Program Notes for Upcoming Concert (Chamber Series)

The Cumberland Wind Quintet will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at the ORAU Pollard Auditorium at ORCMA's last Chamber Concert of the 2011-2012 season.

Roger Martin -- flute           William Woodworth -- oboe
Wonkak Kim -- clarinet        James Lotz -- bassoon
Jeremy Hansen -- horn

PROGRAM NOTES FOR CUMBERLAND WIND QUINTET

By Becky Ball

Blow, baby, blow! Every orchestra has its woodwind section, and what a windfall it is for musical colors. Wind blowers blow into reed-less flutes, single-reed clarinets, double-reed oboes and bassoons, and mouthpieces of French horns. Altogether, they give us lyrical melodies, trills and thrills, dramatic warmth and emotions, acid-sweet tones, sonorously rich sounds, heroic declamations, savage fortissimos, and ominous stopped tones. We’ve even been known to giggle at the grotesque sounds they create for comic effects. And all that good stuff comes to us tonight from five blowers. We welcome the Cumberland Wind Quintet to present the last program of our 2011-12 Chamber Music Series. We have every reason to expect the wind velocity to be breathtaking!

J. S. Bach’s Concerto No. 2 after Vivaldi, arranged by Mordechai Rechtman

German-born Rechtman is a renowned bassoonist, composer, conductor, arranger and teacher with too many awards to list. His nifty transcriptions are much in demand, and in his arrangement of Bach’s piece for string orchestra after Vivaldi, he’s particularly adroit with instrumentation. Intact is the undisguised rhythmic pulse of Vivaldi and the mathematical genius of Bach, but the final stamp is that of Rechtman.

BONUS FACT: Rechtman went to Israel in 1934, and from 1946-1991 he was principal bassoonist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Sally Garden by Robert Jager

Roger Jager composed and transcribed music for the United States Armed Forces School of Music, lectured in composition at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and served on the music staff at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville until his retirement in 2001 as professor emeritus.

It was down by the Sally Gardens where love nearly bloomed, but the pursuer was young, impatient and foolish, so a real romance was doomed. That’s my own summation of the Irish lyrics for Sally Gardens. Jager does much better with his transcription of the tune.

BONUS FACT: Jager is the only three-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Composition Award.

Paul Hindemith’s Little Chamber Music Opus 24 No. 2

Hindemith was the foremost composer of his generation and a leading figure of the twentieth-century avant-garde. So crafty was his dissonant counterpoint that many likened him to a modern Bach. He had a special love for woodwinds and brass although his own expertise was on the viola. The Opus 24 No. 2, written in five days, is billed as a true masterpiece and the first composition to demonstrate his unique melodic gift. It is also one of his most performed works.

Each movement has a distinct character, beginning with the jolly first with its signature march motif accompanying delightfully quirky melodies. Listen for the unusual tones from the bassoon in its highest register. Don’t they seem to leap over the accompaniment like a kangaroo? The soft and relaxed waltz is somewhat a tease, but it is such easy listening that you want to think “pretty” instead of satirical. You will probably notice the use of the piccolo here.

The third movement is fascinating what with its unusual blend of textures and lovely harmonies. The solemn march in the center features the horn, flute and clarinet, and the expressive melody is given to the oboe and bassoon. A brilliant interlude (4th movement) featuring fanfares announcing individual cadenzas leads to the finale – a fast rustic dance, and what a robust palpitating romp it is.

BONUS FACT: Dmitri Shostakovich on Hindemith: “His music is like his personality -- everything is in place, well put together, and it’s not merely craft, it has feeling and meaning and content.” We should stop there but there’s more . . . “but it’s impossible to listen to.” What is your take on Hindemith? -- and on Shostakovich?

A La Cubana by Enrique Granados, arranged by Clark McAlister
It stretches the imagination, but McAlister has done it -- arranged Granados’ romantic piano piece for five players. If you’ve played the piece, you might have wished for five hands. It will be especially interesting to hear how the triplets and the three against two rhythms fare here.

BONUS FACT: McAllister was assistant conductor, librarian and personnel manager with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra before joining the editing team at Kalmus Music Publishers, where he eventually was promoted to vice president.

Finale from Woodwind Quintet Opus 88 No. 2 by Anton Reicha
Czech-born Anton Reicha, who later became a naturalized French composer, was a contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, and among his theory pupils were Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. When he wrote his woodwind quintets, there were no organized woodwind groups. He just picked five of Paris’s leading instrumentalists and gave them something special to play. The finale from Opus 88 is a cheerful gallop with bountiful melodies and enough pulse to keep us all alive and well.

BONUS FACT: Due to Reicha’s attitude towards publishing, much of his music left the scene when he died. What a shame.

Louis Armstrong’s Yes, I’m in the Barrel, transcribed by David Jolley
This piece is as much fun as a barrel of critics who think Armstrong was the greatest single figure in jazz. So, couple Armstrong with top-ranked French horn player David Jolley, and we bet those wails from the clarinet and horn are going to knock our socks off. Why? Because Juilliard graduate Jolley tries to imitate the human voice and is noted for his phenomenal skill at shaping soulful phrasings. Find Jolley on the web, he’s an interesting guy and even looks a bit like our own BILL SCHWENTERLY.

