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November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet Mendelssohn’s A minor Quartet would have been an amazing achievement for a mature, fifty- or sixty-year-old composer. That he wrote it at the age of eighteen can scarcely be comprehended. Yet it may have been just because of his youth that it emerged as a masterpiece: he was young enough to have been greatly impressed by the works of Beethoven’s late period, but not old enough to be daunted by them. Mendelssohn wrote his A minor Quartet in 1827, the very year Beethoven died. Not only was Mendelssohn influenced by Beethoven’s Quartet in the same key, op. 132, which he must have known even though it was not published until the end of 1827, but he took thorough notice of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, especially the recall of themes from preceding movements in the Finale and Beethoven’s use of instrumental recitative. Earlier in 1827 Mendelssohn had composed a short song entitled “Frage” (Question), which set some lines by J. G. Droyson (known as “Voss”): “Ist es wahr? das du stets dort in dem Laubgang?” (Is it true that you are always waiting for me in the arbored walk?) The song, marked Thema, is printed at the head of the Quartet score in the Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Works edition. Mendelssohn used the three-note questioning motive for “Ist es wahr?” as the Quartet’s motto. The use of a “texted” motto naturally brings to mind Beethoven’s last String Quartet, op. 135, published in September 1827, with its “Muss es sein?” “Es muss sein!” motto. The Opus 135 Quartet was not premiered until 1828; but provided Mendelssohn became acquainted with Beethoven’s immediately upon its publication, he would have had nearly a month to incorporate this idea into his Quartet, which he completed on October 27. Mendelssohn first presents his “Ist es wahr?” motive in the Adagio introduction just before the onset of the Allegro vivace. He also bases the main theme of the movement on the motto, though disguised by the change to the minor mode and a switch to 4/4 instead of 3/4: after the scurrying sixteenth notes, the viola, imitated by the other instruments, plays the theme based on the motto rhythm. The use of E minor as the secondary key area gives the first movement some of its intensity, as do the fugal writing and high level of dissonance, which again bring Beethoven to mind. We know from some remarks Mendelssohn made about the Quartet’s success with the Parisian avant-garde that he knew he was being revolutionary. The slow movement, curiously marked Adagio non lento, reaches an even higher level of dissonance, especially in the fugal D minor section that follows the opening F major passage. Links to the motto theme can be found in both. After the climax of the developmental middle section, a violin cadenza brings about the return of the opening theme; the fugal section is recalled, but masterfully transformed. Rather than a scherzo, which was usual by this time, Mendelssohn wrote an Intermezzo for the third movement. Its elfin “trio” brings to mind the fleeting scherzos from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Octet. The main theme and the trio are cleverly joined in the coda, a feature he would return to in his later quartets. The finale shows a truly remarkable conception. It opens with a dramatic violin recitative over tremolo chords, and ingenious thematic references begin to crowd in. Mendelssohn increases the drama by delaying the establishment of the home key of A minor. The exposition ends forcefully in E minor. The development begins with a subdued treatment of the fugal subject from the slow movement in three-part counterpoint. The violent octave outburst signals the end of the development at which point the movement’s opening recitative over tremolo reappears. Eventually the first violin alone states the fugal subject in the original key, meter, and tempo. Its continuation prepares the work’s perhaps inevitable conclusion: the return of A major, and the opening of the first movement, based on “Ist es wahr?” This time, however, Mendelssohn fully makes the connection with the song by quoting its ending completely: “Was ich fühle, das begreift nur, die es mitfühlt, und die treu mir ewig bleibt” (What I feel, can only mean, she feels it with me, and will stay ever true to me). (Note: Though it is generally agreed that the Quartet is in A minor, it is frequently listed in A major because of the short opening and closing sections in the major.) © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

