Leoš Janáček (1854–1928): String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters” (1928) (26:01) 1 I. Andante (6:03) 2 II. Adagio (6:05) 3 III. Moderato (5:48) 4 IV. Allegro (8:27)

Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953): String Quartet (1931) (11:53) 5 I. Rubato assai (3:26) 6 II. Leggiero (2:03) 7 III. Andante (4:17) 8 IV. Allegro possibile (2:06)

Cedille Records is a trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation devoted to promot- Paul Hindemith (1895–1963): String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22 (1922) (26:24) ing the finest musicians and ensembles in the Chicago area. The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation’s activities are sup- 9 ported in part by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies including I. Fugato. Sehr langsame Viertel (6:06) the Alphawood Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, NIB Foundation, Negaunee Foundation, bk Sage Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (CityArts III Grant), and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. II. Schnelle Achtel. Sehr energisch (5:37) Contributions to The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation may be made at www.cedillerecords.org or by calling 773-989-2515. bl III. Ruhige Viertel. Stets fließend (8:03) bm IV. Mäßig schnelle Viertel (1:43) Producer & Engineer Judith Sherman bn V. Rondo. Gemächlich und mit Grazie (4:48) Assistant Engineer & Digital Editing Bill Maylone Design Melanie Germond 24 Photos of the Pacifica Quartet Anthony Parmelee TT: (64:38) Recorded September 2-4, 2005 (Hindemith & Crawford Seeger); January 4 & 5, 2006 (Janáček), in the Foelinger Great Hall, Krannert Pacifica Quartet Center, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Microphones Sonodor, Neumann KM 130 Publishers String Quartet No. 2 by Leoš Janáček ©1928 Editio Bärenreiter Praha (H 4355); String Quartet by Ruth Crawford Seeger ©1941 Theodore Presser Co.; String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22 by Paul Hindemith ©1923 Schott Music International DECLARATIONS CDR 90000 092 P&C 2006 Cedille Records, trademark of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation. All Rights Reserved Music Between the Wars Janáček’s style fits into no special school or inspired by Beethoven’s music, relating the trend; it remains uniquely his own, a blend tale of a disastrous marriage. The second inspired by many influences: his study of quartet, dating from 1928, was originally sub- DECLARATIONS Moravian folk melodies and speech patterns; titled “Love Letters,” but the composer pulled Music Between the Wars his interest in other Eastern European cul- back from this too-revealing appellation in Notes by Andrea Lamoreaux tural heritages, especially those of Russia; and favor of “Intimate Letters.” It is a work directly the confluence of Romantic and modernist addressed to Kamila, reflecting “the anguish trends that characterized the early 20th cen- that I feel about you” (as he wrote to her). The The life of the oldest, earliest composer young old man from Brno” (as one biogra- tury. The sound world of his second quartet whole piece is one long instrumental love on this CD may be briefly summarized as pher put it) wrote, in his sixties and seventies, is sharply cut off from its companions on this song. Its frequent shifts of mood reflect the decades of obscurity in a backwater of the four more major operas (Katya Kabanova, CD. Hindemith and Crawford Seeger used the often-sudden changes of feeling and attitude Austro-Hungarian Empire followed by a dra- The Makropoulos Affair, The Cunning Little ancient genre of the string quartet to speak that are experienced in the course of a love matic reversal toward fame and fortune in a Vixen, and From the House of the Dead), plus new musical languages. Janáček, despite the affair. Even more evocative of an intimate newly-established independent nation. Born orchestral works, two string quartets, and the originality of his style, was rooted in the tradi- relationship are the almost constant shifts in a remote Moravian village in 1854, Leoš Glagolitic Mass. tions of late Romanticism, and the lushness of of tempo, sometimes covering just a few Janáček was trained as both a musician and his themes and their harmonization recall the measures at a time before another change of a teacher, and spent most of his first 60 years The inspiraton for this outburst of creativ- larger-scale symphonic works of Mahler and pace ensues. These tempo changes reflect the — more than a lifetime, for some people ity came from more than his new-found Richard Strauss — neither of them any kind vicissitudes of a loving but risky relationship: — in the provincial capital of Brno, where he fame; it was spurred greatly by his love for a of specialist in chamber music, but compos- advance and retreat, eagerness and regret. was an organist, choir director, teacher, and woman 38 years his junior. Kamila Stösslová, ers who spoke with a personal voice in rich folk-music researcher as well as composer. the great love of his life, was the wife of a harmonies that express very private, very In one of his many letters to his love, Janáček His principal interest was in opera, but he Bohemian merchant. She never left her hus- inward emotions in an outwardly expan- detailed specific themes for each of the quar- also wrote symphonic and chamber works, band; Janáček never left his wife. Their affair sive way that seeks the universal. A younger tet’s four movements: their first meeting, a plus a great many choral pieces. His oper- was apparently conducted largely