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February 12, 2023 – Gloria Chien, piano, Benjamin Beilman and Alexi Kenney, violins, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola, Mihai Marica, cello ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897-1957) Suite for two violins, cello, and piano left-hand February 12, 2023 – Gloria Chien, piano, Benjamin Beilman and Alexi Kenney, violins, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola, Mihai Marica, cello Erich Wolfgang Korngold showed an incredible gift for composition at an early age. Upon hearing him play his cantata Gold in 1907, Gustav Mahler proclaimed him a genius and recommended that he study with Alexander Zemlinsky at the Vienna Conservatory. At age eleven he composed a ballet, Der Schneemann (The Snowman), that was so impressive that Zemlinsky orchestrated and produced it at the Vienna Court Theater in 1910 to sensational acclaim. Richard Strauss was deeply impressed by Korngold’s Schauspiel Ouvertüre (Dramatic Overture, 1911) and Sinfonietta (1912), as was Puccini by his opera Violanta (1916). The pinnacle of Korngold’s early career came at the age of twenty-three when his opera Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) achieved international recognition. By 1928 a poll by the Neue Wiener Tagblatt considered Korngold and Schoenberg the greatest living composers. In 1934 director Max Reinhardt took Korngold to Hollywood where the second phase of his career began. There he composed some of the finest film scores ever written—nineteen in all, including such classics as Captain Blood (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939); he became Hollywood’s highest paid composer at that time. Yet he was caught between two worlds and two eras. He was criticized in some quarters for selling out to Hollywood and for ignoring modern trends in music; in Hollywood he was criticized for writing scores that were too complex. The Suite, op. 23, was written in 1930, several years before Korngold left for Hollywood and while he was under contract with the Theater-an-der-Wien as an arranger of operettas. His wife Luzi worried that his operetta work would lead to his abandonment of serious music, yet it was that work that had provided a steady enough income for him to marry. He did continue to compose serious works, though in fact their number was dwindling. The Suite, for the unusual combination of two violins, cello, and piano left-hand was written at the request of Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I, and whose financial status enabled him to commission left-hand piano concertos from many of the world’s leading composers. Though the Ravel Concerto has remained the best known, works by Prokofiev, Britten, Richard Strauss, and Franz Schmidt were also commissioned by him. And perhaps more to the point, Korngold had already written a remarkable left-hand Concerto for him in 1923. Though Wittgenstein was often known for his temperamental criticisms and rebukes, he performed the Concerto in 1924 and must have admired it enough to want Korngold to write him another piece. Korngold opted for “Suite” as a fitting title for a work of more than four movements, some of which are dance-related. He may also have liked its Baroque associations, for the work begins with a prelude and fugue. The harmonic and rhythmic language, however, displays its Romantically tinged twentieth-century orientation. The piano plays almost the entire Präludium alone, until the strings enter in unison toward the close, introducing the Fuge, which follows without pause. The fugue subject is presented by the cello, followed by the piano then the first violin. The second violin is not given its own fugal entry until the cantabile middle section. The Präludium returns to close the movement. The second movement consists of a waltz, played muted at the beginning and end. A more animated central section provides contrast. The third movement with its main theme of jagged, chromatic broken thirds is labeled “Groteske.” It functions much like a scherzo and trio, but contains intriguing metric shifts between 4/8 and 3/8. Following the Trio, which opens with an extensive piano solo, the “Groteske” is repeated. The Lied brings a singing and introspective contrast, again highlighting the piano at the outset, in an ingenious combination of melody and accompaniment all played by one hand. The Finale is a compositional tour de force, combining rondo and variation form. Introductory piano octaves preview the theme in diminution, whereupon the A theme is presented by the cello and piano, then put through a series of developing variations—developing in the sense that succeeding variations vary what has already been varied, becoming further and further removed from the theme. Korngold’s sophisticated variation techniques include diminution, augmentation, inversion, and retrograde. Episodic material leads to a B theme, which is also treated in a series of variations. The