DOCSLIB.ORG

Escher String Quartet String Quartets: No

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Escher String Quartet String Quartets: No MENDELSSOHN · ESCHER STRING QUARTET STRING QUARTETS: NO. 5 IN E FLAT MAJOR & NO. 6 IN F MAJOR Front cover from left: Pierre Lapointe, Adam Barnett-Hart, Aaron Boyd, Dane Johansen BIS-2160 BIS-2160 booklet cover.indd 1 2016-01-29 14:29 MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809–47) Quartet No.5 in E flat major 34'50 Op.44 No.3, MWV R28 (1837–38) 1 I. Allegro vivace 13'22 2 II. Scherzo. Assai leggiero e vivace 4'05 3 III. Adagio non troppo 8'34 4 IV. Molto allegro con fuoco 8'40 from Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op.81 5 3. Capriccio (Andante con moto – Allegro fugato assai vivace) in E minor, MWV R32 (1843) 5'37 6 4. Fugue (A tempo ordinario) in E flat major, MWV R23 (1827) 5'00 Quartet No.6 in F minor, Op.80, MWV R37 (1847) 25'02 7 I. Allegro vivace assai – Presto 7'05 8 II. Allegro assai 4'14 9 III. Adagio 7'52 10 IV. Finale. Allegro molto 5'44 TT: 71'17 Escher String Quartet Adam Barnett-Hart violin · Aaron Boyd violin Pierre Lapointe viola · Dane Johansen cello 3 he quartet has always been regarded as the purest and noblest of mu sical genres, which in particular heightens, educates, refines our appre cia tion ‘Tof music and, with the tiniest of means, achieves the ut most. Its clarity and transparency, which no trickery can cloak, make quartet music the surest yard- stick for measuring genuine composers; in renouncing the sensual lures of sound effects and contrasts, it highlights the gift of musical invention and the art of exploiting a musical idea. The foremost masters have always relished doing their utmost in this genre.’ These words by Haydn’s bio grapher Carl Ferdinand Pohl express what was common knowledge among musical connois seurs in the nine- teenth century – and this remains the case today. The string quartet is seen as the ‘most intricate form of chamber music’ (Guido Adler), but for that very reason also as the most exalted branch of composition. Few composers will have been as aware of the heavy responsibility associated with the genre as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, well versed as he was in the history of music. None the less this prodigy, whose prowess in almost every mu sical genre was aston ish ing, turned relatively early to this ‘most sublime form of com- position’ (as Hugo Botstiber described it) and, in the course of his short career, produced seven complete examples (plus four separate movements and three fragments). Among these works, the set of three Op.44 string quartets assumes a special role. ‘Every musician who wishes to make profitable use of his time has good reason to take these works in hand and become acquainted with them’: with these words the music theorist and composer Gottfried Wilhelm Fink welcomed the appearance of the Op. 44 quartets – which had already won ‘very loud applause’ when they had been performed – with an extensive article in the Allgemeine Musi - kalische Zeitung. Robert Schumann’s three Op.41 string quartets (1842) also drew inspiration from Mendelssohn’s triptych: it was not for nothing that Schumann – 4 following the example of Mozart in the ‘Haydn’ Quartets – dedicated them ‘to his friend Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy with heartfelt reverence’. Although given the number three within Opus 44, the String Quartet No.5 in E flat major is chronologically the second of the quartets in this opus group (Nos 1 & 2: see BIS-1990 and 1960). Composed between November 1837 and February 1838, it was ded i cated to Crown Prince Oskar of Sweden –as indeed was the entire Op.44 set. From a compositional point of view this is the most advanced of the three. In the first movement (Allegro vivace) we enter a playground of motivic ideas and thematic dissolutions, headed by an upbeat circular gesture consisting of four semi quavers followed by a held note. This becomes especially prominent because it pro vides the impulse for the motivic development that follows immediately, and into the bargain becomes – almost by accident – the ‘main subject’ of the movement. In its after math, a subsidiary theme arises from sighing figures. This