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Yefim Bronfman

Photo Credit: Felix Broede

Bronfman Plays Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1

Chamber Orchestra of Europe Yefim Bronfman, piano
Orchestral Series
Thursday, June 19, 2025 at 6pm Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
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Experience a monumental moment as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe makes its Bravo! Vail debut. Led by German conductor Matthias Pintscher, the evening soars with Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring the incomparable pianist Yefim Bronfman. Works by Hadyn and Schubert complete the program.

Featured Artists

Matthias Pintscher

conductor

Yefim Bronfman

piano

Program Highlights

Matthias Pintscher, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

SCHUBERT/WEBERN Six German Dances
HAYDN Symphony No. 44, Trauersinfonie
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1

All artists, programs, and pricing subject to change.

Program Notes

German Dances from October 1824, D. 820 (1824/1931)

(6 minutes)

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828), arranged by Anton Webern (1883-1945)

German Dances from October 1824, D. 820

Dance No. 1—Dance No. 2—Dance No. 1 da capo—Dance No. 3—Dance No. 1 da capo Dance No. 4—Dance No. 5—Dance No. 4 da capo —Dance No. 6—Dance No. 4 da capo

Franz Schubert’s masterpieces in the year 1824 included his Octet for Strings and Winds and his String Quartets in A minor (Rosamunde) and D minor (Death and the Maiden). Smaller works were nestled between imposing ones, including the six German Dances (Deutsche Tänze) for solo piano he composed in October 1824. Schubert’s writing here is notable for forceful metric displacements and for the way he sometimes assigns melodies to the texture’s inner lines, leaving the upper parts to stand as descants. The first three dances are in A-flat major, the last three in B-flat major. These two groups of three dances, none of which carry tempo markings, are structured imaginatively as a pair of rondos. Dance I is playedin its entirely, with both of its halves repeated. After Dance II is similarly played, Dance I returns (“da capo,” now without repeats). Then it’s on to Dance III, after which Dance I (again without repeats) returns for a final goround before the music finally stops for a break. The final three dances proceed in the same A-B-A-C-A pattern. The dances remained hidden in a private library until they came to light in 1930. They were published the next year by Universal Edition, which commissioned the 12-tone composer Anton Webern, whose works they habitually published, to create an orchestrated version. Oblivious to pecuniary matters, Webern undertook the arrangement as “work for hire” at a flat fee. His friend and former teacher Arnold Schoenberg was aghast, believing that Webern would have benefited from a royalty arrangement instead. Schoenberg was right: for the rest of Webern’s life and some while beyond, these Schubert arrangements were the most frequently played items in Webern’s catalogue.

Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Trauersinfonie (Mourning Symphony, ca. 1770/71)

(22 minutes)

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)

Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Trauersinfonie (Mourning Symphony)
     Allegro con brio
     Menuetto (canon)—Trio
     Adagio
     Finale: Presto

By the time he wrote his Symphony No. 44, in about 1770 or 1771, Franz Joseph Haydn had already traversed considerable distance in his experimentation in the genre. He had recently become captivated with the hyper-emotive style known in posterity as Sturm und Drang. Some scholars argue that any connection to that esthetic movement is coincidental, maintaining that this thread of Haydn’s style was simply an outgrowth of his abstracted musical inclinations. In any case, during that period he produced six minor-key symphonies whose dramatically delineated phrases and abrupt changes of character remain ever fascinating.

In its surface details, Symphony No. 44 may be the least explosive of that bunch, but its emotional impact is nonetheless so exceptional that it may justifiably be considered the finest symphony Haydn had written to date. Perhaps its most astonishing expanse is its second movement—not a slow movement, as one would expect, but rather an E-minor minuet. It is no casual dance but rather an austere study in strict two-voiced canon at the octave (“Canone in Diapason,” to use the composer’s term), with inner voices filling in freely. Near the minuet’s end the melodic shape takes a turn; it is transformed into a downward-drooping contour, and the temporal distance between the canonic voices is increased from one measure to two.

The nickname Trauer (Mourning), popularly attached to this piece, appears to date only from the 19th century. It may derive from the fact that in 1809 the Adagio movement was played in Berlin at a memorial service for Haydn. You may read that, at the composer’s request, this symphony was played at his funeral—a claim that has no basis in documented fact.

INTERMISSION

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858)

(42 minutes)

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-97)

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 
     Maestoso
     Adagio
     Rondo—Allegro non troppo

Johannes Brahms most fully adapted the models of Beethoven (via Mendelssohn and Schumann) to the evolving esthetics of the mid-to-late 19th century. He did not achieve this without considerable struggle and was reluctant to sign off on works in genres that invited direct comparison to Beethoven, such as string quartets and symphonies. He did, however, manage to bring his First Piano Concerto to completion in 1858, and he published it four years later. He would not follow up with his more serene Piano Concerto No. 2 until two further decades had passed.

The Piano Concerto No. 1, in contrast, is a stormy work of essentially pure, tumultuous Romanticism, written during the time when Brahms’ mentor, Robert Schumann, was deteriorating in an asylum. Lacking Schumann to provide counsel, Brahms instead sought a musical confidante in Schumann’s wife (then widow) Clara. Important support and advice also came from their friend Joseph Joachim, the violinist, who conducted this concerto’s premiere, with Brahms as soloist.

In 1854, Brahms had written at least three movements of a Sonata in D minor for Two Pianos. Although he abandoned it incomplete, he recycled some of its music. By April 1856, some of the Sonata’s music had morphed into a preliminary version of this piano concerto (without changing key), and Brahms began sending bits of it to Joachim for his comments. Joachim proved to be a patient and insightful editor and coach, and the composer took many of his ideas to heart. Brahms was characteristically loath to let loose of his piece, however, leading the frustrated Joachim to write, “I beg of you, please, for God’s sake let the copyist get at the concerto”—which is what Brahms finally did a couple of months later.

Presto Club - 2025 Activity Booklet

Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater

530 S Frontage Rd E Vail, CO 81657 Venue information