MICHAEL HOUSTOUN Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec - with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra - Chamber Music New Zealand

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MICHAEL HOUSTOUN Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec - with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra - Chamber Music New Zealand
Touring Partner

 MICHAEL
HOUSTOUN
with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

            Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec
MICHAEL HOUSTOUN Touring: 30 Oct - 16 Dec - with players from the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra - Chamber Music New Zealand
Every performance
is based on a unique
composition.
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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 interval
2     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 Zealand
Michael 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 minutes
Michael 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 minutes
Michael 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 2020
10   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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