Seong-Jin Cho, Piano
Performers
Seong-Jin Cho, Piano
Program
HANDEL Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Chaconne
BRAHMS Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
BRAHMS Capriccio in F-sharp Minor, Op. 76, No. 1
BRAHMS Capriccio in B Minor, Op. 76, No. 2
BRAHMS Intermezzo in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4
BRAHMS Capriccio in C-sharp Minor, Op. 76, No. 5
R. SCHUMANN Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13
Encore:
HANDEL Minuet in G Minor, HWV 434, No. 4 (arr. Wilhelm Kempff)
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately 90 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
HANDEL Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430
Handel’s power “to stir, to rouze, to shake the Soul,” in Alexander Pope’s words, is most apparent in his operas, oratorios, and church music. But his many secular instrumental works are no less soul-stirring on a more intimate scale. His debut collection of harpsichord suites, in which the Suite in E Major appeared, was a bestseller when it was published in 1720.
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Chaconne
Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina acknowledges J. S. Bach and Anton Webern as seminal influences on her music. One of her most frequently performed works, the highly virtuosic Chaconne blends a characteristically Baroque variation form with the serial procedures pioneered by the early–20th-century Second Viennese School.
BRAHMS Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
The dazzlingly creative Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel is one of a cluster of such works that Brahms composed in the middle of his career. It reflects his abiding interest in variation form, and the rigorous use of chaconnes and other ground basses that characterized the music of Handel and Bach.
BRAHMS Selections from Klavierstücke, Op. 76
Brahms lavished as much craftsmanship on his short piano pieces as on his sonatas and concertos. The eight capriccios and intermezzos in his Op. 76 Klavierstücke (Piano Pieces) illustrate the Romantic genre of the “character” piece, a vehicle for distilling a particular mood or musical idea to its essence.
ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 (with posthumous etudes)
Like many of Schumann’s solo piano works of the 1830s, the Symphonic Etudes contrast the personalities of Schumann’s fictitious alter egos: the stormy, impulsive Florestan and the dreamy, reflective Eusebius. Although the composer was engaged to Clara Wieck when the Symphonic Etudes came to fruition in 1837, they were originally intended to memorialize his first love, a young pianist named Ernestine von Fricken.