Download D. Detoni - Dubrovačke ljetne igre / Dubrovnik Summer Festival

56. dubrovačke ljetne igre
56th Dubrovnik Summer Festival
2005
Hrvatska Croatia
Ekaterina Mechetina
glasovir piano
Atrij Kneževa dvora
Rector's Palace Atrium
1. kolovoza 1 August
21.30 9.30 pm
Frédéric Chopin:
Barcarolle, op. 60
Nokturno u c-molu, op. 48, br. 1
Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, No. 1
Nokturno u Des-duru, op. 27, br. 2
Nocturne in D flat major, Op.27, No.2
Maurice Ravel:
Sonatina u Fis-duru
Sonatina in F sharp major
Allegro
Menuet
Finale
La Valse
***
Sergej Vasiljevič Rahmanjinov: Varijacije na Corellijevu temu, op. 42
Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42
Rodion Konstantinovič Ščedrin: 2. sonata, op. 101
Sonata No. 2, Op. 101
Allegro moderato
Sostenuto cantabile
Presto possibile
Nestašne doskočice, op. 26
Naughty Limericks, Op. 26
Katya Mechetina is one of the most talented and promising young pianists worldwide. She
studied at the world famous Central Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in
Moscow, and later graduated from the same Conservatory (under T. Kolos). She is presently
studying with the world known pedagogue Sergei L. Dorensky, who trained about a hundred
of competition winners. Katya Mechetina began her concert appearances at the age of six and
has since given recitals and concerts with prestigious European, American and Japanese
orchestras under the baton of M. Rostropovich, V. Spivakov, S. Sondeckis and D.
Sitkovetsky, on the world-known stages such as the Great and Small Hall of the Moscow
Conservatory, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Concertgebouw
Hall (Amsterdam), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Auditorium (Milan), Sanders Theatre (Boston),
Yamaha Hall and Casals Hall (Tokyo), Concert Hall in Taipei, etc. She has performed at
numerous European festivals and was winner of seven international piano competitions
(Moscow, Bolzano, Epinal, Vercelli, Pinrolo, etc. She has recorded for radio and television in
Russia, the USA, Japan, Italy, Kuwait and Brazil, and released two CDs. In addition to a large
number of solo pieces and more than twenty piano concertos, her huge repertoire includes
works of different styles, from baroque to the present time music. Katya Mechetina had
several world premieres of R. Schedrin’s works, including his Concerto for piano and string
orchestra No. 6. A member of various chamber ensembles, she has taken part in major
chamber music festivals.
A M. Rostropovich’s Charity Foundation scholarship winner, and soloist of the Moscow
Philharmonic, she was awarded one of the major Russian young artists awards in the field of
art, the Triumph award, in 2003.
Robert Schumann once mentioned that many passages in the music of Frédéric Chopin
(1810 - 1849) begin mysteriously and end ironically, thus greatly resembling the Sphinx.
Chpoin's piano is, indeed, the Krleža's cursed suitcase stuffed with elegiac anxiety; the
cantilena weeps and laughs at the same time in that enchanted box. It is «a morning sound of
flower rain, and shortly afterwards the sound of the fateful hurricane in discords of thunder,
taking away the entire countries and nations like the flocks of birds. Through infinite number
of variations and countless mysterious whirls, Chopin demonstrates what a few bundles of
piano strings can hide within." And this is precisely where the secret of this tremendous
performer lies: he discovered that the abilities of a single source of sound are practically
infinite. Owing to his gift of brilliant ornamentation, that became his trademark, the
mysterious and unfathomable air of relaxedness and apparent improvisation, and the general
red-hot music flow, Chopin was superior to his contemporaries for using his “paraphrases of
the erotic images dreamed a long time ago, his presentiments of the piano play not being a
Mozartian rondo, or Italian capriccio, but a game played with his own destiny and permanent
uncertainty". In any case, that enabled his dwelling in some undiscovered lands, in the realms
of sound where no one trod before or after him. The flowing preciseness of his introductions
gloriously announces a capricious rise and fall of the melodies, rough but painless
overflowing of harmonies, rapture of metric-rhythm, all this in the service of always new,
shocking and amusing story-telling.
Although not a fighter of Beethoven type, who "with a stubbornness of a maniac transforms
the hopelessness of a dark époque into a testimony of the most courageous human resistance",
the agonizing poetic quality along with the almost military energy of Chopin’s scherzos
breaks down, in a Beethoven-like manner, the established forms of the piano style,
transcending into the sphere of metaphysics. Melodies of some of his mazurkas still reveal the
bourgeois musical mourning, but their next melodic half-sister will already despise sorrow
empowered by the experience of resignation. In the romances of Chopin’s nocturnes, which
he himself describes as "an image of nervous daydreaming in the pale, spring moonlight", the
piano in an almost impressionist manner describes twinkling of the moon rays, employing
samples of the subtlest musical substance. Often extravagant employment of the thirds and the
sixths reveals his fondness of the Italian belcanto, the style that he mastered a long time
before meeting Bellini, whose influence is often mistakenly attributed to Chopin.
