Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Béla Bartók Franz Schubert
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JANUARY 22, 2016 – 7:30 PM WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Quartet for Flute and Strings in C Major, K. 285b Allegro Andantino Lorna McGhee flute / Erin Keefe violin / Rebecca Albers viola / Robert deMaine cello BÉLA BARTÓK Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Sz. 75 Allegro appassionato Adagio Allegro James Ehnes violin / Andrew Armstrong piano INTERMISSION FRANZ SCHUBERT Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 100, D. 929 Allegro Andante con moto Scherzo: Allegro moderato Allegro moderato Alexander Kerr violin / Edward Arron cello / Max Levinson piano SEASON SPONSORSHIP PROVIDED BY JAMES F. ROARK, Jr. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART color and fairness to the other players, variations (1756–1791) two and three are led respectively by the violin and Quartet for Flute and Strings in C Major, cello. De rigueur Mozart moves into the darker C K. 285b, K. Anh. 171 (1778) minor for the fourth variation. Having enriched the harmonic color there, he shifts into a slower Adagio Mozart famously complained to his father that for No. 5, perhaps the loveliest in the set. The he detested the flute, a sour declaration that concluding variation returns to C major in a spirited probably drew added venom from his unhappiness dance-like gesture with folk-like intimations. with having to ply his trade in provincial Salzburg in the employ of his formidable foe, Archbishop BÉLA BARTÓK Hieronymus Colloredo. He also griped about (1881–1945) the paltry recompense offered for the task of Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Sz. 75 composing several pieces commissioned by a (1921) wealthy amateur flutist named De Jean. Yet for all his protestations about the instrument, Mozart By 1920 or thereabouts, Bartók had sniffed certainly wrote with fluency and imagination for the the unmistakable fragrances of Stravinsky’s flute. In addition to two concertos for that bright- polytonalism and Schoenberg’s ardent serialism; toned woodwind and another for the unusual his own music could not but be affected by these combination of flute and harp, he managed to write powerful currents. At the same time Hungary— four flute quartets, all of them light in mood and like the rest of Europe—was reeling from the flavored with winning melodic material. horrors of the Great War, struggling to establish a new political system to fill the void left by the De Jean was an amateur and the technical dissolution of the defunct Austro-Hungarian requirements for the soloist are not especially Empire. Bartók grappled with the cataclysmic demanding. Despite the endearing lyricism and changes about him, which were thrown into even light spirit of all of the flute quartets it is probably higher relief by the failure of his first marriage and true, as Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein pointed out its inevitable dissolution in August 1923. more than half-a-century ago, that these were parodies of the clichés of the period. The flute The confluence of these forces helped shape his quartets are tongue-and-cheek essays with humor response in musical terms, most powerfully, perhaps, veiled by the composer’s ability to somehow make in the two sonatas for violin and piano of 1921 and a joke still sound like first-rate music—as in his 1922 respectively. For the next several decades subtly riotous late Musikalische Spass (“A Musical Bartók’s name and music were synonymous with Joke”), K. 522. cacophony, yet much of his music has proven quite amenable to contemporary tastes, sweetened and In the opening Allegro the flute launches an spiced as it is by Hungarian folk elements. Though endearingly sweet theme over the accompanying these same elements can be discerned in the violin/ strings, soon repeated by the violin. Sprightly piano sonatas, these works have remained tougher and untroubled, it seems perfectly suited to the nuts to crack. There is no doubt that they exude the flute’s patented optimistic sound. A brief minor- stringent, acerbic atmosphere of Stravinsky and key episode darkens the mood somewhat before Schoenberg far more strongly than the immediately returning to the effervescent major-key main theme. appealing aroma of paprika, and require more than a casual listening to absorb the invention and musical In the concluding Andantino, an unassuming ingenuity that lie within. It is not surprising that the and altogether lovely theme initiates a set of six works