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the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

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performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

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Please note that late entry or reentry of

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Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,795th Concert

Duo Miller-Schmid

Annlynn Miller, pianist

Ulrich Schmid, cellist

September 29, 2010 

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

Admissionfree
Program

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Epiloguefrom the Ballet Peer Gyntfor Cello, Piano, and Tape (1986)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

FtinfStiicke im Volkston, op. 102

Mit Humor (“Vanitas vanitatum”)

Langsam

Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen 

Nicht zu rasch

Stark und markiert

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Sonatafor Piano and Cello in G Minor, op. 65

Allegro moderato (Maestoso)

Scherzo: Allegro con brio

Largo

Finale: Allegro

This concert is made possible by a grantfrom the Ann and Gordon

Getty Foundation

The Musicians

In 1994 American pianist Annlynn Miller and Swiss cellist Ulrich Schmid 

met at the Academy of Music in Vienna, where they both held teaching

positions. They immediately launched a concert series—Happy Birthday

Beethoven—that has been an annual highlight since its debut. The following year Miller and Schmid joined together to form a permanent duo

dedicated to performing the major works for piano and cello. They have

received lavish praise for their performances throughout Europe and in the

United States. In addition to the complete works for piano and cello of

Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, Duo

Miller-Schmid is renowned for its interpretation ofthe sonatas ofAlfred

Schnittke and of his still unpublished Epiloguefrom the Ballet Peer Gyntfor

Cello, Piano, and Tape. This afternoon’s concert at the National Gallery marks 

their third performance in Washington, DC.

ANNLYNN MILLER

Widely acclaimed as a dynamic and sensitive concert pianist, Annlynn Miller

plays an all-encompassing repertoire ofsolo and chamber music. She was

born in New York City and pursued her musical studies at the Juilliard

School of Music and at Sarah Lawrence College before joining the advanced

performing class of Bruno Seidlhofer at the Vienna Academy of Music. A

longtime student of Rudolf Firkusriy, Miller was also invited to participate in

the Beethoven master class held in Italy by the legendary Wilhelm Kempff.

Her affinity for Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms has contributed greatly

to her international career.

A member ofthe faculty at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich 

for ten years, Miller has produced a remarkable number of prize winners

since establishing her piano studio in Switzerland.

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ULRICH SCHMID

Cellist Ulrich Schmid has also established a distinguished career as a soloist

throughout Europe and the United States. Born in Bern, Switzerland, he

was accepted at a young age into the master class of Paul Tortelier at the

Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris.

As a student ofAndre Navarra, Schmid attained his concert diploma at 

the Musikhochschule in Detmold, Germany, where he was active as Navarra’s

assistant before he began teaching his own cello class at the same school.

He held the position of principal cellist with the Bielefeld Philharmonic

Orchestra and the Orchestra ofthe State Theater in Darmstadt. A recipient

ofthe renowned Diploma d’Onore from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana

in Siena, Italy, Ulrich Schmid performs on a magnificent Italian master

cello built in 1774 by Nicolas Gagliano.

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Program Notes

The Epiloguefrom the Ballet Peer Gyntfor Cello, Piano, and Tape is Schnittke’s

own transcription, done in 1992, ofthe final scene ofhis ballet Peer Gynt

(1986). The epilogue is dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, who played the

premiere performance with pianist Irina Schnittke on May 25,1993. In the

ballet, the Epilogue sheds new light on the events of Peer Gynt’s past life,

as Peer recalls them in a long duet with his mother, Solveig. He remembers

his travels, his encounters with evil, his return home, and his repentance.

Schnittke writes: “Peer Gynt is a strange character, having no key, perhaps

even stranger than Faust. The continuous D major chord ofthe pre-taped

choir creates a surreal mystical background, into which reality disappears.”

The musical themes ofthe ballet are juxtaposed and overlapped most

unexpectedly, creating a new perspective. The concluding steps of an

overtone row represent the ascent to infinite heights, gradually dissolving

into the eternal D major chord.

Robert Schumann completed a total of nineteen chamber music compositions, most ofwhich are sonatas, trios, quartets, and quintets. The

remaining chamber works fall into the category that many consider to be

Schumann’s strength—the short “mood” piece. The FiXnf StiXcke im Volkston

(Five Pieces in the Popular Style) fall into this category. Schumann allowed 

for substitutions in the lead instrument in his mood pieces. This was most

likely because they were written not as virtuosic performance pieces, but

rather for high-level amateurs to enjoy playing in their homes. Consequently

the pieces, though not terribly difficult to perform, are enormously tuneful

and devoid ofthe typical Schumannesque angst. The middle three are

melodically charming and full ofrich romanticism, both in the cello and

piano writing. The second has a pastoral sweetness, while the fourth starts

offin a lively and joyous mood, then yields to a mesmerizing melody.

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Chopin’s Sonatafor Piano and Cello in G Minor, op. 65, was his last

major work. Chopin wrote little for instruments other than the piano, and 

this full-length sonata for cello and piano occupied the composer for an 

unusually long period. The work was published in 1847, but he had been 

working on it since 1845. Chopin seems to have had difficulty in shaping the 

relationship between the two instruments. Often the cello and piano take

turns in the spotlight, but the final result distributes the musical material

equally between the two. Beneath the surface, however, one can hear the 

piano wanting to break loose, as ifthe cello were infringing on its sacred 

ground. The influence of German romantic composers on Chopin shows

itselfin this work in the presence ofintegrated sonata form, unified by a few

related motifs. Chopin creates relationships among the four movements of

the sonata through melodic references: the primary cello motif ofthe first 

movement, a rising and falling half-step that opens the lush second movement, the folksy scherzo ofthe third movement, and the tarantella finale.

The clear divisions between cello and piano in the second movement, contrast with the more integrated use ofthe instruments in the first movement. 

The finale is perhaps the most Chopinesque ofthe four movements, concluding with a coda in the major key.

The premiere performance ofthe sonata in Paris, with Chopin at the piano,

received great acclaim, but it turned out to be his last public performance.

Program notes hy Danielle DeSwert Hahn

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Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio

Music by Beethoven, Dvorak, and Newman

October 3, 2010

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Hakon Austbo, pianist

Music by Egge, Mortensen,

Valen, and Wallin

October 6, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall