ARTIST PROFILE
The Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music in Cooperation with Pacific’s Conservatory of Music presents world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imagin- ative view of chamber music in today's world. Now in its second decade as a quartet, YING QUARTET the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical AYANO NINOMIYA, violin qualifications in its tours across the United JANET YING, violin States and abroad. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world's PHILIP YING, viola most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera AVID ING cello D Y , House. 2 : 3 0 PM , Sunday, April 6, 2014 At the same time, the Quartet's belief that Faye Spanos Concert Hall concert music can also be a meaningful University of the Pacific part of everyday life has also drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House. In fact, the Ying SERGEI PROKOFIEV QUARTET NO.2 IN F MAJOR, OP. 92 (1941) Quartet's constant quest to explore the (18911953) Allegro sostenuto creative possibilities of the string quartet Adagio has led it to an unusually diverse array of Allegro musical projects and interests. In addition to appearing in conventional HOWARD HANSON STRING QUARTET IN ONE MOVEMENT, OP. 23 (1923) concert situations, the Ying Quartet is also (18961981) known for its diverse and unusual performance projects. For several years the Quartet presented a series called "No RANDALL THOMPSON ALLELUIA (1940) Boundaries" at Symphony Space in New (18991984) (Arr. A. Ninomiya, D. Ying, J. Ying and P. Ying) York City that sought to re-imagine the concert experience. Collaborations with INTERMISSION actors, dancers, electronics, a host of non-classical musicians, a magician, and even a Chinese noodle chef gave new ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK QUARTET NO. 10 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 51 (1878-9) and thoughtful context to a wide variety of (1841 1904) Allegro ma non troppo both traditional and contemporary string Dumka: Andante con moto—Vivace quartet music. Romanze: Andante con moto As quartet-in-residence at the Eastman Finale: Allegro assai School of Music, the Ying Quartet maintains full time faculty positions in the The YING QUARTET is represented by Melvin Kaplan, Inc. String and Chamber Music Departments. 115 College Street Burlington, VT 05401 Phone: (802)-658-2592 Fax: (802) 658-6089 One cornerstone of chamber music Email: [email protected] Web: www.melkap.com activity at Eastman is the noted Music for Recordings: Quartz, Telarc, Elektra, EMI, Sono Luminus All programs, in which all students have www.Ying4.com the opportunity to perform in community settings beyond the concert hall. From Season Sponsors 2001-2008, the Ying Quartet has also C. A. Webster Foundation & John & Gayle Perl been the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University. Prokofiev: Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 severe, almost grotesque, and full of rough the most prestigious music schools in Prokofiev’s music can be divided into and dissonant sounds. America. three periods which basically coincide with The Adagio is based on a Kabardian love The quartet in one movement is a his places of residence. Until age 27, his song, first stated by the cello in its upper dramatic work with a scope that home was Czarist Russia. During these register against a susurrated, Eastern-style encompasses dreamy phrasing and seminal, student years, he produced some backdrop. The middle section is a dance, the rhythmic life. You will hear uneven but of his most popular works. The second, most Islamei, which imitates the sound of a folk robust meters that are not typical of his searching period of Prokofiev’s creative life instrument, the kemange, a three-string later work. Standout features include an was spent away from his native land in the fiddle that is held vertically on the knees of almost orchestral approach to textural USA and France. From 1918-1922, he the player and bowed. It still appears in feel, use of tremolo, and dramatic embarked on many concert tours throughout various forms throughout the Middle East. melodies. Listen as the piece grows from the USA. During this time, he wrote his A brief return to the opening theme ends the a simple, pianissimo beginning that rises opera The Love of Three Oranges and the movement. and falls, first in the viola, and then Third Piano Concerto. In Paris from 1922- The viola and the cello start the final develops in contrapuntal rearrangements 1936, Prokofiev experimented, restlessly Allegro with an agitated passage based on a to evoke emotion and drama. searching for new musical expressions. fiery mountain dance. Listen for this theme Howard Hanson was part of a set of Prokofiev finally returned to his native to soon accompany an impatient but lyrical American composers born in the last 1 Russia in 1936, which had become the melody in the violin. A cadenza for the cello decade of the nineteenth century who USSR by that time. Happy at first, he found begins the development, and in the embodied the rise of American classical that the war years and the vilest period of recapitulation the themes appear in reverse music as a cultural force to be taken Stalinist terror made life very demanding. In order. Prokofiev’s individual merger of seriously. He was the leading practitioner spite of the difficulties, Prokofiev was very contemporary, dissonant harmony and of American musical Romanticism and creative during these years, composing his fetching folk tunes is one of this quartet’s dedicated his professional life to