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Chamber Music Society of Louisville University of Louisville School Of Chamber Music Society of Louisville and the University of Louisville School of Music present the 77th Season Three Hundred Sixty-First Concert of the Society Los Angeles Piano Quartet October 19, 2014 - 3:00 p.m. Comstock Concert Hall Three Hundred Sixty-Second Concert of the Society Johannes String Quartet November 23, 2014 - 3:00 p.m. Comstock Concert Hall Three Hundred Sixty-Third Concert of the Society Amernet String Quartet February 15, 2015 - 3:00 p.m. Comstock Concert Hall Three Hundred Sixty-Fourth Concert of the Society Music from Copland House March 22, 2015 - 3:00 p.m. Comstock Concert Hall Three Hundred Sixty-Fifth Concert of the Society Emerson String Quartet April 12, 2015 - 3:00 p.m. Comstock Concert Hall Los Angeles Piano Quartet – October 19, 2014 Piano Quartet in C Major, WoO 36, Nr. 3 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Allegro vivace Adagio con expressione Rondo. Allegro According to Beethoven’s own account tudy he began to s music at the age of four. The history of his early training and the beginning of his active practical musicianship is not a particularly cheerful one, but it is interesting to learn that already at the age of about 12, he began to work as the assistant organist and the cembalist in the orchestra of the Electoral Chapel, where his duty was to accompany the rehearsals of the opera orchestra–without pay. He composed some works, a concerto, a rondo and a song, and the last two were published when . he was 14 His life began to take a turn about 1787 with his first trip to Vienna, which more or less coincided with the time that he began to attract the attention of people who became important to his musical, social and intellectual development. In other in words, 1785, the time of the composition of the Piano Quartet in C Major, he had had little training other than what his father, local teachers and practical experience could provide. The works -­‐ that pre date 1787 pretty much sum up what a talented youngster could do with provincial resources in 18th-­‐c. Germany. These resources included published music, and in this case, a set of sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart perhaps play a role. The three piano quartets, WoO 36, Nos. 1-­‐3, are the only works Beethoven composed for this particular ensemble, whereas later in Vienna he composed mighty works for piano trio (Opps. 1, 11, 70, 97), works that were meant to be, at least in part, vehicles for his own performance as a pianist-­‐ composer. Though the early quartets weren’t published, neither did he discard them, for later in Vienna he culled ideas and tunes from them for his first set of sonatas for piano, opus 2. Listeners may recognize two passages from the quartet in the opening movement of the C major Sonata Op.2, No.3, and the initial theme of the Adagio movement, basis for the Adagio of the Sonata, Op.2 No.1. The manuscripts for the three piano quartets, discovered after his death, were acquired by Artaria, and published in 1828. According to some commentary, the strongest outside influence on Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in C Major was Mozart’s sonatas for violin published in 1781. In particular, the material for central section of the last movement, the rondo, seems to wledge reflect Beethoven’s kno and response to Mozart’s sonata for violin in C Major, K. 296, although the form of Mozart’s movement is significantly more developed, while Beethoven’s treatment is quite in keeping with a young person’s understanding of a “standard” form. The quartet in C major is in three movements, with the middle movement in the subdominant key of F Major. The piano is the principal instrument in the first movement, at most trading off melodic ideas with the first violin; the cello only occasionally dependence has some in from the piano bass line and the viola has a brief melodic moment or two. The thematic character is bright and the material is varied, featuring mostly arpeggiated ideas and running sixteenth-­‐note themes. The special, short-­‐lived moments are the several quick tradeoffs in modes and extensions -­‐ to third related keys (G minor, E-­‐flat Major, C minor). Early in the development section, a brief statement of the first theme in the subdominant that seems to initiate a recapitulation is soon o converted int more development with the recapitulation coming later at a more appropriate point. Even this early in his development Beethoven’s melodic genius is evident, for the second movement is one that could only be identified as his. The strings become progressively more prominent in the second, and more so in the third movement, where the piano and strings trade off thematic activity and are on more of an equal par than in the first movement. Was the central section of the rondo influenced by a similar moment in the violin