#10 BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND in association with The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and The Music Department, Queen's University FIFTH RECITAL ΤΟ Η Ν LILL 18 March 1978 Elmwood Hall, Queen's University PR2

SONATA in A flat major (op 26) Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Andante con Variazione Scherzo and Trio Marcia Funèbre Allegro This sonata was written in about 1801 and was dedi- cated to Prince Carl von Lichnowsky, who had befriended Beethoven during his early life in Vienna. The sonata originates in the divertimento, a group of small movements in sectional forms, deliberately avoiding a polyphonic style. The first movement opens with the principal theme which is made up of three parts, the first being a symmetrical sixteen-bar tune followed by an answering sequence in two-bar steps. This is followed by four bars modulating to the dominant and an interrupted cadence, leading to a two-bar echo with a full close and thus leading back to the third part which is a repeat of the original opening. There are five variations: Variation 1 weaves an arpeggio figure closely into the framework of the theme. Variation 2 has the melody in the left hand. Variation 3 is in the key of A flat minor and opens with a rising bass in 3rds for the first six bars. There is a feeling of much more harmonic freedom in this variation Variation 4: In the major key, the rising bass is again developed systematically. This variation is full of humor with its antiphonal distribution over different octaves and its staccato bass with the stutter which it develops.

Variation 5: At the opening, the triplets have the privilege of outlining the main theme, but suddenly with the coda comes a completely new melody. However, the bass tries to justify this by harping on the first two notes of the first bar of the theme, though it never actually gets them on to the beat. The bar-rhythm of the second movement is subtly balanced. Beethoven writes for the unprejudiced listener and when the player trusts Beethoven and plays what is written, the unprejudiced listener will hear what Beethoven intends him to hear.gedal The third movement is a military funeral march in the the tonic minor with a trio in the major key, obviously representing salutes fired over the grave. Gads ar viewolves bad The finale, though hardly longer than the Scherzo, is in the completest rondo form. The main theme is made up of a six-bar answering sequence in semiquavers followed by a contrasting scale figure. A two-bar repeated passage of the original opening leads into the transition and first episode in which the detached quaver gives rise to a new figure. The second episode is in the key of C minor and opens with a new eight-bar phrase which is then repeated. The second strain beginning in the key of G minor proceeds in two-bar steps until it reaches the key of E flat major where an unaccompanied figure climbs a chromatic scale until it reaches the position in which it can merge once again into the opening figure of the movement. . The sonata ends with a delightful pianissimo pedal effect on the tonic and with a four-bar phrase which is self-repeated in a lower octave. It closes into two echoes of its last two bars followed by four of the tonic chord, finally descending to the extreme bass.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) PRÉLUDES, book I Danseuses de Delphes (Dancing women of Delphi) Voiles (Sails) Le Vent dans la plaine (The wind in the plain) Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (Sounds and perfumes in the evening air) Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri) Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps on the snow) Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the west wind saw) La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted serenade) La cathédrale engloutie (The submerged cathedral) La danse de Puck (Puck's dance) Minstrels IN 627 Jas In the Préludes, Debussy developed the technique which he had previously used in the Images. This was an apparently disjointed manner in which rhythmic figures and fragments of melody succeed each other in widely different registers and connected by the ta slightest link. In the Images, this darting off at a tangent, lightning-quick changes of direction and speed suggest the movement of the goldfish in Poissons d'or (Images II, no.3), but Debussy's own sensibility was almost as mercurial, and in the Préludes it is his sensibility he is following rather than any external image. His great art lay in preserving a sense of continuity and a unity of mood (even when working in a small form), for that is what his ideal of improvi- sation amounts to. Harmonically the range of these piano pieces is wide, varying from diatonic harmonies and triads (as exemplified in La Cathédrale engloutie) to the thorough- group use of the whole tone scale as in Voiles. Unlike Ravel, Debussy does not exclude from his beautiful sensations the surprise of a perfectly con- ventional diatonic common chord; this is very evident in the insistent B major tonality at the end of Collines d'Anacapri. Occasionally a conventional prettiness

suggests that a piece was written a good deal earlier, then included in the Préludes; La Fille aux cheveux de lin might well have been written in the 1890's.. Debussy's humour was less sardonic and more direct than Ravel's. The popular songs which appear for a moment in Les Collines D'Anacapri and Minstrels are used evoca- tively and are deliberately taken up into the body of the piece rather than left, as it were, between quotation marks. Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest is one of the few examples in Debussy's piano music which seems fundamen-- tally orchestral in conception. La Cathédrale engloutie, which is certainly effective in Henri Büsser's orchestra- tion, is nevertheless genuine piano music in which Debussy achieves by pedal effects an atmospheric haze such as no other medium can attain and sets against it the stark, primitive melody suggesting the vanished cathedral. etenT 08 09316 10 857bod ~O~O~O~O~0~O~ INTERVAL ~0~O~00000000 by BALLADE No. 4 in F minor Frédéric Chopin ala (1810-1849) In the four Ballades Chopin applies to the pianoforte a form that had sprung from another source. In origin this type of composition was an epic narrative for solo voice. The epic quality is retained in each of Chopin's four Ballades, and although the absence of words and vocal expression is in one sense a handicap, in another it is an aid to a greater freedom of imagination in the composer and also in the audience. The description of poet is apt when we think of the composer of the four Ballades. Cortot suggests that these compositions were actually based on Mickiewcz's Lithuanian ballads, and in his opinion this particular one

