Program Two • Mentors, Rivals, Patrons

Program Two helps contextualize Rachmaninoff within the Russia of his youth, pairing selections from his evocative Six moments musicaux with chamber works by members of his early acquaintance.

These include his model and mentor Tchaikovsky, whose Pezzo capriccioso was written for Anatoliy Brandukov, the dedicatee of Rachmaninoff’s own Cello Sonata; his teachers Anatoly Liadov, Arensky, and Taneyev, whose profile Botstein, Bard, and the ASO have already done so much to raise; Aleksandr Glazunov, who led the first performance of Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony; and César Cui, whose scathing review of that disastrous premiere would haunt Rachmaninoff for the rest of his life.

Also featured are works by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, a major influence on Cui and other members of “The Five,” and Mykola Lysenko, widely considered the father of Ukrainian music.

1 pm Preconcert Talk
1:30 pm Performance: Rieko Aizawa, Fei-Fei & Anna Polonsky, piano; Jesse Mills, violin; Gabriel Martins, cello; Viano String Quartet

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943)
From Six Moments musicaux, Op. 16 (1896)

César Cui (1835–1918)
From 20 Poémes de Jean Richepin, Op. 44 (1890)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–93)
Pezzo caprioccioso, Op. 62 (1887)

Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912)
Song Without Words, Op. 10, no. 1 (1876)

Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Minor (1911) 

Anatoly Liadov (1855–1914)
Sarabande in G Minor, from Les Vendredis, Book II (1899)  

Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Piano Quintet in D Major, Op. 51 (1900)

Piano works and arias by Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813–69) and Aleksander Glazunov (1865–1936)