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BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN SONATA IN D MAJOR, OP. 12 NO. 1

Beethoven dedicated his first set of violinsonatas, Op. 12 (1798), to Antonio Salieri, oneof the most influential musical figures of late18th century Vienna. Today, Salieri is bestknown in fictionalized form—Peter Shaffer’s1979 play Amadeus dramatized his rivalry with Mozart, depicting Salieri as mediocre, vindictive, and ultimately murderous—but bycontemporary accounts Salieri was quite respected. Recent scholars have come to view hismany comic operas as seminal (and delightful intheir own right).

BEETHOVEN

Although rare, all dates, times, artists, programs and prices are subject to change. Photographing or recording this performance without permission is prohibited.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2020, 8PMSegerstrom Center for the Arts

Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

Pre-concert lecture, 7pm

MIDORIVIOLIN

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDETPIANO

Part of the Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom Select Series sponsored by

ELIZABETH SEGERSTROM

Beethoven@250 sponsored by THE SEGERSTROM FOUNDATION

Sonata for Violin and Piano, Ludwig van BEETHOVENNo. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1 (1770-1827)

Allegro con brio Theme and variations: Andante con motoRondo Allegro

Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23

Presto Andante scherzoso, più AllegrettoAllegro molto

INTERMISSION

Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3

Allegro assai Tempo di MinuettoAllegro vivace

Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2

Allegro con brio Adagio cantabile Scherzo (and trio)Finale

THE SEGERSTROM FOUNDATION

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET REPRESENTATIONJohannisplatz 3AD-81667, Munich

www.harrisonparrott.com

MIDORI REPRESENTATION9 Kingsway, Holborn, London WC2B 6XF,

United Kingdomintermusica.co.uk

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MFittingly, the spirit of Opera Buffa seems topermeate the first of Beethoven’s Op. 12sonatas. The unison fanfare that opens the firstmovement is a classic buffa gesture, and thesubsequent interplay between violin and pianofeels conversational, discursive. Beethoven’sslow movement presents a cantilena theme and embroiders it ravishingly in a series of variations. The closing movement, a vigorousrondo in an oom-pah-pah 6/8, feels almost likean early prototype for the finale of Beethoven’sviolin concerto.

BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN SONATA IN A MINOR, OP. 23

Beethoven composed his Op. 23 alongside theOp. 24 “Spring” Sonata in 1801, and originallymeant to group the two together in one opus(due to a printing error, they were publishedseparately). These two sister-sonatas form anappealing study in contrasts: Op. 23 is as taut, abstract, and enigmatic as the SpringSonata is relaxed, pictorial, and accessible.Unsurprisingly, the latter gets performed muchmore than the former, but Op. 23 is a work offierce concision and inventiveness, deserving ofequal airtime.

The first movement gallops straight out of thegate with all the urgency and seriousness ofSchubert’s “Erlking”; the second subject’s moodis more inward, but Beethoven never slackensthe tension. Beethoven’s Andante proceedswith a quirky deliberation—first an obsessiveantecedent-consequent phrasing (“and me, andyou; now me, now you”), then a fugal exposition, then a bit of galant style grace, andthen he does it all again! The closing rondo,tremulous and unsettled with a few momentsof sunny repose, recalls some of Mozart’s “nervous” A minor works like the piano sonataK. 310 and the Rondo alla Turca.

BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN SONATA IN G MAJOR, OP. 30 NO. 3

Beethoven composed his three Op. 30 sonatasin the picturesque suburb of Heiligenstadt in1802. Though his progressive hearing lossweighed heavy on him that summer, his decision to persevere for the sake of his art ushered in a period of unmatched creativity.The ambitious trilogy of Op. 30 capturesBeethoven in three distinct moods: subtle andrefined (No. 1), heroic and tempestuous (No.2), and jubilantly rustic (No. 3).

No. 3 is the crowd-pleaser of the group, infectiously boisterous and high-spirited. Thebuzzy first movement almost never stops moving but for some momentary pastoraldrones; the “Tempo di Minuetto” passesthrough a few shadows but mostly maintainsan unruffled air; the finale, a blazing hoe-downof a contradanse, tops even the first movementfor frenetic energy and adds stylized bagpipeeffects in the keyboard.

BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN SONATA IN C MINOR, OP. 30 NO. 2

Beethoven’s relationship with the key of C minor was so idiosyncratic, and so integral tothe composer’s reception history, that thereexists an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to“Beethoven and C minor.” Among Beethoven’sthree-flatted “bangers” are the Pathétiquesonata, the Third Piano Concerto, the pianosonata Op. 111, and the Fifth Symphony.Though scattered across multiple decades ofBeethoven’s career, these works all share a prevailing effect of pathos, drama, and brooding agitation.

Beethoven’s violin sonata Op. 30 No. 2 (1802)is another stellar exemplar of the C minor

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aesthetic. The first movement opens with ahushed, terse motive and an ominous tremoloin the piano’s low register, holding us in suspense before unleashing tremendous potential energy; the movement’s lighter second theme, in major, retains vigor and amartial snap from dotted rhythms. Beethovencasts his Adagio movement in A-flat major—also his key of choice for the slow movementsof the Pathétique and Fifth Symphony; beyond key area, these movements share aquintessential Beethovenian “mode,” ennobledand prayerful yet deeply intimate. The scherzo,in C major, is utterly jaunty, with a robustcanonic trio. Beethoven later regretted including this movement in the sonata, thinking that it disrupted the overall dramatictrajectory, but the scherzo’s brio is welcome…and fleeting, as the finale quicklydispels any good cheer with a snarl and a shakeof the fist. A number of Beethoven’s C minorworks follow a “tragic-to-triumphant” arc, ultimately arriving in a space of C major euphoria and renewal. Not here: Beethovencommits to darkness until the end, concludingwith a fiery and hard-driving coda.

—Alana Murphy

MIDORI, VIOLIN

Midori is a visionary artist, activist and educator whose unique career has transcendedtraditional boundaries through her relentlessdrive to explore and build connections betweenmusic and the human experience. Never at rest,Midori brings the same dynamic innovationand expressive insight that has made her aprominent concert violinist to her other roles asa noted global cultural ambassador and a dedicated music educator.

A leading concert violinist for more than 35years, Midori regularly transfixes audiencesaround the world, bringing together gracefulprecision and intimate expression that allowsthe listening public to not just hear music but to be personally moved by it. She has performed with, among many others, theLondon, Chicago, Boston, and San Franciscosymphony orchestras; the Berlin, Vienna, NewYork, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg and Czechphilharmonics; the Sinfonieorchester desBayerischen Rundfunks, and the MahlerChamber Orchestra. She has collaborated withsuch outstanding musicians as ClaudioAbbado, Leonard Bernstein, Emanuel Ax,Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, ChristophEschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi,Antonello Manacorda, Constantinos Carydis,Yo-Yo Ma, Susanna Mälkki, and MenahemPressler.

Midori’s recent and upcoming global engagements highlight her versatility throughperformances of orchestral and chamber worksby Bernstein, Bach, Respighi, Beethoven,Schumann, Fauré, Debussy, Enescu, Prokofievand Brahms. Her tour schedule has includedEurope with the Munich Chamber Orchestra,Japan with the Estonian Festival Orchestra andPaavo Järvi, and it takes her in the 2019-20season to Asia with Festival Strings Lucerne.She also undertakes a worldwide recital tourwith pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. She makes guest appearances with the ViennaPhilharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra,Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France,Kammerakademie Potsdam, Orchestra delTeatro Massimo and NDR ElbphilharmonieOrchester.

An advocate for music and composers of hertime, Midori will present compositions by living female composers as part of a projectdedicated to promoting contemporary music.

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She will also premiere a new violin concerto byDetlev Glanert in Hamburg in May 2020, during the Beethoven anniversary year. Midoripreviously inspired Peter Eötvös to composethe violin concerto DoReMi, which she thenrecorded with the Orchestre Philharmoniquede Radio France conducted by the composer.Other commissions and world premieres haveincluded works by Einojuhani Rautavaara,Brett Dean and Johannes Staud.

Midori’s diverse discography includes sonatasby Bloch, Janáček and Shostakovich performedwith pianist Özgür Aydin, and a 2013Grammy Award-winning recording ofHindemith’s violin concerto with Christoph

Eschenbach conducting the NDR SymphonyOrchestra. The two-CD set of her highlyacclaimed interpretation of J.S. Bach’s Sonatasand Partitas for Solo Violin was released in2015, followed in 2017 by a DVD of the samerepertoire, filmed at Köthen Castle, whereBach served as Kapellmeister. Earlier recordings on the Sony Classical label featureworks by Mozart, Dvořák, Bartók, Poulencand Sibelius, among others.

