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The Seventy-second Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,998th Concert

Edvinas Minkstimas, pianist

May 14, 2014

Wednesday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Sonata in C Major, K. 545

Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875-1911)

Three Preludes on One Theme in B-flat Minor, VL 270-272 (1905)

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Reminiscences de Robert le diable: Valse infemale

Transcription for piano (after Meyerbeer), S. 413 (LW A78)

Edvinas Minkstimas (b. 1980)

Variations on "Dos Elnte Kind,” a theme written in the

Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Three Preludes

Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

Andante con moto e poco rubato

Agitato

Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976)

Selections from Charlie Brown

Linus and Lucy

Ice Skating

The Musician

Widely regarded as one ofCentral Europe's emerging young pianists, Edvinas

Minkstimas has brought his extensive repertory, solid technique, and wide

range ofmusical expression to concert venues throughout Europe and North

America. Recent performances include a concert at the National Gallery in

2013, in which he played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 2 with the National

Gallery ofArt Chamber Players and the Phillips Camerata and recitals at the

2013 Mozart-Schubert Festival, hosted by the Austrian Embassy in Washington

and produced by the Embassy Series. He has also appeared as a guest soloist

with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 17

in G Major. Upcoming performances include chamber and solo performances

at Carnegie Hall and concert tours in Europe and South America.

In 2011 Minkstimas received the doctor ofmusical arts degree from the

Juilliard School of Music, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He previously received the artist diploma from the Paris Conservatory under the

tutelage of Michel Beroff and studied in Lithuania with Veronika Vitaite. In

2010 Minkstimas won the Belz-Parker Young Artist Award in Memphis, and

in 2007 received first prize at the Fifth International Ciurlionis Piano Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania. Since 2012 he has served as a member ofthe

jury and board of directors ofthe Salzburg Festival and a board member of

Mahler Philharmoniker in Vienna, Austria.

A native of Kaunas, Lithuania, Minkstimas counts among his early 

artistic influences Baltic mythology, Nordic poetry, and romantic imagery.

His goal of conveying the lyricism and poetry within a musical work through

displays ofvirtuoso technique has been strongly influenced by pianists

Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995),

and composers Brahms, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Ligeti, and Penderecki.

Minkstimas has released two recordings, featuring solo and orchestral

performances ofworks by Beethoven, Brahms, and Liszt. A Steinway artist

since 2013, he gives regular public master classes at the Steinway showroom

and concert hall in North Bethesda, Maryland. He maintains a web site at 

www.minkstimas.com.

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Program Notes

As it did in May 2012, the National Gallery ofArt joins the Delegation ofthe

European Union to the United States and numerous other concert presenters

in the Washington, DC area in celebrating the “European Month ofCulture.”

In addition to nearly forty concerts, the festival features spotlight tours at 

area museums, dance, lectures, films, workshops, and special exhibitions

throughout the month. In today’s concert, Edvinas Minkstimas represents

Lithuania by programming his own music as well as that offellow Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis. The Gallery will also

host the concerts that spotlight performers and composers from Belgium,

Germany, Greece, and Ireland. In addition, the Gallery’s resident chamber

players will perform music by composers from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, 

Malta, and Slovenia on May 28.

Mozart called his Sonata, K. 545 “Eine kleine Klavier-Sonate fur Anfanger”

(A little clavier sonata for beginners) when he entered the theme in the catalogue of his works on June 26,1788. The exact circumstances ofthe composition are not known, but it was added to his catalogue on the same date as

his Symphony no. 39. Usually known as the “sonata facile,” the work is generally considered easy to play, but it nevertheless reflects the high standards

Mozart maintained when writing for students. The third movement, a Rondo,

is perhaps the most child-like, and the innocently graceful G major Andante

is based on a resourceful use ofAlberti patterns (repeated arpeggiated harmonies). Despite its apparent simplicity this movement shows a surprising

depth of emotion, especially when the second episode turns to the minor key.

Lithuanian artist and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis, a

unique figure in the history of European arts, has left a profound imprint

on Lithuanian culture. Judging by the breadth ofhis artistic activities and

diverse interests, Ciurlionis can be seen as a truly Renaissance individual.

Over a short career, he composed nearly four hundred works, including two

large-scale symphonic poems, an overture, two piano sonatas, a string quartet, and a cantata for chorus and orchestra. During those same briefyears he

also created approximately four hundred paintings and etchings as well as

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several literary works and poems, while still finding time to experiment with

art photography. His active involvement in the Lithuanian national movement and his self-sacrifice for the sake of artistic ideals show him as a typical

artist ofthe romantic mold. He was the first Lithuanian professional composer not only to take interest in Lithuanian folk songs, but to collect and publish

them. His musical output is divided into two periods—early (1896-

1903), and late (1904-1910). In the later, mature period, he leaned towards

modernism. Regrettably, the precise number ofhis compositions is not known, 

because a substantial number ofhis manuscripts were lost or destroyed in

World War 11.

