Thursday August 21

A Recital by Aubree Oliverson violin and
Yanfeng Tony Bai piano

George Frideric Handel

Sonata in D for Violin and Keyboard, HWV 371

Although he was born in northern Germany and spent more than half his life in England, Handel was, to all intents and purposes, an Italian composer. His style was largely shaped by a period of time that he spent in Florence and especially Rome in his early twenties, fully absorbing the musical language that had already spread widely across Europe during the preceding decades.

Handel’s chamber music is equally as Italianate as his more famous vocal works. The D-major Sonata falls into the category of sonata da chiesa (church sonata), because at the time such sonatas were played during portions of the Mass, especially the elevation of the Host, in lieu of the organ. These church sonatas were fairly standardized in their formal organization, consisting of four movements in the pattern slow—fast—slow—fast; they always avoided dance meters and styles, which were characteristic of the sonata da camera (chamber sonata), intended for secular use. It is a prime example of Handel’s lyricism, which is as evident in his instrumental as in his vocal music, and of his energetic vigor, which emerges especially in the fast movements. — © Steven Ledbetter

Igor Stravinsky

Divertimento

n late 1927, choreographer and dancer Ida Rubinstein commissioned Stravinsky to write a new ballet for her dance company. Stravinsky’s long-time friend and collaborator, designer Alexander Benois, suggested that he “compose something inspired by the music of Tchaikovsky.” The resulting ballet—Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss)—received its highly publicized premiere at the Paris Opera on November 27, 1928, just a few weeks after the thirty-fifth anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s death, with Rubinstein among the dancers and Stravinsky conducting. Choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and designed by Benois, Le Baiser de la fée was based (in a manner similar to Stravinsky’s use of music by Pergolesi in the 1920 ballet Pulcinella) on musical ideas of Tchaikovsky, and conceived as a tribute to the composer who was (as Stravinsky admits in An Autobiography) “the first to bring about the serious recognition of ballet music in general.”

In 1932 Stravinsky arranged some of the ballet’s music into a six-part Divertimento for violin and piano, primarily so the composer (at the keyboard) and the violinist Samuel Dushkin could include it in their touring programs. In 1934 Stravinsky recycled the ballet’s music yet again for an orchestral suite (also called Divertimento).

Remembering Tchaikovsky’s “fondness for the fantastic” that is so obvious in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Queen of Spades, and The Nutcracker, Stravinsky based the ballet on a fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, “The Ice Maiden.” Stravinsky summarized the story in An Autobiography. “A fairy imprints her magic kiss on a child at birth and parts it from its mother. Twenty years later, when the youth has attained the very zenith of his good fortune, she repeats the fatal kiss and carries him off to live in supreme happiness with her ever afterwards. As my object was to commemorate the work of Tchaikovsky, this subject seemed to me to be particularly appropriate as an allegory, the muse having similarly branded Tchaikovsky with her fatal kiss, and the magic imprint has made itself felt in all the musical creations of this great artist.”

Stravinsky’s score incorporates themes from various compositions by Tchaikovsky, primarily songs (particularly the Sixteen Songs for Children, Opus 54) and piano pieces. (Choreographer George Balanchine, who staged his own version of Le Baiser de la fée in 1937, claimed to hear themes from “a dozen or so” works by Tchaikovsky, including the operas Cherevichki and The Queen of Spades.) But Stravinsky takes great liberties with the Tchaikovsky material, deconstructing and reassembling the themes in a synthetic and Postmodernist style. The method is not an arrangement (as in Pulcinella), but a “subtle and far-reaching process of transformation and abstraction,” writes Stravinsky’s biographer Stephen Walsh.

For the 1932 Divertimento for violin and piano, Stravinsky condensed the ballet’s full score to four movements that correspond more or less to the story line. The opening Sinfonia contrasts a lyrical theme heard in the violin (representing the baby) with a “fantastic” one associated with the Ice Maiden’s magic powers (reminiscent of a theme from Sleeping Beauty). The second section, the delightfully sweet-and-sour Danses Suisses, features the unpredictably varying dance rhythms Stravinsky had used in earlier ballets like Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. A Scherzo in A-B-A form follows, with abundant trills in the violin part and a stately processional at its center.

In the fourth movement, Pas de deux, Stravinsky juxtaposes a Romantic Tchaikovskian theme in the violin with a mischievous Modernist accompaniment in the piano. A tiny variation provides a transition into the short coda, a colorful carnivalesque section of what sounds like music to run and jump to. The closing section ends falsely twice before finally concluding in what sounds like an affectionate parody of Tchaikovsky’s often-overstated endings.

— © Harlow Robinson

Carlos Gardel/John Williams

Tango (Por una cabeza)

A synthesis of African, Cuban, and Argentine dances, the tango developed in Argentina in the late nineteenth century among the working classes of Buenos Aires. In the early twentieth century this soulful and dramatic dance became wildly popular in Europe and America. Carlos Gardel, a charismatic singer, songwriter, composer, and actor who was born in France but lived most of his short lifetime in Argentina, reigned as the undisputed “King of the Tango,” the most prominent figure in the history of the genre.

Gardel’s most famous tango, Por una cabeza (By a horse’s head), was written in 1935 to lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera that compare losing a lover to losing at the racetrack. It has been arranged for many different combinations of instruments, including John Williams’s version for violin and piano. After a rhapsodic introduction, the dance lurches into action, shifting expressively between G major and G minor, with strongly accented beats, pregnant pauses, and sharp dynamic contrasts that together exude sensuality and nostalgia for lost love. Tragically, both Gardel and his lyricist died in a plane crash in Colombia not long after they wrote Por una cabeza, only adding to the romantic legend around this most beloved of tangos.

Por una cabeza has enjoyed a remarkable career in films, beginning with Gardel’s own performance in 1935 in The Tango Bar, and extending through Al Pacino’s memorable scene on the dance floor in Scent of a Woman. John Williams used his own arrangement to open his score for Schindler’s List.

— © Harlow Robinson

Johann Sebastian Bach

Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin, BWV 1004

Bach copied out his six works for unaccompanied violin into one of his most beautiful manuscripts in the year 1720, but beyond that simple fact we know virtually nothing of their composition or purpose. Earlier versions of some of these pieces suggest that he may have started writing them as early as his Weimar period of 1708–17, but little else is known for certain.

Bach himself was a fine violinist who continued to develop his technique even after taking up positions that emphasized his work on the organ. He arranged these violin works so that the odd-numbered items are called Sonata and the even-numbered items Partita (another term for suite, or a sequence of dance movements).

The second Partita ends with what has become probably the most famous single work for unaccompanied violin, the towering D-minor Chaconne. A chaconne is a variation form involving a ground bass—a melody that keeps restating itself over and over—against which other musical ideas are projected in a plan of increasing tension and complexity. In this Chaconne, Bach created a richly complex texture shaped into three principal sections. The opening and close are in D minor, while the middle offers some relief by moving to the major mode. If the result had merely been one of the greatest of all technical challenges to the player, the piece would still be performed by every advanced violinist in the world. But it is more than that—it is also a supremely original work of art, quite aside from the difficulty of performing it. — © Steven Ledbetter

Fritz Kreisler

Praeludium and Allegro

During most of his life, Kreisler composed as well as performed, and also arranged the work of others for use on his recitals. His original compositions include display pieces like Caprice viennois, Tambourin chinois, and others.

Most notorious, though, are the compositions brought out by the distinguished publishing house of Schott in 1905, described as a collection of classical manuscripts of which Kreisler was supposedly the discoverer and editor-arranger. Many of the works in this collection were purportedly from “original manuscripts” of old composers that were “the private property of Mr. Fritz Kreisler.” Kreisler played these pieces on his own programs, and other violinists picked them up as well, performing pieces ostensibly by such older violinist-composers as Pugnani and Francoeur, with Kreisler’s name hyphenated after theirs to indicate his role as “arranger.” That, indeed, is how the Praeludium and Allegro was at first billed, though it is solely the work of Kreisler.

