A dramatic romantic fantasy, Tchaikovsky’s Dumka begins with a sad

song that gradually cascades into a lively Russian dance. An exuberant

cadenza serves as a prelude to the middle section ofthe work, where the

music reaches its peak of passion. Before long, the Dumka returns to the

melancholy theme with which it began.

At once charming and inventive, Chopin’s Waltz in C-sharp Minor, op.

64, no. 2, could pass for a lover’s lament. The amorous effect is enhanced by

gentle arabesques. The composer’s Nocturne: in D-flat Major is a quintessential night piece that features sinuous melodic lines, gentle passion, and 

shimmering beauty.

The program ends with two contrasting examples from twentieth-century 

Russian piano repertoire. Scriabin’s Poeme is a short, succinct work composed in romantic style. It is unusual among Scriabin’s works for its gentility. Written in 1941, when the German Army was occupying most ofwestern

Russia, Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata came to be known as the “Battle of

Stalingrad” sonata. It is a powerful virtuoso piece that tests the pianist’s

physical limits.

Program notes by Ian Shapinsky

For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:00 pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,812th Concert

Ian Shapinsky, pianist

November 28, 2010 

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Sonata in B-jlat Major, K. 570 (1789)

Allegro

Adagio

Allegretto

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

Sonata no.1 (1952)

Allegro marcato

Presto misterioso

Adagio molto appassionato

Ruvido ed ostinato

INTERMISSION

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Dumka, op. 59 (1886)

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Waltz in C-sharp Minor, op. 64, no.2 (1847)

Nocturne in D-flat Major, op. 27, no.2 (1835)

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915)

Poeme, op. 32, no.1 (1903)

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Sonata no. 7, op. 83 (1941)

Precipitato

The Musician

At age nine, concert pianist, teacher, and lecturer Ian Shapinsky began to

perform in public with his cellist father, Aaron. At fifteen, he was accepted

to The Juilliard School of Music at the college level. For more than forty

years his concertizing has taken him to cities and concert halls throughout

the United States and Europe. Among his many awards are first prize in the 

Five Towns Music and Art Foundation Competition, the presidential citation 

from the New York Federation of Music Clubs, and first prize in piano at the 

Miami Beach National Competitions, as well as prizes from the National

Federation of Music Clubs and the Mannes College Concerto Competition, 

several grants from the Rubin Foundation, anda performing grant from

IBM.A student ofJascha Zayde, Ania Dorfmann, Rosina Lhevinne, Nadia

Reisenberg, and Sonya Gurewich, Ian Shapinsky maintainsa Web site at

www.shapinsky.com

Program Notes

Mozart’s Sonata in B-jlat Major isa lyrical, late-period sonata in three

movements that slowly reveals its charms and joys. The first movement is

fast and straightforward, interrupted by

a few surprising modulations.

Simplicity is the key. The middle isa gentle Adagio with an undercurrent of

sadness. The last movement,

a cheerful, light-hearted piece, containsa few

themes that Mozart would incorporate into his opera The Magic Flute.

Alberto Ginastera’s Piano Sonata no.3 isa large-scale work written in four

movements. The first movement combines American jazz, Argentine folk

melodies, and an evocation of drums from the Amazon jungle. The second 

is quiet and mysterious in spite ofits fast tempo. Some interpreters claim to

hear the scampering legs ofjungle insects here. The third,a dramatic adagio

in modern harmony, ends so softly that the music seems to float away. The 

final movement (Ruvido ed ostinato) jolts the listener witha dissonant toccata.

The rhythm createsa rnoto perpetuo effect, as ifthose jungle drums keep beating louder and louder until the movement explodes in a spectacular finale.3