Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

INMO YANG, violin The first-prize winner of the 2022 Jean Sibel- ius Violin Competition, violinist Inmo Yang made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015 as the winner of the Concert Artists Guild Victor Emaleh Competition. Additionally, as the winner of the 2015 Paganini Violin Competi- tion in Genoa, Italy—the first prize and sev- eral special prizes—he gave a recital tour of Italy, including a performance in Genoa on Paganini’s own Guarnieri violin. He previ- ously earned second prize in the 2014 Yehudi Menuhin Competition as well as prizes in the 2013 Munetsugu Angel and 2012 Joachim In- ternational Violin Competitions, among oth- ers. A native of South Korea, Yang gave his recital debut at age 11 on the Kumho Prodigy Series in Seoul and gave his first performance of a concerto two years later. He has since been a featured soloist with the French Na- tional Orchestra, Philharmonia Zurich, Dan- ish National Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice, collaborating with such conductors as Fabio Luisi, Neeme Järvi, Myung-whun Chung, James Gaffigan, and Osmo Vänskä. Recent and upcoming engagements include a tour with the Metz National Orchestra and performances of Unsuk Chin’s first violin concerto in residence with the Busan Philhar- monic Orchestra. Yang has also been a fea- tured performer at Boston’s Symphony Hall and the Kravis Center, as well as at such fes- tivals as Marlboro, Ishikawa Music Academy, and Great Mountains International Music Festival. ang released his debut album—Pa- ganini’s 24 caprices, on Deutsche Grammo- phon—in 2019, and last year added The Ge- netics of Strings , featuring works by Piazzolla and Ravel, among others. Currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Berlin University of Music under Antje Weithaas, he holds both a bachelor’s degree and Artist Diploma from studies at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried. Inmo Yang was a Ravinia Steans Music Institute fellow in 2014 and 2015 and a member of its spring tour ensembles in 2016 and 2017, and he appeared with Lucerne Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia in 2019. BENNETT GORDON HALL 6:00 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022 BRYAN WALLICK, piano Virtuosic Fugue Vol. 2 BACH Toccata and Fugue in D major MENDELSSOHN Prelude and Fugue in E minor * SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude and Fugue in D minor HAMELIN Étude No. 12 (Prelude and Fugue) * –Intermission– BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 29 (“Hammerklavier”) Allegro Scherzo: Assai vivace—Presto Adagio sostenuto Largo—Allegro risoluto * First performance at Ravinia JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Toccata in D major, BWV 912 The Baroque toccata primarily represented an improvised keyboard genre designed to demonstrate a performer’s manual dexterity. Most works comprised several sections, each devoted to a different keyboard figuration or texture. About one dozen keyboard toccatas by Johann Sebastian Bach have survived in manuscript copies, a substantial number that undoubtedly represents only a small fraction of his lifetime improvisations in the form. The seven toccatas for two manuals (BWV 910–916) have long been classified among Bach’s com- positions for harpsichord, alongside the pre- ludes, fugues, inventions, sinfonias, and suites. These toccatas can be viewed within the stylus phantasticus tradition—described by Athana- sius Kircher as “the most free and unrestrained method of composing” ( Musurgia universalis, sive Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni , 1650)— common in harpsichord music of the period. Manuscript study by Robert L. Marshall, by contrast, has revealed details that might suggest organ performance. Indications for “manuals” found in the sources would have been unnecessary for the manuals-only harpsichord, but indispensable if an organ (possessing both manuals and pedal) was involved. Furthermore, the keyboard ranges employed in these toccatas correspond close- ly to organs that Bach played in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, Weimar, Köthen, and Leipzig. The Toccata in D major, BWV 912, appears to be the earliest of the group, having survived in a manuscript copy made by Johann Christoph Bach, the composer’s oldest brother, around 1707. At that time, Johann Sebastian held the position of organist at the Blasiuskirche in Mühlhausen. Bach opens with a prelude that establishes the key of D major through scalar passages and repetitions of the pitches D and A. The ensuing Allegro combines a buoyant melody, constructed of short phrases that cir- culate through different keys, with a 16th-note accompaniment. This segment concludes with a sustained D-major chord. An Adagio begins with highly affective writing alternating between instrumental recitative, dramatic pauses, and short, dynamic outbursts. A three-part fugue in F-sharp minor follows. Another sustained chord leads to a section marked “con discrezione,” an expressive term indicating rhythmic freedom that originated in mid-17th-century laments, tombeaux , and unmeasured preludes of French harpsichord music. This quasi-improvised episode leads directly into a D-major fugue, instantly recog- nizable by its gigue-like triplet rhythms. FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847) Prelude and Fugue in E minor, op. 35, no. 1 Mendelssohn sustained a deep admiration— one could almost deem it an obsession—with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach through- out his tragically short life. This interest took hold during Felix’s youthful music studies with Carl Friedrich Zelter, a composer, ed- ucator, and conductor of the Berlin Singa- kademie. Mendelssohn made his conducting debut with this same ensemble in the famous revival performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Years later, he spearheaded the campaign to install a monument to Bach in the courtyard outside the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach served as cantor for the final 27 years of his life. The dedicatory cere- mony took place on April 23, 1843. Studies and performances of Bach’s keyboard works persisted over an even longer period, leaving an unmistakable imprint on Mendels- sohn’s own compositions. His first published fugue appeared in the Sieben Characterstücke , Johann Sebastian Bach by Johann Jakob Ihle (c.1720) RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 28, 2022 36