Festival Spectrum 2024: Master’s Degree Concerts of String department of Music Academy of Ljubljana University
Magdalena Tokarz, violin (Poland) – Beata Barcza, piano (Hungary)
Final concert of the Master’s Degree at the String Faculty of the Academy of Music, University of Ljubljana
Mentor: Volodja Balžalorsky – Full Professor
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827):
VIOLIN SONATA No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
I. Allegro assai
II. Tempo di minuetto, ma molto moderato e
grazioso
III. Allegro vivace
Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994):
SUBITO FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
Mikołaj Górecki (1971):
CONCERTO NOTTURNO, Op.13
I. Lento
II. Allegro
III. Molto lento
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963):
VIOLIN SONATA, FP 119
I. Allegro con fuoco
II. Intermezzo
III. Presto tragico
About the concert
The program comprises diverse works for piano and violin that span multiple eras of classical music: Classical period, 20th-century and contemporary classical music.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), born on or about December 16, 1770, in the city of Bonn, was a prolific German pianist and composer in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. The grandson of Bonn’s most pre- eminent musician and Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven, young Beethoven displayed his musical talent at a young age. He was initially taught by his father who arranged his first public recital for March 26, 1778. In 1781, at the age of 10, he withdrew from school to begin his studies with his most important teacher, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who taught him composition. Beethoven’s first work were a set of keyboard variations published in 1783. In the same year, he published his first three piano sonatas. Vienna, where Beethoven arrived at age 21, became his base where he initially studied composition with Haydn and later gained reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His early years as a composer were highlighted by works such as Piano Trios, Op. 1, the First Symphony and String Quartets, Op. 18. The “heroic” period (1802-1812), marked by the composer’s advancing deafness, resulted in some of the most important pieces, e.g. Symphonies No. 3 and No. 5, Violin Concerto in D major and Piano Concerto No. 5. During the final years, despite being increasingly less socially involved due to hearing loss, Beethoven composed mature chamber music, late piano sonatas and, probably his most admired work, Symphony No. 9. The Violin Sonata No.8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3, written between 1801 and 1802 and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, opens with the first Allegro assai movement characterised by the exuberant, whirling flourish. The second movement is highlighted by the long, searching melody of the violin spinning its emotions out over the steady tread of the piano’s Tempo di minuetto. The sonata concludes with the Allegro vivace movement that includes many Haydn-esque elements.
Witold Roman Lutosławski (1913-1994) was a major Polish composer of 20th-century classical music. He studied piano and composition in Warsaw. During the World War II he was captured by German forces, but escaped after only a week. Lutosławski spent the rest of the war in Warsaw as a performing pianist. Some of his works, particularly from the Stalin era, that incorporate elements of Polish folk music include the popular Concerto for Orchestra (1954) and Dance Preludes (1955). Post- Stalin, he began developing new, characteristic composition techniques, e.g. twelve-tone style, that are highlighted in Musique funèbre (1958). By the 1980s he would achieve an international recognition. Lutosławski’s other important works include four symphonies, the Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941) and a cello concerto (1970). Subito for violin and piano, written in 1992 for Joseph Gringold and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, was his final completed work. It is a four-minute piece of energetic, dazzling virtuosity, with strong contrasts, potent drama, and pointillistic angularity reminiscent of Bartok.
Mikołaj Górecki (1971), the son of the renowned composer Henryk Górecki, began studying violin at age 6 and switched to piano a year later. He studied composition at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice under the tutelage of his father, graduating with honours in 1995. During 1996-1997 he was the recipient of scholarship from the Banff Centre for Arts in Canada where he continued his studies in composition. He received a doctorate in composition in 2000 from Indiana University in Bloomington. He currently serves as Professor of Piano at Laredo Community College in Texas. Mikołaj Górecki’s compositions have been recognised since 1988. In March 2011, the National Radio Orchestra led by maestro Jose Maria Florencio presented the world premiere of his orchestral work, Zan tontemiquico, during the Fourth Festival of Contemporary Music Premieres in Katowice. In April 2014, thanks to Górecki’s editing, London Philharmonic posthumously premiered his father’s Fourth Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall. Concerto Notturno, Op. 13 begins with the first movement that imitates Puccini’s La bohème. Later, the piece leads in more personal directions with its virtuosic, tango- flavoured second movement interspersed with sixteenth notes and syncopated rhythms. The nostalgic third movement has the character of free improvisation on the violin.
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) was a French composer and pianist, whose compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets and orchestral music. As the only son of a prosperous manufacturer, Poulenc was expected to follow his father into the family business, and he was not allowed to enrol in a music college. After his parents’ death, he studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes. He befriended Erik Satie, under whose mentorship he became a member of a group of young composers known as Les Six.
Poulenc was an accomplished pianist particularly known for his performances with the baritone Pierre Bernac and the soprano Denise Duval, with whom he toured in Europe and America. Being among the first performers to see the importance of the gramophone, he made a number of recordings as a pianist from 1928 onwards. Among the best known works are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the Organ Concerto (1938), the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957) and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra. The Violin Sonata, FP 119 was composed in 1942-1943 in memory of Federico García Lorca, the Spanish poet shot by fascists at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Movements such as “Allegro con fuoco” and “Presto tragico” express grief and fury over the tragedy of Lorca’s murder in terms of pointed rhythmicality, occasionally terminated by softer sentiment. The intermezzo, on the other hand, is a gentle elegy whose pizzicatos carry a quotation from Lorca – “the guitar makes dreams weep”.
Magdalena Tokarz is a Polish violinist. She began her music education at age 7. In 2016, she graduated from Karol Szymanowski Secondary Music School in Katowice. In 2022, she received master’s degree at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. Currently, she is studying at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. During her education she took part in many international orchestral projects, competitions and masterclasses with renowned professors. In 2022, after winning a competition, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.