Conservatorium of Music
Thursday Concert Class
Thursday Concert Class
| L’enfance du Christ (Op.25); Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire (CD. 64) | French Selections (1803 - ) |
| Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): “O misère de rois” from L’enfance du Christ Op. 25 (1854) Claude Debussy (1862-1918): “Le jet d’Eau” from Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire CD. 64 (1889) | |
| Alexander Owens, Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| The French had a knack for beautiful chanson, from Fauré and Ravel to the Impressionist master Debussy and the mad Berlioz, whose catalog spans far more than his Symphonie Fantastique. Berlioz’s stunning oratorio “L’enfance du Christ” is a rarely-heard masterpiece of post-classicism for the majority of its three acts. “O misère de rois” is the show aria of the oratorio — a tense, surprisingly sympathetic look into Herod’s insomnia and stress as he is plagued by dreams of Jesus taking his throne. A contrast is Debussy’s “Le jet d’Eau” — a song of love, equal parts tender and ecstatic, set by a burbling fountain. | |
| D.778; and Songs and Dances of Death | Dramatic Selections (1797 - ) |
| Franz Schubert (1797-1828): “Greisengesang” D.778 (1823) Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): “Field Marshal” from Songs and Dances of Death (1877) | |
| Alexander Owens, Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| Moving north-east in European geography, we move from the beauty of French music, through the master of Lied Schubert to the more dramatic and raw Modest Mussorgsky. Greisengesang D.778 tells of a man growing old who still has life in him yet. His body has aged, the hair on his head is white, but within him is the youthful vigour and emotional intensity from times past. Content is nowhere to be found in Mussorgsky’s “Field Marshal” — a raging, tumultuous poem of death in war, and an allusion for Mussorgsky’s own despondent life of alcoholism. “You shall be forgotten, but Death will forever own you.” | |
| Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Op 27 no. 1 | Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) |
| I. Andante-Allegro-Andante II. Allegro molto e vivace III. Adagio con espressione IV. Allegro vivace | |
| Anastasia Tionadewi, Piano | |
| The Piano Sonata No. 13, published as the first sonata under opus 27, is the often overlooked sibling of the more popular Moonlight sonata. Completed in the same year as the Moonlight, both sonatas share the same subtitle "Quasi una fantasia," meaning "like a fantasy.""Sonata quasi una fantasia" already suggests an unusual form and intensity of expression. Beethoven abandons the expected sonata scheme by opening with a slow movement, by returning to themes at surprising times, and by blurring divisions between movements. The sonata ends with a boisterous Allegro that combines features of sonata and rondo form. | |
| La mi sola, Laureola | Fernando Obradors (1897 - 1945) |
| Callum MacDonald , Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| Spanish Art/Folk Song | |
| Que Les songes Heureux | Charles-Francois Gounod (1818 - 1893) |
| Callum MacDonald , Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| Bass aria from Philémon et Baucis | |
| Der einsame | Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949) |
| Callum MacDonald , Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| German Lieder for low bass voice | |
| The Green eyed dragon | Wolseley Charles (1889 - 1962) |
| Callum MacDonald , Voice | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| English ballad composed for Stanley Holloway in the 20’s | |
| Piano Sonata No.27, Op.90 | Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770 - 1827) |
| 1st Movement | |
| Mingze Sun, piano | |
| The Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 (1814) is one of Beethoven's shorter sonatas, but its relatively modest proportions belie an emotional complexity that looks forward to his imminent valedictory works in the genre. By this time Beethoven had begun to provide tempo indications in German rather than Italian, perhaps acknowledging that his music had come to represent an especially personal, Romantic form of expression. The first movement's marking, "Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck," calls for "Vivacity and continuous sentiment and expressivity." | |
| Andante et Scherzo | Joseph Edouard Barat (1882 - 1963) |
| I. Lent II. Scherzo | |
| Adrian Meyer, trumpet | |
| Konrad Olszewski, piano | |
| Joseph Edouard Barat studied conducting at the Paris Conservatoire with Paul Vidal and Emile Pessard. Starting in 1933, Barat was a bandmaster with the French Army. Because of this, most of his compositions are written for solo wind instruments with piano or orchestral accompaniment. His “Andante et Scherzo” for trumpet is a two movement work, the first movement is in a slow common time that’s use of non traditional harmonic progressions and whole tone scales avoids introducing a clear tonic until it cadences in C major. The second movement is in a compound meter, also in C, with a small recapitulation of the first movement. | |
| Etude-Tableaux Op. 39 No. 2 | Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) |
| Jungwoo Kim, Piano | |
| Etude-Tableaux in A minor, Op. 39 No. 2 was written by a Russian pianist and composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, in 1916. This work is also known as "The Sea and the Seagulls" because of its harmony. The main techniques demonstrated in this etude are poly-rhythms and hands crossovers. | |
| Ballade No. 2, S. 171 | Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) |
| Allegro Moderato | |
| William Soo, Piano | |
| Liszt's B-minor Ballade, a one movement tone-poem, is one of his most famous piano compositions. Written in the same year as his B-minor Piano Sonata, the two share many similarities. Liszt revised the Ballade from a loud and fast ending to a slow and reflective one (much akin to the Sonata). To this day there is still much debate about the origin of this work. So far it has been linked to Hero and Leander, Lenore and even Orpheus and Eurydice. | |
| Piano Sonata in F major K332 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) |
| III. Allegro Assai | |
| Timothy Kan, Piano | |
| The movement begins with a flurry of semiquavers that blurs the tonal soundscape. Then it is immediately followed by a lilting motif that characterizes Mozart's playfulness. The piece alternates between fast semiquavers and this lilting quaver theme throughout. | |
| El Amor La Muerte | Enrique Granados (1867 - 1916) |
| Timothy Kan, Piano | |
| As the title suggests, this piece is about love and death. Granados often uses the same motif and transforms them into representing the different themes. The piece is often filled with heavy dissonances and the dissonance usually represents the theme of pain and death, however, it is often juxtaposed with sweeter themes of Love and nostalgia. The different themes and motivic elements continue to alternate until the end, where the sweet melody slowly dies away and the sound of distant funeral bells symbolize the end of the journey. | |