(with the elegance of swing). Ligeti’s notes, accompanying a complete

recording of these pianistic wonders, state: “These are virtuosic piano

pieces, if not nightmares. They are etudes in the pianistic and

compositional sense. They proceed from a very simple core idea, and

lead from simplicity to great complexity. They behave like growing

organisms.”

The three etudes chosen by Mr. Kahane to close his program

strongly reflect Chopin’s unique genius as a composer for the piano.

Each of the chosen selections is designed to address specific fingering

and musical problems. Etude No. 6, Op. 10 is a lugubrious nocturne with

imposing harmonic changes that require the maximum control of finger

weight. Etude No. 1, Op. 25, known as the Aeolian Harp Etude, is a

study of the backward and forward lateral movement in both wrists,

using arpeggios (open chords) in the manner of a harp. The melody,

carried by the fifth finger of the right hand, soars over a heavenly

reticulation of colorful harmonic fiber. Etude No. 12, Op. 25, known as

the Ocean Wave Etude, again extends the lateral movement of both

hands, using the arpeggio effect. However, this time it is the thumb of the

right hand that carries the melody, which, if played in chordal fashion,

rather than arpeggiated, becomes a chorale of inimitable quality.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

For the convenience of concert goers

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

The recital by contralto Beverly Benso, originally scheduledfor next

Sunday, has been canceled and will be rescheduled at a later

date. Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux will sing on 17 November,

accompanied by pianist Betty Bullock.

The Sixty-first Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2433d Concert

JEFFREY KAHANE, pianist

Sunday Evening, 10 November 2002

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Gabriel Faure Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat Major

(1845-1924) Op. 63 (1894)

Isaac Albeniz Iberia, Book I

(1860-1909) (1906)

El Puerto

Fete-Dieu a Seville

Evocacion

Enrique Granados

(1867-1916)

Los requiebros from Goyescas

(1909)

INTERMISSION

Fred Hersch

(b. 1955)

Twenty-four Variations on a Bach Chorale

(O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden) (2002)

Claude Debussy

(1862-1918)

Two Studies from Etudes, Book I

(1915)

Pour les cinq doigts (Etude for Five Fingers)

Pour les tierces (Etude in Thirds)

Gyorgy Ligeti Two Studies from Etudes, Book II

(b. 1923) (1988-1994)

Der Zauberlehrling (The Magic Apprentice)

En suspens (In Suspension)

Frederic Chopin

(1810-1849)

Etude No. 6 in E-flat Minor, Op. 10

Etude No. 1 in A-flat Major, Op. 25

Etude No. 12 in C Minor, Op. 25

The use of cameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please he sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

The Artist

Audiences around the world recognize renowned pianist and conductor 

Jeffrey Kahane for his mastery of diverse repertoire from Bach to

Gershwin. He has established an international reputation as a truly

versatile artist and is equally sought after as a soloist, conductor, and

chamber musician. The Los Angeles Times (December 2001) proclaimed

him as “versatile in styles, superior in technique, and unlimited in

horizons.” In addition to appearing regularly with leading chamber 

ensembles, Kahane collaborates with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn

Upshaw, Joshua Bell, and Thomas Quasthoff. Kahane is also dedicated

to working with young musicians. In 1991 he co-founded the Gardner 

Chamber Orchestra, which features outstanding students and recent

graduates of major schools of music in the Boston area, and served as its

artistic director and conductor from 1991 to 1995.

Jeffrey Kahane’s recordings include works of Gershwin and

Bernstein with Yo-Yo Ma for SONY, Paul Schoenfield’s Four Parables

with the New World Symphony for Decca/Argo, the Strauss Burleske

with the Cincinnati Symphony on Telarc, and the complete Brandenburg

Concerti (on harpsichord) with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra

under Helmuth Rilling on the Haenssler label. He has also recorded the

complete works for violin and piano by Schubert with Joseph Swensen

for RCA, Bach’s Sinfonias and Partita No. 4 in D Major for Nonesuch,

and Bernstein’s Age ofAnxiety for Virgin Records, which was nominated

by Gramophone Magazine for its Record of the Year award.

Mr. Kahane studied with Howard Weisel and Jakob Gimpel in his

native Los Angeles. He then continued his studies at the San Francisco

Conservatory of Music, where he received his degree. In addition to

being the first-prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition and a

finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, Kahane has been honored

with the 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the first Andrew Wolf

Chamber Music Award in 1987.

