The Program
DOMENICO SCARLATTI
Sonatas in E Major, K. 380; A Minor, K. 3; C Major, K. 514; F
Minor, K. 481; D Minor, K. 141
About the Composer
Born the same year as J. S. Bach and Handel, Baroque composer
Domenico Scarlatti is recognized as the founder of modern keyboard
technique. The son of composer Alessandro Scarlatti (one of the
direct predecessors of Mozart in opera composition), he began his
career writing church music, secular vocal works, and operas. But
his years as composer to Queen Maria Barbara and the Spanish court
(1729-1757) directed his attention to keyboard instruments. He
wrote pieces that showcased experimental effects, such as
hand-crossings, rapid repetitions of notes, octaves, wide leaps,
double trills, extended chords, and other virtuoso finger
techniques. Though many of his works were not published during his
lifetime, his 19th-century advocates included Johannes Brahms,
Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Frédéric Chopin.
About the Works
Scarlatti wrote at least 555 essercizi, or exercises.
Through their colorful and often unexpected harmonies and vividly
descriptive keyboard effects, these single-movement sonatas reflect
Scarlatti's exploration of Spanish folk music and the popular
rhythms of the region. In these works, one can hear many elements
characteristic of the Iberian region, from castanets and guitars to
flamenco dancers and drums. Written for the harpsichord and early
pianofortes, the sonatas are in binary form (two related sections
that are usually repeated, A-A-B-B), and bear no resemblance to the
sonata form developed later by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. These
compositions are compact, virtuosic, lively, and charming,
representing a major evolution in keyboard playing that was not
echoed again until Chopin.
A Closer Listen
The E-Major Sonata, K. 380, is one of Scarlatti's most popular
works and is nicknamed the "Cortège" for its stately processional
quality, depicted by the frequent trills and trumpeting rhythms.
The two defining features of the Sonata in A Minor, K. 3, are its
cascading melodic figures and extreme chromaticism, countered by K.
314, which is diatonic and firmly in C major, continually
reinforced by surging, multi-octave arpeggios in the home key. In
contrast to the flashy, technical works, the heartfelt Sonata in F Minor, K.
481, is contemplative and lyrical, and seems to bridge the Baroque
and Romantic worlds. Its restrained and dark quality is tense, but
never reaches a climax. The collection is closed with the flashy
and brilliant Sonata in D Minor, K. 141, in which the obsessive
repetitive notes, guitar-like strumming, and intricate acrobatics
are on display.
—ToniMarie Marchioni
© 2012 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
MAURICE RAVEL
Miroirs
About the Composer
Maurice Ravel was known throughout his life (and since his death)
as an innovative composer, a sophisticated musician, and a
phenomenal orchestrator. In all genres and instrumentation, his
music explored new possibilities of color and form: His unique
amalgam of past ideals with the fascination of everything exotic of
his day (including jazz and folk idioms) resulted in a distinctly
French sound and style.
Along with his contemporary Claude Debussy, Ravel is frequently
associated with the Impressionist movement in music, which moved
away from the overt emotional expression of the Romantic era toward
music that was more about contour, color, and space rather than
melodic transformation or elaboration. Much of Ravel's
music—especially works for solo piano—blurs the functions of melody
and harmony, allowing a slowly unfolding melody to emerge through
the faster surrounding figuration.
About the Work
Ravel was dismissed from the Paris Conservatoire twice-as a piano
student in 1895, and as a composer in 1900. He also tried multiple
times to win the prestigious Prix de Rome, but met with no success.
Rejected, he joined a group of young poets, artists, critics, and
musicians known as Les Apaches, or "the hooligans"; each movement
of Miroirs is dedicated to a member of his artist
troupe. Ravel intended that the work would evoke both the visual
and emotional reactions that occur when examining oneself in a
mirror, perhaps calling into play multiple versions of our own
realities.
A Closer Listen
Each movement is a self-contained "tone poem" of sorts, examining
the moods and images that Ravel associated with Les Apaches. Like
much of Ravel's music, the piece draws on a wide variety of
musical, social, cultural, and historical sources from a period of
nearly 200 years.
Dedicated to writer Léon-Paul Fargue, Noctuelles depicts "night
moths" and is based on the author's poetry with the same imagery.
Its darting and fluttering opening yields to a more sober, chordal
middle section. These two thematic ideas interact, but eventually
give way to the haze of the night.
Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds) is dedicated to Ricardo
Viñes, the pianist who premiered the work.
This somber movement presents a dichotomy between the lonely and
songful, and the frantic and fragmentary.
