sunday morning, october 25, 2015, at 11:00 m o ray chen...

Sunday Morning, October 25, 2015, at 11:00

Sunday Morning Coffee Concerts

Ray Chen, Violin

BACH Partita No. 3 in E major (1720)Preludio LoureGavotte en rondeauMenuets 1 and 2BourréeGigue

BACH Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor (1720)

YSAŸE Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (1923)Obsession: Prélude MalinconiaDanse des ombres: Sarabande Les furies

MILSTEIN Paganiniana (1954)

This program is approximately one hour long and will be performedwithout intermission.

Please join the artist for a cup of coffee following the performance.

Coffee and refreshments provided by Zabar’s and zabars.com.

This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.

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Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off.

Walter Reade Theater

Great Performers

We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper mightdistract the performers and your fellow audience members.

In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who mustleave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The takingof photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.

BNY Mellon is Lead Supporter of Great Performers

Support is provided by Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, The Florence Gould Foundation,Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, Great Performers Circle, Chairman’s Council, andFriends of Lincoln Center.

Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Endowment support for Symphonic Masters is provided by the Leon Levy Fund.

Endowment support is also provided by UBS.

MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.

UPCOMING SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CONCERTS IN THE WALTER READE THEATER:

Sunday Morning, November 22, 2015, at 11:00 Cuarteto QuirogaHAYDN: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20, No. 3BRAHMS: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2

Sunday Morning, December 6, 2015, at 11:00 Jakob Koranyi, CelloALL-BACH PROGRAMCello Suite No. 1 in G majorCello Suite No. 2 in D minorCello Suite No. 3 in C major

Sunday Morning, January 10, 2016, at 11:00 Alexander Gavrylyuk, PianoSCHUBERT: Sonata in A major, D.664RACHMANINOFF: Five Étude-tableauxBALAKIREV: Islamey, oriental fantasy

For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit LCGreatPerformers.org. Call the Lincoln Center InfoRequest Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or to request a GreatPerformers brochure.

Visit LCGreatPerformers.org for more information relating to this season’s programs.

Join the conversation: #LCGreatPerfs

Great Performers I Notes on the Program

Not

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mBy Kathryn L. Libin

Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 (1720)JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHBorn March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, GermanyDied July 28, 1750, in Leipzig

Approximate length: 14 minutes

In 1717 Johann Sebastian Bach was offered the position of chapelorganist and music director at a rather small provincial court inCöthen, Germany. His new patron, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, was a musical aristocrat, trained in singing and violin,whose establishment included an orchestra of some 18 players.Bach instigated a regular schedule of rehearsals that brought dis-cipline and polish to his small ensemble, and he began to com-pose music that would grace the musical entertainments at thecourt. He highlighted fine solo players among his colleagues.Such works as the sonatas and partitas for solo violin, includingthe E-major Partita, BWV 1006, and the D-minor Partita, BWV1004, with its celebrated Chaconne, must have been played by amusician of rare substance. These pieces date from 1720 andrank among the greatest masterpieces of the violin repertory,extraordinary not only for their expressive range but for their com-plex elaboration of counterpoint and harmony on an unaccompa-nied instrument. In particular, the D-minor Partita’s closingChaconne has come to symbolize Bach’s powers at their mostmajestic.

Bach launches his E-major Partita with a jaunty, ear-catchingPreludio in which momentum is generated by a seamless flow ofsixteenth-note patterns, and passages of bariolage, with swiftalternation of notes between different strings, add to the brighttimbre. This brilliant movement apparently held special meaningfor Bach, who transcribed it in a new version for organ andorchestra a decade later, and re-deployed it as introduction to thefestive cantata “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir,” BWV 29.The following movements all find their origin in the courtly dancesof France, with well-defined rhythmic patterns that lend a distinc-tive character to each. A slow, calm Loure animated by dottedrhythms precedes an elegant Gavotte en rondeau in cut time,with strongly marked double stops accentuating the openingphrase. The pair of Menuets at the center of the Partita are linkedby the usual triple meter and two-bar phrasing, but offer pleasingcontrasts, the first Menuet flowing and lyrical, the second with


sustained upper notes and melodic lines articulated by short slurs. Both theBourrée and the Gigue are more rustic, lively dances; the Gigue in particular pro-vides exuberance and warmth at the close of the work.

