College of Music, Mahidol University

Presents

Toward the Sea: Flute and Guitar Recital

Hiroshi Matsushima, flute

Paul Cesarczyk, guitar

August 27th, 2014 at 7PM

Room A407
College of Music, Mahidol University

PROGRAM
Sonatina, Op. 205 for flute and guitar Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Allegretto grazioso (1895-1968)
Tempo di Siciliana
Scherzo-Rondo: Allegretto con spirito

Sonata in A-minor, D. 821 “Arpeggione” Franz Schubert

Allegro moderato (1797-1828)
Adagio
Allegretto

Six Rumanian Dances (Arr. Arthur Levering) Béla Bartók

Joc cu bata (Stick game) (1881-1945)
Braul (peasent constume)
Pe-loc (Standing still)
Baciumeana (Mountain Horn Song)
Poarga Romaeasca (Romanian Garden Gate)
Maruntel (Little One)

INTERMISSION

from Musiques Populaires Bresilienes Celso Machado

Pacoca (Choro) (b. 1953)
Pe de Moleque
Piazza Vittorio

Toward the Sea for alto-flute and guitar (1981) Tōru Takemitsu
The Night (1930-1996)
Moby-Dick
Cape Cod

L’histoire du Tango (1986) Àstor Piazzolla

Bordel 1900 (1921-1992)
Café 1930
Nightclub 1960
Concert d’Ajourd’hui

About the Program

The pairing of flute and guitar has been a popular combination for composers for over two
hundred years, and longer, if one considers related ancient instruments like the lute and
recorder. The success of the ensemble is due in part to the subtle mixture of articulations and the
relatively compatible dynamic range of both instruments.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born in Florence where he flourished as a composer of lyrical,

neo-classical and conservative works. Despite his large output of orchestral and choral works it
was a meeting with the Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia that put Tedesco on a path to become
one of the most productive composers of guitar music in the 20th century. After fleeing fascist
Europe just before the outbreak of WW II he settled in California and worked in the Hollywood
movie industry while maintained a steady output of works for guitar as a solo and chamber
instrument.
The Sonatina op. 205 is a gentle work written in 1965 for the Austrian guitarist Konrad
Ragossnig and his duo partner flutist Peter Lukas-Graf. Composed towards the end of a prolific
life, the three-movement Sonatina is typical of the composer’s mastery over classical forms;
contrasting themes, quickly paced harmonic rhythm and lyrical melodic writing. The instruments
work together in concertante fashion, often exchanging thematic material.


The Arpeggione was invented sometime in 1823 by the respected Viennese guitar maker Johann
Georg Stauffer. A kind of enlarged guitar that could be bowed, the hybrid instrument developed
few followers and within a decade suffered a quick extinction. Today it is remembered as the
vehicle for Franz Schubert's Sonata "per arpeggione" in A-minor, D. 821. Schubert composed
the piece in November 1824, after returning from a summer teaching music to the Count of
Esterházy's daughters. The commission (though there is no recorded fee) came from Vincenz
Schuster, an advocate of the instrument and acquaintance of the composer. First published in
1871, the three-movement work became associated most closely with the cello but arrangements
exist for varied pairings including flute and guitar.
The opening Allegro moderato opens with a recognizably wistful melody in the guitar that is
immediately picked-up and expanded by the flute. The second theme proceeds in gentle gusts of
sixteenth notes. The relatively short Adagio in the relative Major key is a built around a hymn-
like subject that expands over three contrasting sections. The final multi-sectioned Allegretto is
in rondo form where powerfully rocking themes contrast with more charming and song-like
passages.


