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55th Dubrovnik Summer Festival
2004
Croatia
GÁBOR BOLDOCZKI
trumpet
TERÉZ SZABÓ
piano
Rector's Palace Atrium
17 August
9.30 pm
Georg Friedrich Händel:
Franz Schubert:
George Enescu:
ARIA WITH VARIATIONS from Suite No. 5 in E major
IMPROMPTU No. 4 in A flat major, Op. 90, D. 899
LEGEND
Claude Debussy:
From Book I of PRELUDES
Le Vent dans la plaine (Animé)
Les collines d' Anacapri (Très modéré)
Des pas sur la neige (Triste et lent)
Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (Animé et tumultueux)
Frigyes Hidas:
TRUMPET FANTASY
***
Aleksandar Grigorjevič Arutjunjan: TRUMPET CONCERTO in A flat major
Frédéric Chopin:
BALLAD No. 2 in F major, Op. 38
Béla Bartók:
A TALE OF THE LITTLE FLY from Mikrokosmos VI
Béla Bartók:
DANCE OF BEARS from Ten light piano pieces
Pablo de Sarasate:
ZIEGEUNERWEISEN, Op. 20
Hungarian trumpet player Gábor Boldoczki (1976) was born in Segedin. At the age of 14 he
won at the Hungarian Trumpet Competition and later studied at the Leó Weiner Conservatory
and Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. He continued to study with Reinhold Friedrich
and was the laureate of the International Competition in Porcia and the CIEM Competition in
Geneva. He also holds First Prize at the International Trumpet Competition in Pilisvörösvár
and was the winner at the Prague Spring International Competition, where he was also
awarded the Special Prize of the Check Music Foundation for best contemporary piece
performance. Aged 21 he won at the renowned International ARD Competition in Munich
and won Grand Prix at the 3rd International Maurice André Competition in Paris. He also
won the Prix Davidoff (sponsored by the Reemtsm Foundation) and was acknowledged the
2002 Best Young Musician. He appeared both in recitals and with major European orchestras
(Budapest, Warsaw, Paris, London, Baden-Baden, Cologne, Munich, Zürich, Madrid, etc.)
with renowned conductors. His brilliant technique and profound musicality was critically
acclaimed everywhere and he was often claimed the successor of the great French trumpet
player Maurice André. In 2004 he is invited to perform at the famous Salzburg Festival with
Michael Haydn's Trumpet Concertos.
Hungarian pianist Teréz Szabó was born in Budapest, where she began to take piano lessons
at the age of seven. She graduated from the Liszt Ferenc High School of Music under Péter
Solymos, István Lantos and Sándor Falvai and has been teaching there since 1979. She was
awarded many times for the best piano accompaniment at international competitions (Prague
1982, Budapest 1984, Markneukirchen 1986, Geneva 1986, etc.) In 1987 she took part in the
concert series organised by the György Czifra Fondation and in the televised Gala Concert in
Dresden. As soloist she appeared in Europe, Asia and the USA. She was the rehearser at the
Maurice André master course in Hungary and since 1998 she has been the accompanist of
Gábor Boldoczki.
As is often the case with Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759), his Aria with variations
from the Harpsichord Suite in E major, also known as the “Harmonious Blacksmith”, is
a specific study of the structure blending. Elegant and restrained, the distinguished main
theme (that has two versions, of which one was published in Händel’s collection in 1720),
constantly changing its colours as well as the colours of its accompaniment, more and more
dissolves through its five transformations, becoming tenser, easier and faster. In the process,
the sound vitality springs more from its melody and rhythm than from the boldness in
harmonising. In the final fifth variation, loosing its clear contours, it spills into the furious
stream of the thirty-second notes that in a tense rush unstoppably carry it to the abyss of the
finale.
