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.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,874th Concert

Cavatina Duo

Eugenia Moliner, flute

Denis Azabagic, guitar

February 12, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Sonatafor Flute and Basso Continuo in E Major, bwv 1035 (c- U41)

Adagio ma non tanto

Allegro 

Siciliano 

Allegro assai

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Adios Nonino

Flute Etude no. 1

Arranged by Sergio Assad

Miroslav Tadic (b. 1959)

Four Macedonian Pieces for alto flute and guitar

Pajdushka

Jovlca Kumanovka

Zajdi, Zajdi 

Gajdarsko Oro

INTERMISSION

Vojislav Ivanovic (b. 1959)

Cafe Pieces for solo guitar (1986)

Nostalgia

Improvisation and Dance

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Syrinx for solo flute (1913)

Tom Takemitsu (1930-1996)

Toward the Sea (1981)

The Night

Moby Dick

Cape Cod

Alan Thomas (b. 1968)

Variations on The Carnival in Venice (2011)

After Tarrega and Briccialdi

The Musicians

Since winning the “Young Musicians ofthe Doelen” competition in the

Netherlands in 1996, the Cavatina Duo—Spanish-born flutist Eugenia

Moliner and Bosnian-bom guitarist Denis Azabagic—has captivated audiences across Asia, Europe, and North America. Invited to perform at the

Aix-en-Provence, Da Camera Society, Eem & Veem, and Ravinia festivals, the

Duo has been heard at the International Guitar Festival of Frechen, Germany, 

and the China National Flute Convention as well as at the National Center for 

the Performing Arts in Beijing and the National Concert Hall ofTaipei.

Acclaimed as a “brilliant young musician” by Flute, the journal ofthe

British Flute Society, Eugenia Moliner has performed with the principal

musicians ofthe Chicago Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras and has been featured on radio and television programs in The Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States. She holds degrees in music

performance from the conservatories ofValencia, Spain, and Rotterdam,

The Netherlands. Winner oftop prizes at eleven international competitions,

guitarist Denis Azabagic has been described as a “virtuoso with flawless 

technique” by Soundboard Magazine. A member ofthe guitar faculty at

the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University, he has

appeared as soloist with the Chicago and Madrid symphony orchestras

and recorded seven CDs and two dvds. He is the author ofthe manual

“On Competitions—Dealing with Performance Stress.”

Composers who have been inspired to write works for flute and guitar

for the Duo include Clarice Assad (Brazil), Michael Djupstrom (usa), Boris

Gaquere (Belgium), Michael Karmon (usa), Erik Otte (The Netherlands),

Carlos Rivera (usa), and Alejandro Yagiie (Spain). The Cavatina Duo has

numerous recordings, including a CD ofmusic by Astor Piazzolla and a disc 

of Balkan music, released by Cedille Records in 2010. They appear at the

National Gallery by arrangement with Lisa SapinkopfArtists, www.chambermuse.com, and maintains a website at www.cavatinaduo.com.

3
Program Notes

In addition to featuring the flute as a solo instrument in his Orchestral Suite

no. 2 and Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote four flute

sonatas, and for many years was mistakenly credited with two others. The

Sonata in E Majorfor Flute and Basso Continuo survives only from a nineteenth-century copy, annotated as having been composed by Bach in 1741 for

Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, an amateur flutist and valet to Frederick 11 of

Prussia. This light-hearted work begins with an Adagio that is reminiscent of

the Adagio from the B Minor Sonata, bwv 1030, but of a less intense character. The second movement is a spirited Allegro in a much simpler harmonic

style, and the third is a Siciliano, a popular slow dance ofthe period. The 

final movement, Allegro assai, is particularly lively and demonstrates Bach’s

humorous side.

Universally acknowledged as the master ofthe modern tango, Astor

Piazzolla was born in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, and raised in New York City,

where he lived with his father from 1924 to 1937. Before Astor was ten years

old, his musical talents had been discovered by Carlos Gardel, then the most

famous of all tango performers and composers, and a cultural hero in 

Argentina. At Gardel’s urging, the young Astor moved to Buenos Aires in 

1937 and joined the popular tango orchestra ofAnibal Troilo as arranger and 

bandoneon player. Piazzolla studied composition with Alberto Ginastera in

Buenos Aires, and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. When Piazzolla returned

to Buenos Aires from Paris in 1956, he founded his own performing group,

and worked out a new style for the tango— Nuevo Tango—that combines

elements oftraditional tango, Argentinean folk music, contemporary

classical music, and jazz. In 1974 Piazzolla settled again in Paris, winning

innumerable enthusiasts for both his Nuevo Tango and for the traditional 

tango with his many appearances, recordings, and compositions. By the

time that he returned to Buenos Aires in 1985, he was welcomed as a hero

who had revitalized one ofthe quintessential genres of Latin music.

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Piazzolla composed Adios Nonino (Farewell, Nonino) in October 1959 in

memory ofhis father, Vicente “Nonino” Piazzolla. The piece has proven to

be one of Piazzolla’s most popular compositions, and has been recorded 

many times in various arrangements and instrumentations. His six Flute

Etudes were written on commission for a music conservatory in Belgium.

Recognized as valuable teaching tools, they have been transcribed for every

imaginable instrument, even the tuba.

A classically trained guitarist from the former Yugoslavia, composer

Miroslav Tadic draws inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of his native

land, which brings together music from Albania, Macedonia, and Turkey as

well as Roma (Gypsy) and other ethnic Balkan musical idioms. Macedonian 

folk songs are often historical in nature, with lyrics detailing great heroes

and warriors, but can also be love songs or shepherds’ songs, such as Zajdi

Zajdi. Known for complex rhythms, Macedonian music often uses 5/4 and 

7/8 meters as well as non-traditional scales, such as the Phrygian dominant.

Tadic’s Four Macedonian Pieces is dedicated to the Cavatina Duo.

About Cafe Pieces, composer Vojislav Ivanovic writes: “[They] were 

written in Athens in a relatively short period oftime in late 1985 and early

1986. At the time I was studying guitar at the Athens Conservatory and 

among the students one ofthe favorite forms of entertainment was to play

“cafe,” as we called it—that is, to improvise in a certain style, usually popular

music or Latin or whatever else was considered to be of a ‘lesser’ value as

compared to ‘classical’ repertory. As I enjoy a good joke and always liked to

improvise, I was soon the best in this kind ofmusic making, playing at the 

parties and often even mimicking through music the students and the teachers ofthe Conservatory. It all turned more serious as six Cafe Pieces eventually emerged. They represent my attempt to break away from being ‘serious’

at the expense oflosing touch with my heart and the audience and with

what I really was.... So the Cafe Pieces started a life oftheir own... performed ... perhaps most superbly of all by my dear friend and ex-student,

Denis Azabagic.

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The first ofthe Cafe Pieces, “Nostalgia/' is a tremolo study with a short

verse added. Listeners who would know and recognize the melody ofthe

verse would recall the text that goes with it, which acts as a kind of hidden

message:

'Lonesome... Long into the night,

In a lonely window the breeze has died alone.

Nostalgia... so sweet and dark and yet so bright,

Ah, where have all the stars so suddenly gone?’”

Claude Debussy was asked by the poet and dramatist Gabriel Mourey

to provide a score for his poetic adaptation ofthe mythical account ofthe

death of Pan, god ofthe forest, fields, and herds. Pan had once pursued a

nymph named Syrinx, who fled his advances; when capture was imminent,

she prayed to be turned into a reed, and from this reed Pan cut the pipes

on which he played. Debussy was wary ofthe project and resisted at first, 

finally agreeing to furnish only an offstage flute solo that would depict the

last melody Pan played before his death. The piece, which Debussy titled

after the nymph, has remained famous, even though Mourey’s dramatic

poem has disappeared into obscurity. Debussy de-emphasizes conventional

tonal centers; focusing on whole-tone scales and fragmentary melodies to

give the work a sense of antiquity and mystery. In its simplicity of utterance,

delicacy, and highly emotive language, Syrinx recalls Debussy’s Prelude

a Vapres midi d’unfaune (1892-1894). Both works derive their sensuality

from symbolist poetry, which had a profound influence on both Debussy

and Mourey.

Commissioned by Greenpeace in 1981 for its campaign to save the

whales, Torn Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea forms part of a wider group of

compositions devoted to aquatic themes. A serious, reflective work, it

represents the sea from the perspective of a marine biologist. According to

the composer, “It has been demonstrated that whales communicate not with

their gibbering voices but with the varied intervals ofsilence between the

sounds they emit, a provocative discovery.” In Talcemitsu’s work, silence

plays an important part in the overall structure, providing a backdrop for

strongly articulated musical phrases.

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An American guitarist and composer currently working in the United

Kingdom, Alan Thomas writes: “These Variations on The Carnival in Venice

were written for my longtime friends, the Cavatina Duo. I was delighted to 

have the opportunity to write for them, [not only] as a great admirer oftheir

artistry but also in gratitude for the support and encouragement they have

given me and my music over the years.”

Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt in February 2012

The Phillips Camerata

Resident Chamber Ensemble ofthe Phillips Collection,

Washington, DC

Music written between 1890 and 1921

Presented in honor of Picasso’s Drawings, 1890-1921

February 19, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Roger Wright, pianist

Music by Balakirev, Debussy, Griffes, Ravel, and other composers

February 26, 2012

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court