GC TANA NDA "Everything was pure dancing suggestion, glinting colour, bitter-sweet irony; huge pianistic strength seemed held in reserve." (The Sunday Times) Arnaldo Cohen Piano PROGRAMME MOZART, BEETHOVEN, BACH/BUSONI SCHUMANN, CHOPIN Supported b G ART COUNC

ARNALDO COHEN Piano In the years since Arnaldo Cohen came to the attention of the critics and public, the Brazilian-born pianist has enjoyed an increasingly successful career which has taken him to the major concert halls throughout Europe. He has performed with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, under such leading conductors as Sanderling, Tennstedt, Masur and Menuhin. Arnaldo Cohen was the First Prize winner of Italy's Busoni International Piano Competition. He began studying music at the age of five and graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janiero with a degree in piano and violin after studies with Jacques Klein. He continued his training in Vienna and made Europe his permanent home after a concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam - replacing Martha Argerich - made him a prominent figure in the European music world. In addition to his solo appearances, Arnaldo Cohen performs in the Amadeus Piano Trio with former members of the Amadeus Quartet. He has been selected to serve on several juries including the Liszt Competition in Holland and the Busoni in Italy. Highlights this season include concerts with Sir Yehudi Menuhin in Naples, Athens, Bournemouth, and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He is also to perform a series of concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Fedoseyev, concerts with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich, a tour with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and with the Residentie Orchestra in Holland and Belgium, an appearance on Dutch Television performing Rakhmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody, as well as numerous recitals throughout Britain and Europe. Mr. Cohen's recording of Liszt works has just been released under the IMP Classic label. In March 1992, Arnaldo Cohen was appointed to the Broadwood Trust Fellowship which has been newly established at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Programme SONATA in D major K311 Mozart's first encounters with the pianoforte, or perhaps more correctly the "fortepiano", were probably when he visited Paris in 1763-64. It was not until 1781, however, soon after he settled in Vienna, that he actually acquired a first-rate piano of his own, having had to make do before that with instruments wherever he could find them. It should be remembered that the piano was still at a relatively early stage of development at this time. In 1753, for examp[le, no less a figure than C.P,E,Bach was asserting that the clavichord, arguably his father's favourite keyboard instrument, was still preferable to the piano, whose 'touch is difficult and requires thorough study". Over the next twenty years piano-making advanced apace, especially in England and southern Germany and the name of Stein in particular was noted for building pianos of quality. In 1777 Mozart wrote to his father that "the last [of the three sonatas K282-4] sounds superlative on Stein's piano". Stein through mechanical innovation had developed those special pianistic qualities of sudden changes of dynamic which so intrigued Mozart in these early piano sonatas, thus accounting perhaps for the surfeit of f, p, accents and crescendo markings. MOZART (1756-1791) It was in 1778 while he was in Mannheim that Mozart wrote the Sonata in D major K311. Although Mannheim had by this time begun to lose its importance as the centre of excellence for which it had been famous earlier in the century, Mozart was evidently able to use his time there to good effect. In a letter written by by his mother in December 1777, she remarks that 'here [in Mannheim] his playing is very different from in Salzburg for there are pianos everywhere, and he handles them incomparably,,," The D major sonata is cast in three movements and opens with an Allegro con spirito which as the marking suggests is bright and exuberant in style and reminiscent of the favoured conventions of Mannheim. The second movement Andantino con espressione in G major exploits the technique of overlapping phrases in its main theme to produce what would appear at first to be an unusual eleven bar melody. The movement is basically set in sonata form without a development section. The final Allegro is a typical "hunting" rondo in six-eight with a strange little quasi-cadenza right in the middle of the movement.

Sonata in C minor (Pathéthique) BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) "Beethoven was descended in a measure from Haydn and Mozart, but it is none the less true that the moment we recognise his models we lose him. The things he himself said were just those that have no place in his inherited architecture.. Beethoven is the creative iconoclast" Dr. George Dyson, the eminent English writer, composer and academician, was correct in his assertion that Beethoven was the essential break with tradition which heralded the Romantic age in musical thought at the turn of the nineteenth century. Nowhere is this more evident than in his thirty two piano sonatas which chronicle his remarkable creative achievement, spanning as they do the period covered by opus numbers 2 to 111 from his twenty- fifth to his fifty-second year. Thus they give a more comprehensive view of his compositional activities than any other branch of his output - "...in them are represented practically all his expansions and developments on the structural side of music and almost everything he did in the direction of extending its emotional appeal through dynamic contrast and variety" as Harvey Grace put it in his rather fanciful biography of the composer. The full title of this sonata, Grande sonate pathétique, is in fact Beethoven's own. Written in 1798 and published the following year, the work's appeal lies in its emotional directness, its dramatic content and the sharp contrasts of mood throughout. Nowhere is this more blatent than at the very opening which more than grasps the listener's attention with its brooding chromaticisms and fortepiano chords. Considering the still delicate nature of the pianos of his time, Beethoven is seen here to be pushing the instrument to its very limits. The fateful key of C minor is exploited to full effect in this first movement which reveals its essence and originality in the stark juxtaposition of grave and allegro molto e con brio sections. The flowing melody of the rich A flat second movement adagio cantabile is an obvious target for "arrangers and derangers" as Denis Matthews coins them in his book on Beethoven's sonatas. In comparison to the sturm und drang of the opening movement, the gentle, peaceful quality of this movement is all the more poignant, although the harmonic language is far from simple - a case here of art concealing art in the subtlety of the underpinning progressions. Matthews describes the allegro finale as "a sonata rondo with an elusive character, part wistful, part defiant. The episodes are more conciliatory, but they all end by being drawn back into the C minor atmosphere."

Bach / BUSONI (1866-1924) "If one only knows Busoni as a musician, one does not know him. (And who knows him as a musician?)" Alfred Einstein Chaconne Who indeed knows the music nowadays of Ferrucio Busoni who once was hailed internationally as a pianist, composer, teacher and writer of the very highest calibre. Indeed even in his own day, his compositions were overshadowed by his reputation as a pianist of phenomenal technique and although he himself considered composition perhaps the most important direction of his life's work, it seems that apart from several highly reputable luminaries such as Brahms, Varèse and Schoenberg, the general public at large failed to recognise his genius in this aspect. Busoni's highly intellectual approach to music led to a considerably self-critical and not always self-confident approach to his own compositions. As a world-traveller, he adopted a cosmopolitan attitude which dismissed musical nationalism in favour of a concept of a universal music, a music that should know nothing of geographical or ethnic distinctions, an art beyond political or religious differences. From the publication of his book Outline of a New Aesthetic of Music in 1907 to the end of his life, Busoni's one aim was to define the nature of this universal music. Anthony Beaumont, Busoni's most recent biographical and musical commentator, points out that "an initially instinctive sense of this universality led Busoni to his activities as a transcriber, taking his cue..... from Liszt The Romantic tendency to transcribe was more than merely a wish to disseminate knowledge through the more accessible and popular medium of the piano. It was an art in itself and if Liszt was the most prolific of transcribers, Busoni must surely be recognised as one of the most brilliant. The majority of Busoni's transcriptions were of works by J.S.Bach and when the publishers Breitkopf und Härtel decided to reissue these it proved a monumental undertaking lasting several years and eventually comprising eight volumes! In Volume III can be found his transcription of the Chaconne in D minor, originally from the Partita No.2 for violin BWV 1004, which Busoni completed in 1892 when he was teaching at the New England Conservatory in Boston. INTERVAL

Fantasia in C SCHUMANN (1810-1856) "I am affected In a letter to his wife Clara in 1838, Schumann wrote: by everything that goes on in the world and think it over in my own way..... then I long to express my feelings and find an outlet for them in music" Dedicated to Franz Liszt, who incidently dedicated his B minor Sonata to Schumann, the Fantasia in C was first inspired by Liszt's schemes to raise a monument to Beethoven in Bonn in the mid-1830's. Schumann wrote to his publisher Kistner: "Florestan and Eusebius desire to contribute to Beethoven's monument and have written something for the purpose under the following title: Ruins, Trophies, Palms. Grand Sonata for the Pianoforte for Beethoven's monument by...." Kistner obviously did not share Schumann's enthusiasm for the project and when the work eventually appeared under the Breitkopf und Härtel label, it was entitled Fantasia, maybe reflecting the unconventional ordering of the three movements as fast/fast/slow. Although the original titles of the movements were also removed, the hint of a programmatic basis for the music was revealed in the quotation from Schlegel which Schumann wrote at the head of the score - "Through all the world's wild vibrating sounds, one still note can sound to him who listens" Schumann also quotes directly from Beethoven's song-cycle An die ferne Geliebte - "To the distant beloved" For those who are familiar with Schumann's biographical details during the mid-1830's, it will come as no surprise to learn that it was more than likely something to do with his difficult courtship with Clara Wieck which is directly related to the hidden agenda underlying the work. As Clara's father had at this time forbidden the two young lovers to correspond let alone see each other, music became a clandestine means of communication; it was also Schumann's favourite way of laying bare his heart. Despite the literary and other allusions within it, the first movement stands as one of Schumann's most original sonata form structures. Similarly, the march-like second movement is a tightly constructed sonata-rondo form thematically linked to the first movement and the vehicle for a masterly display of virtuosic keyboard writing especially in the coda. The calm serenity of the final movement comes as a peaceful apotheosis which exploits startling changes of harmony in a manner that in no way disturbs the radiance of the mood created.

Three Studies CHOPIN (1810-1849) "Chopin, Fryderyk (third-year student); outstanding abilities, musical genius, etc." Thus wrote Joseph Elsner, Director of the Warsaw Conservatoire and Chopin's teacher and mentor during his three year course at that institution. This final-year report was prepared at a time when the young Chopin had recently come into contact with the performing prowess of Paganini, whose visit to Warsaw in 1829 caused something of a musical sensation as it did indeed anywhere he appeared. More than a little impressed by the technical daring of the violin virtuoso, Chopin responded with the first of his Études. He was nineteen at the time and already aware that the new demands of the virtuoso pianist required a new approach to technique. Chopin did not abandon the stereotyped finger calculations of men like Cramer, Czerny or Clementi; he imbued the idea however with a totally fresh meaning, masking mere pianistic problems in perfectly conceived musical masterpieces. There are twenty-seven studies in all - twelve in Opus 10, published in 1833 and dedicated to Franz Liszt; twelve in Opus 25, published in 1837 and dedicated to Countess Marie d'Agoult (Liszt's mistress); and the Trois Nouvelles Études published in 1840 and written at the request of Ignaz Moscheles. Schumann as music critic of Leipzig's Neue Zeitschrift für Musik had recognised Chopin's genius in his famous and oft-quoted "hats off" phrase. On hearing a performance by Chopin of the A flat study Op.25 No.1 he wrote: "Let one imagine that an Aeolian harp had all the scales and that an artist's hand had mingled them together in all kinds of fantastic decorations, but in such a way that you could always hear a deeper fundamental tone and a softly singing melody - there you have something of a picture of his playing...... When the study has ended you feel as you do after a blissful vision, seen in a dream, which, already half- awake, you would fain recall..." In less poetic terms, Op.10 no.11 deals with arpeggiated chords in a simple melody plus accompaniment format but spiced with typical Chopinesque chromaticisms; Op. 25 no.12 is a stormy wash of semiquavers through which a sustained melodic line acts as the stable point in a miniature drama. Programme notes by Philip Hammond

ARNALDO COHEN The Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen has received rave reviews from critics throughout Europe and the Americas. His increasingly successful career has brought him engagements with leading British and European orchestras under conductors such as Tennstedt, Masur and Rattle. In addition to many solo appearances, Cohen also performs in the Amadeus Piano Trio and with the Lindsay and Orlando Quartets. By way of introduction to Northern Irish audiences Cohen stepped in at the very last moment for a Belfast Music Society concert during 1991 to give a stunning Liszt recital. Wednesday 14 October ANTRIM Bleach House, Dunadry Tickets from Mrs B.Turner, Tel: (08494) 72450 Thursday 15 October DERRY The Guildhall Tickets from Rialto Booking-Office, Tel: (0504) 260516 Friday 16 October ARMAGH Royal School, Assembly Hall Tickets from Tourist Information Centre, 40 English Street, Tel: (0861) 527808 Saturday 17 October BELFAST Elmwood Hall Tickets from Koinonia, Pottingers Entry; Knight's Records, Botanic Avenue; Dillons The Book Store, 44 Fountain Street; or at the door. PROMOTED BY DISTRICT/BOROUGH COUNCIL ARTS COMMITTEES AND IN BELFAST BY THE BELFAST MUSIC SOCIETY ALL PERFORMANCES 8.00P.M. EXCEPT BELFAST 7.30 P.M. Supported by the ARTS COUNCIL

FOREWORD FROM THE RT. HON THE LORD MAYOR ALDERMAN HERBERT DITTY I am very pleased indeed to have this opportunity to congratulate the Belfast Music Society on the splendid programme of Celebrity Concerts which has been organised for the 1992/93 season. For more than seven decades, the Society's members have made a valuable contribution to the cultural life of the City, consistently presenting concerts of first-rate chamber music. Belfast City Council is delighted to support the Society's 1992/93 concert series and to be associated with this opening concert. Arnaldo Cohen is no stranger to Belfast and it is a pleasure to welcome him back to our City, when I am sure he will once again enthral the audience in the Elmwood Hall tonight. I wish you all a very enjoyable evening and wish the Society a very successful 1992/93 season. Herket Ditty J.P. LORD MAYOR