WEEK TWO AN AFTERNOON IN VIENNA Sunday Afternoon, August 12, 2018 at 3:00 Spa Little Theatre AN EVENING IN PRAGUE Tuesday Evening, August 14, 2018 at 8:00 Spa Little Theatre
WWW.SPAC.ORG WWW.CHAMBERMUSICSOCIETY.ORG A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s 2018 Season! As I begin my second summer in Saratoga, I am so grateful for the community’s enthusiastic embrace of our new initiatives, new partnerships and new collaborations. This season you can expect exhilarating performances from our beloved resident companies, the return of new “classics” like “Live at the Jazz Bar,” “SPAC on Stage” and “Caffe Lena @ SPAC,” and the Saratoga debuts of the National Ballet of Cuba and Trinity Irish Dance Company. SPAC and its home, the Spa State Park, represent a perfect confluence of manmade beauty and natural beauty and it is the inspiration of place that made us want to explore the interplay between the natural world and the world of art, the nexus between Art & Cosmos. This year, we launch the Out of this World festival, kicked off by a performance of Holst’s The Planets with spectacular NASA Space footage, followed by star-gazing around the reflecting pool. Audiences will engage with roaming astronomers, experience virtual reality space expeditions and even attend a special children’s chamber concert that examines the creative connection between Einstein and Mozart. And we introduce a new SPAC Speakers series with thought-provoking “stars” from the worlds of space, science and the arts. There are so many other new experiences and surprises in store. We welcome you to a new summer of discovery.
Elizabeth Sobol PRESIDENT AND CEO
CMS AT SPAC A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Board of Directors, thank you for your support and attendance at this performance. The strength and progress of SPAC has always depended on the contributions of its audiences and the many sponsors, donors and partners who recognize SPAC’s impact on the cultural and economic life of this region. Thanks to you, as we lift the curtain on our season, we do so in a strong position financially, artistically and as an institution. Last season, we welcomed Elizabeth Sobol to Saratoga Springs as SPAC’s new president and CEO. In less than two years, Elizabeth has implemented a new vision and path for the Center with innovative programming and an increased emphasis on affordability, accessibility and community outreach. SPAC’s reduced $30 amphitheater ticket and the expanded Fidelity Kids in Free program welcomed hundreds of new guests who had previously never been to the Center. Educational programming such as Classical Kids, Summer Nights at SPAC and the Performance Project have expanded exponentially, reaching more than 23,000 students in over 70 schools. These are just a few of the successes that we will continue to build upon. Looking ahead to the future, I’d also like to extend a special thanks to New York State for its capital investment of $1.75 million to rehabilitate and upgrade SPAC’s amphitheater ramps, lighting and other high priority infrastructure. The new project is slated to be completed in advance of the 2019 season and is part of the Board’s and SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol’s vision to strengthen our partnerships and make critical investments into our facilities for generations to come. As always, your presence and support is what makes this season possible. We invite you to join us often this summer to experience world-class artistry in our world-class venue.
Ron Riggi CHAIRMAN
CMS AT SPAC AN AFTERNOON IN VIENNA Sunday Afternoon, August 12, 2018 at 3:00 Spa Little Theatre
GILBERT KALISH, piano DAVID FINCKEL, cello WU HAN, piano CLIVE GREENSMITH, cello ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY, violin JOSEPH CONYERS, double bass ARNAUD SUSSMANN, violin RICARDO MORALES, clarinet YURA LEE, violin/viola DANIEL MATSUKAWA, bassoon JENNIFER MONTONE, horn
JOSEPH HAYDN Trio in E-fat major for Piano, Violin, and (1732-1809) Cello, Hob. XV:29 (1797) Poco allegretto Andantino ed innocentemente— Finale (Allemande): Presto assai KALISH, SUSSMANN, FINCKEL
FRANZ SCHUBERT Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four (1797-1828) Hands, D. 940, Op. 103 (1828) KALISH, WU HAN
FRITZ KREISLER Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta for (1875-1962) Violin and Piano (1941-42) LEE, KALISH
—INTERMISSION—
SCHUBERT Octet in F major for Winds and Strings, D. 803, Op. 166 (1824) Adagio—Allegro Adagio Scherzo: Allegro vivace Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Andante molto—Allegro SITKOVETSKY, SUSSMANN, LEE, GREENSMITH, CONYERS, MORALES, MATSUKAWA, MONTONE
PLEASE TURN OFF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Photographing, sound recording, or videotaping this event is prohibited. NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Trio in E-fat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:29
JOSEPH HAYDN in all of Haydn’s trios, attests to Born March 31, 1732 in Rohrau, Bartolozzi’s skill and musicianship. Lower Austria. As was typical of the 18th-century Died May 31, 1809 in Vienna. genre, Haydn’s E-flat major Piano Composed in 1797. Trio entrusts the bulk of the musical Duration: 18 minutes argument to the keyboard, though the violin here enjoys a prominence The Piano Trio in E-flat major (XV:29 that points to the increasingly in Hoboken’s catalog; H.C. Robbins independent role it had assumed in Landon places it as No. 45, the last, chamber music by the turn of the in his chronological listing of the 19th century. Though the piece was trios) was composed soon after written principally for the growing Haydn left England for the second market of British and Continental time, in 1795. The piece was one of musical amateurs, it exhibits a three such works (Nos. 43-45; H. mastery of form and style and a XV:27-29) written for publication by breadth of expression reminiscent the firm of Longman & Broderip, and of the contemporaneous advertised for sale on April 20, 1797 symphonies that Haydn devised in the London Oracle. The set was for his London concerts. The trio’s dedicated to the talented pianist opening movement is an ingenious Therese Bartolozzi (née Jansen), hybrid of sonata and rondo a native of Aachen, Germany who procedures: the section based had settled in London to study on a gracious melody presented with Clementi. She became one at the outset returns twice (in of the city’s most sought-after the manner of a rondo), while the performers and piano teachers, two intervening episodes treat and both Clementi and Dussek the theme first in a minor-mode dedicated important sonatas to her. transformation and then through Haydn met her early in his second extended motivic development London sojourn, and became (as in sonata form). The disarming close enough to her to serve as melodic and expressive purity of a witness at her wedding on May the second movement’s opening 16, 1795 to Gaetano Bartolozzi, (“innocentemente” instructs the son of the well-known engraver score) is countered by the audacity Francesco Bartolozzi. The difficulty of its B major tonality, which shares of the piano part in these three not a single diatonic note with the compositions, the most challenging E-flat major home key of the trio.