the greatest piano sonatas (nos. 6, 7 and 8), the most distinguishing virtues. encouragement, creation and preserva- opera War and Peace, Cinderella, his best tion of beauty in music. His only string Hanson: String Quartet, Op. 23 symphony (no. 5), the Fifth Piano Concerto, quartet, written during the sponsored Howard Hanson was born in Wahoo, and many other notable works. fellowship that followed his winning the Nebraska, to Swedish immigrant parents. In The second string quartet was composed Prix de Rome (the first American to do so his youth he studied music with his mother in the little town of Nalchik, in the foothills of 13 years before Barber) underscores this and by age 7 showed musical talent as the northern Caucasus Mountains. Prokofiev dedication. pianist, cellist and composer. He later and other artistic notables were transported studied at Luther College in Wahoo, Thompson: Alleluia there by the Soviet authorities to escape the receiving a diploma in 1911. Then in 1914 New England-born composer Randall Nazi blitzkrieg, which overran much of he attended the Institute of Musical Art, the Thompson studied at Harvard University western Russia in 1942. While in Nalchik, forerunner of the Juilliard School. Hanson before taking private lessons with Ernst Prokofiev was motivated by the rich folk earned his BA degree in music from Bloch in New York City. Following a grant music traditions of the region and incorpor- Northwestern in 1916. Following graduation, in residence in Rome, he returned to the ated some these melodies and dances into Hanson was hired for his first full-time United States in 1925. His first true his quartet. The work was well received by position as a music theory and composition triumph as a composer came in 1932 the majority of official critics, even though teacher at the College of the Pacific then when Howard Hanson led the premiere some of the plodding officials criticized his located in San Jose. He must have of Thompson’s Symphony No. 2 in use of “barbaric and strident harmonies.” impressed for only three years later, he was Rochester, N.Y. Essentially all of his The main theme of the Allegro sostenuto appointed Dean of the Conservatory of Fine music expresses a consistent lyrical is a Kabardian folk song with a menacing, Arts. In 1924, George Eastman, inventor of impulse and is augmented by distinct and forceful, and assertive nature. The second Kodak film and founder of the Eastman crisp harmony with a juicy dose of spicy theme is a folk dance with the three lower Kodak Company in Rochester, personally but still easily digested dissonance. voices repeating a two-note alternating chose Hanson to be director of the Eastman figure over which the violin introduces the School of Music. Hanson held that position 1 dance tune. A third, concluding theme is Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, Randall for 40 years, during which he created one of Thompson, Roy Harris, Virgil Thompson and more cheerfully lyrical. The development is Aaron Copland In 1940, Serge Koussevitzky, music interpretation of his country’s music. As a rest of the quartet. Also, the reprise director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra consequence, we get to experience a highly begins with the secondary material so and well-known for his influential promotion personal take on traditional dance and song that the beautiful first invention can of music by living composers, united with the structured around a Classical methodology return, as in Schubert’s unfinished E ensemble’s board of trustees to commission of composition. minor quartet, to close the movement. Thomson to provide a choral work for the The E-flat quartet dates from a particularly In the second movement, Dvořák opening of the Berkshire Music Center at fertile and gainful period for Dvořák. Before delves even deeper into nationalistic Tanglewood. Alleluia was the result. that time, though, he had been through a territory with music in G minor and major Despite long-standing connotations of difficult personal and professional period. that he titles Dumka and that contains a “alleluia” with celebratory and/or victorious Dvořák was frustrated that his music was not lively 3/8 dance as well as a Slavonic events, the worsening condition of life in known outside of Bohemia and had been lament. The word "Dumka" literally Europe (the Nazis had just overrun France) published with difficulty. Far worse than means "thought" and was originally a determined the emotional state of the new those concerns were the family tragedies diminutive form of the Ukrainian work. The anthem’s tempo, lento, was that afflicted the Dvořáks. Their first term duma, a Ukrainian epic ballad intentionally chosen by the composer, who daughter had died at birth two years earlier. generally thoughtful or melancholic in stated, “The music in my particular Alleluia In 1877, their second daughter, not quite a character. It came to mean a type of cannot be made to sound joyous… here it is year old, drank phosphorus, a poison used instrumental music involving sudden comparable to the Book of Job, where it is for making matches, and died in August, just variation between melancholy and written, ‘The Lord gave, the Lord has taken weeks before the couple’s three-year-old exuberance.2 Listen for the strummed away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’” son succumbed to smallpox—on the cello sounding harp-like over which the The Ying Quartet was moved to make composer’s thirty-sixth birthday. In some violin sings the sad lament. There follows their own arrangement of the piece by its way, the