~Program~
Robert Schumann : Adagio and Allegro in A-flat
Major, Op. 70
Ludwig van Beethoven : Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3
in A Major, Op. 69 Allegro ma non
tanto
Scherzo. Allegro molto
Adagio cantabile – Allegro vivace
~ Intermission ~
Sergei Rachmaninoff : Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor Op.
19
Lento – Allegro moderato
Allegro scherzando
Andante
Allegro mosso
Free admission, donation
appreciated.
Face mask and social distancing mandated.
Children under 6 not admitted.
Reservation required
Foundation for
Chinese Performing Arts
Quote from Nicolas
Sterner of The Boston Musical Intelligencer, in a
title “Rendering Warhorses With Apollonian Clarity”
“ Enjoying our first in-person concert in a year, we
joined 60 socially distanced people on Saturday
night at the Gardner Museum. NEC Artist Diploma
laureate, cellist Brannon Cho, and Leeds
International Piano Competition gold medalist Eric
Lu, brought out warhorses: Schumann, Beethoven, and
Rachmaninoff. These two artists performed their
“set” with a technical mastery and perfunctory
polish emblematic of the up-and-coming generation of
young soloists and recitalists. ... Since the cello
parts are mostly written subordinate to the dazzling
keyboard passagework crafted by the
pianist-composers. Even more challenging, the
cellist must compete with a massive Steinway Model
D. Cho and Lu surmounted these difficulties with
moderate ease, aligning in exemplary ensemble
clarity within a somewhat narrow expressive range. “
Eric Lu appears courtesy Warner Classics available
till June 4, 2021
With
permission from pianist Robert Finley, quotes from
his comments on concert April 17, 2021 by Brannon
Cho and Eric Lu:
“Last night I went to my first concert in Boston
since before the pandemic started. It was a piano
and cello recital given by Eric Lu and Brannon Cho
in the new Calderwood Hall of the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum. This was the first concert I had
been to in that hall.
“I enjoyed the concert tremendously. Brannon Cho
produced a lovely singing tone on the cello with
superb intonation, and very expressive playing. Eric
played wonderfully as always, and it was a very
moving performance. He is one of the most musical
and best pianists I have ever known. They both
played extremely well together.
“Eric and Brannon received tremendous applause and
cheering from the audience. They gave a lovely
rendition of Vocalise by Rachmaninoff for an encore.
Bravissimo and congratulations to them for their
absolutely divine concert.
“It was so good to go to a concert again after being
under lockdown at home for so long. The Calderwood
Hall has very good acoustics. It is square shaped
with several balconies. Due to Covid precautions,
there were 64 people in the audience. Everyone wore
a mask and the seats were spaced widely apart. My
seat was on the ground floor, a few feet away from
the piano. Kate Liu turned the pages for Eric. She
is a marvelous pianist and gave a recital of music
by Handel, Chopin and Schumann a few weeks ago in
the same hall. I watched the recording and
congratulated her. Her Schumann Fantasy was
particularly moving. “
“Leeds
winner Eric Lu showed an astonishing command of keyboard tone
and color.. the sign he is already a true artist. It was a
spellbinding experience.” – The Guardian
“Lu’s playing is in a rare class - sensitive and emotionally
intuitive.” – BBC Music Magazine
Eric Lu won First Prize at The Leeds International Piano
Competition in 2018, the first American to win the prestigious
prize since Murray Perahia. He made his BBC Proms debut the
following summer at the Royal Albert Hall, and is currently a
member of the BBC New Generation Artist scheme. Eric is an
exclusive Warner Classics recording artist.
Highlights of the 2020-21 season include debuts with the London
Symphony Orchestra (Marin Alsop), Seattle Symphony (Thomas
Dausgaard), Oslo Philharmonic (Constantinos Carydis), Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic (Thomas Dausgaard) and Detroit Symphony
(Eduardo Strausser). He will also give recitals at the
Elbphilharmonie, Queen Elizabeth Hall (International Piano
Series), Cologne Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, NY’s 92nd St Y, and
NCPA in Beijing.
In recent seasons, Eric has appeared in recital at Amsterdam
Concertgebouw, BOZAR Brussels, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Wigmore
Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Fondation Louis Vuitton
Paris, Seoul Arts Centre, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Grand Theatre
Shanghai, and Sala São Paulo. He has collaborated with the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic (Vasily Petrenko), The Hallé (Sir Mark
Elder and Tomáš Hanus), Shanghai Symphony (Long Yu), Warsaw
Philharmonic (Niklas Willén), Singapore Symphony (Darío Ntaca),
and Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Thomas Dausgaard and Martin Frӧst).