CMS AT SPAC SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 The music becomes more anxious the Finale, a sonata-form movement as it unfolds, drawing closer to the in the style of an old dance type trio’s home tonality by the end of the in fast triple meter called in the movement, but harmonic stability is score by its common French name, achieved again only with the start of Allemande (German Dance).
Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940, Op. 103
FRANZ SCHUBERT to Schott in February 1828 along Born January 31, 1797 in Vienna. with the Quartets in G major and Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna. D minor (“Death and the Maiden”),
three operas, the Mass in A-flat, the Composed in 1828. Duration: 20 minutes E-flat Piano Trio, and several dozen songs. His proposal was refused, and the score for the Fantasie was On March 26, 1828 in the hall of not issued until Diabelli of Vienna the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde brought it out in 1829, a year after in Vienna, Schubert gave the only the composer’s death. On May 9, public concert entirely of his works 1828, Schubert and Franz Lachner held during his lifetime. The event, performed the piece for a friend, prompted and sponsored by his the writer and Schubertian Eduard circle of devoted friends, was a von Bauernfeld, who recorded significant artistic and financial in his diary, “Today Schubert success, and he used the proceeds (with Lachner) played this new, to celebrate the occasion at a wonderful four-hand fantasie to local tavern, pay off some old me.” The score was dedicated to debts, acquire a new piano, and Countess Caroline Esterházy, a buy tickets for Nicolò Paganini’s young student of his upon whom eagerly awaited debut in Vienna the bachelor Franz seems to three days later. The first important have had a crush—he once told composition Schubert completed her that everything he wrote was after that milestone in his career secretly dedicated to her, though was the Fantasie in F minor, the the Fantasie is the only one of his most poetic of his creations for compositions to bear her name. piano duet (i.e., four hands at Schubert was skilled as a violinist, one keyboard). The work was violist, and solo pianist, but his finished in April, but apparently favorite form of participatory had been sketched soon after chamber music was the piano duet. the beginning of the year, since He wrote some 60 works for that Schubert offered it for publication convivial medium, though most
CMS AT SPAC SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 date from his younger years, before etched melody, achieves a haunting he took up a bohemian existence blend of mystery and nostalgia that in central Vienna when he was only Mozart could rival. Sterner 20. The Fantasie in F minor is his motives are introduced for the sake last and greatest contribution to of contrast. The following largo the four-hand repertory, which, section uses dramatic dotted- according to Maurice Brown in rhythm figurations at its beginning his study of Schubert, “has, in and end to frame the more tender the highest degree, all those melody that occupies its central characteristic qualities of the region. A brilliant triple-meter composer that have endeared him allegro, the pianistic analog of the to generations of music lovers.” scherzo in the contemporaneous The Fantasie is spread across four C major Symphony (“The Great”), continuous formal sections, the first forms the dancing heart of the and last spawned from the same Fantasie. The themes of the opening thematic material so as to unify section return in heightened, often the overall structure. The opening contrapuntal settings to round out portion, with its delicately rocking this masterpiece of Schubert’s accompaniment and precisely fullest maturity.
Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta for Violin and Piano
FRITZ KREISLER He then transferred to the Paris Born February 2, 1875 in Vienna. Conservatoire, where, at age 12, he Died January 29, 1962 in New York City. won the school’s gold medal over
40 other competitors, all of whom Composed in 1941-42. Duration: 9 minutes were at least ten years his senior. In 1888-89, Kreisler successfully toured the United States but then Fritz Kreisler—“unanimously virtually abandoned music for considered among his colleagues several years, studying medicine in to be the greatest violinist of the Vienna and art in Rome and Paris, 20th century,” wrote critic Harold and serving as an officer in the Schonberg in the New York Times Austrian army. He again took up the on 30 January 1962, the day after violin in 1896 and failed to win an Kreisler died—was admitted to audition to become a member of the Vienna Conservatory when the Vienna Philharmonic, but quickly he was seven, gave his first established himself as a soloist, performance at nine, and won making his formal re-appearance in a gold medal when he was ten. Berlin in March 1899. He returned
CMS AT SPAC SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 to America in 1900 and gave his in 1941, he continued concertizing London debut in 1901, creating a to immense acclaim through the sensation at every performance. At 1949-50 season. He died in New York the outbreak of World War I, Kreisler in 1962. In addition to being one rejoined his former regiment but of the 20th-century’s undisputed he was wounded soon thereafter masters of the violin, Fritz Kreisler and discharged from service. In also composed a string quartet, a November 1914, he moved to the violin concerto, and two operettas United States, where he had been (Apple Blossoms and Sissy), but appearing regularly for a decade. he is most fondly remembered for He gave concerts in America to his many short compositions and raise funds for Austrian war relief, arrangements for violin that were but anti-German sentiment ran imbued with the characteristic so high after America’s entry into Gemütlichkeit of his native Vienna. the war that he had to temporarily The Viennese Rhapsodic withdraw from public life. He Fantasietta (1941-42) evokes the resumed his concert career in New sweetly melancholic as well as the York in October 1919, then returned joyous sides of Kreisler’s native to Europe. In 1938, following the city’s personality, qualities heard annexation of Austria by the Nazis, in abundance in his recording of Kreisler settled in the United December 1946, the last one he States for good; he became an made, when he was 72 and Vienna American citizen in 1943. Despite was just beginning to recover from being injured in a traffic accident the devastation of World War II.
Octet in F major for Winds and Strings, D. 803, Op. 166
FRANZ SCHUBERT accomplishment. Troyer ordered from Schubert a companion piece Composed in 1824. to Beethoven’s E-flat Septet, Premiered privately in Vienna in 1824. Duration: 60 minutes probably the most popular work during his lifetime of that composer. Schubert accepted Early in 1824, Schubert received the commission, received a commission for an instrumental Troyer’s permission to enrich the work from Count Ferdinand von seven-part instrumentation of Troyer, Chief Steward to the Beethoven’s septet ensemble with Archduke Rudolph, who was a an additional violin, and set to patron of the musical arts and work on the octet. The score was an amateur clarinetist of some completed on March 1, 1824 and
CMS AT SPAC SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 The tender mood of the Adagio THE OCTET...RESEMBLES is established by the clarinet and BEETHOVEN’S SEPTET carried throughout the movement IN THE SIX MOVEMENTS as the melody is unfolded, largely OF ITS FORM AND IN ITS by the clarinet and violins. The third GENERALLY CHEERFUL movement is a fully developed CHARACTER scherzo; the trio provides a lyrical respite. The fourth movement is a first heard at a private concert at set of variations on the love duet Count von Troyer’s townhouse in Gelagert unter’m hellen Dach der Vienna soon thereafter. Bäume (Lying Under the Bright The octet, which resembles Roof of Trees) from the opera Beethoven’s septet in the six Die Freunde von Salamanka (The movements of its form and in Friends from Salamanca), a work its generally cheerful character, Schubert wrote in 1815, when begins with a slow introduction he was 18, but which was not whose melodic shapes and performed during his lifetime. The dotted rhythms foreshadow the following Menuetto resembles movement’s main theme. The the earlier scherzo in form and sonata form proper commences meter, but differs from it in its with the unison presentation of mood of sweet lyricism. The slow the exuberant first theme; the introduction to the finale contains second theme allows the first violin the only somber moments in the a virtuoso turn. The development entire octet and these are soon section is filled with subtle dispelled by the perkiness of the harmonic and emotional shadings. following sonata-rondo.
© 2018 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
CMS AT SPAC SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 AN EVENING IN PRAGUE Tuesday Evening, August 14, 2018 at 8:00 Spa Little Theatre
GILBERT KALISH, piano YURA LEE, viola WU HAN, piano DAVID FINCKEL, cello ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY, violin CLIVE GREENSMITH, cello ARNAUD SUSSMANN, violin
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Terzetto in C major for Two Violins and (1841-1904) Viola, Op. 74 (1887) Introduzione: Allegro ma non troppo— Larghetto Scherzo: Vivace Tema con variazioni: Poco adagio— Molto allegro SITKOVETSKY, SUSSMANN, LEE
