Skalny Concert: Masterpieces of Chamber Music


by Oriana Masternak, violin, and Kristina Raczyńska, piano


Sunday, December 13, 7:00 pm
Strong Auditorium, UR River Campus


Free Admission

Program
Witold Lutosławski - Recitativo e arioso

Philipp Scharwenka - Suite in G Minor op. 99:
I. Allegro moderato
II. Ballade
III. Intermezzo
IV. Recitativ und Tarantella

Intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata for Piano and Violin in G Major op. 30 no. 3:
I. Allegro assai
II. Tempo di Minuetto
III. Allegro vivace

Henryk Wieniawski - Fantasia on Themes from Gounod's 'Faust' Op.20



Oriana Masternak graduated from the Academy of Music in Cracow, Royal Conservatorium in Brussels, European Chamber Music Academy, Yale School of Music and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, is the prizewinner of many international competitions, and performs solo and as a chamber musician in Asia, North America and majority of European countries.

Kristina Raczyńska graduated with distinction from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2013 and in 2014 from Warsaw F. Chopin University of Music, where she is continuing doctoral studies with a full scholarship. She has received many scholarships and prizes at international competitions and performed as a soloist and chamber music player in Poland, Portugal, Tunisia, France, Lebanon, Holland, Belgium, Russia and Armenia, among other countries. On December 19, 2015, Oriana Masternak and Kristina Raczyńska will give a recital at Carnegie Hall, New York City.


About the composers

Witold Lutosławski (1913 - 1994) was undoubtedly one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. He attempted to create a new musical language by incorporating elements of folk songs, 12-tone serialism, atonal counterpoint, and controlled improvisations reminiscent of aleatoric techniques while retaining elements of conventional harmony and melody. He was a great authority, a patriot, an educator of many generations of musicians and listeners. He was also a model of modesty, a highly cultured individual, someone who demanded much of himself and others.


Philipp Scharwenka (1847-1917) was born near Poznań, Poland, then under Prussian partition. He moved to Berlin in 1865 to complete his musical education. During his lifetime, his orchestral compositions were featured regularly in German concert halls, but the common consensus is that his chamber music was his best work, on par with the great composers of his day. Besides several instrumental sonatas, he wrote two string quartets, two standard piano trios, a piano quintet and this trio for violin, viola and piano. But for the most part, his music has been largely forgotten. Scharwenka's musical works were re-discovered by the founder and director of Le Salon de Musiques, Francois Chouchan, and are gradually being reintroduced to concert halls in Europe and the United States.


Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) is widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western music. He was a considerable innovator in musical form, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet; while in the Ninth Symphony he combined the worlds of vocal and instrumental music in a manner never before attempted. His personal life was marked by a heroic struggle against encroaching deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life when he was quite unable to hear.


Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) was one of the greatest violinists of the Romantic era. As a performer, often compared to Paganini, he dazzled audiences with his stupendous technique, expressive phrasing, and rich tone. In 1860 he was appointed violin soloist to the tsar of Russia, and from 1862 to 1869 he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1872–74 he toured the United States, playing with the pianist Anton Rubinstein, and he subsequently taught for a time at the Brussels Conservatory. His compositions celebrated the spirit of Poland and were intended to display his virtuosity. He composed two violin concerti and many small lyrical forms - elegies, reveries, études, mazurkas, and polonaises, among others.



Co-sponsored by the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies and the University of Rochester Department of Music.