Barcarolle, Op. 60, composed in 1846, is Chopin's perception of a Venetian gondolier song
(with thirds and sixths), whose gentle swinging conjures up a mysterious drive in the laguna
waters, accompanied with the sounds of waves and paddles. Chopin allegedly said that he
does not want the audience listening to this piece to include more than two people. Everything
that limits this piece, when the theme and rhythm are concerned, is more than compensated by
frequent and dazzling harmonic interchanges. The quite unexpected digressions in the tonality
and courageous alterations follow in whimsical lines reminiscent of flying, the wavy flow
through a peaceful area, and of a disturbing magic. Out of this idyllic swinging the piece
repetition fiercely appears, filled with wild pathos, stirred octaves and furious tonal clusters,
with the instrumentation as rich as in an orchestral piece. Such emotional culmination in the
repetition and coda of the piece will completely destroy the discrete frames of the initial
genre-image. The virtuoso cadenzas in the repetition no longer resemble the human singing,
but are a loud echo of the complex moves of the instruments.
Like the serenade, Nocturne is also a night music form. However, unlike the serenade, it is
not foreseen for outdoor, or group performance. It thus presents a lonely instrumental night
song, most often a sad monologue, in which neither the composer, nor the performer, counts
with the presence of the one it was dedicated to. The nocturnes by the Irish composer and
Clementi's disciple, John Field (1782-1837), served as models to Chopin. Field, whose
melodic-harmonic imagination Chopin very much appreciated, composed altogether 18
nocturnes. It is probably a mere coincidence that Chopin published the same number of
nocturnes as Field had done during his lifetime. The additionally found nineteenth nocturne
was published by Fontana as late as 1855. Chopin first grouped these lyrical miniatures
(composed from 1828 - 1846 in the form of a three-part song) into the groups of three (Op. 9
and 15) and then into the groups of two (Op. 27, 32, 37, 48, 55 and 62). The only one
preserved independently is Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72. Characteristic of these pieces are: a
moderate tempo, mainly still, but richly nuanced dynamics, the expressive melody of a wide
span with refined ornaments and the harmony completely filled with secretive modulations
and sensual chromatics. Between the two Nocturnes on tonight's programme, the one in C
minor, Op. 48, No. 1 (composed in 1841) is more monumental, profound and tragic.
Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) composed his attractive piano Sonatina in 1905, as an
obligatory piece at a piano competition of a music magazine in Paris. Roland Manuel
rightfully claims that this three-movement piece has “a double mark of the youth and
mastery”. Unlike his earlier, impressionist Jeux d’eau (for piano, or string quartet), Sonatina
is more reminiscent of his Miroirs, composed that same year, whose harmonies seem to
secretively plot with the conspiratorial expressionism. The piece begins with the agitated
Allegro, continues with the soft and gentle Menuet, and ends with the vivacious and brightly
burning Finale. Its almost classical balance and serenity result from the almost sudden
lyricism, unparalleled melodic inspiration, and a somewhat vain harmonic self-confidence
along with the indestructible structural strictness.
Initially planning to compose a piece named Wien as a magnificent paraphrase of the Vienna
waltz style, Maurice Ravel composed his choreographic poem La Valse (Waltz) in 1919,
upon commission of Sergey Pavlovich Diaghilev, the founder of the Russian Ballet.
Diaghilev, however, refused to stage the piece, having wished a pure and simple
choreography score. What he received was a “high-density symphonic piece”, which he by
mistake considered unsuitable, even insufficient for the plot development. Ravel was not
particularly worried by Diaghilev’s decision: the successful first performance of the piece
took place already on 8th January 1920, at a concert of the famous Lamoureux Orchestra
conducted by Camille Chevillard. It was a beginning of the piece’s triumphant performance
series at major concert halls worldwide; including, to Ravel’s astonishment, its acclaimed
Vienna premiere in December that same year. The first important staging of La Valse is
connected with the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who left the Diaghilev’s troupe. Her Paris staging
of La Valse, with choreographer Bronislava Nizinska, along with Ravel’s Bolero, in 1928,
was a failure. The official premiere of Ravel’s ballet version of the piece took place in the
USA, in 1951, with the superb choreography of the then leader of the New York City Ballet
Georges Balanchine, who also came from Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe. Commenting La Valse,
Ravel wrote: “I conceptualised this apotheosis of the Vienna waltz as a fantastic and
demonically fateful meddle. I envisioned it at some of the royal palaces around 1855. The
contours of the dance couples are barely visible through thick clouds. The mist slowly
disperses and a huge hall filled with the dancing crowd appears. The scene gradually becomes
brighter and eventually explodes with a scream... I attempted to increase the hall dimensions
by music, and to comprise both the audience and the dance spectacle in a single closed
space.” The distinctive study of La Valse is Ravel’s ideal training for the stunning technicalcomposing escapades in his Bolero. The typical French fastidiousness and thrift, as well as the
utmost simplicity are apparent even in the moments of the most enchanting musical
expansion. Unlike with the German tonal expression, Ravel’s music lines are subordinated to
colours. His personal style – focused on the movement – is a major announcement of the postmodern music: by its constant changes the never-ending continuity enables a new
understanding of the ancient sound. The piano is probably the greatest x-ray test of Ravel’s
invention; in his piano variant La Valse perhaps hides more subtle colours than shown in the
more often performed orchestral variant of the piece.
