Int THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY in association with THE ARTS COUNCIL FOR NORTHERN IRELAND and THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY MAURICE HASSON (violin) IAN BROWN (piano) Elmwood Hall 7.30 p.m., 1 March 1984.

-2- PROGRAMME "THE VIRTUOSO VIOLIN" Polonaise No 1 in D Major Sicilienne Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824) Introduction and Variations on a theme from Rossini's 'Moses in Egypt' I Cantabile Nicolò Paganini bol (1782-1840)logo Paganini Caprice No 24 Paganini Mélodie Nigun from Baal Shem Russian Maiden's Song Scherzo-tarantelle Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-87) Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) arr. Samuel Dushkin Wieniawski

-3- ******* INTERVAL ******* "X1I0IV 020UTAI T Tzigane Vall (0881-2881) 16 Maurice Ravello (1875-1937) Habanera (£81-8211) Ravel mellisia Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso 600 soldirsV bas no soubo al esso Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Gypsy Airs (18-4151) (2201-0881) (1-5881). Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908)

-4- Tonight's programme is a celebration. It celebrates firstly that unique instrument, the violin, an instrument at home in courts, orchestras and salons, but also in humble homes and at country dances, an instrument which combines an emotional expressiveness near to that of the human voice with incredible brilliance and agility. Secondly, this concert celebrates the great virtuoso players and some of the music written for their skills. ad The violin began to establish itself by about 1550. It was in North Italy that the first important makers were centred, the most famous, Antonio Stradivari, working in Cremona from the late 1600s until his death in 1737. The eighteenth century saw the instrument come into its own in the concertos of composers such as Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini and Geminiani, but it was in the nineteenth century that instrumental music moved firmly from the private aristocratic salons and genteel subscription concerts to the public concert hall, and the era of the touring virtuoso began. The virtuoso phenomenon began with a violinist - the Italian Nicolò Paganini, whose technical wizardry and personal magnetism created a sensation throughout Europe in the 1820s and 30s. His successful career as a travelling musician (and that of the pianist Franz Liszt, who modelled himself on Paganini) reads like those of pop stars of today, and, not dissimilarly, many felt that they had learned their skills from the devil himself. The three pieces we will hear tonight include a Cantabile originally written for violin and guitar and the most famous of his solo Caprices, the studies which together demonstrate all the technical effects which Paganini employed. The Moses Variations are a curiosity not often heard today but well known to all violinists. Two tunes from Rossini's opera are used, an introductory prayer and a march tune for

- 5- the variations.. The whole is played on the G string of the instrument, which Paganini raised in pitch to B flat as a piece of showmanship. An eye-witness account of his first appearance in Berlin, in 1829, at which this piece was played, gives an idea of the atmosphere he could arouse: deud "There was a state of exaltation the like of which I have seldom seen in the theatre, and never in the concert-hall and (in the Moses Variations) when Paganini reproduced the melody at the end in harmonics, it was as if he stood alone in the vast auditorium; all who sat there held their breath as if afraid to rob the player of air. But when the concluding trill came, a burst of jubilation broke loose and it seemed as if all the earlier applause had never existed so little could it be compared to this." dous 81980qroo eda There is no doubt that Paganini raised the technical standard of violin playing to great heights; however amazing the feats of the virtuoso they must seem effortless to the listener. We will hear tonight music by two of the generation of violinists who followed him. The Polish Wieniawski combined great technical accomplishment with romantic flair, as you will hear in both the Polonaise and the the Spaniard Sarasate was renowned for pure beauty of tone. Tonight's recital ends with Saint-Saëns's Rondo Capriccioso, written for Sarasate and paying him a compliment with its dramatic Spanish rhythms, followed by the virtuoso's own Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), Scherzo-tarantelle; a particular favourite of violinists. Iseuld Much music for the virtuoso violinist of the later 19th and the 20th centuries has been adapted from other sources. Ballet music from Gluck's opera Orpheus and a little piece by the blind pianist von Paradis have become violin 'standards', and Ravel's youthful Habanera started life as a vocal exercise. His Tzigane is a clever pastiche of Hungarian gypsy style as filtered through café society and the dance band. But its challenging technical problems were set, for the Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Aranyi, after a study of Paganini's Caprices. 1900

- 6- We are offered two other 20th century pieces. Bloch was a Swiss-American composer of Jewish origins. Nigun was written after hearing the singing in a synagogue in New York. The Stravinsky piece is an arrangement by the violinist Samuel Dushkin of an aria from the opera Mavra, and played on concert tours Dushkin and Stravinsky made together. Just as Paganini discovered in the early 19th century, Stravinsky and Dushkin realised that money could be made from delighting the public with the sound of that magic instrument, the violin, brilliantly played. Programme notes by Hilary Bracefield TONIGHT'S ARTISTS MAURICE HASSON, who plays a 1727 Stradivarius, has made a particular speciality of the virtuoso violin repertoire and Paganini in particular. He is a regular and popular visitor to Northern Ireland. IAN BROWN is a member of the Nash Ensemble and also appears regularly with such musicians as Ricci and Szeryng. **********

- 7- 10 NEXT RECITAL o Saturday 19 May, 7.30 p.m. abse Elmwood Hall BARRY DOUGLAS (piano) nifoly adde Beethoven Sonata in A flat major, Op.110 Chopin Scherzos Nos. 3 and 4, Two Nocturnes Musorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition Please note change of programme ************ SEASON 1984-85 Ig od 4022AH AL no1zq ni inimese Artists booked for next season are Peter Katin (piano), Emma Kirkby (soprano) with Anthony Rooley (lute), egy Robert Cohen (cello), Nigel Kennedy (violin) and the Hagen Quartet. Full details and tickets will be available, with the usual concession for advance booking, at the recital on 19 May. Please bring your cheque book!