Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

A MESSAGE FROM DISCOVER Chicagoland is home to Discover and more than 4,700 of our employees. We are proud to have offices in the north suburbs, down- town, and on Chicago’s South Side, where we opened our Chatham Customer Care Center. By 2024, we expect to have nearly 1,000 em- ployees working at this center in this vibrant Black community, and we hope that our com- mitment to Chatham serves as a springboard for further economic development in the area. At Discover, we believe giving back to com- munities makes our world a better place and our company stronger. Each year, the com- pany and our employees contribute millions of dollars to charitable organizations through donations. In 2021, Discover employees also donated thousands of volunteer hours through virtual and remote opportunities that benefited nonprofits across the country. We are committed to helping people achieve brighter financial futures through the prod- ucts and tools we offer to help them spend smarter and save more, through financial education curriculum and resources, and through support we provide to nonprofits serving the community. Locally, we support financial education pro- grams in Chicago Public Schools and after- school programs with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lake County and Chicago. And we invest in programs and partnerships that help bring equity to underrepresented populations, giv- ing everyone the opportunity to achieve a brighter financial future. Our support includes teacher and student programs at Ravinia. For several years, we’ve supported Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play pro- grams, which provides students in Chicago Public Schools with unique music programs and training for teachers. Through our Pathway to Financial Success in Schools program, we bring financial ed- ucation curriculum into middle and high schools across the country. Partnering with Discovery Education, we provide educators, students, and their families with free curric- ulum, tools, and expertise to make informed financial decisions. We are looking forward to a full summer con- cert season at Ravinia. We salute our employ- ees, customers, and all those who support Ravinia and who are making a difference in the community. BRYAN WALLICK, piano Pianist Bryan Wallick’s early studies includ- ed the guidance of Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff at the Cincinnati College-Con- servatory of Music, after which he entered Juilliard. During this time, he took the gold medal in the 1997 Vladimir Horowitz Inter- national Piano Competition in Kiev, and the following year made his New York recital de- but at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Studying under Jerome Lowenthal, Wallick became the first Juilliard graduate to earn both an under- graduate honors diploma (in 2000) and an accelerated master’s degree (in 2001). He then continued studies under Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music in London, mak- ing his Wigmore Hall debut in 2003 as well as appearances at Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Sinfonietta and at the St. Martin-in- the-Fields Church with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra. Wallick has since per- formed throughout the United States and Eu- rope, also giving numerous concerts in South Africa, and in 2019 he was a jurist for the Sec- ond Olga Kern Piano Competition. In recent seasons, he has been featured with the Cape Town, Gauteng, Illinois, Johannesburg, and Kwa-zulu Natal Philharmonics; the Cincinna- ti Pops; and the Brevard, Memphis, Phoenix, and Portland Symphonies, and made debuts with the Boulder, Fort Collins, and Western Piedmont Symphonies. In recital Wallick has performed at the Grand Teton and Sanibel Is- landMusic Festivals, Arizona’s Scottsdale Cen- ter, and Luxembourg’s Chateau Differdange, as well as on Copenhagen’s Tivoli Artists Series and Cincinnati’s Xavier Piano Series. In 2006 The Scottsdale Center awarded him a grant to create a multimedia program sharing his synesthetic experiences—seeing colors with his music. Recently joining the Mendelssohn Trio, the resident ensemble of Colorado State University, Wallick has also collaborated on chamber music with violinists Nikita Bori- so-Glebsky, Miriam Contzen, Yi-Jia Susanne Hou, Sergei Malov, and Rachel Lee Priday, as well as cellists Zuill Bailey, Alexander Buzlov, Alexander Ramm, and Wolfgang Emmanuel Schmidt. During 2020 he made an award-win- ning recording of Beethoven’s Triple Concer- to in a solo trio version with violinist Frank Stadler and cellist Peter Martens. Bryan Wal- lick made his Ravinia debut in 2008 and to- night makes his fifth appearance at the festival. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”) In the aftermath of the 1814 Congress of Vien- na, and swept up in Austrian nationalistic fervor, Beethoven discharged a somewhat militaristic decree to the publisher Sigmund Anton Steiner: “All our works, on which the title is German, instead of ‘pianoforte’ the term ‘Hammerklavier’ shall be used. … This is to be clearly understood once and for all— issued etc., etc., by the G[eneralissim]o on January 23, 1817.” The term “Hammerklavier” was intended to apply not to a single work, but to all piano works with German title pag- es. Beethoven’s next three sonatas—opp. 101, 106, and 109—all bore the subtext “ für das Hammerklavier .” Interestingly, the sonata known today as the “Hammerklavier” (op. 106) was first published in September 1819 by Artaria in Vienna with separate title pages in French (“ Grande Sonate pour le Pia- no-Forte ”) and German (“ Grosse Sonate für das Hammer-Klavier ”). At the same time, Beethoven found himself entangled in the worst personal and legal struggle of his life. A magistrate ruled against the composer on September 17, restoring cus- tody of his nephew Karl to Johanna Beetho- ven, the boy’s mother. “The sonata was written in distressful circumstances, for it is hard to compose almost entirely for the sake of earn- ing one’s daily bread; and that is all I have been able to achieve,” wrote the distraught composer. To meet his growing legal expens- es, Beethoven urged Ferdinand Ries, who had decamped Vienna for London, to publish the sonata in England immediately after Artaria. These same financial difficulties provoked a rare artistic compromise, as Beethoven al- lowed Ries to rearrange and omit movements. Ludwig van Beethoven (c.1818) The first two movements were composed for the name day of Beethoven’s friend and pa- tron, the Archduke Rudolph, in April 1818. By fall, the sonata achieved final form and was dedicated to the archduke. Beethoven arrived at an extreme stylistic position in this sonata, his longest solo-piano statement. Its thematic content is carefully integrated, and the tonal organization observes an equally magnificent design. Only severe desperation could cause Beethoven to tamper with this conception. Polyphonic writing occurs not only in the fu- gal finale but also in the development section of the first movement. Thick, heroic chords announce the Allegro ’s main theme. Parallel treble lines infuse a tran- quil spirit in the second theme. Development begins boldly with a crucial rhythmic motive of the first theme, which blossoms into a full fugue. A fleet melody in triple time begins the Scherzo ; the Presto introduces a more mercu- rial trio . Beethoven employed a large-scale sonata in the beautiful Adagio sostenuto . A rhapsodic Largo leads directly into the Allegro risoluto . This three-voice fugue “ con alcune licenze ” (with some liberties) is an uncom- promising piece of contrapuntal complexi- ty. Beethoven made a confident assertion to Artaria that was not mere rhetorical bravura, but a statement of fact: “Now there you have a sonata that will keep the pianist busy when it is played 50 years hence.” –Program notes © 2022 Todd E. Sullivan RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 28, 2022 38