This sonata was dedicated to Therésa von Brunswick (was she the “Immortal Beloved?”) It didn’t work out with her, and she also seems to have been the one who broke up with Beethoven! Beethoven did treasure the portrait she gave him, which was inscribed with the words "to the unique genius, to the great artist, to the good man". Was this her declaration of love? This is such a lyrical and sunny sonata; it's hard to imagine a composer writing music so different from Op. 57, the "Appassionata," which came right before this in 1805. This Op. 78 is in an incredible tonality, with 6 sharps -a very complicated key to play in! The publisher was also not happy about Beethoven trying to sell a new piece in this key for "amateurs who loved playing"…hmmm. Beethoven loved this sonata so much, and was very angry with the lack of reception: “Why do people like my c# minor sonata (the Moonlight) so much? This F# Major is much greater.”

Live performance at Noontime Concerts from September 26, 2023. -Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections on the Water) -Hommage à Rameau ("Homage to Rameau) 6'28" -Mouvement (Movement) 13'08"

Two Thoughts about the Piano 2005-6 I. Intermittences II. Caténaires “The many meanings silences can express in musical discourse challenged me to use some of them in Intermittences. This title was suggested by “Intermittences du coeur” one of the chapters in Marcel Proust’s novel. It is a short work that also uses many different piano sounds to convey its expressive meanings. When Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who performs so eloquently, asked me to write a piece for him, I became obsessed with the idea of a fast one-line piece with no chords. It became a continuous chain of notes using different spacings, accents, and colorings, to produce a wide variety of expression.” -Elliott Carter Elliott Carter thought of his music as a drama unfolding with musical lines instead of dialogue. The music interacts as actors do onstage. Sometimes the lines are indifferent to each other, sometimes in conflict, sometimes in harmony. A humanist, Carter felt deeply about music having the power to lift us. His studies in philosophy and literature influenced his writing deeply. It's amazing to think that Carter wrote these pieces when he was 97!

A performance of a beautiful work by Franz Liszt, written in Italy at the Este estate, referencing the incredible fountains on the land

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) The Well-Tempered Clavier 1744 Prelude in D Major, BWV 850 Prelude in c# minor, BWV 849 Sinfonia in b minor, BWV 801 1723

Book I (selections) -Naše večery (Our evenings) -Lístek odvanutý (A blown-away leaf) -Dobrou noc! (Good night!) -Tak neskonale úzko (Unutterable anguish) -V pláči (In tears) -Sýček neodletěl! (The little barn owl has not flown away!) Book II -Andante -Allegretto – Presto -Più mosso -Vivo -Allegro

I. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck (with liveliness, and with feeling and expression throughout) II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen (not too fast, and in a very singing manner)

Texas composer B.P. Herrington's piece is based loosely on the theme of the classic folk ballad "How Come That Blood?" in which a son lies to his mother about the blood on his shirtsleeve (he first says it's from “the old gray mare, and then the old gray hound” before finally confessing to her that he killed his brother in the fields for “killing yonders bush that might have made a tree.”)