Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts 12-10-96 Programme

SIRI PETER DONOHOE - piano PROGRAMME Jeux d'Eau Preludes Book 1 dobo Supported by the INTERVA Études Tableaux Op. 33 No. 6; Op. 39 No. 101 Op. 33 No. 7; Op. 39 Nos. 3, 4 & 5 Op. 33 No. 5; Op. 33 Nos. 2 & 3 Op. 39 No. 9 Petrushka Sarata Bb Mina 35- Jous obor Saturday, 12th October 1996 Elmwood Hall at 7.30pm ARTS COUNCIL 00010 A BELE CITY 288 101 arb AS COUNCIL Debussy early SONATA NO 2 (FUNERAL MA CHOPIN RAVEL NATIONAL FEDERATION NFMS Rachmaninov bntW now Stravinsky Chopin adT wrote The BMS gratefully acknowledges support from Stewarts Supermarkets Ltd. and Ulster Bank Ltd. W (1) lad. 71

Preludes Book 1 MMANDO Claude Debussy 1862-1918 The piano was central to Debussy's art, and he wrote for it throughout his composing career, from the derivative, late romantic works of the 1880s, to the intense Études, composed in 1915, when he was already very ill. HOHO MAY The two sets of Preludes are also the product of Debussy's maturity; the pieces in the first set bear completion dates between December 1909 and February 1910. There are 12 preludes in each set, ie 24 in all, as in Bach, Chopin and Shostakovich, but unlike those composers, Debussy does not cast his set in any sequence of keys. It is, rather, a collection of colourful piano pieces, inspired by a variety of experiences, ranging from lines of poetry to scenes from his travels - whether literal or spiritual - to Italy, Spain, England, the Far East ... Debussy gives his preludes titles, but significantly these are placed at the end of each piece. They are not intended as paintings; the term frequently applied to them, impressionistic, is misleading, especially in the sense it is often used. Perhaps it would be accurate to say that the preludes are an interpretation in musical terms of an impression made on the composer by some exterior stimulus. Enough of this verbosity! It is the music that counts ... MRE GO (1) Dancers of Delphi - the three Bacchantes, on a Greek sculpture in the Louvre. (2) Sails of a boat, or perhaps the flowing skirts of a dancer. (3) The Wind on the Plain - Favart's inscription at the head of Verlaine's poem 'C'est l'extase langoureuse', already set by Debussy in his 'Ariettes oubliées' of 1887. (4) Sounds and Scents Stirring in the Evening Air - from Baudelaire's 'Harmonie du soir', also set earlier by the composer. (5) The Hills of Anacapri - near Naples, so this has the character of a Neopolitan folksong. (6) Footsteps in the Snow - a wonderfully evocative piece. (7) What the West Wind Saw - probably inspired by Andersen's story - 'The Garden of Paradise'. (8) The Lass with the Flaxen Hair - a line from de Lisle's 'Scottish song', set by Debussy in 1882. (9) The Interrupted Serenade - Falla saw in this piece 'Two serenaders, rivals for the favours of the girl who, hidden behind the flower-covered trellis at her window, watches the contest'. (10) The Sunken Cathedral of the drowned Breton city of Ys, whose bells and choirs are supposed to be heard on certain foggy mornings. (11) Puck's Dance - Debussy had obviously been reading A Midsummer Night's viluising 2M8 s/T Dream. 101 (12) Minstrels - that Debussy had heard in Eastbourne in 1905.

10 Études Tableaux, from Op 33 and Op 39 Rachmaninov's two sets of Études Tableaux were among the last pieces he wrote before leaving Russia for good after the Revolution of 1917. As originally published there were 15 pieces in all - 6 in the first set and 9 in the second - but when first conceived, the Opus 33 collection had 3 extra études (numbers 3, 4 and 5). Of these, number 4 was revised, and found a place in the later set; the other two were removed by the composer before publication, perhaps because they had strong thematic links with, respectively, a work-in-progress, the 4th piano concerto, and the earlier first piano sonata. After Rachmaninov's death these two études were restored to the canon, a controversial move akin to the posthumous addition of Schumann's rejects to his collection of études (symphoniques). Sergei Rachmaninov 1873-1943 When he began Opus 33, and the contemporary preludes of Opus 32, Rachmaninov was returning to smaller scale pieces, after a succession of large scale masterpieces he had written in the ten years since his recovery from nervous breakdown - including the second and third concertos, the second symphony and the cello sonata. They combine the virtuosity of the earlier piano works with hints of the more astringent ('laconic' one writer has called it) idiom of late works, such as the third symphony, the symphonic dances, (and even, to some extent, the Paganini Rhapsody). As far as the work's overall title is concerned, études (studies) is no problem, but tableaux (pictures) implies some extramusical inspiration. Whatever this may be, the composer has left us no specific clues, apart from the 'programmes' he outlined to Respighi, who orchestrated five of the pieces in 1930, and composers' retrospective descriptions are notoriously unreliable. Three movements from Petrushka Igor Stravinsky 1882 - 1971 Russian Dance: In Petrushka's Room: The Shrovetide Fair Stravinsky wrote his ballet, Petrushka, in 1910-11, for Diaghilev's famous Ballets Russes. Ten years later he transcribed three sections of the score for piano, for Arthur Rubinstein. The result is a tour-de-force of which even Liszt would surely have been impressed. The original highly-coloured score loses surprisingly little in its transfer to what might be considered (erroneously!) the monochrome medium of the keyboard (in fact, the ballet's first two scenes feature a prominent piano part anyway, the work having originally been conceived as an orchestral Konzertstück).

