Sunday, April 30, 2017, 6pm Hearst Greek Theatre h c n i l C

y n n a D

Yo-Yo Ma – Edgar Meyer – Chris Thile Bach Trios

This evening’s performance will be announced from the stage.

The concert will be performed without intermission and will last approximately 75 minutes.

 PROGRAM NOTES

Put any random combination of musicians in a but this is an obviously harmonious set of per - room together, and no matter their instruments, sonalities and musical predilections. The history histories, personalities, it’s more than likely that of collaboration between these three is long and they’ll find common ground playing Bach. wide-ranging. This is partly because Bach addressed so Each has recorded Bach individually, and in many musical contexts over the course of his 2012, when thoughts turned to encores during lifetime. Though he is revered as a protean cre - the Goat Rodeo Sessions , Bach was a natural ator and obsessive craftsman, he was also equal choice. There is a huge range of possibility parts humble artisan and compulsive speed- in Bach interpretation, from the revisionist, writer. Suffering was not yet a requirement for almost authorial approach (Busoni or Glenn 18th-century artists; in Bach’s music, one senses Gould) to the scholarly and historically in - instead a musician eager to make himself as formed (epitomized by John Eliot Gardiner). useful as possible, to find every outlet for his There’s much to be gained from both schools, immense skill and energy. and, wisely, the Ma/Meyer/Thile trio finds its In a musician’s repertoire, therefore, Bach is voice somewhere in the middle of the spec - both a foundation and a pinnacle. You start your trum. Here, drawn in by the directness of the training with something from the Note books music itself, it’s entirely possible to lose oneself for Anna Magdalena, a two-part invention or for long stretches, just listening. simple prelude—music that teaches you not just The sonatas bookending the trio’s recently re - how to play, but how to listen to harmony, coun - leased Nonesuch recording are straightforward terpoint, voice-leading, and form. And you and direct, with all the athletic rhythmic snap gradually ascend to the heights of instrumental of the best period-instrumentalists. In fact, and compositional virtuosity—the Goldberg through some sleight-of-hand sonic mimicry, it Variations , the D-minor Chaconne, The Art of sounds remarkably Baroque. Chris Thile’s man - the Fugue. dolin takes on the personae of harpsichord, lute, In these epic pieces, the performer neces - or even something close to a piano; Yo-Yo Ma’s sarily channels the composer through a kind cello, a whole chorus of human voices and a of individual heroism. But at the core, Bach was few centuries of stylistic string playing besides. an intensely collaborative musician. Part of the Other moments, though, are unmistakable mu - utility of his music is its protean adaptability to sical signatures. The rollicking arpeggios in any number of instrumental combinations; the Kommst du nun, Jesu , jaunty with the barest hint labor of performing is divided easily into voices of swing, could only be Thile; the chorale tune or parts, each a satisfying narrative thread on answering it, complete in its shape and phras - its own. ing, characteristically Ma. Meyer’s bass, vaulting The more diverse the voices, the more it be - far above the instrument’s typical continuo reg - comes possible to tease out the movement of ister, makes the melody in Wachet auf all the these separate lines. There’s always something more strivingly human. This unique and shift - interesting happening, no matter which fre - ing orchestration brings an unexpected trans - quency you decide to listen to at a given mo - parency to some familiar music. ment. The act of hearing the mercurial A-minor Though one thinks of cello and bass as simi - fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II larly dark-hued instruments, here they tend to becomes a kind of auditory tennis match, as take opposite roles in the three-part harmony, subjects and sequences volley among players at with the cello melody soaring above. The warp speed. mandolin, so idiomatically suited to moving, One of the joys this evening is the extraordi - contrapuntal lines, keeps the pulse while main - nary chamber group, comprised of three virtu - taining a crystalline clarity. Similarly, when the osi: Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. mandolin takes the highest voice, as in the Cello, double bass, and mandolin are, at face bustling Sonata for Viola da Gamba, its short value, an unlikely instrumental combination, reverberation moves aside quickly, allowing