sonata by Mozart? If so, Beethoven was already thinking about it when he composed the first movement, as a very similar motive of rising leaps and falling 2nds or 3rds with a dotted rhythm is found there. Perhaps this is rather evidence of Beethoven’s own early ability and comprehensive thought? Piano Quartet Christopher Stark (b. 1980) When Christopher Stark mentions in his biography that early years in rural Montana played a role in his development as a composer, magines one i that he is one of those westerners who thinks longingly of broad Western vistas when he finds himself living in the densely-­‐populated east where there are only a few small mountains wedged in between forests. Beginning his studies at the University of Montana, he moved east in stages: first to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and then to New York State where he completed his doctorate in composition under Steven Stucky and Roberto Sierra at Cornell. The list of awards, prizes and recognition that Christopher Stark has received is too numerous to list in full: commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the American Composers Orchestra., and the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings; winner of numerous competitions, among them the Utah Arts Festival, Cincinnati Conservatory Orchestra Composition Competition, 2011 SCI/ASCAP Student Commission; and, performances by members of eighth blackbird, Dinosaur Annex, Buffalo Philharmonic, Israeli Chamber Project, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others. Christopher Stark has his own publishing company, Sommerso Publishing, a well-­‐designed web site, and a presence on YouTube. He is an Assistant Professor of Composition at Washington University in St. Louis. The following is Christopher Stark’s about commentary his work which is receiving its premiere performances on today’s concert: Piano Quartet is a three-­‐movement work, approximately fifteen minutes in duration, which was written for the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation. The first movement is based on my impressions of Assisi, Italy, which I visited in 2012. The movement’s development is based on the transformation of the — manmade to the natural inspired by St. Francis’ teachings and in memory sh of Engli composer Jonathan Harvey. The opening has two principal manmade ideas: a long -­‐ twelve tone melody played at various points by the different stringed instruments (later translated into -­‐ bell like chords in the piano), and dense synthetic overtone series peggiated ar in the strings and piano (labeled “synthetic” because they are based on ratios other than Pythagoras’s). These ideas trade back and forth until high string harmonics are introduced which lead to the central meditation. It is distinguished by ng stri and piano techniques which highlight harmonics and overtones, and it is followed by a climactic statement of the natural overtone series. Brief and nostalgic recollections close out the movement. The second movement begins as a quirky that and pointed gigue ultimately comes unhinged and disintegrates into bouncing bows and austere piano chords. Icy versions of previous motifs follow and slowly accelerate toward a sudden echoing lament. The trajectory of this movement was unexpected for me because it was written during this past summer’s tumultuous events in St. Louis, where I live. I found it increasingly difficult to continue developing the spritely opening material when there was such intense injustice Borrowed happening Chords. nearby. The unfastened form and crumbling development were my attempt to respond to this. The third and final movement is an arrangement of a previous work of mine entitled The original composition was for clarinet, violin, and piano, and due to its short duration (five minutes), it always felt like an orphan. I am glad to have finally found it a suitable home within this quartet. The title comes from an assignment I was given as a doctoral student at Cornell University, where I was asked to compose a piece using two four-­‐note pitch collections; therefore, everything in this work is based on those two collections, as heard through various guises and transpositions. It is brisk, direct, and energetic. It is dedicated to my mentor, who gave me the assignment, Roberto Sierra. Piano Quartet in G Minor, Op. 25 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Allegro Intermezzo. Allegro, ma non troppo. Trio. Animato Andante con moto Rondo alla Zingarese. Presto In the late 1850s, having spent several years working in Detmold, a small provincial court with limited resources, Brahms Magalone was determined to forge a future for himself in Hamburg, his native city. Accordingly, he developed and perfected a number of compositions, among them the Handel variations, the first of the songs, and two piano quartets, one in G Minor and one in A Major.
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