through Janáček contemporary, Alban Berg, though summer sojourn at a spa, a vision “resembling atic efforts were little appreciated. His life was correspondence, but its emotional intensity part of the atonal Schoenbergian school, your image,” and finally, “a fear for you . . . that one of continuity, routine, duty, frustration, is witnessed by many of the composer’s late used chamber music in much the same way: eventually sounds not as fear, but as longing and surely more than a little boredom. And works, the string quartets in particular. The to express deep, often secret, feelings. and fulfillment.” then, in 1916, in the midst of a world war, the inspiration of this love was so great that in Prague National Opera agreed to produce his the last year of his life, Janáček could declare: Janáček’s first string quartet, from 1923, was A Baroque predecessor of our modern viola is opera Jenufa; this was the beginning of his “Life is young! It’s spring! I am not afraid to subtitled “Kreutzer Sonata”: not a reference the even more mellow-toned viola d’amore, national and international renown, and of his live, to open my eyes, for life is beautiful.” to Beethoven’s work with this subtitle, but or Love Viola; Janáček originally thought of renewed zest for life and art. This “eternally to a short story by Russia’s Leo Tolstoy, partly employing this archaic instrument, but he 4 5 eventually decided against it. He asks the time signature is 2/4, signifying two beats He became her final mentor, and her hus- gression of the motives and the need for modern viola player to play “sul ponticello,” to each bar, but this pace is varied with the band in 1932. Ruth Crawford Seeger was the expressionstic emphasis dictates. Dissonant near the instrument’s bridge, on numerous inclusion of extended triplet passages (three stepmother of Pete Seeger and the mother of intervals such as dimished sevenths and aug- occasions; this adds an astringency to the notes to a group). The opening Allegro slows Mike Seeger and Peggy Seeger, all of whom mented ninths abound, in vertical collision sound that heightens the tension of the emo- down to Andante and evolves into a central were leaders in the American folk-music and in linear leaps. The motive introduced tions being expressed. Adagio that goes from triple piano (very, revival of the mid-20th century. at the start by the first violin is labeled Solo, very soft) to triple forte. To conclude, Janáček and that labeling continues as the motive is The entire quartet is dominated and informed returns to Tempo I and a varied statement of Along the way, Crawford Seeger became the passed from part to part. The score indicates by the motto theme heard at the very begin- the movement’s opening motives, followed first woman to win a Guggenheim Fellowship that this solo line “must be heard continu- ning. It returns in many permutated forms. by a softly whispering passage that gives for study in Europe. She also won recognition ing throughout the movement”; indeed it It is treated in rondo fashion in the open- way to a frenetic rush to the end punctuated as a composer of formidable and original tal- does, and can be heard as such, but it’s often ing movement, which begins at a moderate with an exclamation point by three sharply- ent, one whose gender called forth not con- surrounded by much figuration and com- Andante pace that picks up into a more accented concluding chords. descension but admiration from male artists. mentary. Dynamic contrasts are extreme and ardent Allegro. The heartfelt second move- Her career as a whole shows the importance frequently changing, adding to the sense of ment begins at an Adagio pace, very slow, In her too-brief lifetime, 1901 to 1953, Ruth of both the old and the new in the world frenzied expression and intensity. but is interspersed with agitated Vivace pas- Crawford Seeger made many different dec- of music: the old represented by folk-music sages; here the motto becomes the basis for larations as an artist and as a person. After research in partnership with her husband, the The second movement has much the same a set of free variations. The third and fourth some fairly traditional early training on the new by such works as her 1931 String Quartet sound texture, but its pace is different. The movements restate the motto in a number of piano, she studied composition with her first (originally published by Cowell in his New tempo marking here is Leggiero, meaning combinations and variants; the ear is struck mentor, Adolf Weidig, at Chicago’s American Music Quarterly). Light and Fleeting. Its role in the work is once again by the constant variations of Conservatory, and became a firm advocate analogous to that of one of Mendelssohn’s tempo. Moderato becomes Adagio becomes of all that was new in the music of her time. A This is not a quartet in which you can count scherzos, although the melodic and har- Allegro in the third movement, holding the second mentor was the iconoclastic American on recognizable, recurring themes to steer monic sound of the movement is very far traditional place of a Scherzo. composer Henry Cowell, who helped get rec- you through and refer back to earlier sec- from Mendelssohn. To be played somewhat ognition for such early modernist works as tions. Three of its four movements are based faster than the already-fast opening move- The finale, even more agitatedly expressive her Sonata for Violin and Piano. Yet a third on fragmented, atonal motives that exploit ment, the second has the further indication than the opening movement, reflects all the mentor was the poet Carl Sandburg, whose the highest and lowest