KEVIN ZHU, VIOLIN Nineteen-year-old Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began playing violin at age three. Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Kevin regularly performs on the world’s largest stages, ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Initially coming to international attention after winning the 2018 Paganini Competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, he has established himself as a leading figure among the next generation of musicians, astonishing audiences with his peerless technical mastery and inimitable artistic voice. In the 2020-21 season, Kevin will make debuts with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Polish Baltic Philharmonic, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and returns to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa performing Elgar’s Violin Concerto. He also performs solo recitals in Dresden, New York City, and Washington, D.C., embarking on a project to perform Paganini’s complete 24 Caprices in one concert, one of few violinists to ever do so. Recent orchestral highlights include concerto appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, and China Philharmonic Orchestra. A highly sought-after recitalist, he has toured across the United States and Europe with repertoire ranging from Beethoven to contemporary commissions. Kevin is also a passionate chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Power, and Jan Vogler. In addition to his efforts on stage, Kevin serves as a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He has repeatedly been featured on BBC Radio 3, NPR’s From the Top, and RAI Radio 3. Kevin is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he studies with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. Kevin performs on the c1722 “Lord Wandsworth” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

November 15, 2015 – Jeremy Denk, piano; Stefan Jackiw, violin JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, op. 100 November 15, 2015 – Jeremy Denk, piano; Stefan Jackiw, violin Brahms composed the A major Violin Sonata during the summer of 1886 in idyllic Hofstetten, Switzerland. That summer he eagerly anticipated the visit of Hermine Spies, the young contralto for whom he wrote many of his late songs. He noted that the Sonata’s second theme quotes one of the songs he wrote with her in mind, “Wie Melodien zieht es mir” (As if melodies were moving), op. 105, no. 1. Commentators have also linked “Komm bald” (Come soon), op. 97, no. 6, with this movement and found references in the finale to two other Opus 105 songs, “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” (My slumber grows more and more peaceful)—which climaxes with the words, “Komm’, O komme bald ”—and “Auf dem Kirchhofe” (In the churchyard). Brahms’s friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg was moved to characterize the entire A major Sonata as “a caress.” As was his custom, Brahms himself participated in the premiere of the Sonata on December 2, 1886, with violinist Joseph Hellmesberger, leader of the Hellmesberger Quartet and enthusiastic supporter of the composer. The performance occurred a little over a week after Brahms had accompanied Hermine in her Viennese debut recital. The first movement breathes the kind of lyricism associated with Brahms’s songs whether or not one hears the specific allusions. It is the second theme in this sonata form that recalls his lovely “Wie Melodien,” borrowing the first phrase only, which Brahms varies rhythmically and gives a new continuation. The tune reappears in the recapitulation and furnishes the violin’s last utterance to close the coda. The second movement combines a slow movement and scherzo in alternating sections, in a manner similar to the middle movement of the F major Quintet. Each returning section brings a subtle variation of its former appearance. Brahms marked the finale “Allegretto grazioso quasi Andante” in order to achieve a non-hurried, graceful atmosphere. The climactic phrase “Come, o come soon” (from “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer”) can be detected in the rondo theme. The first contrasting episode introduces a haze of arpeggiated chords rather than a “tune” before the rondo refrain returns, but the second episode sounds more traditionally songful. A variation of the first theme returns in the coda, extended by warm double stops in the home key. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879-1936) String Quartet in D major October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona Respighi received his earliest musical training on the violin. At age twelve he enrolled at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, where he studied violin with Federico Sarti, eminent teacher of a whole string of violin prodigies. Judging by contemporary reports of his playing, Respighi could have made a career solely as a violinist had not his interests turned toward composition and, partly as a composition tool, toward the piano. While in Russia in 1900 he played principal viola in the Imperial Opera orchestra, continuing to study violin between rehearsals and performances. While in St. Petersburg he also met and studied with Rimsky-Korsakov, who had a profound influence on his development as a composer. Even after Respighi’s return to Bologna in 1902, when his compositions began receiving wider recognition, he continued to perform as a violinist and violist. In 1903 he also became the violist of the Mugellini