BrahmsVARIATIONS

David Korevaar

BrahmsVARIATIONS

David Korevaar

Op. 21, No. 1Op. 21, No. 2

Op. 9Op. 18Op. 24

Producer: Michael Rolland Davis • Recording Engineer: Ed ThompsonOriginal 24-Bit Master

Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9 18:32

Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21, No. 1 16:54

Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op. 21, No. 2 7:02

Variations in D minor (from Sextet in B-flat, Op. 18) 9:03

Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 26:27

TOTAL TIME: 78:23

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BrahmsVARIATIONS FOR PIANO

<David Korevaar

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Variations for Piano, 1854 -1862

In September 1853, JohannesBrahms arrived for his first meetingwith Robert and Clara Schumann attheir home in Düsseldorf. Brahms, ayouthful age of twenty (“hardly morethan a boy,” were the words of RobertSchumann’s protégé Albert Dietrich),made an immediate and powerfulimpression on the older master, who inOctober wrote his famous essay, NewPaths proclaiming:

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BrahmsVARIATIONS FOR PIANO

<David Korevaar - pianist

Brahms as a young man

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Brahms quickly becamepart of the family, playing gameswith the Schumann children,and discussing music and litera-ture with Robert and Clara.

Only a few months later, inFebruary 1854, after throwinghimself into the Rhine, RobertSchumann had himself commit-ted to the mental institution atEndenich. After hearing thisnews Brahms rushed to Clara’sside. As Clara dealt with herhusband’s absence and the birthof her seventh child, Brahmscomposed. Clara wrote,

Clara & Robert Schumann

“the arrival of a wonderful new composer, not in theprocess of development, but [sprung] forth like Minervafully armed from the head of Jove. And he is come, a youngblood by whose cradle graces and heroes kept watch. He iscalled Johannes Brahms...”

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When Brahms sent her the completed manuscript, it bore the inscrip-tion, “Short Variations on a Theme by Him, Dedicated to Her.” The work wassoon published as Op. 9; Brahms sent a copy to the institution where RobertSchumann was staying. On November 27, 1854, Robert Schumann wrote toBrahms:

These sixteen Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9, are atribute to Schumann’s art and style, incorporating such Schumannesqueattributes as musical quotations (from Clara as well as Robert), contrapuntallearning (Variations eight, ten, fourteen, and fifteen are all canons of one kindor another – a reference to both Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Schumann’s

“He tried to bring solace to my heart. He composed varia-tions on the beautiful, intimate theme (from RobertSchumann’s Album Leaves, Op. 99), which made such adeep impression upon me a year ago when I composedvariations for my beloved Robert, and touched me deeplyby his tender thoughtfulness.”

“If only I could come to you myself and see you again andhear your magnificent Variations, or my dear Clara’s, aboutthe wonderful performance of which Joachim has written tome! How splendidly the whole is rounded off, and how onerecognizes you in the richest brilliance of your imaginationand again in your profound artistry in a way that I had notyet learnt to know you – the theme surging up here andthere, now so secret, anon so passionate and profound.”

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love for Bach’s music), and a wide-ranging emotional palette whose effect isdependent on sudden and surprising juxtapositions. In Brahms’ manuscript,the more introverted variations are signed “B” (Brahms), while the more pas-sionate ones are signed “Kr” (Kreisler), references to Brahms and his alter ego,Johannes Kreisler Jr., after E. T. A. Hofmann’s alter ego Johannes Kreisler.Brahms’ idea of personalizing the emotional states of individual variationsowes much to Schumann’s earlier use of the alter egos Florestan (passionateand outgoing) and Eusebius (introverted), while the reference to Hofmann’sKreisler (the inspiration for Schumann’s early Kreisleriana) is related toBrahms’ love for Hofmann’s novel Kater Murr.

Brahms’ interest in creating a dramatic structure for these variations isimmediately evident in the first three, which form a triptych. The second vari-ation, a quick scherzo that is repeated twice, is a contrasting “trio” between theslow first and third variations, each of which features the original theme accom-panied by melancholy horn calls, first in dotted rhythms, then in triplets. Thefourth variation of this early work foreshadows the texture of one of Brahms’very last works, the Intermezzo, Op. 119, No. 2. The fifth variation is alternatelydramatic and capricious, and leads to the brilliant virtuosity of the sixth varia-tion, providing a strong ending to the first large section of the piece.

