11?)-c-, 003.1 BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Hon. Edward I. Koch, Hon. Howard Golden, Seth Faison, Paul Lepercq, Honorary Chairmen; Neil D. Chrisman, Chairman; Rita Hillman, 1. Stanley Kriegel, Ame Vennema, Franklin R. Weissberg, Vice Chairmen; Harvey Lichtenstein, President and Chief Executive Officer; Harry W Albright, Jr., Henry Bing, Jr., Warren B. Coburn, Charles M. Diker, Jeffrey K. Endervelt, Mallory Factor, Harold L. Fisher, Leonard Garment, Elisabeth Gotbaum, Judah Gribetz, Sidney Kantor, Eugene H. Luntey, Hamish Maxwell, Evelyn Ortner, John R. Price, Jr., Richard M. Rosan, Mrs. Marion Scotto, William Tobey, Curtis A. Wood, John E. Zuccotti; Hon. Henry Geldzahler, Member ex-officio.
OFFICERS Harvey Lichtenstein President and Chief Executive Officer Judith E. Daykin Executive Vice President and General Manager Richard Balzano Vice President and Treasurer Karen Brooks Hopkins Vice President for Planning and Development Micheal House Vice President for Marketing and Promotion ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE STAFF Ruth Goldblatt Assistant to President Sally Morgan Assistant to General Manager David Perry Mail Clerk FINANCE Perry Singer Accountant Jack C. Nulsen Business Manager Pearl Light Payroll Manager MARKETING AND PROMOTION BARI Marketing Nancy Rossell Assistant to Vice President Susan Levy Director of Audience Development Jerrilyn Brown Executive Assistant Jon Crow Graphics Margo Abbruscato Information Resource Coordinator Press Ellen Lampert General Press Representative Susan Hood Spier Associate Press Representative Diana Robinson Press Assistant PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Jacques Brunswick Director of Membership Denis Azaro Development Officer Philip Bither Development Officer Sharon Lea Lee Office Manager Aaron Frazier Administrative Assistant MANAGEMENT INFORMATION Jack L. Hickethier Director Lee Chizman Assistant to the Director COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Mikki Shepard Director Mahmoudah Ali Assistant to the Director Rudy Stevenson Music Consultant Jennie Gonzalez Secretary PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Leonard Natman Director Hessie McCollum Program Coordinator Sarah Walder Sales Coordinator PRODUCTION Malcolm J. Waters Production Manager William Mintzer Lighting Consultant to BAM Robert L. Foreman Assistant Production Manager Sarah Stuart Production Assistant Martin Green Crew Chief Robert Sniecinski Wardrobe Supervisor Naaman Griffin, Steve Greer, John Fuller, William Horton, James Kehoe, Howard Larson, Patrick McDonald, Bernard Gilmartin, Donald Riordan THEATRE MANAGER John J. Miller Theatre Manager Leonard Natman Associate Theatre Manager Ken Farris, Lauren 'Scott, Alan Tongret BUILDING MANAGEMENT Stan Mongin Building Manager Norman MacArthur Assistant Building Manager Lazarro Curato Parking Facilities Supervisor Frank Abbruscato, Leonard Abbruscato, Jahue Cooper, Nick Curato, Ray Dorso, Donald Farr, Angel Guadalupe, Steve Lanza, Bernard Lawrence, Michael Marayentano, Sheraf Moustafa, Nunzio Orlando, Joseph Patterson, Frank Percaccia, James Postell, Gloria Simon, Sadie Vinson James Victor, Angelos Voudouris, Robert Wells BROOKLYN BOX OFFICE Saheed Baksh Box Office Treasurer Michael Glassman, Joseph Nekola ACADEMY DIRECTORY Box Office: Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 600pm; Performance days till 9:00pm; OF MUSIC Saturday and Sunday, Performance times only. Lost and Found: Telephone 636-4150 Restroom: Opera House Women and Men: Mezzanine level and 5th floor; Handicapped: Orchestra level. Lepercq Space: Women and Men: Theatre level 5th floor. Public Telephones: Main lobby, Felix Street Entrance. For information about group rates on tickets call 636-4126. The taking of photography or the use of recording devices in this theatre is strictly forbidden. Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217. (212) 636-4100. The Brooklyn Academy of Music is a Charter Member of The League of Historic American Theatres. 1 Ole , 00 BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS PATRONS $1,00042,499 Ms. Joan Bieder & Mr. William Josephson 1982-83 Mary Griggs Burke Mary Griggs and The Brooklyn Livingstone BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC Academy of Music is Mary Griggs Burke Foundation owned by the City of New York and Richard W. Hulbert administered by the Brooklyn Acad- The Irvine Foundation BAM'S CHAMBER emy of Music, Inc. The Brooklyn I. Stanley Kriegel Academy of Music's operation is Phyllis Holbrook Lichtenstein supported in part with public funds Hamish Maxwell MUSIC SERIES The Netherlands America Community provided through the New York qqa Association, Inc. City Department of Cultural Affairs Frederick W Richmond Foundation SCOTT NICKRENZ, MUSIC DIRECTOR and with grants from the National Richard & Dorothy Rodgers Endowment for the Arts and the Foundation, Inc. Lepercq Space New York State Council on the Arts. The Starr Foundation In addition, the Board of Trustees William Tobey Saturday, October 16, 1982, 8:30 pm wishes to thank the following foun- Michael Tuch Foundation Sunday, October 17, 1982, 2:00.pm dations, corporations, and individ- John