Pieter Wispelwey plays cello

Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 7:30 pm

Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

Pieter Wispelwey plays cello

2010-11 The ESO Presents

  • William Eddins, conductor & piano
    Pieter Wispelwey, cello
Bookmark and Share

Details

This special ESO performance will be a must for anyone who loves the cello. Mr Wispelwey opens the performance with Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello, and the second half features Bill Eddins accompanying on piano. This concert is a unique opportunity to experience Mr. Wispelwey’s versatility, phenomenal technique, and remarkable interpretations of cello repertoire.

J.S. Bach: Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello
Lalo: Cello Concerto
Martinů: Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano
Schubert: Fantasy in C major

click for detailed seating mapTicket Information

$50 Dress Circle (A)
$40 Terrace (B)
$35 Orchestra (C)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.

Thank you to our performance sponsor: angus watt advisory group 

Program Info

Program

J.S. BACH
Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007 (18’)*
 
LALO
Cello Concerto in D minor (28’)*
 
INTERMISSION
 
MARTINŮ
Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano (22’)*
 
SCHUBERT
Fantasy in C Major, Op.159 / D934 (arr. Wispelwey) (24’)*

*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program subject to change.

Program Notes

Suite No. 1 in G Major for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007
Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Eisenach, Saxony, 1685 / d. Leipzig, 1750)
 
Taken together, the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach stand apart not only in the composer’s output, but as one of the most profound cycles ever devoted to a single instrument. They are similar to each other in layout: a Prelude followed by five dance movements. The penultimate movement in each suite varies: two have menuet movements, two have bourrées, and two have gavottes. All the other movements are the same in all six suites (Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and following the varied dances, concluding with a Gigue).
 
As with so much of Bach’s purely instrumental music, frustratingly little is known about the origin of this singular set of suites. It seems reasonable to assume that they date from his time in Cöthen (1717-23) and if so, they were likely written for the cellist of Duke Leopold’s court orchestra, Christian Bernhard Linike. So we have a pretty good idea when he wrote them, and for whom. The question remains – why? What need was filled with this incredible set of works? What is remarkable about each suite is that Bach, the master of contrapuntal composition, manages to create music which has a polyphonic texture to it, produced by only the four strings of the cello (it should be noted that the Sixth Suite was written for a cello of the time which had five strings).
 
Suite No. 1 is in G Major, taking full advantage of the open G string of the instrument. The Prelude begins as a steady series of rising and falling measures that transition through an undulating series of keys. A central section of an almost improvisatory nature leads back to the rising and falling measures, now in the cello’s upper register. The Allemande is graceful, but restrained, with double stops helping to produce a polyphonic texture. The Courante pits elegant eighth notes against skipping, lighthearted sixteenth notes – the net effect is quite playful. The Sarabande is a processional sort of dance, presented in this suite with an air of gravitas, with many double stops for emphasis. The Menuet is the quintessential delicate French court dance; this pair of menuets trip along nimbly, though the second menuet has a slightly darker hue. The first returns to conclude the movement. The Gigue ends the suite in an air almost of celebration, the dotted-rhythm dance seems to leap off the cello in its enthusiasm.
 
 
Cello Concerto in D minor
Édouard Lalo (Lille, 1823 / d. Paris, 1892)
 
First performed: December 9, 1877 in Paris
Last ESO performance: March 1987
 
Édouard Lalo played the violin and viola, and wrote several works for violin and orchestra, the most famous being the Symphonie espagnole. But he wrote works for other solo instruments as well, and while his only piano concerto is now all but forgotten, his Cello Concerto of 1877 has maintained a foothold on the concert stage. Like the famous Symphonie espagnole, the Cello Concerto has a Spanish flavour to it (Lalo’s family was of Spanish heritage), and begins with an ambitious, slow introduction in which the orchestra is interrupted by passages from the soloist. The main subject of the Allegro maestoso is announced by the cello, accompanied by a descending figure in the orchestra. In an inspired touch, the lovely, major-key contrasting subject features an altered form of the orchestra’s descending figure. The development section brings back music heard in the slow introduction, leading to a recapitulation of the Allegro’s two main ideas, and a coda that once again references the introduction.
 
The second movement serves as both a slow movement and a Scherzo, beginning with a lovely Andantino in G minor, followed by a dashing Allegro presto in G Major, with both given a second presentation before a linking Introduction with a very Spanish feel to it brings us to the final movement. This is a Rondo, coloured by Spanish rhythms and melodic content in both the main subject and the alternating episodes. Though not a deep work, Lalo’s concerto is full of charm and fire.
 
 
Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano
Bohuslav Martinů (b. Policka, 1890 / d. Liestal, Switzerland, 1959)
 
Taken all together, the cello works written by Bohuslav Martinů could fairly stand as the most significant contributions to the instrument of the 20th century. He wrote four works for cello and orchestra, three sonatas, and several other pieces. While there is a strong element of his Czech homeland – its dance rhythms and harmonic understanding – in his music, Martinů spent most of his life away from Czechoslovakia. He left for the first time in 1923 to go to Paris, and the notion of returning was rendered impossible when the Nazis took over the country. He left for the United States, and when the Soviets overran Czechoslovakia after World War Two, Martinů was left a permanent exile.
 
