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Semi-Final Round GARTNER AUDITORIUM CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART July 30, 2021 Presented by Piano Cleveland

Cleveland International Piano Competition July 30 Semi

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Page 1: Cleveland International Piano Competition July 30 Semi

Semi-Final Round

GARTNER AUDITORIUM CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART

July 30, 2021

Presented by Piano Cleveland

Page 2: Cleveland International Piano Competition July 30 Semi

Jiarui Cheng China

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)Sonata in B Minor K. 87

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)“America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov)

-brief pause-

Yedam Kim South Korea

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 29

Freddie Mercury (1946–1991)“Bohemian Rhapsody” (arr. Kurbatov)

-intermission-

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448

Jiarui Cheng

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) Sonata in B Minor K. 87

Born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel, and just two years a�er Jean-Philippe Rameau, Domenico Scarlatti was one of a handful of illustrious musicians and composers who came of age in the early eighteenth century and who would come to profoundly influence the later development of Western music. He was born in Naples, and was himself the son of a major composer, Alessandro Scarlatti, who was known especially for his work in Italian opera—a fashionable commodity taking the aristocratic audiences of the Italian peninsula by storm. Domenico, one of ten children, was trained in music by his father; his first appointment, at the age of sixteen, was as composer and organist to the Neapolitan royal chapel. It was the beginning of a significant career conducted across the courtly centers of Europe, which would eventually bring Scarlatti to the Iberian peninsula in 1719: first to Lisbon, where for eight years he was the sole music teacher to the Infanta of Portugal, Maria Barbara; then a briefer stay in Seville; and finally to Madrid, where he served as the music master once more to Maria Barbara, now married to the future King of Spain.

Scarlatti lived the rest of his life in Spain, and his music from this period—primarily the 555 sonatas for solo keyboard for which he is best known today—absorbed significant elements of Iberian musical culture, including colorful harmonies influenced by folk music and keyboard figuration reminiscent of the Spanish guitar. In addition, they drew on melodic and harmonic gestures from the newly fashionable galant style that swept across Europe from the 1730s onwards, a musical movement that favoured simplicity in melody and harmony, and which, in reacting against the complex, contrapuntal style of the Baroque period laid the ground for the establishment of the Classical style that flourished at the end of the eighteenth century. Scarlatti’s sonatas capture this tension well. Many of the sonatas are straightforwardly in the binary form familiar from the suites of dances beloved by Baroque composers such as Bach. Each piece, typically cast in a single movement, falls into two repeated and complementary halves based on similar material: the first half o�en features a modulation to a new key, while the second returns to the home key. But some of Scarlatti’s sonatas feature an innovation in binary form that points towards sonata form, the formal pattern that would come of age in the Classical era and inform musical composition in the Western tradition for well over a century. Sonatas in this mold foreground musical similarities between the two halves, deliberately mimicking the outline of the first half in the second.

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The vast majority of Scarlatti’s compositions were unpublished during his lifetime, and the composer’s only significant publication came from his Madrid years: the Essercizi per gravicembalo or “Exercises for Harpsichord” of 1738, which brings together 30 of the 555 sonatas. Nonetheless, Scarlatti’s sonatas exerted a substantial influence on later keyboard writing, and were much admired by pianists of the late eighteenth-century onwards—both for the beauty, economy and originality of their keyboard writing, and for the way each sonata seems to encapsulate specific challenges of keyboard technique or expressive playing. The sonata in B minor, K 87, is a slow, serious piece which belongs more to the composer’s Baroque inheritance than the galant future. Melancholy and expressive, the sonata is based on continually descending scales in different contrapuntal lines.

