Thursday, April 22, 2010 @ 8 p.m.
was first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas. It was
created by Fort Worth area teachers in honor of
Van Cliburn, who had won the first International
Tchaikovsky Competition four years prior with
Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
The Van Cliburn Competition is held every four
years (the year after the United States Presidential
elections; thus, the next competitions will
be held in 2009, 2013, and so forth). The winners
and runners-up receive substantial cash prizes,
plus concert tours at world-famous venues where
they perform pieces of their choice. This competition
now rivals the Tchaikovsky competition and is
often dubbed “the most prestigious in the world.”
The Gold Medal Winner of the Van Cliburn Piano
venues across the United States and abroad.
On June 7, 2009, four days after celebrating his nineteenth birthday, Haochen Zhang was awarded a Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He also received three years of international concert engagements and a CD recording of his prizewinning performances on the harmonia mundi usa label. The youngest participant at the competition, Mr. Zhang has already begun to forge a reputation as a strong, energetic pianist with a sophisticated approach and musical depth far beyond his years.
Haochen Zhang’s talent manifested itself early when he began studying the piano at age three. At age five, he made his recital debut at the Shanghai Music Hall, performing all fifteen Bach two-part inventions, as well as sonatas by Haydn and Mozart. His orchestral debut followed a year later when he performed a Mozart concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. At seventeen, he became the youngest winner ever of the China International Piano Competition (2007). Since then, Mr. Zhang has performed with the China National Symphony, Polish Krakow State Philharmonic, Guangzhou and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestras, as well as with the New Jersey Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras, among others.
Mr. Zhang’s inaugural season as a Cliburn gold medalist was launched by summer festival debuts in Aspen and Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Ruidoso, New Mexico. Additional engagements during 2009–2010 include performances with the Colorado, Hartford, Jacksonville, Pacific, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras and recital presented by Arts San Antonio; the Carolinas Concert Association (Charlotte); the Lied Centers of Kansas and Nebraska; La Jolla Music Society; Portland Piano International (Oregon); Scottsdale Center for the Arts; the University of Florida (Gainesville); and the University of Vermont (Burlington). International engagements coordinated by IMG Artists Europe include appearances at the Beijing Music Festival in October and recitals in Hannover, London, and Krakow in December.
Born in Shanghai, China, Haochen Zhang entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1999 at the age of nine, and was admitted to the Shenzhen Arts School, where he studied under Professor Dan Zhaoyi, in 2001. In March 2005, he was chosen from a pool of 115 pianists worldwide to study with pianist Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he has just completed his second year toward the Bachelor of Music degree. Mr. Zhang excels at ping pong and snooker, and enjoys writing poetry, composing, and improvising popular music. His broad interests include Chinese and world history, as well as science and literature.
Visit www.cliburn.org for more information.
Piano Sonata in C major, K. 330 (18') . . . . . . . Mozart
Allegro moderato
Andante cantabile
Allegretto
Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op. 52 (11') . . . . . . . Chopin
I N T E R M I S S I O N
Fantasy in C major, Op.17 (30') . . . . . . . Schumann
Trois mouvements de Petrouchka (16') . . . . . . . Stravinsky
• • • • • • • • CREDITS • • • • • • • •
Van Cliburn Foundation
2525 Ridgmar Blvd., Suite 307, Fort Worth, TX 76116
More information on the Van Cliburn Foundation and the competition
can be found on: www.cliburn.org
Travel arrangements provided in part by American Airlines
Set design and flowers B.B.Rusher and
Classic Designs of Wilmington
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
PIANO SONATA IN C MAJOR, K. 330 (18')
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K 330 was written in 1778. The sonata in C major is among one of the three works in the cycle K.330-332. The sonata was composed and complete in the summer of 1778 whilst Mozart was on holiday in Paris. This sonata was written within several months of his mother’s death. However, it is not known whether his mother died prior or following the composition of this sonata.
I: ALLEGRO MODERATO: The first movement typically takes about five minutes to perform. It is basically calm and quiet. The movement is composed of a main theme which repeats twice, then a bridge and then a recapitulation of the main theme. The main theme starts in key of C major, modulates to G major and stays in G major. The bridge is very intense and shows clever passages and modulations. In the recapitulation the main theme starts in C major, modulates to G major and then modulates back to C major.
II: ANDANTE CANTABILE: The second movement takes between five and seven minutes to perform. To the end of the piece, there is a question on the conclusion. Editors have resolved to employ a most “Mozart” idea to replace the lost autograph.