Piano Quintet, with which he performed until 1908. Thus, though Respighi is known principally for his large orchestral pieces that celebrate the glories of Rome, it makes complete sense that he also wrote smaller scale chamber music all his life. Most of his chamber works, however, date from his early period, 1895 to 1910, and many of the early works remain unpublished. Respighi composed the D major Quartet, actually his third quartet, in 1904 (not 1907 as often stated), and it was first performed in 1906 in Bologna, but it remained unpublished until 1921. The first movement’s lush, Romantic, harmonically ranging first theme immediately proclaims Respighi’s confidence. Some consider it a precursor to his Trevi Fountain music in The Fountains of Rome. The more playful second theme provides contrast with its leaps and silences. Both themes frequently incorporate triplet motion. The movement ends in ethereal high harmonics over a poignant rising cello solo, followed by a more earthbound closing gesture. The highly chromatic slow movement unfolds as a moody theme and variations. Seamlessly, the first admits faster note values, the second becomes almost eerie in its winding chromaticism, and the third features an active cello melody with persistent “chatter” in the other parts. There follows a slow waltz over a drone, a slow smooth contrapuntal variation led off by the cello, a sprightly dancelike variation, and a sorrowful final variation whose lush lines for the three upper instruments are intensified by insistent drone-like repeated notes in the cello. A tender introductory gesture launches Respighi’s lightly scampering scherzo, which he calls Intermezzo. After an impassioned central section, he repeats the scherzo literally and appends a sweetly pensive coda. The finale takes off like a galloping tarantella over persistent, fast repeated-note chords. The second theme provides lovely lyrical contrast. After recapping his themes, Respighi inserts a shimmering passage of harmonics and builds over another drone to polish off his tarantella grandly in the major mode. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit arr. for four cellos by Finckel Cello Quartet September 29, 2024: Edward Arron, Carter Brey, Rafael Figueroa, and Zvi Plesser, cellos Bach, who stayed remarkably healthy for most of his life, began losing his sight toward the end to the point that the unbearable pain and hindrance to his work led him to undergo an eye operation by the noted English oculist John Taylor, who was lecturing in Leipzig in March 1750. Though the operation initially seemed successful, a second operation had to be performed, which might have helped had not the post-operative procedures of the day weakened Bach’s entire system, causing total blindness, fever, and—ten days before he died—a stroke. Only at this point did Bach realize that death was near. Sometime during his last week, Bach’s thoughts turned to Wenn wir in hochsten Noten sein (When we are in greatest need), BWV 668, a 45-measure chorale prelude that he had expanded from his 12-measure chorale setting c. 1712–13 of the same name (BWV 641) and included in the Orgel-Büchlein. The expanded work belongs to the collection of chorale preludes known as the “Great Eighteen,” revised c. 1739–42 in Leipzig. As Bach lay on his deathbed, apparently having asked an organist friend to play the chorale prelude for him, he began thinking about the original sixteenth-century melody that had also been sung to the words “Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit” (“Before your throne I now appear”) and that their complementary texts perfectly suited his own end-of-life thoughts. Ever the earnest perfectionist, he realized even then that he wanted to make several improvements prior to standing in judgment before his God. Bach dictated the tweaks to a student, and apparently the same student or another copyist made a fair copy of this slightly revised version at the end of a manuscript of organ works in Bach’s hand that included revisions to others of the Great Eighteen. (Unfortunately the last page of that copy disappeared at some point.) The year after Bach’s death, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel—who knew that his father had been tinkering with BWV 668 on his deathbed—issued The Art of Fugue with this chorale prelude at the end, thinking it a more fitting conclusion than the final four-voice fugue that the elder Bach had left incomplete. Not knowing about the dictated revisions, C.P.E. simply included BWV 668 as it had appeared earlier but with the new title, Vor den Thron tret’ ich hiermit. In either version Bach demonstrates his great artistry, and his deathbed revisions stand as a testament to his continual striving for perfection. The work, heard this afternoon in the four-cello arrangement made by the Finckel Cello Quartet, presents the four phrases of the chorale melody in the upper voice, each preceded by a fugal exposition based on what eventually appears as counterpoint to that section of the melody. Bach’s brings contrapuntal mastery to his fugal entries by incorporating inversion (mirror image of intervals) and, toward the end, diminution (shortened note values). A nice harmonic diversion dramatically sets up the final chord. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 16, 2018: Emerson Quartet FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) String Quintet in C major, D. 956, op. posth. 163 December 16, 2018: Emerson Quartet Between August and October 1828, just before his tragically early death in November, Schubert completed an amazing number of pieces, widely varying in character and containing some of his most beautiful music—the three late piano sonatas, the song collection Schwanengesang, the incredible C major String Quintet, and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock). The great quantity and quality may have been an act of defiance by one who knew he had little time left, but they could just as easily have been the product of one confident in his creative powers who had no thoughts of dying, since he had always recovered from previous illnesses. No sketches nor autograph manuscript of the miraculous String Quintet survive to give clues about its gestation. It is entirely possible that the work’s total creation took place within two weeks that September. We know only that the Quintet had been recently completed from a letter to publisher Probst on October 2 offering the work for publication along with the three piano sonatas and some Heine songs. In that letter Schubert mentioned that the Quintet would be “tried over in the near future,” something that did not actually happen until 1850 and in a cut version at that. Probst turned down the Quintet, probably because such a large-scale chamber work would not sell well (though he expressed interest in the songs). This masterpiece was not published until 1853. Schubert’s String Quintet has become one of the most beloved chamber music works of all time. Its endless flow of gorgeous melodies and advanced modulating harmonies, its engaging mixture of tenderness and robustness, and its luxurious sonority enhanced by the presence of a second cello have spoken in an especially personal way to audiences and performers alike. Much has been made of Schubert’s pioneering medium—the presence of two cellos rather than two violas as in Mozart’s great Quintets. “Pioneering” is justified here since Boccherini’s earlier two-cello quintets contained a soloistic first cello part to show off his own playing, whereas Schubert’s five players are all equal participants in a true piece of chamber music. Many reasons for his choice have been offered, but the simplest is probably that he loved the sound of the cello in its tenor range but did not want to give up its bass support. This wondrous work, like his G major Quartet two years earlier, begins simply with a sustained chord that blossoms into melodic and rhythmic fragments. The way in which he immediately transforms these elements portends a movement of great breadth and imagination, but nothing can fully prepare the listener for the melting beauty of the second theme. If for no other reason, the sonority of the two cellos singing high above the viola’s bass line more than justifies Schubert’s chosen quintet configuration. This lilting theme makes many appearances in various instrumental configurations, giving the movement its overall sense of serenity, though Schubert does introduce enough dramatic conflict, particularly in the development section, to provide balance. One of the crowning jewels of the Quintet is its exquisite Adagio, one of Schubert’s rare essays in such a slow tempo. The drawn-out unfolding of his theme seems to suspend time, a quality that speaks volumes about Schubert’s confidence and prowess. His memorable texture has the three middle instruments playing the sustained theme while the first violin provides fragmented outbursts and the second cello pizzicato support. Without warning the middle section explodes passionately in a distantly related key, after which the sublime opening section returns with inspired variants. Toward the end, the turbulent music tries to intrude but is quickly repressed by the prevailing calm. The extraordinarily moving quality of this music led both celebrated pianist Artur Rubinstein and esteemed writer Thomas Mann to say they would choose this movement to hear on their deathbeds. The scherzo’s stomping peasant dance, replete with hunting calls, contains remarkable harmonic shifts and bold dissonances that lend a sophisticated sheen to the merriment. No greater contrast can be imagined than the somber, introspective trio that is ultimately brushed aside by the return of the merry Scherzo. The finale imparts rustic Hungarian flavor with its vigorous short-long rhythms in the accompaniment and shifts between minor and major. The lilting second theme gives a more elegant, courtly impression. Toward the end he creates an unforgettable sonority by offsetting the cellos, again in duet, against delicate arching chords in the upper three voices. His exuberant coda speeds up twice to provide a