Program Notes and Order

Rosalind Wan Wong, piano

Philip Glass
Glassworks, Opening
Like the rain falling slowly and steadily, the opening to Glassworks gravitating downwards in a study of tone colors, harmonies, and rhythm. Philip Glass, born in 1937, is a minimalist composer. The minimalist movement is a reaction against modernism and postmodernism s disjointed and dissonant harmonies and melodies. The opening to Glassworks with solo piano exhibits characteristics of a minimalist piece, such as repeating gestures, gradual consonant harmonic changes, and a steady pulse. The opening features a three against two rhythm kept continuous between the left and right hand. There are no rests in this piece, thereby making the music a constant calming flow, like never-ending footsteps on concrete. There are also no specific dynamic markings, so it is at the performer s discretion. Normally, this piece would lead right into the next piece in the series of Glassworks[Floe for flutes, saxophones, horns, and synthesizer].

Claude Debussy
L isleJoyeuse (The Joyous Island)
After many tempestuous affairs with various married women, models, and the like, Claude Debussy composed this piece in 1904 during his vacation on an Island off the coast the Normandy with his liason/girlfriend Emma Bardac. The eponymous island of Jersey is where the two spent time away from Debussy s wife, and allowed for his relationship with Bardac to blossom. Musically, the piece is buried in scales of all sorts, including the whole tone, pentatonic, and Lydian mode. From the start, a rhythmically free fantasia burst open colors onto the soundscape until the left hand s rhythmic strumming takes rein; the repeated figure launches the piece into a merry dance. The middle section draws from the opening s rhythmical freedom and displaces the left and right hand into five against three with dotted syncopation, further obscuring the rhythmic stability. Sudden changes and shifts with character, mood, and color are trademarks of Debussy s music. The fast scales down are like water flowing downstream, and scales up are like the sun rising above the sea horizon. At the end, fanfare declares the start of day after a night of fiery unrest. A reprise of the opening dance but in a slower tempo marks the ultimate end to the festivities. The piece ends with a grand finale of the fantasia that opened the piece, except with more urgency and a fantastic ending-with-a-bang. (6 minutes)

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Etude Tableau Op.39 No.6 Little Red Riding Hood in a minor
Dark and hauntingly aggressive, this piece is like the Big Bad Wolf chasing Little Red down the forest path. Rachmaninoff s op.39 etudes, or studies, are technically very challenging, yet sublimely beautiful. The chromatic scale opening in the bass register of the piano offers scare tactics; opposite to this frightful character is the high fluttering, which carries the Big Bad Wolf s disguise as an innocent old lady. These two extremes blend together with falling and rising arpeggios until the PocoMenoMosso seerie basssection overtakes the higher register counterpart. Propelling the piece into a complete race, the accelerando hypes up the adrenaline by pounding accents on offbeats, as well as hypertension achieved by use of the higher registers at great speed. Slowing down to a halt after a tiring chase, the notes develop into a rhythmic gallop, and subsequently into a march typical of Rachmaninoff. The sudden ending with the chromatic scales and an abrupt chord is like the penultimate breath Little Red took and expelled as the wolf preyed on her the two counts of rest following is her silence.

Frederic Chopin
Ballade No.4 in f minor
A ballad is a poem with words. Chopin s ballade is a musical poem without words. But like a ballad, this piece often repeats the theme because in oral traditions, the bard must repeat many times for the listeners to recall important details. The opening theme is heard throughout the Ballade, much like a theme and variation. According to Robert Schumann, a contemporary of Chopin s, this piece was inspired by Adam Mickiewicz s poem The Three Budrys, which ends in the fulfillment of three Polish marriages. However, the music is a far cry from any comedic Italian Opera. Instead, the beginning is like a cry in repeating octaves, turning into a full wail of (6/8) dance, lilting along slowly unlike a fast waltz. The shy tendencies of the melody to murmur quietly to the poet/musician herself renders the piece distinct from the other ballades, which are more brilliant in character than this one. The piece undergoes several transformations through the use of transitions such as leggieroLiszt-like virtuosic passages, overlapping voices like the stretto of a fugue, calm chorale-like B section, Barcarolle-like bass octaves, as well as chromatic scale down. The piece s ending is one of the hardest in the repertoire. After a frenzy of rising arpeggios, a sudden halt places the listener in the eye of the storm calm, serene, in a chordal bliss. Then, as sudden as the peace came, turmoil ensue with like a hurricane; passages of thirds in triplets quickly multiply in pace, with left hand often supporting the tempo using syncopation and octaves until finally it gives way to a flourish of glissando-like triplets down into the final cadence.