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60

The two piano virtuosos who defined the sound of Romantic pianism in the first half of the nineteenth century—Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt—were born within 18 months of one another, in 1810 and 1811 respectively. Yet in their music and in their character, the two men defined opposite poles of musical experience. Liszt’s extravagant showmanship was well suited to public display, and to the growing demand for public concert-going across Europe. Chopin, by contrast, looked inwards: though no less prodigiously gi�ed than his Hungarian contemporary, his music and playing blossomed in the intimate space of the salon. Born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin in a small town near Warsaw, the composer was a child prodigy who was giving his first public concerts already by the age of seven. By the age of twenty, having been trained in a range of musical disciplines and with two youthful piano concertos to display, he was planning his European tour as a concert pianist. But a volatile political situation in his Polish homeland would alter his plans decisively: in the wake of the failed November Uprising of 1830, when Polish rebels ineffectually challenged the Russian Empire’s rule, Chopin travelled to Paris, where he found himself among a rich community of Poles in exile. Paris would be his home for the rest of his life; he never returned to Poland.

When first establishing himself in Paris, Chopin sought to make his name by giving public concerts. But he found himself attracting unfavorable comparisons to more extraverted pianists, like Liszt; one common criticism is that his sound was too small for the large halls that public concerts typically demanded. As a result, Chopin withdrew into the private sphere, cultivating his relationships with the Parisian elite by giving performances in aristocratic salons, dedicating his published and unpublished compositions to pupils and patrons, and giving lessons; he was in high demand as a teacher. Much of Chopin’s output, from nocturnes to waltzes, emerges from this elite milieu. The Barcarolle, Op. 60, however, stands somewhat apart.

PROGRAM NOTES

The barcarolle (a French word, derived from the Italian for boat, barca) was the name given to folk songs sung by Venetian gondoliers, but the genre was a staple, even a cliché, of nineteenth-century music. Barcarolles for the piano were especially popular, given that the essential musical characteristics of the genre—a moderate tempo, a rocking time signature of 6/8, a singing melody and an air of romance—lent themselves well to the instrument’s expressive capabilities. But Chopin’s effort, while taking these features as a starting point, ultimately transcends the picture-postcard origins of the barcarolle to make a profoundly original artistic statement. It was written in 1845–46 over two summers spent in Nohant, the home town of Chopin’s long-term partner, the novelist George Sand. Chopin may well have been inspired by the barcarolles that appeared in Italian operas he had seen in Paris, Dresden and Vienna; certainly, this would be in keeping with Chopin’s fondness for transmuting the long, ornate melodies of Italian bel canto opera into dazzling pianistic equivalents, as happens o�en in his nocturnes. There is definitely a nocturnal quality to the Barcarolle, with its wide ranging le�-hand accompaniment and its singing right-hand melody in thirds. Yet there is also an epic, almost narrative quality to the piece that recalls Chopin’s efforts in a different genre, the ballade. Like Chopin’s four works bearing this title, the Barcarolle knits together several themes in a process of continual variation, creating a totally idiosyncratic form that seems to tell a story. It was this combination of beauty and originality that made Barcarolle a particular favorite of pianists and composers in the decades following Chopin’s death.

The Barcarolle begins with a brief introduction, in which the swaying seafaring rhythm is established by the le� hand alone. With the entry of the graceful main theme against this expectant background, the listener embarks on the journey of the piece. The main theme is repeated, varied, embellished, before moving into new reaches. Hushed, minor-key questioning gives way to a new theme that shi�s and slips between harmonies a half-step apart; then another, songlike tune blossoms in the higher registers of the piano. An ecstatic quiet passage proves to be a disguised transition back to the main theme, now joyfully uninhibited; then, as the intensity slowly diminishes over a long coda, intricate arabesques in the right hand bring the piece to a close. For those who tuned in to our First and Second Round performances, Chopin’s Barcarolle will be familiar, as it was the music featured before each broadcast, during intermission, and at the closing credits, performed by 2016 CIPC contestant Tomer Gewirtzman.

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Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

Sergei Rachmaninoff was the quintessential Russian composer-pianist, successful equally in both fields throughout his career. Born to an aristocratic family, Rachmaninoff was sent to live with famed teacher Nikolai Zverev, who put him on a rigorous musical schedule through courses at the Moscow Conservatory (fellow pupils included other future composers, such as Alexander Scriabin). Zverev instructed all of his students to focus only on piano performance, so Rachmaninoff was discouraged from pursuing composing until a�er he completed his piano degree. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Great Gold Medal in composition, leading him to sign a publishing contract with Gutheil that helped jumpstart his compositional career. It was in this early stage that Rachmaninoff composed his first major hit: his Prelude for solo piano in C-sharp minor, a piece that became so popular that Rachmaninoff felt practically obliged to perform it as an encore for every concert. Beginning in the late 1890s, he took up the baton for the first time, and toured across Russia and Europe for several decades as a pianist and conductor.

