The Suite in

C Major, BWV 1009, is one of six Bach composed while 

serving as court music master for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. 

Each suite is considered

a masterpiece of the genre, and all six contain 

the same number and pattern of dances: the prelude, an improvisatory 

statement serving as an introduction to the other dances; the allemande,

a

dance of Germanic origin in common time (4/4); the courante,a fast, light

dance of French origin; the sarabande,a dance from the Spanish

heritage with an air of courtly refinement; the bourree,a lively, fluent

Baroque dance of French origin in duple (2/4) meter and binary (AB)

form; and the gigue,a baroque dance that originated in England. The

gigue is written ina fast triplet rhythm and is usually, the closing element 

ina baroque suite.

Faure’s Elegie inC Minorfor Cello and Orchestra, Op. 24, an inspired 

work with ecclesiastical overtones, isa perfect illustration of the evasive 

yet passionate lyricism for which his music is known. According to the

French music critic Bernard Gavoty:

“The Elegy is [a stimulating] piece,

wherein two themes follow and oppose each other, as in his Sonata [No.

2] inG Minor, [Op. 117].A funereal motif, evoking the image ofa

solemn march, is contrasted witha pacifying theme [that is] lyrical and

exciting, [carrying] the listener on the wings ofa dream.”

Composed in 1934, shortly after the success of his opera, Lady

Macbeth, Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano inF Major, Op.

40, isa profound statement of hidden inner emotions thought to have

political overtones. This aspect of Shostakovich’s music aroused no

controversy until 1936, when the Union of Soviet Composers 

condemned Lady Macbeth, declared Shostakovich

“persona non grata,”

and ostracized him. The sonata commences witha shadowy and

contemplative theme with ever-increasing melancholy. The second

movement is

a whirlwind scherzo. The third movement intensifies the

feeling of despair, yet at the same time presents one of Shostakovich’s

most eloquent moments of expression. The fourth movement, as

described by James Lyons, editor of The American Record Guide,

“is

one of those neo-Rossinian studies in scintillation that Shostakovich so

often proffers as dessert, as if to dispel the seriousness that has gone

before. But it is the Largo that stays with the listener.”

Programs notes by Elmer Booze

The Fifty-ninth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

■iiar.i

2363d Concert

ERLING BLONDAL BENGTSSON, cellist

NINA KAVTARADZE,/7j'««fstf

Sunday Evening, 26 November 2000

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata in A Major for Cello and Piano

(1770-1827) Op. 69 (1807-1808)

Allegro ma non tanto

Scherzo: Allegro molto

Adagio cantabile; allegro vivace

Johann Sebastian Bach Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello

(1685-1750) BWV 1009 (1717-1723)

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Bourree I & II

Gigue

INTERMISSION

Gabriel Faure

(1845-1924)

Elegie, Op.24

(1880)

Dmitri Shostakovich Sonata in D Minor for Cello and Piano

(1906-1975) Op. 40 (1875-1876)

Moderato

Moderato con moto

Largo

Allegretto

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed.

For the convenience ofconcertgoers

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

A legend in his own lifetime, the distinguished Scandinavian cellist

Erling Blondal Bengtsson was accepted at the age of sixteen at the

Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he took up studies with

the renowned cellist Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976). One year later, he

became Piatigorsky’s instructing assistant, and the next year was

appointed to the faculty of that prestigious institution. Bengtsson, who

records on the Danish label Danacord, has been awarded several honors,

among them the Knight, First Class, of the Order of Dannebrog in

Denmark, and the Iceland’s Grand Knight of the Order of the Falcon. In

1993 he received the title Chevalier du Violoncelle from the School of

Music at Indiana University. A professor of music at the University of

Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, Erling Blondal Bengtsson

appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Maxim Gershunoff

Attractions, Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Pianist Nina Kavtaradze, a native of Moscow, began her studies at the

age of six at the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory. 

Upon admission at age seventeen to the Conservatory proper, she joined

the class of Lev Oborin. As a soloist, Miss Kavtaradze has given

concerts throughout Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet 

Union, the United States, and many European countries. Included in her

vast repertoire of familiar and lesser-known piano compositions are the

complete piano works of Richard Wagner, which she recently recorded 

on the Kontrapunkt label. She and Erling Blondal Bengtsson formed 

their duo in 1986, and have toured extensively in this capacity.

The year 1808 saw the birth of Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major, Op.

69, his first three-movement cello sonata. In the first movement (Allegro

ma non tanto), the cello begins unaccompanied and without the slow

introduction that is typical of classical sonatas. (This feature appears

later, at the beginning of the third movement.) The second movement 

{Scherzo: Allegro molto), making up for what it lacks in melody with its

strong rhythmic drive, exemplifies the extent to which Beethoven

modified the scherzo form. The third movement opens with the slow

introduction mentioned above. It sets the stage for a fast finale (Allegro

vivace) in sonata-allegro form.