Sternberg and Ard to Present Music for Piano Duet Nov. 3

by Richard Veit

Two longtime members of the Baylor University music faculty, Daniel Sternberg and Michael Ard, will combine their talents to commemorate the bicentennial of Franz Schubert's birth and the centennial of Johannes Brahms' death. This special piano duet recital will begin at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, in Roxy Grove Hall.
Daniel Sternberg is now dean emeritus of the School of Music. He served as dean from 1943 until 1980. Michael Ard, professor of keyboard studies, joined the Baylor faculty in 1968.
In addition to music for piano by Schubert and Brahms, the program will also include spoken commentary by Sternberg.
The recital will open with Schubert's Rondo in A Major, D. 951, a relatively late work that was written in June of 1828, just five months before the composer's death. Another Schubert piece to be heard will be his Variations on an Original Theme, D. 813, which dates from the summer of 1824.
A rarely-played piece by Johannes Brahms will be featured-his "Fantasies for Piano, Four Hands," known as Souvenir de la Russie. This work is based on songs by Russian composers Nikolai Titov ("The Branch"), Alexander Varlamov ("Don't Wake Her at Dawn"), and Alexander Alabiev ("The Nightingale").
Concluding the program will be four of Brahms' Hungarian Dances. Sternberg and Ard will play No. 1 in G Minor, No. 2 in D Minor, No. 6 in D-flat Major, and No. 8 in A Minor.
The recital is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor University School of Music at 710-3991.