In her quest to explore and expand how musicis essential to people everywhere, Midori goesbeyond the concert hall and recording studio toareas where music access is most needed. In2017, Midori celebrated the 25th anniversary

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organizations: Midori & Friends, which bringshigh-quality music education to New YorkCity youth, and MUSIC SHARING, a Japan-based program that provides access toboth western classical and Japanese music traditions through innovative events, activities,instruction and presentations in local schools,institutions and hospitals. Her Partners InPerformance organization, now in its 16thyear, promotes interest in classical music outside of major urban centers across the United States, while her OrchestralResidencies Program, founded in 2004,encourages young musicians in the UnitedStates and beyond to develop a life-long andmultifaceted engagement with the performingarts, helping to ensure that the classical scenewill continue vibrantly for years to come.

Midori also brings her activism to a global level.MUSIC SHARING’s InternationalCommunity Engagement Program (ICEP)promotes intercultural exchange by enablingyoung musicians from around the world tocome together and present community performances for audiences with limited exposure to classical music. The program’sensembles have performed in Myanmar,Bangladesh, Laos, Mongolia, Indonesia,Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam (twice) and Indiawith follow-up appearances each season inJapan. The 2019-20 ICEP takes place for thesecond time in Cambodia.

A persuasive advocate of cultural diplomacy,Midori has been invited to speak at the JohnsHopkins School of Advanced InternationalStudies in Washington, D.C., among other places. She has been honored for her international activism: in 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon namedMidori a Messenger of Peace, and in 2012 she

received the Crystal Award from the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos. In 2019 she wasinvited to attend the annual meeting of theUnited Nation's International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome,where she performed for and addressed PopeFrancis and other world leaders, calling onthem to believe in the transformative power ofwomen and girls in underserved remote communities. The same year, the CarnegieCorporation of New York honored Midori, anaturalized American citizen, with its “GreatImmigrant” award in recognition of her work asa global cultural ambassador.

The same vision that motivates Midori’sactivism also guides her educational approach.Since fall 2018, she has been part of therenowned violin faculty at the Curtis Instituteof Music, bringing her musical expertise as anactive top-level performer to her studio and herexperience as an activist to the school’s community engagement programs. In October2019, she was appointed to the school’sDorothy Richard Starling Chair in ViolinStudies.

Until May 2018, Midori held the JaschaHeifetz Chair as a Distinguished Professor atthe University of Southern California’sThornton School of Music, where she taughtfor 14 years. She continues her involvement atUSC in a visiting artist role as Judge WidneyProfessor of Music. She is also a distinguishedvisiting artist and violin faculty member at thePeabody Institute of Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Midori is an honorary professor at Beijing’sCentral Conservatory of Music and a guestprofessor at both Soai University in Osaka andthe Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In addition, she teaches regularly at Ravinia’sSteans Music Institute and the Weimar

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Meisterkurse. Her own degrees in gender studies and psychology from New YorkUniversity (BA 2000, MA 2005) stronglyinform her holistic teaching philosophy: “Inour studio, the tenets of Honesty, Health, andDignity guide us through the times of trial, self-doubt, self-questioning, and growth.”

Midori was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971 andbegan her violin studies with her mother, SetsuGoto, after displaying a strong aptitude formusic at an early age. In 1982, conductorZubin Mehta invited the then 11-year-oldMidori to perform with the New YorkPhilharmonic in the orchestra’s annual NewYear’s Eve concert. The standing ovation thatfollowed her debut spurred Midori to pursue amajor musical career at the highest level.

Midori plays the 1734 Guarnerius del GesuÌ‘ex-Huberman.’ She uses four bows—two byDominique Peccatte, one by François Peccatteand one by Paul Siefried.

Intermusica represents Midori in Europe,North America, Australia & New Zealand

https://intermusica.co.uk/artist/Midori

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET, PIANO

For more than three decades, Jean-YvesThibaudet has performed world-wide, recorded more than 50 albums, and built a reputation as one of today’s finest pianists. Heplays a range of solo, chamber, and orchestralrepertoire—from Beethoven through Liszt,Grieg, and Saint-Saëns; to Khachaturian andGershwin, and to Qigang Chen and JamesMacMillan. From the very start of his career, hedelighted in music beyond the standard repertoire, from jazz to opera, which he transcribed himself to play on the piano. His

profound professional friendships crisscrossthe globe and have led to spontaneous andfruitful collaborations in film, fashion, andvisual art.