LEOŠ JANÁČEK Presto for Cello and Piano (1910) (1854-1928) GREENSMITH, KALISH
JOSEF SUK Quartet in A minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, (1874-1935) and Cello, Op. 1 (1891) Allegro appassionato Adagio Allegro con fuoco WU HAN, SITKOVETSKY, LEE, FINCKEL
—INTERMISSION—
DVOŘÁK Trio in F minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 65 (1883) Allegro ma non troppo Allegretto grazioso Poco adagio Finale: Allegro con brio KALISH, SUSSMANN, GREENSMITH
PLEASE TURN OFF CELL PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES. Photographing, sound recording, or videotaping this event is prohibited. NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Terzetto in C major for Two Violins and Viola,
Op. 74
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK in the National Orchestra many Born September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, years before.) This Terzetto (Op. 74) Bohemia. proved too diffcult for Kruis’s limited Died May 1, 1904 in Prague. technique, however, so the following Composed in 1887. week Dvořák wrote a simpler set of Premiered on March 30, 1887 in Prague four Bagatelles for two violins and by violinists Karel Ondříček and Jan viola, which he shortly thereafter Buchal and violist Jaroslav Stasny. Duration: 19 minutes arranged for violin and piano as the Four Romantic Pieces, Op. 75. Both works were frst played publicly in By 1886, after his early years of Prague on March 30th. Simrock, who disappointment, poverty, and constantly badgered Dvořák to write struggle, Antonín Dvořák had become short, easily salable works in the one of the leading composers in the manner of the Slavonic Dances (from world. That summer, he completed a which the publisher got very rich), sequel (for piano duet) to the wildly quickly snapped up the Terzetto and successful set of Slavonic Dances of the Romantic Pieces, and issued them 1878, and then set out on a concert later that year. tour of Great Britain, where he was The Terzetto opens with a lyrical easily the most revered musician movement of quiet melancholy since Mendelssohn. He returned to Dvořák labeled “Introduction” Prague in the fall, spent an arduous that leads through a series of two months orchestrating the new harmonic peregrinations directly Slavonic Dances, and then turned to to the Larghetto, a warmly emotional less strenuous projects. instrumental song that becomes more Living at the same address in rhythmically animated in its middle Prague as Dvořák during the winter regions. The Scherzo proper makes of 1887 was a chemistry student and use of the vivacious Bohemian dance amateur violinist named Josef Kruis. mannerisms that Dvořák favored in Composer and chemist struck up a many of the works of his maturity, friendship, and in the space of just while the movement’s central trio is one week (January 7-14), Dvořák in the style of the waltz-like Ländler. composed a trio for Kruis and the The fnale is a set of variations on a young man’s teacher, Jan Pelikán, harmonically mischievous theme that a violinist with the Prague National courses through sections in both Theater Orchestra, and himself as slow and fast tempos before ending violist. (Dvořák had played viola with a lively dash to the close.
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 Presto for Cello and Piano
LEOŠ JANÁČEK remains uncertain. The Presto’s first Born July 3, 1854 in Hukvaldy, Moravia. known performance did not take Died August 12, 1928 in Ostrava, Moravia. place until cellist Karel Krafka and
pianist Zdenka Průšová played it Probably composed in 1910. First known performance was on June at a musicological conference in 15, 1948 at Masaryk University in Brno June 1948 at Masaryk University in by cellist Karel Krafka and pianist Brno, where Janáček’s archives are Zdenka Průšová. Duration: 2 minutes held by the Moravian Museum. The score, which was not published until 1970, had been preserved by In 1910, Janáček composed Antonín Vañá, a young amateur Pohádka (Fairy Tale) for cello and cellist who played in several piano under the inspiration of an performances of a piano trio epic poem by Vasily Zhukovsky Janáček wrote in 1908 and who (1783-1852). In the poem, the was frequently in touch with mythical Tsar Berendey has the composer for several years unwittingly promised his son, thereafter. (The original piano trio Ivan, to Kashchei, Ruler of the is lost, but Janáček used its literary Underworld. Ivan sets out to inspiration—Leo Tolstoy’s 1889 short confront Kashchei himself, but falls story The Kreutzer Sonata—and in love with Kashchei’s daughter, some of its musical materials for Marya, and she with him. Together the String Quartet No. 1 of 1923.) Ivan and Marya overcome the Vañá may have well played the intrigues of her father and return Presto when it was new, though in happiness to Tsar Berendey’s there is no record of any formal palace. On the same kind of public performance at that time. manuscript paper he used for The Presto follows the three-part Pohádka, for the same instrumental form of a traditional scherzo— combination, and presumably strongly rhythmic outer sections around the same time, he sketched with a lyrical central trio—though a brief fast movement that he first its mood is more anxious and labeled Allegro but then changed its style more muscular than the to Presto. It has been conjectured typical 19th-century example. The that the piece was originally piece is unified by an insistent intended as part of Pohádka but three-note motive that propels was ultimately excluded because the outer portions and is heard that work already had three quick in every measure of the piano movements, though its purpose accompaniment in the trio.