Jeffrey Kahane appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with

IMG Artists of New York City.
The Musical Selections

Faure’s Nocturne No.6 in D-flat Major, Op. 63, belongs to the second of

three periods that are chronicled in the composer’s piano works. Although

he was enamored with Chopin’s piano styling, and his nocturnes possess

the rightful title of “heir apparent” to those of Chopin, Faure was not

imitating another style. His nocturnes tend to favor the atmosphere of a

reverie, a quiet and contemplative soul-searching, evocative of moonlight.

According to Harry Halbreich, the nocturne, in the hands of Faure,

becomes “a means of musical self-examination.” Among the thirteen

Nocturnes composed by Faure, No. 6 in D-flat Major retains its place as the

most radiant, sophisticated, and significant. Set in an unbridled and freeranging tripartite format (ABA), it opens with an idyllic mood (A), then

proceeds to a contrasting center piece (B) that explodes with emotional

fervor. A return of the opening section brings the work to a placid close.

Considered by some to be Albeniz’ masterpiece and swansong, the

piano suite Iberia was composed during the last years of his life, when he

was suffering from a debilitating ailment. Although the Spanish

peninsula (Iberia) is the eponym of the suite, the work depicts only the

southern part of Spain, known as Andalusia, where ethnicity is more

conspicuous. El Puerto is reminiscent of the small city of El Puerto de

Santa Maria, a fisherman’s paradise. Although quite solemn, Fete-Dieu a

Seville, also known as El Corpus en Sevilla, is the most sonorous and by

far the most widely favored of the First Book. Composed on a sunny day

while Albeniz was in London, Evocation evokes the spirit and feeling of

Spain, remembered, perhaps, in a moment of nostalgia.

Los requiebros (Flattery) is the first of six pieces in a piano series

collectively known as Goyescas by the Spanish composer Enrique

Granados. The tapestries and paintings of Francisco Goya (1746-1828),

one of Spain’s most honored painters, inspired the entire suite. Its

subtitle, Los majos enamorados (The Majos in Love), refers to scenes in

some of the Goya tapestries. Episodic moments are depicted from the

romantic life of majos and majas, men and women of Goya’s period who

assumed the manners and fashion of the upper class, although they were

not born to this status.

Fred Hersch, writing about his set of Twenty-four Variations on a Bach

Chorale, says: “The original chorale melody is by Hans Leo Hassler

(1562-1612), but was borrowed several times by J.S. Bach, [most

notably] as O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden in his St. Matthew Passion.

But I first became familiar with this melody in high school in a secular 

English version known as The Peace Chorale, with lyrics by Tom

Glazer. Two musical groups, The Weavers and Peter, Paul, and Mary,

recorded the work. After the terrible events of 11 September 2001, the

powerful, timeless melody and its words inspired these variations. They

were composed during a five-day period in February 2002, at the

MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and are dedicated

to Jeffrey and Martha Kahane and family.”

The two piano studies by Debussy on tonight’s program, Pour les

cinq doigts and Pour les tierces, are from the first of two books of

Etudes. These works were among several that he composed at the

beginning of World War I and dedicated to the memory of Chopin.

Debussy’s Etudes were greatly influenced by Chopin; at the time

Debussy was composing his own Etudes, he was also editing Chopin’s

Etudes and preparing them for publication. As observed by the writer

Paolo Petazzi and translated by Christopher Whyte: “In [his] Etudes,

Debussy’s art of illusion, of the unspoken and covert, the fleeting

gesture, reaches new heights of subtlety. Their compactness and

astonishingly original approach to the compositional process make them

a high point in his oeuvre. Like Chopin, Debussy’s late works are marked

by visionary daring and radical innovation. Their very richness and

novelty have often caused (Debussy’s] Etudes to be undervalued. They

open up vistas that no one, until Boulez, was able to understand and

exploit.”

Gyorgy Ligeti wrote fifteen etudes of such transcendental difficulty

that they are accessible to only the most gifted pianists. Der

Zauberlehrling and En suspens are each just a little over two minutes in

length, yet both exemplify Ligeti’s preoccupation with virtuosity. No. 10

(the former) is marked prestissimo (as fast as possible), staccatissimo (as

detached as possible), and leggierissimo (as light as possible), while No.

11 (the latter) is marked Andante con moto, avec Telegance du swing