T. Underwood Foundation uals who, their leadership The Vinmont Foundation through Harold Weitz and support make these programs The Robert and Marillyn Wilson possible. Foundation EMERSON STRING QUARTET INDIVIDUALS AND PRODUCERS FOUNDATIONS $500-$999 Eugene Drucker Philip Setzer H. Robert Arnow violin ' violin Neil D. Chrisman Robert Davenport LEADERSHIP $25,000 and above Lawrence Dutton David Finckel Ms. Virginia Dwan Louis Calder Foundation The Henry Goldberg Foundation viola cello McConnell Foundation Edna Clark Mr. & Mrs. Philip S. Jessup Doll Lepercq International Dance Fund Mr. Jack Lawrence with Simarka Run Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Richard Menschel J.M. Kaplan Fund, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Martin Segal Scott Nickrenz Andrew W Mellon Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Norman Segal viola National Endowment for the Arts Mrs. Dan Seymour New York City Youth Board The Zeitz Foundation York The New Community Trust Mr. Sanford J. Zimmerman New York State Council for the Arts Ludwig van Beethoven Edward John Noble Foundation String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 Rockefeller Brothers Fund ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS Mr. & Mrs. Ame Vennema Allegro con brio $2504499 Adagio. Affetuoso ed appassionato Mr. & Mrs. M.R. Berman PACESETTERS Brooklyn College Institute for Scherzo. Allegro molto Retired Professionals & Executives $10,000-$24,999 Allegro Mr. & Mrs. Donald H. Elliott Charles Ulrick & Josephine Bay Mr. & Mrs. Paul Esserman Philip Setzer, first violin Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Al Kronick Henri & Eugenia Doll Foundation Christopher LiGreci & Alex Hillman Family Foundation Robert Ohlerking Alban Berg Henry & Lucy Moses Fund Dr. & Mrs. James McGroarty String Quartet, Op. 3 Norwegian Information Service Bernard M. Manuel Langsam Shubert Foundation Rev. Francis J. Mugavero Mr. & Mrs. Arthur J. Radin Massige viertel Mr. & Mrs. Rubin Raskin BENEFACTORS Stephen H. Scheuer Philip Setzer, first violin $2,500 -$9,999 Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Schneiderman Philippe Braunschweig Joanna & Norman Sher Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Harry Silverstein (intermission) Mallory Factor Mr. & Mrs. Robert K. Smith The Hochschild Fund, Inc. Johannes Brahms The Heckscher Foundation for Children SPONSORS Valerie Manuel rl String Quintet in G Major, Op. 111 The National Opera Institute $1004249 Allegro non troppo, ma con brio Mr. & Mrs. Everett Ortner Dr. Edward W. Altman Alice Holbrook Platt R. Steven & Jan C.K. Anderson Adagio Prospect Hill Foundation Mrs. Anne Barsky Un poco allegretto Martha Baird Fund for Music Rockefeller Mr. & Mrs. Werner Barusek Vivace, ma non troppo presto The Helena Rubinstein Foundation William & Julia Beadenkopf The Scherman Foundation John Beaton Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Mr. Walter E. Beer Eugene Drucker, first violin Foundation Mr. & Mrs. H. Gerald Bissinger, II fl with Scott Nickrenz, viola Swedish Council of America Dr. Robert D. Blank Uris Brothers Foundation Jean Marie & Neita Blondeau Dr. & Mrs. Martin Bodian William B. Bolton Mr. & Mrs. John Castaldi Mrs. John Chancellor Arthur W. Cohen Mr. & Mrs. Ira Cohen 1 This Program is supported by funding from the Edward John Noble Dr. & Mrs. A. Norman Cranin Foundation. The National Endowment for the Arts and The New York Judith Daykin State Council on the Arts. Broadcasts on WYNC-FM 94 and stations of Thomas A. Donnelly the American Public Radio Netwarks are Mr. & Mrs. Issac E. Druker sponsored by BANKERS Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Dubroff TRUST COMPANY. Lorin Duckman The members of the Emerson String Quartet, Artist-Members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appear through the courtesy (continued on inside back cover) of the Society. Baldwin is the official piano of the BAM Chamber Music Series. There will be a reception for the artists immediately following the Satur- day evening performance. 1
David Finckel has studied the cello with Elsa Hilger, Bernard Green- EMERSON STRING QUARTET 1-/ house and Mstislav Rostropovich. A prizewinner in the 1978 International Bach Competition and the 1979 Friday Morning Music Club International Competition, he has appeared as soloist with the he Emerson String Quartet was formed when its members were Philadelphia Orchestra and the Basel Symphony under the direction of students at The Juilliard School. The name of the quartet- chosen Rostropovich. Mr. Finckel has toured the United States with "Music in the bicentennial year-honors the 19th Century American philos- from Marlboro" and performs regularly as cellist of the Madison Trio. opher and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). The quartet was coached by Robert Mann, first violinist of the Juilliard Quartet and professor at the School. In 1978 it won the Naumberg Foundation Scott Nickrenz, violist, is Music Director for BAM's Chamber Music Award for Chamber Music. The award led to a New York debut, and Series. He divides his time between New York and Hartford, where since then they have become one of the world's most