theme is related to the main thematic group – not only because of the entwined semiquaver motifs from the first violin; its conclusion is characterized by a new thematic variant that is more thoroughly taken into account in the development. For all its incessant activity, the eerily hurrying scherzo in 6/8-time (Assai leggiero e vivace) also exhibits great compositional refinement, spiked with canonic and contrapuntal ideas but ultimately coming together in an austere unison – the adversary of the contrapuntal ideal! By contrast the slow move ment (Adagio non troppo) blossoms with beguiling songfulness, opening with a chromatically flavoured main theme in A flat major, surreptitiously blending Lied form and sonata form. The exuberant finale (Molto allegro con fuoco) sets off at full speed in the best of moods – and ensures, for instance by means of the cyclical reappearance of a motif from earlier in this movement (there confronting the main theme), that there is a surprising formal effect. At its first performance in Leipzig on 3rd April 1838 the work earned ‘after each 5 movement the loudest of applause from everybody; in general the scherzo made the most vivid impact’ (Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung). In 1839 Mendelssohn recom mended the Op.44 set of quartets to his friend, the composer and pianist Ignaz Moscheles, with the modest words: ‘there are one or two amongst them I am pleased with myself, and I should like to know that I am right, and that you too are satisfied with them.’ Alongside the six string quartets with opus numbers and the unpublished Quartet in E flat major from 1823, Mendelssohn composed four individual movements for string quartet at different times in his life. After his death, the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel issued these, gathered together as Op.81. The pieces are an Andante soste - nuto in E major (No.1, 1847), a Scherzo in A minor (No.2, 1847), a Capriccio in E minor (No.3, 1843) and a Fugue in E flat major (No.4, 1827). The Capriccio in E minor, written on 4th/5th July 1843 and dedicated to Baron de Trémont, is Men- delssohn’s only piece for quartet between Op.44 No.1 (1838) and the final quartet works from 1847 (Op.81 Nos 1 and 2, and Op.80). The bipartite work is to some extent laid out like a prelude and fugue. The first section (Andante con moto) proves to be a wonderful Venetian gondolier’s song in miniature, with all the features of this type of ‘song without words’: Lied form without a proper contrasting episode, 12/8-time, constantly maintained accompanimental rhythm. This is followed by an agile fugue, introduced by the second violin (Allegro fugato, assai vivace) in 4/4- time. Mendelssohn evidently planned to compose a number of Capriccios of this type (‘In addition I intend to write some Caprices for quartet’, he wrote in August 1843), but with the exception of the present work he seems not to have followed this particular byway of the string quartet genre. The Fugue in E flat major, com posed around 16 years earlier, goes back to an earlier type of fugue – at least to begin with. Its weighty main theme, presented in accordance with all the rules, alludes to baroque fugal rhetoric. The beginning of 6 the theme even corresponds to the already backward-looking theme of the finale in Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony (No.41 in C major, K551) although it soon dev - elops a profile of its own, for example by means of an expressive rising leap of a seventh. A second theme appears, but this does not in any way extend the structure into that of a strict double fugue; on the contrary, it consciously causes it to dis- sipate. In the way he increasingly turns away from the fugal idiom, it is clear that Mendelssohn was not aiming for a stylistic exercise but rather, so to speak, for a study of transition, the metamorphosis of a traditional form from within – from archaic counterpoint to a Romantic character piece. Among Mendelssohn’ works for quartet, the String Quartet No.6 in F minor, Op.80, written between July and September 1847, occupies a special place. To an extent otherwise unknown in Mendelssohn’s music, this breathtaking work is an expression of biographical events. It deals with his grief at