{ program notes
Piano Concerto No . 5 in C Major , “ Emperor ”
Ludwig van Beethoven
Born in Bonn , Germany , December 16 , 1770 ; died in Vienna , Austria , March 26 , 1827
There is a certain irony in the subtitle “ Emperor ” that was later given to Beethoven ’ s Fifth and final Piano Concerto , but never used by the composer himself . By the spring of 1809 when Beethoven was creating his “ Emperor ” Concerto , the last person he would have wanted to honor was the emperor of the day , Napoleon Bonaparte . Years earlier , he had angrily obliterated a dedication to the French leader he ’ d once admired from the title page of his Third Symphony , the “ Eroica ,” after he learned that Napoleon had just crowned himself Emperor .
Now in May 1809 , Napoleon ’ s armies were actually besieging the city of Vienna . Beethoven was forced to flee to his brother ’ s house , where he holed up in the cellar with a pillow pressed to his still sensitive ears . But his work on his new Concerto did not cease .
And yet in many ways “ Emperor ,” taken in a more generic sense , is an appropriate title for this concerto . It is a work of imperial size and scope and it reflects its war-riven era in its virile , martial tone . Its key — E-flat Major — was one of Beethoven ’ s favorites and one he associated with heroic thoughts ; it is also the key of the “ Eroica .” Sadly , although Beethoven had introduced all his other keyboard concertos to the public , his deafness was too far advanced for him to risk playing the 1810 premiere in Leipzig .
The length and complexity of the sonata-form first movement demonstrate Beethoven ’ s new symphonic conception of the concerto . First we hear the pianist sweeping over the keyboard in grand , toccata-like arpeggios and scales , punctuated by loud chords from the orchestra . Then the soloist allows the orchestra to present its long exposition of themes . The first theme , with its distinctive turn ornament , is introduced immediately . The second , a quirky little march , appears first in halting minor-mode form in the strings , then is immediately smoothed out and shifted to the major by the horns . Over the course of the movement , Beethoven will transform both these themes in a wondrous range of keys , moods and figurations .
After its long absence , the piano begins its version of the exposition with an ascending chromatic scale ending with a long , high trill . Throughout , Beethoven uses this scale as a call to attention . Whenever we hear it , we are being given notice that a new section of the movement is beginning .
Just before that coda comes the usual moment for the soloist ’ s big cadenza . But here Beethoven has quashed the soloist ’ s customary right to improvise his own exhibition of virtuosity . Fearing the jarring improvisations other soloists might make , the composer wrote in Italian in the score : “ Don ’ t play a cadenza , but attack the following immediately .” He then carefully wrote out a brief series of variants on both his themes .
A complete contrast to the extroverted first movement , movement two is a sublime , inward elegy in B Major , a remote key from the home tonality of E-flat . Two themes receive a quasi-variations treatment . The first and most important is the strings ’ grave , almost religious theme heard at the opening . The second theme is the downward-cascading music with which the piano enters .
At the close of the movement , the pianist experiments hesitantly with a new melodic / rhythmic idea . Suddenly , the spark is struck , and the theme explodes into the exuberant rondo finale . Beethoven stresses the weak beats of his dancing meter , giving the theme an eccentric , hobbling gait . An important element is the crisp rhythm first heard in the horns ; this martial , drum-like motive returns us to the wartime world of the Concerto ’ s birth . Near the end , Beethoven gives this to the timpani , in eerie duet with the soloist , before the concerto ’ s triumphant finish .
Instrumentation : Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , two trumpets , timpani , strings .
Three Pieces in Old Style
Henryk Górecki
Born in Czernica , Silesia , Poland , December 6 , 1933 ; died in Katowice , Poland , November 12 , 2010
In 1992 , Henryk Górecki , a respected , albeit little known Polish composer , suddenly became a worldwide phenomenon . Or more specifically , his Symphony No . 3 , “ Symphony of Sorrowful Songs ” ( 1977 ) did . The piece was beautifully recorded on the Nonesuch label by the London Sinfonietta conducted by former BSO music director David Zinman . Setting texts relating to the Holocaust and featuring music of mesmerizing yet streamlined emotional power , this recording sold more than a million copies and live performances proliferated all over the world , including by the BSO .
A deeply committed Catholic and supporter of Poland ’ s Solidarity Movement , Górecki belonged to a group of composers often called the “ mystical minimalists ,” which included Arvo Pärt , John Tavener and Giya Kancheli . Using the repetitive melodies , clear tonalities and gradually evolving patterns also found in the music of Philip Glass and Steven Reich , Górecki and the others added a spiritual dimension , a sense of something more profound than ordinary human concerns .
Górecki began his career working in a very different style . Living nearly his entire life in the industrial city of Katowice in southwestern Poland , he was initially one of the most radical and challenging of the Polish composers behind the Iron Curtain . His music was often harsh and dissonant . Yet the work we ’ ll hear at these concerts — Three Pieces in Old Style , written in 1963 — was something quite different , pointing the way toward his future path .
Górecki recalled that someone had complained that he could not write tuneful music , and he wanted to prove him wrong . He also was growing more interested in Polish folk tradition and culture . Three Pieces bothered his avant-garde colleagues , who thought he was betraying them , but , as Górecki commented ironically , “ that was avant-garde when I started composing in this manner .”
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