Duo Recital
Robert Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 94
Programme
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Romances Op.94
I. Nicht schnell (not fast)
II. Einfach, innig (simple, heartfelt)
III. Nicht schnell
The three Romances Op. 94 was written originally for oboe at the end of 1849, during
which Schumann also wrote three other works often performed on the cello and piano:
Fantasiestücke, the Adagio and Allegro, and the Stücke im Volkston. These Romances
would seem to have been inspired by Schumann’s increasing interest in old legends,
which would culminate in his Choral Ballades (including Des Sängers Fluch—‘The
singer’s curse’), written in the 1850s. There is something distinctly archaic about the
narrator’s voice in this first Romance, while the innocent melody that opens the second
suggests the song of an unsullied maiden of yore; as for the third—could that be an
ancient nightwatchman whom we hear, calling the town’s soldiers to action, while in
the middle section an abandoned sweetheart grieves? Fanciful, perhaps—but then
Schumann is occasionally just a touch fanciful.
- Steven Isserlis
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Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
Cello Sonata in B-flat Major Op.71
I. Andantemolto sostenuto
II. Allegretto
III. Allegro Molto
Like Schumann, Kabalevsky was fascinated by childhood and fantastical sentiments.
Many young pianists may have come across
his ingenious little pieces bearing titles
such as Ball Game, Fairy Tale, The Clown etc. which must have partly been inspired by
Schumann’s pieces with similar titles in the Album for the Young and Scenes from
Childhood. The Cello Sonata Op. 71, although large in scope, is constructed using the
simple and immediately accessible musical language that Kabalevsky championed in
his pedagogical works.
Composed in 1962 for his friend and collaborator Mstislav Rostropovich, the Sonata
opens in the depth of the lowest notes
in both the cello and piano (perhaps a conscious
reference to the similar soundscape of the Prokofiev Cello Sonata which Rostropovich
premiered just over a decade earlier). The first movement is built as a large arch; each
section gains more speed and movement culminating in a grotesque frenzied middle
section. The movement reaches a fatal bell-like climax and finally calms after a lamenting
cadenza for the cello. Throughout the movement, a three-note motif (a falling semitone
followed by a minor third) is ever present as a melodic figure, or condensed into
harmonies that juxtapose major and minor in a kind of harmonic ‘double think’.
Apart from his prolific pedagogical work, Kabalevsky was also an active film composer,
having composed for twelve films from 1930s-1960s.
This cinematic sensibility can be
heard most clearly in the middle movement, which starts in a film-noir-like suspense
before breaking into an atmospheric ghostly waltz, with a pizzicato middle section that
nods to both Piazzolla and Andalucian harmonies.
In the third and final movement we return to Kabalevsky as composer of etudes and
virtuosic toccatas, as depicter of juggling jesters and clowns. But being a finale of a
substantial Sonata, he frames this character piece in a loose Rondo-Sonata form, complete
with a mini-fugato and a sobering return (or perhaps a dreamy dissolution?) to the very
beginning of the work. This time, instead of the gradual build up of the opening, the
lyrical lines stay content with the reassuring (and possibly programmed) piano chords,
as if saying “all is well”.
- Prach Boondiskulchok
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H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927-2016)
Lullaby Op.24
arranged for cello and piano by Prach Boondiskulchok
The Lullaby is perhaps one of the lesser known works of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
But it is one of my favourite for
its sweet gentleness, its Schubertian opening (reminiscent
of the slow movement to Schubert’s Trio in B-flat), and the beautiful story of its composition:
It is said that His Majesty played this work for the just-born H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri
Sirindhorn, and that the lullaby worked wonders in lulling the little princess to sleep. As
we approach the anniversary of His Majesty’s passing, this arrangement, performed for
the first time tonight, serves as a tribute to the memory of a great monarch whose diverse
interests and artistic endeavours will inspire many generations to come.
- Prach Boondiskulchok
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Olli Mustonen (b. 1967)
Chanson Russe et Danse Orientale (1995)
Finnish pianist, composer and conductor Olli Mustonen has embraced a multitude of
musical activities since childhood, or, as he puts it: “Composers, instrumentalists,
conductors, teachers, all of them should be ‘musicians’.” As a composer, he has remained
aloof to any particular musical school or style, instead exploring various idioms from
Neo-Baroque, to Neo-Classical and Romantic. The Chanson Russe et Danse Orientale
(Russian Song and Oriental Dance) was written for Steven Isserlis, and was premiered
by him and the composer at Wigmore Hall in 1995.
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Ludwig an Beethoven (1770-1827)
Cello Sonata in A Major Op.69
I. Allegro, ma non tanto
II. Scherzo. Allegro molto
III. Adagio cantabile - allegro vivalce
The Cello Sonata in A major Op. 69 inhabits a completely different world to the much earlier
Op. 5 Sonatas. Dedicated to another cello-playing aristocratic patron of Beethoven’s, Baron
von Gleichenstein, the sonata was completed in 1808, making it a close contemporary of
the two piano trios Op. 70 and the fifth and sixth symphonies. This work, now perhaps
the most popular of all cello sonatas, is the creation of a grand master at the very height
of his powers. By this time, Beethoven, plagued by increasing deafness, had given up his
life as a virtuoso; he was concentrating almost solely on composition. The two Op. 5
sonatas are really (as advertised) sonatas for piano with cello obbligato, wonderful though
the cello parts are; but for his third effort in the genre, Beethoven set himself the challenge
of writing a truly equal duo sonata, all the material being equally adaptable for either
instrument. The result is a triumph in every way—it is, in fact, the perfect classical sonata.
The cello, as if to establish its new equal role, begins this Sonata alone, posing a graceful
question; this is taken up by the piano,
and repeated with the voices reversed. The
concluding flourishes for both instruments give the impression of an unfinished sentence;
we have to wait until the end of the movement for its completion. There is certainly drama
aplenty here, but overall the abiding impression of this Allegro, ma non tanto is one of lofty
serenity and lyricism.
The second movement, a craggy Scherzo, is cast in a form Beethoven also used in many
other works: we hear the scherzo section three times, the middle trio section twice (A-BA-
B-A). Within this substantial structure, Beethoven unsettles our perceptions with his
constant use of syncopations, both in small-scale terms (the main theme of the scherzo
starts on the last beat of the bar), and on a larger scale (the melody of the trio starts on
the second bar of a four-bar phrase).
The Adagio cantabile that ensues appears to promise a full slow movement, in E major;
but within fourteen bars, Beethoven apparently changes his mind, taking us back to A
major and thence into the gloriously sunny Allegro vivace. Lyricism, virtuosity and wit
combine here to produce a dazzling celebration. A particularly magical moment occurs
in the final coda, where Beethoven introduces a melting passage which, although
derived from earlier material, sounds so unexpected and fresh that we feel as if he has
given us a new theme as a parting gift.
- Steven Isserlis
Cello: Steven Isserlis
Piano: Prach Boondiskulchok
10th October 2017, 7.30 p.m.
Sangita Vadhana Hall, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music