the passing of his sister Fanny, who died unexpectedly from a stroke in May 1847 and who had been his close confidante, not only in musical matters. At the beginning of October he wrote to his friend Karl Klingemann: ‘Now I must gradually begin to come to terms, in my life and in my music, with the knowledge that Fanny is no longer there; and that is so bitter that I cannot yet attain a proper perspective and tranquillity’ Musically he reacted by composing an instrumental ‘requiem’ of a kind that takes an unconventional path right from the very outset. Whipped up by an excited tremolo, the first movement only gets to touch fleetingly on its themes; even in its lyrical moments it smoulders inscrutably, and the pull of an un controllable despair keeps making its presence felt. The quick second move ment (Allegro assai) does not pause for breath – the hunt goes inexorably onwards, the music staggers forwards with fast-moving, syncopated energy. Here there are no shimmering elves but rather armed demons.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download Booklet
    572813 bk Zemlinsky EU_572813 bk Zemlinsky EU 23/05/2013 13:45 Page 4 Escher String Quartet Alexander Adam Barnett-Hart, Violin I • Wu Jie, Violin II • Pierre Lapointe, Viola • Dane Johansen, Cello Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the Escher String ZEMLINSKY Quartet players were BBC New Generation Artists from 2010- 2012, giving débuts at both the Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms String Quartets • 1 at Cadogan Hall. In their home town of New York, the quartet recently completed a three-year Escher String Quartet Rising Stars residency at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet-in-Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. Photo: Henry Fair In addition, the quartet has collaborated with artists such as Andrés Diaz, Lawrence Dutton, Kurt Elling, Leon Fleisher, Anja Lechner, Vadim Gluzman, Angela Yoffe, Gary Hoffman, Joseph Kalichstein, Kurt Muroki, Joseph Silverstein, Khatia Buniatishvili, Benjamin Grosvenor and Matthew Hunt, as well pop folk singer-songwriter Luke Temple. Recent performances include appearances at the Cheltenham, Lichfield and City of London Festivals, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. Elsewhere, the quartet undertook a tour of China including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and made its Australian début with Brett Dean at the Perth International Arts Festival.
    [Show full text]
  • John Gilhooly
    A RARE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN GILHOOLY PLUS SPRING SCHUMANN PERSPECTIVES 2018 PEKKA KUUSISTO RESIDENCY JAN ÁČEK’S INSTRUMENTAL WORKS FRIENDS OF OF FRIENDS YOUR 2018/19 DATES INSIDE John Gilhooly’s vision for Wigmore Hall extends far into the next decade and beyond. He outlines further dynamic plans to develop artistic quality, financial stability and audience diversity. JOHN GILHOOLY IN CONVERSATION WITH CLASSICAL MUSIC JOURNALIST, ANDY STEWART. FUTURE COMMITMENT “I’M IN FOR THE LONG HAUL!” Wigmore Hall’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director delivers the makings of a modern manifesto in eight words. “This is no longer a hall for hire,” says John Gilhooly, “or at least, very rarely”. The headline leads to a summary of the new season, its themed concerts, special projects, artist residencies and Learning events, programmed in partnership with an array of world-class artists and promoted by Wigmore Hall. It also prefaces a statement of intent by a well-liked, creative leader committed to remain in post throughout the next decade, determined to realise a long list of plans and priorities. “I am excited about the future,” says John, “and I am very grateful for the ongoing help and support of the loyal audience who have done so much already, especially in the past 15 years.” 2 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 ‘ The Hall is a magical place. I love it. I love the artists, © Kaupo Kikkas © Kaupo the music, the staff and the A glance at next audience. There are so many John’s plans for season’s highlights the Hall pave the confirms the strength characters who add to the way for another 15 and quality of an colour and complexion of the years of success.
