As Night Descends
| 1. | Introduction | 00:00:53 |
| 2. | Wolf: Italian Serenade for String Quartet | 00:09:06 |
| 3. | Bloch: Three Nocturnes for Piano, Violin, and Cello | 00:10:03 |
| 4. | Chopin: Nocturne No. 13 in C minor for Piano, Op. 48, No. 1 | 00:06:28 |
| 5. | Chopin: Nocturne No. 19 in E minor for Piano, Op. 72, No. 1 | 00:04:18 |
| 6. | Chopin: Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 65 | 00:27:39 |
The collection of works on this program evoke the magic of the night. After a brief flash of sunshine from Hugo Wolf’s charming Italian Serenade, journey into twilight and beyond. The journey begins with two sets of Nocturnes, musically defined as, “a short composition of a romantic nature, typically for piano.” The first set, Bloch’s Three Nocturnes depicts three different aspects of the night. The first is a tranquil night, full of stars and gentle breezes; the second a lyrical, romantic lullaby, and the third suggests, “the pent-up excitement of a night chase.” Frédéric Chopin is known as a great master of the Nocturne and his two here showcase his love of solo piano music and the Nocturne form. The final piece on the program, Chopin’s Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano is one of five of the composer’s works of chamber music (three of the five composed for this instrumentation). His cello works are likely inspired by his friendship with the French cello virtuoso, Auguste Franchomme, though this Romantic Sonata plagued Chopin, and he revised it numerous times stating, “...with my cello sonata I am now contented, now discontented.”
PROGRAM
|
Hugo Wolf (1860–1911) |
Italian Serenade for String Quartet (1887) Jupiter String Quartet (Nelson Lee, Meg Freivogel, violin; Liz Freivogel, viola; Daniel McDonough, cello) |
|
Ernest Bloch (1880–1959) |
Three Nocturnes for Piano, Violin, and Cello (1924) Alessio Bax, piano; Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin; Jakob Koranyi, cello |
|
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) |
Nocturne No. 13 in C minor for Piano, Op. 48, No. 1 (1841) Inon Barnatan, piano |
|
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) |
Nocturne No. 19 in E minor for Piano, Op. 72, No. 1 (1827) Inon Barnatan, piano |
|
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) |
Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 65 (1845–46) Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Inon Barnatan, piano |
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| Streaming live | {{ViewModel.StreamingOn.date}}, {{ViewModel.StreamingOn.time}} |
| Available on-demand until | {{ViewModel.AvailableUntil.date}}, {{ViewModel.AvailableUntil.time}} |
{{ViewModel.BuySubscription.prompt}}
Alessio Bax
Alexander Sitkovetsky
Inon Barnatan
Alessio Bax catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions. He has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, and Sydney Symphonies, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden. He released his 11th Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, whose program was also the vehicle for his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y as well as on tour. He and his regular piano duo partner, Lucille Chung, have given recitals at Lincoln Center and were featured with the St. Louis Symphony and Stéphane Denève. This season he makes his debut with the Milwaukee Symphony, and will return for the fourth time for two recitals at the historic Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Last summer he made return appearances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival with the Dallas Symphony and Fabio Luisi conducting. At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He is a former member of CMS’s Bowers Program and on the faculty at the New England Conservatory.
Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. His concerto debut came at the age of eight and in the same year he moved to the UK to study at the Menuhin School. Last season he debuted at Vienna’s Musikverein with the Tonkünstler Orchester, made return visits to Anima Musicae Budapest and Russian Philharmonic Novosibirsk and appeared with the Sitkovetsky Trio at festivals throughout Spain, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Recent concerto performances include appearances with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Moscow and St Petersburg Symphony Orchestras, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bolivia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He directs and performs as a soloist regularly with chamber orchestras, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, New York Chamber Players, Camerata Zurich, and most recently with the Romanian Sinfonietta. He is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Trio, which regularly performs throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The trio’s fourth disc for BIS Records, Ravel’s Piano Trio and Saint-Saëns’s Second Trio, was released to great critical acclaim in July 2021. Sitkovetsky is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program and plays the 1679 ‘Parera’ Antonio Stradivari violin, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous sponsor.
“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan is celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry. He inaugurated his tenure as Music Director of California’s La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in 2019. He is the recipient of both a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s 2015 Martin E. Segal Award, served as the inaugural artist-in-association of the New York Philharmonic, and is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program. His recent concerto collaborations include those with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony. Last season he played Mendelssohn, Gershwin, and Schubert for his solo recital debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. He reunited with his frequent recital partner, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, for tours on both sides of the Atlantic, including performances of Beethoven’s complete cello sonatas in San Francisco and other US cities. His latest album is Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, recorded with Alan Gilbert and London’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Other recent releases include a live recording of Messiaen’s 90-minute masterpiece Des canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Schubert’s late piano sonatas on the Avie label, winning praise from such publications as Gramophone and BBC Music.