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 Quartet in A minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1
JOSEF SUK instrumental technique. The works Born January 4, 1874 in Křečovice, of his later years—most notably Bohemia. the symphony dedicated to the Died May 29, 1935 in Benešov, near Prague. memories of Dvořák and Otilie titled Asrael (Angel of Death) and the Composed in 1891. symphonic poem The Ripening— Premiered on May 13, 1891 in Prague. show a concentrated emotional Duration: 22 minutes power through which Suk sought “to embrace the sterner problems Josef Suk, one of the most of humanity,” according to Otakar prominent musical personalities Šourek. Much of the closing of the early 20th century, was born decade of his life was devoted to into a musical family and entered teaching composition at the Prague the Prague Conservatory at the Conservatory, where he served four age of 11 to study composition and terms as rector and taught many violin. He began composing three important Czech musicians of the years later, and in 1891 became next generation, including Bohuslav the prize pupil of a new member Martinů. His grandson, also named of the conservatory faculty— Josef (1929-2011), was one of the Antonín Dvořák. Following his leading violinists of his generation. graduation in 1892, Suk founded The A minor Piano Quartet is the Czech Quartet, with which he evidence that the 17-year-old Suk was to perform over 4,000 concerts understood, respected, and could before retiring in 1933. He was utilize the traditional formal models, deeply influenced in his early qualities that must have pleased compositional style by the music his teacher immensely. The opening of Dvořák, and his relationship with sonata-form movement takes as his teacher was cemented when he its main theme a surging, dramatic married that composer’s daughter, melody presented by unison strings; Otilie, in 1898. a transformation of the opening Suk suffered the double tragedy theme in the cello, lengthened in of the deaths of Dvořák in 1904 rhythm, made lyrical and aspiring and of his own young wife only 14 in character, and cast in a brighter months later. His personal loss was key, provides the subsidiary subject. reflected in his later music, which The music again turns dramatic in became more modernistic and the development section and builds complex in its texture, harmony, to an expressive climax before rhythmic construction, and form, quieting for the recapitulation of and more sophisticated in its the main theme by the piano. The
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 reprise of the aspiring second characterized by a march-like vigor theme culminates in a heroic coda. and a distinctive dotted rhythm. The The Adagio, music that elicited piano posits the idea initially and Dvořák’s admiration, follows a it is then shared by the rest of the three-part form (A–B–A) whose outer ensemble before the music takes up sections are based on a tender, the smooth, wide-ranging second arching melody sung by cello and subject. The extensive development then violin; the movement’s central section treats the themes in reverse episode is more animated and order. The recapitulation of the impassioned. The main theme of the exposition’s events leads to the finale, another sonata structure, is quartet’s triumphant conclusion.
Trio in F minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 65
that he was to accept Dvořák as ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK a new client. Dvořák was thrilled Composed in 1883. with the opportunities his Viennese Premiered on October 27, 1883 in Mladá connections opened for him, and he Boleslav by violinist Ferdinand Lachner, cellist Alois Neruda, and the composer paid Brahms great homage in word as pianist. and tone for the rest of his life. Duration: 39 minutes Brahms, however, was indissolubly linked with the spirit and letter of Success for Antonín Dvořák was a German music, and Dvořák soon two-edged sword. In 1874, when came to be torn between the he was struggling to make a desire on one hand to emulate his living as organist at St. Adalbert’s Viennese patron and on the other Church in Prague, he submitted to support the political and social some of his compositions to a aspirations of his fellow Czechs. committee in Vienna granting That dichotomy resulted in a crisis awards to promising musicians in of philosophy for Dvořák by 1882, the Habsburg provinces. These when Brahms was urging him to pieces came to the attention of settle in Vienna and opera houses Johannes Brahms, who encouraged in that city and Dresden were Dvořák in his work and urged the offering lucrative contracts for any panel to grant the young Bohemian work he would write to a German- composer the highest possible language libretto, a certain avenue stipend. Three years later, after to the international performance Brahms had seen that Dvořák’s of his stage music. Dvořák was award was renewed, he instructed still painfully undecided between his publisher, Fritz Simrock in Berlin, Vienna and Prague, between his
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 in favor of his Czech nationalism. DVOŘÁK WAS PAINFULLY The great D minor Symphony (No. UNDECIDED BETWEEN 7, Op. 70) appeared a year later. VIENNA AND PRAGUE, The F minor Trio, the first work of BETWEEN HIS ADOPTED that period of intense emotion and GERMAN SYMPHONISM heated creativity, received the brunt AND HIS NATIVE CZECH of Dvořák’s turbulent feelings. HERITAGE Though the opening movement is contained within traditional sonata adopted German symphonism and form, its wrought-up, willful mood his native Czech heritage, when threatens, observed Paul Stefan, his mother died on December 14, “to burst the bounds and transcend 1882. The grief he suffered over the content of chamber music, her loss and the emotional distress passionately striving to merge brought about by uncertainty over into the symphonic.” The dotted- his future artistic path threw him rhythm main theme begins quietly into a difficult period of dark moods in the strings, though this is a quiet and troubled thoughts. Even the not of calm but of suppression. birth of a son (Antonín) on March 7, The entry of the piano unleashes 1883 and news that his Stabat Mater the inherent dynamism of the had been enthusiastically received principal theme, but emotional at its English premiere in London a control is again restored with the few days later did little to relieve his transition, which leads to the cello’s anxiety or ease his decision. After presentation of the second theme, a brief hiatus in his creative work, a lovely melody whose nominal he poured his feelings into some of major mode is continually troubled his most powerful and deeply felt by plaintive chromatic alterations. works during the following months. The development section, which The first of those compositions was ranges in mood from sullen to the superb Piano Trio in F minor, defiant, is impelled by an almost begun on February 4, 1883, only six Beethovenian sense of drama. weeks after Anna Dvořák’s death, The recapitulation serves not only and completed on March 31st. The to recall the exposition’s themes Scherzo Capriccioso for Orchestra but also to thrust their emotional (Op. 66) immediately followed intensity to a higher plane by the trio, and the Hussite Overture means of richer figurations, tighter (Op. 67), inspired by the Hussite interplay among the instrumental Rebellion, the 15th-century political, lines, and expansion through social, and religious movement motivic development. led by Jan Hus that sought The second movement is a sectarian freedom and Bohemian scherzo in the form of a Bohemian independence, gave testimony that folk dance. The strings begin the he had resolved his artistic conflict dance with a bouncing motive,
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 suggestive of a bagpipe-drone, which surrounds it, the tiny flickers upon which the piano presents the of chromaticism—the lowering of short-breathed, rather melancholy a tone by a half-step to blunt its tune whose varied permutations happiness, like a cloud passing occupy the first section of the across the sun or the thought of a movement. A full stop marks the departed loved one at a moment of gateway to the central trio, whose joy—further concentrate rather than initial bright mood is clouded by dispel the trio’s abiding disquiet. the music’s unsettled rhythms The Finale is modeled on the furiant, and apprehensive flattened scale a traditional Czech dance whose degrees. The opening section is fiery character is indicated by its repeated exactly to round out the name. The movement, built as a movement’s structure. The Adagio large sonata-rondo form anchored is one of Dvořák’s most deeply around the recurrences of its felt creations, beautiful of line, principal theme, draws strength rich of sonority, and sincere in from the struggles of the preceding expression. Though the movement music to achieve a life-affirming is in a key that could offer some close with the turn to a heroic major sunny solace for the troubled music tonality in its final pages.