episodic material and the B theme are also closely related to the second section of the A theme, showing Korngold’s fascination with motivic unity. When the A theme returns, as in rondo form, it is in an altered minor key variation, which again leads to more “A” variations. Another set of B variations and another set of A variations bring on the coda—a wistful recall of A similar to its opening guise and a brilliant close. By Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 19, 2019: Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano; Inn-Hyuck Cho, basset horn; Ken Noda, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Non più di fiori from La Clemenza di Tito, K. 621 May 19, 2019: Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano; Inn-Hyuck Cho, basset horn; Ken Noda, piano In July 1791 Mozart received a “last-minute” commission to compose an opera to celebrate Leopold II’s coronation as King of Bohemia. He had to work quickly in order to complete La clemenza di Tito (The clemency of Titus) by September 6, when it would open at the National Theatre in Prague. Having begun the work in Vienna in late July, Mozart arrived in Prague on August 28 and completed the opera only the day before it opened. After modest successes, La clemenza di Tito experienced a triumphant closing night, which was reported to Mozart back in Vienna on September 30, the day of the premiere of Die Zauberflöte. Since most of Die Zauberflöte had been written before Mozart left for Prague, La clemenza is often considered his final opera. He died just nine weeks after the premiere of Die Zauberflöte, and critics attached a sort of stigma to La clemenza, possibly because some of the simple recitatives had to be subcontracted owing to time restraints. The fact remains, however, that Mozart admirably fulfilled the demands of eighteenth-century opera seria (serious opera) for dramatic, noble, and virtuosic writing. More than forty composers had previously set Pietro Metastasio’s libretto for La clemenza di Tito, beginning with Caldara in 1734. For Mozart’s purposes the libretto was adapted by Caterino Mazzolà—“reduced to a proper opera” as Mozart put it—by shortening it by one-third and manipulating almost all of Metastasio’s texts so that there would be ensembles and finales in addition to solo arias. The plot, typical of eighteenth-century opera seria, concerns Titus (Tito), Roman emperor, whose plans to marry someone else inflame Vitellia, daughter of the deposed emperor, with jealousy. She involves Sextus (Sesto), who is in love with her, in a plot to kill Tito that goes awry. Sesto is condemned to death, and Vitellia, unable to bear the guilt, confesses her part in the scheme. Tito, however, has granted Sesto clemency and now does the same for Vitellia. Mozart and Mazzolà reduced the number of Metastasio’s arias to eleven, which include Sesto’s great virtuosic aria with elaborate clarinet obbligato, “Parto, parto” (I go, I go), and Vitellia’s equally renowned showpiece with basset horn obbligato, “Non più di fioro” (No more flowers). Mozart’s friend Anton Stadler came from Vienna especially to play these important solos. Just before the final two scenes, Vitellia resolves to confess all, knowing not only that she’ll lose Tito and the throne but could also be put to death. Her alternately agitated and sorrowful accompanied recitative: “Ecco il punto, o Vitelia” (Now is the moment, O Vitellia) leads into her powerfully restrained “Non più di fiori.” Famous for its tessitura that is lower than much of the role, the aria unfolds in rondo form, painting a deceptively serene picture—except for a few dazzling outbursts—of a woman who is nevertheless experiencing intense emotions prior to possible death. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 20, 2022 – Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 12, no. 3 February 20, 2022 – Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano Though he achieved his early fame as a pianist, Beethoven had also developed as a respectable violinist. He played violin in his native Bonn and, upon moving to Vienna, took lessons with celebrated violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and with Wenzel Krumpholtz, who was one of the first to recognize Beethoven’s genius as a composer. His ten sonatas for piano and violin—his generation still thought of the piano first and the violin second—have always held a prominent place in the literature and contain some of his most delightful music. Beethoven completed his three Violin Sonatas, op.12, in 1798, and had them published by Artaria in 1799 with a dedication to composer Antonio Salieri. The dedication is a curious one on two counts—one that Salieri was his mentor in vocal not instrumental music, and the other that most of Beethoven’s dedications went to nonprofessional musicians—aristocrats, patrons, and friends. It is difficult for modern listeners to hear in these Sonatas the “striving for strange modulations,” “inimical