demanded he is chairman of the string department of the University of Hartford. quartets. Performing more than 100 concerts annually, they have been Together with his wife, flutist-Paula Robison, he directs chamber music widely acclaimed throughout the United States and have made their for the Spoleto Festivals, both in the United States and Italy. Long a European debut as the quartet in residence at the Spoleto festival in performer in his own right, Mr. Nickrenz attended the Curtis Institute Italy. For the past three seasons the Emerson has had its own sold-out and was a founding member of both the Lenox and Vermeer Quartets. series at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Right now While he was a member of the Claremont Quartet he formed the New several recording companies are negotiating for their contract. Their Chamber Quintet and later created the Quartet series at the University latest honor was to become the resident quartet of the Chamber Music of Chicago. He also began the Chamber Series at Northwestern Uni- Society of Lincoln Center. versity. Mr. Nickrenz has appeared extensively in concerts in the The members of the quartet-Eugene Drucker, violin; Philip United States and all over the world. He has played with the Music Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola; and David Finckel, cello-each from Marlboro tours, the Casals, Aldeburgh, and Spoleto Festivals. have active solo and ensemble careers which span from Speculum He has appeared frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lin- Musicae, a 20th century ensemble, to the Madison trio, which con- coln Center and performs and tours regularly with the Orpheus Trio. sists of Setzer, Finckel, and pianist Antonia Adezio. Trading off the first violin parts is standard practice in student quartets. This is fair and lets both violinists get needed experience. From the start of their association, Drucker and Setzer of the Emerson winners in the Brussels Queen Elizabeth Com- Quartet-both prize van Beethoven (1770-1827) shared the first violin chair equally. It's a practice Ludwig petition-have F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 unique among American quartets. Drucker and Setzer say that sharing String Quartet in Beethoven lived during a period in history when society was in the the first violinist's role gives the ensemble variety and allows each of of changing radically. The composer, far from being an aristo- them to get plenty of exposure, to the repertoire and public. This process crat, supported democracy. In an atmosphere of revolution Beethoven crucial part can be exhausting to play for an entire program. Drucker the hearts of the common people by composing music that was and Setzer successfully avoid this by alternating, each performing works gained not genteel entertainment. But because of his genius he was the idol of from all stylistic periods. and all. The Emerson String Quartet has received rave reviews for its the rich, rude music Even Beethoven's first String Quartets exhibited his tendency interpretation of both the Romantic and modern repertoire. toward a ruthless, fiery emotional content. Although it was published as No. 1, the F Major was the second in order of composition according to Beethoven's sketch books. The two sets of three in Op. 18 were dedicated to Prince von Lobkowitz, and were published in 1801. EMERSON STRING QUARTET The first movement's main theme, exhibited at the opening, winds through the movement in a delightful pattern of development. The development section cleverly opens with the coda of the exposi- ABOUT THE ARTISTS tion. Of the Adagio, Karl Amenda, a friend of the composer, sail that Beethoven had been thinking of the burial scene from Romeo and Eugene Drucker is a graduate of Columbia University and the Juil- Juliet. Even this affecting movement bites at its climax. The speeding, liard School, where he studied with Oscar Shumsky and was con- playful Scherzo is interrupted by a darkly contrasting trio in the domi- certmaster and soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra. A recipient of the nant, and the finale is a breathless rush of beauty. How many themes Jascha Heifetz Fellowship at Tanglewood and the Albert Spalding Prize does it have... three or four, maybe? One theme is close to a melody for the most promising instrumentalist at the Berkshire Music Center, from Beethoven's Prometheus Ballet, which came after the Quartet, Mr. Drucker has been a frequent participant in the Marlboro Music and a new tune pops up in the coda, of course. At the time of pub- Festival and has appeared on two "Music from Marlboro" tours. He was lication Beethoven wrote to Amenda, .. Be sure not to hand on to a prizewinner in both the International Violin Competition of Montreal anybody your quartet in which I have made some drastic alterations. in 1975 and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 1976. For only now have I learned to write quartets and this you will notice, I Formerly with Speculum Musicae and the Andreas Trio, Mr. Drucker is fancy, when you receive them ..." A rare moment of modesty for the currently a member of the New York Chamber Soloists. great composer!