© 2018 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
CMS AT SPAC TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018 ABOUT THE ARTISTS JOSEPH CONYERS Joseph H. Conyers, assistant principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2010, joined Philadelphia after tenures with the Atlanta Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and Grand Rapids Symphony where he served as principal bass. A 2004 Sphinx Competition laureate, he has performed with many orchestras as soloist and in numerous chamber music festivals collaborating with international artists and ensembles. In addition to being the most recent recipient of the C. Hartman Kuhn Award (the highest honor given to a musician in the Philadelphia Orchestra by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin), he is the inaugural recipient of the Young Alumni Award from his alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer. An advocate for music education, he is executive director of Project 440—an organization that provides young musicians with the career and life skills they need to develop into tomorrow's civic-minded, entrepreneurial leaders. Additionally, he is the music director of the All City Orchestra, which showcases the top musicians of the School District of Philadelphia. Project 440 partners with the School District in providing its curriculum in college and career preparedness, social entrepreneurship, and leadership. He is a frequent guest clinician presenting classes across the country including Yale University, New England Conservatory, The Colburn School, and University of Georgia. Mr. Conyers currently sits on the National Advisory Board for the Atlanta Music Project. He performs on the "Zimmerman/Gladstone" 1802 Vincenzo Panormo double bass which he has affectionately named “Norma.”
DAVID FINCKEL Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society, cellist David Finckel is a recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year award, one of the highest music industry honors in the US. He leads a multifaceted career as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, administrator, and cultural entrepreneur that places him in the ranks of today’s most infuential classical musicians. He appears extensively with CMS, as recitalist with pianist Wu Han, and in piano trios with violinist Philip Setzer. Along with Wu Han, he is the founder and Artistic Director of Music@Menlo, Silicon Valley’s acclaimed chamber music festival and institute; co-founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music Today in Korea; and co-founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Workshop at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Under the auspices of CMS, David Finckel and Wu Han also lead the LG Chamber Music School in South Korea. BBC Music Magazine featured the duo on its cover CD this spring. Mr. Finckel is the co-creator of ArtistLed, classical music’s frst musician-directed and Internet-based recording company, whose 19-album catalogue has won widespread critical praise as it celebrates its 20-year anniversary. The latest release features the Dvořák Cello Concerto and a work written for him by
CMS AT SPAC Augusta Read Thomas. Mr. Finckel served as cellist of the nine-time Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet for 34 seasons. The frst American student of Rostropovich, he is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
CLIVE GREENSMITH Clive Greensmith has a distinguished career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. From 1999 until 2013 he was a member of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet, giving over one hundred performances each year in the most prestigious international venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, London’s Southbank Centre, Paris Châtelet, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. As a soloist, he has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Salzburg Festival in Austria, Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Pacifc Music Festival in Japan, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. During a career spanning over 25 years, he has built up a catalogue of landmark recordings, most notably the complete Beethoven string quartet cycle for Harmonia Mundi with the Tokyo String Quartet. Mr. Greensmith studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in England with American cellist Donald McCall. He continued his studies at the Cologne Musikhochschule in Germany with Boris Pergamenschikow. After his 15-year residency with the Tokyo String Quartet at Yale University, he was appointed Co-Director of Chamber Music and Professor of Cello at the Colburn School in Los Angeles in 2014. He is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and violinist Martin Beaver.
GILBERT KALISH The profound infuence of pianist Gilbert Kalish as an educator and pianist in myriad performances and recordings has established him as a major fgure in American music-making. In 2002 he received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award for his signifcant and lasting contribution to the chamber music feld and in 2006 he was awarded the Peabody Medal by the Peabody Conservatory for his outstanding contributions to music in America. He was the pianist of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players for 30 years, and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a group that fourished during the 1960s and 70s in support of new music. He is particularly well-known for his partnership of many years with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani, as well as for current collaborations with soprano Dawn Upshaw and cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick. As an educator and performer he has appeared at the Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, the Marlboro Music Festival, and Music@Menlo, where he serves as the international
CMS AT SPAC program director of the Chamber Music Institute. He also served as chairman of the Tanglewood faculty from 1985 to 1997. His discography of some 100 recordings embraces both the classical and contemporary repertories; of special note are those made with Ms. DeGaetani and that of Ives's Concord Sonata. A distinguished professor at SUNY Stony Brook, Mr. Kalish has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004.