barriers,” and “perversities” that upset contemporary critics. His innovative features in these works may also have puzzled Salieri, who, though he admired Beethoven’s talents, thought him wilful and difficult. All three works fit an overall framework that includes a sonata-form first movement, full-fledged slow movement, and rondo, but the rich interplay of motives and Beethoven’s emphatic style took them beyond the comfort level of his contemporaries. The E-flat major Sonata, op. 12, no. 3, is a grand, virtuoso work, whose opening shows just the kind of expansive rhetorical gestures that set Beethoven’s themes apart from those of his Classic period counterparts. And yet, there are enough elegant eighteenth-century-isms to show Beethoven’s deep roots in this tradition, and particularly his study of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin. The graceful second theme particularly evokes his forebears. One of the many striking moments in this movement comes just before the close of the exposition when Beethoven builds tension with fast figuration and pounding octaves only to relax into a humorous new little theme. The tempestuous development reminds us of the proximity to his Pathétique Piano Sonata, and the recapitulation is capped by a coda that dramatically suggests the start of a new development section before coming to an emphatic close. The reposeful slow movement highlights first the piano’s lyrical capabilities then the violin’s in the main theme, whereas the violin “sings” the entire middle section over rippling accompaniment. The regular return of the opening section of this aria-like movement seems straightforward until Beethoven takes off on an extended section that almost sounds improvised in its freedoms and unexpected turns. The jolly rondo that rounds off the Sonata contains three contrasting episodes alternating with its dancing refrains. The first, which returns for the third episode, sounds like a variation on the lively main theme, and the second shows Beethoven indulging in his love for contrapuntal devices without actually launching a fugue. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) String Quartet in D, Op. 18, No. 3 April 8, 2018: Danish String Quartet The D major Quartet may have been the first of the Opus 18 Quartets that Beethoven completed. When he began composing quartets in 1798 he was well aware that he was entering a hallowed and well-populated arena, represented at its best and therefore most daunting by Mozart and Haydn. He was particularly cognizant of the six quartets Mozart had dedicated to Haydn, as well as Mozart’s Prussian Quartets and Haydn’s own Opus 20, 71, 74, and 76 quartets. Only with the composition and publication of piano trios, piano sonatas, cello sonatas, string trios, and violin sonatas under his belt did Beethoven feel ready to begin writing quartets in earnest. His sketchbooks show that he composed Quartets Nos. 3, 1, 2, and 5 in that order; there is some indication that No. 6 was composed last, but little information exists as to where No. 4 fits into the scheme. The Opus 18 Quartets were commissioned by Beethoven’s new patron Prince Lobkowitz, who at the same time commissioned six from the aging Haydn, who was unable to produce more than two and part of another. Inevitably Beethoven must have felt the heat of competition on many levels, and the task, which took him two years to complete, involved much revision. He is famously quoted as writing to his friend Karl Amenda in 1801 about an early version of Opus 18, no. 1, saying not to circulate it, for “I have greatly changed it, having just learned how to write quartets properly.” The Quartets were published in 1801 by Mollo, one of three publishers kept busy by Beethoven that year. As a measure of how far Beethoven had come by the time he wrote the Opus 18 Quartets we should remember that his First Symphony, also published in 1801, came into existence alongside the Quartets. The striking opening of the D major Quartet occurs within a quiet framework as the first violin alone offers a yearning leap, then gently fills in the space and descends even further over murmured chordal support by the other instruments. This signature leap marks various entrances throughout the movement, and is used ingeniously in anticipation of the recapitulation (played by second violin) and immediately following as the recapitulation begins (first violin). Beethoven’s inventiveness at this structural juncture shows in the textural and dynamic contrast and in the slight harmonic adjustment at the actual moment the recapitulation begins. The rich warmth of the slow movement is palpable even without knowing that Beethoven accomplished this color change in part thought his choice of a somewhat remote key (B-flat major). A nice touch is the start of the main theme with the second violin on top of the texture, soon to be leapfrogged by the first violin. The scherzo, though not so named, delights in offbeat accents and curious pauses. In the minor-mode trio section Beethoven created a wonderfully windy, slightly eerie effect with a line of swirling eighth notes passed off from the second to the first violin, accompanied by the slower parallel descent of the other three instruments. The opening of the finale is just as memorable as that of the first movement, again initiated by the first violin. This time, however, we are whisked away in a merry romp, in which Beethoven’s sense of humor roundly deposits us on unexpected harmonic way stations. Both the development section and coda of this masterfully conceived sonata form feature a grand display of the composer’s early period contrapuntal prowess, which would find ultimate expression in the monumental Grosse Fuge . With irrepressible wit Beethoven winds up the movement in a whisper, employing the little three-note motive that launched the proceedings. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2023 AT 4 PM BACH’S 338TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT: RACHEL NAOMI KUDO, PIANO BUY TICKETS RACHEL NAOMI KUDO, PIANO 1st Prize Winner, 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition “Full of joy in playing and with the utmost precision, she received cheers and thunderous applause for her magnificent performance.” — Südwest Presse, Ulm, Germany FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Parlance Chamber Concert’s annual celebration of Bach’s Birthday will showcase the pristine artistry of American pianist Rachel Naomi Kudo, one of today’s leading Bach interpreters. Winner of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition, she has garnered international acclaim for the majesty, clarity and sheer joy of her performances. Her all-Bach recital will include an wide range of Bach’s keyboard masterpieces, including the scintillating Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, vivacious Italian Concerto, and a set of divinely inspired Chorale Preludes. PROGRAM J.S. Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903 Program Notes J.S. Bach Italian Concerto, BWV 971 Program Notes J.S. Bach Toccata in D, BWV 912 Program Notes J.S. Bach Chorale Prelude “Chorale Prelude “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” BWV 645 (arr. Busoni) Program Notes J.S. Bach Chorale Prelude “Sheep May Safely Graze,” BWV 208 (arr. Petri) Program Notes J.S. Bach French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813 Program Notes J.S. Bach Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” BWV 639 (arr. Busoni) Program Notes J.S. Bach Toccata in C minor, BWV 911 Program Notes Watch Rachel Naomi Kudo perform Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971: Watch Rachel Naomi Kudo perform Chorale Prelude “Sheep May Safely Graze,” BWV 208 (arr. Petri)

October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Adagio in B minor, K. 540 October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano According to his own catalog, Mozart completed the Adagio, K. 540, on March 19, 1788. Two weeks earlier he had completed the last of his arias for sister-in-law Aloysia Weber, “Ah se in ciel,” K. 538, and the previous month the Piano Concerto in D major, K. 537, “Coronation,” but he was chiefly occupied by thoughts of the impending Vienna premiere of his opera Don Giovanni on May 7 that year. No specific event appears to have prompted the composition of this exquisite, solitary slow movement for piano, though its ending in B major has invited speculation that he may have intended it for a sonata in E minor. Distinguished English musicologist Arthur Hutchings deemed the Adagio Mozart’s finest single piano work and eminent Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein considered it “one of the most perfect, most deeply felt, and most despairing of all his works.” Had it found a place in a complete sonata it would no doubt have received the larger number of performances it merits. The Adagio displays the elegant simplicity that imparts poignance to so many of Mozart’s slow movements. Here sudden changes of dynamics and register supply drama. The movement follows sonata-form of the binary type, in which the second half containing the development and recapitulation is proportionally equal to the exposition. Mozart adds florid elaboration to the short coda, which ends serenely in B major. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

TIMOTHY COBB, DOUBLE BASS Timothy Cobb is the principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, prior to which he served as principal bass for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Mr. Cobb serves as bass department chair for the Juilliard School, as well as serving on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Purchase College and Rutgers University. Mr. Cobb also holds the title ‘Distinguished Artist in Residence’ at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl. Mr. Cobb has appeared at numerous chamber music festivals worldwide, and as a former participant in the Marlboro Music festival, has toured with the Musicians from Marlboro series. Mr. Cobb serves on the faculty of the Sarasota Music Festival each June, and in 2014 helped to launch a new bass program for the Killington Music Festival in Killington, VT. Mr. Cobb serves as principal bass for Valery Gergeiv’s” World Orchestra for Peace”, an invited group of musicians from around the world who donate their time biannually to form an orchestra promoting international friendship and understanding. From his affiliation with the World Orchestra, Mr. Cobb has been designated a ‘UNESCO Artist for Peace’. Mr. Cobb also served as principal bass for the Mostly Mozart festival orchestra from 1989-2015. Mr. Cobb graduated from the Curtis Institute where he studied with Roger Scott. While at Curtis, Mr. Cobb was a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra and in his senior year became a member of the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti. Mr. Cobb can be heard on all Met recordings after 1986, New York Philharmonic recordings and broadcasts from 2011 on, as well as on the Naxos label, in a recording of Giovanni Bottesini’s duo bass compositions with fellow bassist Thomas Martin, of London. Additionally, Mr. Cobb has an ongoing collaboration with actor Stephen Lang, performing the solo bass soundtrack for Mr. Lang’s animated short, ‘The Wheatfield’, which depicts a moving and factual story from the Battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Lang and Mr. Cobb were joined by historian Harold Holzer when they were invited to Gettysburg in 2013 to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle by performing ‘The Wheatfield ‘at the Gettysburg Museum. In the 2018/19 season, Mr. Cobb will appear on the New York Philharmonic’s Merkin Hall chamber series, as well as two appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, and the Harris Theatre in Chicago. Mr. Cobb will also make two appearances at the Parlance Chamber Series in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Additionally, Mr. Cobb will travel to several countries in Asia and Europe to give master classes, as well as performing a full schedule with the New York Philharmonic and a performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony with the World Orchestra for Peace in November in Germany marking the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of WW1.

September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Georg Goltermann (1824-1898) Serenade Op. 119, No. 2 for four cellos September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Following cello studies in Hanover with August Christian Prell (student of Romberg), Georg Goltermann studied in Munich with Joseph Menter and soon embarked on a short career as a touring virtuoso. Having also studied composition with Ignaz Lachner, Goltermann began receiving recognition for his compositions such as his Symphony in A and his First Cello Concerto. He stopped touring in 1852 to become music director in Würzburg, but he left just one year later for Frankfurt where he served briefly as assistant music director before rising to principal music director in 1874. Goltermann’s prolific body of work went on to include further orchestral pieces, seven more cello concertos, myriad songs—many with cello and piano accompaniment—and dozens of character pieces for cello and piano. He is best remembered for his cello concertos (No. 4 in particular), which continue to be valued as effective teaching tools, and—owing to the huge popularity of ensemble music for multiple cellos—his Deux morceaux (Romance and Serenade) for four cellos, op. 119. The work was first published in 1895 and dedicated to cellist Ferdinand Forino, professor at the newly founded Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. Of the two lush, lyrical pieces—Romance and Serenade—we hear the second, a luxurious A-B-A form in which the contrasting center section explores some colorful harmonic inflections before settling back into the opening music. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 19, 2008 – Carter Brey, cello; Warren Jones, piano Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Sonata in A Minor, Op. 36, for cello and piano October 19, 2008 – Carter Brey, cello; Warren Jones, piano Arguably the most popular composer ever to emerge from the Scandinavian peninsula, Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1843. He received his formal musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory, but he did not find his unique musical voice until returning to Scandinavia after his graduation. There, Grieg was strongly influenced by Rikard Nordraak, the composer of the Norwegian national anthem. Nordraak’s obsession with the sagas, fjords and music of their homeland inspired Grieg to believe that a form of national music was also possible. He studied and drew inspiration from Norwegian folk music and is today considered a leading musical voice of Norwegian nationalism. Nevertheless, Grieg wrote that “music which matters, however national it may be, is lifted high above the purely national level.” Indeed, his music was admired by many of the most respected composers of his day, including Franz Liszt and Peter Tchaikovsky, both of whom offered their encouragement and approval. History has branded Grieg as a composer of delightful miniatures, owing largely to the popularity of such well-known works as his Holberg Suite and incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. This impression, however, is belied by the massive scale of his cello sonata, one of the most passionate and expansively Romantic sonatas ever composed for the instrument. Grieg dedicated the piece to his brother John, an amateur cellist with whom he had not been on a good terms for some time. Unfortunately, there was no reconciliation, and it was another cellist, Ludwig Gritzmacher, who premiered the work with Grieg at the piano on October 22, 1883. Perhaps reflecting the pain of the brotherly separation, the first movement begins with a brooding, agitated theme, which quickly dissolves into a tender second theme more characteristic of Grieg – warmly lyrical, very Norwegian. The movement has a wide emotional range, heightened by the unusual inclusion of a mini cadenza for the cellist. The lyrical Andante draws its opening theme from an Homage March composed by Grieg as incidental music to a play about King Sigurd Jorsalfar of Norway. (The march was originally scored for four cellos.) There is a stormy middle section before the processional theme returns at the end of the movement. The final movement begins with a brief recitative-cadenza for solo cello, which ushers in a vigorously rustic folk dance. As in the first movement, the finale traces a huge expressive trajectory. Although the sonata has no known extra-musical program, it creates a strongly narrative impression and represents Grieg at his most intense and passionate. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet MUSIC FROM THE TIME OF CERVANTES, ARRANGED FOR FOUR GUITARS Music from the Time of Cervantes (arr. W. Kanengiser) November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Jácaras – Anonymous (17th century) El Villano – Antonio Martín y Coll Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias – Antonio Martín y Coll Chacona (“La Vida Bona”) – Juan Arañéz Oy Comamos – Juan de Encina In March 2009, LAGQ debuted the theatrical production “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote” with British actor/comedian John Cleese. Interweaving tales from the classic novel with arrangements of pieces that Cervantes could have heard in his lifetime, it melded music and storytelling. Tonight’s recital includes selections from this production. Jácaras is an anonymous canción (“No hay que decir primor”) from the 17th century. With raucous strumming and castanets imitating horses’ hooves, it accompanies Don Quixote’s departure from his farm to become an adventuring knight. El Villano (“The Rustic”) is a country dance from the anthology “Flores de Música” collected by Antonio Martín y Coll. It introduces Sancho Panza, Quixote’s trusty squire. Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias is a set of variations contrasting on the famous harmonic progression, Folias de Espana. It tells of the famous argument between knight and squire, and of their reconciliation. Chacona (“La Vida Bona”), from the Libro Segunda de Tonos y Villancicos (1624) by Juan Arañes, is one of the most celebrated early examples of the form. The chacona, which by Bach’s time had become one of the most noble and profound of all dance forms, was a suggestive and prohibited danza in 1500s Spain, almost their version of our macarena. It features the lines, “here’s to the good life, good little life: let’s do the Chacona”). Oy comamos y bebamos is a four-voice villancico from the Cancionero Palacio, written by Juan de Encina. The opening stanza is “Hoy comamos y bebamos, y cantemos y holguemos, que mañana ayunaremos” (Today we eat and drink, and sing and make merry, for tomorrow we must fast”). It serves as a fitting epilogue for Don Quixote’s quixotic character. Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet ALAN JAY KERNIS 100 Greatest Dance Hits September 25, 2016: Jason Vieaux, guitar; Escher String Quartet Aaron Jay Kernis came to national attention as a twenty-three-year-old composer in 1983 when the New York Philharmonic premiered his Dream of the Morning Sky. He went on to receive the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 2, “Musica instrumentalis,” and the 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Colored Field for cello and orchestra (originally an English horn concerto). In both cases he was the youngest composer to win these prestigious awards. His highly imaginative, sophisticated yet accessible works have been commissioned and performed by a pantheon of music organizations, ensembles, and soloists. Growing up in Philadelphia, Kernis first studied violin, then taught himself piano at age twelve, and turned to composition the following year. He studied with John Adams at the San Francisco Conservatory, Charles Wuorinen at the Manhattan School of Music, and Jacob Druckman and Morton Subotnick at Yale University. He describes his wide-ranging influences as embracing everything from “Gertrude Stein to hard-edged rap to the diaphanous musical canvas of Claude Debussy.” He has taught at the Yale School of Music since 2003, has directed the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, and held composer residencies with Astral Artists, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Minnesota Public Radio, and the American Composers Forum. In the early 1990s many of Kernis’s compositions were concerned with dark images: his Second Symphony (1992) dealt with the Gulf War, Still Movement with Hymn (1993) with World War II and the Holocaust, and Colored Field (originally 1994) reflected his visits to the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps. But his varied and colorful writing has also encompassed the humorous—The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine, and the erotic—Goblin Market, based on Christina Rossetti’s moody poem. More recently, for Renée Fleming he composed the alternately ferocious and lyrical Valentines (2000) on the feminist texts of Carol Ann Duffy, Newly Drawn Sky (2006) in honor of James Conlon’s first season as director of the Ravinia Festival, and his Viola Concerto (2014) for Paul Neubauer and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Most recently Marina Piccinini and the Detroit Symphony premiered his Flute Concerto in January 2016. Kernis composed 100 Greatest Dance Hits in 1993, intending it as a celebration of popular styles of the ’90s, but he admits that sounds of the ’70s occurred to him more as he composed. The piece was premiered on September 3, 1993, for the tenth anniversary of the Music from Angel Fire Festival (New Mexico) by guitarist David Tanenbaum, violinists Ida and Ani Kavafian, violist Scott St. John and cellist Christopher Costanza. Said Kernis, “I borrowed the title from those old K-Tel advertisements on late-night TV for 100 Greatest Motown Hits or 100 Greatest Soul Hits.” The piece unfolds in four movements, drawing on popular styles ranging from salsa and rap to disco and easy listening. The short, rhythmic introduction has the string players producing all manner of unconventional sounds. The ensuing “minuet/scherzo” movement features captivating dance gestures, drawing its title, Salsa Pasada (“Rancid Salsa”) from a pun on old-fashioned salsa dancing and the condiment when it is past its prime. Kernis drew on this movement for the finale of his 1997 Guitar Concerto. Kernis entitled the contemplative slow movement (also refashioned for his Guitar Concerto) “MOR Easy Listening Slow Dance”—MOR referring to the “middle-of-the-road” kind of music his parents would like—“what they hope to find on the radio dial.” The driven finale’s impetus came from the television show Soul Train, with its over three decades of R&B, soul, hip-hop, and disco. Kernis simply substituted modes of transportation in his title—a boat for a train: Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat. The striking conclusion was inspired, said Kernis, by “kids on the subways doing intricate rap rhythms vocally, playing on their bodies even, so that the different syllables they were using and the different sounds they were making sounded like specific percussion instruments.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet THREE BRAZILIAN PIECES Three Brazilian Pieces November 19, 2017: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Da Sábado pra Dominguihnos – Hermeto Pascoal A Lenda do Caboclo – Heitor Villa-Lobos Samba Novo – Baden Powell In this set, LAGQ pays tribute to the rich sonorities and infectious rhythms of Brazil. Inspired by their collaboration in 2006-07 with the brilliant singer Luciana Souza, LAGQ recorded a new CD of Brazilian music for the Telarc label. It opens with a tune by the idiosyncratic jazz musician Hermeto Pascoal, sometimes referred to as the “Frank Zappa of Brazil”; his “Da Sábado pra Dominguinhos” is a fine example of the endless fount of tunes and surprising harmonic changes that characterize his music. We follow this with a lovely tune by the great Heitor Villa-Lobos, one of Brazil’s most celebrated classical composers, and a favorite among guitarists. His “A Lenda do Caboclo” (the Legend of the Native”) was originally written for piano, and features a gently gliding melody interrupted by a bow to the French Impressionist school. Music of the iconic guitar virtuoso Baden Powell closes the set. His “Samba Novo”, a reaction against the wave of popularity of the gentler bossa novo style, is hard driving and aggressive, with an extroverted melodic sense. Return to Parlance Program Notes