The publisher’s note was cleverly designed to tell the literal truth—the original manuscripts were in Kreisler’s possession because he composed them!—without giving away his secret. In 1935 he explained to Olin Downes of the New York Times that he had been fooling listeners for decades with these pieces. By the time of the composer’s centennial in 1975, many violinists took the works up again, and have continued to play them because they are extremely well conceived for the violin.

— © Steven Ledbetter

Olivier Messiaen

Thème et variations

On June 22, 1932, Olivier Messiaen married the violinist and composer Claire Delbos, whom he nicknamed “Mi.” His wedding present for her was a composition completed in the late autumn of 1932, a work that the two of them could perform together—his Thème et Variations for violin and piano, one of his few pieces of music without visual or literary imagery. Shortly after he completed the piece, he added it to the program of a chamber music event in which he was to play on November 22. After a pre-concert run-through at Paul Dukas’s residence, Messiaen wrote to the organist Jean Langlais, telling him about the concert and adding, “It would be very kind of you to come along and make lots of noise so that this work—one of my best—gets an encore. Unless you would prefer to whistle, which would make just as much noise?”

The work is essentially classical in its layout: The theme is a sustained, poignant lyric melody in the violin over gently pulsing chords in the piano. There follow five variations running directly from one to the next. The first three become progressively more animated in rhythmic effect, largely through subdivision of the basic beat. The fourth builds to the climax that is the fifth variation, which presents the opening theme an octave higher and with fuller chords in the piano. Though it has no bird calls and no references to theological imagery or other programmatic elements that are commonly involved in Messiaen’s music, the Thème et Variations reveals his emphasis on rhythmic variation and polyphonic contrast between the parts. Though it is not characteristic of the mature composer, the work was individual enough that it greatly struck Pierre Boulez, who by chance heard the work as a young man and was inspired “with an immediate wish to study with [Messiaen]. I felt the force of his attraction immediately.” — © Steven Ledbetter

Pauline Viardot

Berceuse from Six Morceaux (Six Pieces), VWV 3003

In The Europeans (2019), a sweeping portrait of how ideas, tastes, and aesthetic values crossed borders to foster a cosmopolitan worldview in nineteenth-century Europe, cultural historian Orlando Figes cast Pauline Viardot as a protagonist to illuminate the era’s richly interwoven creative and intellectual networks. Born into an illustrious musical dynasty, Viardot was the daughter of the celebrated Spanish tenor Manuel García—for whom Rossini wrote several roles, including Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville—and the younger sister of Maria Malibran, who became one of the century’s operatic superstars.

Yet Viardot stands out on the strength of her own remarkable achievements: she was a singer of exceptional range and nuance who inspired some of the period’s leading composers; a pianist with whom Chopin shared insights on playing; an influential teacher; the magnetic host of a sought-after artistic salon in Paris and Baden-Baden; and a composer whose music, though long overlooked, is now being rediscovered. Berceuse comes from Viardot’s Six Morceaux (Six Pieces), a collection of song- and dance-inflected miniatures for violin and piano written for her young son Paul Viardot—later a successful concert violinist. (Her three daughters—one of whom came close to marrying Gabriel Fauré—likewise pursued musical careers.) Muted throughout, the violin sings a gently rocking cradle song of graceful simplicity, supported by the piano’s lightly patterned figuration and moments of suspended calm.