The seventh variation provides a ruminative pause – a moment worthy ofSchumann’s Eusebius. The eighth variation, is a canon, returning to the moodof the theme. Brahms masks the canon by setting the imitative voice (in theleft hand) as a series of soft tremolos, a classic example of Romantic pianismin the service of Bachian counterpoint. The ninth and tenth variations are richwith heavy references to the Schumanns; the ninth is a reworking (in B minor)of Robert’s Bünte Blätter, Op. 99, the work from which the theme had initially

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been drawn. The tenth in D Major,presents a quote from a piece byClara, earlier varied by Robert, at itsvery end. This variation is the emo-tional center of the work. Its beauti-ful, meditative melody seems, at firsthearing, unrelated to the originaltheme. It is, in fact, the baseline ofSchumann’s theme - note for note -recast as the melody. The melody ofthe original theme has been reducedto an accompanying role as quiet,horn-like notes in the middle regis-ter. The bass of this variation is a mir-ror of its treble – Schumann’s originalbass line turned upside-down.

The eleventh variation hoversmysteriously over a low “D” pedalnote, ultimately ending in a ques-tion. With the return to the key of F-

sharp minor, the twelfth variation quotes the rhythm of “Fabel” fromSchumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 13, accelerating madly at the end. The thir-teenth variation, a wispy etude in double notes, leads to the cannons of theforteenth and fifteenth variations. The first, worthy of Bach’s GoldbergVariations, is carried out in a way redolent of Schubertian melancholy. Thesecond canon, is heart-stoppingly beautiful and seems related in texture to

Brahms at 20, in 1853, with violinistEduard Reményi

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the opening section of Schumann’s Humoreske. The sixteenth and final varia-tion is a dissolution of the theme, now reduced to its bass line with only occa-sional fragments of the melody, giving the listener the reverse of Schumann’sOp. 5 Impromptus on a Theme by Clara Wieck (which begins with a bass linein isolation before introducing Clara’s theme). This is the same theme quotedin Brahms’ set at the end of variation ten. This final fragmentation and disso-lution, as well as the earlier interweaving of Robert’s and Clara’s music inBrahms’ work, is particularly poignant considering Robert’s deteriorating sit-uation at the time.

Throughout his creative life, Brahms struggled to balance both the emo-tional and intellectually intuitive elements in his music. The remaining workson this disc trace a trajectory away from direct expression toward a morerationalistic, “Classical” perspective. The occasional departures from the pre-cise structure of the theme of the Schumann Variations are abandoned infavor of an absolute adherence to thematic structure in the later sets; his will-ingness to modulate away from the original key in the Schumann Variations(a Schumannesque trait) is left behind as well.

The two rarely performed sets of variations published in 1861 as Op. 21were composed in the latter part of the 1850s, and represent two of Brahms’attempts to come to terms with his own changing idea of music. Both sets arein D Major, completely pure in their adherence to the structure of theirrespective themes, and structurally akin to Beethovenian models with finalvariations that include lengthy codas.

The first, Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21, No. 1, is a beauti-ful, introverted piece (Brahms’ original theme is marked “Poco larghetto”)that explores the possibility of creating balance from asymmetry. Instead of

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the usual form based on two repeated sections of eight bars each, Brahmsgives himself a theme (in triple meter) in which each repeated half is ninebars, grouped as four plus five. After the richly textured eighth-note melodyof the theme, the first variation begins as a flowing cello-like solo in constantsixteenth notes, joined at the almost-halfway point of each strain by an uppervoice in the violin register. The flowing sixteenths continue in the slightlyfaster second variation, but with a soaring melody (closely related to the orig-inal theme) on top. The third variation stops the motion with a series of sus-pended eighth-note chords. The fourth concludes the first section of the piecewith a return to sixteenth-note motion, in groupings of two, and with a com-plex rhythmic underpinning that ends up emphasizing the odd number ofbars in the phrases. The “learned” style evident from the many canons in theSchumann Variations is here present in the canon of the fifth variation,marked, “moto contrario” and set in the original tempo and mood. The imi-tative voice has been disguised with triplet figurations – an added difficultymore apparent to the performer than the listener! The sixth accelerates themotion again with flowing triplets, and leads directly to the seventh, beauti-ful and spare in 2/4 time. A new mood and key (D minor) dominate varia-tions eight through ten, with the ninth providing the dynamic climax of thepiece, complete with timpani rolls thundering in the bass. With a return to DMajor, the slow coda of the eleventh and final variation leads to an ecstaticclosing – one of the most beautiful pages in all of Brahms.

