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 Concert #6 - Saturday, April 11, 2009, 8:00 pm
Lucas Theater
The Savannah Concert Association presents
Michail Lifits - Hilton Head International Piano Competition Winner
Mr. Lifits will be joined by members of the Forsyth Ensemble
Terry Moore & Ann Cafferty, violins
Katrina Smith, viola
Sarah Schenkman, cello
 Michail Lifits was born on September 25, 1982 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
He gave his first public concert in 1991 and by 1995 was performing public
concerts with the national orchestra of Uzbekistan. By 1996 he was performing
the first of numerous public concerts in Germany; the following
year he made his first appearance on German television. From 1999 to
2005 he studied under the direction of Professor Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling
at the Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater in Hanover, Germany, a city
where he still makes his home. Since 2005 he has studied in Bologna, Italy,
under the direction of Boris Petrushansky. In addition to winning the
recent Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Mr. Lifits has won
numerous awards in several cities in France and Italy. He has also given
recitals in Austria, Japan, Russia and the Ukraine.
PROGRAM
Piano Sonata in D, K. 311 — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Allegro con spirito
Andantino con espressione
Rondeau (Allegro)
Sonata in B minor — Franz Liszt
Molto moderato quasi lento; Allegro
Lento, con molto sentimento
Allegro non troppo, ma con fuoco
Michail Lifits, piano
— INTERMISSION —
Piano Quintet in E Flat, Opus 44 — Robert Schumann
Allegro brilliante
In modo d’una Marcia; Un poco largamente; Agitato
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro ma non troppo
Mr. Lifits will be joined by members of the Forsyth Ensemble
Terry Moore & Ann Cafferty, violins
Katrina Smith, viola
Sarah Schenkman, cello
PROGRAM NOTES
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791), Piano Sonata in D, K. 311
Mozart’s piano sonata, K. 311, dates from the period 1777/8, when his
search for an appointment in some place other than Salzburg took him to
Mannheim. There he became friendly with the concert master, Christian
Cannabich, and undertook the instruction of his fifteen-year-old daughter.
The fast movements of the work display the brilliance generally associated
with the key of D Major, but the first movement contains one feature
characteristic of “the Mannheim school”: the opening material recurs not
at the beginning of the recapitulation – halfway through the second part
of the movement – but rather at the very end, where it has less structural
significance but makes a striking, almost theatrical effect to round the
movement off. The slow movement displays heart-tugging emotion, while
the extended sonata-rondo finale, a sparkling piece in gigue form, has a
brief cadenza-like flourish before the final recapitulation.
Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886), Piano Sonata in B minor
The Liszt piano sonata in B minor was completed in 1853 but not
performed until the following year, when it bore the composer’s dedication
to his friend Robert Schumann. It is not only one of the towering masterpieces
of the piano literature, but also a ground-breaking work in its form.
Prior to this, piano sonatas were cast in several movements, typically
without thematic connection between the movements. Liszt constructed
this work in a single, continuous movement. The work begins with a
slow introduction that presents the principal thematic material, which
forms the basis for the fast-tempo Allegro energico section. Following
a lovely Andante sostenuto episode, a second Allegro energico section
provides a bridge to a dramatic coda, before the work resolves itself into
a serene ending.
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856), Piano Quintet in E Flat, Opus 44
Schumann’s piano quintet dates from the happy early days of his marriage
to Clara Wieck. He sketched the music in just five days in September 1842
and completed the score in October. Clara and Felix Mendelssohn
performed the piano part in private performances prior to the work’s first
public performance in Leipzig in January 1843. The work begins with a
powerful declarative main subject that Schumann mines skillfully for
melody throughout the first movement. The second movement is “in the
manner of a march”, but it is a somber cortege with an agitated section
written as a contrasting trio. The scherzo has a simple scale as its main
theme, but spaces rhythms so cleverly as to make it difficult to determine
where the beat really is. The movement contains two contrasting trio
sections; the first superimposes the complexity of the strings’ counterpoint
on that of the piano’s rhythm, while the second is a restless rustic dance.
The vigorous finale combines elements of sonata and rondo form and
ends with a climactic fugato in which the opening theme of the first
movement reappears.
Tickets $35, $25, $12.50
Visit SCAD Box Office
www.scadboxoffice.com
216 E. Broughton Street, Savannah, or call
(912) 525-5050. Visa and Mastercard accepted.
Music teachers and students
may order special tickets @$2 by emailing
name & address to dianelboyd@comcast.net
For a free brochure of the 2008-2009 season, email name & address to eoliver524@comcast.net
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