Program 

 Program is subject to change

 Program Notes 

by Joseph Gusmano

Selections from Suite in G minor                                                                               RAMEAU

This suite was published as part of the third of three books of harpsichord music, titled Pièces de clavecin, composed by Rameau between 1706 and 1727.  Rameau, along with François Couperin, was among the leading harpsichordists of his time.  He also replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the most revered composer of French opera.  In addition to his compositional efforts, Rameau was also one of the most important music theorists of his day, particularly when it came to organization and analysis of diatonic harmony using Roman numerals.

The titles of each movement come from poetic forms, as in Les Tricolets or Les Triolets, as well as evocations of non-European musical traditions, as in L’egyptienne and Les Sauvages. Unfortunately, Les Sauvages was most likely inspired by an “exhibition” of two Native Americans in Paris in 1725.  Rameau blends the highly ornamental and contrapuntal style of earlier Baroque keyboard music with the charming melodies of 18th century Classical music. 

Three Impromptus                                                                                                      SCHUBERT

These three impromptus come from a series of eight impromptus composed by Schubert in 1827.  These pieces were published in two sets of four. The first two pieces of the first set were published during Schubert’s lifetime.  The second set was published posthumously in 1839 with a dedication to Franz Liszt added by the publisher. Schubert’s impromptus are significant examples of early Romantic keyboard music.

The Impromptu in Eb Major contains two contrasting themes, one in Eb major and one in B minor.  These two key areas are relatively distant from one another, so Schubert’s subtle transition between the two themes is quite dramatic.  The Impromptu in G-flat Major is full of gentle, lyrical melodies and maintains a constant texture throughout the piece.  The final impromptu in F minor is far more fiery in character than the previous two from the first set.  Schubert is able to dissolve and then establish the pulse of the music in this impromptu by accenting different parts of the beat.

Sonata No. 5                                                                                                               WALKER
(in one movement)

George Walker was the first black composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music, which he received in 1996 for his work, Lilacs, for soprano and orchestra. Born in 1922, Walker was a composer, pianist, and organist who attended both the Curtis Institute for Music and the Eastman School of Music before studying under Nadia Boulanger in France. He received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among many other ensembles.  He published over ninety works before his death in 2018, including five piano sonatas.

This fifth and final piano sonata is full of harsh dissonance as well as languid modal consonances.  Unlike his previous piano sonatas, the fifth sonata is just one movement.  The abrupt ending of the piece mirrors some of the sudden dramatic shifts in tempo, harmony, and range that he develops throughout the sonata.

Twelve Etudes, Opus 10                                                                                             CHOPIN

Chopin composed these etudes between 1829 and 1833, while he was living in Paris.  By this time, he was already famous as a composer and performer of salon music.  It was in these Parisian salons that Chopin became acquainted with the virtuoso pianist-composer Franz Liszt, to whom his Twelve Etudes are dedicated. The final etude, known as the Revolutionary Etude, was composed just after the failed November Uprising in his native country of Poland against Imperial Russia. When he learned of the failed revolution, Chopin cried, “All this has caused me much pain! Who could have foreseen it?”

Unlike previous etudes of earlier composers like those of Carl Czerny or Stephen Heller which were designed as exercises to develop piano technique at home, Chopin composed his etudes as fully fleshed out concert pieces that also instruct the player on more advanced piano techniques.  In order to accurately execute some of the enormous leaps that appear in these pieces, the performer must keep their wrists supple and avoid over-extending their fingers.

 About the Artist 

Roman Rabinovich, piano

The eloquent Israeli-US pianist Roman Rabinovich has been highly lauded by The New York Times, BBC Music Magazine, the San Francisco Classical Voice and others. He has performed throughout Europe and the United States in venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and the Terrace Theater of Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Rabinovich has participated in festivals including Marlboro, Lucerne, Davos, Prague Spring, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. An avid chamber musician, he is also a regular guest at ChamberFest Cleveland.

Rabinovich has earned critical praise for his explorations of the piano music of Haydn. At the 2018 Bath Festival, he presented a 10-recital 42-sonata series, earning praise in The Sunday Times. Prior to that, in 2016 as artist in Residence at the Lammermuir Festival in Scotland, he performed 25 Haydn sonatas in 5 days, and over two seasons, in 2016 and 2017, he performed all Haydn’s sonatas in Tel Aviv.

During the pandemic Rabinovich and his wife violinist Diana Cohen have been playing free weekly concerts outside their front yard.

Dubbed “a true polymath, in the Renaissance sense of the word” (Seen & Heard International, 2016), Rabinovich is also a composer and visual artist.

 Rabinovich’s 2020-21 highlights include Berg Kammerkonzert with violinist Kolja Blacher and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, solo recital tours in UK and US, including three-concert Haydn Day in Wigmore Hall, debut at Lofoten Piano Festival. This season he appears in duo recitals with violinists Kristof Borati, Benjamin Beilman, cellist Camille Thomas, pianist Zoltán Fejérvári and chamber music with Escher and Dover Quartets.

Rabinovich’s orchestral appearances include the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Roger Norrington, Meiningen Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, the NFM Leopoldinum and Szczecin Philharmonic in Europe, and the Seattle Symphony, the Sarasota Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, the Sinfonia Boca Raton and James Judd in the US.    
Solo recital appearances include International Piano Series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ruhr Piano Festival, Liszt Academy, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and Walter Reade Theatre, the Houston Society for the Performing Arts, the Washington Performing Arts Society, Vancouver Recital Society, Chopin Society in St Paul, MN, the Janáček May International Music Festival, and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff. As a chamber musician Rabinovich appeared with violinist Liza Ferschtman in, among others, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and the BeethovenHaus Bonn.

Roman Rabinovich made his Israel Philharmonic debut under the baton of Zubin Mehta at age 10. He was a top prizewinner at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2008, while in 2015, he was selected by Sir András Schiff as one of three pianists for the inaugural “Building Bridges” series, created to highlight young pianists of unusual promise. Born in Tashkent, Rabinovich immigrated to Israel with his family in 1994. He now resides in Canada with his wife violinist Diana Cohen and daughter Noa.