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BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Seiji Ozawa, Music Director One Hundred and Fourth Season, 1984-85 PRE-SYMPHONY CHAMBER CONCERTS Thursday, 10 January at 6 Saturday, 12 January at 6 VYACHESLAV URITSKY, violin HARVEY SEIGEL, violin MICHAEL ZARETSKY, viola MARTHA BABCOCK, cello TATIANA YAMPOLSKY, piano . BRAHMS Sonata No. 2 in A for violin and piano, Opus 100 Allegro amabile Andante tranquillo—Vivace di phi—Andante Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante) Mr. URITSKY and Ms. YAMPOLSKY SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor, Opus 138 Adagio—Doppio movimento—Tempo primo Mssrs. URITSKY and SEIGEL, Mr. ZARETSKY, and Ms. BABCOCK Baldwin piano Please exit to your left for supper following the concert. The performers appreciate your not smoking during the concert. Week 10 Johannes Brahms Sonata No. 2 in A for violin and piano, Opus 100 Some composers have maintained that the violin is the instrument that comes closest to reproducing the singing quality of the human voice. Whether or not Brahms ever espoused this view, his violin sonatas give tacit assent: they are among the most lyrical of all his chamber compositions, and the first two, at least, emphasize this fact by actually quoting from his own Lieder. Brahms spent the summer of 1886 in the splendor of Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Thun, a place that proved to be so congenial to his mood that he returned for the two following summers. His first stay saw the completion of three chamber works: the second cello sonata, Opus 99, the second violin sonata, Opus 100, and the third piano trio, Opus 101. The first and last of these were ardent and dramatic in character, but the violin sonata sings throughout, maintaining a relationship between violin and piano strikingly analogous to that between voice and piano in the songs. Moreover what the violin sings in the sonata was familiar enough to Brahms: he had already used versions of these melodies in some songs—later to be published as Opus 105 —that had been sung to him by the mezzo-soprano Hermine Spies on a visit to Thun that summer. The first of these, Wie Melodien zieht es mir, which compares love to a melody running through one's mind, appears quite clearly as the second theme of the first movement. The second song, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, grows to a climax on the words "If you want to see me again, come, oh come soon." This phrase grows from an idea that reappears at the opening of the sonata's last movement. It doesn't matter whether Brahms intended for us to recognize such similarities (or even if he was aware of them himself), but their presence highlights the stylistic character of the sonata. The first movement is by no means devoid of drama, but it keeps breaking out in echoes of song. The second movement alternates, in a manner that Brahms often liked to do, both slow and fast sections and a play between major and minor. The finale offers a melody of idyllic serenity opposed by occasional clouds. —Steven Ledbetter Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor, Opus 138 The fifteen string quartets of Shostakovich comprise one of the most remarkable and personal contributions to that genre in our century. After running into repeated political difficulties with Soviet officialdom over such large "public" works as his symphonies (which were accused of not following the official party artistic lines), Shostakovich gave up symphonic composition for a number of years. The Ninth Symphony was written immediately after the end of World War II. The Tenth, however, did not come until after Stalin's death in 1953. In those interim years, string quartet composition predominated. The personal and private expressive qualities of the string quartet medium meant that party hacks were less likely to attempt second-guessing the "meaning" that the composer was expressing in his music. In short, quartets were simply less dangerous to write. Particularly from the Eighth Quartet on, Shostakovich's music becomes inward- turning, withdrawn, deeply expressive in some unstated, private way. Although there are fast movements, the late quartets emphasize slower tempos of great poignancy, frequently employing twelve-tone rows, though not systematically as the basis of the entire musical structure. Thus Shostakovich flirted with the "dangerous" trends of western music, but remained entirely himself throughout. Four of the last five quartets— those numbered 11, 12, 13, and 14—were dedicated one by one to the members of the Beethoven Quartet, an ensemble that had premiered virtually all of the composer's work in this medium. No. 13 (composed in 1970) was for the violist Vadim Borisovsky. In a charming gesture, each of the four particularly highlights the part played by the dedicatee. Quartet No. 13 is constructed in an arch form in a single large movement with a central section at double the tempo of the outer Adagio sections. The viola introduces a twelve-tone theme, the melodic intervals of which permeate all that is to come. The doubling of tempo for the middle section is signaled by a characteristic rhythm tapped out in the first violin over a pedal E. The score is filled with special effects, including a percussive sound obtained by tapping the bow on the belly of the instrument. But perhaps the sound that is most characteristic is the semitone trill, which became an obsession of Shostakovich in his late works; this one is remorseless in its dark power and heartrending at the viola's recapitulation. —S.L. Vyacheslav Uritsky Harvey Seigel Violinist Vyacheslav Uritsky was born in Violinist Harvey Seigel was born in Toronto, Kherson, Russia, was brought up in Odessa, where he began his musical studies and where began his musical training there with Olga at age ten he made his solo debut with the Goldbown, and studied at Odessa State Conser- Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Sir vatory with Leonid Lambersky. After graduat- Ernest MacMillan. Mr. Seigel continued his ing from the conservatory, he was for fifteen training in Toronto with Kathleen Parlow and years a member of the Moscow Philharmonic's then at the Juilliard School in New York, first violin section. He immigrated with his where his principal teacher was Mischa wife and daughter to Rome and then, in 1974, MischakofT. He has toured the United States to the United States; he joined the Boston and Canada as concertmaster and soloist with Symphony's second violin section in 1975. A the St. Louis Sinfonietta, and at the Stratford faculty member at the Boston Conservatory Festival in Canada he coached and played with and a frequent performer in chamber music Oscar Shumsky, Leonard Rose, and other no- concerts throughout New England, Mr. table string players. Mr. Seigel was a member Uritsky is assistant principal of the BSO's of the MischakofT String Quartet in Chautau- second violin section. qua, New York, and he has been heard numer- ous times in recital and chamber music on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Before coming to the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1970, Mr. Seigel was a member of the Nation- al Symphony of Washington, D.C., the Detroit Symphony, and the Montreal Symphony. 1 Michael Zaretsky Martha Babcock Born in the Soviet Union, violist Michael A member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Zaretsky studied originally as a violinist at the since 1973, cellist Martha Babcock became Central Music School in Moscow and at the assistant principal cellist of the BSO and prin- Moscow State Conservatory, where his teacher cipal cellist of the Boston Pops in 1982. Born was Michael Terian. A former member of the in Freeport, Illinois, Ms. Babcock studied celloj Moscow Philharmonic String Quartet and the with Lowell Creitz, Aldo Parisot, and George Moscow Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Neikrug. She first appeared as soloist with he immigrated in 1972 to Israel, where he orchestra at age fourteen, and during high became principal violist of the Jerusalem school she was principal cellist of the Chicago Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and a solo- Youth Orchestra. A cum laude graduate of ist of Radio Israel. After deciding to come to Radcliffe College, where she was principal eel- the United States, and awaiting approval of his list of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Ms. B^ visa application in Rome, he auditioned for Babcock at nineteen became the youngest Leonard Bernstein, who helped him reach the member of the Montreal Symphony, with United States and brought him to Tanglewood. which she also appeared as soloist. While liv- There, while a member of the Tanglewood ing in Canada, she also made many solo and b>> Music Center Orchestra, he successfully audi- chamber music broadcast recordings for the tioned for the BSO. A frequent performer of CBC. In 1972, while a Fellow of the Tangle- solo and chamber music in the Boston area, wood Music Center, Ms. Babcock won the Mr. Zaretsky has been soloist with the Boston Piatigorsky Prize, awarded to the outstanding Pops, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the cellist of the summer. She attended graduate Atlantic Symphony of Halifax, Nova Scotia. A school at Boston University and, as winner of former member of the Wellesley College fac- the Boston University Concerto-Aria Competi- ulty, he teaches at the Boston University tion, appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops School of Music and the Boston Conservatory in 1973. Since joining the Boston Symphony of Music. that same year, Ms. Babcock has continued to be musically active outside the orchestra as well. Tatiana Yampolsky A Russian pianist of Armenian origin, Tatiana concerts with orchestras, and playing for Yampolsky began her musical studies at age Moscow Broadcasting. Since her immigration five and made her debut at the Large Hall of to the United States, she has performed in the Moscow Conservatory when she was many recitals and concerts, and she has twelve years old.

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