Music at  ST MARY'S   Perivale

St Mary's Perivale Beethoven Piano Sonata Festival 2021

All 32 piano sonatas played by 32 pianists

The festival will be streamed LIVE from an empty church. Watch on our website
We will pay our musicians, and we hope you might donate via our website

Session 3 : Sunday October 3rd 2 pm - 6 pm.

Programme notes (by Julian Jacobson) and pianist biographies

2.00 pm Ilya Kondratiev : Sonata in D minor Op 31 no 2 'Tempest'
Largo. Allegro — Adagio — Allegretto

The nickname is not Beethoven's though it has become universally accepted: the only justification for it is that Beethoven is said to have muttered, when someone asked him the meaning of the sonata, ‘Read Shakespeare's Tempest !’ Interestingly the sonata, along with the other two sonatas of Op.31, has no dedication: perhaps, in Beethoven's conscious wish to forge a new, tighter and more intensely expressive style, the sonatas felt too personal and independent-minded for him to want to dedicate them to a patron. The first movement picks up on the innovation of the Pathétique by opening with a slow introduction which recurs at key points in the movement. On subsequent appearances it is accompanied by a ghostly recitative for which Beethoven instructs the player to keep the sustaining pedal depressed - a cause of much argument over the years. The bulk of the movement is a fast, breathless and intense Allegro. The Adagio movement, in the submediant key of B flat major (practically another Beethoven innovation) is broad, noble and dignified. The sonata form Allegretto finale has a perpetual motion theme that was apparently suggested to Beethoven by the galloping of a horse outside his window: like so much in his middle period masterpieces, it has become iconic and it is difficult to imagine the musical landscape without it.

Pianist Ilya Kondratiev is the prize winner of such renowned competitions as the International F. Chopin Piano Competition (Hannover 2011), International F. Liszt Piano Competition (Budapest 2011), International F. Liszt Piano Competition (Weimar 2011), the Fifth Tbilisi International Piano Competition (Tbilisi 2013) and Brant International Piano Competition (Birmingham 2015). Ilya performs extensively as a soloist and as a chamber music player. In 2011 Ilya was invited to take part in the Franz Liszt Piano Academy in Schillingfurst (Germany) with E. Leonskaya and in the Eppan Piano Academy (Italy) with P. Gililov. He frequently takes part in master classes with Rolf-Dieter Arens, Dina Yoffe, Konstantin Shcherbakov, Willem Brons, Dmitry Bashkirov, Jerome Rose, Leslie Howard, Lang Lang, and ArieVardi. Ilya has graduated from the Royal College of Music London (Master of Performance, Artist Diploma) and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire where he was studying with professors Vanessa Latarche, Sofia Gulyak and Zinaida Ignatieva

2.30 pm Mark Viner : Sonata in E flat major Op 31 no 3
Allegro — Scherzo: Allegro vivace — Menuetto: Moderato e grazioso — Presto con fuoco

One of a triumphant trilogy of sonatas from the period immediately after Beethoven had come through the despair of realising he was going deaf and had penned his partly suicidal, partly defiant ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, the final sonata of the group is a radiant comic masterpiece. All four movements are in the major key and there is no slow movement: the second is a pattering scherzo in duple time (a Beethoven innovation) using a staccato touch throughout, and the third is a gracious Minuet with a Trio that fascinated Saint-Saens enough to write a clever set of variations for two pianos on it. The irresistibly energetic 6/8 finale has earned the sonata the nickname of ‘The Hunt’. The first movement opens with an oblique approach to the main key of E flat: starting with a pleading motif on a chord of the subdominant (A flat) with an added 6 th , Beethoven (who always wrote complete sonatas, never a disparate series of movements) is preparing us for his second movement which is in fact in A flat. There are ritardandos, pauses and restarts as Beethoven delights in the elements of surprise - Haydn being the primary influence here (the movement substantially recalling the first movement of Haydn’s Sonata No.49 in the same key), rather than the smoother, more lyrical Mozart. The second subject contains a typical Beethoven joke, a group of 12 notes to be played in a single beat which is in fact impossible in the strict tempo that one is normally supposed to keep to in
classical sonata playing. But it all comes out in the wash!

