University of Florida Performing Arts

presents

Young Concert Artists

MiXtJOSé FRANCH-BALLESTER, clarinet

BELLA HRISTOVA, violinRAN DANK, piano

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

Squitieri Studio Theatre

MiXtJOSé FRANCH-BALLESTER, clarinet

BELLA HRISTOVA, violinRAN DANK, piano

Program

Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano Béla Bartók

Verbunkos — Recruiting DancePiheno — “Relaxation”Sebes — Fast Dance

Bella Hristova, violinJosé Franch-Ballester, clarinet

Ran Dank, piano

Three Nocturnes Kevin Puts

Bella Hristova, violinJosé Franch-Ballseter, clarinet

Ran Dank, piano

Rondo in B minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 70, D. 895 Franz Schubert

Bella Hristova, violinRan Dank, piano

INTERMISSION

Four Rags for Two Jons John Novacek

Schenectady4th Street DragRecuperationFull Stride Ahead

José Franch-Ballester, clarinetRan Dank, piano

Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano Paul Schoenfield

FreylakhMarchNigunKozaztke

Bella Hristova, violinJosé Franch-Ballseter, clarinet

Ran Dank, piano

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Program Notes

Contrasts, for Clarinet, Violin, and PianoBéla Bartók (1881-1945)

Béla Bartók was born in the tiny Hungarian ethnic Magyar village of Nagyszentmiklós (now Sânnicolau Mare) in the Transylvanian region of present-day Romania. As he came of age as a composer, he was oppressed by the pervasive German culture in his native land. Supposedly, he once attended his composition lesson in full Magyar peasant garb, much to the chagrin of his German-speaking professor, Janos Koessler.

Bartók became fascinated with the indigenous music he heard around him. Indeed, his study of folk music became an obsession, taking him throughout Hungary, Romania, Turkey and Northern Africa, among other places, collecting instruments and transcribing folk music. Scholars now credit him as being an important early innovator in the field of ethnomusicology.

Still, it was not necessarily his intent to use fragments of traditional music in his work. Rather, Bartók felt as though he had to study traditional music for its own sake, and not, in the words of biographer and critic Judit Frigyesi, “make empty displays of folk [music] at the expense of artistic integrity.”

Because Bartók was thought to be too proud to accept a commission directly from clarinetist Benny Goodman, Contrasts was clandestinely commissioned through Bartók’s friend, violinist Joseph Szigeti, who along with Goodman and the composer, performed on the January 1939 premiere in New York City.

Bartók’s love of folk music is apparent in Contrasts. The first movement, Verbunkos (Recruiting Dance), is inspired by the Hungarian dance of the same name. Make note of the rhapsodic clarinet cadenza toward the end of this movement. Perhaps this is why Goodman, an accomplished jazz clarinetist near the height of his popularity, said: “I need three hands [to play this piece].” The middle movement, Phinehö (Relaxation), is brooding and enigmatic, Transylvania-of-the-soul music that Bartók added after the initial performance. Closing out Contrasts in boisterous style, Sebes (Fast Dance) is a gypsy romp with an enigmatic middle section and a blazing violin cadenza.

Three Nocturnes Kevin Puts (b. 1972)

St. Louis native Kevin Puts has works commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. An early boost to his career came when he was named Composer-in-Residence of Young Concert Artists, Inc. (1996-98), where he continues to serve. Other important early commissions came from the New York Youth Symphony, the Ensemble Kobe (Japan) and the National Symphony Orchestra. Since then, Puts has created a sizable body of works for various ensembles, including an opera, four symphonies, numerous concertos and a host of chamber works. He has received many of today’s prestigious honors and awards for composition, including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his first opera, Silent Night. Puts is currently a member of the composition faculty at the Peabody Institute.

Three Nocturnes was commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and Michigan State University. According to the composer: “The title refers to the various evocations of night in the work; only the third could be called a nocturne in the legitimate historical sense. The first [nocturne] features a busy, arpeggiated violin part and a soaring, long-breathed melody in the clarinet, perhaps reminiscent of

Rachmaninoff’s seemingly endless melodies. The violin assumes the melodic role in the second [nocturne], at least until the clarinet joins in imitation. The last is a piano nocturne in the tradition of Chopin, complete with a widely-spaced accompaniment in the left hand. In answer to the constant motion of numbers one and two, the last nocturne is almost excessively slow and deliberate, finally achieving tonal stability in its final bars.” (kevinputs.com)

Rondo in B minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 70, D. 895Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Austrian composer Franz Schubert wasn’t raised to be an exceptional composer; he became one anyway. He was clearly gifted and received instruction at an early age, but ultimately, it was hoped he would follow in his father’s footsteps and teach school, which the young Franz did for a short time.

