MCO’s Musette can be heard on Thursday 21 August 7:30pm and Sunday 24 August 2:30pm at Melbourne Recital Centre.
Elena Kats-Chernin (b 1957)
From Anna Magdalena’s Notebook
I. Polonaise
II. Musette
III. Aria
IV. Menuet 1
V. Polonaise 2
VI. Menuet 2
The Australian composer and pianist Elena Kats-Chernin received her initial training at the Gnessin Musical College in Moscow and graduated from the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in 1980. She has composed across numerous genres and been commissioned by — among others — Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian World Orchestra, the Adelaide, Tasmanian, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.
Writing on From Anna Magdalena’s Notebook (2006) the composer says:
“Somehow the thought of going to Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook seemed appealing to me. I had previously worked with two-part inventions of J. S. Bach and the never-ending pool of inspiration was in this Notebook no less apparent. Few things played a role here: Anna Magdalena, singer, wife, mother was a superwoman in the Bach household, taking care of J. S. Bach and many children, looking after students, guest musicians passing through and at the same time keeping up the high role that the music played in their lives. Bach gave her the Clavierbuechlein in 1725 which he started with two partitas, the rest was gathered over years. So, in fact it is not always J. S. Bach himself who wrote all the pieces. Sometimes they were written by his sons or by students or friends. I decided to choose the ones that I liked the most. And also the ones which would work in contrast with each other. The way I worked with the material was to give the original piece a chance to sound recognizable, at the same time giving it an impetus to change direction.”
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Cello Concerto No 1 in C major
I. Moderato
II. Adagio
III. Allegro Molto
In addition to his vast contribution to the symphonic, chamber and operatic literature Joseph Haydn wrote numerous concertos for solo and multiple instruments. Among the works that have remained in the repertoire are the two early Esterházy works: the Violin Concerto in C and the Cello Concerto in C, the Piano Concerto in D (c1783–4), Cello Concerto in D (1783), and two late works: the Concertante (1792) and the Trumpet Concerto (1796).
Haydn wrote the Cello Concerto in C in the early 1760s for Joseph Franz Weigl, the cellist of the Esterházy Orchestra. This work was composed around the same time as the earliest of his numbered symphonies and was considered lost until its rediscovery in 1961.
All three movements are written in sonata form. The work opens with the sweeping grandeur of the Moderato. The beautifully warm Adagio provides a respite before the sheer brilliance of the Finale Allegro molto. The musicologist HC Robbins Landon described the movement “a tour-de-force of epic proportions, with passages lying very high indeed and difficult even for the greatest soloists of today.”
Jean Françaix (1912–97)
Variations de concert
Jean Françaix was a French composer, pianist and orchestrator. He studied with Nadia Boulanger and Isidor Philipp. Maurice Ravel, writing to the composer’s parent, said, “among the child’s gifts I observe is, above all the most fruitful an artist can possess, that of curiosity: you must not stifle these precious gifts now or ever, or risk letting this young sensibility wither.” Françaix was a prolific composer with an output of more than 200 works, predominantly in traditional forms such as the symphony, concerto and cantata.
Variations de concert for cello and strings was composed in 1950. The ten variations and interludo provide an enormous range of contrasts, moods and technical virtuosity.
Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
Symphony No 4 in D minor ‘La Casa del Diavolo’
I. Andante sostenuto – Allegro assai
II. Andantino con moto
III. Andante sostenuto – Allegro con molto
Luigi Boccherini was born in Lucca, Italy, and having spent some time in Vienna and Paris, lived and worked in Spain from 1776. He was a prolific composer of chamber music with over 100 string quintets, nearly 100 string quartets and more than 100 other chamber works.
The Symphony in D minor Op 12 was composed in 1771 and is one of the six concerti a grande orchestra. Over time this symphony acquired the nickname La Casa del Diavolo (The Devil’s House). The work opens with a slow Andante sostenuto introduction in D minor, which conveys a dramatic and foreboding character. The Allegro assai that follows is brilliant and colourful. The composer reorchestrated the Presto movement from an earlier violin sonata (Op 5 No 4). The Andantino con moto is scored for strings alone and expresses a serene and elegant mood. The final movement opens with Andante sostenuto which is almost a repetition of the first movement opening. The score labels the Allegro con molto as Chaconne qui représente l’Enfer et qui a été faite à l’imitation de celle de M. Gluck dans Le Festin de Pierre — “a chaconne that represents hell and has been made in imitation of [the chaconne] of Mr Gluck in his Festin de Pierre”. The movement is filled with great dynamic contrasts, harmonic shifts, syncopations and accents.
Program Notes: David Forrest