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES the ear to parse the maze of interchanges and one has access to this trove—and can, with a lit - switchbacks between cello and bass. Even more tle experience, will these same creations into complex is the massive E-minor Prelude and being—is one of the most profoundly demo - Fugue, originally an organ piece. Far from mak - cratic facts I know of, and stands as a great ing things simpler, dividing the soloist’s labor equalizer in an unequal world. among three creates an opportunity for some —Timo Andres, December 2016 fun. The central section of the fugue is trans - formed into an over-the-top chase scene, cello The composer and pianist Timo Andres was pouncing on the mandolin’s tail in endless bar - raised in rural Connecticut and now lives in rages of running notes. This technique, called Brook lyn, NY. hocket, in which musicians interrupt each other at just the right moment to form a continuous musical line, is found in everything from central Yo-Yo Ma, cello African Pygmy music to the work of the con - The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is temporary Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. testament to his continual search for new ways Not everything is quite so rough-and-tumble. to communicate with audiences and to his per - Moments of suspended, almost shocking har - sonal desire for artistic growth and renewal. monic beauty abound, especially in the chorale- Ma maintains a balance between his engage - derived works. In the second phrase of Ich ruf’ ments as soloist with orchestras worldwide zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ , the continuo (bass ac - and his recital and chamber music activities. His companiment) stubbornly clings to the same discography includes over 100 albums, includ - note two beats longer than the ear expects— ing 18 Grammy Award winners. interrupting long enough that the arc of the Ma serves as the artistic director of Silkroad, vocal line (here a plangent and nearly vibrato- an organization he founded to promote cross- less cello) turns into a sequence of unstable, cultural performance and collaborations at the dissonant intervals on its downward path, edge where education, business, and the arts sounding simultaneously inevitable and lost. come together to transform the world. More The organ chorale Erbarm dich mein, o Herre than 80 works have been commissioned Gott also features the cello as vocalist, though it specifically for the Silk Road Ensemble, which is the uncharacteristically stark accompaniment tours annually. Ma also serves as the Judson and that stands out—plucked bass, with Thile now Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago joining on guitar, strumming a constant eighth- Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Insti- note pulse. The complete absence of contrapun - tute. His work focuses on the transformative tal activity draws attention to a sly harmonic power music can have in individuals’ lives, and ambiguity: beginning seemingly in B minor, on increasing the number and variety of oppor - constantly feinting at D Major, but never quite tunities audiences have to experience music in sticking the landing. The final phrase ends on their communities. B minor’s dominant, F sharp, as if to say, “Again.” Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents who Light and shade give way to each other in an later moved the family to New York. He began endless cycle. to study cello at the age of four, attended the Bach’s music gives the player a sense of mak - Juilliard School, and in 1976 graduated from ing something tangible, conjuring the physical Harvard University. He has received numerous out of the abstraction of a fugue or chorale. A awards, among them the Avery Fisher Prize musical score is, of course, just a set of instruc - (1978), the National Medal of Arts (2001), and tions—the steps to take in construction, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010). In little specified about the finished product. In 2011 Ma was recognized as a Kennedy Center Bach’s catalogue, we have an entire city in plans, Honoree. Most recently, Ma has joined the its cathedral ringing with organ preludes, its Aspen Institute board of trustees. He has per - back rooms full of chamber music. That every - formed for eight American presidents, most

 ABOUT THE ARTISTS

recently at the invitation of President Obama on ceived the Avery Fisher Career Grant and in the occasion of the 56th Inaugural Ceremony. 2000 he became the only bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize. Currently, he teaches bass www.yo-yoma.com; www.silkroadproject.org; in partnership with Hal Robinson at the Curtis www.opus3artists.com Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

http://edgarmeyer.com Edgar Meyer In demand as both a performer and a com - poser, Edgar Meyer has assumed a role in the Chris Thile music world unlike any other. Hailed by The Multiple Grammy Award winner and Mac - New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso Arthur Fellow Chris Thile, a member of Punch in the relatively un-chronicled history of his Brothers and Nickel Creek, and now the host instrument,” Meyer’s unparalleled technique of A Prairie Home Companion, is a mandolin and musicianship in combination with his gift virtuoso, composer, and vocalist. With a broad for composition have brought him to the fore. outlook that encompasses classical, rock, jazz, His uniqueness in the field was recognized by a and bluegrass, Thile transcends the borders of MacArthur Award in 2002. conventionally circumscribed genres, creating As a solo classical bassist, Meyer can be heard a distinctly American canon and a new musical on a concerto album with the St. Paul Chamber aesthetic for performers and audiences alike. Orchestra, conducted by Hugh Wolff and fea - A child prodigy, Thile first rose to fame as turing Bottesini and Meyer concertos both a member of the Grammy Award-winning trio alone and with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. He Nickel Creek, with whom he released three has also recorded an album featuring three of albums and sold over two million records. In Bach’s Unaccompanied Suites for Cello. Meyer 2014, along with a national tour, the trio re - was honored with his fifth Grammy Award in leased a new album, A Dotted Line, their first 2015 (Best Contemporary Instrumental Album) since 2005. for his Bass & Mandolin collaboration with As a soloist, Thile has released five albums, Chris Thile. including his most recent, Bach: Sonatas and As a composer, Meyer has carved out a re - Partitas, Vol.1, which was produced by Edgar markable and unique niche in the musical Meyer. In 2013 Thile won a Grammy Award world. His music has been premiered and re- for his work on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, col - corded by Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, laborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bela Fleck, Stuart Duncan. In September 2014 Thile Zakir Hussain, Hilary Hahn, and the Emerson and Meyer released their Bass & Mandolin col - String Quartet, among others. laboration , which won the Grammy for Best Collaborations are a central part of Meyer’s Con temporary Instrumental Album. Punch work. He has been and remains a member of Brothers released its latest album, The Phos - numerous groups whose members include phorescent Blues, in January 2015, and a follow Chris Thile, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Sam up EP, The Wireless, in November of the same Bush, Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Connor, Yo-Yo year. In January, Thile released a double-album Ma, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Mike Marshall, with Brad Mehldau. Beginning last fall, Thile and Amy Dorfman. His debut album in 1985 took the helm of A Prairie Home Companion, featured the first public appearance of Strength a public radio favorite since 1974. Garrison in Numbers, whose members were Bush, Keillor, the show’s creator and former host an - Douglas, Fleck, O’Connor, and Meyer. nounced: “He is, I think, the great bluegrass Meyer began studying bass at the age of five performer of our time and he is a beautiful jazz under the instruction of his father and contin - player. There just isn’t anything he can’t do— ued to study with Stuart Sankey. In 1994 he re - and he is very enthusiastic about live radio.”

 PLAYBILL