Top of the World Sounds

“Three Centuries”

Ludwig van Beethoven - 12 Variations on Handel’s ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’, WoO 45

J.S. Bach - Canon in Augmentation and Contrary Motion, from “The Art of the Fugue”

Anton Webern - Two Pieces

Alex Taylor - Four Little Pieces

-Short Intermission-

Ludwig van Beethoven - Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69

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About the Program:

1751, 1796, 1899, 2017.

These are the dates of verified composition or publication of the pieces that comprise the first half of our program. Over the course of nearly three centuries, we can look back and experience how radically Western art culture has transformed, through the lens of these four composers; Bach, Beethoven, Webern and Taylor. By no means does this selection reflect a comprehensive view of the Western musical canon; instead, it focuses on a very particular prism of musical influences that leads us to a facet of the present day.

In Beethoven’s time, Bach was largely a forgotten master of the past; Bach occupied the fringes of musical culture, with the complexities of his music considered undecipherable by society at large. For Beethoven, the discovery of Bach’s music was eye-opening and influential, pushing Beethoven to achieve a higher degree of complexity and craft than ever thought possible. Perhaps beyond aesthetics, Beethoven was also influenced by Bach’s pioneering nature, the defiance to push against the current of culture, to achieve one’s own vision.

Beethoven himself would achieve a status of myth, propelling the musical world into the lush nature of Romanticism. Constantly pushing for more expression, more intensity, more emotion, Romanticism would eventually reach its breaking point. Webern, at this critical juncture, would encapsulate that breaking point; the “Two Pieces” being its vessel, like entire Mahler symphonies condensed into the smallest dosage possible. What follows after is the chaos of the 20th century; the freedom of Expressionism, the formalism with Modernism, and many other musical trends. A century later, Alex Taylor writes his “Four Little Pieces” as a beautiful and evocative tribute to Webern.

1808

Beethoven’s third cello sonata, in A Major; the first cello sonata considered to have both parts equally balanced in role and purpose. Perhaps this was spurred about the waves of egalitarianism and democracy that was sweeping the continent at the time? The music also strikes an uncanny balance between Beethoven’s natures; the piece is clearly Romantic in many ways, but somehow still maintains the classical proportions of form that inform the Classical tradition. Music that is simultaneously looking back in history, and forward.

Despite all these differences, all these changes in aesthetic and thought, these pieces still share a crucial, common trait; that it is music, sounds to be listened to, written to evoke and inspire. We hope that you can join us for a fine Sunday afternoon as we share in this moment, as we listen and experience this music, together.