Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts 23/3/94 Programme

HAGAI SHAHAM~ violin ARNON EREZ - piano 1 in D, Op. 137 Sonata Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (The 'Kreutzer') Rhapsody No. 1 PROGRAMME) 1400 Leno 160 Supported by the ARTS COUNCIL opae Obe Saturday, 23rd March 1996 Elmwood Hall at 7.30 pm CITY BELFAS COUNCIL Schubert Kurt Roger Beethoven Bartók NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS

Sonata No. 1 in D, D384 (op 137/1) 0099 allegro molto andante allegro vivace niloiv MAHAH2 In March and April 1816, while he was working on the 4th symphony, Schubert composed three sonatas for violin and piano. Lightish and shortish they may be, but the publisher Diabelli had no authority for debasing them in calling them sonatinas, when he brought them out eight years after the composer's death (he later rejected the correct title for Schubert's other violin sonata, too, publishing it as a 'Duo'). Franz Schubert (1797-1828) The D major, the first of the set, is in fact the shortest, having three movements only. The first movement's themes are shaped by triadic patterns. The gentle andante, in A, with its minor key central section, is typically Schubertian in its song-like characteristics. Again, the main melody makes use of triadic patterns. The jaunty finale, in 6/8 metre, dances along to bring the sonata to a light-hearted close, but not without some Schubertian harmonic surprises on the way.udo2 тэвоя пия qo,ami novorliss Monsa Sonata, op 44 TA QO A nie (issus 1.ok sno2 BISOO2 stano? sdT) boged Kurt Roger (1895-1966) In his years in Ulster, Vienna-born Roger played an important part in the Province's musical life. A number of his compositions were performed, but it can't be said his music became at all well-known, outside musical circles, at any rate. A lot of it is of a high quality, however - which makes it quite deplorable that the 'Immortal Grove' makes no mention of him. His right to be included is surely confirmed by the violin sonata, written in 1958, and one of his more important chamber works. The lengthy first movement is passionate and at times stormy, with the melodies' oscillating shapes helping to generate tremendous energy in a way that may suggest Brahms as a stylistic ancestor (though the melodic outline may also call to mind some Eastern European composers, Prokofiev among them). The brief waltz-scherzo reveals clearly Roger's Viennese origins. The slow movement begins with a long melody, desolately presented by the violin and imitated by the piano. The serious mood prevails throughout; the melodic shapes that characterised the themes of the opening movement are still present, now drained of all passion, this slow movement being dominated by a bleak three-note figure, The violin opens the rushing, contrapuntal finale. A slower second theme has the character of a march and is related to music in the opening movement. It is this theme that brings the sonata to an energetic close..

Sonata in A, op 47 (Kreutzer) A cuginoT adagio sostenuto - presto andante con variazioni Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) presto If it hadn't been for 'a girl' (un-named), this sonata might have been immortalised as the Bridgetower Sonata, rather than the Kreutzer. It was written in 1803 for the violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower, son of the personal page of Nicholas Esterhazy (Haydn's employer), and a very interesting character - of mixed African and Polish parentage and an important personality in the musical life of England, where he made his home. The dedication on the manuscript is to 'The mulatto Brischdauer, great lunatic and mulattic composer', and it was he who gave the first performance. However, after the female wedge had been driven between the two men, Beethoven replaced the dedication, for the published score, with one to the French violinist and composer Rudolphe Kreutzer. The grand style of the sonata is made clear in Beethoven's original title 'sonata for piano and violin obbligato, written in a decidedly concertante manner, as though a concerto'. Unexpect- edly, it is the violin on its own that starts the sonata off, before the piano is heard. This slow introduction (the only one in Beethoven's ten violin sonatas) gradually hints at the rising interval of a second that opens the presto movement that soon breaks in. The second main theme also makes much of this rising interval. At several points the music is held up dramatically by sudden adagio passages. Although the introduction is in the major, most of the movement is in A minor, giving it a particularly unsettling quality - indeed, Denis Matthews used the adjective 'demonic', and the music inspired evil doings in Tolstoy's short story 'The Kreutzer Sonata'. The F major slow movement is a set of variations on the opening theme heard first on the piano, and featuring this time the descending interval of a second. There follow four variations, and a lengthy and discursive coda. The presto finale was actually the first movement to be composed, being originally planned for the A major sonata, op 30/1, of the previous year. The galloping main theme is a definite cousin of the music of the opening movement. As in that movement, the music is halted several times, in this case by a short chorale passage in 2/4 that produces a sharp contrast with the prevailing 6/8 metre. Towards the end, the music suddenly pauses, and make two attempts to restart, before finally rushing to a triumphant conclusion. hamu od! lo obro. I ni bes joita nienM Bela Bartók Rhapsody No 1 insolen zorgzon 120m 29sel to omaiw sing aw (1881-1945) The folk music of his native Hungary was a major influence on Bartok's music from the early years of this century, when he first began to collect and transcribe the rapidly vanishing repertoire of country singers and dancers. Even in his most complex music, from the 1920's and 1930's, melody, harmony, rhythm and texture are all influenced by the folk tradition, even if it is not immediately obvious, so totally is it absorbed into his musical thought. Apart from the more esoteric use of the folk idiom in his large scale works, Bartók continued, right through his career, to write simpler pieces in which the folk influence is quite obvious. Perhaps the most blatantly Hungarian of all his works is this First Rhapsody of 1928. The Hungarian character is even more underlined in the version with orchestral accompaniment, with its prominent part for the dulcimer-like cimbalom, but the present piano version is still unmistakably a typical dance, both in sound (with the violinist performing the duties of the village fiddler) and in its characteristic two-part form- a lassú (slow) section introducing the faster friss part. Alec Macdonald 1996

Tonight's Artists HAGAI SHAHAM was born in 1966 and began studying the violin at the age of six. He was a student of the renowned late Prof. Ilona Feher. In September 1990, Hagai Shaham and his duo partner, pianist Arnon Erez, won the first prize at the ARD International Music competition in Munich in the violin-piano duo category. They became the first competitors to be awarded this coveted prize since 1971. He has received may awards including first prizes at the Ilona Kornhauser competition in 1989, the Israel Broadcasting Authority 'Young Artist' competition in 1985, the Tel Aviv Rubin Academy competition in 1987, Clairmont Awards in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986, and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships annually since 1976. Hagai Shaham is a recitalist in great demand. He regularly tours throughout Europe, North and Central America, and has performed at many international recital series and festivals. In October 1992 Hagai Shaham made his recording debut with Argo, Decca International. amort ARNON EREZ-During the past few years Arnon Erez has been gaining international recognition both as soloist and chamber musician. Born in 1965, he was a student of Hana Shalgi and of Prof. Arie Vardi at the Rubin Music Academy of the Tel-Aviv University, where he graduated in 1990 with a Master of Music degree with highest honours. He later studied Advanced Post-Graduate courses in the USA with members. of the Guarneri Quartet and in London with Mrs. Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music. In 1989 Arnon was the first prize winner of Israel's most prestigious national competition for music performance, the Francois Shapira competition. Earlier he had won the Clairmont Award (1987, 1988), the Tel-Aviv Rubin Music Academy competition (1988) and the America Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships. Arnon is equally at home as a concerto soloist, a recitalist and as a chamber musician. In addition to his duo partnership with Hagai Shaham he has performed in chamber ensembles with Shlomo Mintz, with flautist Samuel Baron and as a member of the 'Aviv' piano quartet.

NEXT CONCERT Saturday, 13th April 1996 THE LONDON GRIEG ENSEMBLE Elmwood Hall - 7.30pm