However, a�er the Russian revolutions of 1917, Rachmaninoff was forced to flee Russia; he would never return. Of necessity, Rachmaninoff focused on his performance career over and above composition so that he could make enough money to support his family. As a result, most of the composer’s works were written before this point. By 1919, he was living in New York and had been offered a Steinway piano as a gi�, leading him to perform 40 concerts during the 1919–1920 season alone; much of the remainder of his career was spent touring the United States and Germany. Like many other Russian composers, Rachmaninoff had a complicated relationship with his former homeland a�er the Revolution, and in 1931 he vented his feelings by sending a letter to the New York Times, signed by two fellow Russian expatriates, that criticized Soviet policies. This public challenge was met with a bitter attack by the press in Moscow, leading to the ban on the performance and study of his works in the Soviet Union for two years.

The Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42, emerged at precisely this moment, and its complex emotional undercurrents; it was the composer’s last work for solo piano, and the only such work written a�er his departure from Russia. Written in 1931, it is not Rachmaninoff’s most famous set of variations; the concerto-like Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, written not long a�erwards, is by far the better known. Unlike the exuberant mischief of the latter work, however, the Corelli Variations are darker in tone, partly as a result of the chosen theme. Despite its name, this was not actually written by Corelli. It is a very old tune known as “La Folia,” whose origins lie in the early seventeenth century. “La Folia” is in a minor key (D minor in Rachmaninoff’s work), and consists of two eight-measure phrases, both identical except for the ending of each phrase: the first time, the tune loops

back round to the beginning, whereas the second time it comes to a full close. The melody and its associated chord pattern were a mainstay of Baroque composition, and had been used by dozens of composers since the Baroque period as well; Liszt’s Rhapsodie espagnole, for instance, was based on variations of the “Folia.”

In Rachmaninoff’s hands, the tune appears in its simplest form at the outset, but from the very first variation the simple harmonic framework underpinning the melody is altered by the addition of “blue” notes; in fact, the way Rachmaninoff substitutes surprising new chords for the familiar harmonies of “La Folia” is distinctly jazz-like. There are twenty variations, not counting the initial theme statement, a coda at the end, and a surprising “Intermezzo” movement in between Variations 13 and 14. This “Intermezzo” is crucial, as it divides the work into a series of movements, of a kind. Variations 1–13 explore the tune in a range of textures, accompaniment patterns, and rhythms. The “Intermezzo” then serves as a transition: it sounds like a free hybrid between a cadenza (an improvised solo in a concerto movement, in which the soloist shows off his chops) and a recitative (a way of setting text in operas and oratorios that follows the natural rhythms of speech, with bare chords in the accompaniment). Two very striking variations follow (14 and 15), the only ones in a major key; the first is a tender and melancholy reharmonization of the theme, the second a delicate piece akin to a nocturne. Variations 16–20 see the return of D minor, the home key, and get progressively more difficult, more full-textured, and emotionally raw. Finally, the coda—cool and reserved—brings the variations to an understated close.

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) “America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov)

Leonard Bernstein was a genuine musical polymath, and one of few musicians who could genuinely claim to have had equal success in his career as an influential composer, a major conductor, and a significant pianist. He was also a dedicated communicator and educator, who was tireless in his efforts to make works of the classical canon available and accessible to new audiences; and he was also genuinely open to the possibilities of American popular music, from big band arrangements to Latin American popular dance rhythms, in a way that few “serious” musicians were for much of the twentieth century. Born to Jewish Ukrainian immigrant parents, Bernstein grew up in Massachusetts, eventually going on to study at Harvard. A series of increasingly important conducting appointments eventually saw him become the first American-born principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic, an appointment he held for just over 10 years (1958–1969); during his tenure he played an especially significant role in promoting the works of Gustav Mahler, recording eight of Mahler’s nine symphonies with the orchestra. Bernstein wholeheartedly embraced the potential of television, famously bringing the Philharmonic’s “Young People’s Concerts”