dazzling conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 6, 2018: Kerry McDermott, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Oliver Neubauer, violin Y. DOBON (1916-1996) Zowie! Goes the Weasel for 3 violins and viola May 6, 2018: Kerry McDermott, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Oliver Neubauer, violin Zowie! Goes the Weasel , a humorous arrangement for four violins of the well-known nursery tune “Pop! Goes the Weasel,” appeared in print in 1947 in Fiddle Sessions , a collection of ensemble pieces for two, three, and four violins compiled by Livingston Gearhart. A pianist, educator, composer, and arranger, Gearhart published a series of nine such Sessions, known for their humor and liveliness as they build students’ music skills. He may be best known, however, for his arrangement of the classic “Dry Bones” for Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. Gearhart studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, where he also met Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, and Robert Casadesus—and formed a successful piano duo with his future wife, Virginia Clotfelter (professional name Morley). They returned to the U.S. owing to WWII conditions, and by 1954 they had performed over 2,000 concerts, most of them under contract with Columbia Concerts and the Fred Waring Show . They also made many recordings for Columbia Masterworks and Decca Records, and Gearhart worked as a staff arranger for the Fred Waring Show . In 1955 Gearhart joined the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) where he taught piano, theory, and orchestration until his retirement in 1985. Also in 1955, divorced from Virginia, he married violinist and conductor Pamela Gerhart (not a misspelling!), for whose students at SUNY Buffalo, the Community Music School of Buffalo, and many workshops and clinics he continued to compose and make arrangements. Gearhart included no biographical information in Fiddle Sessions about “Y. Dobon” the composer of Zowie! Goes the Weasel , but it is entirely possible that it was one of his colleagues at the Fred Waring Show or someone he encountered on tour. Information about Dobon may lie somewhere in the 507 folders of Gearhart’s original compositions, arrangements, collections, and personal papers held at the SUNY Buffalo Library, but for the present, Gearhart deserves the credit for making this jazzy, lighthearted arrangement known. Here the four-violin arrangement is adapted for three violins and viola. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 6, 2018: Kerry McDermott, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Oliver Neubauer, violin CHARLES DANCLA (1817-1907) Variations on Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman for three violins and viola May 6, 2018: Kerry McDermott, violin; Clara Neubauer, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Oliver Neubauer, violin Charles Dancla was so accomplished on the violin at age nine that Pierre Rode gave him letters of introduction to Pierre Baillot, Luigi Cherubini, and Rodolphe Kreutzer. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Paul Guérin and Baillot, winning the premier prix in 1833. He also studied composition, playing in Paris theater orchestras to support his family. A lover of chamber music, Dancla played in his family’s own group, which became a regular feature of Paris seasons. His career did not unfold as he had hoped, however, when he was passed over for Baillot’s position in 1842. He declined the position of assistant conductor at the Opéra-Comique in 1848 and left Paris because of the political unrest. After returning as an official in the postal administration, he finally won a violin post at the Paris Conservatory in 1855. Forced to retire against his will in 1892 at age seventy-five, he continued to perform his own works. Dancla did not tour, so his reputation relied on his compositions, of which there were many. He composed his Variations on Ah! vous dirai-je , maman! for four violins, op. 161, around 1884—arranged here for three violins and viola. This was the same French folk song on which Mozart had produced his famous set of piano variations in 1781 or ’82. Dancla’s piece begins with a singing introduction, followed by the theme in alternating forceful and quiet sections. The variations highlight each player in turn starting from the bottom up—1) a florid spun-out line, 2) fast notes using sautillé (bouncing bow) technique, 3) spirited gestures ending with fast filigree, and 4) contrasting sections of lightly arpeggiated chords and soaring vocal leaps. The fifth variation features a darting figure that migrates among all the players, the lovely sixth variation provides songlike lushness, and the seventh merrily contrasts the players in pairs. The eighth is especially striking for its presentation of the theme in harmonics—first over pizzicato triplets, then lyrical counterpoint, and finally hushed tremolo—which serves as a perfect foil for the exuberance of the finale and its dazzling coda. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, op. 8 October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello The sixteen-year-old Shostakovich composed his First Piano Trio in the throes of love for Tatyana Glivenko, daughter of a well-known Moscow philologist. He had met her on holiday on the Crimean peninsula in the summer of 1923 and wrote home to his mother extolling the virtue of “free love,” though he commented that marriage was valuable for family life. He maintained a relationship with Tatyana for years—largely through correspondence, for they were often geographically separated. Toward the end of the summer of 1923, when Tatyana had already gone home, Shostakovich began his one-movement Piano Trio. He wrote to Tatyana asking her permission to dedicate the piece to her and divulged, “About three years ago I wrote a piano sonata; it was of course a childish thing, immature, but it had some material that was not bad and which I included in the trio in the form of a second subject.” Scholar Sofia Khentova reports that he also employed material from the first movement of a quintet he had written and abandoned the previous April. According to some sources, the Trio received a trial performance during the screening of a silent film on October 25, 1923, at the Harlequinade Cinema in Petrograd, with violinist Veniamen Sher, cellist Grigori Pekker, and the composer at the piano. Others assert that Shostakovich did not begin playing piano for silent films until 1924. In any case, the same group did perform the work, provisionally retitled Poem, at the Petrograd Conservatory in December 1923 (on the 13th or 19th, depending on the source). On April 7, 1924, Shostakovich played the Trio as part of his successful audition for entry into the Moscow Conservatory. Another performance, often listed as the public premiere, took place on March 20, 1925, at the Moscow Conservatory with violinist Nikolas Fyodorov, cellist Anatoli Yegorov, and pianist Lev Oborin. The composer performed the Trio several more times, but the score then lay in obscurity until 1983, when it was published with the reconstruction of a missing passage of twenty-two measures in the piano part, made in 1981 by Shostakovich student Boris Tischenko. Written in Shostakovich’s early post-Romantic style, the Trio contains only hints of some of his later edgy sonorities, but does show characteristic marchlike and perpetual-motion ideas alongside lush lyricism. The introduction begins meditatively with three chromatically descending notes in the cello that generate much of the movement. The main theme proper exhibits both forthright and scherzando qualities. His self-borrowing, which would become a lifelong trait, appears here, as he mentioned to Tatyana, in his lyrical second theme, emerging as a singing cello melody from ethereal piano chords. It unfolds almost identically—even as to key (E-flat major), time signature (6/4), and tempo marking (Andante)—to the second movement of a B minor piano sonata he had written and discarded in 1920 or 1921, thus preserving the material he modestly called “not bad.” Shostakovich’s sonata form is free and rhapsodic, swinging easily in and out of many keys and incorporating a wide variety of tempos. He ends in a grand, climatic recall of his lyrical theme, capped by a brief rush of the perpetual motion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

MATTHEW POLENZANI, TENOR One of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation, Matthew Polenzani has been praised for the artistic versatility and fresh lyricism that he brings to concert and operatic appearances on leading international stages. This season Mr. Polenzani returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, conducted by James Levine, and in Verdi’s Rigoletto, opposite Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Alexandra Kurzak. He is Massenet’s Des Grieux in Laurent Pelly’s production ofManon at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and he makes his role debut as Tito in David McVicar’s production of La Clemenza di Tito at Lyric Opera of Chicago, opposite Joyce DiDonato. The tenor makes his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin opposite Elina Garanca and Ildebrando D’arcangelo, as Berlioz’sFaust, under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles. He then returns to the Bayerische Staatsoper for I Capuleti e I Montecchi, with Elina Garanca as Romeo, and Riccardo Frizza conducting. Concert appearances include Britten’s Serenade for Tenor and Horn with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and with the LA Philharmonic in La Traviata, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Among the many highlights from recent Metropolitan Opera seasons are the premieres of Bartlett Sher’s production of L’elisir d’amore, which opened the 2012 season, and David McVicar’s production of Maria Stuarda, Willy Decker’s production of La traviata, Julie Taymor’s legendary Die Zauberflöte, Jürgen Flimm’s production of Salome with Valery Gergiev, and revivals of Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, Roméo