BONUS FACT: As Jolley’s career blossomed, he took part in expanding the solo repertoire for horn. He premiered and commissioned work from top composers, including John Harbison and another of our own -- EDGAR MEYER.

Woodwind Quintet, Opus 56 No. 1 by Franz Danzi
The German cellist-composer and conductor lived at a significant time. His career spanned the transition from the late Classical period to the early Romantic period. He idolized Mozart, had mixed feelings about Beethoven, and was a mentor to Weber. He is known chiefly for his woodwind quintets and his creative ideas. He had a thing for finding the lyrical character of each instrument, scoring accordingly. In our book that is called sensitivity. Listen for it in this number, which demonstrates both classical and romantic elements.

BONUS FACT: Danzi’s father, a professional cellist, taught Franz cello, piano, and composition. Years later Franz replaced his father as first cellist in the prestigious Munich orchestra, wrote a successful opera and eventually served as a court conductor.

Send in the Clowns, arranged by Dawson. What do you want to bet that this popular number is going to be burlesqued? No need to send more clowns in. There are plenty in the audience.

Scherzo from Serenade for Woodwinds, Op. 44 by Dvorak
Who wouldn’t like this little jewel? It’s vigorous yet graceful, and there is individual charm for all instruments, yet it’s a great ensemble piece. One listens with no desire to alter it in any way.

BONUS FACT: Dvorak remains the great 19th century Czech composer even with plenty of competition. He had very few heartaches. He married happily and had six children. Listen carefully. You can hear contentment in his music.

Wapango by Paquito D’Rivera
Cuban-born D’Rivera has been in the U.S. since the early 1980s. He has won multiple Grammy awards both in classical and jazz categories. He plays both the saxophone and the clarinet and is best known for playing Latin Jazz. Are there any celebrities worth their salt who have not played with Yo Yo Ma? Among the other “crossover artists” D’Rivera has joined are the Ying Quartet and the Turtle Island String Quartet. Wapango is an African-American song.

BONUS FACT: Does Binaural Surround Music have a future? Go to gearslutz.com and read D’Rivera’s interesting views. He’s not just blowing in the wind.

Three Shanties by Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Arnold’s output and composing versatility is amazing, from instrumental and choral music to more than 100 film and television scores. His film score for Bridge on the River Kwai won an Oscar. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later was principal trumpet player in the London Symphony. Arnold’s Three Shanties is based on three folk songs: The Drunken Sailor, Boney Was a Warrior and Johnny Come Down to Hilo. The first movement may sound like the wind blowers are three sheets to the wind, but they are actually working hard in canonic details, imitating hiccoughs, simulating remorse, and getting the tango rhythm from their feet to their embouchures. The second movement thinks Boney’s warrior days are over (the composer needed a contrasting mood). And lastly, when Johnny comes down to Hilo, the tailwind from the woodwinds should speed his journey and blow us away.

Program

Concerto No. 2 after Vivaldi                              J. S. Bach (arranged by Mordechai Rechtman)
    
The Sally Garden                                               Robert Jager

Chamber Music Opus 24, No. 2                          Paul Hindemith
 
A La Cubana                                                       E. Granados (arranged by Clark McAlister)

Finale from Opus 88, No. 2                                 Anton Reicha

Intermission

Yes, I'm in the Barrel                                          Louis Armstrong (transcribed by David Jolley)

Bläserquintett B Opus 56, No. 1                          Franz Danzi
   
Send in the Clowns                                              arranged by Dawson

Scherzo from Op. 44                                            Antonín Dvorák (transcribed by Eberhard Ramm)

Wapango                                                             Paquito D'Rivera                                           

Three Shanties                                                      Malcolm Arnold

PROGRAM NOTES ON ORCMA CHAMBER CONCERT FEATURING THE FELICI PIANO TRIO

By Becky Ball

(Sunday, April 15, 2012, 3 p.m., Pollard Auditorium)

NOTE: The Felici Piano Trio will also perform with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, April 14, at 8 p.m. at Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.

Did you count your blessings before you sent them off to the IRS? Ah, but it’s done, and now your consolation rewards are the blessings you will hear in the piano trios from Brahms, Mendelssohn and the contemporary composer Chen Yi. We rejoice with Dr. Chen’s success while making note that Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix, was also a composer. But because of her gender, her songs had to be published under her brother’s name. Blessed are today’s women composers for they shall be heard and recognized.

Brahms: Piano Trio in B Major, Opus 8

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was only 21 when he wrote this first chamber music work. He didn’t like it and Clara Schumann disliked it even more so it was declared a “half masterpiece.” Thirty seven years later he created another version and wrote to Clara explaining that “it will not be as muddled up as before, but will it be better?” Apparently the first version, influenced by untamed emotions, contained too many half quotations from other romantic works and too many allusions to his conflicted feelings for his good friends Robert and Clara Schumann. Actually, he was in a pickle. He wanted to support Robert, who was going mad, and control his romantic feelings for Clara at the same time. We will be hearing tonight the more clear-headed, “better” trio (a full masterpiece), and it begins with the first measure, which is flat-out gorgeous.