He also went on tour with the Orchestre National de Lille
(Alexander Bloch). In 2019, Eric replaced Martha Argerich in
Singapore, and Nelson Freire in São Paulo.
In 2020, Warner Classics released Eric’s first studio album,
featuring the Chopin 24 Preludes, and Schumann’s
Geistervariationen. It was met with critical acclaim, including
BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Instrumental Record of the Month’. In
2018, Eric’s winning performances of Beethoven and Chopin from
The Leeds with The Hallé and Edward Gardner was released by
Warner. He has also released a Mozart, Schubert and Brahms
recital on Genuin Classics.
Born in Massachusetts in 1997, Eric Lu first came to
international attention as a prize-winner at the 2015 Chopin
International Competition in Warsaw aged just 17. He previously
won the 2015 US National Chopin Competition, and was awarded the
International German Piano Award in 2017. He is a graduate of
the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Robert McDonald and
Jonathan Biss. He is also a pupil of Dang Thai Son. He is now
based in Berlin and Boston.
Brannon Cho, cellist https://brannoncho.com
Described
by Arto Noras as “a finished artist, ready to play in any hall
in the world,” cellist Brannon Cho has emerged as an outstanding
musician of his generation. He is the First Prize winner of the
prestigious 6th International Paulo Cello Competition, and is
also a prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth, Naumburg, and
Cassadó International Cello Competitions.
Brannon Cho has appeared as a soloist with many of the top
orchestras around the world, including the Helsinki Philharmonic
Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra,
Brussels Philharmonic, and Orchestre Philharmonique Royale Liège,
under world-renowned conductors such as Susanna Mälkki, Stéphane
Denève, and Christian Arming.
As a lover of chamber music, Brannon Cho has shared the stage
with artists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Christian Tetzlaff,
Gidon Kremer, and Joshua Bell. His recent festival appearances
include Marlboro, Kronberg Academy, Music@Menlo, and Verbier. In
addition, Brannon Cho is a scholarship holder in the Anne-Sophie
Mutter Foundation, and the recipient of the 2019 Ivan Galamian
Award, which was previously held by James Ehnes.
Brannon Cho’s recent and upcoming solo performance highlights
include debuts in Wigmore Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie
Hall, the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, Kumho Art Hall in Seoul,
Konzerthaus Berlin, Seoul Arts Center, the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum, and New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall.
Born in New Jersey, Brannon Cho received his Bachelor’s degree
from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music under Hans
Jørgen Jensen. He was awarded the prestigious Artist Diploma
from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with
Laurence Lesser. Today, he is in the Professional Studies
program at the Kronberg Academy, under the tutelage of Frans
Helmerson. Brannon Cho is sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld, and
performs on a rare cello made by Antonio Casini in 1668 in
Modena, Italy.
Robert Schumann: Adagio and Allegro in A-flat
Major, Op. 70
Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70, poignantly
displays the fullness of the composer’s love and passion.
Its Adagio is home to an intimate conversation between two
instruments, full of yearning and tenderness—so much in fact
that the work was originally titled Romanza and Allegro. The
year of composition of the piece, 1849, was an extremely
prolific time for Schumann’s chamber music writing, a period
when he produced a number of other Romanzen for voices.
While the Adagio and Allegro was written originally for horn
and piano, in the music, Schumann notes that the horn part
may also be performed on the violin or cello, and today,
many violists also enjoy performing this work. The composer
was no doubt fascinated with the French horn at the time,
choosing to compose works that displayed the instrument
prominently, such as Konzertstück, Op. 86, a concerto
for four horns and orchestra, and Jagdlieder, Op.
137, for four horns and male chorus.
As one might
imagine, the Adagio and Allegro suits the French horn
superbly, in a way that allows its most iconic
characteristics to emerge, particularly its warm, lyrical
nature, as well as a heroic quality that pervades the second
movement.
Schumann’s music is often thought of as
representing his two alter egos: Florestan (the energetic
and extroverted) and Eusebius (the introverted and poetic).