et Juliette, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Così fan tutte, Falstaff, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and L’Italiana in Algeri. To date, he has sung over 285 performances at the Met, many conducted by his musical mentor James Levine. In other American theaters, appearances include Werther, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La traviata, Roméo et Juliette, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Die Entführung, and Il barbiere di Siviglia for San Francisco Opera, and Die Zauberflötewith James Conlon at Los Angeles Opera. Following Matthew Polenzani’s debut as Gérald in Delibes Lakmé with Opera Bordeaux in France in 1998, appearances in other major European theatres included productions of Don Pasquale and La traviata at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, the Aix en Provence Festival (commercially available on DVD on Bel Air Classiques) and on a tour of Japan with Turin’s Teatro Reggio; I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Paris Opera; L’elisir d’amore at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Naples’ Teatro San Carlo, and Rome Opera; Così fan tutte at Covent Garden with Sir Colin Davis and in Paris with Philippe Jordan; Lucia di Lammermoor at Frankfurt Opera, the Paris Opera, and Vienna State Opera; La Damnation de Faust in Frankfurt; Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Antonio Pappano; Idomeneo in Turin with Gianandrea Noseda, Manon with Fabio Luisi, and La traviata at La Scala; Rigoletto at the Vienna State Opera conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and at the Salzburg Festival in Don Giovanni in a new production by Klaus Guth, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Mr. Polenzani is in great demand for symphonic work for the world’s most influential conductors including Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Louis Langrée, James Levine, Jesús López-Cobos, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Slatkin, Sir Jeffrey Tate, Michael Tilson Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, and David Zinman, and with many major orchestras both in the United States and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra della Santa Cecilia, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra Giovanile “L. Cherubini” at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris at the Saint Denis Festival. In recital, Matthew Polenzani has appeared in recital with Julius Drake at Wigmore Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Celebrity Series Boston at Jordan Hall, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; with noted pianist Richard Goode in a presentation of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, and in recital at the Verbier Festival with pianist Roger Vignoles (commercially available on CD on VAI). In a recent season, Mr. Polenzani was honored to have appeared on all three stages of Carnegie Hall: in concert with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Zankel Hall; in solo recital with James Levine at the piano in Weill Hall; and in a Schubert Liederabend on the stage of Isaac Stern Auditorium with colleagues Dorothea Röschmann, Waltraud Meier, and René Pape, again with James Levine as pianist. Matthew Polenzani was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award and Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award. An avid golfer, he makes his home in suburban New York with his wife, mezzo-soprano Rosa Maria Pascarella and their three sons.

April 24, 2022 – Marc-André Hamlein, piano MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN Suite à l’ancienne (Suite in the old style) (2020) April 24, 2022 – Marc-André Hamlein, piano For biographic background about pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin please see the artist’s biographical profile in this program. Just like C.P.E. Bach in this afternoon’s first piece, Marc-André Hamelin turns a retrospective gaze on the Baroque suite form, though through a much later lens. A consummate piano virtuoso who has composed throughout his illustrious career, Hamelin wrote his Suite à l’ancienne as a commission rather than as a solo vehicle for himself. He first encountered pianist Rachel Naomi Kudo in 2017 when he judged the 15th Van Cliburn International Competition. He was impressed by her performance of his Toccata on L’homme armé, which he had composed as the competition’s compulsory piece. For her part, Kudo was enamored of the piece and felt she had finally found the composer she wanted to commission with her funding from the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award. Said Hamelin, “I was very happy to accept. I knew I would be in good hands.” Kudo gave the premiere of the Suite à l’ancienne on February 21, 2021, in a “Virtual Special Event for The Gilmore” (Gilmore International Piano Festival). Hamelin himself will perform the piece in May 2022 at the Berliner Klavierfestival and agreed to play it one month earlier on this Parlance Chamber Concert at the request