Waikanae Music Society

PROGRAMME

JOHN CHEN

SUNDAY 18 June AT 2.30PM,
WAIKANAE MEMORIAL HALL

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)

Piano Sonata in B flat K333

Allegro
Andante cantabile
Allegro grazioso
Mozart composed this sonata in 1783 as he journeyed back to Vienna from Salzburg. It had been his first visit to his home town since 1781, and in the meantime he had married and had his first child. The winter concert season in Vienna was to be busy and Mozart had much music to compose. Stopping off at Linz, and finding himself short of music, Mozart had to write a symphony "at breakneck speed". It was here, too, that he began work on the Bb Sonata.
The first movement is a model of urbanity. The graceful opening theme gives way to a more urgent second theme, with brief excursions into the minor mode. A serene Andante cantabile forms the second movement, with a delicate theme introduced in thirds from the outset. The witty Allegretto grazioso movement is a rondo, with the final return of the theme opening out into a quasi-cadenza, providing a virtuosic conclusion to a colourful concert showpiece.

Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)

Sonata in B minor
In Weimar in the mid-1800s a "War of the Romantics" was being waged between "progressive" composers, represented by Liszt, Berlioz and Wagner, and "conservatives" represented by Brahms, Schumann and Mendelssohn, over issues such as the future of sonata form, and wheather music should be abstract or programmatic. Brahms felt that the musical structures handed down by Mozart and Beethoven should remain more or less intact, but Liszt wanted sonata form to develop to meet the changing needs of new styles. He developed a single-movement sonata form that led onto the symphonic poem, in which the music developed a proramme inspired by other art forms such as poetry or painting.
Liszt's trail blazing Sonata in B minor of 1853 is dominated by five main themes contained within a single movement which is divided into a sonata form structure: the Exposition, where the five themes are presented; the Development, where they are transformed along with a new and expressive melody in F sharp major; and the Recapitulation, which is led into by a dynamic fugue.

INTERVAL
Achille-Claude Debussy
(1862 - 1918)

L'lsle joyeuse
Debussy was influenced in his early life by composers as diverse as Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Wagner. He also met Glinka, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Liszt, and Verdi. Another important influence was his frendship with the French Impressionist painters. Debussy absorbed it all on the way to finding his own original genius and his very individual world of sound.
L'lsle joyeuse was written in 1904 and originally intended for inclusion in the Suite Bergamasque. Here it would have swamped its fellow pieces and Debussy clearly thought better of this idea and left it to stand alone. It is orchestrally conceived and is one of Debussy's most extroverted works, exultant, full of pianistic brilliance with ever-changing, multi-hued colours. The rhythms are rentless and the music beguiles as it builds to an exuberant and triumphant joy.