After the piano introduces the broad stately theme rather modestly, the piece blossoms out with compelling intensity. The strings do the embroidery work for a while and then, as if envious, they put their own stamp on the prize tune, freeing the piano to dance around the strings. We envision the piano notes celebrating Brahms’ intricate embellishments while the strings remain firmly in control of the melodic line. There is a rewarding balance of parts as the first and second themes play out. The movement ends with a massive climax, followed by a recapitulation of the first theme, played by the strings in unison. Con brio? You bet.

The Scherzo is so fleet-footed and brilliant it almost begs to be left alone. Yet we delight in the crafty interruptions that catch us off guard and titillate until a contrasting quiet fluttering comes as another surprise. Another attractive feature is the charming sentimental trio. The Scherzo scurries away just as it scurried in. The Adagio is a role model of carefully thought-out form. We love the dialogue between the strings and piano. No instrument “talks” too much or is interrupted too much. Brahms lets each voice have its say until they all “speak” at once in beautiful sonorities. The cello announces it’s time for order and beautifully restores the movement back to its tidy order. When has languid slowness been so satisfying?

You gotta love that cello, which gets to introduce the first theme of the final movement. Many agitated measures later the cello, playing on the off beats, accompanies the piano. And suddenly like a tumbling snowball the music accumulates parts, motifs, dynamics, and momentum as if stockpiling for another Brahms gold mine. Wheeee!!

BONUS FACT: GOOD NEWS! Brahms lived to see his music triumph throughout Europe and America. The bad news is that many in his audiences thought his music was academic, plodding, harsh and sometimes even dissonant. We saw in a major American concert hall an exit sign that read: “EXIT IN CASE OF BRAHMS.”  

 
Chen Yi: Tibetan Tunes for Piano Trio

Three years after Chen Yi was born in 1953 in Guangzhou, China, she began to take violin and piano lessons. She grew up during the Cultural Revolution and received her B.A. and M.A. music degrees from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Dr. Chen was the first woman to receive a master’s degree in composition at the Beijing conservatory. She also earned her doctor of music arts degree from New York’s Columbia University. She blends Chinese and Western traditions and thinks of herself as an Ambassador for the Arts. She is currently a Distinguished Professor in Music Composition at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has served on the composition faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (1996-98) and has been the Composer-in-Residence of the Women's Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and the Aptos Creative Arts Center in San Francisco, supported by Meet the Composer's New Residencies program.

Compositions by Chen Yi have been commissioned by major international musical organizations and solo artists, including Yehudi Menuhin and Yo-Yo Ma. Among her numerous honors are the prestigious Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and the top prize from the China National Composition Competition.

For further information on the awards, merits, and music of Chen Yi, visit http://www.presser.com/composers/chen.html

Tibetan Tunes was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham University and premiered by the New Pacific Trio in January 2007. The piece is built on authentic folk tunes drawn from the Zang people of Tibet. During the Cultural Revolution Chairman Mao borrowed the tunes and wrote his own revolutionary lyrics. Du Mu is named for a goddess, and the music honors her with its serene bow. Dui Xie is the Chinese term for both a type of Tibetan folk dance and its accompaniment, which is often performed by singers, tap dancers, and traditional Chinese instruments. The melodic material in Dui Xie is based on the folk song Amaliehuo. Listen carefully to the first tune and see if you recognize it when it comes around again
.
BONUS FACT: At age 13 Chen was sent to a communist labor farm, smuggling her violin beside her bed. She practiced Western music secretly, dampening the sound by covering the windows and doors with blankets.

MENDELSSOHN: PIANO TRIO NO. 1 IN D MINOR

What’s in a name? Well if it’s “Felix” it’s a “happy one.” And it fit Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) to a T because he had so many talents, privileges, and successful adventures, including his love life. He was a skilled artist in pencil and watercolors and spoke four languages. Schumann called him “the other Mozart.” He was a pianist, singer, conductor, teacher, and composer with a large output of music. But in addition to his own great music, this “happy one” turned people on to the almost forgotten J.S. Bach, and soon the world was filled with “happy ones.” Clap! Clap! Mendelssohn’s two piano trios rank with the finest music of the Romantic Era.

And you thought Schubert had the corner on the melodic market. Two beguiling melodies vie for honors here in the first movement: the longing tune from the cello that soars confidently over syncopation accompaniment; and the beautiful second melody also presented by the cello in a gentler vein and enhanced by a flowing accompaniment. When the violin picks up the melodic lines, the piano takes off in virtuoso madness, including a turbulent coda. A brief introspective reprise paves the way for the second movement’s poetic songs in the style of Songs Without Words. The songs are contrasted briefly by a middle section colored in darker tones.

