HAPPY 200TH BIRTHDAY TO TWO ROMANTIC ERA GIANTS:
CHOPIN AND SCHUMANN! PACIFIC SYMPHONY’S 2010-11 CAFÉ LUDWIG
SERIES BEGINS ON CELEBRATORY NOTE
Have your cake and music, too (!) during a joint bicentennial birthday celebration in honor of Romantic composers Chopin and Schumann for Pacific Symphony’s first Café Ludwig concert of the 2010-2011 season.
For the third year, piano sensation Orli Shaham hosts an afternoon of chamber music with some of the orchestra’s most talented musicians: Concertmaster Raymond Kobler, Principal Cellist Timothy Landauer and Principal Oboist Jessica Pearlman.
The program explores how Chopin’s works, though small in scale, link poetically expressive melody and restless harmony to high technical demands; Schuman was also more comfortable with smaller works, but pieces large and small remain the embodiment of musical Romanticism.
“Chopin and Schumann: A Birthday Celebration” takes place Oct. 31, at 3 p.m., in the Samueli Theater (next to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall), transformed into an intimate café where patrons enjoy coffee, treats (in this case, birthday cupcakes) and timeless classics.
Tickets are $57 and $73. For more information, call (714) 755-5799 or visit http://www.pacificsymphony.org.
“I couldn’t pass up the chance to celebrate the birthdays of two of my favorite composers,” says Shaham. “As both Chopin and Schumann were pianists, they wrote especially well for the piano and are extremely satisfying for me to play.
Although they lived at a similar time, their approaches to music were quite personal. Chopin’s emotions often bubble out from just under the surface of the music, and Schumann’s explode from deep within like a geyser!
They are great complements to each other on one program. It’s especially fulfilling to collaborate with others on their music, since they were both masters of the intimate art of chamber music-making.”
Chopin reigns during the first half of the concert with his short, richly expressive melodies and dizzying technical demands for piano (which is heard throughout the program), violin and cello. In the first piece, “Barcarolle,” named for the song of the Venetian gondoliers, a vivid harmony accompanies the song-like melody of the right hand to represent the restless rocking motion of a boat.
“Nocturne in D-flat major” creates a musical metaphor for the color of a summer sunset transitioning into the night, and the violin (played by Kobler) assumes the melody in “Nocturne in C-sharp minor for Violin and Piano.” Chopin’s Polish nationalism is heard in “Polonaise,” described as “the soul of Poland,” and “Introduction and Polonaise Brillante for Cello and Piano,” performed by Shaham and Landauer.
“I love the idea of showing off the talents of Ray Kobler, Tim Landauer and Jessica Pearlman,” says Shaham. “They all bring exceptional musicianship and thrilling virtuosity to everything they play. I chose these works especially to showcase their individual strengths.”
“Schumann’s ‘Three Romances’ were originally written for oboe and piano, though they are often played on violin and clarinet,” says Pearlman. “Written in 1849 as a Christmas present to Schumann’s wife, Clara, ‘The Romances’ were written in a style popular of the time: free-form, lyrical, imbued with character. The Romances may seem simply ‘lovely’ or ‘beautiful’ and for this reason they are often some of the first pieces an oboe student learns. But in each there is an underlying thread of sadness and pain, perhaps reflecting life at the time in which they were written.”
Schumann, born the same year as Chopin (1810), was a German intellectual of music, literature and law. With an appreciation of formal rigor, his “Three Romances for Oboe and Piano” demand the emotional commitment of the musician with simple and heartfelt melodies. The concert concludes with Shaham, Kobler and Landauer performing
the glorious “Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor,” which broods and swells with intensity, giving Schumann the title of “spirit of the Romantic age.”
“Chamber music, while still classical in nature, provides different rewards and challenges to the symphony musician,” says Pearlman. “We now get to make our own decisions with regards to tempo, character, dynamic, rubato. Sometimes such freedoms can be overwhelming, there are too many ‘right’ ways to play something! And consequently, what makes chamber music so exciting and alive is the knowledge that every bar, ever note, was a pure collaboration among members of a group. Chamber music is perhaps one of the most intimate yet dynamic genres within classical music.”
A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety and vitality, Gilmore Young Artist Award and Avery Fisher Career Grant-winner Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists.
Hailed by critics worldwide, Shaham is admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. She has given recitals and performed with top-tier symphonies all across America and Europe, including a recent Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic, and a special appearance at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Driven by a passion to bring classical music to new audiences, she maintains an active parallel career as a respected broadcaster, music writer and lecturer. Recognized early for her prodigious talents, Shaham received her first scholarship at age 5 to study at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. By age 7, she traveled to New York, and a year later became a scholarship student at The Juilliard School.
Pacific Symphony
3631 S. Harbor Blvd., Suite 100
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 755-5799
www.pacificsymphony.org