The word impromptu means improvisation, and, as a title, it was mainly used by the later
Romantic Movement. Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) most probably knew the Vienna and
Prague editions of mainly Check composers of character pieces and dances at the time,
among which the impromptus presented a significant part. Schubert composed the first and
the second part of his Impromptus in groups of four (Op. 90, D. 899 and Op. 142, D. 935) in
autumn and winter of 1827. The first and the second Impromptu from Op. 90 were published
already that same year, whereas the third and the fourth one from that opus were published
only in 1855. The efficient publisher Haslinger was the one who gave the Impromptus their
titles, knowing how to combine the valuable with the profitable: he rightfully hoped that the
cleverly chosen French titles of the impressionable piano pieces will sell particularly well in
the period when playing the piano become fashionable in the female amateur circles. And
indeed, the business was successful, although one must admit that the composer let down the
businessman a bit. A bizarre and exotic title did not hide a free, and structure-wise loose
fantasy, but a piece with a strict structure, high virtuosity, masterful meloharmonic and well
developed rhythm. The Impromptu No. 4 from Op. 90, D. 899, the anthological Allegretto
in A flat major, is a demanding miniature, filled with a fast music flow. Its calmer, but
expression-wise exciting central part reveals Schubert’s most intimate feelings.
The output of the Romanian composer, the disciple of Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré,
George Enescu (1881 - 1955), - also great violinist, brilliant conductor, the promoter of the
three great Romanian orchestras (the Philharmonic Society, the Ministry of Culture Orchestra
and the George Enescu Symphony Orchestra in Iaşi ), the excellent pedagogue (among his
celebrated students were Yehudi Menuhin, Arthur Grumiaux and Christian Ferras) and
skilful organiser (particularly in promoting the contemporary music) – can be divided in two
basic fields. The first one includes the pieces with elements of the Romanian folk music
amalgamated with the European music heritage (opera Oedipus and two Romanian
Rhapsodies) while the second one is characteristic of the cosmopolitan style to which
Enescu, master of the orchestral technique, managed to add many personal traits.
The one-movement Legend for trumpet and piano was composed in 1904. This attractive
rhapsodic work is influenced by the style of Debussy, Ravel, Massenet and Fauré. The piece
begins with a calm and singable lyrical introduction that in the central part blends into a
virtuoso section of a dramatic conflict between the two instruments. The introductory mood
(this time with mutes) appears again at the end of the piece, in which the music gradually
slows down, withdraws and disappears.
The founder and codifier of the 20th century music, French composer Claude Debussy
(1862 – 1981) is a true master of the subtle music subjectivism in which the massive sound
blocks retreat before the lighter and more fluid lingering of the tones, the transparent and
slightly shaded motives, the apparently free and undefined rhythms and the barely noticeable
dynamic oscillations.
Debussy composed two books of his piano Preludes. The first one was composed in 1910
and published that same year by Durand in Paris. Debussy first performed its larger part on
25th May 1910 and on 29th March 1011 in Paris, whereas the pianist Ricardo Viñes was in
charge of the remaining part in 1911. Debussy composed the second book from 1910 to 1913
and the same publisher printed it in 1913. The tonight’s programme includes the four
preludes from Book I. Le Vent dans la plaine (The Wind in the Valley) is an allusion to the
poetry of Paul Verlaine who in the heading of his Forgotten Songs quotes the Favarite’s
couplet The Wind in the Valley Takes Your Breath Away. In the music background, there is a
persistent whispering, the display of the mysterious sextolets with chromatically coloured
sprouts. Everything is light and full of joyful ardour. At its end, the movement fades away
and disappears in the distance, uncertain and with a still unexplored sound. Les collines d'
Anacapri (The Hills of Anacapri) are Debussy’s memories of his visit to the Island of Capri,
the final dwelling place of Tiberi, the place of joy and lightness, the synonym of light and
luxury. Des pas sur la neige (Traces in the Snow) is a musical arrangement of Debussy’s
poetic text about the painful departure of a very close person. In spite of all the whiteness of
the sombre and icily indifferent landscape, the prelude has an extremely exciting and tense
slow music flow with an unparalleled rhythmic reverberation. The title of the prelude Ce
qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the West Wind Saw) was borrowed from the well-known
Andersen’s fairy tale. The thunder of the wind swirls in the bass is brilliantly controlled by a
thoughtfully graduated harmonic tension. The sound climax reveals a horrific outbreak of a
storm; the prelude ends like a wind, unexpectedly and harshly, by a stroke of a wild,
dissonant chord.
Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas (Budapest, 1928) graduated in composition in 1951
from the Liszt Ferenc High School of Music under Jánosa Viski in his hometown. He was
first engaged as conductor at the Youth Theatre, as Music Director of the National Dramatic
Theatre (till 1966) and from 1974 to 1979 he held the same post at the City Operatic Theatre.
As composer, he stood on the principle that every music substance looks for its form, but also
that the form must never repress the substance. His pieces are very demanding, of a high
quality, but never cluttered or too difficult. One of the reasons for his general success with
the audiences is the fact that his music never digresses or exaggerates; every «modernism» is
strange to his personality. He composed operas (Woman and the Truth, Bösendorfe, The
Perfect Submissive, The Denube Bend), ballets (The Colours, The Riviera, The Cedar-Three),
one oratory, concertos (for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trombone, harp, violin, viola,
piano), symphonic and wind-orchestra pieces, brass sextets and quintets (his speciality), three
wind and two string quartets, the Bagatelle for 12 trombones, Six etudes for brass winds, the
Trio for horn, trombone and trumpet, as well as other chamber and solo, film, television,
radio and stage music. The winner of the Erkele Award (two times), holder of the title
Meritorious Artist, he is also winner of the Bartók Béla-Pásztory Ditta Award. His Trumpet
Fantasy was composed in 1984, commissioned by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture as the
obligatory piece at the International Trumpet Competition in Budapest. A very demanding
piece, it has become a regular programme item of many trumpet players worldwide.
Armenian composer born in Yerevan (1920) Alexandar Grigoryevich Arutyunyan
graduated in composition and the piano from the Yerevan Conservatory. From 1946 to 1948
he studied composition with Litinsky and orchestration with Pejk at the Tchaikovsky
Conservatory in Moscow. Since 1920 he was director of the Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra in Yerevan and lecturer at the Yerevan Conservatory. He is the winner of the
USSR State Award (1949) and the Armenian State Award (1970). Continuing the work of his
great fellow-countryman Aram Khachaturian, Arutyunyan pays great attention to the folk
heritage of his homeland. Arutyunyan composed his best known piece, the one-movement
Trumpet Concerto in A flat major, in 1959 and dedicated it to a brilliant Russian trumpet
player Timofey Dokshicer, who rote a fine cadenza for it and first performed the Concerto.
The virtuoso solo part leans on the melodic, multi coloured orchestral background, while the
temperamental, rhythmically developed fragments, reminding of the Spanish dances,
alternate the lyrical cantilenas. The piece, revealing an undeniable influence of the Armenian
folk melos, culminates in the slow melodious central part.
According to Robert Schumann, «Many music fragments of the genius Polish composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849) begin mysteriously and end ironically, very much reminding
of the Sphinx». The melody of some of his mazurkas is still a Philistine mourning under the
veil, yet its following half-sister will already despise life with its experience of resignation. In
the romances of his nocturnes, the piano (almost in an impressionist manner), describes the
quivering of the moonbeams by the finest substance samples. Often extravagant use of the
thirds and the sixths reveals Chopin's inclination to the Italian belcanto, the style that he had
mastered a long time before he met Bellini, with whose influence Chopin is incorrectly
credited. His polonaises resound with the rhythms of the magnificent processions and
triumphal raids, the war cries and the call of the trumpets. In Chopin ballads, however, the
bizarre-glistening, well thought piano effects, the unexpected modulations, the flirting
combinations of motives and rhythms and particularly sophisticated episodes most often of
the rustical origin unstoppably appear and, having reached the blinding culmination, turn into
a flesh that will (much to the regret of the listeners) suddenly stop the entire previous brilliant
tonal pulsating. Chopin composed his Ballad No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 from 1836 to 1839.