Described by International Piano Magazine as “one of the most gifted pianists of his generation”, Mark Viner is steadily gaining a reputation as one of Britain's leading concert pianists and is becoming increasingly well-known for his bold championing of unfamiliar pianistic terrain. Born in 1989, he began playing at the age of 11 and studied at the Purcell School of Music with Tessa Nicholson and later the Royal College of Music with Niel Immelman, graduating in 2011 with first class honours in a Bachelor of Music degree and a distinction in Master of Performance in 2013. While in demand as a recitalist and teacher, he is also a published composer and writer and his advocacy for the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan and Franz Liszt has led to his election as Chairman of both the Alkan Society and the Liszt Society. He is very active in the recording studio and his recordings of music by Thalberg, Liszt, Alkan and Chaminade on the Piano Classics label have garnered exceptional critical acclaim. His most important project to date is a survey of the complete piano music of Alkan, the first of its kind, which is expected to run to 17 CDs in length.

3.00 pm Sofia Sacco : Sonata in G minor Op 49 no 1
Andante — Rondo: Allegro

Beethoven’s two charming sonatas Op.49, each formally titled‘ Sonate facile, pour le pianoforte’ , were written between 1795 and 1798, thus begun after the Op.2 sonatas: their later opus number reflects the publication date of 1805. Each sonata has only two movements. They may have been intended as teaching pieces, and indeed the composer had not wanted them publ ished: it was his brother Kaspar who offered them for publication against Beethoven’s will. Nevertheless they are fully characteristic, No.1 in particular being a beautiful piece, deeply affecting in its first movement, and No.2 being the ideal introduction to Beethoven for countless pianists. The first sonata is in G minor, a key hardly used by Beethoven as a main key (perhaps because of its inevitable association with Mozart). In a straightforward sonata form and frequently using just two-part writing, it is nevertheless contrapuntally ‘alive’ with some attractive left hand imitation. The
recapitulation is expressively extended and there is a beautiful coda. The cheerful Rondo finale, now in G major, displays Beethoven’s boisterous good humour and is by no means easy to play. Though called a rondo, it is rather, perhaps, a loosely constructed sonata structure.

Sofia Sacco was born in Italy and studied at the Pollini Conservatoire in Padua. She has given solo recitals at prestigious Italian venues include Sale Apollinee of Teatro la Fenice, Cappella dei Mercanti in Turin, Velletri Auditorium, Academic Theather in Castelfranco Veneto. She won various piano competitions, including the "Crescendo International Piano Competition", "A. Baldi International Piano Competition", and "Piove di Sacco National Piano Competition", and has attended masterclasses with professors L. Zilberstein, B. Petrushansky, E.Krakovsky, K. Bogino, and C. Grante among others. Graduating with honours in 2016, Sofia was awarded a scholarship for her postgraduate studies. She also graduated with honours in Physics at the University of Padua. Sofia is currently based in London studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Rustem Hayroudinoff on a scholarship.

3.15 pm Gabriele Sutkute : Sonata in G major Op 49 no 2
Allegro ma non troppo — Tempo di Menuetto

The second of the Op 49 sonatas, now completely in G major, opens with a genial movement in largely two-part writing, each hand sometimes expanded to thirds for greater euphony. The simple sonata form allows nevertheless for modulation to minor keys in the shortdevelopment section so that the movement has a satisfying emotional range. The Tempo di Menuetto second movement - a genuine rondo - is notable for sharing its main theme with the third movement of Beethoven’s (later) Septet. All is pastoral innocence, with a slightly more energetic third theme in the subdominant C major. The sonata has hardly any original dynamic or expression markings, allowing the performer a fair amount of freedom in interpretation.

