By the mid-1890s, Rachmaninoff’s mature style of writing was

beginning to emerge: brilliant soaring passages, robust, expansive 

climaxes, and pensive, yearning melodies reminiscent of those of his

idol, Tchaikovsky. It was during this youthful period that Rachmaninoff

wrote one of his least performed suites, the Moments musicaux, Op. 16, a

work that is musically enjoyable but technically demanding. Each of the

six pieces in Op. 16 is an exhilarating collage of emotional music. Heard

at one sitting, they become a mosaic that reveals the inner warmth of a

composer whose external demeanor was morose. The Moments musicaux

provide a splendid exhibition of Rachmaninoff’s sweeping lyricism as

well as a stunning display of romantic piano virtuosity.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed.

For the convenience of concert goers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

Selectionsfrom concerts at the Gallery

can be heard on the second Sunday ofeach month

at 9:00 p.m. on WGMS, 103.5 FM.

During the months ofJanuary and February 2002,

recent performances by the National Gallery Orchestra

can be heard Wednesday evenings at 9:00 p.m. on WETA, 90.9 FM.

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2403d Concert

JAMES TOCCO, pianist

Sunday Evening, 30 December 2001

Seven O’clock

West Building, East Garden Court

Admission free
Johannes Brahms

(1833-1897)

PROGRAM

Sonata No. 1 in C Major 

Op. 1 (1852-1853)

Allegro

Andante

Scherzo: Allegro molto e con fuoco; piu mosso

Finale: Allegro con fuoco

John Corigliano Etude Fantasy (1976)

(b. 1938)

(Movements played without pause)

Etude No. 1: For the Left Hand Alone

Etude No. 2: Legato 

Etude No. 3: Fifths to Thirds 

Etude No. 4: Ornaments 

Etude No. 5: Melody

INTERMISSION

Sergei Rachmaninoff Six moments musicaux

(1873-1943) Op. 16(1896)

No. 1 in B-flat Minor (Andantino)

No. 2 in E-flat Minor (Allegretto)

No. 3 in B Minor (Andante cantabile)

No. 4 in E Minor (Presto)

No. 5 in D-flat Major (Adagio sostenuto) 

No. 6 in C Major (Maestoso)

Pianist James Tocco enjoys international distinction as a recitalist, 

orchestral soloist, chamber musician, and educator at the peak of his

powers. In command of a vast repertoire from the entire standard piano

literature, he is also widely regarded as the foremost interpreter of

American masterworks, including Leonard Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety

and Corigliano’s Piano Concerto, which he recorded with Leonard

Bernstein and the BBC London Symphony. Corigliano acknowledges 

Tocco as the definitive interpreter of his concerto.

The son of Italian immigrant parents, Tocco started the study of piano

in his native Detroit at age six and made his orchestral debut at age

twelve, performing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. He won a

scholarship for study at the Salzburg Mozarteum and a French

government grant to study in Paris with the Brazilian pianist Magda 

Tagliaferro (1893-1986). He completed his musical education under the

guidance of the eminent Chilean-American pianist, Claudio Arrau

(1903-1991). Tocco gained international prominence with his first prize

victory in the International ARD (German Radio Union) Competition in

Munich, followed by a major triumph as a last-minute replacement for

the celebrated Italian pianist and teacher Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 

(1920-1995) in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto at

the Vienna Festival. Tocco’s voluminous discography reflects his varied

tastes and astonishing versatility. It includes, among others, the world

premiere recording of Bernstein’s complete solo piano music, and an allCopland disc, including the first recording of the solo piano version of

the Suite from Rodeo. Just released to unanimous acclaim is Tocco’s

recording of Corigliano s Etude-Fantasy on the Sony Classical label.