Dhilip Setzer began violin studies with his parents, both members 1 of the Cleveland Orchestra. After further study with Joseph Gin- gold and Raphael Druian he entered the Juilliard School, where he Berg (1885-1935 ) earned both a Bachelor's and Master's degree as a pupil of Oscar Alban 11 String Quartet, Op. 3 Shumsky. In 1976 Mr. Setzer won a bronze medal in the Queen Elisa- Many of us who are thoroughly familiar with the "three B's" have beth Competition in Brussels. He has appeared as guest soloist with in" to 20th century works, unless of course we listen the Cleveland Orchestra and the National Symphony. He has been a difficulty "tuning music often. As this century has progressed the "art" music has participant in the Marlboro Music Festival and is a member of the to this harder and harder to recognize as having descended from our Madison Trio. become favorite Classical and Romantic works. Even scholars must study scores relentlessly and listen to works many times to acclimate themselves to Lawrence Dutton began violin and viola studies with Margaret Pardee the newest music. L and continued at the Eastman School with Francis Tursi. He sub- Of the three members of the "Second Viennese School" of com- sequently earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Juilliard position, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg, Berg's School as a student of Lillian Fuchs. While at the Juilliard School, Mr. music is thought to he the most related to its Romantic predecessors. Dutton was awarded the Walter W. Naumburg Scholarship for gradu- His String Quartet, Op. 3, was composed in 1910, the last work of his ate study, and performed as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra. Mr. six years of study with Schoenberg. The work's thematic substance is Dutton has appeared as a guest artist with the Juilliard String Quartet, based on a series of six tones. Schoenberg, the father of serial music, the New York Philomusica, and the New York Chamber Soloists. praised the piece. On the other hand, Berg already showed his tendency to compose works of greater complexity than was apropos to the modem style of his BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC fellow Viennese. Another of Berg's "old-fashioned" traits is seen in his choice of form. The string quartets of Schoenberg are all in one movement. The two movements of Berg's Op. 3 are complementary and relate to each other like an exposition to a development section in SPONSORS $100-$249, con't. THE CORPORATE Sonata form. A parallel may be found between this form and that of Mr. & Mrs. Albert H. Eaton FUND FOR BAM the first two movements of Mahler's fifth symphony. The overall form The Valhal Pub of Mahler's eighth symphony- two movements, thematically related Dr. Eugene Edelman -seems to have been Berg's inspiration in this aspect. So Berg did not Mr. Stephen D. Edelman LEADERSHIP $25,000 and above Mr. & Mrs. Robert Ehrenbard American Telephone and Telegraph break from the past to the extent of Schoenberg or Webem. Richard Engquist Bankers Trust Company From the opening of the work, one is assaulted by a downward Gail Erickson Consolidated Edison Company Sergio Escuadra crashing theme first stated by violin and then cello. With all the thick of New York Arthur T Farhood that follows, one becomes aware of musical Morgan Guaranty Trust Company counterpoint influences Mr. & Mrs. Frank Finnel Warner Communications, Inc. dating back to the Baroque and Renaissance. Richard B. Fisher to Alban Berg's String Quartet, Op. 3 Dr. & Mrs. Leonard I. Flug When listening one can PACESETTERS $10,000-824,999 enjoy the imitative qualities, the polyphony, the symphonic form, Mr. & Mrs. Darko V Frank the Derene Frazier Abraham & Straus scrupulous detail or even the fact that this standard of the 20th century Dr. & Mrs. Herbert Freedner Brooklyn Union Gas Company repertoire is an expressive work of art in its own right. Mr. & Mrs. John T. Gallagher Chase Manhattan Bank Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Geller Pfizer Foundation The Gilmour Foundation Philip Morris Incorporated Mr. Lawrence Goodstein Schlumberger-Horizons Mr. & Mrs. Sheldon S. Gordon Swiss Bank Corporation Mr. Ronald Greene Johannes Brahms ( 1833-189 7 ) Mr. Herman Greitzer 85,000-89,999 String Quartet in G Major, Op. 111 Kenneth Griffin American Express Foundation Johannes Brahms had intended his second string quintet to be the Rev. & Mrs. Howard G. Hageman CBS Inc. Scott M. Hand Chemical Bank last work of his active career until his friend Richard Muhlfeld, It a clar- Ms. Elizabeth Hanson Citibank, NA. inetist, convinced him to write some works for that instrument. Al- Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Hayes Ciba-Geigy though he had planned it as a farewell, the quintet contains no hint of Mr. & Mrs. J.K. Hendricks Freeport McMoRan, Inc. P Hodgkin finality or melancholy about it. In fact, the music here is joyful and John Hoffmann-La Roche Marvin Hoffman IBM demonstrates Brahms' endless creativity at the height of his powers. Mr. & Mrs. Alfred H. Horowitz International