Alas, Schubert’s life seemed an ongoing conflict between what he truly was, and what others wanted him to be. He was desperately unhappy. He felt he would never amount to much, feeling as if he was living in the long shadow of Mozart and Beethoven, both of whom spent the height of their careers in Vienna, Schubert’s home town. Schubert never had a long-term post as a musician, nor did his works ever earn him much of a living. His fame was, by and large, posthumous. In spite of these hardships, he was one of the most prolific composers of his day — or any day, for that matter — leaving a body of more than 1,000 works.

The Rondo in B minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 70, D. 895, was a late work, composed in 1826, and published the next year under the title Rondo brilliant, one of only three of Schubert’s instrumental works published in his lifetime.

After its premiere, the Austrian Zeitschrift für Kunst (Journal for Art) wrote of the Rondo: “[Schubert’s] present work shows a bold master of harmony … this piece of music is animated by fiery fantasy … The mind of the inventor has often quite mightily flapped its pinions here and raised us up with it.”

This music of the opening Andante is appealing, a mixture of violin bravura, soaring melodies, and fresh harmonies. The Rondo starts with barely a pause, signaled by the bold “short-long” statement played by violin and piano together (for the aficionados out there, this motive starts the A section of the rondo form), followed by a rapid, upbeat leave-taking. Notice several false endings throughout the work in which Schubert forges ahead to new key areas and new ideas. Also, don’t miss the often thorny and technically challenging writing for both instruments, especially for the violin.

Four Rags for Two JonsJohn Novacek (b. 1962)

John Novacek is a multi-faceted American musician, active as a pianist and as a composer. He is the winner of numerous awards as a pianist, regularly performs recitals in major music capitols, has performed in concert with major orchestras worldwide and collaborates with such artists as Joshua Bell, Leila Josefowicz and Yo-Yo Ma. As a composer, Novacek has composed works for solo piano, for piano and violin, and piano and guitar duo.

He is best known for his ragtime pieces, or rags, an American turn-of-the-20th century style marked by its syncopated, or “ragged” rhythm. In the tradition of ragtime composer Scott Joplin, Novacek’s rags are a rhythmic romp, mixing every pianistic trick in the book. Schenectady, for example, is marked by its rhythmic verve, not to mention its sudden key changes. It is also at times quite virtuosic.

The “slow drag” was a sensual ragtime era dance that became a popular rag style. The 4th Street Drag, originally for guitar and piano, first appeared on Novacek’s Nohvarags recording in 1995.

The syncopated Recuperation is marked by a downward sliding melody in the opening section. This gives way to a rising, boisterous middle segment, then explores different sonorities, such as the successive “thwumps” in the piano, or the comical “high-low” ending.

Full Stride Ahead mixes in the vaudeville piano tricks of the 1910s and ’20s with a pulsing up-down “stride” technique in the piano’s lower register. It is a madcap romp from start to finish.

Trio for Clarinet, Violin and PianoPaul Schoenfield (b. 1947)

Detroit-born Paul Schoenfield began composing at age 7. His current catalog includes works for piano, chamber ensembles, orchestra and voice, and he has received numerous commissions, grants and awards, including from Chamber Music America, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Fund, the America Composers Forum and many other organizations. As well, his compositions are widely recorded.

While Schoenfield found inspiration in the music of such composers as Mozart, Brahms and Bartók, he also immersed himself in popular music styles, especially Jewish klezmer, a compelling stew of Eastern European folk, gypsy and jazz that found a permanent home in the U.S. It should come as no surprise that these diverse influences show up in his music.

The composer supplied the following notes for his Trio:

“In 1986, clarinetist David Shifrin asked me to write a chamber work for violin, clarinet and piano, but it was not until summer of 1990 that I was able to begin the project. In addition to the primary goal of composing a work for David, the Trio realizes a long-standing desire to create entertaining music that could be played at Chassidic gatherings as well as in the concert hall. The opening movement, Freylakh, is a joyous dance that is almost frenetic in the intensity of its merry-making. The March is bizarre and somewhat diabolical in nature, and the Nigun is a slow movement of introspection. The work closes with a lively Kozatzke (Cossack Dance).