    [Show full text]
  • Even String Quartets— No Longer Sit in Chairs When
    It’s not a huge FINE, auprising, but a number of Upst ensembles—nding even string quartets— no longer sit in chairs when EMPIRE BRASS performing. What’s it all about? 26 may/june 2010 a ENSEMBLES ike most art forms, chamber music PROS by Judith Kogan performance has evolved to reflect For many people, it’s simply more com- Upst ndingchanges in society and technology. fortable to play standing up. It’s how we’re L As instruments developed greater power to taught to play and how we perform as solo- project, performances moved from small ists. Standing, it’s easier to establish good chambers to larger spaces, where professional posture with the instrument. musicians played to paying audiences. New Standing also allows freedom to express instrumentations, such as the saxophone with the whole body. With arms, shoulders quartet and the percussion ensemble, and waist liberated, a player’s range of motion emerged. By the late twentieth century, expands. For wind players, there’s better composers had recast what was once thought air flow. The ability to turn the whole body of as “intimate musical conversation” to in- makes it easier to communicate with other corporate abrasive electronically-produced ensemble members and the audience. One sonorities. Some works called for musi- arguably feels the rhythm of a piece better cians to wear headphones with click tracks, on one’s feet, and, perhaps unconsciously, preventing them from hearing each other. produces a bigger, fatter sound. Sometimes they couldn’t even hear them- In terms of acoustics, sound travels farther selves.
    [Show full text]
  • Calendarmailerfinal:Layout 1
    Jon Manasse Boston Cello Quartet Julian Schwarz Jon Nakamatsu Martin Beaver Amit Peled Cypress String Quartet Stephanie Chase Yeesun Kim Curtis on Tour Emerson String Quartet Natasha Paremski Noreen Polera Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Dennis & Yarmouth Wellfleet & Provincetown Cotuit & Orleans Chatham Wellfleet Wellfleet Cape Cod Gala July 21, Wellfleet 7:30pm July 29, Orleans 7:30pm July 31 7:30pm Sunday, July 27 ~ 6pm Curtis On Tour features a string chamber Boston Cello Quartet Jon Manasse, CLARINET Blaise Déjardin Adam Esbensen Join us for a festive evening at our orchestra performing Antonio Vivaldi’s iconic Emerson String Quartet Cape Cod Gala! Featuring music by The Four Seasons paired with Ástor Piazzolla’s Mihail Jojatu Alexandre Lecarme tango masterpieces Cuatro Estaciones W.A. MOZART Overture to The Abduction from the Eugene Drucker, VIOLIN Philip Setzer, VIOLIN the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. Cocktails Seraglio Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) Lawrence Dutton, VIOLA Paul Watkins, CELLO at 6, music at 6:45 followed by a full F. MENDELSSOHN Scherzo from A Midsummer buffet dinner. featuring celebrated Curtis alumna violinist Night’s Dream J. HAYDN String Quartet in G Minor; Opus 20 No. Elissa Lee Koljonen (’94). C. DEBUSSY Reverie 3, Hob. III.33 Jon Manasse, CLARINET D. POPPER Suite for Two Cellos, Opus 16 W. A. MOZART Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and The proceeds from this concert will help fund Jon Nakamatsu, PIANO E. CHABRIER España, rapsodie pour orchestra Strings, K. 581 Luis Ortiz, PIANO the restoration of the late 18th-early 19th J. WILLIAMS Theme from Angela’s Ashes century “Church Bass” that has been in the L.
    [Show full text]
  • Vivianfung|Composer
    vivianfung|Composer “Her music ... summons images of dusk and reaches for hidden places and states of mind.” San Jose Mercury News Vivian Fung Phone: (917) 535-0050 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vivianfung.net Vivian Fung has distinguished herself as a composer with a unique and powerful compositional voice. Since earning her doctorate from The Juilliard School in 2002, she has forged her own approach often merging western forms with non-western vivianfung|Composer influences such as Balinese and Javanese gamelan and folk songs from minority regions of China. The New “…as vital as encountering Steve Reich or the York Times has described her work as ―evocative,‖ Kronos for the first time.” and The Strad hails her Uighur-influenced music to be The Strad ―as vital as encountering Steve Reich or the Kronos for the first time.‖ Chicago Tribune described Fung‘s Yunnan Folk Songs as conveying ―a winning rawness that went beyond exoticism.‖ Fung has traveled extensively for her work. In 2004, she traveled to Bali, Indonesia Highlights of Fung's recent world as part of the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange premieres include: her Violin Concerto for Kristin Program, sponsored by the UCLA Center for Lee and Grammy nominated Metropolis Ensemble, Intercultural Performance. In summer 2010, as an Dust Devils commissioned by the Eastern Music ensemble member of Gamelan Dharma Swara, she Festival celebrating their 50th anniversary, Yunnan completed a performance tour of Bali including Folk Songs by Fulcrum Point New Music Project in competing in the Bali Arts Festival. Chicago; new choral works by the acclaimed Suwon Civic Chorale in South Korea; Chant by pianist Fung‘s works have increasingly Margaret Leng Tan at the Museum of Modern Art in become part of the core repertoire.