In 2019-20, Thibaudet renews many long-standing musical partnerships. As the St. LouisSymphony’s Artist-in-Residence, he plays apair of season-opening concerts conducted bylongtime friend and collaborator StéphaneDenève, returning for additional programminglater in the season. He also tours a program ofSchumann, Fauré, Debussy, and Enescu withMidori, followed by the complete Beethovensonatas for piano and violin. Thibaudet givesthe world premiere of Aaron Zigman’s TangoManos concerto for piano and orchestra withthe China Philharmonic, and goes on to perform it with the Orchestre Philharmoniquede Radio France and San Francisco Symphony.Zigman composed the score for RobinSwicord’s Wakefield, for which Thibaudet wasthe soloist; this was the first time that the composer had allowed a pianist other than himself to perform his film work.

A noted interpreter of French music,Thibaudet performs works by Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Connesson and Debussy around theworld; as one of the premier interpreters ofMessiaen's TurangalîlaSymphonie, Thibaudetplays the piece in his hometown as Artist-in-Residence of the Orchestre National de Lyon,with conductor Susanna Mälkki. He alsobrings along his passion for Gershwin this season, performing the Concerto for Piano in F major in Lyon as well as in Houston, LosAngeles, Boston, New York, Naples, Tokyo,and at the Bad Kissinger Sommer Festival,where he is Artist-in-Residence.

He also expresses his passion for education andfostering young musical talent as the first-everArtist-in-Residence at the Colburn School in

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Los Angeles, where he makes his home. The school has extended the residency for an additional three years and has announced theJean-Yves Thibaudet Scholarships to provideaid for Music Academy students, whomThibaudet will select for the merit-basedawards, regardless of their instrument choice.

Thibaudet’s recording catalogue has receivedtwo Grammy nominations, the Preis derDeutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Diapasond’Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Edison Prize, and Gramophone awards.In 2017 he released to great acclaim

Bernstein's Age of Anxiety with the BaltimoreSymphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop, with whom he previously recorded Gershwin,featuring big jazz band orchestrations of Rhapsody in Blue, Variations on “I GotRhythm,” and the Concerto in F. In 2016, onthe 150th anniversary of Erik Satie's birth,Decca released a box set of Satie's completesolo piano music performed by Thibaudet—one of the foremost champions of the composer's works. On his Grammy-nominated recording SaintSaëns, PianoConcerti Nos. 2 & 5, released in 2007, he isjoined by Charles Dutoit and Orchestre

(ANDREW ECCLES)

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de la Suisse Romande. Thibaudet's AriaOpera Without Words, which wasreleased the same year, features aria transcriptions, some of which are Thibaudet'sown. His other recordings include the jazzalbums Reflections on Duke: JeanYvesThibaudet Plays the Music of Duke Ellington andConversations With Bill Evans.

Thibaudet has also had an impact on theworlds of fashion, film, and philanthropy. In addition to Zigman’s score for Wakefield,Thibaudet was soloist in Dario Marianelli’saward-winning scores for the films Atonement(which won an Oscar for Best Original Score)and Pride and Prejudice, and recordedAlexandre Desplat’s soundtrack for the 2012film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. He hada cameo in Bruce Beresford's film on AlmaMahler, Bride of the Wind, and his playing isshowcased throughout. In 2004 he served aspresident of the prestigious charity auctionHospices de Beaune. His concert wardrobe isdesigned by Dame Vivienne Westwood.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon,France, where he began his piano studies at agefive and made his first public appearance at ageseven. At twelve, he entered the ParisConservatory to study with Aldo Ciccolini andLucette Descaves, a friend and collaborator ofRavel. At age fifteen, he won the Premier Prixdu Conservatoire and, three years later, theYoung Concert Artists Auditions in New YorkCity. Among his numerous commendations isthe Victoire d’Honneur, a lifetime careerachievement award and the highest honor givenby France’s Victoires de la Musique. In 2010the Hollywood Bowl honored Thibaudet forhis musical achievements by inducting him intoits Hall of Fame. Previously a Chevalier of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, Thibaudet was

awarded the title Officier by the FrenchMinistry of Culture in 2012.

Mr. Thibaudet's worldwide representation:HarrisonParrott

Mr. Thibaudet records exclusively for DeccaRecords.

http://www.jeanyvesthibaudet.com

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