Chaconne, from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (1720)JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH


Bach’s D-minor Partita outlines a traditional sequence of dance movements untilits final movement, a Chaconne whose massive structure, technical difficulties,and expressive power were unprecedented. To this day it remains one of thegreat monuments of instrumental music, and few pieces have been subjectedto as many transcriptions and arrangements. The piece may have been a reac-tion to the most significant personal event in Bach’s life during the year 1720,the sudden and unexpected death of his wife, Maria Barbara. Scholar and vio-linist Helga Thoene has suggested that the presence of chorale melodies relat-ing to death and resurrection in the mighty work might reveal Bach’s responseto his wife’s death. A defining aspect of any chaconne is a fixed, repeating basspattern over which melodic variations develop. In this case, Bach’s bass lineextends for four bars, exploring an interval of a fourth from the opening D downto G before returning to the tonic. From this Bach generates a stunning rangeof variants and a universe of violin idioms, all encompassed in a vast three-partstructure with a D-major section at its heart. Brahms, who produced his owntranscription of the Chaconne for left-hand piano, wrote,

On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of thedeepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could havecreated, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excite-ment and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.

Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (1923)EUGÈNE YSAŸE Born July 16, 1858 in Liège, BelgiumDied May 12, 1931, in Brussels


Born in Liège, Belgium, Eugène Ysaÿe studied at the conservatory there andtook his place in a long line of great violin virtuosos, among which he wouldcome to be seen as foremost in his own time. His studies with Wieniawski and,in particular, Henry Vieuxtemps, would take him to the summit of technical andexpressive possibility on his instrument. Ysaÿe made himself at home in Paris,where he befriended many important musicians who would later dedicateworks to him; he gave premiere performances of such classics as the Franck


Sonata, the Chausson Poème, Debussy’s String Quartet, and many otherworks designed to set off his extraordinary gifts. In 1886 he received a pres-tigious appointment as professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatory, and inlater years would also serve as conductor of the Cincinnati SymphonyOrchestra. Though various illnesses contributed to deterioration in his playingas he aged, Ysaÿe proved to have an enormous influence on the next gener-ation of violinists, including George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud. Ysaÿe’simmaculate technique and warm, rich tone set the standard for violin virtuosityin the 20th century.

Among his most important compositions are the six sonatas for violin solo,written in 1923. After hearing the young Joseph Szigeti perform a recital ofBach’s solo violin pieces, Ysaÿe was inspired to undertake a similar project; hissonatas mediate between homages to rigorous violin techniques of the pastand those of the present, with each sonata dedicated to one of his superbyoung colleagues. Szigeti, who received the dedication of the first sonata in theset, felt that they represented “a subconscious attempt on [Ysaÿe’s] part toperpetuate his own elusive playing style.” Yet there is no doubt that the com-poser also had the playing styles of his friends in mind. The second sonata, inA minor, was dedicated to Jacques Thibaud (1880–1953), a fine French violinistand close friend of Ysaÿe’s. Homage to Bach is evident at the very opening of“Obsession,” with its quotation of the first theme from the Preludio of the E-major Partita and its similar streams of sixteenth notes; present also, however,is the plainchant melody of the Dies irae, evoking the “Day of Wrath” in theRequiem Mass. At the end of the pensive, two-voice slow movement,“Malinconia,” the Dies irae quietly reasserts itself, and appears again in the“Danse des ombres” as a pizzicato theme that generates six variations. Thesonata closes with “Les Furies,” which brings back the Dies irae motive in aswirl of furious notes and ethereal sul ponticello passages.

Paganiniana (1954)NATHAN MILSTEINBorn December 31, 1904, in Odessa, modern-day UkraineDied December 21, 1992, in London


Few violinists have been more closely associated with Bach’s music thanNathan Milstein, whose 1975 recording of the sonatas and partitas earned hima Grammy Award and remains a benchmark for performance of these works.Born in Odessa in 1904, Milstein studied with Leopold Auer at the St.Petersburg Conservatory during the last years before the Russian Revolution,and later worked with Ysaÿe in Belgium. After his 1929 American debut withLeopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, he settled in the U.S. andeventually became a citizen. His tireless concert tours on both continentsintroduced countless audiences to the violin repertory, and his fluid, natural


playing style was underpinned by superb craftsmanship and obsessive atten-tion to detail, making him one of the most honored musicians of his time.