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series to a record new audience through the broadcast medium. In later life, he enjoyed an international reputation: it was Bernstein who conducted a landmark performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in former East Berlin, following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As a composer, Bernstein’s style was marked out by its eclecticism, borrowing from a wide range of musical genres and styles; during his lifetime he was occasionally frustrated by criticism that his “serious” works lacked a wholly original core. But it is this facility with genre and style that led to what is undoubtedly Bernstein’s most widely known and beloved work, the musical score for West Side Story. The musical was an inspired collaboration between author-playwright Arthur Laurents, choreographer Jerome Robbins, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and Bernstein himself. What was originally conceived as a story of religious conflict between Jews and Catholics in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (“East Side Story”) became, a�er a long genesis, the story of ethnic conflict between rival gangs on the Upper West Side, loosely modelled on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Montagues and Capulets are transformed into the Jets, mainly white descendants of European immigrants, and the Sharks, recently arrived Puerto Rican immigrants: like the play, West Side Story ends tragically, with a death on stage at the end of each act. Lyrics, choreography and music to West Side Story all made much of the Latin American element story, taking inspiration from Latin American dances, instruments, and musical genres.

While many of the musical numbers are classics — from the witty “I Feel Pretty” to the rapturous “Maria”— perhaps the single best known number from West Side Story is also the number that probes most deeply into the immigrant experience. “America” is conceived as a playful argument between Anita, girlfriend of the Sharks’ leader Bernardo, and Rosalia, one of her friends: Anita, as per the famous line, “wants to be in America,” while Rosalia would prefer to return to Puerto Rico. (In the 1961 film adaptation, the duet is modified, and the argument is between the pro-America Sharks men and the pro-Puerto Rico Sharks women). Bernstein embodies this tension musically in the main tune through a clever rhythmic scheme that alternates, bar by bar, from duple time to triple time: that is, Bernstein divides the measure either into two beats (1-and-a | 2-and-a ) or three beats (1-and | 2-and | 3-and). By swapping between them constantly, the tension between Anita and Rosalia comes to life, and in between the insults and barbs they throw at each other in the verses there are interludes for the orchestra alone, that allow for the choreography to tell the story.

Yedam Kim

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61

As described above, much of Chopin’s output, from nocturnes to waltzes, emerged from the Parisian elite milieu. Other works, however, had their wellspring in Chopin’s Polish identity, an identity that found musical expression particularly in two dances associated with his former homeland: the mazurka and the polonaise. Much like Baroque composers’ artistic evocations of courtly dances in their keyboard suites, Chopin’s adoption of these Polish dance genres and their characteristic rhythms transformed them into vehicles for artistic expression—and for a nationalist sentiment that would only increase in intensity a�er Chopin’s death.

The polonaise, by its very name, is “of Poland” (in French): originally a folk dance, it had been absorbed by the nobility and was popular in aristocratic ballrooms across Europe. It is a broad dance in triple time (three beats to each measure) and has a characteristic rhythm, with a drum-like rap on the first beat of the bar. Chopin had written his first polonaise aged just seven, and cultivated the form throughout his life; however, of the 23 polonaises he is known to have written, only seven were published during his lifetime. The latest of these, and his last essay in the genre, was the Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61, written and published in 1846. A long and complex work, the hyphenated title already indicates that this is no ordinary polonaise: the “fantasy” element is at least as important, if not more so. In fact, the polonaise’s rhythmic pattern is perhaps detectable only in the first theme, which appears only a�er an extended, searching introduction. For much of the rest of the piece, Chopin uses the dance more as a pretext for exploring the furthest reaches of harmony and form; like in the composer’s four Ballades, there is a sense of being taken on a journey “through” a musical process, though there is no specific program or story that attaches to the work.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 29