Based on a short cell of music, Une barque sur l'océan (A Boat on
the Ocean) is dedicated to painter Paul Sordes. From the gentle
swells to the crashing seas, the shimmering ebb and flow of the
arpeggiations in this movement capture the boat's journey on the
water. The speed of the notes and the complexity of the lines,
which are continually weaving in and out of each other, make this
the hardest movement of the set.
Alborada del gracioso, translated as "the morning song of a
jester," is heavily influenced by Spanish themes. Dedicated to
music critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, this movement contains
stark textural, dynamic, and emotional contrasts. It features rapid
repeated notes and glissandi in parallel fourths-both very
difficult keyboard techniques.
Miroirs ends with La vallée des cloches (The Valley
of Bells), which evokes the striking of church bells of all sizes
and sonorities. Dedicated to Ravel's first student, Maurice Delage,
this dreamlike movement features lush harmonies and arresting
melodies.
—ToniMarie Marchioni
© 2012 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35
About the Composer
Unlike many composer-pianists of his time, Frédéric Chopin disliked
public performance. His famed reputation as a preeminent piano
virtuoso and improviser arose from his many appearances in society
drawing rooms and salons. As a leader of Romanticism, his works
combined beautiful, poignant melodies with daring approaches to
harmony and inventive formal processes. The majority of Chopin's
works are for piano (including mazurkas, etudes, preludes,
nocturnes, waltzes, polonaises, ballades, impromptus, and many
others), though he also wrote two piano concertos and a few pieces
of chamber music. As a performer, Chopin captivated audiences with
impressive technique, delicate touch, and nuanced dynamics. Though
he shied away from concert life, the formidable virtuosity captured
in his music is the embodiment of the Romantic piano tradition and
the technical and emotional capacity of the instrument.
About the Work
Chopin wrote four sonatas—three for solo piano and one for cello
and piano. His Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor was finished in 1837.
It received mixed reviews when it was first published: Composer
Robert Schumann thought it lacked cohesion and remarked that Chopin
had "simply bound together four of his most unruly children."
Though his criticism was harsh, Schumann was correct that the
sonata was used as a framework to combine the varied achievements
of Chopin's earlier works, such as patterned figuration,
periodicity, and sustained melodic line.
A Closer Listen
The B-flat-Minor Sonata is in four movements and modeled after
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 (reportedly one of Chopin's
favorites). The first movement contrasts a raucous and tempestuous
opening with more lyrical sections. The flashy second-movement
Scherzo is a fantastic display of virtuosity, again contrasted with
a relaxed, melodic center episode. The third movement is the
celebrated funeral march, and the short but demanding finale is an
incessant tornado of technical display, with unrelenting tempo and
dynamic until the last bars of the piece.
—ToniMarie Marchioni
© 2012 The Carnegie Hall Corporation
FRANZ LISZT
Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
About the Composer
Along with Chopin, Franz Liszt was a leader in the Romantic era. He
developed new methods of form and technique, employed radical
harmonic ideas, invented the symphonic poem, and furthered the
concept of thematic transformation—all of which influenced
contemporaries and future composers alike. With his sensational
technique and charm, he was also the leading piano virtuoso of his
time and used his fame both to advance the music of others
(including his colleagues Berlioz and Wagner) and preserve the
music of the past (including Bach, Handel, Schubert, and
Beethoven). As musicologist and Liszt expert Alan Walker has
written, "He contained in his character more of the ideals and
aspirations of the 19th century than any other major musician."
About the Work
In 1834, Liszt wrote a piece titled Harmonies poétiques et
religieuses, inspired by a volume of lyric poetry by Alphonse
de Lamartine (1830). Though this was published in 1835 along with a
dedication to Lamartine, Liszt had plans to add more movements to
it. This project did not come to fruition until around 1847,
resulting in the work we now know as Harmonies poétiques et
religieuses, a collection of 10 pieces published in 1853, all
vastly different from one another, and not including the original
movement at all. Funérailles is one of the most well-known
pieces from the collection.
A Closer Listen
Written in 1849—the same year that Chopin died—Funérailles
is seventh in the set of Harmonies poétiques et
religieuses. Some considered it to be a memorial for Chopin,
but Liszt intended it to honor the victims of the Hungarian
Revolution.
Funérailles contains four distinct sections, with three
main themes that are repeated throughout. The slow, dark
introduction is followed by a somber funeral procession. Then
ensues a heroic, galloping fanfare atop repetitive, cascading
octaves in the bass. After this peak, the final section recalls the
themes of the previous three in various thematic transformations,
allowing the piece to build in fervor until a sudden drop into the
quiet, final chords. Combining poignancy, grief, nobility, anguish,
and bombast, Funérailles is a testament to the emotional
force of Liszt's musical language.
—ToniMarie Marchioni
© 2012 The Carnegie Hall Corporation