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The Seventy-second Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,958th Concert

Cyrus Forough, violinist

Michael Lipman, cellist

Sung-Im Kim, pianist

September 22, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Reza Vali (b. 1952)

Calligraphy No. 5 for violin solo

Vali

Three Romantic Songs for violin and piano

Moderato

Adagio

Tango Johannes

United States Premiere Performance

Vali

Khojasteh: (Calligraphy No. 10) for violin and cello

World Premiere Performance

INTERMISSION

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Piano Trio in B-jlat Major, op. 99 (D. 898)

Allegro moderato

Andante un poco mosso

Scherzo: Allegro 

Rondo: Allegro vivace
The Musicians

CYRUS FOROUGH

A laureate ofthe Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition, Cyrus Forough 

has performed in recitals and with orchestras throughout four continents,

including broadcasts on radio and television and command performances

for international dignitaries. A prominent representative ofthe Franco-Belgian

school ofviolin playing, Forough studied with Arthur Grumiaux, David

Oistrakh, and Josef Gingold. A frequent guest artist at festivals in Belgium,

Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Romania,

and the United States and a professor ofmusic at Carnegie Mellon University

in Pittsburgh, he has taught as an artist faculty member ofthe Music Institute

of Chicago’s Academy for Gifted Students and was a visiting professor at the

Eastman School of Music in 2009 and 2010. Among his current and former

pupils are a presidential scholar and many prizewinners of national and

international competitions.

MICHAEL LIPMAN

Widely recognized and respected for his versatility as a soloist, recitalist,

chamber musician, and teacher, cellist Michael Lipman is a member ofthe

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with that

orchestra as well as with the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra. His 

performances with the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project and his Pittsburgh

recital debut—as winner ofthe Pittsburgh Y Music Society’s Passamaneck

Award—received critical acclaim. An alumnus ofAlexander Schneider’s

New York String Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Music Seminar, Lipman

has performed at the Blossom and Grand Tetons music festivals as well as

the Aspen Music Festival, where he won the Aspen Concerto Competition

and served as principal cellist ofthe Aspen Chamber Symphony. With the

Dalihapa Ensemble, ofwhich he is a cofounder, Lipman is frequently involved

in the introduction of new music to the public. A graduate ofthe Eastman

School of Music, he has taught and coached at Chatham, Carnegie Mellon, 

and Duquesne universities, as well as California University of Pennsylvania.

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SUNG-IM KIM

Born in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea, Sung-Im Kim started “playing” the piano

at age seven, using a keyboard she had drawn in a sketchbook. Two years

later, she won first prize at a Korean national piano competition. By age

sixteen, she had performed as a soloist with the Seoul National Philharmonic

Orchestra, and went on to win first prize in the prestigious Eum Ak Chun

Chu, Joong-Ang, and Seventh Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist competitions. A graduate of Kyung-Won University in Seongnam, South Korea, and the Royal

Academy of Music in London, Kim has recorded for bbc Radio. Recent collaborations include chamber music projects with Ray Chen at Saint Vincent

College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania; Cyrus Forough at Carnegie Mellon University;

the Pittsburgh Concert Society; and the Freya String Quartet. Kim is a staff

pianist and teacher in the Preparatory School at Carnegie Mellon University.

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Program Notes

Tonight’s program begins with three pieces by Persian-born composer Reza

Vali, a member ofthe music faculty at Carnegie-Mellon University for the

past twenty-five years. The recipient of commissions from the Arizona

Friends ofChamber Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Kronos 

Quartet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,

and Seattle Chamber Players, his orchestral music has been performed by

the Baltimore and Memphis symphony orchestras and Orchestra 2001. Born 

in Ghazvin, Iran, Vali began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music 

in Tehran. In 1972 he went to Austria to study music education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna. After graduation, he moved to the

United States and continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh,

receiving his PhD in music theory and composition in 1985.

The two works indentified by their titles as parts ofVali’s Calligraphy

series take their inspiration from the eponymous art form, cultivated by the

Persians since about 600 bce. The script that is most often used in contemporary calligraphy—Nasta’liq—has been predominant since it was developed by Mir Ali Tabrizi in the fifteenth century. The musical material of

Calligraphy No. 5 is derived from Persian traditional music, which has also 

remained largely unchanged since the fifteenth century. The modal characteristics ofthe piece as well as the tuning, rhythm, and form relate to the

Persian modal system, or Dastgah. From the several modes available in that

system the composer chose one ofthe oldest, Dastgah of Nava, for Calligraphy

No. 5. Nava (pronounced nahVoh) calls for a scale ofpitches that might be 

spelled D, Ep, F, G, A, B-flat, C, D. (“Ep” refers to a pitch that is a quartertone higher than E-flat.) The mode consists oftwo interlocking groups of

four notes (tetrachords). In their descending order, the notes are G, F, Ep, D,

while the ascending series is G, A, B-flat, C. The two tetrachords are elaborated throughout the piece as they undergo permutations and expansions.

