SIMON CALLAGHAN https://www.simoncallaghan.com/info
Wednesday 22nd July 2026- St. Mary’s Church
PROGRAMME
Sechs Klavierstücke Opus 118 Johannes Brahms (1833-97)
I: Intermezzo in A minor II: Intermezzo in A major
III: Ballade in G minor IV: Intermezzo in F minor
V: Romanze in F major VI: Intermezzo in E flat minor
Images Book I Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
I: Reflets dans l’eau II: Homage à Rameau III: Mouvement
Sonata in B flat D 960 Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
I: Molto moderato II: Andante sostenuto
III: Scherzo – allegro vivace con delicatezza
IV: Allegro ma non troppo
The piano was the chosen instrument of all three of tonight’s composers although for none did it provide an alternative source of professional activity as it did for Liszt or Chopin. Schubert was clearly an able pianist but his involvement in the performance of his music was mostly at the level of the very high standard of the rich amateur musical life which Vienna sustained. Brahms’ initial training was as a pianist and as a young man his first professional activity was as a touring player although in maturity his appearances on the concert platform were largely restricted to the performance of his own music. Debussy began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire as a very promising piano student but he soon switched to the study of composition.
Piano music and the instrument itself developed markedly through the nineteenth century. By 1828, the year of Schubert’s sonata, the piano was only just stabilising in matters of construction and tonal quality; his pianos would have been light in touch and clear in sound. Brahms took delight in the robust sound and wide tonal range of the mid-century instrument while Debussy was keen to explore the half-lights and range of pedalling effects which French pianos of the turn of the century were able to offer. The musical forms favoured by composers for the piano evolved too. Although he did explore smaller, freer forms, the multi-movement sonata was still the natural vehicle for Schubert. Brahms wrote three large-scale sonatas at the beginning of his career but then turned to single movement works even if the sonata principle lay behind many of them. All Debussy’s mature piano works are free-standing single movements, very often written with the intention of illustrating extra-musical scenes.
Schubert’s Bb sonata was composed during the last months of his life, part of a trilogy of sonatas different in key and mood but subtly interrelated. Richly varied themes are explored at length, notably in the leisurely-paced first movement. Even for Schubert the harmonic range is wide but handled with perfect assurance. The Brahms group too belongs to the composer’s last years, although exact dating of his compositions is often highly speculative. It is one of a four groups of pieces, each made up of single movements bearing ‘open’ titles giving no hint of sources of inspiration. If old age and ill-health have precluded work on the physical scale of concertos or symphonies, the musical imagination and skill of craftsmanship have in no way diminished. Debussy’s fist volume of ‘Images’ belong to his early 40s, the period of ‘Pelléas’ and ‘La Mer’. He had no time for close analysis of his work, trusting that it would speak for itself. The best description he could offer for ‘Images’ is “…in the literature of the piano lying somewhere to the left of Schumann and to the right of Chopin’. I hope that helps.
Simon Callaghan performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist in the UK, elsewhere in Europe and across North America and Asia. He is Artistic Director of Conway Hall and a Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music.