Gabriele Sutkute was born in Lithuania and is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music on a full scholarship. She has won fifteen first prizes, four Grand Prix and received numerous special awards at various international piano competitions. In November 2019, she was awarded third prize and the Audience Prize at the VIII M. K. Ciurlionis International Piano and Organ Competition (Lithuania). Earlier in the year, the pianist received a “Special Mention” at the III International Piano Competition “City of Vigo” (president of the jury- Martha Argerich). For achievements in music Gabriele received Lithuanian Republic President Dalia Grybauskaite's appreciation certificates for five years in a row. In 2020, she became one of the artists at Talent Unlimited. Gabriele has played in many concerts and festivals, appearing both as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2019, Gabriele was invited to play Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto with “Audentia Ensemble” in London and performed Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra.

3.30 pm George Todica : Sonata in C major Op 53 'Waldstein'
Allegro con brio — Introduzione: Adagio molto — Rondo: Allegretto moderato. Prestissimo

This celebrated Grande Sonate (so titled by Beethoven) has always ranked as one of the great set pieces of the repertoire. The nickname comes from the dedicatee, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, Beethoven’s pupil and pa tr on: a more meaningful nickname, used in France, is L’Aurore (Dawn), from the magical, quasi-impressionist pianissimo entry of the Rondo finale theme which emerges out of the profound night of its short Introduzione. Beethoven originally planned the sonata in three movements, with a longish and somewhat discursive slow movement. He was persuaded that this was too long for the sonata, publishing it separately as the Andante favori which subsequently became one of his most popular works in his lighter style. Meanwhile he wrote a short, harmonically rich and extremely concentrated Introduzione in its place, leading the listener from F major back to C major. The sonata as Beethoven left it thus has the character of an immense diptych. The first movement has an exhilaration and sweep that carry all before it. After its mysterious introduction, the Rondo finale - which has been described as the greatest rondo ever composed - takes us from the misty mystery of the opening through more vigorous, even angry episodes in the minor and a development section of great breadth, to a final Prestissimo coda with a series of trills that were to become a prominent feature of Beethoven’s late style. The [in]famous octave glissandi near the end are only one example of Beethoven’s pianistic innovations in this ‘Grand Sonata

Romanian pianist George Todica completed an Artist Diploma degree from the Royal College of Music in 2019 after previously undertaking his Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He gave his Wigmore Hall debut in October 2018 as a Tillett Trust Young Artist, and his competition success includes first prizes at the Norah Sande Award in England, the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales, ‘Stefano Marizza' Piano Competition in Italy, the Moray Piano Competition in Scotland, 2nd prize at the International Piano Campus Competition in France, and 3rd Prize at the International Piano Competition Istanbul. George is also a keen chamber musician, performing regularly with soprano Charlotte Hoather, and as part of the Chloe Piano Trio. Born in Romania in 1993, he won over 20 prizes in international piano competitions. He studied at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from 2011 to 2017, winning many awards and scholarships. His Artist Diploma Course at the Royal College of Music was supported by the Charles Nappier Award and the Tillett Trust, and he was under the guidance of Norma Fisher. George was selected to be a Tillett Trust Young Artist in 2017 and is currently being supported by Talent Unlimited where he has been featured as Artist of the Month in August 2019.

4.05 pm Andrew Yiangou : Sonata in F major Op 54
.In tempo d’un menuetto — Allegretto. Più allegro

