2002. The work is a set of variations on the Scottish folk song The Water

Is Wide, and the title quotes the concluding stanza:

There is a ship she sails the sea,

She’s loaded down as deep can be;

But not so deep as the love I’m in;

I know not if I sink or swim.

The Hungarian violinist, composer, and teacher, Jeno Hubay, was

a child prodigy who gave his first recital at age eleven. He began his

studies with his father, a professor at the Budapest Conservatory, and

later became a pupil of the celebrated Belgian violinist Henri 

Vieuxtemps (1820-1881). As a composer, Hubay was prolific. His works

include several operas, a ballet with song, a ballet-pantomime, four 

symphonies, four violin concertos, many pieces for violin and piano,

songs, and edited works of other composers. Known mainly to ardent

devotees of the violin, Dubay’s claim to wider fame is indubitably his

Fantaisie Brillante on Themes from the Opera Carmen (Carmen

Fantasy). Taking a little under nine minutes to perform, the Fantaisie is a

work of imposing virtuosity. Within its maelstrom of pyrotechnics can

be heard two excerpts from Carmen that are not present in any other 

transcription of the opera: Micaela’s Aria and the Toreador's March.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

This concert has been made possible in part by

a gift from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

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.

For the convenience of concertgoers

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

The Sixty-first Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2459th Concert

LIVIA SOHN, violinist

ROBERT KOENIG, pianist

Sunday Evening, 18 May 2003

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685-1750)

Program

Sonata No. 3 in E Major 

for Violin and Keyboard Instrument

BWV 1016 (1717-1723)

Adagio

Allegro

Adagio ma non tanto

Allegro

Edvard Grieg Sonata No. 3 in C Minor

(1843-1907) for Violin and Piano

Op. 45 (1886-1887)

Allegro molto ed appassionato 

Allegretto espressivo alia Romanza

Allegro animato

Intermission

Jonathan Berger “Sink or Swim”

(b. 1954) (2002)

Molto cantabile 

Risoluto

Frenetic

Lontano

Washington premiere performance

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

arr. by Jeno Hubay (1858-1937)

Fantaisie Brillante on Themes

from the Opera Carmen

(1873-1874)

The Musicians

A rising star among orchestral soloists and chamber musicians, Livia

Sohn has been described as a bonafide virtuoso and stylistically

sophisticated interpreter. Although only in her mid-twenties, Sohn has

appeared with more than sixty orchestras on five continents. She gave

her first public performance at the age of eight. In 1989, at age twelve,

she won first prize in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin

Competition. In 1998 she received her bachelor of music degree from the

Juilliard School of Music, where she studied under the legendary violin

pedagogue Dorothy Delay from the age of seven. Sohn has appeared in

recital on such prestigious series as the Sylvia and Danny Kaye

Playhouse of Hunter College in New York. She has been a guest artist at

Finland’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and has performed as soloist

with the Cologne Philharmonic and the Czech National Symphony

Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Yehudi Menuhin,

the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the

Asia Philharmonic, and the Seoul and Pusan Philharmonic Orchestras in

Korea.

Livia Sohn’s recent United States appearances have included

concertos with the Seattle Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic as

well as a return appearance with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. She

plays a violin that was crafted by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini in 1774,

graciously loaned to her by the Kumbo Group of Seoul, Korea.

Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, pianist Robert Koenig began his

formal training at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Lee Kum Sing

and Gwen Thompson. Later he studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts

in Alberta and the Accademia Musicale di Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He

has received several awards from the Canadian Government, including a

Canada Council Project Grant. He completed both his bachelor and

master of music degrees in accompanying at the Curtis Institute of Music

in Philadelphia, where he studied piano with Vladimir Sokoloff and

chamber music with Felix Galimir and Karen Tuttle. Since then, Koenig

has quickly established for himself a reputation as a much sought-after
collaborative pianist and chamber musician. Among the leading

violinists with whom he has performed are Sarah Chang, Hilary Hahn,

Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, and Aaron Rosand. Robert

Koenig has recorded for the Artek, Ambassador, Biddulph, Cedille, CRI,

Decca, Eroica, and Naxos labels. He is an assistant professor of piano

and chamber music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Livia Sohn

and Robert Koenig appear at the National Gallery of Art by arrangement 

with Omicron Artist Management, Inc., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Program Notes