of Michael Parloff. Kudo had asked for something inspired by J. S. Bach, which turned Hamelin’s thoughts to the Baroque suite. “My suite is directly derived from the Baroque models of the various works in the genre by Bach and Handel in that the general forms are very similar. Beyond that, even though the language remains completely tonal (in A major/minor in this case), the harmony is much more involved, more chromatic.” Further, the work brims with textures and pianistic effects built on an intimate knowledge of masterful piano works ranging from Chopin and Ravel to Godowsky and Skryabin. Many Baroque suites opened with an introductory movement that was meant to be improvised or written out so as to sound like an improvisation. The stunning Préambule that opens the six-movement Suite à l’ancienne indeed sounds improvisatory with its careful notation tempered by the instruction to be played “liberamente” (freely). The brief movement commands attention with its rapid, chromatically inflected figurations that range the entire keyboard at double or triple forte throughout, ending with a grand A major chord. The Allemande presents a delightful contrast, meant to be played sweetly, charmingly, without agitation. In the binary form of most suite movements (two sections, each repeated), the music swings along easily, tunefully, despite its intricate chordal texture. In the Courante, literally “running” in French, Hamelin combines the Baroque dance type in fast triple meter with the light and playful character of a nineteenth-century scherzo, also in fast triple meter. Kudo calls this movement with its fast running sixteenth notes and leaping accompaniment “fiendishly difficult.” The right and left hands switch roles briefly at the start of the second section, which intensifies—without getting louder!—when both hands join in the fleeting sixteenth notes. The opening returns, then alters course to end in an impish disappearing act. Rather than using the typical “sarabande” designation of many Baroque suites, Hamelin titles his slow movement “Air avec agréments” (Air with ornaments). Its sound is magical, Impressionistic—shimmering in the upper register of the piano, delicately sprinkled with ornamental flourishes. A brief transition to the lower register leads directly into the next movement. This is the point in a Baroque suite where composers would often insert their choice of dances—gavotte, minuet, bourrée, among others—usually in pairs with a return to the first dance after the second. Hamelin does just that with his Gavotte—more of a graceful bustle than a courtly dance—which envelops the Musette. In earlier centuries the musette was a dance-like pastoral piece named for the small French bagpipe and imitating its sound with underlying drones and simple stepwise melodies. Hamelin cleverly makes his “drones” sound in open fifths, but they actively oscillate while ranging the left half of the keyboard. By holding everything in the pedal, including the right hand’s melodic lines, Hamelin creates a mesmerizing effect before the Gavotte returns. The Gigue makes a dazzling—and humorous—conclusion to the Suite à l’ancienne, fully in keeping with the spirit of the Baroque gigue but blasted into the twenty-first century. At one point, in a particularly chromatic passage, Hamelin writes: “Whoa, this floor’s too slippery—let’s go jig somewhere else.” The music rights itself, as if to start the section again, but continues on its roller-coaster course to a return of the jaunty opening just before the triumphant finish. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2021 AT 3 PM HAYDN SEEKING BUY TICKETS ESCHER STRING QUARTET “The Escher players seemed to make time stand still, effortlessly distilling the essence of this introspective music with expressive warmth and a natural confiding intimacy.” — Chicago Classical Review ROMAN RABINOVICH, PIANO “Mr. Rabinovich performed with uncommon sensitivity and feeling, playing with a wonderful brio and spontaneity, crisp rhythmic bite, and abundant colorings.” — The New York Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Mozart called Haydn a “great man and my dearest friend,” and Beethoven knelt before Haydn on his 76th birthday to fervently kiss his hands and forehead. Haydn’s celebrated wit, grace, and eloquence will be richly on display in this musical survey of his seminal chamber works for piano, string quartets, and piano trio. As a special treat, the multitalented pianist Roman Rabinovich will accompany his own short animated film entitled “Imaginary Encounters with Haydn.” PROGRAM Claude Debussy Hommage à Haydn Program Notes Joseph Haydn String Quartet in G, Op. 77, No. 1 Program Notes Joseph Haydn Piano Sonata No. 50 in C Hob. XVI: 50 Program Notes Maurice Ravel Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn Program Notes Joseph Haydn String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 76, No. 4 (“Sunrise”) Program Notes Joseph Haydn Piano Trio in G, Hob. XV: 25 (“Gypsy”) Program Notes Watch Roman Rabinovich play Haydn’s Piano Sonata in G, Hob XVI 39: