Concerts at The National Gallery ofArt

Under the Direction of George Manos

April 1998

26 Nelson pianist

May 1998

Brahms:

Schumann:

Chopin:

Liszt:

Sonata No.3

Papillons

Fantaisie inF

Minor

Scherzo No.4

Consolation No.

Mephisto Waltz

No.1

3

THE FIFTY-FIFTH AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL

MAY3 THROUGH 31, 1998

3 National Gallery Orchestra

George Manos, conductor

10 National Gallery Vocal

Arts Ensemble

George Manos, artistic

director

Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano

Beverly Benso, contralto

Samuel Gordon, tenor

Robert Kennedy, baritone

Francis Conlon, pianist

Copland: Appalachian Spring

Robert Ward: Symphony No.3

Sotireos Vlahopoulos: Ode

(World premiere)

Charles Ives: IntheMornin’

The Collection

Slow March

Karen

Donald Waxman Four Songs ofthe

Seasons

Nancy Daley Five Amusements

(World premiere)

Ned Rorem Four Madrigals

17 Upper Valley Duo 

Tim Schwarz, violinist

Dan Weiser, pianist

Wm. G. Still:

Amy Beach: W C. Handy:

Suitefor Violin and

piano

Sonatafor Violin

and Piano

St. Louis Blues

24 New England Spiritual Ensemble

Vincent Dion Stringer, 

artistic director

Fredericka King.pianist

American Spirituals

and Gospel songs

31 Washington Men’s Gamerata

Thomas Beveridge, 

conductor

Michael Patterson, pianist

June 1998 7 National Gallery 

Orchestra

George Manos, conductor

Claudia Chudacoff, 

violinist

Marcio Botelho, cellist

14 Natsuki Fukasawa,/)fcm?/

21 National Gallery Chamber

Players String Quartet

George Manos, artistic

director

28 National Gallery Chamber

Players Woodwind Quintet

George Manos, artistic

director

The Fifty-sixth Season of

R. Thompson: Testament ofFreedom

Ives: General William

Booth Enters into

Heaven

Persichetti: Song ofPeace

Plus works for men’s chorus by

Copland, Virgil Thomson, and 

Thomas Beveridge

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and E LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery ofArt

Haydn: Symphony No. 100

Brahms: Double Concertofor

Violin, Cello, and

Orchestra

Schumann: Fantasy in CMajor

Brahms-Busoni: Two Choral Preludes

Janacek: 1. X. 1905

Busoni: Elegie No.4

Frauengemach

Chopin-Liszt: Maiden's Wish

Polish Songs

Mozart:

Shostakovich:

Frank Bridge:

‘Dissonant” Quartet

QuartetNo.7 in F

Minor

QuartetNo.Z

2261th Concert

Works for wind quintet by Paul STEFAN VLADAR, pianist

laffanel, Anton Reicha, and 

Percy Grainger

Sunday Evening, April 19, 1998

at SevenO’Clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission Free
PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach Aria with Thirty Variations, BWV 988

(1685-1750) (“Goldberg Variations”) (1741-1742)

Variation

Aria

1. Duet

2. Trio

3. Ganone all’ unisono

4. Quartet

5. Sonata

6. Canone alia seconda

7. Siciliano

8. Sonata

9. Canone alle terza

10. Fughetta

11. Sonata

12. Canone alia quarta

13. Adagio

14. Sonata

15. Canone alia quinta

in moto contrario

INTERMISSION

16. Ouverture

17. Sonata

18. Canone alia sesta

19. Trio

20. Sonata

21. Canone alia settima

22. Quartet

23. Sonata

24. Canone all’ ottava

25. Adagio

26. Sonata

27. Canone alia nona

28. Sonata

29. Sonata

30. Quodlibet

Aria da capo

Viennese-born STEFAN VLADAR first came to international

attention as the grand prize winner and youngest of the 140 participants in the 1985 International Beethoven Competition. In

the years since then, he has forged a remarkable career on five continents, performing concerto and recital engagements in

Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Mexico

City, Munich, NewYork, Paris, Salzburg, San Francisco, Tokyo, and

Vienna, as well as a concert tour ofAustralia. Conductors with whom

he has collaborated include Claudio Abbado, Christoph von

Dohnanyi, Rafael Friihbeck de Burgos, and Yehudi Menuhin. Orchestras with which Mr. Vladar has appeared include the Royal

Concertgebouw and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestras; the Vienna, Houston, and Chicago Symphonies; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe;

the Vienna Philharmonic; the Academy ofSt. Martin in the Fields;

and the Camerata Accademica Salzburg. Among the festivals at

which he has played are Marlboro, Salzburg, Ravinia, Flanders,

Schleswig-Holstein, and Vienna. Mr. Vladar’s voluminous discography includes works of Mozart and Beethoven recorded on the

Sony label. For Naxos he has recorded a Schumann recital and the

complete Beethoven piano concertos. Recent engagements include

appearances with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, the Singapore

Symphony, and the Japan Philharmonic. He continues the American recital tour that includes this concert with concerts in Cincinnati and New York. Stefan Vladar appears at the National Gallery

by arrangement with Matthew Sprizzo ofStaten Island, NewYork.

Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV988 were originally published as

PartIVof his Clavier-Ubung, a collection of the keyboard works he

deemed to be his best. The Aria that provides the theme for the

variations is a sarabande from Bach’s second ClavierbiichleinforAnna

Magdalena Bach, published in 1725. It is at once serene and vivacious. The work carries the name of a Bach pupil, Johann Gottlieb

Goldberg (1727-1756), who was a harpsichordist in the service of

Count Hermann Karl von Kayserlingk, the Russian ambassador to

the Electoral Court at Dresden in the 1740s. According to Johann

Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818), who was the first Bach biographer,

Count von Kayserlingkwas afflicted with nervous attacks and sleepless nights. One of the duties ofthe Count’s harpsichordist was to

play in an adjoining room until his patron was able to fall asleep.

The Count, knowingBach’s reputation, commissioned him to write

a composition of considerable length and enthralling diversity, so

that Goldberg would have plenty of material with which to fulfill 

his nocturnal duties. Having received the score, the Count wrote a

letter to Goldberg, requesting him to “come and play me my variations.” Goldberg reportedly acceded to this request many times,

with the result that posterity knows the variations by his name and

not that of his master.

Forkel does not tell us whether the Count was cured or even

relieved of his insomnia by this music, and the accuracy of detail in

his report has been called into question by Baker's BiographicalDictionary ofMusicians, Eighth Edition. There is little question, however, 

that these variations are Bach’s magnum opus for the two-manual

harpsichord and rank with the “Diabelli” Variations of Beethoven as

one of the greatest keyboard works in theme and variation form.

The variations make calculated use ofa musical device known as

canon, in which the theme is presented in imitation ofitself. The

imitation begins before the first presentation of the theme is finished, resulting in a duet. The canons occur at nos. 3,6,9, etc., and

are labeled by Bach with the Italian name for the interval between

the two voices that appear in canon. Bach utilizes all of the intervals in order, starting with the unison and moving through to the

ninth. The other variations are in free style, and most are highly

virtuosic. The final variation is a quodlibet, a composition in which

well-known melodies or texts are presented simultaneously or successively, with results that are intriguing and often humorous. After the quodlibet there is silence, which is broken by the reappearance of the Aria - aristocratic, somber, and contented as it was at

the beginning - bringing this mighty work to a quiet close.

- Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30pm.