Mendelssohn leads the pack in scherzos and powerfully dramatic finales. This elegantly wrought scherzo, with its variety of dances that alternate between vivacious and delicate, is so much fun. It may remind you of his Midsummer Night’s Dream score. Technically, it could be a midsummer night’s nightmare for those playing it.

Take shelter because the storm of the final movement is upon you. Don’t be fooled by that quiet opening. Gusts of notes driven by exciting rhythms, sudden fortes, and heroic statements dominate the movement but a beautiful singing middle section brings some relief (as if we needed to be spared from all that virtuosity). Besides, we know the sun is going to shine again when the D major chords begin to spell the end. Neat!

BONUS FACT: Mendelssohn liked to soak his bread in coffee at breakfast. He could write down notes on paper while in mid-conversation. He could write right from his head without any need for a first draft. He was a genius. I think I will try dipping my bread in coffee.

THE CHAMBER CONCERT PROGRAM APRIL 15

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Trio in B Major, opus 8
Allegro con brio
Scherzo:  Allegro molto.  Meno allegro
Adagio
Allegro
 
--Intermission--
 
 
Chen Yi (b. 1953)
"Tibetan Tunes" for Piano Trio
 
 
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)  
Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, opus 49
 
Molto allegro agitato
Andante con moto tranquillo
Scherzo-leggiero e vivace
Finale-allegro assai appassionato

CHEN YI, CHINESE WOMAN COMPOSER BASED IN AMERICA

Born in Guangzhou, China, Chen Yi started studying violin and piano when she was only three. She received B.A .and M.A. music degrees from the Beijing Central Conservatory and a D.M.A. degree from Columbia University in New York. Her composition teachers have included Chou Wen-Chung, Mario Davidovsky, Wu Zu-Qiang, and Alexander Goehr. Currently the Lorena Searcey Cravens Millsap Missouri Distinguished Professor in Music Composition at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Dr. Chen has also served on the composition faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (1996-98), and has been the composer-in-residence of the Women's Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and the Aptos Creative Arts Center in San Francisco, supported by Meet the Composer's New Residencies program.

Chen Yi's compositions have been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Women's Philharmonic, Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, Rascher Saxophone Quartet, New Music Consort, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Network for New Music, Music From China, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. Major commissions have been supported by the Koussevitzky, Fromm, Ford, Rockefeller, and Roche Foundations, Chamber Music America, Creative Work Fund, San Francisco Art Commission, Mary Cary Flagler Trust, NEA, NYSCA, Carnegie Hall, New Heritage Music Foundation, American Guild of Organists, and Meet The Composer.

Dr. Chen's music has also been performed by major orchestras and soloists throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Fellowships have been received from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and American Academy of Arts and Letters. Honors include the prestigious Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Eddie Medora King Composition Prize, the Lili Boulanger Award, the Sorel Medal Award, the Cal Arts Alpert Award, the Stoeger Award from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the top prize from the China National Composition Competition. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.

Her music has been recorded on the Albany, Bis, New Albion, CR!, Teldec, Angel, Nimbus, Cala, Avant, Atma, Hugo, Koch International Classics, Delos, Centaur, Eroica, and China Record Corporation labels. For further information on the music of Chen Yi, please visit www.presser.comlcomposers/chen.html

Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University, the two-movement trio Tibetan Tunes was written for the New Pacific Trio (Igor Ve1igan, violin, Nina Flyer, celio, and Sonia Leong, piano). lt was premiered at the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific on Jan. 27, 2007, in Stockton, California.

The first movement is inspired by the Tibetan folk tune "Du Mu" as played on a recorder (Xiongling). This music presents the rich gestures of Du Mu -- the name of a god in Tibetan Buddhism -- in a serene mood.

"Dui Xie" is a kind of Tibetan folk ensemble music using the same tune in the introduction and coda, played with the plucked instrument Zhamunie, the bamboo flute, and the fiddle Erhu, and often performed with singing and tap dancing.

 
PROGRAM NOTES FOR THE OAK RIDGE CHAMBER PLAYERS CONCERT

(Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, 8 p.m., Pollard Auditorium

Featuring Dan Allcott, music director of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and cellist, and ORSO string players.  

By Becky Ball

Here’s wishing you a season of irresistible music. We bring glad tidings, too. Did you know that the theme for ORCMA’s 2012-2013 season will be TENNESSEE CONNECTIONS? And lo and behold, we are getting a head start tonight by featuring our own local chamber players. Speaking of irresistible, just wait until you hear the first two pieces.

Shostakovich: Two Pieces – Elegy and Polka

Both pieces were discovered in Moscow in the 1980s. They were dedicated to the J. Vuillaume quartet and were never published. But rather than something new, they are actually something old and even something borrowed. Though written earlier, Elegy turned up as an aria in Shostakovich’s 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District. Initially a big hit, it was later denounced in Pravda as “coarse, primitive, and vulgar.” Chances are that Stalin was behind the criticism. The opera was described as “chaos instead of music” and the Elegy was described as “a cry of anguish in a world of political and social upheaval.”  Don’t let the name calling influence what you hear. We bet if you just go with the first violin’s beautifully haunting melody made even more gorgeous and interesting by the divine undercurrent trio of 2nd violin, viola and cello, you’ll be hooked. If nothing more, Elegy is deeply meditative. We can choose our own meditative thoughts and bask in the music’s beauty.

If you want a good example of witty music just listen to the Polka. We dare you not to smile during this sardonic, pizzicato gem, and if you feel like dancing, you have the right urge because this famous polka is from the ballet The Age of Gold.

BONUS FACT: It was not only the Soviets who were tough on Shostakovich. An unnamed American critic had one word to say about his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk: “Pornophony.” A Pravda critic called it “leftist bedlam instead of human music.” Furthermore, “Shostakovich’s music appeals to listeners who have lost all taste.” Said listeners might have added salt, but we won’t need to, thank you.

Dvorak: String Quartet # 14 in A-Flat Major, Opus 105.

“Quartet Interrupted.” That has a nice ring don’t you think -- something like a movie title? Yet the interrupted quartet is not fiction. Dvorak was living in New York when he started composing it. He got no further than 70 measures before his homesickness for his friends and the Bohemian lifestyle got the best of him. So he sailed back to Prague and did not compose another note until he resumed teaching at the Prague Conservatory. But he wrote his Opus 106 quartet first and then finished the Opus 105. So that makes tonight’s work Dvorak’s last chamber piece.

As we brood with the opening measures –- an almost belabored contrapuntal trip -- we should store the motif in our heads because it will reappear, and what fun we will have to find it in several guises, especially in the second movement. Just when the opening seems most intense, the quartet explodes and the brightness of the Allegro may temporarily blind you. The four-bar main themes contain three key motifs that provide fodder for the whole quartet. Of special interest are the two violins playing the second theme -- a hunting call over the lower strings’ rushing triplets.

Note the brilliant contrast between the scherzo and its trio. As a matter of fact, note the seamlessness of this whole masterfully conceived movement -- the pronounced syncopation and cross rhythms that recall the Czech stomping dance called the furiant, which Dvorak is fond of using, and the heavy Slavic flavor of the unison four-bar episodes.

Note the similarity of the principal theme of the Lento to the main theme of the first movement. Much more romantic, this singing melody is further enhanced by the clever interplay between violins. Note too that each statement is varied. Listen for the impassioned climax that comes before the piece returns to the opening material, and then marvel at the decorative figuration given the 2nd violin.

The long closing movement has a little bit of everything that defines Dvorak’s rich style: generous variety of textural colors, lively dances, orchestral-like soundscapes, humor, rhapsodic swooning passages, and beautiful melodies that you will surely want to whistle.

BONUS FACT: We wouldn’t exactly call Dvorak an evangelist, but he did promote church singing. Here’s a quote. Dvorak wanted “every child to learn music, and if possible sing in the church.” Of course, there was an added incentive to the church singing because “Bohemians reveled in music and dancing after church - sometimes until early morning.”

Schubert: Quintet in C Major

Horrors! The world had to wait for Schubert’s sublime cello quintet for 22 years, and even after its Vienna premiere in 1850, it was not published for three years. The crown jewel of Schubert’s chamber music repertoire was written in 1828 two months before his death. If you have to leave the auditorium after the exceptionally long but ingenious first movement, you still will have gotten your money’s worth. For this is no ordinary first movement. It accounts for more than a third of the total length of the piece and it expands like an accordion, bringing us all sorts of drama with mood and notes. The unconventional use of two cellos generates an alluring rich, dark sonority. Listen for the delicious cello duet. Harmonic genius and the daring use of half steps provide a lot of interest. Check out that ordinary C major chord and then listen to what happens to it. The inner voices move down a half step and it hurts so good. That, my fellow listeners, is just an appetizer. Wait until you hear how the half steps are used in the Adagio.

Many surprises await you in the Adagio. Not surprising are the beautiful lyrical melodies because few composers have the gift of melody that comes so naturally for Schubert. But these moments of tranquil lyricism are matched by an unusually slow undertow with pizzicato figures for the second cello and muted cries from the violin. The big shock is when all instrumentalists go different ways: second violin and viola go crazy with almost violent syncopation while the second cello seems to not notice and stubbornly plays the same old stuff.  Meanwhile, the first violin and first cello “sing” together as if trying to pull all the disparate parts back to their senses. Neat!

The boisterous Scherzo starts out like a lark, but gets serious in the trio section. The tempos change as often as the keys change. To be honest, this movement is a puzzle. It wails, it cries, it dances, and it even gets a bit maudlin, but isn’t it all wonderful?

The Finale is a culmination of the struggles that have gone before. A Hungarian dance tune is prominent but we also can picture cafes in Vienna during the subsidiary themes. A brilliant Coda is a deserving finish to a great quintet.

BONUS FACT: “It sometimes seems to me as if I did not belong in this world at all” -- Franz Schubert, from Alfred Einstein’s book on Schubert. Maybe that explains why his music is out of this world.

PROGRAM NOTES FOR THE LYDIAN STRING QUARTET CONCERT (Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, 8 p.m., Pollard Auditorium)  

By Becky Ball

These splendid program notes were submitted by Violinist David Stepner and Composer John Harbison. They almost fit our allotted space, but Stepner’s love for the Ravel Quartet runneth over so much that yours truly (with fear and trepidation) had to shrink his two-page-plus notes to our size. And what would Oak Ridge’s chamber music program notes be without the bit of gossip conveyed in the BONUS FACTS?—Becky

Quartet in D Major, K. 499 (1786) (“The Hoffmeister”) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  (1756-1791)

Though Mozart wrote 25 string quartets, his last 10 are his best known. Among the earlier 15 are found some real gems, but they are composed in a lighter, divertimento style. The last 10 are by the mature Mozart, and he spent a good deal of time polishing them.

Of those last 10, the first six form a set that has come to be known as the “Haydn Quartets,” for he warmly dedicated them to his older colleague and virtual mentor. The next three of the 10 compose an incomplete set — originally six were intended — and they have come to be known as the “Prussian Quartets,” because they were to be dedicated to the newly crowned King Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia, an enthusiastic cellist. (Mozart had been commissioned by the king to compose six quartets, but as the promised fees were not forthcoming, Mozart withheld the dedication and self-published the three he had already composed!)

The remaining quartet, K. 499 in D Major, was possibly written for Mozart’s publisher, Hoffmeister, and has come to be known as the “Hoffmeister Quartet,” though as with the monikers of the other sets, the labels were not Mozart’s; they were applied for convenience by later commentators and publishers.

Standing alone, as K. 499 does, befits its qualities. It is a strange and wonderful work, combining light, serenade-like features with relatively complex counterpoint: canon abounds, and pairs of instruments are often answered by other pairs. The first movement opens with a unison triadic figure which permeates the movement. The minuet, atypically placed second, is a miracle of richness in the major-key outer sections and of furtive spareness in the minor-key middle section (the “trio”). The third movement is a virtual operatic aria — a private soliloquy of deepest feelings. The last movement, though lively and back home in the key of D Major, has a wistful quality. — Daniel Stepner

BONUS FACT: Stalin was listening to the radio and heard Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 played by Yudina. He loved it so much he demanded that the radio committee send the record to his dacha immediately. But what Stalin didn’t know is that what he heard was a live performance, hence NO record was available. The radio committee frantically obtained Yudina and an orchestra and managed to get it recorded that night. But not before two conductors gave up because they were so scared they couldn’t think straight. Only the third conductor succeeded. For more on this fascinating story, read Testimony by Dimitri Shostakovich.

String Quartet No. 2 by John Harbison (b. 1939 in New Jersey)  
                           
The String Quartet No. 2 was composed for the Emerson Quartet on commission from the Harvard Musical Association, celebrating the Association’s 150th anniversary. The first two movements were completed in Los Angeles in January 1987. The last three were mapped out during dog walks in the hills of Silverlake, with no time to write them down until June, at Token Creek, Wisconsin.

Long ago, before our time, before Haydn’s time, and before the existence of string quartets, the string instruments were the sound ideal of the age. The greatest string instruments were built in what we now call the Baroque era because that sound was a preoccupation of an entire culture.

This piece draws some of its sound and some of its techniques from that pre-quartet age. Its writer grew up, not as many do, with not only the Beethoven and Haydn quartets, but also the Bach cantatas and the Purcell fantasies. The opening of the piece, from which all of the music flows, seems to suggest the Italian string concertos in whose gold and silver resonances the whole of modern string exploration originates. But this is not to suggest that the essence of this very large and intricate piece is not of today. Every artistic impulse that grows organically (this one did, with little prodding from its composer) contains seeded within it the capacity to express how it feels to live now, from at least one urgently felt perspective. The forms, motives, and sonorities that echo back to the pre-quartet era are not there for nostalgia, taxidermy, or reassurance. They are not in fact chosen at all. They are cited in the movement headings to celebrate their capacity for rejuvenation and transformation.

Since the five movements are interconnected, and performed without pause, the piece can be heard as a single movement in five phases. The largest pause is in the middle of the third movement. The outer movements are large-scale fantasies. The opening, with the first violin playing alone for a full half minute, seems to speak of 1987 and 1687 simultaneously, but without belonging to either date. The finale, based on a chorale tune fundamental to my early experience as a choral conductor, is characterized by hammered repeated notes and strong modal cadences. The second and fourth movements are intermezzi, fully developed, with deliberate ambiguities of character. Ambiguity is avoided in the central third movement, which is structurally complex — combining elements of song, free declamation, and cadenza, but emotionally direct. — John Harbison

BONUS FACT: We think that any composer who cut his teeth on the Bach Cantatas already had a head start. We think also that any composer who has written great music for every conceivable type of concert has the right to be heard. We share John Harbison’s regrets that “there are generations of kids who haven’t heard a note of concert music or jazz on high quality exploratory music.” He says we “have a real lacuna, a hole we need to address.” Furthermore, he thinks we settle too quickly for technical fame rather than “connecting organically with the music.” His deeply expressive music connects all right — to his soul and ours. Hear! Hear!

String Quartet in F by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Ravel’s sole quartet has become a treasured friend due in part to its mysterious, perennial freshness, which makes its age (108 years) seem impossible. It remains alluring but demure, immensely colorful yet never gaudy, and still modern though never self-consciously avant-garde. Ravel’s quartet is a canvas of many colors. He experiments with new sorts of arpeggiation, pizzicato, quick alternation of muted and unmuted passages all, of course, in conjunction with his exquisite harmonic coloring.

Debussy and Ravel’s quartets are often compared or contrasted and are also paired together often on recordings. But Ravel’s quartet is more than a mere homage to Debussy, because it has an invention and originality. In a published interview in 1931, Ravel pointed out that “Stravinsky was often considered the leader of neoclassicism, but don’t forget that my String Quartet was already conceived in terms of four-part counterpoint, whereas Debussy’s Quartet was purely harmonic in conception.”

The first movement is in a transparent sonata form with some interesting twists: the second theme appears transfigured rather than transposed. In its return, the upper three instruments play exactly the same notes (as if in the same key) as earlier. However, the cello is a third higher than before, transposed from D minor to F Major — dramatically different. One hears the same melody with precisely the same pitches, but from a completely different psychological point of view. Thus, while the foreground is identical, there is a wholly new background and mood. What was before ineffably melancholy (D minor) is now tinged with a sort of fragile, cautious optimism (F Major). The coda that gently closes the movement is an utterly unique passage of slow-motion, kaleidoscopic modulation in whole tones back to a stable home ground — back through the looking glass.

Ravel’s Scherzo movement evokes the exoticism of the hemiola dance of Spanish guitar music with its shifting of accents, descending bass lines, and modal twists. At the heart of the slow movement is a simple cradle song surrounded by the sonic evocation of gauze curtains fluttering in a warm breeze, and in drowsy, half-forgotten fragments of motifs from the first movement. The finale jolts the listener out of a deep sleep into the unstable world of quicksilver 5/8 meter punctuated by pungent, violently strummed chords. This movement is a flashing, tremulous, and brilliantly lit romp that originally inspired much criticism. But Debussy sent a private review to Ravel that said “In the name of gods of music and in mine, do not touch a single note of what you have written in your Quartet.”

BONUS FACT: Picture this: Ravel is meeting Edvard Grieg for the first time. He sits at the piano and begins to play Grieg’s Norwegian Dances. Suddenly Grieg yells, “No, young man, not like that at all. It’s a peasant dance.” Ravel starts to play again and Grieg leaps around the room in an authentic peasant dance. Is this not a memorable scene — an elfin pianist and a tiny troll dancing? Thanks for the telling, Benjamin Ivry. Ravel should have thrown some logarithms at Grieg, and that’s for you to explore.

PROGRAM NOTES FOR THE TIBERIUS STRING QUARTET CONCERT (Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011, 4 p.m., Pollard Auditorium)  

By Becky Ball

If we’re debuting a new chamber music season, why not make it a class act with a classy program of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, major composers who wrote in the classical form? Classical music strictly applies to music written between 1750 and 1830. We wager that any one of the three giants represented this afternoon would be proud to claim authorship of every number on the program. Let the music begin.

W.A. MOZART's String Quartet No. 22, in B-Flat Major, K.589

It’s a given that Mozart’s genius matured with each new composition until his premature death at the age of 35.  We have learned from biographers that Mozart was not a productive happy camper in 1790, the year he wrote the last two of his “Prussian” string quartets and one year before he died. In fact, he confessed to a friend that he was in “constant sadness.” The miracle here is that even while depressed by a series of hard knocks, a true genius can produce many happy returns for the rest of us.

The full story on the Prussian quartets is too long for this space, but they were allegedly commissioned by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was a keen cellist. Naturally, in the king’s employment, Mozart gave the cello a larger role. But once he expanded the cello part he had to balance the sound so he wound up giving the other instruments nearly equal time.  As you listen to the satisfying result, you may even imagine it as an opera for string quartet replete with four prima donnas.

The distinctive quiet and contemplative opening is led by the cello. You will find further distinction in the rhythmic pattern of a half note followed by four 16th notes. Chromatic passages soon appear to enliven the mood. They are then followed by a set of triplets that add still more spice. At first the triplets may sound like a bumpy ride, but when they get serious in the development section, they score big in a smooth ride all the way to the recapitulation.

In the lovely Larghetto, the cello and first violin divide the melodic honors, but maybe not the technical challenges. Perhaps Mozart was trying to stump his cellist boss, who was not his best friend in the world. Clearly, the part is no picnic. The intricacy of Mozart’s writing is even more revealing when the violin ushers in the passive subsidiary motif. We’re talking about passive writing, not passive listening – the latter would certainly short change you.