The extroverted and virtuosic Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op. 21,No. 2 plays with asymmetry in a different way: the measures of the themealternate in length between 3/4 and 4/4 time. The D Major theme is short andquick and is immediately followed by the first six variations, each played in

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D minor with a Hungarian flavor. Variations seven and eight slow down thetempo and return to D Major. Variations nine through thirteen mix major andminor, and abandon the irregular meter of the theme in favor of a simpleduple meter. The quick succession of short variations holds together with alogic that is reminiscent of Bach’s D-minor Chaconne and Beethoven’s C-minorVariations. References to Beethoven continue into the long coda, with a nodto the finale of the Ninth Symphony.

In 1859, the young Brahms joined with his friend the composer and vio-linist Joseph Joachim to complain about (in Joachim’s words),

Their dudgeon resulted in a politically unfortunate manifesto publishedwith their signatures that accused Liszt and his followers of creating musical“productions which necessitate the constant setting up of new and outlandishtheories contrary to the very nature of music.” In his striving “to write anti-Liszt” (as he wrote in a letter to Joachim), Brahms came up with his master-ful Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, for strings, whose second movement is aset of variations on an original theme. The piano version of these variations(belatedly published in 1927 as Theme with Variations) was presented toClara Schumann on her birthday in September 1860 – before the string partshad even been sent to Joachim for proofreading. While the theme seems

“the evil influence exercised by the “New Germans” who,in their vanity and arrogance, regard everything great andsacred which the musical talent of our people has createdup to now as mere fertilizer for the rank, miserable weedsgrowing from Liszt-like fantasias.”

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influenced by Hungarian folk music, the carrying out of the variationsprocess is strictly classical, owing much to Bach with its chaconne-like insis-tence on a constant harmonic progression.

The classical idiom of the Op. 18 variations is greatly expanded inBrahms’ masterpiece of the variations genre, the Variations and Fugue on aTheme by Handel, Op. 24, which he composed two years later. The use of atheme taken from one of Handel’s keyboard suites is unprecedented: no pre-vious composer had gone so far back in time to find material to vary. The self-conscious historicism is extended into the twenty-five variations, each ofwhich is harmonically and phraseologically parallel to the theme; all of thevariations (except for the twenty-first in G minor) remain in the original keyof B-flat.

After Handel’s Aria, Brahms’ first variation continues with a harpsichord-like texture and timbre and seems to wear a Handellian periwig, while thesecond brings us forward to the world of Schumann and Brahms himself.With these broad chronological outlines established, Brahms gives somethingof a historical survey, from the French and German harpsichord schools to thethunderous virtuosity of the nineteenth century. The variations include abare-bones canon in B-flat minor (Variation six) that some observers havelikened to a Bach invention, a Siciliana (Variation nineteen) as well as a music-box variation (Variation twenty-two) that could have been inspired by theharpsichord music of Francois Couperin, and numerous examples of roman-tic writing in all its guises, from introspection (Variations five, eleven, twelve,twenty, etc.) to the extremes of virtuosity (Variations four, fourteen, fifteen,sixteen, twenty-five, etc.). Brahms’ Hungarian style even puts in an appear-ance, dead center, in Variation thirteen. The fugue that follows Variation

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twenty-five is grand in the manner of Bach’s organ fugues, some of which fig-ured prominently in Brahms’ own concert repertoire; Beethoven’s Op. 35Variations “Eroica” and Op. 120 Variations “Diabelli” are obvious precedentsfor Brahms’ inclusion of a fugue at or near the end of a variations set. Brahms’fugue and its coda, replete with pealing bells, easily fit among the mostimportant examples of nineteenth-century virtuoso piano music.

