Program 2      

 

BEETHOVEN THE IMPROVISER

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Beethoven is known as a giant of composers, but he should also be remembered as one of the great improvisers of his age. There are many stories of his public improvisation duals with rival pianists and memories of him offering improvised ‘portraits’ of friends and dignitaries at parties, and extemporizing brilliant variations on popular tunes of the day. His friends also recount numerous occasions when Beethoven would perform private improvisation sessions when they were ill or in grief. This may help to explain his seemingly endless source of new ideas and also explain his great love for the variation form that permeates all his music. In this program, both of these substantial variation movements are based on themes from popular comic operas. This improvisatory approach may also have inspired his ability to build large formal structures through manipulations of small motives. This technique becomes more dominant in works from his middle period, like in this 6th violin sonata. Beethoven arranged this joyful trio Op 38 for septet as well as clarinet and violin, which shows how flexible and adaptable his musical ideas could be.

 

 

10 Variations on 'Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu', Op.121a for Piano Trio   (1816)

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Violin Sonata No.6, Op.30 No.1 (1802)

Allegro

Adagio molto espressivo

Allegretto con variazioni

 

INTERMISSION

 

Variations from Mozart’s opera ; The Magic Flute

'Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen' 

for Piano and Cello Op.66 (1798)

 

Trio in E-flat major, Op.38  (1799 rev. 1803)

Adagio - Allegro con brio

Adagio cantabile

Tempo di Menuetto

Theme con Variazioni. Andante

Scherzo. Allegro molto e vivace - Trio

Andante con molto, Alla marcia - Presto

 

Özcan Ulucan, vilolin

Poyraz Baltacıgil, cello

Eren Aydoğan, piano

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