I. Allegro molto sostenuto II. Andante assai III. Allegro con brio, ma non leggiero

PROGRAM NOTES

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From an early age, Sergei Prokofiev strove to balance his progressive nature with a nuanced appreciation for the Western musical tradition he had inherited. Born in what is now Ukraine, he started taking piano lessons with pianist and composer Reinhold Glière aged just four. By his teens Prokofiev was already being hailed as a prodigy, leading to his enrollment at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied orchestration under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Even in his early conservatory days, Prokofiev was considered to be a rebel: his music gravitated towards the percussive (or barbaric, some said), yet always revealed a reverence for Classical and Romantic forms and compositional devices. This balance between innovative modernist tendencies and traditional structures not only led to the birth of neoclassicism—an early twentieth-century compositional style with which Prokofiev is closely associated—but also likely kept Prokofiev alive and (mostly) thriving throughout the turmoil of the Stalinist regime.

Prokofiev’s life and compositional output were profoundly shaped by the tumultuous politics of his home country. The October Revolution of 1917 prompted his departure from Russia, like several of his Russian contemporaries. Arriving in the United States in 1918, Prokofiev came face to face with one such individual, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who by that point had already built a successful career overseas as a performer. But while Rachmaninoff had mastered satisfying American tastes through his varied concert programs, Prokofiev had difficulty coming to terms with these new expectations, leading him to eventually move back to Europe—and to Paris in particular. And whereas Rachmaninoff would never return to his homeland, Prokofiev always retained contact with what had become the Soviet Union through concert tours and performances of his works. In 1936, almost 20 years a�er he had le�, he and his family moved back to Moscow. Prokofiev was, for a time, able to align his musical instincts and output to satisfy the whims of the Soviet state. Towards the end of his life, however, his music was officially proscribed, alongside that of Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, and others, which profoundly affected his ability to make a living. In ill-health for much of his final years, Prokofiev died on March 5th, 1953—by ironic coincidence, the same day that Stalin himself died.

Prokofiev wrote piano sonatas throughout his life; Sonata No. 4 is a relatively early work, composed and premiered in 1917—shortly before the composer le� Russia. Like Sonata No. 3 that preceded it, the work is subtitled “from old notebooks,” a marker of the work’s origins in Prokofiev’s early juvenilia; but it is a more serious, somber work than its predecessor. Cast in a traditional pattern of three movements, in a fast-slow-fast order, the sonata begins in a key of surprising restraint. The opening movement is in a measured three-to-a-bar, and is in sonata form: two musical ideas are presented in different keys in the first part of the sonata (the exposition), and then reprised in the home key, a�er some intervening activity, in the second part (the recapitulation). But the whole movement is stamped with a shaking trill-like motive, heard right at the beginning in the bass register and then repeatedly throughout;

Prokofiev’s lifelong love of contrapuntal textures, with multiple, interlocking lines of music sounding simultaneously, is much in evidence. In the central slow movement, a plodding accompaniment pattern supports long-limbed, plaintive melodies in the right hand. Finally, in the third movement (the briefest of the three), the minor-key gloom of the sonata thus far li�s: a helter-skelter chase across the piano begins, marking this movement out as a sort of toccata (a fast piece involving tricky repeated notes and plenty of nimble fingerwork).

Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) “Bohemian Rhapsody” (arr. Kurbatov)

The shy, introverted man born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar in 1946 will forever be better known to posterity as Freddie Mercury—the passionate, charismatic and flamboyant lead singer of the English rock band Queen—who died, much before his time, in London in 1991. Born to Parsi parents who worked for the British colonial office in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), Mercury attended a British-style boarding schools in India for much of his childhood, where he cultivated a strong taste for western popular music. The whole family would relocate to England in the mid-1960s following a violent revolution in Zanzibar. A�er studying graphic art and design at college in London, Mercury flitted between a few short0lived bands. But it wasn’t long before he would team up with Brian May (guitar), Roger Stone (drums) and John Deacon (bass), to form a new band on Mercury immediately bestowed a grand title: Queen.

The immense success Queen enjoyed over the next two decades is partly result of Mercury’s gi�ed vocals: blessed with an enormous range and a chameleonic ability to embody different vocal styles, he was able to bring something new and different to each song, each performance. But Mercury also brought those vocals to bear on a set of highly original songs, many of which have become revered classics of twentieth-century popular music. And perhaps the most original and unique and eccentric of them all is the six-minute, genre-bending, medley-style suite called “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The song melds together five incongruous sections: an introduction, a ballad incorporating a guitar solo, what Mercury called “the opera section”, a hard-rock passage, and a so�er coda. The music changes key as frequently as it does style, and each section is characterised by allusive lyrics that are playful, confusing and nihilistic by turns. Released as a single in 1975, the song completely confounded record executives who had judged the song to be completely unsuited to radio promotion by becoming a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The band also broke new ground by releasing the song alongside a promotional music video, then almost unheard of as a practice and a harbinger of the MTV generation to come. Though critical opinion of the idiosyncratic song was mixed on its release, in the decades since has become one of the most significant and influential popular song committed to record.

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2021 CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / SEMI FINAL-ROUND

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448

I. Allegro con spirit II. Andante III. Allegro molto

One of the most important musicians of the Classical period and its foremost child prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, in what is now Austria, to a highly musical family. His father, Leopold, was a violinist; once he saw the musical gi�s with which his son and his younger sister Nännerl were endowed, he set off on a long tour of the courts and cities of Europe, proudly showing off his children’s musical abilities on the violin and piano to the astonished nobility. In particular, the young Wolfgang—no older than five when he began touring, and just eight when he wrote his first symphony—caused a sensation. Mozart thus grew up in a glare of publicity, and it is perhaps no coincidence that a�er a brief engagement at the court of the archbishop of Salzburg, he was one of the first composers to make a living as an independent musician. That is, rather than entering the service of a single powerful nobleman (as his elder colleague Joseph Haydn would do for most of his career), Mozart would eventually move to Vienna, and support himself by giving public concerts—a new fashion in the late 1700s—teaching, selling works to publishers, and seeking the ad hoc support of benevolent patrons. Mozart’s compositions would come to be emblematic of the mature Classical style: they are characterized by an easy grace that blended the charm and sophistication of the galant style, which was in full force when he was born, with a new intellectual rigor and complexity that came with his study of music from the earlier Baroque period—and especially the works of Handel and J. S. Bach.

Mozart took pupils throughout his independent professional career, and some of these pupils (such as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who studied with Mozart as a boy) went on to become major figures of a pan-European, “post-Classical” style. Others forged significant careers in the Viennese sphere—a category that includes Josepha von Auernhammer, the dedicatee of the Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 448 and other works. The story of Auernhammer’s varied career—she performed both publicly and privately in Vienna, composed and also published several of her own works, and also corrected proofs of Mozart’s sonatas—is one of many similar stories that confirm how integral women musicians were to musical life in European capitals, throughout a period of music history that we tend to remember by a handful of men’s names alone (Mozart’s among them). K. 448 was written in 1781, during Auernhammer’s studies with Mozart; only 23 at the time, she apparently fell in love with the then-unmarried composer, two years her senior. This may have prompted the slightly acid remark in one of Mozart’s letters dated June 27, 1781: “I dine almost daily with

H. v. Auernhammer; the young lady is a fright, but plays enchantingly, though in cantabile playing she has not got the real delicate singing style. She clips everything.” Nevertheless, Mozart clearly esteemed Auernhammer’s playing, as they performed together in at least three concerts over the following year.

The sonata itself is a fine tribute to Auernhammer’s abilities. It is a cheerful work, unashamedly entertaining and wearing its virtuosic tendencies easily. As with many of Mozart’s solo piano works, it is written idiomatically for the keyboard while still managing to evoke the timbres and textures of music for a larger ensemble (and especially his symphonies and concertos). With two players, however, Mozart is able to take this mimicry much further, and performing the sonata effectively requires the two pianists to work together as an orchestral unit. O�en, one can sense the pianists’ four hands being “scored” like an orchestra: a firm bassline in one hand, a chugging accompaniment akin to a string section in another, punctuating brass or wind chords in yet another hand, and over the top the charming tunes for violin or solo woodwind. Sometimes, the two pianists bat melodic lines between them like a tennis rally; at other times, one pianist steps back, accompanying the other pianist’s singing line.