In spite of the neoclassicism evident in the Handel Variations, Brahms’sense of sound and the piano were intrinsically of his Romantic time, as hisfirst biographer Florence May notes in describing his teaching and perfor-mance of Bach’s music – a guide any performer would do well to follow whenplaying Brahms’ own music:

- Notes by David Korevaar ©2004

“His playing... was a revelation of exquisite poems, and heperformed not only with graduated shadings, but withmarked contrasts of tone effect. Each note of Bach’s pas-sages and figures contributed, in the hands of Brahms, toform melody which was instinct with feeling of some kindor other. It might be deep pathos, or light-hearted playful-ness and jollity; impulsive energy, or soft and tender grace;but sentiment (as distinct from sentimentality) was alwaysthere; monotony never. “Quite tender and quite soft,” washis frequent admonition to me, whilst in another place hewould require the utmost impetuosity.”

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David Korevaar Biography

<David Korevaar’s mastery of the piano is joined with a large and varied

repertoire, and enhanced by his work with living composers and his ownexperience writing music. He successfully balances an active performingcareer as a soloist and chamber musician with teaching at the University ofColorado at Boulder, where he is Assistant Professor of Piano.

Mr. Korevaar has been heard at major venues in New York, includingWeill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. He has per-formed across the United States, from Boston, New York, and WashingtonDC, to Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Dallas, and San Diego and he plays fre-quently in his home state of Colorado with orchestras, in chamber ensembles,and in solo recitals. International performances have included appearances inAustralia, Japan, Korea, and Europe. Mr. Korevaar has performed as soloistwith orchestras throughout the United States. Mr. Korevaar’s recent perfor-mances include the Las Vegas Philharmonic (Barber Concerto), the BoulderPhilharmonic (Dvorák Concerto), the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin(Lowell Liebermann’s Concerto No.1), Latvia, Maine and Delaware, with theClavier Trio, the Prometheus and Boulder Piano Quartets as well as theColorado Symphony Orchestra.

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Currently a member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet and the Dallas-based Clavier Trio, Korevaar has performed as guest artist with the Takaçs,Manhattan, and Colorado quartets, among other groups. He was a foundingmember of the Young Concert Artists Award-winning piano and wind ensem-ble Hexagon, with which he toured for many years.

David Korevaar’s broad musical interests are reflected in his recordings,ranging from the two books of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (MSR) to thebrand new piano music of Lowell Liebermann (Koch International Classics).He has recorded the romantic virtuoso compositions of Hungarian composerErnst von Dohnányi (Ivory Classics), and transcriptions (his own and Liszt’s)of orchestral music by Franz Liszt, including the rarely heard 2nd MephistoWaltz (Helicon). Other recent releases include the first CD by the PrometheusQuartet featuring music by 19th-Century Frenchmen Saint-Saëns and d’Indy(Centaur); an album of Lowell Liebermann’s chamber music with flutist AlexaStill (Koch); the complete sonatas for brass instruments by Paul Hindemith(Kleos); and the Brahms Violin Sonatas with violinist Anastasia Khitruk(Titanic).

Other ongoing projects include lecture-recitals on a wide variety of sub-jects. The 2004-05 season includes a presentation on Schumann’s Kreislerianaat the 12th Annual North American Society for the study of RomanticismNational Conference in Boulder. Past presentations have included a series oflecture-recitals at the San Diego Museum of Art, presented in conjunctionwith four different exhibits at the museum, lectures on Viennese appropria-tions of alla turca style in the late 18th century, a program devoted to Ravel’sMiroirs, and a series of presentations on the Romantic Piano Cycle.

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David Korevaar’s interest in new music is reflected in his programming.The 2003-2004 season saw several performances of a new work, LunarRhapsody by Mike Barnett, a young composer currently completing his doc-torate at the University of Colorado. In addition to his continuing associationwith the music of Lowell Liebermann, Mr. Korevaar has performed andrecorded music by composers including George Rochberg, Aaron Copland,Ned Rorem, Stephen Jaffe, Scott Eyerly and Libby Larson. He gave the NewYork premiere of three of Harrison Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks as part of TheJuilliard School’s Piano Century series in 2000. For an idea of what he looksfor in new music, you can read Mr. Korevaar’s essay in the October 2003 NewMusic Box.

Mr. Korevaar was recently honored, along with co-author and webmas-ter Tim Smith of Northern Arizona University, for a web-based exploration ofthe Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier, featuring analytical essays and anima-tions by Professor Smith, performance-related essays by Mr. Korevaar, andKorevaar’s performances of the music. The site received top honors both inmusic and overall, including the Editor’s Choice Award from MERLOT(Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching).