In addition to his rigorous international performing itinerary, Tocco is

the eminent scholar/artist-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati 

College Conservatory of Music, professor of piano at the

Musikhochschule in Liibeck, Germany, and artistic director of the Great 

Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. James

Tocco appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Matthew

Sprizzo of Staten Island, New York.
Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 7, was one of three piano

compositions he wrote during his late teen years, later designated as his

virtuoso period. He dedicated it to his friend, the Austro-Hungarian 

violinist Joseph Joachim (1831-1907). A youthful and energetic work,

the sonata made an immediate impression on Robert Schumann. After 

Brahms played his first sonata for him and was about to play his second,

Schumann called to his wife, Clara, saying: “Come quickly and listen. I

want you to meet a young composer of genius.”

The opening movement {Allegro) is brilliantly laid out with a vigorous 

and exhilarating motif that functions as an opening theme. It is wrapped 

in a festoon of octaves and chords that are executed by both hands. After 

this motif has been well worked out, a mellifluous and contemplative 

second theme emerges. The driven development section is based on

material that is an offshoot of the second theme. The recapitulation is

famous for its attenuated and arduous coda that can be a pianist’s

nightmare. It is full of monstrous leaps, devilish stretches, and flashing 

arpeggios that present an almost impossible task for small hands. The

coda creates a degree of anxiety and agitation that is unexpected in the

work of a composer still in his teen years.

The second movement {Andante) is a theme with four variations that is

based on an old German Minnelied. The third movement {Scherzo), with

its imposing momentum, also presents myriad technical difficulties that

require a prodigious digital technique. Its theme, extracted from the last

four notes of the Andante that precedes it, is so imaginatively written 

that it elicited from the late pianist Eugene List (1918-1985) the

statement: “Here is Brahms, the young hurler of thunderbolts.”

The finale {Allegro confuoco) borrows a theme from the exposition of

the opening movement, with the meter changed to 9/8. It carries the

challenge to even further heights for the virtuoso pianist. List observed 

that “this movement is filled with numerous booby-traps for even the

most wary of pianists (the wild leaps are notorious), and I have often

thought that a sharpshooters’ medal should be bestowed on the

successful traversal of this Scylla and Charybdis of the piano literature.”

A study of Brahms essays on the subject of his own music reveals that he

never wrote difficult piano music merely as a showcase of

coruscating effects. The difficulty inherent in the music is an expression 

of Brahms’ mental and emotional state at the time. Again quoting

Eugene List: “Make no mistake, however, [the Sonata, Op. 7] is a

monumental and powerful work! A revealing portrayal of the Sturm und

Drang of the young Brahms.”

John Corigliano is widely acknowledged as one of American’s most

significant living composers. His description of the Etude Fantasy, an

imposing set of piano studies formulated to supplement the repertoire of

the virtuoso pianist, has been synopsized by pianist Stephen Hough as

follows: “The first etude is for the left hand only—a three and a half

minute, bold, often ferocious statement, which introduces both an

opening six-note row (the first six notes of the work) and a melodic germ

(marked ‘icy’ in the score), which follows the initial outburst.... In [the]

short second etude, both hands slowly float downward as a constant 

crossing of contrapuntal lines provides melodic interest. The sustaining 

of sound, as well as the clarity of crossed voices, is important here. The

third etude is a fleet development on the simple pattern of a fifth (fingers

one and five) contracting to a third (fingers two and four). In this section

there is much crossing of hands and, during the process, a melody

emerges in the top voices.... The fourth etude is a study of ornaments.

Trills, grace notes, tremolos, glissandos, and roulades ornament the

opening material [from Etude No. 7] and then [there is a development of]

the first four notes of the third etude into a frenetically charged 

scherzando where the four fingers of the left hand softly play a low

cluster of notes (like a distant drum) as the thumb alternates with the

right hand in rapid barbaric thrusts.... After a sonorous climax comes the

final etude, a study of melody. [Here] the player is required to isolate the

melodic line, projecting it through the filigree [that] surrounds it; here

the atmosphere is desolate and non-climactic, and the material is based

entirely on the melodic implication of the left hand, with slight

references to the second (legato) etude. The work ends quietly with the

opening motto, heard in retrograde, accompanying the mournful twonote ostinato.”