    [Show full text]
  • Vivaldi Explosion Program
    The following program notes may only be used in conjunction with the one-time streaming term for the corresponding Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) Front Row National program, with the following credit(s): Program notes by Laura Keller, CMS Editorial Manager © 2020 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Any other use of these materials in connection with non-CMS concerts or events is prohibited. VIVALDI EXPLOSION PROGRAM ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) Sonata in A minor for Cello and Continuo, RV 43 (c. 1739) Largo Allegro Largo Allegro Efe Baltacigil, cello; Dane Johansen, cello; Paul O’Dette, lute; John Gibbons, harpsichord VIVALDI Concerto in G minor for Flute, Oboe, and Bassoon, RV 103 Allegro ma cantabile Largo Allegro non molto Sooyun Kim, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; Bram van Sambeek, bassoon VIVALDI Concerto in F major for Three Violins, Strings, and Continuo, RV 551 (1711) Allegro Andante Allegro Todd Phillips, violin; Bella Hristova, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Sean Lee, violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Timothy Eddy, cello; Anthony Manzo, bass; Michael Sponseller, harpsichord --INTERMISSION (Discussion with artists)-- VIVALDI Sonata in D minor for Two Violins and Continuo, RV 63, “La Follia” (published c. 1705) Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Brook Speltz, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar VIVALDI Concerto in D major for Mandolin, Strings, and Continuo, RV 93 (1730-31) Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Allegro giusto Largo Allegro Avi Avital, mandolin; Paul Huang, violin; Danbi Um, violin; Ani Kavafian, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Mihai Marica, cello; Daniel McDonough, cello; Anthony Manzo, bass; Jiayan Sun, harpsichord NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Violin virtuosity reached a new height around the year 1700.
    [Show full text]
  • Bringing the World's Most Extraordinary Classical Musicians to Rhode Island for Over 60 Years
    Bringing the World's Most Extraordinary Classical Musicians to Rhode Island for Over 60 Years All 2016-17 Concerts Take Place In McVinney Auditorium (Click here) Seating diagram (Click here) 2016-17 Season Escher, Lark, Apple Hill, Dorian Escher String Quartet ● October 19 Dorian Wind Quintet ● November 16 Apple Hill String Quartet with Jesse Holstein ● March 15 Lark String Quartet with Todd Palmer ● April 19 ___________________________________________________ Wednesday • October 19, 2016, 7:30 PM Escher String Quartet Photo: Sophie Zhai Felix Mendelssohn: Quartet in D Major, Op. 44 no. 1 Béla Bartók: Quartet no. 2, Op. 17, Sz. 67 Antonín Dvořák: Quartet in G Major, Op. 106 Adam Barnett-Hart, violin Aaron Boyd, violin Pierre Lapointe, viola Brook Speltz, cello “They hold the listener spellbound ...” -BBC Music Magazine The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. The ensemble has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival.
