Seong-Jin Cho, Piano
Less than a decade since his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall, Seong-Jin Cho already ranks among the most in-demand artists on this stage. J. S. Bach’s Partita No. 1 sets the perfect stage for Cho’s anticipated matinee recital, representing one of the composer’s greatest balancing acts between technical bravado and exquisite musicianship. Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano is a thorny, almost breathlessly urgent musical expression, and it contrasts wonderfully with the wit and revelry of Robert Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Jest from Vienna). In the second half of the concert, Cho performs 14 waltzes by Chopin—a collection of works even more varied yet in their moods, intentions, and unique challenges.
Performers
Seong-Jin Cho, Piano
Program
J. S. BACH Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825
SCHOENBERG Suite for Piano
R. SCHUMANN Faschingsschwank aus Wien
CHOPIN Waltz in E Minor, Op. posth.
CHOPIN Waltz in F Major, Op. 34, No. 3
CHOPIN Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, "Minute"
CHOPIN Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1
CHOPIN Waltz in C-sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2
CHOPIN Waltz in G-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 1
CHOPIN Waltz in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2
CHOPIN Waltz in A Minor, Op. 34, No. 2
CHOPIN Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3
CHOPIN Waltz in F Minor, Op. 70, No. 2
CHOPIN Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 70, No. 3
CHOPIN Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 42
CHOPIN Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1
CHOPIN Grand valse brillante in E-flat Major, Op. 18
Encores:
CHOPIN Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2
GRÜNFELD “Soirée de Vienne,” Concert Paraphrase on Johann Strass' Waltz-motives from Die Fledermaus and other works, Op. 56
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.
At a Glance
J. S. Bach was a lodestar in the eyes of the three latter-day composers on this afternoon’s program. Although his reputation took a nosedive after his death in 1750, the 19th-century “Bach Revival” catapulted the cantor of Leipzig to the status of national hero. R. Schumann revered Bach as the font and origin of all that was noble and inspired in contemporary music; in arranging the St. John Passion for performance in 1851, he presented himself as Bach’s descendant in all but name, thereby establishing his own niche in the pantheon of German composers.
Schoenberg likewise laid claim to an echt German artistic lineage stemming from Bach, who he declared had achieved “no greater perfection in music”; in 1922, he took time off from working on the Suite for Piano to arrange two of Bach’s chorale preludes for orchestra. Bach was also a lifelong source of inspiration for Chopin, who reinterpreted the Baroque master’s linear contrapuntal textures and intricate melodic figurations in his own Romantic idiom: Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, were closely modeled on Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier.