few fail to be touched by this highly affecting music.” The third

movement (Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza) is a lively, charming

dance that brings a reprieve from the two preceding movements of

impressiveness. Its trio section is much more abstemious in texture,

with an interesting rhythmic diversion in the use of syncopation

in 3/4 time. A return of the Scherzo resumes the energetic drive

that closes the movement. The fourth movement (Allegro, ma non

troppo) is a spirited rondo that utilizes a device that is also found

in the finale of the “Trout” Quintet, a repeated note (in this case a

sustained G) consistently interrupts the opening theme. Beethoven

used the same device in the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 130.

The subordinate themes of the fourth movement are theatrically

and impishly mimicked at the higher register of the keyboard. In

keeping with the vivacity of this movement, the coda, marked

Presto, brings the sonata to a brilliant end.

Chopin’s affinity for the smaller forms in music is axiomatic. Large

forces had no appeal for him; he found complete satisfaction in

composing works for solo piano, excelling in the shorter musical

forms (preludes, etudes, waltzes, and more). Modeled after

the Well-Tempered Clavier of Bach, whom Chopin idolized, the 24

Preludes, Op. 28, cover all major and minor keys. They are, as John

Gillespie (Five Centuries of Keyboard Music) says, “very much like

Bach’s preludes, not in technical style but in attitude and basic

concept. The Preludes are fragmentary and may seem like sketches,

but they faithfully reflect the soul of the romantic musician:

brief portrayals, some melancholy and even desperate (No. 24),

and others light and gay (No. 3).” A jeweler before displaying his

collection will polish his stones to perfection. Chopin, a “musical

jeweler,” polished his Preludes to such a state of flawlessness as is

humanly possible. In this performance, the collection is proudly

exhibited in its entirety. Again quoting Gillespie: “[when] played as

a set, they [the Preludes] provide a tonal mosaic, a prism ofdifferent

hues. Heard singly, each emerges as a delectable inspiration born

of concentrated emotion.”

Program notes 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.

1'he Fifty-eighth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2341st Concert

MENAHEM PRESSLER, pianist

Sunday Evening, 19 March 2000

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Franz Schubert Sonata in B-flat Major

(1797-1828) Opus posthumous (D. 960)

(1828)

Molto moderato

Andante sostenuto

Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza; Trio

Allegro ma non troppo

INTERMISSION

Frederic Chopin

(1810-1849)

No. 1 in G Major

No. 2 in A Minor

No. 3 in G Major

No. 4 in E Minor

No. 5 in D Major

No. 6 in B Minor

No. 7 in A Major

No. 8 in F-sharp Minor

No. 9 in E Major

No. 10 in C-sharp Minor

No. 11 in B Major

No. 12 in G-sharp Minor

Twenty-four Preludes, Op. 28 

(1836-1839)

No. 13 in F-sharp Major

No. 14 in E-flat Minor

No. 15 in D-flat Major

No. 16 in B-flat Minor

No. 17 in A-flat Minor

No. 18 in F Minor

No. 19 in E-flat Major

No. 20 in C Minor

No. 21 in B-flat Major

No. 22 in G Minor

No. 23 in F Major

No. 24 in D Minor

Selectionsfrom concerts at the Gallery

can be heard on the second Sunday ofeach month

at 9:00p.m.on WGMS-FM, 103.5.

Menahem Pressler was born in Magdeburg, Germany, and

received most ofhis early musical training in Israel. His international

concert career began when he won first prize in the Debussy

Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946. His North American

concerto debut followed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the

baton of Eugene Ormandy. Pressler subsequently appeared with

many of the world’s leading orchestras, among them the New York

Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra,

the Orchestre de Paris, and the Orchestre National de Belgique.

He has recently performed and recorded the Beethoven Choral

Fantasy with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton

of Kurt Masur. In 1955 Pressler co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio,

which has become one of the world’s most enduring and widely

acclaimed chamber music ensembles. The Beaux Arts recordings

for Philips have won many coveted honors and awards, and include

almost all of the piano trio literature. Menahem Pressler appears

frequently in recital, including recent concerts on Carnegie Hall’s

Great Performers Series, at Jordan Hall in Boston, at the Ravinia 

Festival, and in Toronto, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. He is a

frequent guest artist with chamber ensembles, including the

Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, and Guarneri String Quartets. Since

1955 he has been on the piano faculty ofIndiana University, where

he holds the position ofdistinguished professor ofmusic. Menahem

Pressler appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with

Melvin Kaplan, Inc., of Burlington, Vermont.

As the last ofSchubert’s three “Grand” sonatas, the Sonata in B-flat

Major; Op. posthumous, D. 960, qualifies as Schubert’s supreme effort

in this genre. The inherent structure of its first movement {Molto

moderato) provides an initial glimpse of its originality. Eschewing

the conventional fast and energetic exposition, Schubert instead

presents a movement that is quite protracted and subdued. The

opening theme, with its abundance of melodic phrases, begins

gently, exuding an air ofsecrecy that appears to be “communicating

gentle yearning and peaceful resignation... with a low trill... [giving]

the movement a cryptic air of mystery and foreboding” (Melvin

Berger, Guide to Sonatas). The second movement {Andante sostenuto)

delivers one of Schubert’s most sublime musical moments. An 

elongated, emotionally penetrating theme rises over a rocking

bass line that suggests an Italian gondolier’s serenade, with a

contrasting theme that is capacious and luxurious in its expression.

Again quoting Melvin Berger, “[One would] find it a heart-piercing

paradigm of pain and pathos....No matter how it is perceived,