   Track Listing Chopin: Two Nouctrnes 1. Nocturne in F-sharp Major Op 15. No 2 2. Nocturne in F Minor Op. 55 No 1 3. Ballade No 1 in G minor Op. 2 Brahms: Three Intermezzi 4. Intermezzo in B-flat Major from Op. 76 5. Intermezzo in A major from Op. 76 6. Intermezzo in A major from Op. 118 Schubert: Three Impromptus from Op. 90 7. Impromptu in E-flat Major No 2 8. Impromptu in G-flat Major No 3 9. Impromptu in A-flat Major No 4 Frédéric François Chopin (1810-1849) was born and educated in Poland, where his father was a professor in the Warsaw Lyceum. He studied music theory, figured, bass, and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory and heard visiting virtuosos such as the violinist Paganini. In 1831, after premiering his own piano concertos, the twenty-one year old fled due to the November Uprising. By late 1834, he was comfortably settled in Paris, embraced by the French as well as the Polish immigrants. Although his piano playing dazzled his audience, Chopin increasingly saw himself primarily as a composer, and he began to refine his shorter genre pieces in the context of large-scale compositions. The resulting works, which include the his ballades and nocturnes, mark a new mature phase of Chopin who was to become one of the most influential composers of the post-Beethoven era. His creations for the piano exhibit a uniquely flexible rhythmic sense, with much rubato and relaxation of tempo. He loved chromaticism but did not consider himself a romantic, avoiding scene painting and programmatic titles. Chopin took the new salon genre of the nocturne, invented by Irish composer John Field, to a deeper level of sophistication. The Ballade in G minor (1831-35, pub. 1836) has often been thought of as a lament, as Chopin created in it a yearning sensation through a recurring melody accompanied by intricate minor and diminished harmonies. It is one of his more demanding works due to its technical runs intertwined with expressive, lyrical melodies, eventually cumulating in a brilliant ending. As pianist, German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) gave the world premieres of his piano concertos as well as the difficult Handel and Paganini variations, and gained renown for a concert tour with the great violinist Eduard Reményi. The fourth and sixth intermezzi from his 1878 op. 76 are excellent examples of his middle-period piano works and were composed during the creation of his violin concerto and first two symphonies. The six pieces of op. 118, his second-to-last published work (1893), were dedicated to Clara Schumann. They adhere to A-B-A form and an explore of his lyric, reflective voice. The second Intermezzo in A Major is tender and consoling, full of sweet hints of harmonic modulation that might take us beyond a lullaby without words. Only a central section enriched by descending chromaticism moves beyond the norm. The return is prepared by urgent triplets and then a richer echo of its first idea, making a natural encore to the others, its rocking motion and veiled harmonies a valediction entirely its own. Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer particularly noted for his melodic genius who completed seven symphonies and many large-scale choral works. Schubert published eight impromptus in 1827 and three of his unnamed piano compositions were published as impromptus after his death. The finest of his op. 90 is the second in E-flat major; it starts off as a gentle waltz (Ländler), but is transformed into a piece of great poignancy, encompassing Schubert's brilliance for music of great personal anguish and sorrow, with a beautiful hymn-like melody in the middle section and dramatic minor-major contrast. The minor coda leaves the journey ultimately unresolved. The third impromptu contrasts slow, stationary themes with the rapid movement of broken triads in the middle registers. This piece was featured in the 1997 film Gattica, and creates a paradoxical impression of being both static and dynamic, beautiful and brutish -- all at the same time. The main theme of the fourth impromptu consists of fantastic, cascading arpeggios followed by a hymn-like passage. Both these are repeated and developed, going through C-flat major and B minor before finally reaching A-flat major. Notes by Dr. Laura Prichard
musicologist-in-residence at San Francisco Symphony |