Viv McLean

Performers

Notes on the performers

Described by Le Monde as “possessing the genius one finds in those who know how to forget themselves”, since winning First Prize at the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona, British pianist Viv McLean has performed in all the major venues in the UK as well as throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. Viv’s concerto work includes appearances with the RPO, Philharmonia Orchestra, LPO, Halle Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, Orchestra of the Swan, Orchestra of St John’s, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of such conductors as Daniel Harding, Wayne Marshall, John Lubbock, Philip Hesketh, Christopher Warren-Green, Owain Arwell Hughes, Carl Davis, Rebecca Miller, Chloe Van Soeterstede and Marvin Hamlisch.

Viv plays regularly with the Adderbury Ensemble and has also performed with other leading chamber groups such as the Ysaye String Quartet, the Sacconi String Quartet, members of the Elias, Allegri, Carducci, Tippett String Quartets, Leonore Piano Trio, Ensemble 360 and the Leopold String Trio. He has collaborated with musicians such as Natalie Clein, Marianne Thorsen, Daniel Hope, Adrian Brendel, Lawrence Power, Mary Bevan, David Le Page, Guy Johnston and many others. He has performed at numerous festivals including the Cheltenham International Festival, Buxton Festival, Music in the Round Festival, Glossop Festival and Harrogate International Festival in the UK, the International Beethoven Festival, the Mecklenburg Festival and the Kultur Kreis Festival in Germany, the Festival International de Musique Classique d’Aigues-Mortes, the Melle Festival and Festival de Saintes in France, the Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden in Norway and the Musik vid Kattegatt Festival in Sweden.

Viv studied from an early age with Ruth Nye and, after attending Chetham’s School of Music, he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Hamish Milne. Whilst studying at the Academy he was the winner of the piano competition at the Royal Overseas-League Music Competition, was selected as one of the winners of the National Federation of Music Societies’ Young Artists Competition and made his Wigmore Hall debut through winning the RAM Wigmore Award.

Viv made his BBC Radio 3 recital debut through the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists Forum scheme and has also recorded for Classic FM, WDR Radio in Germany, Radio France, ABC Radio in Australia, NRK Radio in Norway and for the Sky Arts television channel. His commercial releases have included recordings for Sony, Signum Classics, Naxos, Nimbus, Lyrita, RPO Records, ICSM Records and his most recent albums are a Chopin recital and a selection of live recordings for Stone Records.

Programme

Programme notes

Domenico Scarlatti

Sonata in D Minor K. 213

Sonata in E K. 380

Doménico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti, he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas. He spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families.

Sonata in D minor, K.213 is a captivating and energetic piece that showcases the composer’s mastery of keyboard writing. Scarlatti, an Italian Baroque composer, was known for his innovative and expressive compositions for the harpsichord. The Sonata in D minor is a perfect example of Scarlatti’s distinctive style, characterized by virtuosic passages, mesmerizing melodic lines, and dynamic contrasts. The piece unfolds with a sense of urgency and intensity, capturing the listener’s attention from the very beginning.

Sonata in E Major, K.380 is, perhaps, one of Scarlatti’s most famous sonatas. With its march-like rhythm to the emerging beautiful lyrical lines, Scarlatti’s boundless imagination sparkles.

Source: Musopen.org

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonata in C Sharp Minor Op. 27 No. 2

1. Adagio Sostenuto
2. Allegretto
3. Presto agitato

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie “Giulietta” Guicciardi. The name Moonlight Sonata grew popular later, likely after Beethoven’s death.

The piece is one of Beethoven’s most popular compositions for the piano, and it was a popular favourite even in his own day. Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata in his early thirties, after he had finished with some commissioned work; there is no evidence that he was commissioned to write this sonata.

Source: Wikipedia

Beethoven

Sonata in F Minor Op. 57 “Appassionata”

1. Allegro assai
2. Andante con moto
3. Allegro ma non troppo

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (colloquially known as the Appassionata, meaning “passionate” in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the Waldstein, Op. 53 and Les Adieux, Op. 81a); it was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick.

One of his greatest and most technically challenging piano sonatas, the Appassionata was considered by Beethoven to be his most tempestuous piano sonata until the twenty-ninth piano sonata (known as the Hammerklavier). 1803 was the year Beethoven came to grips with the irreversibility of his progressively deteriorating hearing.

Source: Wikipedia