PROGRAMME

Sunday 4 November 2007, 3.00pm
The Gateway, Shrewsbury

Pei-Jee NG cello
Pei-Sian NG cello
Miyako Machida piano

Sonata in G for Two Cellos Jean Barrière
Sonata for Cello & Piano in G min, Op.65 Chopin
Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19 Rachmaninov
‘Phoenix Story’ for Two Cellos (Première) Elena Kats-Chernin

Sonata in G for Two Cellos Jean Barrière (1707-1747)

Andante; Adagio; Allegro prestissimo

Little is known about the life of Jean Barrière, who came from a humble Bordelaise family and whose most important contribution to the development of cello playing in France were his compositions. His first set of sonatas, published in 1733, shows an advance on its predecessors, and contains bravura passages that are a challenge even to modern performers.

Barrière first studied the viol, and published a set of viol sonatas. However, he became a skilled cellist during a period when the cello was gaining popularity over the viol in France, in due course completely replacing it, as indeed had already happened in Italy some 40 years prior. He became one of the best known virtuoso cellists of his time.

Whilst not well-known to the general public today, a few years after his death, Pierre-Louis Daquin de Chateau-Lyon did not hesitate to describe him as: "the famous Barrière, deceased only recently, possessed all that one can desire. ... few could perform as well as he."

Sonata for Cello & Piano in G min, Op65 Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Allegro moderate; Scherzo; Largo; Finale: Allegro

Frederic Chopin is not usually associated with the cello, yet in the catalogue of his compositions there are three works specifically written for that instrument: an Introduction and Polonaise in C, Op.3 (1830), a Grand Duo in E (1832), and the Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, begun in the autumn of 1845.

"I don't play much, for my piano is out of tune, and I compose even less," wrote Chopin to his family from George Sand’s estate at Nohant, where he spent the fall of that year. His relationship with the colourful novelist had long since dwindled to a platonic arrangement, but even that state was wearing thin due to domestic crises. Chopin, commencing work on the Cello Sonata, was continually being distracted by the quarrels of the Sand family. He had hoped to complete the work while at Nohant, but because "I cannot write in the winter," Chopin returned to Paris in November 1845 with the still-unfinished manuscript.

In April 1847, the cellist August-Joseph Franchomme (dedicaté of the Cello Sonata) and the composer played the completed sonata at a soirée given at Chopin's lodgings. Following revisions of this work two months later, he signed a contract with Breitkopf and Hartel in Leipzig and Brandus et Cie in Paris for its publication.

On Wednesday, February 16, 1848, a distinguished audience of three hundred heard the final three movements of the Cello Sonata as part of Chopin’s first recital in Paris in six years. The concert, an enormous success for the pianist, was also to be his last in that city and again included the services of his good friend Franchomme.

A few days before Chopin died, just after he had received the last sacraments, he asked Franchomme to play something: the opening measures of the Cello Sonata, however, were terminated by a recurrence of the composer's racking coughing fit.


Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op.19 Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)

Lento:Allegro moderate: Moderate; Allegro scherzando: Un poco meno mosso ; Andante; Allegro mosso: Moderato: Vivace

Rachmaninov was born in Oneg and died in Beverly Hills, California. Composed in the summer of 1901, Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op. 19, was first performed in Moscow on December 2 of that year. It received its Carnegie Hall premiere on March 9, 1949, with Edmund Kurtz, cello, and Anthony di Bonaventura, piano.

Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata, like the man himself, is big, robust, moody, poised between the heart-on-sleeve Romanticism of the late 19th century and the edgier, more emotionally involuted idiom of the post-Romantic era. Written when the pianist-composer was 28 and on the brink of his international career, it is dedicated to Anatoly Brandukov, the outstanding Russian cellist of the day and Rachmaninov’s fellow star pupil at the Moscow Conservatory. The two men gave the first performance of the sonata in late 1901, just over a month after the hugely successful premiere of Rachmaninov’s ever-popular Second Piano Concerto.

For all its minor-mode darkness and undercurrents of Slavic angst, the sonata is at heart an exhilaratingly joyful work. The two mighty outer movements, propulsive allegros of majestic proportions and plush textures, contrast with the airier and more introspective mood of the intervening Allegro scherzando and Andante. The latter, although the shortest of the four movements, contains some of Rachmaninov's tenderest and most rapturously lyrical music. The interplay between the two instruments, which elsewhere in the sonata tends, not surprisingly, to favour the piano, is here kept in perfect balance. Bursting with energy, the G Minor Sonata is richly stocked with Rachmaninov's trademark sweeping melodies and scintillating pianistic filigree. Regrettably, his best piece of chamber music was also his last.


'Phoenix Story' for Two Cellos (2007 Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957)

1. Tears from Above 2. Courting the Dragon

When we received the score to 'Phoenix Story', it was sent to us in two related but independent movements - with the working titles of 'Dark Green' and 'Light Green'. The original idea was to choose either of the works Elena had written.

The first piece is a very serious and emotive work with a rock-like feel to it, whereas the second work has a fast-paced pumping beat with fantastic harmonic changes. The thing that surprised us most was the seemingly Oriental-influenced melody that Elena had used in both works. Although a very beautiful melody on its own, when set against the landscapes Elena had created, the sound of the works became magical and unique.

As the works had no official titles, the three of us started brainstorming ideas and one night I suddenly thought of 'Phoenix Story', which is heavily influenced by the Chinese nature of the major theme that holds the two pieces together.