Out of his four ballades, this one dedicated to Robert Schumann, justifies its narrative title in
the best way. The piece consists of two basic blocks of various contents in four sections
altogether, with a formal scheme A-B-A-B. The first block is a dreamy lullaby (Andantino)
in 6/8 measure, resounding with a folk song, thus reminding of Schubert’s harmonic lines
that hardly move within other, dejectedly-calm measure. Out of the second block (Presto con
fuoco) the passionate moods suddenly spring, in which the tragic accentuations alternate with
the panic-stricken rest with the smouldering new conflicts. The entire block is filled with a
huge power, yet it suddenly stops, invoking a few more bars of the introductory song (in the
brief coda) dying out in the silence of the melancholy A minor.
In addition to the composing and scientific work, the classic of the 20th century, Hungarian
composer Béla Bartók (1881 – 1945) was also a very active pianist and a piano pedagogue.
He thus composed a huge number of pieces with explicitly didactic purpose: however, since
composed by a true master, they also have a considerable artistic value. Particularly
prominent among such pieces is the Mikrokosmos, the cycle of 153 short piano pieces
composed in the nineteen-thirties, arranged in six volumes. In this particular piano handbook that Bartók himself called “the piano music from the very beginning of the beginning”,
a great attention is paid to the unbreakable connection between music and technique, where
Bartók also wanted the young performer to get acquainted both with the composer’s major
style features and the main features of the musical language of his time. In any case, these
movements are not etudes; they teach understanding of music and not the performing skill,
they teach how to listen in an analytic way and understand the phenomena not known by the
classical-romantic piano schools. In addition to varied counterpoint modalities, they also give
the examples of bitonality, rhythmic asymmetry, the use of the fourth, the whole-tone scale
and the clusters – all this connected with all significant elements of the folk music. A Tale of
the Little Fly 142, is apiece from the VI volume of the Mikrokosmos including the numbers
from 140 to 153; this effective miniature treats the problem of bitonality. In 1908, Bartók
composed the 10 Easy Piano Pieces with an interesting dedication: the four characteristic
notes that music experts connect with the name of the great Hungarian violinist whom Bartók
fancied, Stefi Geyer. The composer already used the same motive in his early Violin
Concerto dedicated to her. Particularly popular from the mentioned cycle is the fifth one
(The Evening with Sekely) and the tenth The Dance of Bears. Bartók later (1931)
orchestrated both pieces and included them in his Hungarian Sketches, although they are
often performed separately. The Dance of bears unites important features of all previous
movements; it is filled with endless ostinatos, the masterful repetition exercises, whereas the
thematic invokes the folk spirit. The relentless beats of the sharp, condensed sounds in a way
announce Bartók’s “savage, barbarian moments”, having in mind the then so much disputed
and later world famous, anthological Allegro barbaro.
Spanish violin virtuoso (one of the greatest in the 19th century) and composer Pablo de
Sarasate (1844 – 1908) found his ideal in the legendary Niccolò Paganini and had his last
successor in the mythical Fritz Kreisler. Everything that Sarasate composed or arranged is
considered to be among the best violin parades, the occasions (full of intelligent technical
inventions) to exhibit the performer's spectacular skill. However, this author of the stirring
saloon miniatures, the attractive pieces of sparkling lightness and glamour, was also a perfect
and deeply sensitive musician, the connoisseur of all nuances of the style. He become world
famous for his Ziegeunerweisen (Gypsy Songs) Op. 20, for violin and piano. The piece
consists of six motives of predominantly Hungarian origin and the third one is the famous
song Csak egy kislány (There is Only One).
D. Detoni