    [Show full text]
  • Emerson String Quartet
    Emerson String Quartet The Emerson String Quartet has maintained its stature as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles for more than four decades. The quartet has made more than 30 acclaimed recordings, and has been honored with nine Grammys® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year”. The Emerson frequently collaborates with some of today’s most esteemed composers to premiere new works, keeping the string quartet art form alive and relevant. They have partnered in performance with stellar soloists including Reneé Fleming, Barbara Hannigan, Evgeny Kissin, Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, to name a few. During the 2018-2019 season the Emerson continues to perform as the quartet in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. for its 40th season and returns to perform with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The group’s North American appearances include a performance at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, and appears around North America that include the Library of Congress in Washington DC, Denver, Vancouver, Seattle, Houston, Indianapolis, Detroit, the Yale School of Music and University of Georgia, among others. The quartet also embarks on two European tours, performing in major venues in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. During the summer of 2019, the Emerson will perform at Tanglewood, Ravinia, and the Aspen Music Festivals. Other North American highlights include subsequent performances of Shostakovich and The Black Monk: A Russian Fantasy, the new theatrical production co-created by the acclaimed theater director James Glossman and the Quartet’s violinist, Philip Setzer.
    [Show full text]
  • JAN 21 RICMC Concert Program
    Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts presents CMS FRONT ROW JANUARY 21 - JANUARY 25, 2021 PROGRAM GIUSEPPE TARTINI (1692-1770) Sonata in G minor for Violin and Continuo, “Devil's Trill” (before 1756) Andante Allegro Andante—Allegro Adam Barnett-Hart, violin • Timothy Eddy, cello • Kenneth Weiss, harpsichord WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Adagio and Fugue in C minor for String Quartet, K. 546 (1788) Schumann Quartet (Erik Schumann, violin • Ken Schumann, violin • Liisa Randalu, viola • Mark Schumann, cello) FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) Fugue in E-flat major for String Quartet, Op. 81, No. 4 (1827) Schumann Quartet (Erik Schumann, violin • Ken Schumann, violin • Liisa Randalu, viola • Mark Schumann, cello) MIKHAIL GLINKA (1804-1857) Trio pathétique in D minor for Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano (1832) Allegro moderato— Scherzo: Vivacissimo— Largo Allegro con spirito David Shifrin, clarinet • Marc Goldberg, bassoon • Anne-Marie McDermott, piano NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Sonata in G minor for Violin and Continuo, “Devil’s Trill” (before 1756) By Giuseppe Tartini (Pirano, now in Slovenia, 1692 – Padua, 1770) “[Tartini] dreamed one night in 1713 that he had made a pact with the devil. Everything succeeded as he asked, his wishes were always anticipated, and his desires always surpassed by the services of his new servant. Finally he thought of giving him his violin to see if he would play him beautiful music. But what was his astonishment when he heard a sonata so singular and so beautiful, performed with such superiority and intelligence, that he hadn't heard or even conceived of anything that might compare? He experienced such surprise, delight, pleasure, that he lost his breath.
    [Show full text]
  • Mendelssohn · Escher String Quartet Quartets No
    MENDELSSOHN · ESCHER STRING QUARTET QUARTETS NO. 1 IN E FLAT MAJOR & NO. 4 IN E MINOR Front cover from left: Aaron Boyd, Adam Barnett-Hart, Dane Johansen, Pierre Lapointe BIS-1960 BIS-1960_f-b.indd 1 2015-01-28 17:04 MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, Felix (1809–47) Quartet No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 12, MWV R25 (1829) 24'41 1 I. Adagio non troppo – Allegro non tardante 7'28 2 II. Canzonetta. Allegretto 3'44 3 III. Andante espressivo 4'58 4 IV. Molto allegro e vivace 8'18 Quartet in E flat major, MWV R18 (1823) 27'16 5 I. Allegro moderato 9'32 6 II. Adagio non troppo 6'02 7 III. Minuetto. Trio 7'05 8 IV. Fuga 4'22 Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44 No. 2, MWV R26 (1837) 27'11 9 I. Allegro assai appassionato 10'04 10 II. Scherzo. Allegro di molto 3'50 11 III. Andante 6'10 12 IV. Presto agitato 6'50 TT: 80'10 Escher String Quartet Adam Barnett-Hart violin · Aaron Boyd violin Pierre Lapointe viola · Dane Johansen cello 3 he quartet has always been regarded as the purest and noblest of mu - sical genres, which in particular heightens, educates, refines our appre - ‘Tcia tion of music and, with the tiniest of means, achieves the ut most. Its clarity and transparency, which no trickery can cloak, make quartet music the surest yardstick for measuring genuine composers; in renouncing the sensual lures of sound effects and contrasts, it highlights the gift of musical invention and the art of exploiting a musical idea.