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943) composed the Variations on a Theme of
Corelli in 1931, at his French estate in Clairefontaine. Dedicated to the great violinist Fritz
Kreisler, the piece is based on the theme of the famous La Folie, a part of Arcangelo Corelli’s
(1653 - 1713) Violin Sonata Op. 12, from 1712. Being an old Portuguese dance akin to
sarabande, this simple, but impressionable music theme was also employed in the pieces of
Frescobaldi, Vivaldi, Domenico Scarlatti, Bach, Cherubini and Liszt. According to its
maturity and depth, this Rachmaninov’s opus stands somewhere between his other two
variation pieces, the mediocre piano Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op. 22 (1903), and his
anthological Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, Op. 43 (1943). The
piece consists of twenty interconnected variations (with a cadenza, reminiscent of intermezzo,
following after the thirteenth variation), which, along with the exchange of the contrasts
typical of Rachmaninov, move towards the coda, out of which the main theme appears again,
this time in a softly and gently darkened D minor.
Russian composer Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (1932) was born into a family of
musicians in Moscow; his father was a composer and music theoretician. He graduated in
composing (Yuri Shaporin) and in piano (Jakov Flier) from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in
Moscow. One of the most prolific living Russian composers, he wrote (vocal) orchestral,
concertante, chamber, and solo pieces, the majority of which are those for the piano. No less
than seven of his musical-stage pieces have been performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, which is a
unique case in the two-hundred-years-old history of that famous institution. He became
popular particularly for his ballets Little Humpbacked Horse, Carmen-Suite and Ana
Karenina, in which his wife, the famous ballerina Maya Pliseckaya, danced the title roles.
Shchedrin’s pieces have often been performed worldwide (he is a member of the Berlin
Academy of Art, among other institutions), and he holds numerous awards and
acknowledgements.
Shchedrin composed his Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 101 in 1997, dedicating it to the
distinguished pianist Yefim Bronfman, who first performed it in Oslo, on 26th April that same
year. The Sonata was later often performed by pianist Konstantin Bogino, and Katya
Mechetina performed it at the composer’s anniversary concert in Moscow in December 2002.
The piece rests upon the tradition of the great Russian piano school, which Shchedrin, being
an outstanding pianist himself, knows and feels so well. Composed in the three-movement
classical form, the Sonata is filled with powerful virtuosity, which, following Bartók’s
principles, partially turns the piano into an impressionable and efficient percussion
instrument. According to Shchedrin’s own words “the Sonata has an open virtuoso character,
enabling the pianist to show his technical and artistic abilities to the full”.
The brief but virtuoso Concerto No. 1 for orchestra, with the subtitle Naughty Limericks,
Op. 26, performed tonight in Shchedrin’s piano arrangement, was composed in 1963, and
dedicated to Genady Rozdestvensky, who first performed it conducting the Soviet Radio and
Television Symphony Orchestra in September that same year, at the Warsaw Autumn Festival.
It is a typical example of Shchedrin’s unpretentious, but pliant and elastic musical message, in
which the constantly varied kaleidoscope (full of small cadenzas and unexpected pauses) of
the motor rhythm and temperamental cheerfulness interchanges with the dramatic-lyrical
episodes. Among the traditional melodic-harmonic blocks, one can observe the humorous
attempts of the more modern, and moderately radical sound effects. Commenting the
Concerto’s subtitle, Shchedrin explained:“the word častuški originally denotes a cheerful folk
song, always hiding a lot of humour, irony and brisk satire. Its main characteristic is briefness.
It often has an asymmetric structure, a purposefully primitive melody consisting merely of a
few tones, and the syncopated rhythm, with the improvisation and repetition of the
persistently varied themes being the main starters of its flow. The Naughty Limericks
exemplify the role of the feeling of rhythm and general dynamics in Shchedrin’s composing,
along with the ingeniously stylised folk elements. This virtuoso and passionate piece has been
interpreted by many great conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Evgeny Svyetlanov, Kiril
Kondrashin, Yuri Temirkanov and Mariss Jansons.
D. Detoni