Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in C minor Op. 18 No. 4 In the Napoleonic era, when a Viennese aristocrat was thinking of entertaining friends at home, he might pop down to the local shop to pick up a six-pack—of … Continue reading
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PROGRAM NOTES: FILIPPO GORINI
Posted onLudwig van Beethoven Sonata A flat major Op. 110 Beethoven’s penultimate piano sonata is remarkable for the utter simplicity of its musical ideas and the directness with which they are expressed. The most obvious late-period features of this work are … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV
Posted onRichard Wagner Isolde’s Liebestod arr. Franz Liszt The 19th century in Europe was an age in which psychological states went mainstream in the arts, becoming a particularly powerful stimulus for musical expression. A new genre, the nocturne, for example, captured … Continue reading
Notice of the Vancouver Recital Society’s AGM
Posted onNOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS OF THE VANCOUVER RECITAL SOCIETY (the “Society”) The Board of Directors of the Society hereby gives notice that the Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI
Posted onRobert Schumann Waldszenen Op. 82 It is not by chance that Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz, the founding work of German musical Romanticism, is set in a forest. Nor is it a coincidence that German Romantic poets from … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: PAUL LEWIS
Posted onJohannes Brahms 7 Fantasies Op. 116 If the word fantasy implies improvisation and free association of thoughts, then the collection of three capricci and four intermezzi that Brahms published under the title Fantasien in 1892 are misnamed, as they are … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: SIR SIMON KEENLYSIDE
Posted onJohannes Brahms Songs from Opp. 6, 72, 86 & 96 It may be surprising to learn that while Brahms is universally revered as a giant of 19th-century instrumental music, he is often listed as one of the lesser composers of … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: ANDREA LUCCHESINI
Posted onDomenico Scarlatti Six Sonatas K 491 – K 454 – K 239 – K 466 – K 342 – K 146 The 550-odd sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti are perhaps the most successful works to migrate from the harpsichord to the modern grand piano. Their transparent texture … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: IGOR LEVIT
Posted onJohann Sebastian Bach Chaconne in D minor BWV 1004 (arr. Brahms) The Bach revival of the 19th century began with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in 1829, conducted by the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. It reached its stride … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: JULIA BULLOCK & JOHN ARIDA
Posted onFRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) Four Lieder About the Composer Franz Schubert established the German lied as an important art form and then set a standard of excellence that no one since has quite matched. Schubert created more than 600 songs in … Continue reading