Download

Download Full Text (1.3 MB)

Publication Date

4-7-2018

Year of Release

2018

Note(s)

Ryan Phipps, cello

Johan Botes, piano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music Performance. Ryan Phipps is a student in the studio of Dr. Şőlen Dikener.

PROGRAM NOTES

Beethoven Seven Variations on a Theme of Mozart WoO.46 (1801)

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770 to a musical family. He began musical training with his father, Johann, and later studied the keyboard as well as the violin and viola. As a child, he was under heavy pressure from his father to succeed the elder Beethoven promoted him as being a child prodigy like W.A. Mozart. Mozart was greatly influential in Beethoven's career; the two met in Vienna, ca. 1787 where, upon hearing Beethoven improvise, Mozart remarked that he would "make himself a name in the world." Some of Beethoven's works are modeled after Mozart's, including his String Quartet in A Major Op. 18 no. 5, as well as his Piano Concerto no. 3 in c minor. Beethoven composed four sets of variations using themes of Mozart; two of them are based on themes from Mozart's comic opera The Magic Flute, and were written for cello and piano. He based WoO. 46 on the theme from the duet, "Bei Männem, welche Liebe fühlen." In this aria, Papageno and Pamina sing about the greatness of love. The variations do not succumb to pure virtuosity, rather they explore the musical potential of the cello, although the piano part is burdened with more technical challenges, which makes sense since Beethoven himself would have performed the piece. The work adheres to the standards of the Viennese theme and variations while keeping the variations very different from each other. Variation One is playful and uses a humorous dynamic motive in which the performers crescendo to the tops of phrases, only to reach the climax at a suddenly soft dynamic. Variation Two is the most technically challenging variation with lots of register changes and fast passagework. Variation Three is the first lyrical section of the set and has an elegant personality. The third and fourth variations are similar in character, although the latter is in the minor mode. Variation Five is assertive and virtuosic, not unlike Two, although the character could be described as more rugged. The last two variations are a tender largo followed by a fast-paced finale, a common way to end a set of variations. Listen for the ornamental figures that Beethoven uses to distinguish variations such as his settings of 32nd notes with quick grace notes and the trills or turns.

Tchaikovsky Pezzo Capriccioso, Op.62 (1887)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Voltkinsk, a small town in the Russian Empire in 1840. Tchaikovsky began his professional life as a civil servant working as an assistant for the Ministry of Justice. However, in 1862, the Saint Petersburg Conservatory opened and he enrolled and received most of his training as a composer there. Tchaikovsky was greatly afraid of mortality, so much so that he would hold onto his head with one hand while conducting to prevent it from falling off. Tchaikovsky wrote the Pezzu Capriccioso in 1887. The work is in b minor - the same key as the Symphony no.6 Pathétique - and it is scored for cello and orchestra in one movement. Large single-movement works (generally program music, or music that has a narrative) became popular among the mid to late Romantic composers. Tchaikovsky also composed what he referred to as "Fantasy Overture," to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Both are large-scale works for orchestra in one movement. Tchaikovsky dedicated Pezzo Capriccioso to his friend Anatoly Brandukov, a student of the cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen who revised and premiered Tchaikovsky's earlier, larger-scale Variations on a Rococo Theme. In 1888, Brandukov and Tchaikovsky premiered the piano-cello arrangement and in 1889, Brandukov premiered the orchestral version of the piece in Moscow with Tchaikovsky at the podium. The work is alternates material in two moods, a heavy largo and a light, virtuosic presto. The largo sections of the piece are dark and rich in sound, reflective of Tchaikovsky's emotional issues and fear of death, with the melody mostly moving stepwise in either direction. The presto sections use scalar motion; however the rhythmic values appear in diminution and the performer uses a fast sautille bowstroke, which in French means a “jumping bow."

