Recital: Hannah Eunsun Byun '24 DMA, Piano
In the course of completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory, performance majors present not just one, but three full-length recitals, for which they also write program notes. It's an opportunity to observe multiple facets of an emerging artist.
Hannah Eunsun Byun ‘24 DMA studies Piano with Wha Kyung Byun and is the recipient of the Ralph and Gertrude Karger Music Scholarship.
This performance will be viewable in-person and via livestream.
- Hannah Eunsun Byun '24 DMA, piano
- Wha Kyung Byun, studio teacher
Ludwig van Beethoven | 11 Bagatelles, op. 119
Allegretto
Andante con moto
Allemande
Andante cantabile
Risoluto
Andante – Allegretto
Allegro, ma non troppo
Moderato cantabile
Vivace moderato
Allegramente
Andante, ma non troppoProgram note
Beethoven’s Op.119 is a collection of eleven short pieces that capture the beauty of spontaneity and simplicity. A bagatelle is a piece of music that is light and easy in character. Inspired by the game, “bagatelle” (the ancestor of our modern day pinball), composers were to portray the sense of pleasure and entertainment when playing this game of luck. The collection was composed without a formal plan and was meant to be enjoyable by both the audience and performer as much as Beethoven had adored the music himself. Although the piece had been criticized by publications as trivial music, Beethoven regarded the collection very highly and published the music in 1823.
Traces of baroque styles permeate the piece with layers of counterpoint and dance music. The collection starts with a minuet that ends on a picardy third, No. 3 is a spirited allemande, and No. 9 is a short and eccentric, Schumannesque waltz. Some pieces are reminiscent of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and his last Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 111, such as the textures found in No. 2–where the pianist is to play hand-crossings—and No. 7– sustained trills with an independent melody in one hand.
The freedom that Beethoven had granted himself is obvious throughout the collection: the adventurous and rich harmonization in No. 8, the hymn-like harmonic ambiguity filled with chromaticism in No. 6 and the shockingly short and staggering 13 bars of No. 10. The short fantasies of the 11 Bagatelles end with its last piece—a slow chorale that is to be played innocentement e cantabile, followed by an aria-like solo to be played molto cantabile— a gentle last reminder of our roots and childhood, a world more simple yet full.Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110
Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
Allegro molto
Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro ma non troppoProgram note
The sonata is spiritual journey—a reflection of the past, present and future. As many 19th century composers were incredibly inspired by the music, a whole world of Baroque qualities are also prevailed.
The first movement’s opening idea acts as the heart of the music which permeates the work in whole and eventually reaches its glorious moment in the finale. The second movement is an earthy, peasant song in the relative minor key.The final movement begins with a solemn halt, a timeless moment of confession and spirituality. It draws inspiration from Bach, as it mixes together the tunes of two folks' songs like the Quodlibet from the Goldberg Variations. A recitative leads to an A-flat minor arioso (“Song of Lament”), inspired by Bach's Es ist vollbracht (It is fulfilled) from the Johannes Passion. The Fuga starts with the blueprint of the opening melody in the first movement—the sequence of ascending fourths. The lament is heard once more, with even more poignancy in G minor, then returns to an inverted fugue that peace and builds up to a glorifying heaven, enriched back in its safe home key in A-flat.Robert Schumann | Kreisleriana, op. 16
Äußerst bewegt
Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch
Sehr aufgeregt
Sehr langsam
Sehr lebhaft
Sehr langsam
Sehr rasch
Schnell und spielendProgram note
The composition was subtitled “Phantasien für das Pianoforte” and was written in only four days in April 1838, published in 1839 with another revised version which appeared in 1850.
The title of this music comes from Johannes Kreisler, a hero of many ETA Hoffmann novels. The piece is composed of eight movements, and like the spontaneous and kaleidoscopic character that is of Kreisler, each movement resembles the imaginary spirit with contrasting sections, full of impulsive temperament and serene beauty. While evoking the familiar Schumann trait of Florestan and Eusebius, he wrote to Clara with a realization: “My music now seems even to me to be so wonderfully intricate in spite of all the simplicity, so eloquent and from the heart.”
With turbulence and divine serenity that co-exist within the movements, the music also begins with what seems as a sudden disruption, a cry of passion, and ends as a mystery with faint and disappearing heart beats.