YURA LEE Violinist/violist Yura Lee is a multi-faceted musician, as a soloist and as a chamber musician, and one of the very few that is equally virtuosic in both violin and viola. She has performed with major orchestras including those of New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She has given recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Brussels’s Palais des Beaux-Arts, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. At age 12, she became the youngest artist ever to receive the Debut Artist of the Year prize at the Performance Today awards given by National Public Radio. She is the recipient of a 2007 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the frst prize winner of the 2013 ARD Competition. She has received numerous other international prizes, including top prizes in the Mozart, Indianapolis, Hannover, Kreisler, Bashmet, and Paganini competitions. Her CD Mozart in Paris, with Reinhard Goebel and the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, received the prestigious Diapason d’Or Award. As a chamber musician, she regularly takes part in the festivals of Marlboro, Salzburg, Verbier, and Caramoor. Her main teachers included Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Thomas Riebl, Ana Chumachenko, and Nobuko Imai. A former member of Chamber Music Society Two, Ms. Lee is on the violin and viola faculty at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She divides her time between New York City and Portland, Oregon.
DANIEL MATSUKAWA Daniel Matsukawa has been principal bassoon of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 2000. He has appeared as soloist with several orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider, the Curtis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonic, and the Sapporo Symphony in Japan. Prior to his post with The Philadelphia Orchestra, he served as principal bassoon with the National Symphony in Washington D.C., the St. Louis Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony. In 1998 he performed and recorded Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 as acting principal bassoon with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur. He has been a recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including a solo concerto debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of 18. He is an active chamber musician and has performed and toured with the Marlboro Festival. He also conducts
CMS AT SPAC regularly and studied conducting privately with Otto-Werner Mueller, who was the head of the conducting department at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has conducted at the Pacifc Music Festival every year since 2009, and he recently made his US professional debut conducting the Virginia Symphony. Born in Argentina to Japanese parents, Mr. Matsukawa moved with his family to New York City at age three. He studied with Harold Goltzer and Bernard Garfeld at both The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. He is a regular member of the faculties at both the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University.
JENNIFER MONTONE Jennifer Montone joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal horn in 2006, and is currently on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. She was formerly the principal horn of the Saint Louis Symphony, associate principal horn of the Dallas Symphony, adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University, and performer/faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Named the Paxman Young Horn Player of the Year in London in 1996, she has since won many solo competitions and awards, including an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006 and a 2013 Grammy Award for her recording of Penderecki’s Horn Concerto entitled Winterreise. She has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, in which she was awarded the position of third horn while still a student. She performs regularly at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla SummerFest, Strings Festival, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and is a coach at the New World Symphony. A native of northern Virginia, Ms. Montone was in the National Symphony Fellowship Program, where she studied with Edwin Thayer, was a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, and attended the Marlboro Music Festival. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a student of Julie Landsman.
RICARDO MORALES Ricardo Morales is one of the most sought-after clarinetists of today. He joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003 and made his solo debut with the orchestra in 2004 under Charles Dutoit. He previously served as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. During his tenure with the Met Orchestra, he soloed under the baton of James Levine at Carnegie Hall and on two European tours. He has also been a featured soloist with the Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, and the Flemish Radio Symphony. He has been asked to perform as principal clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and at the invitation of Sir Simon Rattle, with the Berlin
CMS AT SPAC Philharmonic. An active chamber musician, he has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Seattle Chamber Music Summer Festival, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. His debut solo recording, French Portraits, is available on the Boston Records label, and his recent recordings include performances with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and a Latin Grammy-nominated release with the Pacifca Quartet. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Morales began his studies at the Escuela Libre de Musica along with his fve siblings, who are all distinguished musicians. He currently serves on the faculty of Temple University. Ricardo is a Backun Artist and performs on MoBa and Model F Clarinets, which he co-designs.
ALEXANDER SITKOVETSKY Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was praised by Gramophone magazine for “his confdent, entirely natural musicianship.” He has performed with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, New York Chamber Players, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, Brussels Philharmonic, and St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. Highlights last season included engagements with the Arctic Symphony Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, and a return to Camerata Salzburg. His critically acclaimed CPO recording of Andrzej Panufnik's Violin Concerto with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin won the 2015 ICMA Special Achievement Award. He has been awarded frst prize at the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition alongside pianist Wu Qian, with whom he subsequently embarked on a 20-concert tour of Italy as well as a recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall. He is a former member of Chamber Music Society Two, and in 2016 received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. He is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio, with which he has won various prizes including the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Kammermusik Prize. Mr. Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. He studied at the Menuhin School in the UK, and performed several works with Lord Menuhin, including the Bach Double Concerto, Bartók Duos at St James’ Palace, and the Mendelssohn concerto under Menuhin’s baton.