A curiosity in some ways - a two-movement, short, stand-alone sonata between the two peaks of the Waldstein and Appassionata that has never achieved the celebrity status of its neighbours. Yet it is a fine work, unlike any other sonata and an integral part of Beethoven’s magisterial sonata oeuvre. One of Beethoven’s favourite books was Plutarch’s Parallel Lives , in which the life of a well-known Greek and Roman, such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, are contrasted. I’ve often wondered if this was an influence on Beethoven’s few but powerful two-movement sonatas. In any case the two movements certainly present a massive contrast, yet palpably belong to the same unified composition. The first movement is, unusually, not in sonata form but in a double variation form probably borrowed from Haydn. The opening theme, a courtly minuet, is succeeded by a furious outburst of double octaves (at least a generation too early: double octaves didn’t become a normal feature of piano writing till the advent of Liszt). The minuet returns, sweetly decorated, then a shorter blast of octaves, then a beautiful coda, the deepest and most personal music in the sonata. The second movement is a mystical perpetuum mobile in running semiquavers. It is in binary form with each half repeated, though ‘B’ is some eight times the length of ‘A’ (Beethoven would have probably failed a composition exam but we may rest assured that he knew what he was doing). There are some visionary harmonies in the second part. Finally an explosive, faster coda rounds off this highly satisfying sonata.

International Concerto Pianist, Andrew Yiangou, has recently been selected as one of the fourteen semifinalist's to participate in the 12th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition 2020 in Utrecht. He was a recipient of the prestigious Mills Williams Junior Fellowship whilst studying at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Professors Norma Fisher, Vanessa Latarche and Gordon Fergus-Thompson. He was awarded multiple scholarships including support for his studies from the Tillet Trust and Eileen Rowe Musical Award Trust. Andrew has worked with artists such as Robert Levin, Ya-Fei Chuang, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Charles Owen, Kathryn Stott, Peter Jablonski and Boaz Sharon, and is a prize winner of many international competitions. He has performed at many venues in the UK including Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, St. James's Piccadilly, Steinway Hall, St. Lawrence Jewry, St. Barnabas Ealing and St. Mary's Perivale. He has travelled all over the world to perform in countries including USA, Serbia, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France and Poland. Alongside mainstream repertoire he has a particular affinity for the music of lesser known composers such as Nikolai Kapustin, Leopold Godowsky, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Nikolai Medtner, Georgy Catorie and Sergei Lyapunov.

4.25 pm Julian Trevelyan : Sonata in F minor Op 57 'Appassionata'
Allegro assai — Andante con moto — Allegro ma non troppo. Presto

This famous sonata, written at the height of his powers, was thought by Beethoven to be his greatest, at least till the Hammerklavier . The ‘King Lear’ of sonatas, its mood is almost unremittingly dark and tragic, sometimes violent, yet also sublime and full of pathos. It is Beethoven's only major work that not only starts in a minor key but also finishes in it, without any hint of comfort and without the typical Beethoven outcome of triumph over adversity. The mood of foreboding is established right away with an obscure unison theme in pianissimo, the hands two octaves apart - an iconic moment in the piano repertoire. Iconic also are the crashing fortissimo chords that break out without warning, which may or may not represent the increasingly deaf composer frantically trying to hear himself but are anyway symbolic. The second subject is momentarily consoling though it cannot break away from the underlying fatalistic rhythm: its second part is a veritable torrent of turbulent semiquavers. There are two huge climaxes later on, one at the end of the development and an even more violent one leading into the faster coda which finally exhausts itself.
The slow movement, in D flat major, is a set of variations on a theme of nirvana-like stillness. The variations become gradually more animated, rising to heights of beauty before the theme returns, now in alternating registers. The expected final cadence is aborted by a mysterious diminished 7th chord - another iconic moment! - and the torrential finale is unleashed. The structure is a relatively simple sonata form, though uniquely Beethoven asks for the second part to be repeated but not the first. Finally an odd, violent presto coda ends the sonata in total obliteration.

Julian Trevelyan is a British musician. In 2021 he won the Second, Audience and Mozart prizes at the Concours Géza Anda. In 2015 at the age of 16, he was the top prize winner, and youngest ever laureate at the Concours Marguerite Long. He has also won laureates at the CFRPM, Ile de France, Dudley, Dumortier and Kissinger competitions. He has studied at the École Normale Alfred Cortot with Rena Shereshevskaya, sponsored by Patrick Masure. From 2021 he is Rena's assistant, and replaces her in lessons. He also studied composition there, and is composer in residence with Ensemble Dynamique. He is an Alumnus of the Lieven International Piano Foundation. He has also studied with Christopher Elton, Elizabeth Altman and Rita Wagner. He studied musicology at Oxford University, and has a degree in Geology. He leads a string quartet, plays historical instruments and is part of a mandarin a capella choir. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, cooking and sports. He currently lives in Paris and speaks four languages.

