For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo 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.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-sixth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,679th Concert

Anna Kijanowska, pianist

Presented in cooperation with the

Embassy ofthe Republic of Poland

June 8, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

Mazurkas, op. 50, Book 1 (1924-1925)

Sostenuto; molto Rubato

Allegramente; poco vivace

Moderato

Allegretto

Szymanowski

Preludes, op. 1 (1899-1900)

Andante ma non troppo

Andante con moto

Szymanowski

Mazurkas, op. 50, Book ill

Tempo moderato

Allegramente; vivace; con brio

Szymanowski

Preludes, op. 1

Andante ma non troppo

Lento, mesto

Szymanowski

Mazurkas, op. 50, Book v

Moderato

Animato

Allegretto dolce 

Allegramente; vigoroso

INTERMISSION

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Piano Sonata no. j in B minor, op. 58 (1844)

Allegro maestoso

Scherzo: Molto vivace

Largo

Finale: Presto non tanto

Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)

Piano Sonata no. 2 (1953)

Maestoso

Largo

Toccata
The Musician

Hailed by The New York Times last year as “an excellent young Polish pianist,”

Anna Kijanowska has distinguished herselfinternationally as a recitalist,

chamber musician, and concerto soloist. A devoted promoter ofthe music of

Karol Szymanowski, she has recorded all of his mazurkas on a CD that was 

recently named by Adrian Corleonis of Fanfare Magazine as “superior to any 

other interpretations that came before or after hers.” Atlanta Audio Society’s

Classik Reviews called the recording a “revelation,” while All Music Guide

noted, “Kijanowska’s performances are amazingly virtuosic, astonishingly

charismatic, astoundingly empathic, and completely compelling.”

Past and upcoming engagements include solo redtals at Carnegie and

Merkin Halls in New York City, the Chopin Society in Bangkok, the French

Institute in New Delhi, the North-West University in South Africa, and Saint 

Bridget’s Church in London as well as Polish embassies and consulates in

New York, Washington, DC, and Tokyo. Kijanowska has been the featured

soloist with orchestras in Poland and Ukraine (piano concerti by Lutoslawski

and Gorecki), and chamber music performances at Hunter College in New

York, at the State University ofNew York in Fredonia, and at the Life-MusicNow Center in Berlin. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with such

eminent performers as Charles Casdeman, Diane Monroe, and Basil Vendryes.

Kijanowska began her musical education in Poland at age seven, and gave

her first recital one year later. In 1992 she entered the Szymanowski Music

Academy in Katowice, where she studied with Jozef Stompel. After receiving a

master ofmusic degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the Music 

Academy in Wroclaw, she was awarded a scholarship to study during the 

1996-1997 academic year with Madeleine Forte at Boise State University in

Idaho. Kijanowska holds a doctorate and a master ofmusic in piano performance from the Manhattan School ofMusic in New York, where she studied

with Sara Davis Buechner, Byron Janis, Marc Silverman, and Mykola Suk.

Kijanowska is currently on the music faculty at the College ofWilliam and

Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and she is a former faculty member ofthe Las

Vegas Music Festival in Nevada and the Levine School of Music in Washington.

4

The Program

Considered the father oftwentieth-century Polish music, Karol Szymanowski 

is the most important Polish composer to come after Chopin. The evolution of

his musical style begins with the late romantic aesthetic, reflective ofChopin; 

moves through the impressionistic and exotic elements in his middle works;

and emerges into a period of “new objectivity” that is marked by a return to

a classical approach linked to the discovery offolk material. Szymanowski’s

mazurkas are representative ofthe “new objectivity” period—a post-World

War 1 movement inspired by the rebirth of countries celebrating their reclaimed

freedom. Artists and composers ofthis age sought ways to champion their

respective national identities without alienating themselves from contemporary

trends. In the mazurka, this idea yielded extraordinary works that incorporated

a variety ofPolish folk music within an established classical idiom.

The mazurka has evolved over the course ofseveral centuries, beginning

with the oldest and most popular dance ofthe Lowland region of Poland, the

mazur, also called the mazurek. In the seventeenth century, a form ofthis dance

became popular in the courts, and in 1797 JozefWybicki composed a marching

song for the Polish army (then fighting under Napoleon) based on the mazurek.

This song became Poland’s national anthem in 1926. Szymanowski adopted 

Chopin’s stylized form ofmazurka, adding the distinct style of Highland music,

unknown to Chopin. Szymanowski’s opus 50 mazurkas were inspired by his

love for the folk music ofthe Podhale region, an area on the southern border

of Poland that lies in the shadow ofthe highest elevation ofthe SudetenCarpathian Range. While the time signature and form ofthe mazurkas are

common to both composers, the Podhale influence on Szymanowski is

characterized by diverse and complex harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic

language as well as unique phrase structure, articulation, and texture. The

result is a rough, driven character in Szymanowski’s mazurkas.

5
Composed between 1899-1900, and possibly even a few years earlier, 

Szymanowskis Preludes, op. 1, were his own selections ofsome of his

earliest small pieces for piano. Like his mazurkas, the preludes are influenced formally and texturally by those of Chopin, but they also reflect the

young composer’s interest in contemporary trends in music. Among

Szymanowski s most frequently performed works, these pieces are favorites

among pianists and have been arranged for other instruments as well.

Frederic Chopin, whose music is instantly recognizable for its unique style,

influenced the two other composers featured in this program. Well known

for his deep affection for his homeland, Chopin derived many ofhis melodies

from Polish dances. A cultivator ofsmaller pieces, such as ballades, mazurkas,

nocturnes, polonaises, preludes, and waltzes, and a master ofmelody, he was

not at home with the sonata form. Nevertheless, he composed three sonatas,

two ofwhich have become part ofthe standard repertoire. Perhaps due to

criticism he received for his opus 35 sonata, Chopin made an extra effort with

opus 58. He was able, particularly in the first movement, to achieve a widerscale continuity oftheme and development and to rise to the challenge of

conquering the classical form. Written several years before his death, the entire

work conveys nostalgia and profound sadness.

Born into a musical family, Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz began

learning piano, violin, and theory from her father at age five. Her older

brother was a pianist, and often accompanied her in performances. She 

composed her first pieces at age thirteen, attended the Warsaw Conservatory

of Music, and studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw. In the 1930s

Bacewicz did what all the young Polish composers were doing at the time—

she went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. She became the first Polish

female composer to receive international recognition for her compositions

while maintaining an active performing career and a family.

6

A highly awarded composer, Bacewicz had a significant output of

successful pieces, including works for solo piano, chamber music, and

symphonic repertoire. Though she was the principal violinist in the Polish

Radio Orchestra, she was also an excellent pianist, and performed the

premiere ofher Piano Sonata no. 2. Written in 1953, at the height ofthe

Stalinist repressions in Poland, the sonata does not show an overt response

to the oppressive situation, but it ends with a lively toccata that shows the

influence of Polish folk dances and may be seen to take the place of a

political statement.

Program notes by Anna Kijanowska and Danielle DeSwert

Next Week at the National Gallery of Art

Judith Ingolfsson, violinist

Vladimir Stoupel, pianist

Music by Hallgrimsson, Ravel, and Schubert

June 15, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court