— © Thomas May

Camille Saint-Saëns

Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, op. 28

Camille Saint-Saëns was one of many distinguished artists drawn into Pauline Viardot’s orbit, developing a warm, lasting friendship with her entire family. He not only admired Viardot’s musicianship, but was also a frequent guest at her salons, where he once even performed in drag as part of a charade. Saint-Saëns composed Samson et Dalila with Viardot in mind for the title role of Delilah, crafting the part to suit her vocal strengths and dramatic command—though by that time she had retired from the stage and declined to perform the role in public. Although she never sang the role, Viardot actively promoted the opera, organizing private performances and advocating for it among her influential circle, including Franz Liszt.

Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, one of Saint-Saëns’s best-loved compositions, was written in 1863 for the Spanish prodigy Pablo Sarasate, a formative figure in the history of violin virtuosity. The French composer, who had himself burst on the scene as a formidable prodigy, wrote several concertante works featuring Sarasate as the soloist. This piece was originally intended to serve as a concerto finale, but it immediately established itself as a popular stand-alone piece.

Marked Andante malinconico (i.e., with an introspective, wistful character), the Introduction blends elegiac lyricism with improvisatory flair, and soon leads into the longer Rondo section. Against guitar-like accompaniment, the violin plays a syncopated theme of Iberian lilt and mercurial charm, alternating passages of pyrotechnic virtuosity and episodes redolent of Spanish folk music, a nod to Sarasate’s heritage. Cued by a brief cadenza, the coda brings a final burst of brilliance: a breathless accelerando that showcases the violinist’s agility and Saint-Saëns’s theatrical panache. — © Thomas May

Praised for her evocative lyricism and joyful, genuine approach, young American violinist Aubree Oliverson is proving to be one of the most compelling artists of her generation, distinguishing herself with clear, honest, colourful performances. Aubree’s solo appearances in 2023 included season openings of the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Peace Orchestra Project, and Ridgefield Symphony with a pairing of the Barber and Esmail violin concertos. Passionate about all periods of classical repertoire, Ms. Oliverson is committed both to performing the beloved standards to a range of audiences and to bringing lesser-known pieces into their rightful spotlight. A dynamic recitalist and sensitive chamber musician, Aubree recently toured Europe with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Clive Greensmith, and Tatjana Masurenko. Dedicated to music education and reaching a broader audience, Aubree has travelled to over 100 schools throughout the Western United States and spoken at national education conventions. Aubree won the Special Prize of Merit for violin at the Verbier Festival Academy, the Aspen Music Festival Dorothy DeLay Competition, and a National YoungArts Foundation award; she was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts and was the 2023 Francis Rosen Prize recipient at the Colburn Conservatory. Her teachers have included Debbie Moench, Eugene Watanabe, Danielle Belen, Boris Kuschnir, and Robert Lipsett. Aubree plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin kindly loaned to her by Irene R. Miller through the Beare’s International Violin Society, and a Jean “Grand” Adam bow on loan from the Metzler Violin Shop.

Pianist Yanfeng (Tony) Bai is an international prizewinner, recently winning third prize and the Audience Award in the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, first prize at the China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition, third prize at the Gotrian International Piano Competition in Germany, and first prize at China Central Television Piano Competition. Mr. Bai is also an accomplished chamber musician. He was a member of the MOCC piano quintet when they won first prize at the China Hummingbird Music Award Chamber Music Competition. He is a founding member of Trio Azura. In 2024 Trio Azura swept the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as they won the Grand Prize, Gold Medal, Lift Every Voice Prize, and the Horszowski Trio Prize. They also won a prize at the Harbin Schoenfeld International String Competition. Mr. Bai has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Calgary Philharmonic, the China Philharmonic, the Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. He has collaborated with leading conductors including James Conlon, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Peter Bay, and Daye Lin. He has given multiple recitals in the U.S., Italy, Spain, and China. He is a guest artist of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bai will be chamber-musician-in-residence at the Colburn Conservatory beginning this month. He graduated with an artist diploma from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he studied with Fabio Bidini. Previous teachers include Jin Zhang, with whom he studied at China Central Conservatory before coming to Los Angeles in 2017.