THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY in association with THE ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND and THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY But towards will to stmas Day BARRY DOUGLAS (piano) Elmwood Hall 7.30 p.m., 19 May 1984

- 1 - SONATA No. 31 in A flat, op. 110. bababybook Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Moderato cantabile molto espressivo Allegro molto Adagio ma non troppo - Fuga: Allegro ma non troppo does not the slood. is viss foto 1820 and 1821 were not good years for Beethoven. Illness and lawsuits to do with his brother's will took up his time and sapped his energy, and very little music was written. But towards the end of 1821 Beethoven at last found the will to compose stirring in him again. He finished this sonata on Christmas Day and No. 32, op. 111, in January 1822. Together with No.30 (op. 109), the only work completed in 1820, these sonatas show a composer so sure of the idiom that he can extend and alter the very forms he has established. He did not return to the piano sonata as a medium for composition again. Op 110 is outwardly simple but in the hands of a thinking interpreter inwardly profound. In its quiet assertion it shows Beethoven in communion with the piano, not in conflict with it. The exploration of the range, sonorities and dynamics of the instrument and the experiments with key schemes show the composer moving ever nearer the Romantics who followed him. COM OSRH .qo on grade 3 al The sonata begins with a quiet and calm sonata form movement whose melodies sing and are decorated very much in Romantic, rather than Classical, style. The second group is in the dominant, the short development is based on the opening material, while the decorated recapitulation moves magically to E major for the transition, yet reaches A flat again quite simply for the return of the second The coda serenely explores the upper subject group. regions of the piano. sida ni som go to gaos siquie eff .380 badosa aid bas

- 2 - The second movement in F minor exhibits firstly Beethoven's gruff humour in a scherzo with awkward rhythms, bars of silence, sudden changes of dynamics, and abrupt key changes, and secondly, in a trio in D flat major, his love of the treble regions of the piano in another Romantic passage, abruptly dispelled by the return of the scherzo. am Ap Now follows a completely unorthodox but strangely satisfying final movement. The harmonies of the F major coda to the scherzo dissolve into a recitative which begins in B flat minor but leads down to A flat minor for what Beethoven himself marked as a 'sad song' - a Chopin-like tune accompanied by throbbing chords, and this in turn quietly leads into a three-voice fugue in the home key, with a swaying theme in which, whether we notice it or not, is closely related to the first subject of the first movement. The fugue appears to be building to a climax, but this process is arrested, and the sad song returns, in G minor and now marked 'exhausted'. As it indeed sinks exhausted to its end, a G major arpeggio pulls itself up to a new statement of the fugue theme in G major and in inversion, marked by Beethoven 'gaining in life'. This it certainly does, triumphantly returning to A flat major and reaching a movingly assertive conclusion. joltre al sen 943 bis meant ironne SCHERZO No. 3 NOCTURNE yea diiw aq ald boys!fol odw asitasnoll add essen in C sharp minor, op. 39 also be stup s da in B major, op. 62 No. 1 NOCTURNE adT in E minor, op. 72 No. 1 eniged assos ed est Fryderyk Chopino dzred (1810-1849) SCHERZO No. 45310 in E major, op. 54 boosse od 79qqu ads carol quoza idue and his second last. The two nocturnes in this group are Chopin's first The simple song of Op. 72 No. 1,

- 3- sung over a barcarolle bass, was written in 1827 when Chopin was still a student in Warsaw, and shows that he could already use with great sensibility the form invented by the Irish composer John Field. It is in two sections, each repeated, the second heard first over a dominant pedal, but returning over a tonic pedal. The Op. 62 nocturne is also meditative: its contrasting middle section does not disturb the mood. The return of the main tune is highly decorated, so much so that Chopin breaks off for a chordal disquisition and a codal filigree of sound holding up the final cadence.timedia fasw row of zou no gaivou 1030qmos abasso On either side of these nocturnes we hear two of Chopin's four scherzos, works he seems to have written for salon performance, by himself or for pupils and friends. They appear to have had their roots in his ability to mo improvise: they certainly show off the performer's technique. No. 3 (1839) develops both the strong theme in octaves and the decorated chorale that we hear at the outset, interspersed with more improvisatory material. No. 4 (1842) is more like a Mendelssohnian scherzo, light and jocular. The long first section is repeated almost exactly until it builds into a short but electrifying coda; the middle section is virtually a nocturne in style. .easbrag meiei suom ********************* 0x0 yd avab 375 dallog INTERVAL ********************* an awet dallo! bejeo v99 ow edmoon 8 " .602100 Eugnil al alon adianos juodo no goleibom da ozod quoig

-4- PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION Wedel Modest Musorgsky Jasbude (1839-1881) ndol sadquos da ods In 1874 the Russian composer Musorgsky visited the memorial exhibition of watercolours and architectural and stage designs of a close friend, Victor Hartmann, who had died the previous year. Musorgsky was immediately moved to write this evocative set of ten pieces based on some of the pictures, introducing and linking them with variations of a theme called a 'promenade', depicting the composer moving from work to work. The cycle was brilliantly orchestrated by the French composer, Ravel, but it succeeds just as well in its bold pianistic mode. Here are the movements and the pictures which inspired them. The music can then be left to speak for itself. Promenade. 1. Gnomus. ada p A nutcracker designed in the shape of a Russian gnome. Promenade. 2. The old castle. map том T A medieval castle, with a wandering minstrel about to enter it. Promenade. 3. Tuileries. sibbin edd Children and nurses in the famous Parisian gardens. 4. Bydlo. A heavy two-wheeled Polish cart drawn by oxen. Promenade. 5. Ballet of chicks in their shells. Costume designs for a children's ballet. 6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle. Two greatly contrasted Polish Jews conversing. Promenade. 7. Limoges: the market place. Several sketches of the busy market inspired this piece. 8. Catacombs. "Cum mortuis in lingua mortua.' 11 A sketch of the Paris catacombs. Musorgsky follows his gloomy chords with a meditation on Hartmann's death.

-5- 9. The hut on hen's legs. A sketch for a clock designed in the shape of the legendary hut of the Russian witch, Baba-Yaga. 10. The great gate of Kiev. A design for a projected (but never built) ornamental gate to the city. Programme notes by Hilary Bracefield

-6- blods to sqen TONIGHT'S ARTIST BARRY DOUGLAS was born in Belfast in 1960, where he was educated at Methodist College. He studied the piano with Bertram Jones (Belfast School of Music), John Barstow (Royal College of Music) and Mario Curcio, a pupil of Schnabel. He has gained many international awards, including a silver medal at the 1983 Artur Rubinstein competition. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in October 1982, and his London concerto debut in the Royal Festival Hall with the LPO in March 1983. Future engagements include an appearance at the 1984 Bath Festival. ********************* Season 1984-85 BROCHURES FOR NEXT SEASON ARE NOW AVAILABLE. SUBSCRIBE NOW, TONIGHT, AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE REDUCED RATE.