You want originality? You want imagination? You want brilliance? Well, here they are, all wrapped up in one memorable Menuetto package. The violin shines in a concertante role while the remaining instruments supply secondary notes of interest. Though unusually mellow in the middle of the Menuetto, the rushing runs from the cello and viola will open your eyes. Mozart makes no concessions in terms of technique. To add to the charm Mozart gives two teams different rhythms. One team plays 8th notes while the other plays 16th notes. And if that’s not enough amusement and amazement, keep an ear out for little fragments of melody flitting in and out like thirsty humming birds.

The Allegro Assai (characterized by contrapuntal wonders) is full of surprises from its harmonic twists to its rondo-like free form. The volume at the very end may shock first-time listeners.

BONUS FACT: Hallowed Be Thy Fame - Of Mozart, Wendy Thompson’s Encyclopedia referred to Mozart’s birth as “The miracle who God let be born.” Sir Thomas Beecham wrote, “If I were a dictator, I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least a quarter of an hour daily for the coming five years.” Why stop with age 80?

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN's String Quartet No.  4 in C Minor

Beethoven took the Haydn-Mozart quartet forms and developed them in dramatic new directions. He delighted in breaking the mold and blurring the boundaries. Perhaps the rich legacy of quartet literature that preceded him convinced him that being different was the way to go. Or maybe he just didn’t like one size fitting all. Whatever, the C minor quartet is certainly a peculiar hybrid, beginning with the minor key (the only one and the last in the set of six Opus 18 quartets).  And in how many string quartets is the slow movement a scherzo in disguise, or at least a scherzo in sonata form and with staccato articulation too, of all things? For that matter listen to the Menuetto and especially the trio section, which thinks it’s a long and passionate development. Listen for the dialogue between second violin and viola while the first violin plays triplets. Meanwhile, the dance movement has the accents on the third beat instead of the first.  How peculiar is that?  It’s not exactly routine either to bring back the minuet at a much faster tempo.

The outer movements are closer in style to works of Haydn and Mozart. But even here Beethoven writes with rougher-hewn textures and more orchestral effects. You may hear a similarity to Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata in the development of the first subject. No analysis is needed for the interplay of sumptuous melodies that follow. Just enjoy them. But do smile at the scrappy little phrases thrown into the mix.  We bet Beethoven was grinning. The last movement is a gypsy rondo in the manner of Haydn but it contains some composing NO-NOS, or at least they were forbidden by all teachers of Beethoven’s era. Can you guess what they are? 

BONUS FACT: Jascha Heifetz once said he occasionally played works by contemporary composers for two reasons: “First to discourage the composer from writing any more and secondly to remind myself how much I appreciate Beethoven.” Yeah!

JOHANNES BRAHMS' String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor

Classical-minded Brahms preferred an art form that was pure and objective as opposed to program music. Some of his peers regarded his music as dull and old-fashioned. Followers of Wagner and Liszt, in particular, thought Brahms appeared to be looking backward in time rather than forward. Fortunately, Brahms’ camp had more critics who recognized his skill of retaining a classical bent while infusing his music with romanticism. Furthermore, the influence of Bach’s counterpoint added a third dimension to Brahms’ enviable style.

Sure enough,  the beginning of the quartet “appears” to have no fixed form. Also, the melancholic mood is somewhat of a surprise. We’re told that this quartet went through countless revisions before it was finally premiered in Berlin by the top drawer Joachim String Quartet. Joseph Joachim* was a notable Hungarian violinist and a good friend of Brahms. Do you have a personal motto? Well, Joachim did, and the notes were F-A-E, which meant “free but lonely.” Not to be outdone Brahms chose the motto of F-A-F (free but glad).  We can pick up Joachim’s three notes in the first movement’s main theme, but Brahms’ three notes won’t be so easy to spot because they are woven into the texture.  Don’t worry if you can’t detect the six notes because the terrific polyphonic writing will grab all your attention. The rewards are many: canons, inversions, melodies played backward and the return of the F-A-E and F-A-F mottos in reverse order. What fun!

Over crawling 8th notes by the viola and cello, the first violin introduces the lyrical theme of the second movement. Surrounded by warm harmonic colors the melody flows gracefully until a rousing canon, played by first violin and cello, interrupts. A key change may also startle you, but the cello will set things right again.

Another exciting canonic display highlights the third movement. A double canon features the first violin and viola playing a slow interlude theme in imitation while the second violin and cello play a variation on the minuet, also in imitation. Wow! And finally, the closing movement sports a wild czardas, the national Hungarian dance. There is speculation that the gypsy element here can be “traced back to Brahms’ teenage musical collaboration with violinist Eduard Remenyi, a Hungarian émigré.” Contrasting melodies, contrasting dynamics, and a relaxed waltz-like swing followed by a roar of speeding notes all combine for a brilliant closure.

BONUS FACT: *Joachim and Brahms were the best of buddies. They made beautiful music together, they respected each other’s considerable talent, and their music philosophies were in sync. But when Joachim and his wife fell out of harmony, Brahms struck a discord when he sided with the wife.