ranges of the four of Tempo Giusto: exact or strict time. This is anguish and fear that Janáček expressed children were her piano students; from their instruments in fairly rapid succession. The a decided difference from the rubato flow of in his letters to Kamila, yet there is also a father, she gained an interest in American folk first movement has a standard time signa- the opening. sense of emotional triumph. Tempo changes music. Also interested in folk music was the ture, 3/4, but the tempo marking is Rubato, are everywhere; dynamic levels rise and fall composer and musicologist Charles Seeger, which indicates rhythmic freedom, so the The third movement, marked Andante, shifts almost measure by measure. The opening with whom she undertook studies in 1929. pace increases and decreases as the pro- into a new realm altogether. Now, instead

6 7 of rapid figures constantly shifting up and In an essay about Paul Hindemith’s works of Briner’s statements are not an attempt to Tones that set up arbitrary patterns using down, we have sustained notes moving with- the 1920s, musicologist Andres Briner offers an claim that Hindemith ever rejected the use of all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Ignoring in a very restricted range. Slowly, beginning assessment of the composer’s frame of mind large-scale instrumental and vocal resources; traditional concepts of melody and harmony, with viola and cello, then with second and in creating a series of miniature concertos two of his greatest compositions, by any they laid out intricate lines based on end- first violins added, the lines progress some- with widely divergent instrumentations but standard, are his Symphonic Metamorphoses less permutations of the basic 12-tone row, times by half-tones (A to B-Flat, for exam- the same name: Kammermusik, or Chamber on themes by Carl Maria von Weber and the which was not designed to be heard as any- ple) and sometimes by major thirds (D to F- Music. “If ensembles with such differing tradi- opera Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter) thing like a recognizable theme. Serialism Sharp). All the instruments begin low in their tions bear the same title, this can be under- and the symphony derived from it. But it’s influenced composers of Schoenberg’s own respective ranges, gradually moving upward stood only as a conscious stylistic marking, worth remembering that chamber works of time, including Ruth Crawford Seeger, and in their registers to a climax that’s high- as a trademark bestowed by the composer,” various types form a significant percentage those of succeeding generations, including pitched in both the technical and emotional Briner says. “Hindemith was concerned that of his work-list, from solo sonatas and duo- such major late 20th-century figures as Hans sense. The winding-down of intensity that these works should already by their title be sonatas with piano to an Octet. Trained first Werner Henze and Alfred Schnittke. follows produces a very quiet ending. The clearly contrasted with late-Romantic instru- as a violinist, Hindemith later took up the score indicates that bowing changes must mental ensemble music, in which the indi- viola and founded his own string quartet, Another major trend was the incorporation be unarticulated and almost imperceptible, vidual instruments were used above all to the Amar. He loved performing chamber of folk music as a basis for concert music, and that the frequent changes in dynamic produce an atmospheric overall effect, an music as much as writing it, and as a solo- a path followed by Bartók and Kodály in level should be as gradual as possible. The ensemble of impressionistic tone-values. In ist, he became a notable viola virtuoso. He Hungary, Vaughan Williams in England, Falla effect of this extraordinary movement recalls the Twenties Hindemith lived and composed wrote two concertos for viola and orches- in Spain, and Copland in the U.S. There was the Minimalist techniques of the late 20th in opposition to the Romantics; indeed he tra — Trauermusik and Der Schwanendreher also a thread of mockery and satire, the century: slowly evolving sounds, repetitious was one of the most energetic leaders of this — and gave the world premiere of Sir William voice adopted by the young Poulenc and his yet compelling. opposition in Germany and outside it too. Walton’s Viola Concerto in 1929. Parisian associates comprising “Les Six,” and The rallying-point of this musical activity, as by a young Russian émigré named Prokofiev. As the third movement dies off into the sparing in words as highly active in musical In the years immediately following World War almost-inaudible, we suddenly are into the deeds, was [the] Donaueschingen [Festival] I, European composers recognized that the Another Russian émigré, Igor Stravinsky, short and emphatic finale, to be played As in south Germany, where in 1921 were held life they’d previously known had changed took a somewhat different view, very similar Fast As Possible. Here the first violin is gen- the first Chamber Music Performances for irrevocably in all aspects — cultural as well to that eventually adopted by Hindemith. erally set in opposition to the other three the Promotion of Contemporary Music. Even as political and economic. They reflected This approach is generally defined as neo- instruments, which play muted. As with the in [this designation] there was the password this cataclysmic change in many different Classicism: a return to the clarity, transparen- first two movements there are sudden and Kammermusik, in very conscious renuncia- ways. Arnold Schoenberg and his followers cy, and logical formal structures of the music frequent dynamic contrasts, intensified by tion of the cult of the large symphony orches- developed an entirely new method of pitch of the 18th century. Hindemith and other the music’s almost headlong pace. tra which the late Romantics had pursued in and formal organization called serialism, the German musicians called it New Objectivity. ever-more extravagant fashion.” famous Method of Composition with Twelve Unlike the serialists, the neo-Classics did not