Paper Company The comments of his friends and contemporaries are so poignant Calvin House Foundation and touching, they give one a real feeling for the circumstances sur- John W James, Ill Manufacturers Hanover Trust rounding this work: Mr. William E Jankun Company Mr. Alex Jay Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. "His new quintet is exquisite?' -the diary of Clara Schumann Charles N. Johnson Mobil Foundation, Inc. "It is almost with consternation that one sees the sexagenarian Mary E. Jollon New York Times Company Foundation inventing more richly, more easily, naturally and captivatingly, Frank Kazeroid New York Telephone than he Mr. John Kindred, Ill Newsweek Inc. had ever done in his youth" -Richard Specht Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Klein Sandoz, Inc. "Of all the composer's works the second string quintet revels in Mr. & Mrs. James Konkel Time Inc. tonal effect, the most passionate, the freshest, the most deeply inspired Mr. & Mrs. Roland A. Labine Vereins-Und Westbank A.G. Bruce Lacher New York Office by nature:" -Walter Niemann Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Lainoff "The `old' quintet, the F Major, affected me so powerfully again Mr. & Mrs. Seymour Lampert $2,500-$4,999 Dr. Robert L. Leslie recently that the new one only found a footing with difficulty (old Exxon Corporation Steven H. Lipsitz Grace Foundation friends are the fondest!); but my heart soon surrendered to the new- Dr. Edmund Lipton Metropolitan Life Foundation comer, and is prepared to admit its possibly greater beauty and benign- Dr. Esther Lopato RCA Norman MacArthur & ity, its riper, sweeter vintage. Yet why compare them when they are so John Wiley & Sons, Inc. eminently worthy to stand side by side! Bill Novak ... Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Manheim $1,000-$2,499 "The very opening charmed me... How it meets one's compre- Tom Massotti hension half way by its exquisite proportions, its compactness! How Edward F McDougal Avon Products Foundation Bank of New York clear is the frame-work, thanks to the absence of everything superflu- Barbara Metzger Mr. & Mrs. John Mullins, III Cities Service Foundation ous, and how perfectly each part fulfills its allotted function! ... I could Dr. Tatsuji Namba Columbia Pictures Industries kiss the second subject (of the finale) and all the sweet tangle after it. Dick Netzer Conoco, Inc. It is so pretty the first time it comes, clever the second, Mr. Marvin Numeroff Dime Savings Bank of New York and irresistible International Telephone & Telegraph after the development (which one wishes Donald Owings had been longer) where it Samuel J. Paul, III Corporation comes twisting again upon D... The person who invented it all cannot Arthur Pinchuck Irving One Wall St. Foundation but have felt very light-hearted. One feels you must have been cele- Ms. Gertrude Reich Johnson & Higgins brating-say your thirtieth birthday!" Edward Reid Macy's New York Stephen M. Reid McGraw-Hill Foundation -Elizabet von Herzogenberg in a letter to Brahms James Q. Riordan Nordic American Banking Corp. "I often think sadly of the last pleasure it was in our power to give Dr. Robert & Margaret Wenig Penn Central Corporation him and to which Ruberstein Rabobank Nederland he responded with unusual gentleness. I have never Readers Digest Foundation heard him Mr. & Mrs. William Ruder express his gratitude so warmly as after listening to his G Redde H. Ryan Salomon Brothers Inc. Major Quintet; he seemed almost satisfied with his work." Henry Sabatell Western Electric Fund Joachim (shortly after Dr. & Mrs. Hershel Samuels -Joseph Brahms' death) $100-$999 The opening theme is sung by cello soaring up through a shimmer Mr. Paul E Sanders Mr, & Mrs. Henry A. Schaeffer Amax Foundation of violins and violas. This movement marches through a colorful Bach- Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Schlapik Amstar Corporation like progression. The Adagio, based on a single melody, is one of Brahms' Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Schniederman Anchor Savings Bank most beautiful slow movements. The third movement is an easy-going Mr. & Mrs. Sol Schreiber Barclays Bank International Ltd. pause for Mr. William E Seegraber Bowery Savings Bank breath after which Brahms crowns the quintet with an un- May Shandalow Capezio Foundation forgettable finale. A witty opening theme contrasts with a Hungarian Mr. & Mrs. John Sharnik Constitution Reinsurance Corporation gypsy melody as we are swept through a full spectrum of harmonies. Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Shen Cullen & Dykman Ms. Barbara Simmons East New York Savings Bank Marion Smith Eugene Doll 8i Novelty Company -Jerri Brown Roland Stebbins, Jr. LAT. S.E. Mr. & Mrs. Herb Steiner Independence Savings Bank Ms. Mary H. Swift Kings Highway Hospital Center Utopia Lodge-400 New Brooklyn Magazine Knight of Pythias J. Henry Schroder Bank and Trust Co. Mr. & Mrs. John S. Wadsworth, Jr. Seaman's Bank for Savings Drs. Stanley & Eleanor Wallace J.B. Slattery and Brothers, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Earl D. Weiner Stash Records, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Erwin Weisberg Stem Bros. Fuel Oil Co. The Esther & Morton Wohlgemuth William Morris Agency Foundation, Inc. Williamsburgh Savings Bank Peter J. Yanello 190F; Off 1 Mendelssohn wrote to his sister Rebecca that he was dog tired and in need of BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC physical rest. He had reorganized the cathedral choir and was embroiled in bitter controversy as a result. He was also in doubt about a pending appointment in Berlin and found it necessary to decline a highly flattering invitation to come to New York. Apart from the trio, the harvest anno 1845 consisted of a new volume SERIES of "Songs Without Words" (Op. 67, including the famous "Spinning Song"), the BAM'S CHAMBER MUSIC six Organ Sonatas and a chorus to Sophicles. Scott Nickrenz, Music Director The Allegro energico e fuoco first movement opens rather dramatically with the piano along stating the first subject. The second theme is more songful and thus the dramatic contrast is sharper than in the D minor Trio which is, for all its pas- sion, borne along "on wings of song" throughout. The second movement, An- LEPERCQ SPACE dante espressivo, is comparable to the slow section of the D major Cello Sonata in 1981, 8:30 pm that both are tinged with a mild strain of Victorian sentimentality, precisely the Friday, October 30, quality which endeared Mendelssohn to nineteenth-century England (and makes Saturday, October 31, 1981, 8:30 pm some of his music slightly irksome and passé to today's populace). This idyllic Sunday, November 1, 1981, 2:00 pm movement in swaying 9/8 metre is followed without pause by a lively scherzo, Molto Allegro quasi Presto, Except for an abbreviated recapitulation, its structure is without incident. The finale, Allego Appassionata is considered, by many, to be the most interesting movement of all. Mendelssohn, lest we forget, revered Bach OSCAR SHUMSKY and did much to restore that master's music to living performance. It is not sur- violin prising, then, that some analysts have drawn an analogy between the leap of a ninth in the opening theme of this movement and the Gigue of Bach's English COLIN CARR Suite in G Minor. A kinship with the scherzo of Brahms' early Piano Sonata, Op. cello 5 (which came into the world several years after the Mendelssohn trio) has also been cited. In this summing up, Mendelssohn at one point uses a slightly LEE LUVISI modified version of the chorale "Vor diem Tron". piano -Harris Goldsmith
Wolfang Amadeus Mozart Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, in E Major, K. 542 Allegro - Andante grazioso - Allegro Oscar Shumsky, violin; Colin Carr, cello and Lee Luvisi, piano Richard Strauss Sonata in E Flat Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 18 Allegro ma non troppo - Improvisation: Andante cantabile Finale: Andante-Allegro Oscar Shumsky, violin and Lee Luvisi, piano
(Intermission)
Felix Mendelssohn Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, No. 2, in C Minor, Op. 66 Allegro energico e fuoco - Andante espressivo Scherzo: Molto allegro quasi presto Finale: Allegro appassionata Oscar Shumsky, violin, Colin Carr, cello, and Lee Livisi, piano
This program is supported by funding from the Edward John Noble Founda- tion, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Baldwin is the official piano of the BAM Chamber Music Series. WHO'S WHO E for Violin and Piano, Op. 18 OSCAR SHUMSKY - As a soloist, Oscar Shumsky has concertized with most of Sonata in flat the major orchestras of the United States, Canada, and abroad. While serving as RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) artist-in-residence at the Canadian Stratford Festival in 1959, he made his con- 1. Allegro ma non troppo 2. Improvisation: Andante ducting debut, and since that time has appeared as conductor with orchestras cantabile 3. Finale: Andante-Allego throughout North America. He was subsequently appointed Music Director of the Stratford Festival, a post which he held unil 1967. A frequent guest artist at studies at the age of four. many of the leading festivals in the U.S., and as far afield as Japan, he performed Richard Strauss began his musical life with piano his horn for all that was good soloist and conductor at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival in the His father, the wise and kindly Franz, blew as violin the lad's musical educa- and has been a frequent guest artist in the concerts of the (i.e. establishment) in music and saw to it that summer of 1978, with a judicious Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a recitalist, Mr. Shumsky has often tion consisted of nothing harder to digest than Mendelssohn, Chamber little Richard ran away in the same program on both violin and viola and has been praised for selection of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. Inevitably, performed with some "bab" company most his virtuosity on both instruments. Last spring (1980), he was featured guest from his moralistic background and fell in - Ritter (his friends call him "lampwick"!)