Robert Schumann
Carnaval, Op.9

1. Prambule (A-flat; Quasi maestoso) The theme is a reference to Schubert's Trauerwalzer, Op. 9/2, D. 365. 2. Pierrot (E-flat; Moderato) Pierrot is a character from the commedia dell arte of Italian comedy. He is the crying clown. 3. Arlequin (B-flat; Vivo) Arlequin is also a character from commedia dell arte. He is a very nimble acrobat who is known for his physical agility. 4. Valse noble (B-flat; Unpocomaestoso) A Noble waltz. 5. Eusebius (E-flat; Adagio) This depicts one of Schumann s bi-polar character a quiet shy and contemplative personality. 6. Florestan (G minor; Passionato) Florestan is Schumann s other bi-polar side a fiery critic, easily angered and tempestuous. Here he quotes one of his earlier works, the butterfly Papillion. 7. Coquette (B-flat; Vivo) Flirting- at a masked ball with the waltz. 8. Rplique (B-flat-G minor; L'istesso tempo) Flirting s reply- we hear duets in the melody line as well as single replies. Sphinxes These are three riddles of the Sphinxes number one is Eb, C, B, A number two is Ab, C, B number three is C, Eb, C, B all of which are recurrent throughout the whole of Carnaval. In German note names, this spells out A.S.C.H. 9. Papillons (B-flat: Prestissimo) Butterfly but unrelated to the previously mentioned piece. 10. A.S.C.H. - S.C.H.A: LettresDansantes (E-flat; Presto) ASCH is the name of the town in which Ernestine, Schumann s then fianc, resides. 11. Chiarina (C minor; Passionato) This represents Clara Wieck, his piano teacher s famous pianist daughter, and Schumann s future wife.

12. Chopin (A-flat; Agitato) This represents Chopin, a friend of Schumann and a great composer. It uses the bel canto singing melody method that Chopin is famous for. 13. Estrella (F minor; Con affetto) This represents Ernestine von Fricken, his then fianc. 14. Reconnaissance (A-flat; Animato) Meeting at a ball perhaps between Schumann and Ernestine. 15. Pantalon et Colombine (F minor; Presto) They are again characters from the Commedia Dell arte. Pantalon represents money and greed. He is the typical stingy Venetian merchant. Colombine is Arlequin s mistress and Pierrot s wife. 16. Valse allemande (A-flat; Molto vivace) A German Waltz. --. Intermezzo: Paganini (F minor; Presto) This represents Paganini, a famous violin virtuoso at the time. People thought he played so wildly because he sold his soul to the devil. Eventually this intermezzo leads back to the valse allemande. 17. Aveu (F minor-A flat; Passionato) Confession of love, very tender and passionate. 18. Promenade (D-flat; Con moto) Taking a short walk, perhaps after the confession. 19. Pause (A-flat; Vivo) From the opening Prambule, this is a pause from any new material. It leads right into the next piec. This method of composing is called Attaca. 20. Marche des "Davidsbndler" contre les Philistins (A-flat; Non allegro) This piece is riddled with quotations from earlier sections of the piece. There is also a new theme marked Theme of the 17th century , which represents how Schumann is marching

against the old ideals of tradition. Schumann rebel against popular music practices at the time and considers himself David against the Philistines.