BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND 1971 1972 Price SECOND RECITAL under the auspices of THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST ERICH GRUEN BERG (violin) WILLIAM GLOCK (piano) SIR WILLIAM WHITLA HALL Queen's University, Belfast THURSDAY, 18TH NOVEMBER, 1971 : 5p PR2

Sonata in B flat (K.454) Largo: Allegro Andante Allegretto Mozart 1756-1791 This violin sonata was composed in 1784 for the visit to Vienna of Regina Strinasacchi, a beautiful Italian violinist of 20 who, with the composer, gave the first performance of the work in the Kärtnerthor Theatre. It is said that the sonata was written so hastily that the violinist got her part to study only on the morning of the concert and that Mozart played partly from memory, with the help of a half written out piano part. The work was completed some time later. It is one of Mozart's late violin sonatas where the violin is an equal partner with the piano. Much has been written about this beautiful work which starts with an impressive introductory Largo. Everyone seems to agree that the Andante is the highlight of the work. Eric Blom describes this movement as "a long and exquisite dialogue between the two instruments" and wonders how Mozart and the lovely girl from Mantua managed to play it without falling in love! Another writer suggests that the romantic harmonies in the middle section lead forward to Schubert. The work ends with a bubbling Rondo. Duo Concertant Stravinsky 1882-1971 Cantilene Eglogue I Eglogue II Gigue Dithyrambe Written in 1932 this has become by far the best known and most frequently played chamber music work by Stravinsky. In his autobiography the composer tells how he came to write it:- "Its composition is closely connected in my mind with a book which had just appeared and which had greatly delighted me.

It was the remarkable 'Petrarch' of Charles Albert Cingria, an author of rare sagacity and deep originality". Stravinsky goes on to quote a pass- age from this book:- "Lyricism cannot exist without rules, and it is essential that they should be strict. Otherwise there is only faculty for lyricism, and that exists everywhere. What does not exist every- where is lyrical expression and composition. To achieve that, apprenticeship to a trade is necessary". Stravinsky felt that this applied "with the utmost appropriateness" to the work he had in hand, and explains that his object was to apply a rigorous discipline to a work of lyrical character. Writing about the form of the Duo Concertant Stravinsky says: - "it was determined by my love of the pastoral poets of antiquity and their scholarly art and tech- nique. The theme which I had chosen developed through all the five movements of the piece which forms an integral whole, and, as it were, offers a musical parallel to the old pastoral poetry". The Duo Concertant was written specially for the American violinist, Samuel Dushkin. Duo in A major, Op.162 (D.574) Allegro moderato Scherzo: Presto Andantino Allegro vivace Schubert 1797-1828 Although Schubert was a pianist and composed much piano music, he wrote relatively few works for piano with other instruments and very little indeed - only six works altogether for piano and violin. These consisted of four sonatas, the Fantasy in C major and a Rondo brillant. The Sonata in A major is the last of the four sonatas. It was written in. 1817 when the composer was 20 and published 15 years later under the title "Duo", Op.162. The first movement is in 4/4. Schubert uses two main keys in the exposition (the home key and E major) but the work doesn't settle in either for long there are the usual ingenious modulations into remoter keys. The rhythmic opening phrase, played pp on the piano is to begin with resisted by the violin which however soon becomes infected by this rhythm.

A scherzo in E major comes next and this is followed by an Andantino theme in C major with variations. Here again the principal key is soon abandoned (after only 8 bars) and there is a section in D flat before a return to the original key. In this recapitulation the theme is accompanied by a rhythmic figure taken from material found in the middle section of the move- ment. The work ends with a movement which is really a second, but more extended scherzo. INTERVAL Sonata in F major, Op.24 Allegro Adagio molto espressivo Scherzo: Allegro molto Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo Beethoven 1770-1827 Written in 1801 and dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries this is the fifth of Beethoven's ten violin sonatas. The composer was not responsible for the sobriquet "The Spring". Opus 24 sails off with 9 bars of melody which are given to the violin. This theme is of such Mendels- sohnian sweetness that it is easy to see why it gave rise to thoughts of spring. The lovely tune is repeated by the piano but the serene mood is soon shattered by a noisy bridge passage leading to a second subject in which the violin flings out expos- tulations while the piano supports with an accompani- ment of rising tonic and dominant chords. Cobbett draws attention to what he describes as a lack of "terminal development" in this movement. The first theme of which we can hardly hear enough appears finally in a truncated two-bar rumble in the piano bass. This ushers in a coda which Cobbett finds "somewhat commonplace". The Adagio in 3 flat has been likened to "an Aria which seems to have escaped from some opera by Mozart". This is followed by a lively scherzo and the work ends with a Rondo which is the most original of the four movements. Here there is a return to the spring- like mood of the first movement although there are immediate hints of unsettling undercurrents in the piano part.