Robert le diable, Giacomo Meyerbeer’s (1791-1864) retelling ofthe Faust

legend, was one ofthe most successful and widely produced operas ofthe

first half ofthe nineteenth century. It preceded Berlioz’ Damnation ofFaust

by fifteen years, and Gounod’s Faust by twenty-eight. Its popularity in many

countries exceeded that ofcelebrated operas by Rossini and Weber. Meyerbeer 

defined the genre of French grand opera with this work. Following Wagner’s

virulent anti-Semitic personal attack on Meyerbeer in the 1869 edition of

his essay “Das Judenthum in der Musik,” and the Nazi performance ban

on the music of all composers ofJewish ancestry in the 1930s and 1940s, 

Meyerbeer’s operas virtually disappeared from the active repertoire.

Testimony to the popularity of Robert le diable in the nineteenth century

can be found in the fact that excerpts from it were transcribed into great

piano fantasies and widely performed by many ofthe leading piano virtuosi

ofthe day. None ofthese transcriptions can compare, however, with the

monumental piano fantasy by Franz Liszt, based on the “Valse infernale”

(Infernal Waltz) taken from the third act of Meyerbeer’s opera, where it is

titled “Coro infernale” (Infernal Chorus) and is performed by chorus and

orchestra. Meyerbeer’s original is considerably shorter than Liszt’s fantasy,

which incorporates a number of additional themes from the opera.

Few pianists after Liszt have dared to play this fearsome work in public.

Although Liszt’s work is, technically speaking, extraordinarily difficult to

play on the piano, it is not a virtuoso piano piece per se. The difficulties in

performing this work do not lie in keyboard acrobatics or filigree, but in its

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orchestral writing. The premiere performance on March 27,1841, created a

furor. At a subsequent fundraising concert on April 25, with Berlioz in command ofthe orchestra and Liszt the featured soloist, a clamorous audience

refused to allow the program to proceed until Liszt at last consented to perform the Valse infemale.

Based on a theme written in the Vilna Jewish Ghetto during World War 11—

fittingly called “Lonely Child”—Dos Elnte Kind is a set ofvariations for piano 

solo that I have also set for piano and voice. I sought to explore the emotional 

world ofthis song in great depth—to reflect the anguish, melancholy and

loneliness, as well as a glimmer of hope. The cycle follows an arch-structure,

centered around the theme song in its simplest appearance. It was performed

for the first time in September 2011 at the Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, in commemoration ofthe Holocaust perpetrated in Lithuania during

World War 11.

When the blues and jazz first became popular in the early years ofthe 

twentieth century, George Gershwin was the composer who brought this 

music into the concert hall with his performance ofhis popular composition

Rhapsody in Blue. He was one ofseveral serious composers who used jazz

and blues to enhance their work, blurring the line between classical and jazz.

In the March 1925 issue of Vanity Fair, Harlem Renaissance patron Carl Van

Vechten alleged that Gershwin was working on twenty-four preludes for solo

piano after the models of Bach and Chopin, to be part of a collection titled 

The Melting Pot. The collection never materialized, and Gershwin published

just three in the keys B-flat major, C-sharp minor, and E-flat minor. In 1926

the composer premiered Three Preludes at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York

City, and he recorded them in London in 1928.

The first prelude, Allegro ben ritmato e deciso, is based on a five-note

blues motif. Flattened sevenths give the piece a strong jazz feel. The second,

Andante con moto e poco rubato, is by Gershwin’s own description “a sort 

ofblues lullaby.” It starts slowly, with a steady bass line. The third prelude, 

Agitato, also known as “Spanish Prelude,” is a brief but exciting blend of

rugged jazz rhythms and syncopations. Since their publication, the preludes

have been arranged for various ensemble combinations. Most notably, at a

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Gershwin memorial concert, Otto Klemperer led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in his arrangement ofthe second prelude. Violinist Jascha Heifetz

transcribed all three preludes for violin and piano and promoted them

heavily in his concert tours.

A jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and

arrangements, Vince Guaraldi was a nephew ofmusician, singer, and whistler

Muzzy Marcellino. Guaraldi graduated from San Francisco’s Lincoln High 

School, attended San Francisco State University, and served as an Army cook

in the Korean War.

In 1965, while searching for just the right music to accompany a planned

Peanuts Christmas special, producer Lee Mendelson heard the Vince Guaraldi

Trio playing “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” while traveling in a taxicab on the 

Golden Gate Bridge. He contacted Guaraldi and proposed that he write the 

music for the upcoming television special. Guaraldi enthusiastically took

the job, creating what later became “Linus and Lucy.” The soundtrack was

recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, and the composer went on to write

scores for seventeen Peanuts television specials, plus the feature film A Boy

Named Charlie Brown.

Program notes by Edvinas Minkstimas

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