David Finckel & Wu Han

Program Proposals – 2008/09 season

A) The Classic Sonata

Bach: Sonata in G minor for Viola da gamba and Piano, BWV 1029

Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Cello in C major Op. 102 No. 1

Brahms: Sonata for cello and piano No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38

Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58

“The Classic Sonata” brings together four bedrock works of the literature for cello and piano, journeying from the Baroque period through the Romantic era. The first half of the program comprises works by the hallowed “Three B's” of Western music: the Sonata for Viola da Gamba (the Baroque precursor to the cello) in g minor of Johann Sebastian Bach; the Opus 102 No. 1 of Beethoven's profound late period; and Brahms's austere first Cello Sonata, whose final movement nods to both Bach and Beethoven. The program concludes with the passionate Cello Sonata in D Major of the quintessential Romantic Felix Mendelssohn.

B) Stories in Sound

Corigliano: Fancy on a Bach Air for Solo Cello (5.30)

Janáèek: Pohádka (Fairy Tale) for Cello and Piano (12.00)

Edwin Finckel: Brief Encounter (5.41)

Schumann: Phantasiestücke for clarinet (or cello) and piano, Op. 73 (15.00)

Glazunov: Chant Du Menestrel (Minstrel's Song), Op. 71 (4.00)

Grieg: Sonata for cello and piano in A minor, Op. 36 (28.00)

“Stories in Sound” demonstrates the vividly communicative power of music. The Czech composer Leoš Janáèek, whose preoccupation with the relationship between music and spoken language informed his many operatic works, composed Pohádka for cello and piano in 1910; the work was inspired by Vasily Zhukovsky's poem “The Tale of Tsar Bendvei,” a fairy tale pitting a valiant prince against the king of the underworld. Similarly chimerical are Robert Schumann's three Fantasy Pieces of 1849—originally composed for clarinet, but just as easily befitting the cello's vocal timbre (an adaptation sanctioned by the composer)—and Grieg's epic Cello Sonata, a veritable Nordic tone poem composed in 1883. Complementing these Romantic works are three short 20th-century gems: Alexander Glazunov's Minstrel's Song, which evokes the a poignant voice of a Russian troubadour; John Corigliano's magisterial Fancy on a Bach Air; and the yearningly songful Brief Encounter by Edwin Finckel (the cellist's father).

C) Russian Trio

First work: Miaskovsky: Sonata No. 2 (1949)

Second work: Lera Auerbach: Sonata number 1

(2002 – composed for David Finckel and Wu Han)

OR (presenter choice)

Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in c minor, op. 119

Final work: Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in g minor, op. 19

OR (presenter choice)

Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano in d minor, op. 40

The Russian literature for cello and piano has become a duo specialty since the release their award-winning Russian Classics album, comprising twentieth-century Russia's three most famous cello sonatas: works by Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev. This season, the duo adds the Cello Sonata no. 2 of Nikolay Miaskovsky. Spanning the first half of the century, these works evoke everything from the romanticism of tsarist Russia to the torturous climate in Soviet times under the Stalin regime. Musical narratives told by voices from within a vast land, these sonatas take the listener deep inside the Russian soul.

The musical lineage of the Prokofiev Sonata traces directly to David Finckel, for whose teacher, the late, unparalleled cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the piece was composed.

The musical lineage of the Prokofiev Sonata traces directly from the composer to the dedicatee, the late, great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and on to his student David Finckel.

The Cello Sonata by the young Russian composer Lera Auerbach, composed in 2002 for David Finckel and Wu Han, is a dark and haunting work, reminiscent of the composer's Russian heritage while firmly rooted in the 21st century. The Auerbach Sonata may be substituted for the Prokofiev.

General note: David Finckel and Wu Han plan to offer AudioNotes for all programs.

AudioNotes is a CD-companion to conventional program notes, featuring biographical information on the program's composer(s) and discussions of each work, illustrated with musical examples. It can be made available by special arrangement with ArtistLed, Inc., for presenters to offer to advance ticket buyers, or to help promote the concert in other ways. AudioNotes, narrated by the artists, offers audiences an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the music at their convenience in advance of the concert experience. Beyond audience development, presenters may also find AudioNotes a useful tool for promotional, educational, and development purposes.