8 9 reject traditional dominant-tonic tonality, fugue, a highly organized type of contrapun- tains instructions for numerous changes of the solid foundations on either side, and they though they were much freer in their use of tal piece, often heard in Bach’s organ music. pace: slow, slow down, more lively. There are also are related to each other. In Hindemith’s dissonant harmonies than Bach or Haydn. Hindemith rather modestly labeled the move- no standard, predictable numbers of notes or quartet, the slow third movement is clearly Hindemith, after a few years of exuberant ment Fugato, literally, an almost-fugue. But rhythmic patterns within a given measure. the emotional and structural center. It is the experimentation, decided — and finally the standard pattern is clearly there, even if longest movement, its mood is one of seren- declared — that music still needed to have not worked out entirely according to formula. The initial fugue subject and its elaborations ity and assurance, the strings play with mutes discipline and organization, and to be rooted The first violin introduces a meditative, some- build up into a strong climax, after which throughout, softening the hard edges of in the old traditions, while employing the what chromatic theme: in fugue language, the opening and its ruminative mood are sound, and its main theme — offered first by more stringent, less opulent sound quali- this is called the Subject. The pattern is next recapitulated, this time with the cello add- the second violin over pizzicato accompani- ties characteristic of the new era, in distinct stated in the viola part — Violin 1 continuing ing new commentary via pizzicato (plucked) ment — is the most tonal, diatonic melody opposition to the lush sonorities of the late with its own material above — then in the figurations. we have heard so far, a lyrical instrumental Romantics. cello, and then in the second violin. Within song. This is also the only movement with a the space of a few measures, a sinuous sound With only a short pause we are into the brief time signature, 6/4: six quarter notes to each When looking to the past for standards of pattern is being woven. second movement, a vigorous Scherzo with measure. This meter has the effect of smooth- formal organization, Hindemith found a gentler midsection, akin to the Scherzo- ing out the rhythmic pace and sonority. particular inspiration in counterpoint: the Hindemith presents a particular challenge and-Trio layout so often encountered in the horizontal combination of independent yet to the musicians by writing this and three middle movements of Beethoven’s quartets. The fourth movement, Moderately Fast, is related lines of musical thought, which in his other movements without a time signature. Interesting rhythmic complexities continue; a good-humored parallel to the insistent music receives more emphasis than the more In most Western concert music, the number this time the unit of pace is not the steady second-movement Scherzo, except here the vertically-oriented structure represented by of beats to a measure and the basic unit of quarter-note progression that frequently focus is squarely on the cello, which is given chords. The influence of the supreme contra- counting them, usually by quarter notes or characterized the Fugato, but the faster a virtuosic theme almost akin to the solo puntist Johann Sebastian Bach was so great eighth notes, is established at the beginning eighth note, as in the motive that opens cadenzas that highlight concertos. As the on Hindemith that numerous commentators of each movement. A Strauss waltz would the movement and regularly recurs: five first and second movement were linked in have called his style not neo-Classical but start with the numeral 3 over the numeral 4: emphatic repeated notes. time, so there is a link between the end of the neo-Baroque. three-quarter time, three beats written out fourth movement and the start of the finale, a in three quarter notes per measure, or six The overall shape of this work is an arch form, Rondo whose recurring theme is reminiscent The 1920s Donaueschingen Festival, a haven eighth notes, or some other subdivision. An a structure that also appears in Bartók’s quar- of the fugue Subject of the initial Fugato. The for new music of all types, was the venue for unvarying time signature produces a quite tets. The intent of an arch form is to make emphasis on linear counterpoint returns here the premiere of Hindemith’s fourth string regular pulse throughout a movement, but the third movement the structural heart of a too. The pace is relaxed and the four-way quartet in 1922. The structures of its five without a time signature, the music is free to work, with the second and fourth movements conversation is most congenial. movements borrow and resurrect genres progress rhythmically as the composer wills. in strong contrast to it, though related to Andrea Lamoreaux is music director of 98.7 WFMT-FM, established for many years; the first one is a Hindemith’s score in this first movement con- each other. The first and fifth movements are Chicago’s classical-music station.