III: ALLEGRETTO: The third movement is the most energetic movement. Performance times range from three to five minutes. Use of arpeggios is prevalent throughout the piece. Like the second movement, the last few bars were lost in the autograph as well.
BALLADE NO.4 IN F MINOR, OP. 52 (11')
Frédéric Chopin
This ballade captures almost all elements of musical ideas and human expressions with just the piano; it also summarizes Chopin's lifetime creative experience. It was composed around 1842-43 and dedicated to Madame la Baronne C. Nathaniel de Rothschild. Madame Rothschild invited Chopin to play in her Parisian estate to introduce him to the aristocrat and nobility. The ballade was said to be inspired from Mickiewicz's “Budri”, a story of a father sending his sons to fight the enemy but ending up with three wedding feasts. Despite the overall key signature of F minor, the ballade opens with a major key that fades out for the main theme to appear. The main theme in F minor is so haunting and mysterious, yet a little bit sad, and it requires a great sense of rubato to interpret successfully. This Slavonic theme is slightly modified and repeated before a calming and serene octave section. The development section before leading to a silent point uses the same pattern as the main theme but in an opposite way, like an answer to the question proposed by the main theme. That question is still unanswered, as seen in the fading Gb repeating three times and turning to the main theme again. The main theme has for this third time more modification and expression, still elegant yet more powerful with the stormy and dramatic rising octaves that lead to the second subject in B flat major. This major key section seems to follow the motif of the second ballade where peace returns. The next modulation in A flat major is very delicate and it requires a good technique to master the double notes on the right hand and trills on the left hand. This long passage goes slowly and gives way for the return of the opening theme. The returning theme, in A major, slightly moves to the sad corresponding F sharp minor and quickly returns to the original bright key with a passage of grace notes. Then comes a wandering variation of the main theme in a strange tone, which suggests some doubts irresolvable and only relieved until the return of the common theme in F minor. The main theme appears again for this fourth time with many modification and at a faster pace, and so does the second subject, yet in D flat major, after. The recap of the two main subjects leads to a climax of arpeggios and successive chords that end suddenly. Calmness returns in the six 'pianissimo' mysterious chords modulated into C major, but just temporarily. The turbulent coda requires very high technical mastery of double notes. Is is said that this shattering section provokes a scene of horses running into the forest, which is featured in the climbing passages of double notes. The most fiery passage of rolling arpeggios concludes this most dramatic ballade with a 'triple forte' bass F and four massive ending chords.
FANTASY IN C MAJOR, OP.17 (30')
Robert Schumann
The Fantasia in C, Op. 17, written in the summer of 1836, is a work of passion and deep pathos, imbued with the spirit of late Beethoven. This is no doubt deliberate, since the proceeds from sales of the work were initially intended to be contributed towards the construction of a monument to Beethoven. The closing of the first movement of the Fantasy contains a musical quote from Beethoven’s song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98. According to Liszt, who played the work for Schumann, and to whom Schumann dedicated the work, the Fantasy was apt to be played too heavily, and should have a dreamier (träumerisch) character than vigorous German pianists tended to impart. Liszt also said, “It is a noble work, worthy of Beethoven, whose career, by the way, it is supposed to represent.” It must suffice to say that it is Schumann’s greatest work in large form for piano solo.
TROIS MOUVEMENTS DE PETROUCHKA (16')
Igor Stravinsky
Three Movements from Petrouchka for the solo piano were composed ten years later for his friend, pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and are dedicated to him. Stravinsky is very explicit in stating that the movements are not transcriptions. He was not trying to reproduce the sound of the orchestra, but instead wished to compose a score which would be essentially pianistic even though its musical material was drawn directly from the ballet. Stravinsky also wanted to create a work which would encourage pianists to play his music, but it should be one in which they could display their technique, an objective he amply achieved. Stravinsky’s goal in arranging Petrushka for the piano (along with Piano-Rag-Music) was to attempt to influence Arthur Rubinstein into playing his music. In order to gain the latter’s attention, Stravinsky ensured that Rubinstein would find the arrangement technically challenging but musically satisfying. Trois mouvements de Petrouchka reflects the composer’s intentions, and unsurprisingly, it is renowned for its notorious technical and musical difficulties. All three movements include wild and rapid jumps which span over two octaves, complex polyrhythms, extremely fast scales, multiple glissandos, and tremolos. Petrushka ranks among the most challenging repertoire for the piano. Because the playing time varies wildly depending on the performer, a performance of all three movements can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.
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