Piano Recital
Tamar Beraia, Piano
The Bern-based Georgian-Swiss pianist Tamar Beraia, winner of several international awards, presents a piano performance full of power, musicality, and virtuosity. She has already performed very successfully at the Mendelssohn Music Week several years ago.
Program
Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Arabesque in C major, Op. 18
Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
2 Mazurkas, Op. 6, No. 3 & No. 5
Scherzo No. 2 in C minor, Op. 14
Robert Schumann
Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
As fast as possible
Andantino. Solemn
Scherzo. Very fast and marked
Rondo. Presto – Prestissimo.
Quasi Cadenza
*****
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
Songs Without Words, Op. 19 No. 1, Op.
38 No. 2, Op. 67 No. 2, Op. 102 No. 4
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)
From “Das Jahr” (The Year) 12 Character Pieces
for Piano
September
November
December
Felix Mendelssohn
Variations sérieuses, Op. 54
Program Details
Robert Schumann’s Arabesque in C major, Op. 18, has a dreamy and wistful quality. The clearly structured classical form is complemented by light, Arabic-inspired fragments that come together to form a brilliant whole. The work was composed in the fall of 1839, at a time when Schumann was attempting to marry Clara Wieck against her father’s wishes. The Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, was composed between 1833 and 1836. In a letter dated March 3, 1838, Clara Schumann writes: “I am infinitely delighted with the second sonata; it reminds me of many happy, but also painful, hours. I love it just as much as you do; your whole being is so clearly expressed in it, and besides, it is not too incomprehensible. “Even before Clara Wieck could read music, she was already exploring the piano. She developed into an internationally renowned concert pianist who performed throughout Europe between 1831 and 1889. Her programs often featured works by her husband and fellow contemporaries. Op. 6 is a cycle of six piano pieces she composed in 1836. They remain among her most significant works for piano. In Scherzo No. 2, composed in 1845, she not only demonstrates her compositional mastery but also showcases her pianistic virtuosity. The influence of Chopin, whom she greatly admired as a pianist and composer, is unmistakable. The highly gifted Fanny Mendelssohn was not permitted by her father to turn her talent into a career. Her work remained in the shadow of her famous brother throughout her life. The piano cycle “Das Jahr” was composed in 1841 following her trip to Italy. The character pieces can be understood as a diary of this happy and eventful time. Upon her return, Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn wrote: “Oh, beautiful Italy! How rich I have become within through you.” Felix Mendelssohn surprised his sister Fanny on her 23rd birthday with a piano piece titled “Lied.” She expanded this title to “Lied ohne Worte,” under which further piano works by her brother became known. Even during his lifetime, they were already among the most rewarding pieces that 19th-century piano literature had to offer. The publisher Nikolaus Simrock was so successful with the publication of these works that he subsequently sent Mendelssohn an additional fee. Mendelssohn composed the Variations sérieuses, Op. 54, in 1841. The work consists of 16 variations that seem to draw inspiration from Beethoven but already lean toward Brahms’s virtuosic variation style. Mendelssohn deliberately sets himself apart from his contemporaries. A friend of his, the composer and pianist Ignaz Moscheles, said of Op. 54: “I play the Variations sérieuses again and again; each time I enjoy their beauty anew.”