 

5.00 pm Matthew McLachlan : Sonata in F sharp major Op 78
Adagio cantabile. Allegro ma non troppo — Allegro vivace

This two-movement sonata runs for barely ten minutes yet punches a weight beyond its modest dimensions. Beethoven was particularly proud of it: irritated by the popularity of the Moonlight Sonata (not yet so called), he wrote ‘surely I have written much better things: the F sharp major Sonata for instance - now there is really something’. The first movement opens with a short, poignant slow introduction - maybe Beethoven's apology to his piano for theunprecedented violence unleashed on it at the end of his previous sonata, the Appassionata . The most unusual key of F sharp major gives the music a special radiance. Contrasts are muted and there are passages of quietly running semiquavers, the last of which brings the movement to an emphatic forte close. The comic finale opens on a sharp dissonance, the home key being reached only in the 12 th bar. More passages of running semiquavers, now articulated in pairs (hard to achieve in a fast tempo), lead ultimately to a loud, crashing chord followed by a sort of dissolve (again with the paired semiquavers) and the return of the main theme in the subdominant. Beethoven seems to be enjoying his own playful virtuosity hugely. An even more extended ‘dissolve’ leads to the final statement of the main theme, now in the tonic but with changes of register. A smoother passage leads to some mysterious pauses and a concluding burst of semiquavers, the opening dissonance finally resolved.

Matthew McLachlan was born in 2000 and started piano lessons with his father in 2008. At 11 years he entered Wells Cathedral School, studying with John Byrne, and two years later he entered Chetham's in Manchester where he studied piano with Dina Parakhina. He won third prize in the senior division of the first Scottish International Youth Prize Competition in July 2016. Before leaving Chetham's, Matthew won the school's Bosendorfer competition, playing Stravinsky's ‘Three movements from Petrushka'. In 2018 he performed Mozart's 13th concerto in Trieste, Haddington and Rhyl as well as Tchaikovsky's first and Beethoven's fourth concerto in Buxton with the orchestra of the High Peak. In the winter of 2018, the Knights of The Round Table awarded Matthew with a full scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London, where he now studies. Although 2020 saw many concerts cancelled, Matthew gave online performances and has recently been taken under the wing of Talent Unlimited, thanks to Canan Maxton. Earlier this year he won the Chappell Medal at the Royal College of Music.


5.20 pm Olga Paliy : Sonata in G major Op 79
Presto alla tedesca — Andante — Vivace

This short sonata, called Sonatina in some sources reflecting its brevity and modest proportions, should by no means be relegated to the status of a minor composition: it is fully characteristic of Beethoven in a certain mood sometimes referred to as ‘unbuttoned’. Particularly the first movement is fully worked out with a considerable degree of subtlety. This is marked Presto alla tedesca , already a comic surprise as a tedesca (German dance) is normally in a rustic, moderate tempo: the main theme of this one reappears, in the same key but with the notes in a different order, as the theme of the Alla tedesca movement of the Op 131 String Quartet, where it is at the ‘correct’ tempo.
The second subject appears not in the dominant but in A major, the dominant of the dominant, only working its way round to the dominant towards the end. The development introduces - or picks up from a hint at the end of the exposition - a delightful new idea, a repeated falling third (with a tricky crossed hands keyboard layout) which has earned the sonata the nickname of ‘The Cuckoo’ . Each half is repeated; the coda, when it arrives, is one of Beethoven’s most engagingly comic passages. The other movements are more modest. The Andante movement, in the tonic minor and with an unusual 9/8 timesignature, is a simple, sad German song with a consoling
middle section in E flat major. The Vivace finale is all high spirits again, Beethoven enjoying himself (and creating problems for the young players to whom the sonata is often given) with some cross rhythms between the hands includingfour against three. It hasn’t often been noticed that the opening theme anticipates almost literally the theme of the last movement of the E major Sonata Op.109: Beethoven must
have sensed the latent possibilities in his theme which here is cheerfully innocent.