now childless Dvořák was able to a cheeky Furiant section that is a rapid exceptional musical and vocal clarity. You continue with his work, returning to his and fiery dance with frequently shifting may hear similarities to Barber’s Adagio in unfinished Stabat Mater, a work certainly accents transformed by Dvořák from the that both employ an overall dramatic arc expressing sorrow for his losses. slow Dumka melody. The movement where a quiet opening passage builds Thankfully at the end of 1877, Dvořák’s life ends after a reprise of the opening steadily to an expressive culmination and took a sudden change for the better. In mid- section and a coda based on the cheeky then ebbs to conclude in quietude. December, he was informed that he had Furiant. Nevertheless, Alleluia is infused with an received an award from the Ministry of This is an astonishingly novel understated, internal radiant serenity. Education, carrying with it a cash prize. This substitute for the usual scherzo and Sustained by a harmoniously sounding was a significant event for Dvořák because mirrors and complements, rather than diatonic harmony, the piece is a natural Brahms had served on the prize committee. contrasts with, the andante Romanze in comfort to the soul. Also, a glowing review in an influential Berlin B-flat that follows. This brief and informal paper predicted worldwide success for Romanze is the least patriotic of the Dvořák: Quartet No. 10, Op. 51 Dvořák, and performances of his works in movements and stems from a solitary Of his fourteen string quartets, Dvořák’s Germany, France, England, and the U.S. idea that Dvořák alters, decorates and Op. 51 is among his best work in that form. soon followed. Better than this longed-for varies with prodigious creativity. He melds the admired propensities of his acknowledgment was that the Dvořáks now The finale is again folk-inspired, being Slavonic Dances, penned just a year before, had another daughter, born in June of 1878. in the rhythm of a Czech skočná or with his confident use of pace, texture, and His tenth string quartet followed this leaping dance. Dvořák safeguards, tone. Opus 51 was written for the Quartetto emotional turnabout. however that his peasant vigor, in Fiorentino, a German-Italian ensemble In the first movement, which begins with keeping with Haydn’s revered example, active between 1865 and 1880. This group superlatively lovely E-flat music in the purest is entirely attuned with rondo form. had requested a work of Slavonic feeling, quartet style and reflecting the happiness and so the quartet in E-flat is more infused and tranquility that Dvořák must have been —notes © Dr. Michael Spencer with nationalist manifestations than his experiencing, there is a G major polka 2 earlier compositions, but serves as a Recall the Peabody Trio’s performance earlier in episode that blends perfectly, in terms both our current season of Dvořák's last and best-known grander outlet for the composer’s of harmony and of folk character, with the piano trio, Op. 90, which has six movements, each of which is a Dumka. TH Board of Directors 2013-14 Contributors 59 SEASON Officers Sustainer $3,000+ Supporter $50-99 2014-2015 Dwane Milnes President C A Webster Foundation Conni & Jim Bock Carole Gilbertson, Vice John & Gayle Perl Ann M Chargin Presented in Cooperation with President Estate of Kathe Underwood Wolfgang & Rosie Fetsch Sara Milnes, Treasurer Bonnie Geib University of the Pacific Conservatory Benefactor $1,000-2,999 of Music; Giulio Ongaro, Dean Peter Meyer, Secretary Eric & Patricia Hammer Phil & Carole Gilbertson Kathleen Hart Members Dwane & Sara Milnes Alexander String Quartet Peter & Jane Vial Jaffe Janet Bonner Mary Jensen 2:30 PM Sunday, September 21, 2014 Marilyn Draheim Patron $500-999 Olivia J Beck Jim & Diane Morgali Faye Spanos Concert Hall Jane Kenworthy Ben & Janie Reddish RECEPTION FOLLOWS Hugh Lilly Patricia Cox Dr. Anthony & Catherine Guidon Larry Ruhstaller Marie Medford Linda Wheeler Trio Settecento Giulio Ongaro Les & Marie Medford Irva Rageth M Lincoln Yamaguchi 2:30 PM Sunday, October 26, 2014 Glenn Pillsbury Jerold & Judith Yecies Faye Spanos Concert Hall Steve Schermerhorn Michael & Helen Spencer Dr. Henry & Carol Zeiter RECEPTION FOLLOWS Michael Spencer Friend $10-49 Sponsor $250-499 Noble & Dorothy DaShiell Horzowski Piano Trio Conservatory Intern Nancy Dorgan Cecilia Salinas Robert Calcagno 2:30 PM Sunday, November 16, 2014 Marilyn E Draheim Shirley Dozier Faye Spanos Concert Hall Artist Selection Tom & Kathleen Keeling Zulka Dozier Paul J Hauben RECEPTION FOLLOWS Ira Lehn, Chairman Guilio & Cheryl Ongaro Carole Gilbertson Glenn & Rhonelle Pillsbury Eleanor & Bob Lawrence Pacifica String Quartet Glenn Pillsbury Peter Meyer & Cynthia Rence Lawrence & Patricia Meredith 2:30 PM Sunday, February 8, 2015 Patricia Shands Steve & Mary Ann Schermerhorn Marie & Rick Mielbrecht Faye Spanos Concert Hall Michael Spencer Hilary Silver Todd & Jeanne Primack Warren van Bronkhorst Jerry & Claudia Schwartz RECEPTION FOLLOWS Donor $100-249 Sherman & June Spencer New York Wind Quintet+Piano Past Presidents Dick Archbold & Joyce Burris Carole Gilbertson Norris & Elizabeth Bean In Memory of 2:30 PM Sunday, April 12, 2015 Michael Spencer, PharmD Christine Beckstrom Vince Perrin Faye Spanos Concert Hall Janet Bonner Ron & Dea Berberian Phil & Carole Gilbertson RECEPTION FOLLOWS Kathe Underwood Dr. David & Anna Bernard Madeleine Lynch Martha Tipton Janet Bonner Dwane & Sara Milnes TO OUR AUDIENCE Frank Dick Fred Busher In Kind Mary Jensen Marcia Davidson Glenn Pillsbury . 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