Originally composed for the piano in 1915, Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances reflect the
composer’s life-long study of central and eastern European folk music. Romanian folk music
held a special interest for Bartok who thought that the region’s traditional insularity reflected a
pure folk tradition unchanged by musical borrowing. The first of the dances, Jocul cu bâta (Stick
dance) has its origins in Mezoszabad, Transylvania. Bartók reportedly heard this tune played by
two Romanian gypsy violinists. Brâul is a type of chain dance performed by inhabitants of Egres
in the Torontál area; the dance makes use of a sash, or cloth belt. Pe loc (in one spot), also from
the Torontál, is a “stamping dance” performed “in one spot,” or in place. It begins with a simple
drone followed by a haunting, mysterious melody.
Buciumeana, from the Torda-Aranyos region in central Romania, features an exotic, languorous
melody that builds in intensity and then softens as it closes. Poarga românesca (Román “polka”)
hails from the Bihar region. Like life at its most exuberant, the dance is all-too-brief, moving by
swiftly and with abandon, only to come to a sudden close. Immediately, though, we are swept
into two final dances, from Bihar and Torda-Aranyos respectively; both are entitled Maruntel
and played without pause. These final dances express irrepressible, adrenalized vitality, and it is
at this level of fever-pitched intensity and joyful abandon that the dances end.


Celso Machado is a Brazilian guitarist, percussionist, and multi-instrumentalist who lives in,
Canada. For over forty years he has performed on concert stages throughout Brazil, Western
Europe and Canada, as well as in the United States. He is active as a teacher, composer and
recording artist. According to his biography, he has played onstage with renowned guitarists
Sergio and Odair Assad, Badi Assad, Romero Lubambo, Yamandu Costa, Cristina Azuma, Peter
Finger, and Solorazaf. He is known for the ability to produce birds call imitations using wind and
percussion instruments. (source: Celso Machado website).

Several of Machado’s early compositions based on the popular styles of Brazilian music were
collected and published by Editions Henry Lemoine in 1988. Simple and melody-driven the
collection features choros, sambas, bossas and maxixes; the bedrock of dances that typify
Brazilian musical culture.


Toru Takemitsu is Japan’s most celebrated composer of the 20th century. Largely self-taught his
music is nonetheless influenced by the French Impressionists (especially Debussy) and German
expressionist composers, notably Schoenberg and Berg. His contribution to both guitar and flute
repertoire of the 20th century are highly valued for their originality and intricate sound world.

Toward the Sea was written in 1981 as a contribution to the Greenpeace Foundations Save the
Whales program. The titles of the movements were inspired by Moby Dick, Hermann Melville’s
landmark novel. Takemitsu quoted Melville in the score: “Let the most absent‐minded of men be
plunged in his deepest reveries … and he will infallibly lead you to water … Yes, as everyone
knows, meditation and water are wedded together.” Toward the Sea was transcribed by the
composer into two other settings: for flute, harp and orchestra and for alto flute and harp.
Takemitsu quotes the S‐E‐A in the German notation E flat ‐ E natural – A. Takemitsu’s writing
for the alto flute seems to recall the Japanese shakuhachi in its highly nuanced colours and
ornaments, many of them requiring special fingerings and techniques; the guitar’s sonorities are
so sensitively developed. Most of the work is written with no bar-lines, suggesting the free
interaction between instruments and performers.


Astor Piazzolla, an Argentinian composer who grew up on the rough streets of New York, was
introduced to jazz, tango and classical music at an early age and began his musical career as a
child prodigy on the bandoneon, a button hole instrument in the concertina family. In the 1940’s
he performed regularly with the top tango bands in Argentina but also studied composition with
the Alberto Ginastera and Nadia Boulanger, who urged him to develop his interest in tango as an
art form. This encouraged Piazzolla to evolve what he called ‘Nuevo Tango’, a modern
interpretation of tango rhythms infused with elements of jazz harmony and classical form and
techniques of thematic development.

L’histoire du Tango was written in 1986 as a commission from the guitarist Roberto Aussel. The
four movements, Bordel 1900, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960 and Concert d’aujourd’hui, are
designed to show the evolution of traditional tango into the modern concert tango in 30-year
periods. Bordel 1900 joyfully evokes the tango in its original setting in the brothels of Buenos
Aires. The dotted habanera and syncopated milonga rhythms are the immediately recognizable
character traits of traditional tango. Café 1930 summons the atmosphere when tango was seen as
music for listening rather than dancing. Nightclub 1960 reminds listeners of the interrelatedness
of modern tango with jazz. The last movement connects contemporary tango with the harmonies
and rhythms of modern art music, especially Bartok and Stravinsky.

About the Artists

Hiroshi Matsushima
Currently instructor at Mahidol University College of Music and principal flutist of the Thailand
Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshi Matsushima enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber and
orchestral musician, and educator.