Like violinists of previous centuries, Milstein excelled at improvisation, tran-scription, and composition, and frequently programmed his own works andarrangements. Perhaps the most famous of his compositions is his homageto the giant among 19th-century violin virtuosi, Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840).New York Times critic Harold Schonberg referred to Milstein’s Paganiniana,based on Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, as “a wild melange of violinistic stunts.”But the piece deserves far more esteem than Schonberg suggests. Whileretaining the theme and variations structure of the original Caprice, as well asits basic melodic and harmonic material, Milstein also comments on thenature of Paganini’s Caprices more generally through references to others thathe weaves into the texture. He presents formidable technical challenges, withall of Paganini’s brilliant scales and arpeggios, trill effects, multiple stops, andso forth, but mingles with them more lyrical melodies and even obscure hintsat his own Russian Jewish origins. Each variation is crafted with rigorous care.Many great musicians, from Liszt to Brahms to Rachmaninoff and a host ofothers, have addressed this potent 24th Caprice. Milstein’s homage toPaganini may be briefer and less elaborate than many, but it acknowledges along and noble lineage with the dignity and respect it deserves.

Musicologist Kathryn L. Libin teaches music history and theory at Vassar College.

—Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth and Menuhin Competitions and of a first prizein the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Ray Chen is amongthe most compelling young violinists today. He has released three criticallyacclaimed albums on Sony: a recital program titled “Virtuoso” includingworks by Bach, Tartini, Franck, and Wieniawski that was distinguishedwith the prestigious ECHO Klassik Award; a recording of the Mendelssohnand Tchaikovsky concertos with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestraand Daniel Harding; and his latest recording, an all-Mozart album withChristoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra.

Earlier this year, on Bastille Day, Mr. Chen joined Daniele Gatti and theOrchestre National de France for a televised concert in Paris in front of anaudience of over 800,000. Mr. Chen recently completed a five-city tour ofChina with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano, aswell as a European tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra andEschenbach. Other highlights of the past season include his debuts withthe Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, a recital at the AmsterdamConcertgebouw, and a second engagement with Gatti and the OrchestreNational de France.

Expanding the appeal of classical music to young audiences is a commit-ment that encompasses Mr. Chen’s work both onstage and off. His use ofsocial media, in particular his series of quirky, self-made online videos, hasproven an effective tool in broadening the reach of classical music throughhumor and education.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Mr. Chen was accepted at age 15to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Aaron Rosand andwas supported by Young Concert Artists. He plays the 1715 “Joachim”Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. This instru-ment was once owned by the famed Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim.

Ray ChenSOPHIE ZHAI

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Great Performers I Meet the Artist

Great Performers

Lincoln Center’s Great Performers

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers offersclassical and contemporary music performances from the world’s outstandingsymphony orchestras, vocalists, chamber ensembles, and recitalists. Since itsinitiation in 1965, the series has expanded to include significant emergingartists and premieres of groundbreaking productions, with offerings fromOctober through June in Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall,and other performance spaces around New York City. Along with liederrecitals, Sunday morning coffee concerts, and films, Great Performers offersa rich spectrum of programming throughout the season.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: pre-senter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and com-munity relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter ofmore than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educa-tional activities annually, LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals includ-ing American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, LincolnCenter Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival,and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award–winning Live FromLincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the LincolnCenter campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Centercomplex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2 billioncampus renovation, completed in October 2012.

Lincoln Center Programming DepartmentJane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic DirectorHanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music ProgrammingJon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary ProgrammingJill Sternheimer, Director, Public ProgrammingLisa Takemoto, Production ManagerCharles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary ProgrammingKate Monaghan, Associate Director, ProgrammingMauricio Lomelin, Producer, Contemporary ProgrammingJulia Lin, Associate ProducerRegina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic DirectorLuna Shyr, Programming Publications EditorMadeleine Oldfield, House Seat CoordinatorKathy Wang, House Program Intern

For the Walter Reade TheaterGregory Wolfe, Stage Manager

Mr. Chen’s representation:CAMI Musicwww.camimusic.com

sunday morning, october 25, 2015, at 11:00 m o ray chen...

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