10 11 Chicago’s WFMT, National Public Radio’s Integration Project, an innovative program Performance Today, and Minnesota Public that provides musical performances and ABOUT THE PACIFICA QUARTET Radio’s St. Paul Sunday. teacher training to inner-city elementary schools. In addition, the Quartet regularly The Pacifica is an ardent advocate of teaches and performs at summer festivals, contemporary music, commissioning and including Musicorda, Fontana Chamber performing as many as eight new works a Arts, Music in the Vineyards, Interlochen year. A champion of the string quartets of Arts Camp, and the Madeline Island Music In May 2006, the Pacifica Quartet became Rising to prominence soon after its creation Elliott Carter, the ensemble has distinguished Festival, and is also frequently invited for vis- only the second chamber music ensemble in 1994, the Pacifica swept top prizes in itself with performanaces of the complete iting residencies at universities and schools to be awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher three of chamber music’s most important five-quartet cycle in New York, San Francisco, nationwide. Career Grant. In 2005–2006, the Pacifica international competitions for young Chicago, and Cleveland, and abroad in Tokyo made a European tour that included a re- ensembles, the 1996 Coleman Chamber and the Edinburgh International Festival. The members of the Pacifica Quartet share engagement at Wigmore Hall in London, Music Competition, the 1997 Concert Artists The New York Times wrote glowingly of the a unique history of personal and musical and debuts in Brussels and Stuttgart, played Guild Competition, and the 1998 Naumburg “astounding performances” by the “brilliant friendship. First violinist Simin Ganatra, born a three-concert series in Chicago, performed Chamber Music Competition. In 2002, the Pacifica Quartet,” and the Chicago Tribune and raised in southern California, initially two concerts at Lincoln Center in New York, Quartet was further honored with Chamber praised the Quartet’s “astonishing talent, played with cellist Brandon Vamos and vio- two in Washington DC, and concerts across Music America’s prestigious Cleveland energy and dedication.” As resident string linist Sibbi Bernhardsson when they were the country from Boston to New Orleans to Quartet Award, giving them concerts in eight quartet for Contempo, one of the country’s teenagers. Sibbi later brought his good friend Tucson. Collaborations included the Emerson of America’s most important venues, and leading contemporary music organizations, Masumi Rostad to the group. Originating on String Quartet, the Miro Quartet, the Avalon was appointed a member of The Chamber the Quartet presents a series of concerts each the West Coast, where it played many of Quartet, and pianists Wu Han and Ursula Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two year devoted exclusively to new music. its earliest concerts together, the Quartet Oppens. The Pacifica Quartet celebrated its program for gifted young musicians. For takes its name from the awe-inspiring Pacific 10th anniversary in the 2004–2005 season two years beginning in the fall of 2003, this The Pacifica Quartet serves as Faculty Ocean. Throughout their journey as a string with its first tour of Japan, its first appear- position involved the Quartet in the full Quartet in Residence at the University of quartet, its members continually strive to ance at Wigmore Hall in London, a perfor- range of activities of the Chamber Music Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and is Quartet be Distinct as the billows/yet one as the sea. mance of all five Elliott Carter quartets for Society of Lincoln Center, from performances in Residence at the University of Chicago, (James Montgomery) San Francisco Performances, a concert at in Alice Tully Hall to community partnerships where it is the first resident ensemble in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the release and leading roles in the Chamber Music the history of the institution. Reflecting its of the complete Mendelssohn string quar- Society’s educational activities. The Quartet dedication to musicians and music lovers For further information about the Pacifica Quartet, tets on the Cedille label, and more than 60 has been featured on many of the nation’s of the next generation, the Pacifica Quartet please visit www.pacificaquartet.com concerts across the country. most prominent radio broadcasts, including was instrumental in creating the Music

12 13 ALSO WITH THE PACIFICA QUARTET ON CEDILLE RECORDS

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