Ravinia 2021 - Issue 1

7:30 PM THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021 GARRICK OHLSSON, piano The Breadth of Brahms for Solo Piano Part 1 of 4 Eight Piano Pieces, op. 76 No. 1. Capriccio in F-sharp minor No. 5. Capriccio in C-sharp minor No. 2. Capriccio in B minor No. 6. Intermezzo in A major No. 3. Intermezzo in A-flat major No. 7. Intermezzo in A minor No. 4. Intermezzo in B-flat major No. 8. Capriccio in C major Variations on an Original Theme * Thema: Poco larghetto Var. 6. Più moto Var. 1 Var. 7. Andante con moto Var. 2. Più moto Var. 8. Allegro non troppo Var. 3 Var. 9 Var. 4. Poco più lento Var. 10 Var. 5. Tempo di tema: Var. 11. Tempo di tema, poco più lento Canone in moto contrario Variations on a Hungarian Song * Allegro Var. 8. Ancora un poco più lento Var. 1 Var. 9 Var. 2 Var. 10 Var. 3 Var. 11 Var. 4 Var. 12 Var. 5 Var. 13 Var. 6 Allegro (il doppio movimento)— Var. 7. Poco più lento Tempo I più animato Three Intermezzos, op. 117 No. 1 in E-flat major No. 2 in B-flat minor No. 3 in C-sharp minor Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Book 1 Thema: Non troppo presto Var. 8 Var. 1 Var. 9 Var. 2 Var. 10 Var. 3 Var. 11. Andante Var. 4 Var. 12 Var. 5 Var. 13 Var. 6 Var. 14. Allegro—Presto, ma non troppo Var. 7 There will be no intermission in this program. * First performance at Ravinia Making its debut across these concerts is a brand-new Hamburg-made Steinway grand, personally auditioned and selected by Garrick Ohlsson for Ravinia. Following its performances in the Pavilion all this season, it will reside in the Martin Theatre, taking the place of the recently retired Steinway that resonated under the hands of more than 200 different pianists over 28 Ravinia seasons. Ravinia is deeply grateful to Howard L. Gottlieb and Barbara G. Greis for the gift of this new piano and looks forward to its many years of making exceptional music. PAVILION JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–97) Eight Piano Pieces, op. 76 Brahms began the Eight Piano Pieces, op. 76, and Two Rhapsodies, op. 79, in 1878. Thirteen years had passed since his previous phase of solo-piano composition. His interest in writ- ing for the piano had not completely van- ished, but transferred primarily to lieder. This fusion of vocal poeticism with the keyboard idiom left its imprint on the middle- and late-period solo piano works. Gone were the passionate grand sonatas and variations of his youth, and in their place emerged new cate- gories of character-filled piano miniatures— capriccios, intermezzos, and rhapsodies. Stylistic and structural distinctions among these new genres were hazy at best. Brahms employed a variety of relatively simple forms in these miniature compositions. Expressive characteristics also overlapped considerably, although fine differences were discernable. Capriccios typically had a faster tempo and more exuberant character than the intro- spective intermezzos, and the slightly larg- er rhapsodies contained more thematic development. Variations on an Original Theme in D major, op. 21, no. 1 Variations on a Hungarian Song in D major, op. 21, no. 2 Brahms’s early published compositions re- flected the mainstream repertoire of most mid-19th-century solo pianists, principally sonatas and variations. His Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (1852) even juxtaposed those two forms with the inclusion of variations movements. Brahms composed only one more solo-piano sonata, op. 5, (1853) before abandoning the genre. Piano variations, on the other hand, continued to occupy the pianist-compos- er throughout the next two decades, during which he created seven sets of variations for solo piano, four-hands piano, or piano duo. Johannes Brahms The two sets of variations in op. 21 are the only ones to share an opus number. Nota- tions in Brahms’s handwritten works catalog suggest that he composed both sets within a short period of time: the first in the “begin- ning of 1857” and the second “earlier?” (recent research suggests late autumn 1856). The op. 21 sets of variations share certain musical characteristics but also incorporate contrasting compositional techniques. Both sets employ themes in the key of D major, one written by Brahms himself and the oth- er an anonymous folksong. Brahms’s original theme is set in a slow tempo ( poco larghetto ) and is divided into two repeated phrases, while the Hungarian song is fast ( allegro ) and lasts a total of eight short measures. There are 11 variations on the original theme followed by an extended coda. Thirteen variations on the Hungarian song lead to an elaborate end- ing that constitutes a full-scale rondo with a refrain derived from the theme. All fac- tors considered, the first set of variations is more than twice the length of the second in performance. Each set contains a group of consecutive vari- ations in D minor. (This key occupied much of Brahms’s consciousness at this time, as he simultaneously labored over the composi- tion of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, op. 15.) The D-minor variations emerge to- ward the end of the first set (vars. 8–10) but occur immediately after the theme in the sec- ond (vars. 1–6). Chronologically second, the Variations on an Original Theme in D major, op. 21, no. 1, ap- pear to be Brahms’s “artistic” response to the “rustic” Hungarian variations. The original theme’s hymn-like solemnity and melodic in- trospection evoke the character pieces of his mentor, Robert Schumann, who had died on July 29, 1856. In this case, Brahms portrayed Schumann’s contemplative alter-ego “Euse- bius” rather than the impetuous “Florestan.” The theme’s slow tempo disguises an asym- metry of phrasing: two repeated nine-mea- sure phrases. The variation process begins in D major. Brahms employed a series of compositional techniques—metrical displacement, textural inversion, and, reflecting his recent contra- puntal studies with violinist Joseph Joachim, a “canon in contrary motion” (var. 5)—that gradually obscure the theme. Further, as scholar Elaine Sisman has noted, “Nearly all the major variations form pairs (vars. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6) in which the second inten- sifies some aspect of the first.” This segment culminates in the skeletal, almost pointillistic seventh variation. The series of three D-minor variations begins after a fermata. Brahms heightens the con- trast between major- and minor-key varia- tions through loud dynamic levels, thickened keyboard textures, and expressive indications RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 1 – JULY 23, 2021 34