Prior to his appointment at Mahidol, Mr. Matsushima was a member of several professional
orchestras in Germany, such as Hof Symphony, Munich Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra
and Philharmonia of the Nations, and appeared at major music festivals, such as
Reichenau/Bodensee, Rheingau, MDR-Musiksommer and Schleswig-Holstein.

Since his arrival in 2002, Hiroshi has been devoting himself for popularize the flute and raising
the standard of flutists in Thailand. In 2005, he formed the Flute Ensemble Siang-Nanachart, in
which he and seven other flutists play a variety of instruments from piccolo to sub-contrabass
flute. He has been touring throughout Thailand for concerts, workshops, lectures, and outreach
activities in an effort to create interchange of musical ideas among counties.

Mr. Matsushima has appeared and performed at numerous occasions in Thailand and
neighboring countries. He has performed and presented at Lanna-Japan Culture Festival,
Thailand Festival of International Cultures, recital tour in occasion of Mekon-Japan exchange
year, auditorium re-opening concert at Goethe Institute Thailand, among others, besides giving
solo recitals every 2 years. His performances were reviewed in the Nation and Bangkok Post as
“gripping nimble flute work,” “amazing ability to speak with two voices, one alto, another
soprano on flute,” and “each new melodic idea brings murmurs of delight.”

Hiroshi is frequently in demand for masterclasses and workshops. He has served as an

artist/faculty of Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble (SAYOWE), PESTA
music camp in Malaysia, Gitameit Music Center in Yangon, Myanmar, and masterclass in the
Singapore Flute Festival at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. In addition, he has also been
acting as an adjudicator for Thailand International Wind Ensemble Competition (TIWEC),
Osaka International Music Competition and SETTRADE Thailand Youth Musician Competition.
His frequent articles on flute playing have been published in the Music Journal magazine. In
2010 he was awarded a research grant from College of Music for his textbook "Ernesto Köhler
Study Guide."

A graduate from the University of Music Karlsruhe, Germany and the University of Music and
Fine Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg, Matsushima has studied primarily with Renate Greiss-Armin,
Matthias Allin and Irena Grafenauer. He has taken additional classes with Andrea Lieberknecht,
Andreas Blau, Dieter Flury and Jean-Pierre Rampal. In his native Japan, Matsushima studied
with Etsuro Sano and Kan-ichi Tanaka.

Paul Cesarczyk
Described by Guitar Review Magazine as an “artist of uncommon command and maturity, with a
broad and singing tone”, Polish born American guitarist Paul Cesarczyk is an active exponent of
contemporary as well as traditional repertoire. He made his New York City debut at the age of
seventeen at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and has concertized widely throughout Europe,
the US and Asia.

He has appeared in concert with Speculum Musicae, The Claremont Ensemble, the New York
City Opera Orchestra, the Manhattan Virtuosi, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Cremona
Festival Orchestra and as a founding member of the Manhattan Guitar Quartet. Mr. Cesarczyk
has performed on many festivals including the Long Island Guitar Festival, where he performed
Reich’s minimalist masterpiece Electric Counterpoint and the Danish GuitarWave festival
playing the works of Per Norgard.

Mr. Cesarczyk is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Andres Segovia
Award, the Aaron Copland prize from ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers), the Artists International Award, a Kosciuszko Foundation Prize and an award for
artistic excellence from the NY State Senate.

An active proponent of new music, Mr. Cesarczyk has worked with contemporary greats such as
George Crumb at the George Crumb Festival in New York as well as in collaboration for his
70th Birthday Album released by Bridge Records. A composer in his own right, Mr. Cesarczyk’s
2009 debut CD Polish Folk Melodies featured his arrangements of Polish music. His
arrangement of music by His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand can be heard
on Ekachai Jaerakul’s recent guitar recording.

Mr. Cesarczyk was educated in New York City public schools including the prestigious La
Guardia High School for the Performing Arts. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees
from Manhattan School of Music under David Starobin and completed a Doctor of Musical Arts
degree with Jerry Willard at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since 2009, Mr.
Cesarczyk serves as the department chair at Mahidol University, College of Music in Thailand.
A dedicated and active educator his students have received prizes in many international
competitions.