Robert Schumann
(1810-1856)
Carnaval Opus 9
Preambule - Pierrot
- Arlequin - Valse noble
- Eusebius - Florestan
- Coquette - Replique
- Sphinxes - Papillons
- ASCH/SCHA (Lettres dansantes)
- Chiarina - Chopin
- Estrella - Reconnaissance
- Pantalon et Colombine
- Valse allemande - Paganini
- Aveu - Promenade - Pause
- Marche des Davidsbundler contres les Philistins
In 1834, Schumann was living in Leipzig and establishing himself as a composer, critic and commentator on matters of aesthetics. He was briefly engaged to Emestine von Fricken, and the relationship is enshrined in the work that Schumann conceived during this romantic entanglement. Carnaval, or Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes), is based on the letters S, C, H and A that are common to his name and to Emestine's home town of Asch. (S is the German equivalent of Eb, H stands for Bb.) Carnaval is a set of variations on these four letters, with all but two of the pieces being based in some permutation of them. But it is also a series of cameo sketches of dances, moods and people, set within the framework of a masked ball.
There are 22 seperately titled pieces, some barely a page long. Some are portraits of people, such as Emestine (Estrella) and his future wife Clara (Chiarina). Schumann's alter-egos appear in Eusebius (dreamy and reflective) and Florestan (impulsive and extroverted). Traditional pantomine characters appear (Pierrot, Arlequin, Pantalon and Colombine), and scenes at the ball are described, including a lover's meeting in Reconnaissance.
The final and longest movement is the March of the League of David against the Philistines. Invented by Schumann, the League of David represented progressive musicians in opposition to the Philistines (conservative composers and critics) who in Schumann's opinion were threatening the progress of music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Piano Sonata in B flat K333 Allegro Andante cantabile Allegro grazioso	Mozart composed this sonata in 1783 as he journeyed back to Vienna from Salzburg. It had been his first visit to his home town since 1781, and in the meantime he had married and had his first child. The winter concert season in Vienna was to be busy and Mozart had much music to compose. Stopping off at Linz, and finding himself short of music, Mozart had to write a symphony "at breakneck speed". It was here, too, that he began work on the Bb Sonata. The first movement is a model of urbanity. The graceful opening theme gives way to a more urgent second theme, with brief excursions into the minor mode. A serene Andante cantabile forms the second movement, with a delicate theme introduced in thirds from the outset. The witty Allegretto grazioso movement is a rondo, with the final return of the theme opening out into a quasi-cadenza, providing a virtuosic conclusion to a colourful concert showpiece.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Sonata in B minor	In Weimar in the mid-1800s a "War of the Romantics" was being waged between "progressive" composers, represented by Liszt, Berlioz and Wagner, and "conservatives" represented by Brahms, Schumann and Mendelssohn, over issues such as the future of sonata form, and wheather music should be abstract or programmatic. Brahms felt that the musical structures handed down by Mozart and Beethoven should remain more or less intact, but Liszt wanted sonata form to develop to meet the changing needs of new styles. He developed a single-movement sonata form that led onto the symphonic poem, in which the music developed a proramme inspired by other art forms such as poetry or painting. Liszt's trail blazing Sonata in B minor of 1853 is dominated by five main themes contained within a single movement which is divided into a sonata form structure: the Exposition, where the five themes are presented; the Development, where they are transformed along with a new and expressive melody in F sharp major; and the Recapitulation, which is led into by a dynamic fugue.
	INTERVAL
Achille-Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) L'lsle joyeuse	Debussy was influenced in his early life by composers as diverse as Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Wagner. He also met Glinka, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Liszt, and Verdi. Another important influence was his frendship with the French Impressionist painters. Debussy absorbed it all on the way to finding his own original genius and his very individual world of sound. L'lsle joyeuse was written in 1904 and originally intended for inclusion in the Suite Bergamasque. Here it would have swamped its fellow pieces and Debussy clearly thought better of this idea and left it to stand alone. It is orchestrally conceived and is one of Debussy's most extroverted works, exultant, full of pianistic brilliance with ever-changing, multi-hued colours. The rhythms are rentless and the music beguiles as it builds to an exuberant and triumphant joy.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Carnaval Opus 9 Preambule - Pierrot - Arlequin - Valse noble - Eusebius - Florestan - Coquette - Replique - Sphinxes - Papillons - ASCH/SCHA (Lettres dansantes) - Chiarina - Chopin - Estrella - Reconnaissance - Pantalon et Colombine - Valse allemande - Paganini - Aveu - Promenade - Pause - Marche des Davidsbundler contres les Philistins	In 1834, Schumann was living in Leipzig and establishing himself as a composer, critic and commentator on matters of aesthetics. He was briefly engaged to Emestine von Fricken, and the relationship is enshrined in the work that Schumann conceived during this romantic entanglement. Carnaval, or Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes), is based on the letters S, C, H and A that are common to his name and to Emestine's home town of Asch. (S is the German equivalent of Eb, H stands for Bb.) Carnaval is a set of variations on these four letters, with all but two of the pieces being based in some permutation of them. But it is also a series of cameo sketches of dances, moods and people, set within the framework of a masked ball. There are 22 seperately titled pieces, some barely a page long. Some are portraits of people, such as Emestine (Estrella) and his future wife Clara (Chiarina). Schumann's alter-egos appear in Eusebius (dreamy and reflective) and Florestan (impulsive and extroverted). Traditional pantomine characters appear (Pierrot, Arlequin, Pantalon and Colombine), and scenes at the ball are described, including a lover's meeting in Reconnaissance. The final and longest movement is the March of the League of David against the Philistines. Invented by Schumann, the League of David represented progressive musicians in opposition to the Philistines (conservative composers and critics) who in Schumann's opinion were threatening the progress of music.