September 23 & 25, 2010
Thursday-7:30pm | War Memorial Auditorium
Saturday-8:00pm | Dana Auditorium
Vienna's Great Exiles
Vladimir Feltsman, piano
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, conductor
Classical Voice of North Carolina review>>>
Program
Ludwig van Beethoven
Overture to “Fidelio”
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo. Allegro
IV. Allegro
Intermission
Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major,
Op. 83
Vladimir Feltsman, piano
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
September 23 sponsor September 25 sponsor
Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th-century composers. A regular guest soloist with leading symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad, he appears on the most prestigious concert series and music festivals around the world.
Born in Moscow in 1952, Mr. Feltsman debuted with the Moscow Philharmonic at age 11. In 1969, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Music to study piano and also studied conducting at both the Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Conservatories. In 1971, Mr. Feltsman won the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition in Paris; extensive touring throughout the former Soviet Union, Europe and Japan followed this.
In 1979, because of his growing discontent with the restrictions on artistic freedom under the Soviet regime, Mr. Feltsman signaled his intention to emigrate by applying for an exit visa. He was immediately banned from performing in public and his recordings were suppressed. After eight years of artistic exile, he was granted permission to leave the Soviet Union. Upon his arrival in the United States in 1987, Mr. Feltsman was warmly greeted at the White House, where he performed his first recital in North America. That same year, his debut at Carnegie Hall established him as a major pianist on the American and international scene.
Mr. Feltsman’s discography has been released on the Melodiya, Sony Classical, Music Masters, and Camerata, Tokyo labels. This includes eight albums of clavier works of J.S. Bach, Beethoven’s last five piano sonatas, solo piano works of Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Messiaen and Silvestrov, as well as concerti by Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev.
Program Notes:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Overture to “Fidelio”
Beethoven’s only opera had quite an auspicious beginning. The first performance, on November 20, 1805 at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, was during the French military occupation of the Austrian capital city. Many of those in attendance were French officers who did not know German, so it is not surprising that the opera was not a rousing success.
In the following spring, a revision of the opera was staged, this time to somewhat greater success. But a dispute between Beethoven and the theater management caused only two performances to be given. It was not until eight years later that the composer revised “Fidelio” again with this version performed at Vienna’s Kärntnertortheater on May 23, 1814. This turned out to be the success that Beethoven had hoped for in 1805, and the opera has remained as an important part of the operatic repertoire ever since.
For years, the title of the opera at the 1805 performance was believed to be “Leonore”, but recent research suggests that it was probably “Fidelio” from the start. Oddly enough, there were three different overtures for the three different versions. They are now known as “Leonore Overture No. 2” (1805), “Leonore Overture No.3 (1806), and “Fidelio” Overture (1814). The last of these is on tonight’s program.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
Sometimes Beethoven composed quickly, and at other times he took several years to complete a composition. The latter was certainly the case with his Fifth Symphony. He began to sketch the work in 1804, but did not finish it until he had worked on Fidelio, the Appassionata Sonata, three string quartets, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fourth Symphony, and others.
The first performance was at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on December 22, 1808 and was an unusually long concert, lasting more than four hours. In addition to the Fifth Symphony the all-Beethoven program included the Sixth Symphony, an aria for voice and orchestra, several movements from the Mass in C, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Choral Fantasy, and a piano improvisation by the composer himself.
Of course, the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth is probably the most recognizable theme in all of music. Many people have tried to give meaning to these notes. Anton Schindler said that Beethoven once declared this phrase as fate knocking at the door. (Many scholars think that Schindler presented an overly romantic view of Beethoven.) Another source for these notes is attributed to a student of Beethoven, Carl Czerny, who wrote that “the little pattern of notes had come to Beethoven from a Yellow-Hammer’s bird song as he walked through the Prater [Park in Vienna]”. This musical motive occurs throughout the symphony, with more than two hundred presentations in the first movement alone.
Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Brahms’s compositions for orchestra spanned almost thirty years, from his Serenade in D major in 1858 to his Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in 1887. The Second Piano Concerto falls relatively late in this period, with only the Third and Fourth Symphonies and the aforementioned Double Concerto coming afterwards.
He began sketches of this concerto in 1878, but then put it aside to finish his Violin Concerto. When he returned from a tour of Italy in 1881, Brahms finished the work, and was the piano soloist in its premiere performance on November 9, 1881 in Budapest. In the following weeks, he played it in twelve more cities in Germany, Holland, and Switzerland. This was the age of railway travel.
Most concerti have three movements, usually fast, slow, fast. What is unique to this concerto is the addition of a fourth movement, a scherzo (a fast movement with three beats to the measure), before the slow movement. When asked about this, Brahms commented that the first movement was “simple”, and that “he needed something strong and passionate before the equally simple andante”. Today, most people totally disagree that these movements are simple. Perhaps the composer was just being modest or eccentric. After all, he described the work as “just a little piano concerto”.
Preludes
Learn more about the evening’s music with Dr. David Nelson, Professor of Music Theory at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The Prelude on Thursday, September 23 begins at 6:45 p.m.
on the Mezzanine level of the War Memorial Auditorium, and the Prelude on Saturday, September 25 begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Moon Room at Dana Auditorium.
Meet the Artists
Join us after the Thursday
evening concert for a brief question and answer
session held at the front of the stage with our
guest artists and Dima.
Radio Broadcast
WFDD will broadcast this
concert on Sunday, October 17 at 8:00 p.m.
