Programme Notes to Concert by Evren Ozel, Sunday 8th October 2023

Claude Debussy Images II (1907)

Between 1894 and 1907, Debussy wrote, among other things, four sets of solo piano works, with each set containing three short pieces: Pour le piano (1894-1901), Images I (1901-1905), Estampes (1903), and Images II (1907). While Pour le piano is a tribute to the Baroque era composers (with its three movements titled Prelude, Sarabande, and Toccata), the three later sets show Debussy’s incredibly unique and groundbreaking style. The pointillistic color of each movement is matched by a creative and evocative title. Images II is perhaps the most interesting in this respect.

In Cloches à travers les feuilles (Bells across the leaves), a shimmering and fantasy-like middle section is framed by eerie clock-like outer sections. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (And the moon descends on the temple that was) evokes gamelan music which Debussy may have heard at the Paris Universal Exposition. This second movement was dedicated to Louis Laloy, a friend of Debussy’s who studied Chinese language, philosophy, and literature.

Poissons d’or (Golden fish), is a virtuosic finale to this short set which demands very light and quick fingers, subtle voicing, and moments of extreme dynamic power.

Ludwig van Beethoven : Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 (1822)

In his final take on the genre, Ludwig van Beethoven brings both the pianist and the audience to the greatest depths of human anguish in the first movement, right from the opening gesture of the cataclysmic descending octaves in the left hand. After the Maestoso introduction builds an extreme unresolved tension, the Allegro con brio ed appassionato strikes like a warrior going into battle. Full of severity, passion, complex counterpoint, and numerous raging outbursts, the first movement ends calmly, resigning itself to fate.

The second and final movement, an Arietta with variations in C Major, is the polar opposite of what had come before. The chorale-like theme seems to ponder the vastness of the universe, trying to embrace eternity, all while remaining as simple and as humble as possible. As the first few variations progress, the rhythmic nature of the theme gradually speeds up, until the third variation explodes in a joyful song and dance which some may feel foreshadows a new kind of music which came about a century later. In the fourth variation, the original rhythm of the theme is restored. The variations are abandoned for material which seems like it may be a coda, but instead brings us briefly into the distant key of E-flat Major. After a long wind-down, the lowest and most heartbreaking point of the movement turns into the return to the variations, with enriched fervor and passion. Intensity builds up to a long, climactic, bristling trill in the upper register, which softens and continues to live quietly as the final variation presents itself, a farewell to this arduous journey and to the sonata form.

Frédéric Chopin Mazurkas, Op. 17; Mazurkas, Op. 50 (1834; 1842)

Having written and Published Mazurkas for nearly his entire life, Chopin was perhaps at his most creatively daring in this genre. While these pieces are based on the traditional Polish dance in ¾ time, Chopin’s take on them is rather stylized. Not only are they incredibly contrapuntal, but they also explore a great deal of chromaticism and even modality. One notable example is the famous A minor Mazurka, Op. 17 No. 4, which begins and ends with a gesture in the Lydian mode (one might hear it as a bizarre mix between A minor and F Major).

The two sets on this program, Op. 17 and Op. 50, fall at opposite ends of the timeline. Nevertheless, they both contain jovial, fast dances, as well as more moderate, or even slow and melancholic dances. The last of each set, Op. 17 No. 4 and Op. 50 No. 3, both have a ballade-like quality in which they have contrasting sections with vastly different characters.

Frédéric Chopin Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise in E-flat Major, Op. 22 (1830-1834) 

Before leaving Poland to move to Paris in 1831, Chopin had already composed his two piano concerti, and had decided to write a Polonaise for piano and orchestra as well, with the idea that he would include an introduction for it later on. Other pieces like this included the Variations, Op. 2, the Fantasy, Op. 13, and the Rondo à la Krakowiak, Op. 14. He finished the Polonaise in 1831, but it wasn’t until three years later that he came up with the suave, luscious Andante spianato in G Major for solo piano to serve as the introduction to the polonaise. In 1836, the piece for piano and orchestra was published, along with a solo piano version of the same piece. Today, the solo piano version is heard far more often than the original concerto version. One of Chopin’s most popular works among young pianists, it is full of virtuosity and charm.