is linked with a legend called Trzech Budrysow. Budrys is a patriarch of pagan Lithuania. He sends his three sons. out into the world to seek their fortunes. The best way, he tells them, is to join an army and benefit by plunder. Let the first follow the general who is attacking Russians and bring back sables; let the second join the forces against the German Knights of the Cross and bring back vestments and amber; let the third ride to Poland and seize part of the wealth of that country in the form of a wife. It is the last of these propositions which makes the strongest appeal: the sons go forth and each returns with a Polish bride. Études d'exécution après Paganini By the year 1840 Liszt had already completed some eighteen transcendental études. These comprise the six Grandes études d'après les Caprices de Paganini, and the Douze études d'exécution transcendante. Liszt was never satisfied with any of his own compositions and he was continually withdrawing his published music in order to revise it. At the same time it was often many years after he had finished a work before he would allow of its publication. In this way these two separate bodies of his work were not finally issued and allowed to remain without further correction until another ten or fifteen years had elapsed. Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Liszt first heard Paganini play in 1831. He immediately set about the transference of his technical experiments and effects from the violin to the pianoforte. This was an arduous labour, but was one which fascinated the greatest musical minds of the day, as both Schumann and Brahms also dedicated their talents to this task. Liszt was, however, the first of them to set to work and it was a subject more within his province. The twenty-four capricci for the violin had been published by Paganini in about 1830, and Liszt's trans- lation of his opus 2, Grande fantasie sur la Clochette de Paganini, was finished in 1834. It was then withdrawn

and published again three years later, and the final version of his Paganini études did not see the light until 1851. Schumann's version, his opus 3, consisting of Six Studies after the Capricci of Paganini was published in 1833, and a second set of six studies (opus 10) in 1835, belonging therefore to the very best of Schumann's genius, but certainly they do not possess the same qualities that distinguish the transcriptions of Liszt. On the other hand, the contribution made by Brahms to this technique cannot be said to compete with the similar work of Liszt, as they are not transcriptions of the études, but a set of twenty-eight variations written on a theme taken from one of the Capricci and were not published until 1866. There- fore, of all these works with which the name Paganini is coupled the Liszt transcriptions are the most remarkable. sota at onar algu Although Liszt may have intended to transfer all twenty-four of the Capricci to the piano, twelve études were originally announced. Eventually only six made their appearance, and La Clochette which he had first published separately was not included among these. It is better known under its Italian title of La Campanella and its origin is to be found, not in the actual Capricci of Paganini, but in the second movement of his second violin concerto. of the other studies, perhaps the best known are those known as the Tremolo and La Chasse, a fantasy inspired in Paganini by the hunting horn. 40 good If La Campanella and La Chasse are the best of the Paganini études, the others are not so noticeably inferior to them. But it must be stated that they are preferable in their earliest and most difficult form. Liszt clipped their wings when he came to revise them; though, many years afterwards, another great virtuoso, Ferrucio Busoni, edited them again, adding his own particular difficulties to those already there. Thus it came about that these Etudes de Bravura carry the names of the three greatest virtuosos of music, and are signed Paganini-Liszt-Busoni. Notes by Eve Shillington

Lealt att JOHN LILL JOHN LILL received international prominence in June 1970 when he won first prize in the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition. It is not surprising, therefore, that his schedule now includes engagements throughout the world, so great is the demand for his services. At a very early age he displayed the qualities that culminated in his triumph in Moscow. He showed aptitude for the piano at the age of four, gave his first recital at the age of nine, and at fourteen had memorised the complete keyboard works of Beethoven. From the age of ten, he studied at the Royal College of Music, where he is now professor, and when appointed at 27 had the distinction of being the youngest ever Fellow. B Dom: 1.977 di daly s During 1977 Mr Lill toured Switzerland with the Halle Orchestra and James Loughran; he had eight major Festival Hall concerts with most of the London orchestras and the Czech Philharmonic. He played with the ot Concertgebouw and visited the Prague Spring Festival. w and wanted the th Mr Lill originally recorded for DGG. In 1976 he completed the five Beethoven Concertos for the EMI/CFP label with the Scottish National Orchestra and Alexander Gibson. He is now in the middle of a major project to record all the Beethoven Sonatas a unique distinction for a British pianist. These are being done for Enigma Records. He will record both Brahms concertos with the Halle Orchestra and James Loughran; again for Enigma Records. stado d In the January 1978 Honours List John Lill was awarded the OBE for his services to music. NEXT CONCERT Saturday 29 April 1978, 7.30 p.m. THE SUK TRIO