Other honors include top prizes from the University of MarylandWilliam Kapell International Piano Competition (1988) and the Peabody-Mason Music Foundation (1985), as well as a special prize for his perfor-mance of French music from the Robert Casadesus Competition (1989). InMay 2000, he received the Richard French award from The Juilliard School,honoring his doctoral document on Ravel’s Miroirs.

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David Korevaar began his piano studies at age six in San Diego withSherman Storr, and at age thirteen he became a student of the great Americanvirtuoso Earl Wild. By age twenty he had earned his Bachelor’s and Master’sdegrees from The Juilliard School, where he continued his studies with EarlWild and studied composition with David Diamond. He completed hisDoctor of Musical Arts from The Juilliard School with pianist Abbey Simon.Another important mentor and teacher was the French pianist PaulDoguereau, who had been a student of Egon Petri, and who had studied themusic of Fauré and Debussy with Roger-Ducasse (a pupil of Fauré’s), and themusic of Maurice Ravel with the composer himself.

Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Colorado in 2000, Mr.Korevaar taught for many years at the Westport School of Music inConnecticut, where he was Artist-Teacher. He now lives in Boulder, Coloradowith his family.

Mr. Korevaar is presently a Shigeru Kawai artist.

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Also Available on Ivory Classics

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ERNO DOHNÁNYI

Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song, Op. 29 (1916)Six Concert Études, Op. 28 (1916)

Pastorale (Hungarian Christmas Song) (1920)Ruralia Hungarica, Op. 32a (1924)

Dohnányi: Piano Music CD-71008

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“Korevaar’s easy command of Dohnányi’s thick, orchestral piano tex-tures is governed by a genuine feeling for the music’s speech-like syntax,rooted in Hungarian folk song and dance. Listen, for instance, to the con-versational give-and-take the pianist brings to the declamatory octaves anddisquieting tremolos in the sixth piece of the Ruralia Hungarica. Korevaaris in full command of his powers, and Ivory Classics’ top-notch engineeringonly adds to my listening pleasure. Let’s hope this release will win new audi-ences over to Dohnányi’s cause. Warmly recommended.”

- Jed Distler, Classics Today - May 2001

“In these Dohnányi pieces David Korevaar is supple and coaxes out thekaleidoscopic colors as he communicates the music’s timbral and texturalinventiveness. Listen to Korevaar’s luminous molding of the intertwining linesat the beginning of the third-movement of the Ruralia Hungarica Op. 32a.More from this pianist would be welcome.”

- Peter J. Rabinowitz, Fanfare - Nov./Dec. 2001

Dohnányi: Piano Music CD-71008

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“In the slower music Korevaar distinguishes himself with cantabile play-ing of beauty and refinement. Korevaar understands that technique inDohnányi, is less about rapidity for its own sake than about turning the key-board into a kaleidoscope of sonorities. In the Capriccio that forms the lastof the Six Concert Etudes he characterizes the music with considerable élan,reminding me somewhat of Godowsky’s approach to the work in his 1922reading. It is good to discover the rest of this ambitious set of pieces too,including the intriguing rapid dialogue between the hands (the pianisticequivalent of a tongue-twister) that forms the third study and the intricate-ly fluid chromaticism of the fifth.

It is the compact Variations and the folk-inspired tone-pictures RuraliaHungarica that bring out the best in Korevaar, where his evident affection forthe music readily transmits itself to the listener. He is not afraid of simplestatements when they are called for, and, as in the bell-like Pastorale, has thepower to beguile the listener with charm and grace. This is a worthwhile discof music that deserves to be more widely heard.”

- John Kersey, International Piano - Nov./Dec. 2001

Dohnányi: Piano Music CD-71008

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CREDITSRecorded at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo, New York - May 26, 27 and 28, 2004

Original 24-Bit Master Recorded direct to the Sadie Artemis 24-Bit High Resolution disk editor.

Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

Recording Engineer: Ed Thompson

Shigeru Kawai Master Piano Artisan: Takanori Otake Piano: Shigeru Kawai EX Concert Grand #2425001

Special thanks to: Pastor Charles Bang of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo,New York and Brian Chung, Senior Vice President of Kawai of America

This recording was made possible through the support of The Ivory Classics Foundationand the Council on Research and Creative Work as well as the Graduate Council for the

Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado

David Korevaar photos by: Casey Cass / University of ColoradoLiner Notes: David Korevaar

Design: Samskara, Inc.

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