In traditional Chinese culture, the Phoenix and the Dragon are very important symbols. Usually paired together, the Dragon represents the 'male' and the Phoenix represents the 'female', symbolising balance (yin and yang). They are depicted either as mortal enemies or blissful lovers.

Elena Kats-Chernin: " ... it is quite unusual for me to write for two cellos without the accompanying piano and the challenges were to try and incorporate all the possible registers and their combinations, as well as the rich colours of the instruments. I was in one way tempted to write something really virtuosic and on the other hand compelled to use the rich lyrical timbres of the instruments, which needed long held notes. In the slow piece I was drawn to a particular harmonic sequence, repeated over and over and a melody like a cloud over those chords. Out of this material a pentatonic melody grew and the piece took almost a dark turn. That same melody found its way into the second movement, but was used in a fast and energetic manner."



PEI-SIAN NG

Pei-Sian NG is the Commonwealth Musician of the Year in 2007, and winner of the Gold Medal and First Prize at the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition held in London. Born of Malaysian-Chinese parents in Sydney in 1984, he began studies in Adelaide with Barbara Yelland and later with Janis Laurs at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Pei-Sian Ng continues his studies with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

As a soloist, he made his international debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004, and has continued to perform with orchestras including The Queensland Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and Sinfonia ViVA. Most recently Pei-Sian Ng gave the Asian premiere of Kalevi Aho's Double Cello Concerto with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with Rumon Gamba, Paul Mann, Nicholas Kok, Pietari Inkinen and Arvo Volmer.

Pei-Sian Ng regularly attends the Kronberg Academy International Cello Festival in Germany and most recently made an appearance in the Opening Recital of the Manchester International Cello Festival in 2007. He is grateful for the support he has received from the Elder Overseas Scholarship, Victoria League, MBF Myra Hess Award, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Tait Memorial Trust, Australian Music Foundation, Marten Bequest, Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust and the Hattori Foundation.

Since 2006 he has been an artist on the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme and looks forward to debut recitals in London at the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall, in addition to concerts in the UK, France and Germany and his debut in Finland with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and Arvo Volmer.

Pei-Sian Ng performs on a 1764 Giovanni Antonio Marchi cello.


PELJEE NG

Pei-Jee NG was Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year in 2001. Currently a student of Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, his teachers in Australia include Jam's Laurs and Barbara Yelland. Recent engagements include performances of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Kalevi Aho Double Cello Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony and The Queensland Orchestra and an appearance m the Opening Recital of the 2007 Manchester International Cello Festival. Upcoming projects include performances with the Oulu Symphony and Adelaide Symphony and a debut CD with Melba Recordings.

Pei-Jee Ng has also performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, as well as with orchestras including Sinfonia ViVA (Tan Dun), Sydney Symphony (Tchaikovsky), Melbourne Symphony (Saint-Saens), West Australian Symphony (Haydn) and the Tasmanian Symphony (Kabalevsky). He has worked with Arvp Volmer, Rumon Gamba, Paul Mann, Federico Cortese, Peter McCoppin and Graeme Abbott.

He has received awards from the Hattori Foundation, Australian Music Foundation, Tait Memorial Trust, Myra Hess Award, Countess of Mun-ster Musical Trust, Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust, Marten Bequest and the ABRSM.

As a recitalist and chamber musician, Pei-Jee Ng regularly performs in the Elder Lunch Hour Concert Series and has made appearances at Australia House (London), Jurlique Herb Farm Concert Series, Academy of Melbourne Mozart Series, Blackwood River Chamber Festival and the Melbourne Symphony's KPMG Rising Stars Series. Most recently he completed a recital tour of Germany with pianist Thomas Duis. In 2006, he joined the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme.

Pei-Jee Ng plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello of 1844.


MIYAKO MACHTOA

Miyako Machida was born in Japan and studied at the Toho Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo. After finishing her degree she came to London to study privately with Jeremy Menuhin and a year later she entered the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Helen Krizos. She has completed a postgraduate diploma and a Professional Performance Diploma and continued her studies for two years with Martin Roscoe whilst she was a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment.

Miyako won the first prize in the Ribble Valley International Piano Week Competition in 1998. Whilst at the RNCM she was awarded the William Humphreys Dayas Prize, the Julius Scholarship, the Alan Rawsthome Award, Dora Gilson Scholarship, the RJ Forbes Award for Accompaniment Repetiteur Work and bursary scholarships. She received a scholarship to attend IMS Prussia Cove in 1998.

She has participated in numerous masterclasses with musicians such as Gyorgy Sebok, Dmitri Bashkirov, Stephen Kovacevich, Arnold Cohen, Anne Queffelec, Alexander Melnikov, and Jos van Immerseel (fortepiano), and as a chamber musician, with Mstislav Rostropovich and Ivry Gitlis.

Miyako has given various concerts in Europe. As a soloist, she has performed Tchaikovsky's First Concerto with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic and the Furth Youth Orchestra, and Rachmaninov's Second Concerto with the Manchester Beethoven Society. During the recent Henze Festival at the RNCM, she performed the Concertino with RNCM Wind and Percussion Ensemble and subsequently at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

She has also appeared in the Rydale, Aboyne and Deeside Festivals, Ribble Valley International Piano Week, North Fylde Music Society, Chester Music Society, Craxton Studio in London, Hollywell Music Hall in Oxford, and Bridgewater Hall in Manchetser. She was engaged as an official accompanist at the Aberyswyth Music Fest in 1997 and is currently teaching privately and at the Junior RNCM.

Last Updated : 19/11/2007