Each of the movements is based partly on an East European Chassidic melody. The exact source of many Chassidic melodies is unknown. Frequently they were composed by the Tzadikim of the 18th and 19th centuries, but often as not, they appear to have been borrowed from regional folk songs, Cossack dances, and military marches. In their Chassidic versions, however, the melodies and texts were completely reworked, since the borrowed tunes, which originated in a completely different milieu, could not satisfactorily express the Chassidic idea that regarded the exuberant expression of joy as a religious duty.”

— Program notes by Dave Kopplin.

About MiXt MiXt is a versatile, dynamic and vibrant chamber group comprised of award-winning soloists on the Young Concert Artists roster. Performing in a variety of configurations, the trio consists of clarinetist José Franch-Ballester, violinist Bella Hristova and pianist Ran Dank. These dazzling soloists and accomplished chamber musicians of diverse backgrounds inspire audiences with engaging programs. Their inaugural season will feature a premiere of a new work written by the 2012-14 YCA Composer-in-Residence and will include debuts in New York at Merkin Hall in the Summis Auspiciis Concert, and in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center — both in the Young Concert Artists Series — as well as performances and educational residencies across the country. MiXt holds the Helen F. Whitaker Chamber Music Chair of YCA.

Spanish clarinetist José Franch-Ballester is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician since winning a place on the YCA roster and soon after, an Avery Fisher Career Grant. His concerto appearances include the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, the BBC Concert Orchestra in London, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In Spain, he has performed with the Orquesta de Radio y Television Española, the Orquesta Sinfonica Castellon, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias and the Orquesta de Valencia. He is the founder of “José Franch-Ballester i amics (and friends),” a new festival in Moncofa, Franch-Ballester’s hometown, and throughout the Valencia area. Franch-Ballester appears around the U.S. at La Musica Festival in Florida, the Mainly Mozart Festival in California, Chamber Music Northwest

in Oregon, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico and Music@Menlo in California. Abroad, he has performed at the Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música in Colombia, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and in the Young Concert Artists Festival in Tokyo. In 2010 he was awarded Cannes’ MIDEM/IAMA’s Outstanding Young Artist Prize. Franch-Ballester is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Donald Montanaro and Pamela Frank.

Bella Hristova is a violinist of extraordinary qualities that have brought her an international career. Highlights of her busy season include appearances as soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela and the Atlantic Music

Festival Orchestra in Maine, the Richardson Symphony in Texas, the Mississippi Symphony, the Youngstown Symphony and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall on May 16, 2013 in the Young Concert Artists Gala Concert. Hristova has appeared as soloist with Pinchas Zukerman and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center; with conductor Jaime Laredo and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; and with David Effron and the Indiana University Philharmonic as winner of the 2009 Concerto Competition. Hristova won first prize at the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand and is a laureate of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She has performed with Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two and at festivals including Music@Menlo in California, Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival and the Young Concert Artists Festivals in Tokyo and Beijing. She is a recipient of YCA’s Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship. Born in Pleven, Bulgaria, Hristova is a graduate of The Curtis Institute, where she worked with Ida Kavafian (YCA Alumna) and studied chamber music with Steven Tenenbom. She received her artist diploma with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University in 2010.

Israeli pianist Ran Dank captivates audiences and critics alike. This season, Dank gives recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Portland Ovations in Maine, the Merrick-Bellmore Community Concert Association, Missouri State University and in New York at Tannery Pond Concerts and at SUNY Buffalo. He has performed as soloist with the Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Hilton Head and Pensacola Symphonies; the Cleveland Orchestra; the Orquesta de Valencia in Spain, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall; as well as in recitals presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society’s prestigious Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center and at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. In addition to First Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Dank is a laureate of the Naumburg Piano Competition and the Sydney International Piano Competition. Dank has appeared at the Young Concert Artists Festival in Tokyo, the Seattle and Montreal Chamber Music Festivals, and with Fourtissimo! (two pianos/four pianists) at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. Born in Israel, Dank earned his bachelor’s degree from the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University where he studied with Emanuel Krasovsky, his master’s degree from the Juilliard School where he worked with Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein (YCA Alumni) and his artist diploma from Juilliard, under Robert McDonald. He is currently pursuing his doctorate with Ursula Oppens and Richard Goode (YCA Alumni) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York as a chancellor’s fellow.