Shostakovich Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op.4 (1934)

Shostakovich composed his Sonata for Cello and Piano during a brief period of divorce (they later remarried) from his wife caused by his affair with a student at the Leningrad Maly Operny where his opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenk District, was premiered. He completed the sonata in 1934 and premiered it in Moscow on Christmas day of the same year with his close friend, Viktor Kubatsky. Two years later, Shostakovich and Stalin were both in attendance at a performance of Lady Macbeth at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Stalin found the work to be too flirty with the bourgeois and thus began Shostakovich's complex relationship with the tyrannical government. The Russian government adopted the notion of Gebrauchsmusik, or useful music, to promote music that served to glorify the regime and maintain musical tradition. Although the Cello Sonata precedes the official falling out of Shostakovich and Stalin, it has many elements that can be seen as being in direct opposition of Gebrauchsmusik, rather existing as music for music's sake. Stalin and his cronies used the term "Bourgeois Formalism" in reference to art that did not glorify the regime and, in tum, persecuted and censored Shostakovich and his colleagues. Each movement of the sonata has a very distinct character profile. Listen for the themes in the first movement, Allegro non troppo. The first theme is perpetually moving, although it flows seamlessly rather than exhibiting virtuosity right away. As the expositional material develops, as the expositional material begins to be developed, the tension increases until finally softening up at the arrival of the second theme. This new theme is an example of some of Shostakovich's more thoughtful and tender writing, having a profundity about it despite its simplicity. The developmental material is new and very militant, perhaps reminiscent of the revolution and civil war in the early 1900s that led to the formation of the Soviet Union. The final section is much slower and is often played with very little vibrato, if any. The second movement, Allegro, is made up of three sections. The A section consists of perpetual eighth notes in the cello part with the theme appearing in the piano part. The rhythmic motive that builds the theme is modified harmonically throughout the section. The B section consists of a light, whimsical theme in the piano ornamented by harmonic glissandi from the cello. The cello and piano then switch roles. The C section features fast staccato arpeggios in the cello while the piano plays a more intense version of the whimsical theme from the previous section. Listen to Shostakovich's organization of these sections. They will appear thusly: ABCBAC. The third movement, largo, is introspective and perhaps one of the first instances of the melancholy iciness that would become so prominent in Shostakovich's later music. This movement perhaps most poignantly reflects the sadness of the composer during his divorce. The movement begins with cello alone, in the low register and muted, a difficult color to work with for even the most skilled cellist. The second phrase is enhanced by sparse chords in the piano before succumbing to a rhythmic, almost march-like rhythm. At this point, the cello begins its lament. This movement, despite all its fine dynamic detail, seems to have an overall arch of drama that begins at this point, climaxes and falls back at the second appearance of the cello solo theme from the beginning. After this theme, the movement falls into a sort of coda, beginning with major harmonies to provide some hope and respite to the listener. Of course, it is all for naught and the piano picks up the second theme with the cello providing a haunting accompaniment. The movement ends with the first theme once again, this time with some light chords. The fourth and final movement is another Allegro, and it combines classical form with modem harmonic structure and humorous thematic material. The piano introduces the theme, a goofy, clumsy march, which the cello takes over. The material gradually becomes more virtuosic and nonsensical, only returning to its original form twice throughout the movement. The work ends with militant pizzicatos in the cello while the piano plays the thematic material again, after which the movement ends with a sudden fortissimo, just in case you fell asleep.

Gershwin Three Preludes (1926)

Gershwin composed Three Preludes between 1925 and 1926. Originally for piano, the set has been transcribed for various instruments over the years, the most notable being the transcription for violin by Jascha Heifetz, a friend of Gershwin. Since then, string players have continued to arrange the Heifetz transcription to better suit their instruments. The first prelude is constructed with Latin-influenced rhythmic figures. The figures are well suited for some of the cello's less-frequently used techniques, specifically glissandi and the thumb as an active digit. The nature of the piece does not lend itself quite as easily to the cello as it does to the piano or even the violin. Intervals that are easily and quickly accessed on those instruments are just far enough on the cello that standard hand positions make for a messy sound, thus the thumb must be used frequently to achieve distinctness of pitch. The glissandi, or slides, fit in particularly well with the jazz influence of the work. In the second prelude, Gershwin introduces a rhythmic motive that is constant and the theme is in the style of a blues - increasingly seductive and suave. Here more than in the other two preludes, glissandi become juicy ornaments that characterize the bluesy theme. The third prelude is in direct homage to Claude Debussy's Gollywog's Cakewalk. The jazziest and (for this instrument) technically challenging of the three, this prelude's theme feels new every time it appears because Gershwin reconfigures the effect of the music by altering accompanimental figures. Listen to the way the theme plays with timing and chromaticism while maintaining a calm and effortless façade. This particular transcription is by cellist, Bronwyn Hagerty and was given to me by Portland Opera cellist, Isaac Pastor-Chermak. Program Notes by Ryan Phipps

Note

Smith Recital Hall

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Department of Music Presents a Senior Recital, Ryan Phipps, cello

Share

COinS