Source: Universal Edition (rev. 2005)
Measures of Adagio from Mozart's Sonata in F major, K. 280/189e are highlighted.
Program Notes
Arvo Pärt’s Mozart-Adagio was written in 1992 as a commission by the Helsinski Festival, and premiered by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Written in memory of Russian violinist Oleg Kagan, who had a special affinity to Mozart, Pärt memorialized his friend with a transcription of one of Mozart’s most poignant sonata movements, the Adagio from his Sonata in F major, K. 280/189e.
Though Philip Glass wrote chamber music for unconventional ensembles, and several string quartets, Head On remains his sole piano trio, written in 1967 for the occasion of a party hosted by his friend and founding member of the American Symphony Orchestra, Dorothy Pixley Rothschild. Glass premiered the piece on the piano, with Rothschild on violin.
Scriabin’s first encounter with the sea occured on a holiday trip to Latvia in 1892. The experience must have left a striking impression on the young composer, who began working on the “fantasy” sonata shortly thereafter in Genoa, Italy. What he wrote became the second movement, and its evocation of the sea is easy to hear, with low triplets rumbling over a deep, quiet, but powerful undercurrent.
After encountering Paganini’s technical wizardry in an April 1830 concert, Schumann was inspired to write a series of variations and études that followed the violinist’s brilliant style. Schumann completed the op. 7 Toccata, originally entitled Étude fantastique en double-sons, around the spring of 1830, then revised and published it four years later.
The most frequently played of Beethoven’s last five piano sonatas, the op. 110 sonata was commissioned (along with opp. 109 and 111) by publisher A. M. Schlesinger in 1820. At this point in his life Beethoven had left behind troublesome lawsuits over custody of his nephew Karl, which had occupied his time from 1815–1820. With the stress of the lawsuit, Beethoven’s productivity diminished. Few prominent works appeared during those years.