Faculty colleagues Sarah Rommel and Craig Sheppard perform evergreen works by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, George Crumb's Sonata for (Solo) Cello, and Nadia Boulanger's Three Pieces.
Program
Program Notes
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827): Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, See the Conquering Hero Comes, WoO 45 (1796)
When Beethoven arrived in Vienna for good in 1792, he rapidly became known for his extraordinary abilities at the piano, not least of which was his ability to improvise. These variations, composed in 1796, are obviously in this mold and should be approached in the same manner by the performers. It was only after 1800 that Beethoven became increasingly known as the great composer that we cherish today.
Nadia BOULANGER (1887-1979) Three Pieces (1914)
Nadia Boulanger, known to hundreds of her students as Mademoiselle, was born to a Russian mother of royal lineage and a French father. She studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Gabriel Fauréand organ with Louis Vierne. Following the untimely death in 1918 of her younger sister Lili, whom she considered a far greater compositional talent, Mademoiselle built up a reputation as a great teacher of composition and theory, counting luminaries such as Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, Elliott Carter, Lennox Berkeley and Leonard Bernstein amongst her protégés. The three pieces on tonight’s program were composed at the outset of World War I.
George CRUMB (1929-2022) Sonata for Solo Cello (1955)
The listener soon realizes that this short sonata in three movements bears little resemblance to Crumb’s later compositions. It is tonal and employs none of the ‘advanced’ techniques of his more recent works. There is a distinct Hungarian influence in the first movement. The second movement theme sounds modal, as if from the Renaissance, and the Toccata movement is essentially built on a group of minor triads. The overall effect is mesmerizing!
Sergei RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943) Sonata in G minor, Opus 19, for Cello and Piano (1901)
Rachmaninoff’s Opus 19 Sonata for Cello and Piano followed quickly on the heels of his ever-popular Second Piano Concerto, Opus 18, composed in 1900 after a three-year bout of depression caused by the critical failure of his First Symphony. Like the concerto, the piano writing in the sonata is often dense and extremely demanding. Potential issues of balance between the instruments are mitigated by the glorious writing for the cello, line after line of intense poetry that creates a beautiful interwoven tapestry with the piano. Within the pages of Opus 19 are not only great technical challenges for both instruments but also some of the most beautiful melodies that Rachmaninoff ever composed, notably throughout the slow movement as well as the second themes in the other three movements.
We are playing this sonata in honor of Rachmaninoff’s 150th Anniversary celebrations this year.
—Copyright Craig Sheppard, 2023.