THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY in association with THE ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND and THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY ROBERT COHEN (cello) JOHN VAN BUSKIRK (piano) Sunday 3 March 1985. Elmwood Hall 3.30 p.m.

- 1 - Cello Sonata No 5 in E minor Largo Allegro Largo Allegro Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Vivaldi remains the best known today of a host of Italian composers of the later Baroque, and had the good fortune to be a professional composer during some of the most brilliant years of the Venetian republic. A prolific writer, Vivaldi composed operas, cantatas, sacred music, concertos and sonatas. He is particularly important for his advancement of the form and style of the Baroque concerto and sonata. The four Seasons' concertos are justly famous, but he wrote 500 others, and there are approximately 90 known sonatas. Nearly all are sonatas and trio sonatas for violin, but among the others are nine for cello and continuo. The set of six from which this sonata comes was published in Paris in 1740, but it is not known exactly when they were written. The four movements are all in binary form, and in E minor, modulating to the dominant, subdominant or relative major. Though not labelled as dance forms, they retain characteristics of such movements. The first two are in common time, a stately Largo giving way to a brisker Allegro. The third movement is of a pastoral nature, and the final dance a jig in triple time. Vivaldi was not writing here for the large public of his concertos, but for the private entertainment of someone who loved the instrument, and these sonatas are remarkable examples of balanced and elegant music.

Sonata in G minor, Op 19. 2 - Sergei Rakhmaninov Lento Allegro moderate Allegro scherzando Andante Allegro mosso (1873-1943) Rakhmaninov always found it difficult to put pen to paper, and after the disastrous premiere of his first symphony (due to a bad performance) in 1896 he entered a period of great depression and inactivity. In 1900, however, treatment by a hypnotist worked wonders, he began to compose again, and his second and most popular piano concerto was the result. Following its successful premiere the following year, Rakhmaninov was able to complete the Cello Sonata in December, one of his very few chamber works, and certainly the most substantial. While Rakhmaninov was attracted to the expressiveness of of the cello, he could not restrain himself from writing a sumptuous and demanding piano part as well. This is most noticeable in the first movement. Although it is the cello which states the first subject, after a slow introduction, it is the piano which gives out the second subject, the piano which elaborates most of the development of the themes, and the piano which gets the cadenza-like passage just before the recapitulation begins. Both instruments combine well in the scherzo, however, to present a virtuoso and breathless perpetuum mobile in C minor, based on repeated notes and scales. An A flat middle section has a broader tune, but it soon gives way to a complete repeat of the scherzo and a short coda in which the scales drop away to nothing. The slow movement in E flat major develops a spacious melody over a continuous barcarolle bass, in writing for the piano reminiscent of passages in the second piano

- 3- concerto. The cello version of the melody is interwoven most beautifully with that of the piano. The finale, in G major, is a vigorous sonata form movement, the first subject making great use of triplets to push it forward, the second subject a further example of the sort of broad tune which Rakhmaninov seemed to Both instruments combine in a vigorous write so easily. coda to bring the work to an exciting end. INTERVAL Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Prologue (Lent. Sostenuto e molto risoluto) Serenade (Modérément animé) - Finale (Animé) When World War I broke out, Debussy found himself unable to compose for many months, but in the summer of 1915 he suddenly found inspiration and wrote the Twelve Etudes for piano, En Blanc et Noir for two pianos, this Cello Sonata and the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp. The Cello Sonata was published as the first of 'six sonatas for divers instruments', but Debussy, already mortally ill, was able only to finish one more, for violin, which was to prove to be his last completed work. Debussy called these works 'sonatas' more from the meaning of the word - to sound than as essays in the formal structure of classical sonatas. The Cello Sonata is full of unusual sounds and leaves a most disturbing effect. The Prologue is the movement nearest to a sort of sonata form. It opens with an introductory peroration on the piano which suggests both the key of D minor and a modal effect, and a series of cello arabesques. The main tune in D minor moves to A for a more hopeful transition

- 4 - idea, which is followed by an agitated passage and a second main tune, louder and more assertive, in C and using the full range of the cello. This leads to a troubled cadenza that returns us to statements of both main themes and a final D major chord more disturbing than satisfying. At one stage Debussy had given the sonata the subtitle 'Pierrot fâché avec la lune' (Pierrot angry at the moon), and although one can imagine the character from the harlequinade as the protagonist of all three movements, it is easiest to picture him in the Serenade. This fantastical movement is famous for its pizzicato and portando (sliding) effects and for the cello's imitations of guitar and mandoline and even a flute. Debussy marked the opening of the movement 'fantastic and light' and another passage 'ironic', and these sentiments colour the whole of its short length. The Serenade leads from a held cello A straight into the Finale, in which a nervously gay folklike tune tries to get going and the music attempts to reach the happier key of A major. It is interrupted, however, by oriental roulades and slows to a passage in five flats marked 'con morbidezza'. The nervous energy returns, and the folklike tune builds to a climax which dissipates, after a final cello solo, to a few D minor chords. Kol Nidrei, Op 47 Max Bruch (1838-1920) It is the fate of the German composer Max Bruch that despite a full life as a teacher, conductor and composer of a large number of works, he is chiefly remembered only for his G minor Violin Concerto. Nevertheless cellists relish this Adagio, written in 1881 for cello and orchestra. About the same time as it was composed, incidentally, Bruch spent

- 5- two years as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, the only post he accepted outside Germany itself. Kol Nidrei is an ancient and holy Hebrew melody, It traditionally sung on the eve of the Day of Atonement. is heard in a full statement on the cello at the outset of the Adagio, but is then freely developed and combined with a more romantic though related melody to make a piece of music. both contemplative and eloquent. Introduction and Polonaise Brillante. in C, Op 3 Chopin wrote very few works for instruments other than the piano, but he seems to have been attracted to the cello, for he wrote a sonata for the instrument near the end of his life, and several of his early works use it. This salon piece dates from 1929-30, before Chopin had left Poland for Paris. It is a good example of the polonaise rhythm with a clearly-marked tune and much brilliant writing for the piano as well as the cello, foreshadowing Chopin's later develop- ment. Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) Programme notes by Hilary Bracefield ******************** TONIGHT'S ARTISTS Robert Cohen is the youngest and reckoned to be the best of the half-dozen brilliant cello soloists who have emerged in Britian in recent years (he is still only 25). A pupil of William Pleeth, the country's foremost cello teacher, he made his Royal Festival Hall debut at the age of 12. He has performed with all the major British orchestras, won innumerable international competitions, and is in much demand as a recitalist and concerto player throughout

-6- His recordings of Britain, Europe and the United States. the Elgar and Dvorak concertos have already sold over 100,000 copies. John Van Buskirk is an American pianist who is rapidly establishing an international reputation as an extremely versatile musician. Not only is he in great demand as accompanist to many prominent soloists, but his growing experience as recitalist, conductor, chamber musician and vocal coach has led to regular engagements at various American summer festivals. He studied at Eastman College and the Julliard School of Music, and was a special student of Eugene List in Budapest. ******************** NEXT RECITAL Saturday 23 March 1985, 7.30 p.m. - Elmwood Hall NIGEL KENNEDY (violin) PETER PETTINGER (piano) Messiaen: Theme and Variations Bach: Partita in D minor Beethoven: 'Kreutzer' Sonata in A, Op. 47 Bizet/Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy