X 21.1.98 첫 Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts

RUTH MCGINLEY Winner of the piano final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year, 1994 PROGRAMME Prelude, Chorale and Fugue Sonata for Piano in B flat minor, Supported by the ONG Op. 36 No. 2 Valses Nobles et Sentimentales Waltz in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1 Berceuse, Op. 57 Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 No. 1 ARTS COUNCIL ܀ ܀ ܀ Saturday 21 January 1995 Elmwood Hall, 7.30 p.m. CITY BEL A ST MODE César Franck Rachmaninov Ravel Chopin Chopin Chopin NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS

Prelude, Chorale and Fugue This work comes from the period of intense activity that marked the closing years of Franck's life, and is one of a number of important works for piano from this time. Franck had composed little of importance for the instrument since the immature works of the 1840s; the piano quintet of 1879 seems to have re-awakened his interest, for he followed it with the symphonic poem with piano obbligato, Les Djinns, and the present work, both completed in 1884. The familiar Symphonic Variations followed in 1885. César Franck 1822-1890 The Prelude alternates two contrasting textures, one flowing in Bachian demisemiquavers, the other chordal and marked 'a capriccio'. The following Chorale is molto cantabile (very lyrical), but also warns non troppo dolce (not too sweet)! Much of the movement is made up of harp-like arpeggiated chords. The texture lightens, and the pace quickens as we move into the final Fugue, whose subject (theme) is based on the same falling semitone motif as the two earlier sections. This is built on a grand scale; there is even time for the pianist to have a cadenza (so marked) which is based on all the work's themes, and a final majestic coda. Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 36, No. 2 allegro agitato non allegro allegro molto - 1- Sergei Rachmaninov 1873-1943 The second of Rachmaninov's two sonatas poses many problems for interpreters (and programme note writers!) as it exists in two very different definitive versions, not to mention one authorised and several unauthorised performing editions that contain elements of both versions. The problems spring from the composer's severe self-criticism and sensitivity to public reaction to his music. This probably started with the disastrous premiere of the first symphony; at any rate, he revised many of his major works,

3 J including the 2nd and 3rd symphonies, the 1st and 4th piano concertos and this sonata. Often the changes involved wholesale mutilation, and though the results were certainly physically shorter, the cost was often a loss of coherence and balance. In the case of the sonata, pianists and critics have generally felt that the revised version (1931) is inferior to the composer's original thoughts (1913) and have either returned to the latter, or, as Horowitz did, with the composer's (reluctant) approval, produced a 'somewhere-in-between' edition. The sonata's original conception is contemporary with the choral -symphony, The Bells, and the sound of bells, large and small, analysed in depth in the symphony, is a key aspect of the texture of the piano work too. In addition, it is a close relative, both structurally and thematically, of the 3rd piano concerto (1909). The sonata is more introspective, however; there is no 'big tune', though one keeps threatening to emerge from the often complex textures. Instead, the sonata's themes are more elusive, based on small motifs, and the thematic material of all three movements is very closely related, providing a tightly unified work, made more so when the opening of the slow movement reappears to link it to the finale. Valses Nobles et Sentimentales modéré - très franc; assez lent; modéré; assez animé; presque lent; vif; moins vif; épilogue (lent) Maurice Ravel The rhythm of the waltz seems to have held a long fascination for Ravel. In 1906 he wrote to a friend, indicating his intention of composing a piece that would be imbued with the flavour of this dance - "You know my intense feelings for these marvellous rhythms." This project failed to materialise, but five years later he composed the Valses Nobles..., originally for piano, orchestrated the following year, a set of seven waltzes with a final summing-up epilogue. It was first performed anonymously, the audience being invited to guess the composer's identity. Apparently many were fooled (and many were the boos for the work's perceived modernity), yet, with hindsight, the music could surely only be by Ravel. 2-

Waltz in A flat, Op. 34, No. 1 Berceuse Op. 57 Ballade in G minor, Op. 23, No. 1 The waltz was, of course, a popular genre, but there is nothing 'common' about Chopin's waltzes. Schumann observed that they were "salon pieces of the noblest sort. If he were to play (them) for dancing, Florestan thought, half the ladies among the dancers would have to be at least countesses... (they are) aristocratic, through and through." This, the second of his 19 (or so) waltzes, dates from 1835, and reminds us strongly of the true home of the waltz, Vienna, and that important contributor to the form, Schubert. Chopin's only Berceuse dates from 1844, and was conceived as a set of variations on a repeating ground bass. It could indeed be analysed as such, but to the listener it is just (!) a marvellously fluid, beautifully ornamented melody that is spun out over a simple bass figure that supports it without detracting from it. Chopin worked at the first of his four Ballades between 1831 and 1835. It opens slowly with what has been very aptly described as an 'arresting preamble'. Although both main themes are lyrical, passion quickly builds up, and the music rises to an awesome climax. TONIGHT'S ARTIST Fryderyk Chopin 1810-1849 Alec Macdonald 1994 Ruth McGinley, aged sixteen years, a pupil of Thornhill College, Londonderry, has been playing the piano since the age of two. She was originally taught by her mother and at nine won a scholarship to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin where her tutor is John O'Conor. - 3- She was RTE "Young Musician of the Future" finalist in 1992 and a BBC "Young Musician of the Year" semi-finalist in 1992. She has also given many television and radio broadcasts. She has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Northern Ireland Symphony Orchestra in major venues throughout Ireland and has also given numerous

solo recitals. During the summer of 1994 Ruth attended masterclasses in Holland with some of the world's greatest teachers including John Perry and Georgy Sandor. She also represented Ireland in a concert for twelve young European pianists at "13e Festival International de Piano" in La Roque d'Antheron, France. From an early age, Ruth has been part of a piano trio with her sisters. As a consequence she has developed as an accompanist and enjoys this as an alternative to solo performance. Her latest success was winning the piano final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 1994. She is now in great demand. During the coming year she will be soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra and the London Mozart Players as well as giving numerous solo recitals throughout Great Britain. NEXT RECITAL Saturday 11 February 1995 Tasmin Little (violin) Martin Roscoe (piano) Elmwood Hall 7.30 pm