Olga Paliy is a Ukrainian pianist successfully combining performance, research and teaching in her musical career. Giving her first solo recital at the age of thirteen Olga received her musical education in the Ukraine and the UK. After successful completion of her research at the RNCM under the primary supervision of David Horne Olga was awarded PhD in April 2017. In her research Olga concentrated on Russian composer Sergey Taneyev and his contrapuntal technique. Olga's appearances in numerous international piano competitions led her to winning the top prizes in Ragusa-Ibla International Music Competition (Italy), The Art of 20 th Century , (Italy), The Art of Accompaniment (Ukraine), The Emmanuel Prize (UK) and Sussex International Piano Competition (UK). Olga has been appearing widely as a recitalist, chamber musician and as a soloist with the orchestra in major venues in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine interpreting wide range of repertoire, from Bach and Scarlatti to Carl Vine and James MacMillan.Olga is grateful for the experience of working w ith distinguished pianists, such as Norma Fisher, Arie Vardi, Michel Beroff, Anton Voight, Charles Rosen, Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Michel Dalberto, Nelson Goerner, Garrick Ohlsson and Jerome Rose. Since 2016 Olga is a regular jury member of the Riga International Competition for Young Pianist, held annually in Latvia.

 

5.35 pm Mikhail Shilyaev : Sonata in E flat major Op 81a 'Les Adieux'
Das Lebewohl: Adagio. Allegro —Abwesenheit: Andante espressivo (In gehender Bewegung, doch mit viel Ausdruck — Das Wiedersehen: Vivacissimamente (Im lebhaftesten Zeitmaße)

The title is Beethoven's own (though he preferred the German version Das Lebewohl ), making it his only programme sonata as such. The subject is the departure on an extended trip and anticipated return of one of Beethoven's most importantpatrons, the Archduke Rudolph, dedicatee of several of his grandest works. After a substantial, pregnant slow introduction - the sonata's weightiest and most intense music - the main Allegro part of the first movement is brisk and energetic, with much use made of the three-note falling Lebewohl motif. Comparatively short, the movement makes up for this with an extended coda as if the friends are trying to put off the moment when they have to part. The second movement, L'absence or‘ Abwesenheit’ , opens in C minor on a sad, questioning motif. This leads to alternating angry outbursts alternating with moreconsoling, major key passages. An interrupted cadence and a short, mysterious passage with a feeling of great anticipation leads straight into the Vivacissimamente (extremely lively) finale, Le retour or ‘Das Wiedersehen’ , expressing the joy of reunion. A heartfelt slower passage and a final burst of merry broken octaves round off this much-loved sonata.

Mikhail Shilyaev was born in Izhevsk, Russia, and won several regional piano competitions at a young age. He studied at Moscow State Conservatoire, in Germany and in the UK. As a soloist with orchestra, he has performed with Musikkollegium Winterthur, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra among others. In July 2010 Mikhail won the Bronze Medal at the prestigious Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition in Lisbon. Mikhail lives in London and plays mostly in the UK and Europe. He has been taking part in numerous festivals across Europe including Zaubersee festival in Lucerne and Suoni dal Golfo in La Spezia, Italy. Among his chamber music partners are Boris Brovtsyn, Anastasia Kobekina and Natalie Clein. He is interested in historical performance practice and often g ives recitals on fortepianos. Mikhail is also known for his collaboration with singers. Mikhail's repertoire stretches from early Baroque to contemporary music with its focus on J. S. Bach, Viennese classics, German romantics and Chopin. He has recently released two critically acclaimed CDs on Toccata Classics and Stone Records. His new record made on historical Bechstein has been released by Willowhayne Records.

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