Alfred Schnittke’s Sonatafor Cello andPiano is a three-movement work

played without pause. Although the two instruments often seem to be

playing completely different music, together they achieve a striking unity. 

When the piano embroiders a melody, the cello may rest on a prolonged

pedal point. In an unusual formal gambit, the fast movement comes

between the two slow ones and contrasts strongly with them. Chords and

obstinately repeated motifs, glissandi, harmonics, and a strongly advancing

liveliness characterize the music, which is sometimes in unison and at other

times almost on a collision course. There are legato and staccato fights,

whereby the entire register of both instruments is used. With the cello as

protagonist, the music becomes condensed near the end, and closes with a

beautiful and penetrating passage.

Beethoven, who apparently had reservations about the moral tone of

Mozart’s Don Giovanni, seems to have taken to The Magic Flute. Without

hesitation, he extracted themes from it to use in his two later sets of

variations for cello and piano, Mddchen oder Weibchen, Op.66 and BeiMdtmem,

welehe Liebefuhlen, WoO 46. The latter variations are typical middle-period

Beethoven with their virtuoso features. There is little Sturm undDrang

(storm and stress) in this music. As with his other sets of variations,

the piano states the theme against the cello’s counterpoint, after which

both instrumentalists are given the opportunity to deploy their skills and

characters with great gusto.

TieSonataNo. 3inAMajorforCelloandPiano, Op. 69, which came into being

atthe same time as Beethoven’s greatFifthSymphony, exhibits advance hints

ofhis Seventh Symphony. The first movement (AHegtomanontanto) starts with

the unaccompanied cello playing the first theme and the piano following

suit. The theme is then repeated, with the two roles reversed. A forceful 

transitional passage leads to the second subject. This theme is stated twice

in much the same way as the first subject. The second movement (Scherzo:

Allegro molto) unfolds swifty and briskly in the key ofA minor. The tunes are

slender and syncopated. The third movement {Adagjo cantalhk) is short and

amiable. It acts as a prelude to the fourth movement (Allegro vivace), which

reveals the sonata-allegro form.

Program notes by Annlynn Miller and Ulrich Schmid

Adapted and edited by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment

during theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

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

The Fifty-eighth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery ofArt

2332d Concert

THE MILLER-SCHMID DUO

ANNLYNN MILLER, pianist

ULRICH SCHMID, cellist

Sunday Evening, 16 January 2000

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Robert Schumann

(1810-1856)

Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70

(1849)

Alfred Schnittke Sonata for Cello and Piano

(1934-1998) (1978)

1. Largo

2. Presto

3. Largo

(The movements are played without pause.)

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van Beethoven Seven Variations on

(1770-1827) Bei Mtinnern, welche Liebefiihlen

(from The Magic Flute) WoO 46 (1801)

Beethoven Sonata in A Major for Cello and Piano

Op. 69 (1807-1808)

1. Allegro ma non tanto

2. Scherzo: Allegro molto

3. Adagio cantabile; allegro vivace

Selectionsfrom concerts at the Gallery

can be heard on WGMS-FM, 103.5, on the

second Sunday ofeach month at 9:00p.m.

During the months ofJanuary, February, andMarch,

recentperformances by the

National Gallery Orchestra can be heard

on IVETA-FM, 90.9, on Wednesdays at 9:00p.m.

PianistAnnlynn Miller is widelyacclaimed as an extraordinarily dynamic

and sensitive concert artist. Bom in NewYorkCity, she pursued hermusical

studies at the Juilliard School ofMusic and Sara Lawrence College before

joining the advanced performing class ofEurope’s foremost professor, Bruno

Seidelhofer, at the Vienna Academy of Music. Besides being accepted as

a student ofthe renowned Czech-bom American pianist Rudolf Firkusny

(1912-1994),shewas also invited to participate in theBeethovenmasterclass

held in Italybythe legendaryWilhelmKemplf(1895-1991).Annlynn Miller

is a faculty member at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich.

Bom in Bern, Switzerland, cellist Ulrich Schmid has established for 

himself a remarkable reputation as a soloist in recitals and with orchestras

throughout Europe and the United States. At a young age, Schmid was

accepted into the masterclass of PaulrTortelier at the Conservatoire

National Superieur de Musique in Paris. He attained his concert diploma

with Professor Andre Navarra in E)etmold, Germany, and subsequently

became Navarra’s assistant before teaching his own cello class at the same

Musikhochschule. Later he held the position of principal cellist with the

Bielefeld Orchestra, as well as with the Orchestra of the State Theater

in E)armstadt, Germany. Schmid, who performs on a magnificent cello

built in 1774 by the Italian master Nicolas Gagliano, is a recipient of the

coveted Diplomad'onone from Siena, Italy. The Miller-Schmid Duo appears

at the National Gallery through the cooperation ofAlbert Kay Associates,

Incorporated, ofNewYorkCity.

Always in quest of new musical paths, Schumann directed his attention

in 1849 to wind instruments, for which the repertoire was then sparse.

His Adagif) andAllegro, Op. 10,forHornandPiano (or Violin or Cello adlibitum)

delighted hiswifeClara,whofound itfreshand passionate.Theworkabounds

with flowing melodies, allowing each instrument to sing forth frequently

with exuberance. The openingAdagp, with its enchanting cantilenas, gives

away to mAJhgno that is steeped in romanticism.