Beethoven, Interrupted

Friday, August 13 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, August 14 at 5:30 PM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2 for cello and piano
  - Allegro con brio
  - Adagio con molto sentimento d’affetto
  - Allegro – Allegro fugato
    - Lachezar Kostov cello
    - Viktor Valkov piano

Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935)
- Sarabande con Variazioni (on a theme of Handel) for violin and viola
  - Sandy Yamamoto violin
  - Aloysia Friedmann viola

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 for winds and strings
  - Adagio – Allegro con brio
  - Adagio cantabile
  - Tempo di Menuetto
  - Tema con Variazioni: Andante
  - Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace
  - Andante con molto alla Marcia – Presto
    - Richie Hawley clarinet
    - Dana Jackson bassoon
    - Rodger Burnett horn
    - Jeff Thayer violin
    - Aloysia Friedmann viola
    - Lachezar Kostov cello
    - David Grossman double bass

SERIES SPONSORS
David and Amy Fulton

TONIGHT’S SPONSORS
Friday, August 13 Gail and Harvey Glasser
Saturday, August 14 Janet Ketcham

2021 Program Notes Beethoven, Interrupted

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) – Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No.2 for cello and piano
Beethoven’s music is often assigned to his early, middle, and late periods. This division can be both useful and misleading, but in the case of his five sonatas for cello and piano it’s clear, even just from looking at their opus numbers (Op. 2 – two sonatas, Op. 69 – one sonata, Op 102 – two sonatas), that the periodic division is quite distinct. (Opus numbers cannot always be taken as a reliable guide to the relative chronology of a composer’s work, but in this case they are not at all misleading.) In common with many of his other late works, the D Major cello sonata shares an increasingly complex rhythmic language, an interest in counterpoint – especially fugue – and a complete disregard for the technical challenges he sets for his performers. In respect of the latter, many passages in Beethoven’s late works (and in some cases, complete works such as the Hammerklavier Sonata or the Diabelli Variations) can quite reasonably leave even modern listeners and performers wondering “What was he thinking?” To use a modern abbreviation: SMH (shaking my head). Evidently he had future generations in mind, and rightly so: it was only in the 20th century that large numbers of performers began to take up and overcome the hurdles presented in his late works.

This sonata opens with a pair of aspirational gestures from the piano, which provide important thematic material in this generally extroverted movement. Storm clouds appear briefly in the short development before the opening gestures (this time in the cello with the piano echoing them across four octaves) mark the beginning of the recapitulation. The first motif – finally played in unison by both instruments – ushers in a short coda, which builds to a brisk conclusion. The second movement begins with a simple dirge-like melody for the cello. Thereafter, the emotional intensity and rhythmic complexity increase, leading to a gorgeous central major key section. This modulates through several keys back to the minor mode for a recapitulation of the first theme – this time given to the piano with the cello accompanying in skipping (also known as “dotted” because of their notation involving dots) rhythms. The movement ends on an incomplete cadence with only the briefest of pauses before the concluding fugue. This starts innocently enough with a rising scale. However, it builds in complexity to one of Beethoven’s most technically challenging fugues. He walks a fine line here, somehow managing to write a movement which sounds learned, courtly, joyous, and heroic – all at the same time.

Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) – Sarabande con Variazioni, for Violin and Viola
It’s not Edvard Grieg’s fault that most Norwegian composers after him have had to live more or less in his shadow. Although some of these composers and their music are well-known in Scandinavia, orchestras and recording companies elsewhere still have a lot of exploring to do. In Johan Halvorsen’s case, he is inextricably linked to Grieg. The latter – 20 years Halvorsen’s senior – was a friend and mentor, and Halvorsen married Grieg’s niece. Halvorsen had a long and successful career. Before the age of 30, he variously worked as a concertmaster in Bergen and Aberdeen, played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, taught music in Helsinki, and continued his own musical studies in St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Berlin, and Liège. Much of his later career was as a conductor, particularly with the Oslo (then known as “Kristiania”) Philharmonic.

In the Sarabande con Variazioni, Halvorsen uses the sarabande (a slow dance in triple-meter) from one of Handel’s keyboard suites. The variations pursue the usual course of gradual intensification of rhythm and tempo. At the center of the whole piece lies a variation in the form of a very leisurely, sentimental waltz. After this the process of intensification begins again, culminating in the final sequence of variations, which elevate the music to a level of quasi-orchestral brilliance and sonority.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) – Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 for winds and strings
The Septet is written on a grand symphonic scale. Mozart had written chamber pieces for mixed winds and strings, but they usually received the name Divertimento or Serenade and were essentially used as background music (some background!) at social functions. Beethoven was loath for his music to be anyone’s aural wallpaper. He intended this as concert music.

The 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th movements of the septet function as the four movements of a classical symphony. This “virtual symphony” (i.e., just those four movements) is a little longer than Beethoven’s own First Symphony, suggesting the importance he attached to this composition. Nevertheless, the Septet finds Beethoven in very good humor. The 3rd movement is an old friend of many an amateur pianist: a reworking of the modest minuet from Beethoven’s G Major piano sonata, Op. 49 no. 2. Minor key passages occur in some movements, but episodically or in the course of modulation. The sole exception to this is the minor-key fourth variation in the 4th movement. This theme and variations entertains more and philosophizes less than usual for Beethoven, but that fourth variation hovers on the edge of a shadowy and slightly terrifying world. The Scherzo restores not only Beethoven’s good humor, but is full of his special kind of musical laughter – the tone set by the jolly hunting calls passed between horn and bassoon at the outset.

All the instruments except the double bass have their moments in the foreground, but the clarinet and violin carry the bulk of the thematic presentation, with a virtuosic cadenza for the latter, before the recapitulation of the finale. While exploring instrumental color was never Beethoven’s primary interest, he was too good a composer not to have used the instrumentation to create the many rich sonorities which this combination of instruments is capable of. From its premiere in 1801 (on a concert that included the contemporaneous First Symphony), the Septet has remained one of Beethoven’s most endearing and enduring works – a fact which rather irked the composer during his lifetime – he thought he had done much better work after he had written it.