Ravinia_2018_Issue_6_Week

CHRISTOPHER PARK,

piano

e winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Music

Festival’s

Leonard Bernstein Award—join-

ing the ranks of Lang Lang, Lisa Batiashvili, and

Martin Grubinger—German-Korean pianist

Christopher Park has trained in both the Rus-

sian school of Lev Oborin with Lev Natochenny

and the German school of Wilhelm Kemp with

Joachim Volkmann.

at same year he substi-

tuted for Emanuel Ax with the North German

Radio Symphony Orchestra to great acclaim

and made his debut at Vienna’s Musikverein

with the Kuchl Quartet, an ensemble of Vienna

Philharmonic members. He was subsequent-

ly nominated for the orchestra’s Credit Suisse

Award. Park has also appeared as a soloist with

the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra of Berlin; Vi-

enna, Galicia, Shanghai, and Bamberg Sympho-

ny Orchestras; Frankfurt and Elbphilharmonie

Radio Symphony Orchestras; Magdeburg, Qa-

tar, and Zagreb Philharmonics; Wurttemberg

Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn; Spanish Nation-

al Orchestra; Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne;

Frankfurt Opera Orchestra; and China NCPA

Orchestra, among many other ensembles. Addi-

tionally, he has appeared in concert at the Meck-

lenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein

Festivals, Weilburger Schlosskonzerte, Rheingau

Music Festival, Quincena Musical de San Sebas-

tian, and Burgos International Music Festival.

As a chamber musician, Park has collaborated

with such artists as mandolinist Avi Avital, vi-

olist Richard O’Neill, violinist Leticia Moreno,

cellist Adolfo Gutierrez Arenas, and soprano

Sumi Jo. He has also worked closely with bal-

let choreographer and director John Neumeier

on projects including music from Stravinsky’s

Petrushka

, Schumann’s

Kinderszenen

, and solo

suites by Bach. Named a Rising Star by the Eu-

ropean Concert Hall Organization in

, Park

spent the next year making debuts at major ven-

ues in London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Vienna,

Stockholm, Barcelona, Budapest, Lisbon, and

many other music centers. Christopher Park is

making his rst return to Ravinia following his

debut.

e manuscript displays a series of emenda-

tions, apparently in anticipation of an imme-

diate second edition that never came to pass.

None of these modi cations appeared in the

much-delayed second edition of

, published

by Schuberth & Co. Schumann imposed other

signi cant changes, such as adding the delet-

ed Scherzo II as a new second movement and

changing the meter in the nale from / to a

more common / with triple rhythms. Most

critically, Schumann restored the original desig-

nation of “Grande Sonate” (or, Sonata No. ) in

this four-movement second edition.

Regardless of its form, the musical substance

of this solo-piano work is intimately connected

with Clara Wieck ( – ), the exceptionally

talented pianist and daughter of Schumann’s

piano teacher Friedrich Wieck. Robert and the

much younger Clara became acquainted a er he

began lessons with Wieck in August

couple became secretly engaged on August ,

, and their mutual a ection culminated in a

rst kiss on November ,

. Wieck opposed

the union for years—a tumultuous period for

Robert and Clara—until the Court of Appeals

granted Clara the legal right to marry on Au-

gust ,

, less than two weeks before her st

birthday.

Clara deeply inhabited Robert’s thoughts,

emotions, and musical invention during the

composition of the

Concert sans orchestre

most immediately obvious recollection comes

in the

Quasi variazioni

, a set of four (original-

ly six) variations on an

Andantino

by Clara, the

central point in the

Concert sans orchestre

. By

that movement, the variation process has been

well under way, since the opening

Allegro

also

derives its thematic materials from the

Andan-

tino

. In fact, the piano begins by asserting the

opening ve notes of Clara’s theme dramatically

in the bass.

is motif permeates nearly every

measure, weaving throughout the texture as

both melody and accompaniment.

ough less

easily heard in the

Prestissimo possibile

(appro-

priately marked “passionato”), versions of the

motif, sometimes chromatic, emerge through-

out this perpetual-motion nale.

Blumenstück

in D- at major, op.

e short, stand-alone piano piece

Blumenstück

in D- at major, op. ( ), is the product of

Schumann’s brief period in Vienna. Its music

presents a series of episodes in an irregular se-

quence, which the composer clearly identi ed

analytically with Roman numerals placed in

the score: I–II–III–II–IV–V–Minore II–IV–II.

Schumann’s unusual scheme combines elements

of rondo and variation forms, with the second

theme functioning dually as a refrain and set of

variations. All sections incorporate the “Clara

motive,” some more obviously than others.

Schumann dedicated the published score to Ma-

jorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen, who, with her

husband, Major Anton Serre, secretly supported

Robert’s marriage to Clara.

Faschingsschwank aus Wien

(

Phantasiebilder

), op.

Schumann composed four movements of

Fas-

chingsschwank aus Wien

(

Carnival Prank from

Vienna

) in Vienna during the winter of

– ;

he nished the

h a er his return to Leipzig

later in

. Schumann described this work,

subtitled

Phantasiebilder

(

Portraits of Fantasy

as a “great romantic sonata” in a letter to Si-

monin de Sire, an ardent advocate of his music

in Paris.

e “prank” in the title may refer to a

passing thematic reference to the “Marseillaise,”

a revolutionary song outlawed in Vienna, in

the rst movement.

Romanze

—a concise,

expressive piece—is followed by the equally

compact

Scherzino

. A simple melodic line with

repeated pitches is encased by the relentless,

swelling triplet accompaniment in the

Intermez-

. e

Finale

is a sonata-form movement with

a driving

presto

coda.

Todd E. Sullivan

Clara Wieck Schumann

AUGUST 27 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE

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