garnered emphatic support from many fellow variations. As befits the commissioning musician the composers while less adventuresome audiences first variation belongs to the flutist. For both added have slowly come to grips with their challenges. WINTER FESTIVAL It should be noted parenthetically that Bartók a section of growing anxiety before sustained composed three violin/piano sonatas that predate piano chords and improvisatory-sounding violin the “official” numbers 1 and 2. Even before he figurations draw the movement to a close. began formal studies at the Academy of Music in Budapest he wrote a pair of Brahms-influenced Stringent and insistent piano chords introduce the sonatas in 1895 and 1897, both of which have wild, gypsy-like fervor of the concluding Allegro, remained outside of the repertoire. In 1903, during which strongly evokes the energy of a spirited his final year at the Academy he wrote the third dance. More than in the first two movements, unnumbered work for the same pair of instruments, the violin and piano are more overtly joined in published at long last in 1970. common cause. Bartók composed both numbered sonatas for the FRANZ SCHUBERT noted Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi, the gifted (1797-1828) young woman for whom Ravel composed his Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in E-flat diabolically difficult Tzigane. Arányi’s talent was “in Major, Op. 100, D. 929 (1827) her blood,” so to speak: she was the great-niece of the eminent 19th-century violinist/composer Joseph During the third and final decade of his sadly Joachim. Bartók had been on close terms with the foreshortened life Schubert’s art matured due Arányi family since 1902 and thought very highly to innately prodigious musical gifts as well as to of Jelly’s abilities, gladly responding to her request the emotional and physical challenges he faced to him for a violin sonata. Indeed, he composed the during his 20s. A long and by no means complete second numbered sonata for her as well. recovery from syphilis in 1822 darkened his outlook on life, adding to the profound beauty of The opening movement of the first sonata, Allegro his later music. The E-flat Trio lies clearly within appassionato starts with waves of upwardly the Romantic ethos that Schubert helped to bring rippling figures from the piano, with instructions about. Obsessively insistent rhythms reflect a for heavy pedaling that serve to create a cloud of Romantic angst that would have seemed alien to harmonic vagueness. The violin enters with a long- the Classical mentality. breathed and virtually independent melodic line, a trait characteristic of the entire piece. Strong The opening Allegro unveils an extended three- shared rhythmic impulses derived from Hungarian part theme that sets the stage for a dramatic and folk music unify the two parts. Subtle hints of other emotional journey of symphonic implications. influences can be heard throughout the movement, Though the moods vary, a dark undercurrent posits ranging from quasi-twelve-tone Schoenbergian mystery and unease against the bright energy of elements back to Debussyian Impressionism. the very opening bars. An Adagio follows, initiated by an extended Far sadder, a distinctly funereal mood permeates and forlorn violin theme eventually joined by the following Andante con moto in C minor that gently uttered chords from the piano, redolent recalls the “Funeral March” from Beethoven’s “Eroica” of Debussy (whose music had had a profound Symphony. Schubert’s friend Leopold Sonnleithner impact on Bartók’s early works). If rhythmic verve identified its spare and haunting melody as a catapulted the opening movement, here Bartók Swedish folk song, Se solen sjunker—”the sun is creates a spare landscape of haunting beauty down.” The movement’s rich, pregnant harmonies that corresponds to the often-noted “night music” look forward to both Schumann and Brahms. of his third string quartet and many later works. About half-way through the Adagio a series of An imaginatively canonic Scherzo marked Allegro repeated bass notes on the piano underscores moderato attempts to draw back the shroud of JANUARY 22, 2016 // PROGRAM NOTES darkness with an engaging and light-sounding theme, but the Trio reminds us of Schubert’s seriousness of purpose. A lilting opening tune seems to promise clear skies in the finale, which also carries the tempo marking Allegro moderato, but here, too, agitated cloudbursts intrude before the composer clears the air in a dazzling and triumphant finale. Program Notes by Steven Lowe WINTER FESTIVAL .