From 1717 to 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach served as Kapellmeister in

the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. As a Lutheran, Bach was

ineligible to perform in the church attended by his patron, a Calvinist

Reformed. Bach turned instead to the writing of chamber music, 

including his Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard Instrument, BWV

1014-1019. Sonata No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1016, begins with an aria of

sustained beauty that is capacious and celestial. Its exquisitely

embellished melody is assigned solely to the violin, while the piano

provides a chordal accompaniment that outlines the movement’s

harmonic structure. The second movement {Allegro) is a sprightly fugue

that is earthy and infectious. The third movement {Adagio ma non tanto)

offers a dialogue between the violin and piano in the form of a spiritually

elevated lamentation. Writer and music critic Walther Kaempfer states:

“This movement has been regarded as an outcome of meditation on a

sacred subject, but it should be remembered that Bach suffered a

grievous loss with the death in 1720 of his first wife Maria Barbara.” The

vivacious and sparkling finale {Allegro) is a prime example of Bach’s

affinity with the musical style of the Italian master Vivaldi, from whom

he apparently gained the inspiration to compose what Kaempfer

describes as “one of [Bach’s] most dazzlingly brilliant pieces.”

One of only three Grieg works in this genre, the Violin Sonata in

C Minor, Op. 45, was written twenty years after Grieg’s second sonata

and is regarded as unrivaled among his chamber works. Music critic

Ernest Closson, as quoted by writer Charles Loley, notes: “Had Grieg

composed nothing but this sonata, it would suffice to hand him down to

posterity.” As is the case with the two earlier sonatas, Op. 45 is outlined

in three movements: the first {Allegro molto ed appassionato) is bound

in the sonata-allegro form and exploits the primary theme with a fiery

drama that generates a wide spectrum of emotional indulgence. A second

theme of lesser intensity follows, giving the exposition a much-needed

reprieve. After the development segment, the recapitulation reiterates the

drama of the opening theme and ends the movement on a rather

lugubrious note. In the second movement {Allegretto espressivo alia

Romania) Grieg penned one of his most eloquent melodies and provided

the listener a glimpse into his neoromantic soul. Unadorned, yet warm

and sensuous, the melody is first presented by the piano alone, followed

by the violin with the accompaniment of the piano. This episode leads to

a contrasting section with a livelier tempo that reminds the listener of a

Norwegian folk dance. A short transitional passage leads to the return of

the original melody, albeit slightly varied. The third movement {Allegro

animato) is in a tripartite format (ABA). It is bold and robust, with the

two instruments sharing the same spotlight, making decisive statements

before exchanging several rounds of melodic interplay and scintillating

scale passages. The passionate lyricism, unique color, and delicate flavor

that pervade this and all of Grieg’s works are evocative of the Norwegian

folk inspiration. An effervescent coda brings the sonata to a triumphant

close in the luminous key of C major.

Composer Jonathan Berger is the recipient of three fellowships

from the National Endowment for the Arts, and of prizes and

commissions from such benefactors as the American Society of

Composers and Publishers, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon

Foundation, the Bourges Festival, and Chamber Music America. Berger

has written commissioned works for the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the

Israel National Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among others. In addition to orchestral,

chamber, vocal, and solo instrumental works, he has composed numerous

works for interactive electronics. An associate professor of music at

Stanford University, Berger is currently working on his fourth string

quartet and a song cycle. His works can be heard on the Sony, Neuma,

Centaur, and CRI labels. Berger wrote “Sink or Swim ” for Livia Sohn in