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Ever turned on the radio and some music comes on, you know it by heart but have no idea what it is? This happened to me last year; it was something my mother used to plonk out on the piano when I was a kid. Brahms, Schumann…maybe Mendelssohn? The music was dark and brooding, deeply romantic, and very mysterious. Suddenly, the piece turned a corner, the sun came out, and it was apparent that it couldn’t be anyone other than Mozart.

It is widely acknowledged that Beethoven ushered in the romantic movement from its earlier classical era. Think of the economy and grace of an early Beethoven string quartet, the young master still spellbound by his teacher, Haydn. Compare that to the massed forces of his late, great, 9^th Symphony - four horns, three trombones, 10 woodwinds including a contrabassoon, a veritable army of strings, full chorus, four soloists - it is like comparing a vintage Riva Aquarama speedboat to the SS Normandie.

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In Beethoven’s late period he shattered accepted forms, disregarding established “rules” of composition with an emphasis on powerful feeling and extreme emotion. Meanwhile, forty years earlier, Mozart, in a famous 1781 letter to his father wrote mildly:

"…passions, whether violent or not, must never be expressed to the point of exciting disgust, and as music, even in the most terrible situation, must never offend the ear, but must please the listener, or in other words must never cease to be music."

And yet…one can’t listen to Mozart’s D Minor Fantasia without being struck by the depth of emotion. From the first subterranean melancholy of the opening arpeggio it skirts the precipice of despair. (If this were Shostakovich, he would send you hurtling into the abyss.) The music halts, ventures forth, halts again - tentative steps in the dark. It becomes angry at fate…turns inward in resignation. And then, like a light turned on, the music comes alive, blowing the storm clouds away and erasing any remnants of sadness.

Thus, we start our 25^th anniversary season.

For Opening Night this summer, we have esteemed American pianist Kenny Broberg, laureate at the Tchaikovsky (Moscow) and Van Kliburn (Texas) international competitions. The concert is a pianistic showcase beginning with the Mozart Fantasia followed by Haydn’s B Minor piano sonata representing the peak of the classical period.

The second half of the concert features Mendelessohn and Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues - composers now looking backward (instead of forward), leapfrogging the classical era to centuries-old baroque forms that were favorites of Bach.
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I couldn’t program a recital by Kenny Broberg without at least one opportunity to show off his technical chops and ridiculously virtuoso bona-fides: hence Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz where pieces of ivory will be flying off into the first few rows.

Tickets are now on sale. See you then,

‍David Yang, Artistic Director

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