T he D epartment of Music , University of California , Berkeley Presents

67th Annual Noon Concert Series at Hertz Hall

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Jared Redmond, pi a n o
Mazurkas, op. 50 (1926-31) SZYMANOWSKI
I. Sostenuto. Molto rubato (1882 - 1931)
II. Allegramente. Poco vivace
IV. Allegramente, risoluto

Clarifica me, Pater, MB 47-49 (c. 1565) BYRD

I. (c. 1539 - 1623)
II.
III.


2 Notturni Crudeli (2001) Salvatore SCIARRINO
II. Furia, metallo (b. 1947)
Perduto in una città d'acque (1991)
Anamorfosi (1980)

Gesänge der Frühe, op. 133 (1853) SCHUMANN

I. Im ruhigen Tempo (1810 - 1856)
II. Belebt, nicht zu rasch
III. Lebhaft
IV. Bewegt
V. Im Anfange ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegtes Tempo

This program has been made possible in part by support from

the Sheldeen G. Osborne Performing Arts Fund

HERTZ HALL CONCERT ETIQUETTE

To ensure everyone's enjoyment of this performance we ask that you follow these guidelines:

• Please turn off cell phones, tablets, and laptops • Please avoid wearing fragrances
• Taking video or pictures during the performance is prohibited • Late arrivals will be seated during a designated time
• Children must be able to listen quietly and be seated near an exit • Please keep Hertz Hall free of food, drink, and trash

If you have any questions, please speak with a member of our staff. Thank you! - Hertz Hall Staff
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jared Redmond is a composer and pianist currently based in Seoul. Originally from the Bay Area, he was educated at
U.C. Berkeley and Brandeis University. Jared has performed and composed around the globe; among other accolades,
he was the winner of the 2008 First Berkeley Piano Competition. He is pianist of ensembles Ehnahre (Boston) and
Geori (Seoul), and is currently visiting professor of composition at Hanyang University. Jared will also perform a
recital of all contemporary music, including brand new works written for him, at the San Francisco Center for New
Music, this Friday, Feb. 15th at 7:30pm. www.jaredredmond.com.

PROGRAM NOTES
Karol Szymanowski’s op. 50 Mazurkas, like all piano mazurkas, pay obvious homage to the memory of Chopin.
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in three, with lively syncopated accents on the second or third beats. In keeping
with the nationalist sentiment of Szymanowski’s last years, these pieces feature folklike melodies and rhythms mixed
with the colorful dissonances and “exoticisms” of Szymanowski’s earlier modernist and impressionist-leaning works.
Elizabethan composer William Byrd was a great composer of keyboard music, in addition to the vocal music
for which he is best known. Clarifica me, Pater ("Glorify me, Father") consists of three polyphonic settings of the
liturgical antiphon (refrain) of the same name. Composed while Byrd was organist at Lincoln Cathedral, each piece
is based on the antiphon melody sustained in long notes as a cantus firmus. The first, in two voices, splits into three;
the second, in three voices, splits into four. The last piece remains in a four-voice texture until its final cadence. These
pieces reflect a tradition in which church organists would improvise in lieu of choral responses. But their polyphonic
and rhythmic complexity may hint at one reason Byrd was formally reprimanded in 1569; the Puritanism which was
influential at Lincoln would possibly have seen such technical subtleties as too decadent for church service. In setting
Clarifica me, Pater, Byrd followed his friend and mentor, Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585), who also composed three
settings; Byrd’s student Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) would later compose a setting of his own.
The Due notturni crudelli ("Two Cruel Nocturnes") display a rare side of Salvatore Sciarrino, usually known for
his music of fragile stasis, often at the limits of audibility. As opposed to the famous nocturnes of Chopin, Sciarrino’s
nocturnes are phantasmagorical, with dark crashes of sound and sudden skitterings of insects – the stuff of nightmares.
Perduto in una città d'acque ("Lost in a City of Water"), inspired by a visit Sciarrino made to the home of dying
composer Luigi Nono (1924-1990) in Venice, exemplifies the sparse, expansive style for which Sciarrino is famous.
The composer’s footsteps were faint in the streets, amidst a silence broken occasionally by the distant noise of passing
ships. In Sciarrino’s words: “Death resonates through our hearts like pitch resonates in our ears. Both meanings are
elusive.” Anamorfosi ("Anamorphoses") shows Sciarrino at his most ingenious and playful, in a musical imitation
of optical illusion. The transformed music of several famous piano compositions (can you find their shared theme?)
mingles with the melody of a 20th century popular song.
Robert Schumann wrote Gesänge der Frühe ("Songs of Dawn") in 1853, his final year of productivity. Possibly
his last complete piano work, the Gesänge exhibit the strange voice leading and surprising dissonances which tempt
critics to see Schumann’s late music as either sophisticated experimentalism or a tragic succumbing to mental illness.
Indeed, Schumann’s advanced syphilis would result in a suicide attempt and his institutional committal mere months
later. But the Gesänge possess a serene, religious quality (an effect amplified by churchlike counterpoint, especially in
the first piece, and many plagal “amen” cadences), evoking the poetic-spiritual trope that death is not an end, but the
dawn of a new beginning.
- Jared Redmond

UPCOMING NOON CONCERT

Wednesday, February 20

Nicholas Tjahjono, piano

Christina Ge, soprano
with Michael S. Orland, piano

Featuring piano works by Beethoven and Liszt as well as

art songs by Faure and Quilter