    [Show full text]
  • Vivaldi Explosion Program
    Program notes by Laura Keller, CMS Editorial Manager © 2020 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center VIVALDI EXPLOSION PROGRAM ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741) Sonata in A minor for Cello and Continuo, RV 43 (c. 1739) Largo Allegro Largo Allegro Efe Baltacigil, cello; Dane Johansen, cello; Paul O’Dette, lute; John Gibbons, harpsichord VIVALDI Concerto in G minor for Flute, Oboe, and Bassoon, RV 103 Allegro ma cantabile Largo Allegro non molto Sooyun Kim, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; Bram van Sambeek, bassoon VIVALDI Concerto in F major for Three Violins, Strings, and Continuo, RV 551 (1711) Allegro Andante Allegro Todd Phillips, violin; Bella Hristova, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Sean Lee, violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Timothy Eddy, cello; Anthony Manzo, bass; Michael Sponseller, harpsichord --INTERMISSION (Discussion with artists)-- VIVALDI Sonata in D minor for Two Violins and Continuo, RV 63, “La Follia” (published c. 1705) Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Brook Speltz, cello; Jason Vieaux, guitar VIVALDI Concerto in D major for Mandolin, Strings, and Continuo, RV 93 (1730-31) Allegro giusto Largo Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Allegro Avi Avital, mandolin; Paul Huang, violin; Danbi Um, violin; Ani Kavafian, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Mihai Marica, cello; Daniel McDonough, cello; Anthony Manzo, bass; Jiayan Sun, harpsichord NOTES ON THE PROGRAM Violin virtuosity reached a new height around the year 1700. From the start of the Baroque Period a hundred years earlier, skilled craftsmen like Gasparo da Salò advanced string instrument building technique until it reached its apex with the instruments of Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri. The burgeoning music publishing industry also inspired composers to write pieces that would stand out and establish their international reputations.
    [Show full text]
  • March 2019 2 •
    2018/19 Season January - March 2019 2 • This spring, two of today's greatest Lieder interpreters, the German baritone Christian Gerhaher and his regular pianist Gerold Huber, return to survey one of the summits of the repertoire, Schubert’s psychologically intense Winterreise. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen join us with a programme of odes, written to welcome Charles II back Director’s to London from his visits to Newmarket, alongside excerpts from Purcell's incidental music to Theodosius, Nathaniel Lee's 1680 tragedy. Introduction Leading Schubert interpreter Christian Zacharias delves into the composer’s unique melodic, harmonic and thematic flourishes in his lecture-recital. Through close examination of these musical hallmarks and idiosyncrasies, he takes us on a journey to the very essence of Schubert’s style. With her virtuosic ability to sing anything from new works to Baroque opera and Romantic Lieder with exceptional quality, Marlis Petersen is one of the most enterprising singers today. Her residency continues with two concerts, sharing the stage with fellow singers and accompanists of international acclaim. This year’s Wigmore Hall Learning festival, Sense of Home, celebrates the diversity and multicultural melting pot that is London and the borough of Westminster, reflects on Wigmore Hall as a place many call home, and invites you to explore what ‘home’ means to you. One of the most admired singers of the present day, Elīna Garanča, will open the 2018/19 season at the Metropolitan Opera as Dalila in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila. Her programme in February – comprising four major cycles – includes Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, two of which were identified by the composer himself as studies for Tristan und Isolde.
    [Show full text]