- soloist in the Ernest Block Centennial Concert at Alice Tully Hall with the Jupiter specifically a violinist named Von Wagner and the other demoralizing influences his Symphony at Lincoln Center. The Jupiter Symphony held a special event at Lin- who filled the boy's head with from. coln Center in February 1981 entitled "An Evening with Oscar Shumsky," which father had shielded him Strauss composition known to me is his Piano Sonata in B minor, drew a capacity audience and critical praise. The earliest Op. 5. This circa 1882 effort could really baffle your musical friends. Its first his and Brahms (the former's COLIN CARR - Twenty-one-year-old English cellist Colin Carr performed in movement sounds like a cross between Mendelssohn New York recital debut on January 16, 1979, as winner of the 1978 Young Con- gentility and the latter's chordal, solid textures) while the Adagio's cantabile number in cert Artists International Auditions last spring. As an artist-member of the roster bears an uncanny resemblance to, of all things, the Fairy Queen's big the of Young Concert Artists, Mr. Carr will have an opportunity to establish his solo the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Iolanthe (which came into being at just about career in the United States. same time as this juvenile opus). Another early work, the Stimmingsbilder of three Colin Carr has already performed widely in his native England and throughout years later, on the other hand, shows a real advancement. Whereas the sonata Europe. He made his acclaimed London recital debut in the Purcell Room in was innocuous and rather academic, these short piano pieces have lilt, grace and In 1975, where he reappeared in 1977, and performed solo recitals in London's touches of harmonic ingenuity. One hears more than a trace of the later lieder. Wigmore Hall in 1966 and 1978. Mr. Carr's radio recitals include performances other words, Strauss had formidible talent - genius, even - and gifts of that on the BBC in England; for Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin Radio in Germany; magnitude would inevitably show up despite imposed parental blinders. and, on all the Dutch Radio Network stations. Strauss' Violin/Piano Sonata, on today's program, dates from the composer's twenty-fourth year. It is an impassioned, large scale work. . .a sort of Don Juan LEE LUVISI is today one of the most highly respected artists on the American before puberty (just as the slightly earlier, but just as characteristically Straussian musical scene. Born in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky, Luvisi was a student of cello/piano sonata, more perky and less sensual, represents Till Eulenspiegel's of Rudolf Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute schoolboy pranks). In both of these scores - the Violin Sonata, in particular - Music. Upon his graduation there he became the youngest faculty member in the the nestling has shed his pinfeathers and is patently ready for the "big time"; his history of that institution. greatest orchestral compositions Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Tod and of - Lee Luvisi's solo activities through the years have included a formidable list Verklaerung et al. were just around the corner (and with them, the prosperity major recital and orchestral engagements across the United States, Canada, Mex- that would ultimately tarnish Strauss the human being). with ico, and Europe. As a chamber pianist Mr. Luvisi collaborates regularly Op. 18 is a "big" work in all three of its copiously filled movements. The first, many of the world's foremost musicians and ensembles. Among these have been Allegro ma non troppo is an expansive sonata-allegro structure. The violin part and the Juilliard, Guarneri and Cleveland Quartets, violinists Itzhak Perlman notably spans a range of over two octaves, and the piano writing is no less Pinchas Zukerman. demanding in terms of breadth and sustained energy. There are at least three clearly defined themes plus many more of a subordinate nature. For all that, the structural dimensions are strongly defined, never rambling. The movement comes to an impressive culmination with a final reprise of the audacious opening theme. The central movement, Improvisation-Andante cantabile, is more tenderly introspective. Here Strauss' eroticism is as clearly suggested as in the central THE PROGRAM episode - for oboe and harp - in Don Juan. But it is another well known work that flickers about this movement. At least one musician -a pianist, naturally - has noted a phantom similarity between the principal theme of this Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, in E Major, K. 542 slow movement and the Adagio from Beethoven's "Pathetique" Sonata, Op. 13. AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) In the finale, one theme alludes to - if you can believe - "Happy Birthday" WOLFGANG F major Cello 1. Allegro 2. Andante grazioso 3. Allegro (that tune similarly figures in the opening movment of Brahms' Sonata!!). Strauss begins this