His Second Cello Sonata dates from the year he came to the U.S. (1941), and just after the successful premiere of one of his most famous pieces, the Concerto grosso. It was soon after arriving in New York that Martinů met cellist Frank Rybka, another musician of Czech heritage. It was to him that Martinů dedicated the sonata, though it was premiered by Lucien Laporte on March 27, 1942. A harmonic link from Martinů’s opera Julietta features prominently in the opening Allegro. The middle slow movement leans heavily on the cello’s expressive potential, while the finale is technically demanding for both cello and piano. There is also a cadenza near the end of the final movement – linking it spiritually to a concerto. Both cello and piano, however, are matched inextricably throughout the work, a feat Martinů achieves with ingenious balance and refinement.
 
 
Fantasy in C Major, Op.159 / D934 (arr. Wispelwey)
Franz Schubert (b. Vienna, 1797 / d. Vienna, 1828)
 
Franz Schubert was a reasonably talented violinist and violist, in addition to playing the piano, and wrote three violin sonatas in his youth, though they are not often presented any more. His Fantasy in C, on the other hand, is a mature work, written the year before he died at only 31 years old, and composed for the extremely talented prodigy Josef Slavik, who, like Schubert, died tragically young. 
 
The fantasy is thought by some to be an extremely difficult work for the violinist. So it is with a certain audacity and bravado that Pieter Wispelwey arranged it for his own instrument, for his second recording on the Onyx label. “I found the Fantasy, especially, remarkably convincing in its new guise,” went a review in Gramophone magazine of the arrangement. “The transposition to cello...enhances the sense of virtuosity as Wispelwey triumphantly surmounts each hurdle.”
 
The opening section has a bit of a gypsy flavour to it, the piano even echoes the Hungarian cimbalom (a sort of hammered dulcimer), and the violin (here, the cello) is right at home with gypsy music. The second part is a gentle Allegretto, leading to the magnificent third section – a theme which is a modified version of Schubert’s song Sei mir gegrüsst, followed by four variations of the theme. The final section begins in a lively Allegro vivace, slows briefly for an Allegretto, and concludes with a lively Presto.
 
Program Notes © 2011 by D.T. Baker

Artist Bios

Pieter Wispelwey, cello

pieter wispelweyPieter Wispelwey is among the first of a generation of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike. Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, Mr. Wispelwey’s sophisticated musical personality is rooted in the training he received: from early years with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam to Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in Great Britain. Highlights among future concerto performances include the Sydney Symphony, Japan Philharmonic, Sao Paulo Symphony, National Symphony of Ireland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and in Belgium with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.
 
Pieter Wispelwey has been the artistic director of the Beauvais Cello Festival in France since 2009, drawing together some of the finest cellists on the circuit for a week of cello recitals, concertos and chamber music, featuring an exciting range of new music for the instrument. His career spans five continents, appearing as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, and Camerata Salzburg. He has also established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit. Pieter Wispelwey’s discography, available on Onyx and Channel Classics, displays an impressive line up of over 20 recordings, six of which attracted major international awards. His next release will be a recital disc featuring the Mendelssohn cello sonatas and a selection of Chopin waltzes arranged for cello and piano, due out in May 2011 on Onyx. Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.
 
Mr. Wispelwey last appeared with the ESO in March 2009.

William Eddins, conductor

william eddins

William Eddins is in his sixth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he has made it a priority that he conduct performances in nearly every subscription series the orchestra has presented, as well as a wide variety of special concerts and galas.

Bill Eddins began playing the piano at age five, but was bitten by the conducting bug while in his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music. In 1989, he decided to begin conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. Assistant Conductorships with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony (the latter under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) honed his skills even further.

Mr. Eddins has many interests outside music. He is fond of biking, tennis, reading, pinball, and cooking. He recently completed building his own recording studio at his home in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Jen (a clarinetist), and their sons Raef and Riley. While conducting has been his principal pursuit, he continues to perform on piano in Edmonton and elsewhere. He accepts a limited number of guest appearances each year. In 2008, he conducted a rare full staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for Opéra de Lyon, which won him great acclaim, leading to a repeat engagement in Lyon in July and September 2010, as well as Edinburgh in August 2010, and in London in September 2010. During August 2009, Bill toured South Africa, conducting three gala concerts with soprano Renée Fleming and the kwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Multimedia

Pieter Wispelwey and Paolo Giacometti playing Chopin / Davidov Valse opus 64 no 2:

Add comment

Tell us what you think! Comments are pre-moderated and will be published once approved.

The Winspear does not necessarily endorse the views of any commenter. By submitting comments, you acknowledge that the Winspear has the right to reproduce and publicize those comments or any part thereof.