As was typical of the sonata genre by this point, K. 448 is written in three movements. The first movement is in a classical sonata form: this musical form, which fully cohered in the works of Mozart’s generation of composers, would remain the standard formal reference point for instrumental music genres for well over a century. The form depends on the presentation of (typically) two contrasting musical ideas in different keys, in a first part known as the exposition. K. 448’s opening theme is grand and symphonic, outlining the home key of D major with bold descending arpeggios (broken chords) and a fizzing trill (shake); the second theme is so�er, with a sense of curtseying grace. There follows a transitional section known as the development, where ideas from the exposition are chopped up and mixed together; finally, in the recapitulation, all the musical themes from the exposition are repeated in order, but altered so as to end in the home key. The opening movement of K. 448 is notable, however, for introducing a snaking new tune in the development section, which also comes back in the coda. A�er all this busy activity, the slow second movement offers the opportunity of basking in sweet, winsome melody (though it too is in a fully-fledged sonata form). Finally, the last movement is a madcap rush through contrasting tunes, and sends the audience off with a bang; is also in a modified sonata form known as sonata-rondo, where the principal theme comes back at various points in the movement interspersed with other material—including two deliciously ear-catching minor-key episodes, the only such passages in the whole sonata.

Program notes by Marco Ladd, Ph.D. with support from Marissa Glynias Moore, Ph.D.

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STAY TUNED!

2021 CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / SEMI FINAL-ROUND

Let’s Get Loud in ItalyAdmiral Emily and Captain Joe set off on their

2021 world tour to learn about dynamics in Italy! Get ready to learn the so�s and louds of music

and explore how dynamics work with guest Professor Marissa, and venture into the world of Italian opera with guest singer Crystal Carlson.

Feel the Beat in BrazilGet ready to feel the beat in this fun, energetic

episode as we learn all about different note values, western and world rhythms. Cra� your own

musical shaker to use along with our guest artist, and samba drumming master, Dylan Moffitt.

Move to Meter in Israel Join us as we dive into the world of meter as we learn how to feel pulse, and practice your conducting skills as we get to know different

musical time signatures. Guest artist and President of Piano Cleveland, Yaron Kohlberg joins us in Israel to learn about its unique musical history and style.

Storytelling with MusicThis year’s world tour ends with a look into how

stories are told through music and the tools composers use to bring these stories to life. A

special portion of this episode will be dedicated to meeting women composers, including our guest

artist, singer and harpist Anna O’Connell.

CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE EDUCATION OFFERINGS ON YOUTUBE!

PIANO CLEVELAND

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION FINALISTS

Directly following the performance on Sunday, August 1!

Don’t miss the exciting finale of the CIPC with our final four, performing with Escher String Quartet

August 3 and 4 at 7:00 pm | Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art

Conducted by Jahja Ling August 6 and 7 at 7:00 pm | Severance Hall

AND

Page 9: Cleveland International Piano Competition July 30 Semi

UPCOMING EVENTS

JURY ROUNDTABLEJuly 31 at 10:00 amGartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art

Learn what it takes to crown a winner! President of Piano Cleveland Yaron Kohlberg leads the competition jurors in discussing what jurors listen for during performances and how music competitions impact careers. Presented in-person and virtually.

MASTER CLASSESAugust 1 at 10:00 am | August 5 at 2:00 pmMixon Hall, Cleveland Institute of Music

CIPC Jurors present master classes for talented local university students.

FINAL CHAMBER MUSIC ROUNDAugust 3 and 4 at 7:00 pm Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art

Each evening, two of our four finalists perform chamber music with the engaging Escher String Quartet.

FINAL CONCERTO ROUNDAugust 6 and 7 at 7:00 pmSeverance Hall

Each evening, two of our four finalists perform concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Jahja Ling. Special prize winners and medalists will be announced on Saturday, August 7 following the performances.

Buy tickets at pianocleveland.org