ARNAUD SUSSMANN Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has distinguished himself with his unique sound, bravura, and profound musicianship. Minnesota’s Pioneer Press writes, “Sussmann has an old-school sound reminiscent of what you'll hear on vintage recordings by Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, a rare combination of sweet and smooth that can hypnotize
CMS AT SPAC a listener.” A thrilling young musician capturing the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world, he has appeared on tour in Israel and in concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg, the Dresden Music Festival in Germany, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. He has been presented in recital in Omaha on the Tuesday Musical Club series, New Orleans by the Friends of Music, Tel Aviv at the Museum of Art, and at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He has also given concerts at the OK Mozart, Moritzburg, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, Seattle Chamber Music, Bridgehampton, and the Moab Music festivals. Mr. Sussmann has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Wu Han, David Finckel, Jan Vogler, and members of the Emerson String Quartet. A former member of Chamber Music Society Two, he regularly appears with CMS in New York and on tour, including performances at London’s Wigmore Hall.
WU HAN Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society, pianist Wu Han is among the most esteemed and infuential classical musicians in the world today. She is a recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year award, one of the highest music industry honors in the US, and has risen to international prominence through her wide-ranging achievements as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural entrepreneur. Wu Han appears extensively with CMS; as recitalist with cellist David Finckel; and in piano trios with violinist Philip Setzer. Along with David Finckel, she is the founder and artistic director of Music@Menlo, Silicon Valley’s acclaimed chamber music festival and institute; co-founder and artistic director of Chamber Music Today in South Korea; and co-founder and artistic director of the Chamber Music Workshop at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Under the auspices of CMS, David Finckel and Wu Han also lead the LG Chamber Music School in South Korea. This spring BBC Music Magazine featured the duo on its cover CD. Beginning this fall, Wu Han will serve as Artistic Advisor of Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns for two seasons. She is the co- creator of ArtistLed, classical music’s frst musician-directed and Internet- based recording company, whose 19-album catalogue has won widespread critical praise as it celebrates its 20-year anniversary. Recent recordings include Wu Han LIVE II. Wu Han’s most recent concerto performances include appearances with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
CMS AT SPAC ABOUT CMS The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is known for the extraordinary quality of its performances, its inspired programming, and for setting the benchmark for chamber music worldwide: no other chamber music organization does more to promote, to educate, and to foster a love of and appreciation for the art form. Whether at its home in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, on leading stages throughout North America, or at prestigious venues in Europe and Asia, CMS brings together the very best international artists from an ever-expanding roster of more than 150 artists per season, to provide audiences with the kind of exhilarating concert experiences that have led to critics calling CMS “an exploding star in the musical frmament” (The Wall Street Journal). Many of these extraordinary performances are livestreamed, broadcast on radio and television, or made available on CD and DVD, reaching thousands of listeners around the globe each season. Education remains at the heart of CMS’ mission. Demonstrating the belief that the future of chamber music lies in engaging and expanding the audience, CMS has created multi-faceted education and audience development programs to bring chamber music to people from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, and levels of musical knowledge. CMS also believes in fostering and supporting the careers of young artists through the CMS Two program, which provides ongoing performance opportunities to a select number of highly gifted young instrumentalists and ensembles. As this venerable institution approaches its 50th anniversary season in 2020, its commitment to artistic excellence and to serving the art of chamber music, in everything that it does, is stronger than ever.
UPCOMING EVENTS Join us 45 minutes before each concert for a panel discussion with the artists led by Kari Fitterer, CMS’s Director of Artistic Planning and Touring.
TIMELESS MASTERWORKS SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 3:00 PM SPA LITTLE THEATRE This program features timeless pieces ranging from Mozart’s day, when the clarinet was just becoming a solo instrument, to the late 20th century.
THE COMPOSER'S WORLD TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 8:00 PM SPA LITTLE THEATRE Experience Debussy’s fanciful cello sonata, Stravinsky’s exotic imagination, and Brahms’s ceaseless internal struggle for musical perfection.
CMS AT SPAC Union College Concert Series 18-19
Uchida Belcea Quartet
Finckel & Han Keenlyside
Biss Padmore & Lewis Anderszewski
When SPAC’s season ends, we begin. 15 concerts by world-renowned artists. Tickets from $30.
unioncollegeconcerts.org 518-388-6080
CMS AT SPAC THE INSIDE CHAMBER MUSIC PODCAST
Join Bruce Adolphe, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Resident Lecturer, for investigations and insights into chamber music masterworks. Inside Chamber Music lectures are beloved by regulars and a revelation to frst-timers for their depth, accessibility, and brilliance.
A new episode, carefully selected from the recording archive, is released every two weeks.
AVAILABLE ON ITUNES AND GOOGLE PLAY
CMS AT SPAC WATCH CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY PERFORMANCES LIVE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD
Throughout CMS's 2018-19 season, view 25 unforgettable chamber music events streamed live to your computer or mobile device, and watch on demand up to 72 hours later. Browse the program, relax, and enjoy a front row seat from anywhere in the world.
www.ChamberMusicSociety.org/WatchLive
CMS AT SPAC CMS AT SPAC SEPTEMBER 7-9
International Wines, Gourmet Foods and Luxury Cars. The 2018 Saratoga Wine & Food Festival has partnered with Colin Cowie Lifestyle and the Saratoga Automobile Museum to present three days of lively, gourmet events.
Featuring special appearances by David “Big Papi” Ortiz, celebrity chefs David Burke and Todd English, and a stunning display of 80 luxury Bugatti automobiles, it’s a feast for the senses! Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime event!
Visit spac.org for festival schedule and tickets
SPAC Box Office spac.org (518) 584-9330