Dedicated to the composer’s wife, Nan, Vali’s Three Romantic Songs is an

homage to Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), a favorite composer ofboth husband

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and wife. The third song, titled “Tango Johannes,” contains a “limping” tango

(in 7/8 instead of 8/8), a musical image ofwhat might have happened if

Brahms had tried to dance the tango with Clara Schumann. Completed in

2010, Khojasteh (Calligraphy No. 10) was written for and is dedicated to Cyrus 

Forough. Like Calligraphy No. 5, the work is entirely derived from Persian

traditional music, and the tuning, rhythm, form, and polyphonic constructions (imitation, inversion, and retrogradation) relate to the Persian modal

system. Each Persian mode contains a number ofsubsections (gusheh), each

ofwhich has in turn a special character defined by its rhythm, tempo, and

dynamics. The Persian word khojasteh (majestic) is also the name of a gusheh

in the Dastgah of Nava, which functions as the modal context for this work, 

as it does for Calligraphy No. 5.

Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, op. 99 (D. 898) was completed less than a year before his death in 1828. Like many European intellectuals of his time, the composer read and recited poetry on a daily basis.

The strong presence ofpoetry in Schubert’s life, whether he was writing

songs or instrumental works, is a crucial but often overlooked aspect ofhis

work as a composer.

German-speaking philosophers and theologians in the early nineteenth

century were fascinated with world views that focused on man’s ascent to

a higher and better existence. Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831)

described the ascent as a passage through the tension between opposites—

such as good and evil or fortune and misfortune—to a synthesis. Schubert

dealt with this ascent in his operas and his instrumental works, where

he also took on the synthesis through a wedding ofmusical opposites.

In the B-flat Major Piano Trio, one ofhis last great masterworks,

Schubert revels in the Rosicrucian mystery ofthe transfiguration of a lower

world through union with a higher and better one. The contours ofthe

music (changes in tempo, key, dynamics, and texture) follow the order of

ideas in the following poems:

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First Movement: Todesmusik by Franz Schober

(previously set by Schubert as a Lied in 1822)

At the sacred hour of death, when I leave this earth and in pain

fight my last battle,

Holy spirits, bless me a final time with your peaceful melodies.

Ease the pain in my heart. Free my spirit, sweep it aloft; carry it 

into eternal light!

Then will the harmonies of heaven envelop me; my chains will

fall away. I will see my life transfigured before me, every star,

every flower!

Then my anguish will be illuminated by joy as I see all things

transfigured and surrender my life in joy!

Second Movement: Im Friihling by Ernst Schulze

(set as a Lied in March 1826)

Quietly I sit on the side ofthe hill; the sky is so blue,

A breeze plays in the valley where in the early spring I was

so happy.

We walked side by side, so much in love, so close!

And out ofthat dark stream 1 saw reflected the beauty of heaven,

bright and blue; and in that heaven I saw her!

Spring graces all the flowers, but they are not all the same;

I pick flowers only where she did. Everything is the same today,

the flowers, the sun, and the magical reflection there in the stream.

But things change. Happiness gives way to conflict, and love’s

happiness disappears. Then only the love remains... the love

and...the pain!

If I were a bird here in the meadow, I would sing my song of

love all summer long.

Third Movement: Die Nacht der Liebe by Johann Nepomuk

von Kalchenburg

(set as a Lied in 1815)

Love triumphs everywhere! Every bush, every flower is sealed

by love!

Love fills, warms, renews everything! Everything lives by love!

Die Stemenwelten by Johann Georg Fellinger

(set as a Lied in 1815)

Above the clouds is the world ofspace; blessed by the radiant

sun, each star in ordered course.

The stars are a numberless army, illuminating far and wide,

Celebrating the glory of God.

Fourth Movement: Skolie by Johann Ludwig Ferdinand

von Deinhardstein

(set as a Hed in 1815)

In the warmth of May, rejoice in life... quickly, before it goes!

Ifthe heart grieves, wine or a friendship can help.

Joy kisses suddenly; but when death approaches it disappears.

So must we tremble in fear?

Find life in a girl’s sweet lips!

Ifyou love life, laugh at death!

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Mein Gruss an den Mai by Johann Ludwig Ferdinand 

von Deinhardstein

(Set as a Lied in 1815)

Oh May, with your flowers, your spring, your ocean ofjoys...

I greet you!

Amid the glories of creation I welcome you!

Your breath enlivens the air, transfiguring mountains and valleys.

Fragrant breezes caress us in the radiance ofthe bright blue day!

Program notes on the Vali works by Reza Vali; notes on Schubert by M. Frank

Ruppert, author ofFranz Schubert and the Mysterium Magnum (Rosedog

Books, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

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Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

National Gallery ofArt 

New Music Ensemble

Music by Antosca, Simpson,

and other composers

September 29, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium

Caceres/Ramos-Santana Duo

“Puerto Rico in 176 Keys”

Music for two pianos four hands

Presented in honor of

Hispanic Heritage Month

October 6, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Building Court