These are two characters he used profusely in his literary
contributions to the Neue Zeitschift für Musik (New
Periodical for Music), of which he was the editor for ten
years. In the same vein, the Allegro acts as a sort of
literary foil, contrasting the warm sentiments of the Adagio
with a true outpouring of passion and intensity. The fervor
bursts forth the moment the piano launches an A-flat-major
chord and the two instruments, with ceaseless triplets, rush
forth with boundless energy amid delightful, continuing
dialogue.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for
Cello and Piano No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69
Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A Major, Op. 69, marks a
watershed in the history of the cello repertoire. For some
time already, Beethoven had been experimenting with the
cello as a solo instrument. His Triple Concerto of 1803
(with its famously difficult cello part), the three
Razumovsky Quartets, Op. 59, of 1808, and the Ghost Trio
of 1809 all advanced the role of the cellist from an
advocate of baselines to one of a soloist, competing even
with the tessitura of the violin.
As if to further
assert the cello’s breakthrough as a solo instrument, this
sonata, written in 1808, begins with the cello alone. It
plays an extraordinarily lyrical and congenial theme, while
the piano finishes the thought in an improvisatory manner. A
repeat of the opening theme is then heard in octaves in the
piano. What is utterly remarkable about this opening theme
is that it becomes the DNA of the entire sonata, melodically
and tonally. The first four notes of the theme, A-E-F#-C#,
generate motives, as well as entire key areas.
After
a variant of the first theme is heard, in the opposing minor
mode and with contrasting character, the second theme, in E
major, emerges as a falling arpeggio in the piano (with the
two hands in imitation), with the cello playing a rising
scale in counterpoint. This is a prime example of the axiom
that Beethoven creates the most beautiful music from nothing
more than mere scales and arpeggios. The development centers
harmonically on two main key areas, F# minor and C# minor,
which also coincide with the third and fourth notes of the
opening theme. The return of the opening theme in the cello
is interwoven with a piano line.
The next movement is
a scherzo and trio, usually reserved for the third movement
of a sonata. As is common in Beethoven’s hands, the scherzo
(originally meaning “joke”) takes on a rather brusque humor.
In this instance, it is full of syncopated, off-kilter jabs
that persist, unresolved, until the trio section. The
opening theme is presented by the piano, then continued by
the cello. The scherzo culminates when, for the first time,
the two instruments jointly play the main theme with the
backdrop of a raucous left hand in the piano. The trio
section is pastoral, reminiscent of the Sixth Symphony, as
if trying to find the calm in the middle of the storm. It is
a hurdy-gurdy melody, with an ostinato hum in the background
that never calms, but continues on like an energetic engine.
The traditional ABA form of this movement is extended with
literal repetition into ABABA.
The slow movement in
this work serves as an introduction to the finale, a
structural idea Beethoven reused, as in the Waldstein Sonata
and the Triple Concerto. The finale has a capacity for
cheerfulness that far exceeds any of the preceding musical
material. The accompaniment of the piano is an energetic
pulsation of chords, or to borrow Konrad Wolff’s words about
the Waldstein Sonata, “a vibration of the instrument of such
communicative power that it will stay in the listener’s mind
throughout the entire movement, just as if the vibrating
basses were continued from beginning to end.” This effect is
very much present throughout the duration of the movement.
The development goes through the traditional circle of
fifths and chromatic meandering before the return is almost
stumbled upon. The coda consists of an extraordinary lyrical
line in the highest registers of the piano, creating one of
the most enchanting moments in the entire work. The ending
concludes with a veritable “vibration” of joyous A-major
chords, bringing the entire large-scale work to a symphonic
close.
Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata for Cello and
Piano in G minor, Op. 19
Rachmaninoff wrote
his Cello and Piano Sonata in G minor, Op. 19, around the
same time as his famous Second Piano Concerto. With this
streak of creativity and success, it is hard to imagine that
only a few years earlier, in 1897, the composer had fallen
into a deep depression after an extremely poor and
ill-received performance of his First Symphony. Rachmaninoff
became so apathetic to composition that he likened himself
to a stroke patient who had lost the ability to use their
limbs. Even an arranged meeting with an admired writer, Leo
Tolstoy, did not improve his frame of mind. Ultimately, he
was advised to see a family friend, the physician Dr.
Nikolai Dahl, who offered him hypnosis and brought him out
of his cloud of self-criticism. Soon thereafter the
well-loved Second Piano Concerto and the Sonata for Cello
and Piano were conceived—the former of which he dedicated to
Dr. Dahl. While there are no direct connections between the
two works, they do share many similarities. Unsurprisingly,
his sonata is sometimes thought of as a concerto for piano,
due to its massive scope, symphonic qualities, and technical
demands it makes on the pianist. Rachmaninoff dedicated the
work to his best man, Anatoli Brandukov, and four months
later, married his fiancée after their long, three-year
engagement.
The sonata opens almost mystically, like
a meditation upon a questioning two-note motive, or in the
words of Steven Isserlis, with “incense-filled colours.” One
can hear the melodies wafting up as the piece is conjured
into being. After the slow introduction, a torrent of notes
and energy is released in the piano, while the cello sings a
long-breathed melody with hints of the Dies irae. The
Dies irae motive returns later in the work (e.g., as a
bass line in the piano part in first movement, in the treble
part of the piano in the second movement), and the motive
itself is a compositional idea Rachmaninoff often used in
other works as well. The second theme of the movement, first
heard in the piano, contrasts the previous section with a
more relaxed and contemplative feeling throughout.
Subsequently in the development, Rachmaninoff reintroduces
the opening’s two-note motive, but with a reinvigorating,
fervent obsession. What follows is a truly pianistic and
exuberant cadenza-like section that increasingly reaches a
climactic point, bringing about the return of the opening,
not unlike the structure of the Second Piano Concerto’s
first movement.
The second movement is feverish and
demonic—it begins with a rhythmic drive and pathos that
bring to mind Schubert’s famous
Erlkönig. The two-note motive borrowed from the
previous movement emerges as part of a descending passage
that can be heard in the instruments’ dialogue. Interspersed
throughout the movement are short respites from the
franticness that inhibit the former feelings of urgency. The
passages of heart-aching melodies characteristic of the
Russian Romantics reach their climax in the middle “trio”
section of the work, where the piano and cello engage in a
duet overflowing with lyricism. Yet this last moment of
reprieve is ephemeral, and the listener is thrown once again
into the fury of the opening music.
The theme of the
slow movement uses a bell-like motive of four repeated notes
first heard in the previous movement. The melody that is
exchanged between instruments is so simple yet profound,
accompanied by kaleidoscopic harmonies in the backdrop. In
many ways, this movement embodies the heart and soul of the
whole work.
The last movement is overflowing with
elation and exultation, following the trials and depths of
despair heard in the previous movements—it is akin to a
Beethovenian finale, with triumph emerging after struggle.
It was premiered with a quiet ending, but Rachmaninov added
the joyful and energetic coda ten days later.
中華表演藝術基金會上週六4月17日,邀請今年2021艾利費舍爾職業獎(Avery
Fisher Career Award)得主及里茲(Leeds)
國際鋼琴大賽第一名鋼琴家陸逸軒Eric Lu 及保羅Paulo
國際大提琴大賽第一名韓裔大提琴家Brannon Cho 聯合演出一場精彩的音樂會。
音樂會在波士頓伊莎貝拉博物館(Isabella
Stewart
Gardner Museum) 新穎美觀的方型四層樓可容300人的Calderwood
Hall大廳中舉行。這次可以允許64人在場,戴口罩保持社交距離,個別分散入座。雖然人數仍舊很少,但比起三月份只准10人到場。已算寬容很多了。本場演出由原訂一月份因疫情延期至今,大家都帶著期待歡喜的心情來參加這“半正常”的音樂會。
波士頓音樂雜誌
The Boston Musical
Intelligencer 的樂評兼大提琴及指揮家Nicolas
Sterner以”用強勢並且高超的清新手法駕馭戰馬“
為標題,盛讚兩位演出者的水平。他說“上週六是我一年來首次參加實體音樂會。聆聽里茲國際鋼琴大賽金牌Eric
Lu 及已獲有紐英倫音樂學院最高學位藝術家文憑的Brannon
Cho 演出。
雖然這是他們第一次合作,但兩人融洽無間,掌握這些具高度挑戰性的曲子,輕鬆自如,明確清晰。
舒曼,貝多芬,拉赫瑪尼諾夫這三位作曲家,本身也是鋼琴家,對鋼琴的要求特別高。對大提琴來說,要和九英尺大鋼琴達到協調,有其明顯的難度。
但對這兩位演出者好像並沒有任何困難。音量平衡的恰到好處。Brannon
Cho用的這把1668年Casini名琴,更是如歌似韻,令人陶醉。
最後的安可曲拉赫瑪尼諾夫的Vocalise更顯出大提琴如男高音般的華麗。』