The piano transcription stays remarkably close to the original, necessitating the use of three staves, rather than two, for much of the work (making 'reading' the music actually easier, as the different melodic lines can be more easily distinguished.) The ballet takes place at the St. Petersburg Shrovetide Fair in the 1830s. The Showman has shown the crowd the three puppets, Petrushka, the Ballerina and the Moor. Charmed into life by his flute, they dance the lively Russian Dance that Stravinsky has here transcribed. The ballet's second tableau is set in Petrushka's room, and Stravinsky transcribed it in full. Bitterly conscious of his grotesque appearance, and resentful of the way he is totally dependent on his cruel master, Petrushka tries to console himself by falling in love with the Ballerina. She visits him, and briefly he believes he has succeeded in winning her. But she is frightened of him, and flees. He is in despair. In the third tableau, omitted in the piano version, the Moor, sumptuously dressed, but 'brutal and stupid', courts and wins the Ballerina. The final tableau is set once more in the fairground, that evening, and the piano score follows the original closely. Against the background of excited crowd sounds, we are introduced to various of the participants - a group of nursemaids, a bear, dancing to a pipe, an accordion-playing merchant with two gypsy girls, a group of coachmen (who then dance with the nursemaids), and various grotesquely masked figures. Finally the whole crowd joins in. This brings the piano movements to an end. In the ballet, however, the tragic denouement has still to come. The merrymaking is interrupted by the Moor chasing Petrushka across the stage and, watched by the horrified Ballerina, killing him. The Showman callously shows the crowd that it is only a puppet, but, after the crowd has gone home, and he is left alone, Petrushka's ghost appears above him Alec Macdonald 1996

234 TONIGHT'S ARTIST itsuba niuniind Peter Donohoe was born in Manchester and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and then in Paris with Yvonne Loriod, wife of the eminent composer, the late Olivier Messiaen. Since his unprecedented success at the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he has developed a distinguished career in Europe, the U.S.A. and in the Far East. 10 STAN ATZITRA In recent seasons he has appeared with the five London orchestras, regional UK orchestras such as the CBSO and SCO, and across Europe with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Swedish Radio, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Czech Philharmonic, the Maggio Musicale in Florence and in Spain and Portugal with the Philharmonia and Sawallisch. He has performed annually at the BBC Proms, and at major festivals including six consec- utive visits to the Edinburgh Festival, the renowned French Piano Festival of the Rühr and the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival. AUTO Peter Donohoe has made many fine recordings for EMI Records and has won awards for his recording of the Liszt Sonata (the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt) and for his recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 (the Gramophone Concerto award). Recent releases include the Beethoven Diabelli Variations and Sonata Op. 101, the Rachmaninov Preludes and the complete Messiaen repertoire for piano and winds, recorded for Chandos with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. THOMOO TXIM ovo bits.yabuna? A18 180XXXTENT MsH boowmls ('s) in levitel als dit nobis nl)

INTRODUCTORY LECTURES The Institute of Continuing Education at Queen's University is following up the success of last year's venture by arranging a series of lectures to introduce the music to be heard at the BMS Celebrity Concert the following Saturday. The details are as follows: DATE OF LECTURE 8th Oct. 1996 19th Nov. 1996 7th Jan. 1997 4th Feb. 1997 18th Mar. 1997 8th Apr. 1997 29th Apr. 1997 20th May 1997 LECTURER Elizabeth Bicker Ian Woodfield 20 Jim McCullagh Elizabeth Bicker Hilary Bracefield Alec Macdonald Brian Overton Donald Cullington ARTIST/S PETER DONOHOE (piano) FRETWORK (consort of viols with counter-tenor) JULIAN BREAM (guitar) IAN BOSTRIDGE (tenor) ROGER VIGNOLES (piano) LOWBURY PIANO TRIO EMPEROR STRING QUARTET LONDON WINDS YOUNG-CHOON PARK (piano) Lectures are on Tuesdays from 7.45 to 9.15pm. NEXT CONCERT Saturday, 23rd November 1996 FRETWORK with ROBIN BLAZE Elmwood Hall - 7.30pm (In association with Belfast Festival at Queen's) DATE OF CONCERT 12th Oct. 1996 23rd Nov. 1996 11th Jan. 1996 8th Feb. 1997 22nd Mar. 1997 12th Apr. 1997 3rd May 1997 24th May 1997

OBITUARY DR. HAVELOCK NELSON, OBE Dr. Havelock Nelson, OBE was involved with the BMS for almost fifty years - a lecturer, performer, committee member (including Chairman) and most recently as one of our distinguished patrons. His enthusiasm was also evident in the generous hospitality which he and his wife Hazel provided for many visiting artists. Last season, the 75th Anniversary season, brought with it the familiar friendly figure of Havelock in the audience, always talking about the music. We shall miss him.