it; the great clarity ofWeissenberg’s playing made a potentially arduous task significantly easier. I thereafterrecorded the fruit of my labors on a Hyperiondisc entitled In a State of Jazz. (And go to78experience.com for an excellent CD transferof Weissenberg’s own recording.)

Some years later, I received a surprise email from Weissenberg’s youngest daughter María, containing scans of four of these six arrangements, in Weissenberg’s own hand!These manuscripts proved to be extremely illuminating in many ways; most importantly,they revealed that Weissenberg didn’t alwaysstick to what he’d written. So, it became obviousthat, if these pieces were to be published, a dualpresentation—bracketing together the MS andwhat is actually heard on the recording—was thebest solution, for the sake of completeness.

After receiving a multitude of requests for thesescores over the years, I am thrilled that they arenow finally being made available. This set ofpieces will be published by Muse Press inNovember 2018.

–Copyright 2018 Marc-André Hamelin

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Uprising against Imperial Russia. He would neverreturn to Poland, though he longed for it always.In the Polonaise-Fantaisie, it becomes possible to hear not only an innovative hybridization of genres but also an expatriate’s literal “Polish fantasy” —a projected inner vision of homecomingthat Chopin was able to realize in his music, if notin his life.

CHOPIN: SCHERZO NO. 4 IN E MAJOR, OP. 54“Scherzo” is derived from the Italian verb“scherzare”—to joke, to jest. As a musical term,“scherzo” can be traced back to madrigal sets of theearly Baroque (see: Claudio Monteverdi’s nimbleScherzi Musicali). Later, classical symphonists likeHaydn and Beethoven seized upon the zestypotential of the “scherzando” style, and began tosupplant courtly minuet movements with robustand rip-roaring scherzi.

Chopin inherited the classical scherzo tradition,but expanded its scope considerably: his four contributions to the genre are weighty and

freedom. Throughout his career, Chopin hadalso specialized in writing polonaises, art-musicrefashionings of an uptempo nationalistic Polishdance with a distinctive dotted rhythm and acompound triple meter. Eventually he fused thedance impetus with improvisatory elements inthe Polonaise-Fantaisie (1846), a late work ofremarkable subtlety and cohesion.

Op. 61 opens with a succession of dreamlikearpeggios that move freely through the circle offifths, searching, wandering. Out of this probingexploration emerges an insistent heartbeat,which swells into a polonaise-theme of expansivegenerosity. Though rhythmic and rousing, this idea exhibits great flexibility of phrasing andharmonic adventurousness, absorbing some ofthe introduction’s “fantasia” qualities. A centralsection of serene introspection follows, but theheraldic arpeggios of the opening eventuallymaterialize from the texture, ushering in a finalapotheosis of the polonaise.

Chopin had emigrated from Warsaw to Paris in1830, immediately before the November

(SIM CANETTY-CLARKE)

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Competition in 2017 where each of the 30 competitors performed Hamelin’s “Toccata onL’Homme armé” which marked the first timethe composer of the commissioned work wasalso a member of the jury. Although primarily a performer, Mr. Hamelin has composed musicthroughout his career; the majority of his worksare published by Edition Peters.

Mr. Hamelin records exclusively for HyperionRecords. His most recent releases are a disc of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major and Four Impromptus, a landmark disc ofStravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Concerto forTwo Pianos with Leif Ove Andsnes, MortonFeldman’s  For Bunita Marcus,  and Medtner’sPiano Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninov’sPiano Concerto No. 3 with the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski.He was honored with the 2014 ECHO KlassikInstrumentalist of Year (Piano) and Disc of theYear by Diapason Magazine and ClassicaMagazine for his three-disc set of Busoni: Late Piano Music and an album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Études, which received a 2010 Grammy nomination (his ninth) and afirst prize from the German Record Critics’Association.

Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston areawith his wife,  Cathy Fuller.  Born in Montreal,Marc-André Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the GermanRecord Critic’s Association. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordredu Québec, and a member of the Royal Societyof Canada.

ambitious standalone works for solo piano.Interestingly, Chopin’s first three scherzi seemto abandon the jokester aesthetic entirely;though Chopin calls for puckish finger-work inthese pieces, the emotional narratives that hespins are high-stakes, rife with pathos, nobility,ferocity, and even violence.

Chopin’s fourth and final scherzo, in E major(1843), returns to the light. It is glittering andoperatic, presenting a series of vocally-inflectedexchanges that are alternately coy, entreating,and seductive. Effervescent “coloratura”abounds. A contrasting central trio unfolds awistful bel canto melody that blooms into animpassioned duet; the subsequent return to the “A” section is not so much a reprise as an exaltation. Finally, a pastel coda and a scintillating five-octave scale close the curtain onthis most elegant of Chopin’s works.

–Copyright 2018 Alana Murphy

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN, PIANO

Pianist  Marc-André Hamelin  is known worldwide for his unrivalled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the establishedrepertoire, as well as for his intrepid explorationof the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries–in concert and on disc.

The coming season includes Mr. Hamelin’sreturn to Carnegie Hall for a recital on theKeyboard Virtuoso Series plus recitals inMontreal, Seattle, Berlin, Florence, Salzburg,Wigmore Hall, Istanbul, among others.Hamelin appears with the BBC ScottishSymphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles,Stuttgart and Moscow State Philharmonics, the Vancouver, Cincinnati, and OregonSymphonies, and tours in Europe with theAmsterdam Sinfonietta.

He was a distinguished member of the jury ofthe 15th Van Cliburn International Piano

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