MICHAEL HOUSTOUN Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec - with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra - Chamber Music New Zealand
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Touring Partner
MICHAEL
HOUSTOUN
with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec
Every performance
is based on a unique
composition.
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relationship with Forsyth Barr.MICHAEL
HOUSTOUN
Bach | Partita No 4 in D major, BWV828 6
Bach arr. Busoni | Chaconne from Violin Partita 7
No 2 in D minor, BWV1004
INTERVAL
Beethoven | Adagio Sostenuto from Piano Sonata 8
No 29 in B-flat major, Op 106 “Hammerklavier”
Beethoven | Piano Sonata No 21 in C major, Op 53 “Waldstein” 9
100 minutes including interval2 Chamber Music New Zealand
Tēnā tātou
It is always such an honour to This musical journey continued
present Michael Houstoun in with the complete Piano and Violin
concert. Sonatas with acclaimed violinist Bella
Hristova in 2017. Needless to say, there
When planning our 2020 Concert
have been many other memorable
Season we imagined these
performances in between.
performances by Michael to be his
farewell to CMNZ audiences, and we I would like to sincerely thank our
certainly could not have anticipated tour sponsors, Forsyth Barr for
where we are today, in the midst their support in the midst of a very
of a global pandemic. But here we uncertain time.
are, and we eagerly anticipate this
As the year comes to a close, I
beautifully balanced programme
would like to wish everyone a safe
featuring two masters of music right
and enjoyable summer and we look
at the core of all classical music –
forward to seeing you in the concert
Bach and Beethoven.
hall in 2021.
Michael’s interpretation of the works
Enjoy the concert,
of Beethoven are world renowned.
Under the auspices of Chamber
Music New Zealand, Michael has
twice shared all 32 Beethoven piano
sonatas in two magnificent cycles
firstly in 1993 and then in 2013.
Catherine Gibson
Chief Executive
Chamber Music New ZealandMichael Houstoun 3 “It was Beethoven who woke me up to myself as a musician.” – Michael Houstoun
4 Chamber Music New Zealand
Michael Houstoun
(piano)
Michael Houstoun was born in Most years he performs one or two
Timaru, New Zealand in October new programs and consequently
1952. He began piano lessons at the has built a very large repertoire
age of five and under the guidance spanning from J S Bach to the
of Sr Mary Eulalie and subsequently present day. Included are many
Maurice Till he moved through compositions by NZ composers and
the grades of the Trinity College quite a few commissions.
of London examination system
Houstoun has twice presented the
(ATCL 96%, LTCL 97%). At the same
complete Beethoven sonatas in
time he won all the major piano
seven-concert cycles. More recently
competitions in NZ and began
he has performed the 48 Preludes
playing with orchestras.
and Fugues of Bach’s ‘Well-tempered
In 1973 at the age of twenty he Klavier’ in two-concert events.
entered and placed third in the
Since 1999 he has recorded for Rattle
Van Cliburn International Piano
Records with five of his albums
Competition. This led to a year of
winning Classical Record of the Year
study with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis
awards.
Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
He has honorary degrees from
In 1975 he placed fourth in the Leeds
Massey and Victoria universities, is
International Piano Competition and
a Companion of the New Zealand
then in 1982 sixth in the Tchaikovsky
Order of Merit and a Laureate of the
International Piano Competition.
Arts Foundation of New Zealand.
After living overseas for six years—
He is Advocate of Chamber Music
including a valuable period of study
New Zealand, and Patron of The
with Brigitte Wild in London—he
NZ Institute of Registered Music
returned home in 1981 where he has
Teachers, the NZ Music Examinations
enjoyed his life as something of an
Board, the Kerikeri International
‘Artist in ResideNZ’, performing recitals,
Piano Competition and the Nelson
concertos and chamber music all over
School of Music.
the country year in year out.Michael Houstoun 5 Originally I was planning to present a programme with more composers represented as it was to be my final recital. But the virus skittled that plan along with a lot of other plans and instead I am concentrating on the music of my two touchstones, J.S.Bach and L.van Beethoven. Their music has been with me from the beginning and I feel I can say that it has made me as a musician and a man. They have simply forced me out of the everyday and shown me a life that ignores the usual soap-operatic constraints which keep us mired in a perpetual shallowness. Inasmuch as religion is a re-binding or re-linking to our deeper spiritual selves their music has been and remains my religion. Its transports transcend belief. - Michael Houstoun
6 Chamber Music New Zealand
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Partita No 4 in D, BWV828
1. Overture 5. Sarabande
2. Allemande 6. Menuet
3. Courante 7. Gigue
4. Aria
In the second half of this concert we Today we have an immense body of
will hear the music of a composer Bach’s work, astounding in its variety,
who knew his music was destined inventiveness, and sheer volume.
for the canon, that his output would That music so functional in purpose
be important to us another two- reaches these creative heights is
hundred years later. In the first half, testament to the kind of focussed
we enjoy the music of Bach, whose and uncompromising artist he was.
occupation was to continually
generate music for the court or
church who paid him. His music The D major Partita of J.S.Bach is
needed only to fulfil a function, that a work of majesty, of celebration
of the court of the church service for and of joy. With his usual minimal
which it was written, and it was not resources—quite often no more
conceived to be timeless. than two woven strands—Bach
Yet 79 years after he died, J.S. Bach’s creates a vast and grand world.
music was pulled from obscurity by Even eternity, that most difficult
a plucky 20-year-old named Felix concept for human minds,
Mendelssohn and thrust back onto is suggested in those long,
the concert stage. The invention unbroken, beautiful melodies of
here was the concept of a pantheon the Allemande and Sarabande.
of Great Composers, which gave Add the outright magnificence
rise to the practice of performing
of the Overture, the exuberance
old music by dead composers
and established Bach’s reputation of the Courante, Aria and Gigue,
as one of The Great Composers. the grace of the Menuet, and
The implications are myriad, the combination serves to
complicated, and to be considered make this Partita one of Bach’s
critically. most powerful instrumental
statements.
- Michael Houstoun
Duration: 26 minutesMichael Houstoun 7
BACH ARR. FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866–1924)
Transcription of Chaconne from Partita
No 2 in D minor for solo violin, BWV1004
The Busoni transcription of the It has been suggested that it was
Bach Chaconne for solo violin is written as a tombeau for Maria
beloved of pianists everywhere. Barbara, though most musicologists
There is something special are doubtful.
about it which sets it apart from Violinist Joseph Joachim
most other transcriptions. Even championed this music in the
using the full Romantic pianistic mid-1800s contributing to the
resources, it sounds like Bach work’s notoriety, and piano-crazed
and this is at least partly because romantic composers immediately
Busoni has perfectly reimagined set about making arrangements
(Siloti, Raff, Lutz; left-hand only
the violinist’s difficulties for the
by Brahms, Wittgenstein, Zichy;
piano. There is no betrayal of the accompaniments by Mendelssohn,
source material, it is all there in its Robert Schumann…) The best known
dark and profound majesty. of these transcriptions is this 1894
- Michael Houstoun arrangement by pianist, composer,
pedagogue, conductor and author
Ferruccio Busoni. It captures the
Maria Barbara Bach, the composer’s seriousness and virtuosity of the
first wife (who was also his second original and is especially effective
cousin) died unexpectedly in at unleashing the drama of the
1720. A little later that same year composition. The success of this
the composer completed his six transcription is the marriage of
sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Bach’s form and material with
giving them the title Sei Solo. Read the superlative passion that is the
in Italian this means ‘six solos’ but domain of high-romantic piano.
read in German it translates to ‘be
alone’. This chaconne is the last
movement of one of these partitas, Duration: 15 minutes
and it stands apart from the rest of
Sei Solo in technical demand, form,
passion and duration.8 Chamber Music New Zealand
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Adagio Sostenuto from Piano Sonata
No 29 in B-flat, Op 106 “Hammerklavier”
The greatest glory of the glorious The unarguable compositional
‘Hammerklavier’ sonata is its slow calibre and the forward-looking
movement, but there are too attitude of the composer
few chances to hear it, enclosed demand committed and nuanced
as it is in some of Beethoven’s interpretations, as much as technical
prowess.
thorniest and most demanding
music. I feel it can stand alone This sonata was written in 1818.
as an unsurpassed statement The previous year Beethoven had
of sublime sadness. Its mixture been contacted by the Scottish-
of hymn and aria feels like an born piano maker John Broadwood
promising the gift of a piano. The
anguished call to the Creator to
‘Beethoven Broadwood’, as it is now
justify the abandonment of His known, was a standard top-of-the-
creation. Only at the very end range instrument but selected by
does resignation offer solace. the maker for its superior quality of
It is music for our time. materials and craftsmanship. The
- Michael Houstoun instrument boasted a wider range
than typical pianos of the time, and
the composer exploited the extra
Beethoven’s piano sonatas hold a bass keys in the “Hammerklavier”—a
special place in piano repertoire and register that Beethoven neither
in the career of Michael Houstoun. In heard nor played: he was
1993 he performed them in a single completely deaf by this time, and
concert cycle, then again 20 years the work was completed before
later for his 60th birthday, and in 2015 Broadwood’s instrument even
he recorded them for release as a arrived!
box set on Rattle Records. The 32
sonatas—666 minutes of music, 14
CDs, 7 concerts—define pianism. Duration: 17 minutesMichael Houstoun 9
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Piano Sonata No 21 in C, Op 53 “Waldstein”
1. Allegro con brio
2. Introduzione: Adagio molto
3. Rondo Allegretto moderato—Prestissimo
With the ‘Waldstein’ sonata we The unusual middle movement
connect back to the opening offers a glimpse into the composer’s
work on the programme as creative resolve and commitment
this masterpiece too is one of to pushing dramatic boundaries
majesty, celebration and joy. of musical forms. The “Waldstein”
was completed with a more
Perhaps Beethoven learned standard theme and variations
from Bach the marvellous in the middle, providing contrast
compositional technique which and relief between the heroic
has a very busy surface riding opening and transcendent closing
over a slow-moving harmonic movements. Feeling that the
scheme of the utmost grandeur. delicate, carefree tone diminished
The outer movements offer the emotional might—the bigness—
true virtuoso thrills but it is the that should be the essence of the
monumentality that remains work, Beethoven removed the
when the dust settles. The central movement for later publication as
the standalone Andante favori. The
movement is unique - Beethoven far shorter Introduzione affords us
knew how sublime the Rondo breathing room without stepping
theme was and he makes us wait out of the overall architecture of
as he sets it up with pure genius. the composition: the clarity of the
- Michael Houstoun piece’s trajectory as a whole is the
point. This is a Work, self-contained
and complete, a concept that we still
Beethoven was 33 years old when take, 216 years later, as a measure of
he wrote this sonata. It is pivotal greatness.
in the cycle as it introduces a level
of technical virtuosity previously
reserved for concerto writing, and Duration: 23 minutes
structural clarity that is Beethoven’s
chief superpower. Solo piano was
confirmed as a medium for ‘big’
compositions, presaging the high
romantic repertoire that followed. Programme notes © Elliot Vaughan 202010 Chamber Music New Zealand “The thing about Beethoven is that he somehow synthesises human psychological truths, with all of their subtlety and all of their range, into music.” – Michael Houstoun
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