Composers’ inspirations in Performer Interpretations

About the Program

Do pieces change? What were composers thinking when writing them? Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No.1 in g minor opens the program. Composed by Rachmaninoff when he was only 18, élégiaque is an homage to his mentor Tchaikovsky in sonata form featuring 12 episodes filled with emotion and lyricism in under 15 minutes. Lenora Anop (violin), Misha Quint (cello), Dmitry Rachmanov (piano).

How is classical music transported to the modern world? Listeners will time travel back to the 18th century through a 21st century lens with Lenora Anop’s violin transcription of Bach’s Cello Suite no. 2 in d minor. The sonorous Prelude, filled with continuous echoing depth in the Allemande, somber yet creating a breath of uplifting spirit, will highlight the violin’s incredible, unmatchable timbre.

Tchaikovsky’s “youthful” Nocturne in F major is next. Its evocative, vocal-like dissonant chords will create an ethereal effect before Beethoven’s 6 Variations changes the mood with an original theme he later wrote into his famous Turkish March. Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in B-flat major, a rhythmically complex piece considered the “most daunting” of the preludes with a rhythmically complex left-hand ostinato against playing in contrast to a jagged right-hand melody line. Dmitry Rachmanov (piano).

Ravel’s La Valse is often linked to the visually artistic cubist movement. Premiered in 1920, early critics believed the composers’ inspiration for La Valse to be a musical commentary on the embodiment of disintegrating idioms or the demise of society in the aftermath of World War I. Ravel himself dispelled the controversy of his intent and described the dance merely as “a waltz…an ascending progression of sonority, to which the stage comes along to add light and movement”. Beatrice Long (piano).

Listeners will witness The Long Duo, two sister piano virtuosos, perform simultaneously. Inspired by Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance, Starodávný, evokes the spirit of old folk dances or a cherished memory. Considered one of the most difficult in the piano duet repertoire, Mendelssohn’s Allegro Brilliant was dedicated to concert pianist Clara Schumann, and premiered by the composer and dedicatee. The music world was small, even in the 1800’s.

Then the Long Duo will perform their original composition, Fantasy on a Taiwanese Folk Song, Ali Mountan, incorporating jazz-influenced tonalities and end their set with Piazzolla’s versatile and popular Libertango. Beatrice Long, Christina Long (The Long Duo).

Penultimately, cellist Misha Quint will perform 3 heart-wrenching Tchaikovsky pieces with pianist Adrienne Kim. Both Nocturne and the Pezzo capriccioso, a combination of lighting speed and romantic melancholy, were first performed by Anatoly Brandukov on cello and Tchaikovsky conducting or playing piano. Pezzo was composed in a single week in 1887, and Valse sentimentale was originally for solo piano.

Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No.2 in c minor will conclude the concert. A trio written for three soloists and the last chamber work that Mendelssohn saw published, the opening foreboding tone filled with rich harmonic language shifts to a lighter, more lyrical movement. The intricate, technically demanding Scherzo shifts the mood. Finale creates a musical link between the 19th and 16th centuries by quoting the melody from the psalm known colloquially as “Old Hundredth”. Lenora Anop (violin), Misha Quint (cello), Adrienne Kim (piano).

Music is always changing, forever different, and its new moment in time. Composers’ Inspirations and Performers’ interpretations dichotomy expresses how classical musicians do not just play music written on paper; they interpret it and make it their own.