third movement with a foreboding interlude for piano alone in which the principal idea is stated in embryonic form. Once the ne big difference between Mozart and Haydn is that the latter composer movement gets underway, one notes the utterly orchestral quality of the writing: reasons was far more adventurous is his use of tonality. For whatever both instruments roam about the musical staff with splediforous aplomb. Even (probably psychological ones), Mozart seldom ventured into keys bear- sonata doesn't boast more thrillng use of tumbling arpeggios or in Cesar Franck's 0ing more than three sharps or flats. There are, to be sure, a few vocal arias (e.g. soaring arabesques. But for all the abandon summoned from both protagonists, pieces (the cen- Die Zauberflote) set in E major and sundry episodes within large there are no inherent balance problems the fiddle's soaring line is always fully example) - tral, F minor trio section in the Andante of the K. 330 Piano Sonata, for audible over the untrammeled keyboard part (no mean feat when one thinks E major but it almost unheard of for Mozart to use as the main tonality a key like about the respective decibel potentials of the two instruments). in June of that as he does here. I suppose that by 1788 (K. 542 was composed By any reckoning, Strauss' only violin/piano sonata is a masterpiece. year), Mozart was in his fullest maturity and slightly more willing to venture afield. Those of you familiar with Michel listings will deduce that the E major Trio is a product of the same spurt that brought the miraculous three final sym- phonies, K. 543, 550 and 551. There are, as a matter of fact, certain parallelisms Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, No. 2, between this work and the E flat Symphony, K. 543. For one thing, both first in C Minor, Op. 66 movements are in triple time, lilting in character, and using themes that are triad, yet with FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) rather similar in intervallic construction (built around a rising e 2. Andante espressivo some descending chromaticism). Then, too, both Trio and Symphony follow an 1. Allegro energico fuoco identical tonal relationship - tonic to subdominant - between first and second 3. Scherzo: Molto Allegro quasi Presto The movements (E major to A major in the trio; E flat to A flat in the symphony). 4. Finale: Allegro appassionata Trio's Allegro begins quietly with the aforementioned first subject stated rather When the restatement comes, twelve measures hence, the casually by the piano. grew up in a musical enviroment. Young Felix was a a of drama by way of brilliant upward scales (a The Mendelssohns piano's left hand introduces touch at it, was also something of a , pianist and, though he didn't work lost on the Beethoven who composed his piano sonata, Op. 14, No. 1 in brilliant point not violinist. Sister Fanny's keyboard ability almost equaled her brother's, same key of E major; Indeed, there are many other points of similarlity the very was a singer, and brother Paul played the cello. Small these two masterpieces some of them even more striking than those another sister, Rebecca, between - wonder, then, that the prodigious young composer discovered chamber music at cited above in the two Mozart pieces). The second subject is first introduced by a age. Indeed, when the publisher Nageli requested that the seventeen- violin, then taken over by the piano and finally heard in imitation. The An- tender the year-old burgeoning master send him some solo piano pieces, the modest youth grazioso is a bit sprightly even jaunty - in its crisp 2/4 duple metre. Its dante - actually already amassed a considerable stockpile of skillful though theme reminds me of the central movement of the "Coronation" Concerto, (who had - main highly derivative works in that category) replied that he had nothing to offer K. 537. The form here is a compact A-B-A prime construction. The Allegro (Alla - since "sonatas with violin or tenor, quartets, etc. have always had more attrac- is a clear cut Rondo. As is so common with Mozart's solo and chamber breve) tion for me." music, there is something very concertante about the way he manipulates his discussion, like its more famous predecessor, Trio No. 1 in D Take, for instance, the principal idea which is always first stated quietly The work under material. Minor, Op. 49, is not one of the many brilliant efforts composed by Mendelssohn as a "solo" and then immediately thereafter, in a quasi-tutti manner (the strings the Boy Genius: rather it is a thoroughly reasoned and seasoned essay by a thirty- suggesting the imaginary orchestra). Another facet worth noting in this move- five-year-old master at the zenith of his powers. Like its sibling of five years ment is its essentially monothematic character. The "B" section is mostly the C minor Trio is dedicated to the violinist/composer Ludwig Spohr. The a true melody of its own, providing contrast merely by key and reliance prior, without work's gestation period was not the most pleasant time in the composer's life. on brilliant runs.