In contrast to the frequency with which Busoni’s Bach transcrip

­

tions are heard in concert, his original compositions have been rarely

programmed. Turandofs Frauengemadi{Turandofs Boudoir) is number

four from his Seven ElegiesforPiano. It captivates the listener with an

unusually colorful rendering of the English melody, Greensleeves. The

piece opens witha beautiful and etherealG major improvisation. The

tune is then introduced inE minor and woven intoa dance-like rhythm,

but it soon dissolves back intoaG major coda. The coda ends witha

wonderful and quite ironic cadence inE major.

Liszt wrote six compositions for solo piano based on Polish songs by 

Chopin. Liszt understood instinctively what each briefsong needed

in order to blossom intoa full-fledged piano piece. MeineFreuden {My

Joys) is transformed into an exquisite nocturne that contains cadenza

figurations as well as whole sections oforiginal music by Liszt, includ­

ing the climactic moment. In Das Ringlein {The Ring), Liszt creates

drama in the middle section before employing an ingenious transition

that links the piece directly in motion to Bacchanal. Bacchanal, on the

other hand, retains Chopin’s mazurka-like character, spiced with

glissandi anda modulation that introduces a recitative section before

ending with an explosive coda. Madchens Wunsch {The Maidens Wish)

becomesa brilliant set of variations that is spun witha delicate and

powerful pianism that dances and glitters.

-Program notes by Richard Cionco,

adapted and edited by Elmer Booze

Concertgoers are encouraged to visit the exhibition:A Collector's Cabi­

net, which continues through August9 in the Dutch Cabinet Galleries

near the West Building Rotunda. Fashioned after the collections of

paintings, graphic arts,sculpture, and decorative arts thatwere the pride

ofseventeenth-century Dutch burghers, the exhibition includes eight

rare seventeenth-centurymusical instruments, each designed and deco­

rated to be an object ofvisual as well as musical delight. The exhibition

is open during the Gallery’s regular hours: Monday through Saturday, 

10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Sunday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Two concerts remain in the National Gallery’s 1997-1998 season: On

June 21, the National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet will per­

form quartets by Shostakovich, Mozart, and Frank Bridge. On June 28,

the National GalleryChamber PlayersWind Quintet will perform works 

by Anton Reicha, Paul Taffanel, and Percy Grainger. The 1998-1999

season will begin on October 4, 1998, witha performance by the Na­

tional Gallery Orchestra, George Manos conducting.

For the convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30pm.

The Fifty-sixth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2215th Concert

NATSUKI FUKASAWA, pianist

Sunday Evening, June 14, 1998

at SevenO’Clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission Free
PROGRAM

Johannes Brahms Two Chorale Preludes, Opus 122

(1833-1897) arr. by F. Busoni (1866-1924)

A Rose Breaks Into Bloom

Deck Thyself Out, O My Soul

Robert Schumann

(1810-1856)

Fantasie, Opus 17

(1836-1838)

Durchaus phantastisch und

leidenschaftlich vorzutragen

Massig

Langsam getragen

INTERMISSION

Leos Janacek

(1854-1928)

Sonata 1.X.1905

(1905)

The Presentiment

The Death

Ferruccio Busoni Turandot’s Frauengemach

(1866-1924) from “Seven Elegies” (1908)

Frederic Chopin Four Polish Songs

(1810-1849) arr. by Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Meine Freuden (My Joys)

Das Ringlein (The Ring)

Bacchanal

Madchens Wunsch (The Maiden’s Wish)

Pianist Natsuki Fukasawa was born in Portland, Oregon and

raised in Yokohama, Japan. She received her bachelor’s and master’s

degrees from the Juilliard School of Music. Her teachers were Martin Canin and Jonathan Feldman. A former Fulbright scholar, Ms. 

Fukasawa has won many awards in piano competitions, including

the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition and the Japanese-American Association Music Competition. She is also a recipient ofthe Outstanding Performer’s Prize and the Global Youth Bureau 

Award at the Kirishima International Music Festival. She has performed in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Japan, and throughout

the United States. Ms. Fukasawa is a doctoral candidate and recipient of the Ulrich Performance Award at the University of Maryland

School ofMusic in College Park, Maryland, where her piano coach is

Anne Koscielny.

Johannes Brahms, although primarily a pianist, composed his final

opus, Eleven Chorale Preludes, Opus 122, for the organ. The pieces can 

be seen as an homage to Johann Sebastian Bach, given the chorale

prelude form and their contrapuntal texture. The preludes selected

by Ms. Fukasawa are among the smaller, more introspective pieces

in the set and enjoy a kinship to Brahms’ late Intermezzi, Opp. 116-

119. Ferruccio Busoni’s arrangements and transcriptions of Bach’s

music are well-known to twentieth century audiences. His transcriptions of the Brahms chorale preludes, on the other hand, are 

rarely heard. Busoni completed them in 1897, not long after Brahms 

had composed the organ pieces.

Dedicated to Franz Liszt, the monumental Fantasie in CMajor, Op.

11 contains some ofSchumann’s most powerful and vivid music. Upon

completing the opening movement, Schumann wrote to ClaraWieck

(who he was impatiently waiting to marry): “The first movement of

the work is perhaps the most passionate of all I have ever composed

- a deep yearning for you.” At the conclusion ofthat movement, one

can hear strains reminiscent of Beethoven’s song cycle An diefeme

Geliebte (To the Loved One Who is Far Away). The second movement is a march that is well-known to pianists for the treacherous

leaps in its coda. The finale is a slow movement ofdivine and poetic

beauty.

Sonata 1.X.1905 was composed during Janacek’s tenure as director

of the Brno Organ School and recalls with intense emotion an incident that occurred on the first ofOctober, 1905. The Czech citizens

of Brno had repeatedly requested a Czech university for their town. 

The German populace ofBrno staged a rally protesting the requests,

and the Czechs staged a counter-rally. Violence ensued, and military

personnel were called upon to disperse the crowd. A twenty-threeyear-old Czech was killed during the struggle. The original title of

the work included the phrase Zulice, which means “Street Scene.”