Sunday, February 17, 2019, 3pm Hertz Hall Danish Frederik Øland, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violin Asbjørn Nørgaard, Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin,

PROGRAM

Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732 –1809) String Quartet No. 25 in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2, (H.III:32) Moderato Capriccio Menuet: Allegretto Fuga Allegro

Anton WEBERN (1883 –1945) String Quartet (1905)

INTERMISSION

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN(1770 –1827) String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 Allegretto Vivace Lento assai e cantante tranquillo Grave ma non troppo tratto – Allegro

e Danish String Quartet currently records exclusively with ECM Records and has previously recorded for Dacapo Records and CAvi-Music/BR Klassik.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Kathleen G. Henschel and John W. Dewes. Major support provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation. Additional support provided by generous donors to the Matías Tarnopolsky Fund for Cal Performances. Cal Performances’ 2018 –19 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

 PROGRAM NOTES

Franz Joseph Haydn grave conversation that unfolds in an almost String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2 operatic scene. As relief, the first violin sings a (H.III:32) sweetly consoling song that fails to keep the Accustomed to the breadth and expressiveness music from finally disintegrating. of string quartets by those who followed Franz e third-movement minuet captures the Joseph Haydn, we may not recognize his own spirit of a country dance. Here the central quartets as groundbreaking. ey were. Haydn section, where we oen expect contrastingly defined what a quartet could be—giving com - lighter music, is made of sterner stuff. Nowhere posers new ways of thinking about the genre, is the new equality among the instrumental demonstrating strategies that enabled them to members more evident than in the concluding communicate. fugue. e chattering continues sotto voce until Haydn composed the six quartets of his the final outburst, each member proclaiming Opus 20 in 1772, while serving Prince Nikolaus proudly in his own voice—another display of Esterhazy as palace music director, a secure po - how much four string instruments can do. sition that allowed him the leisure and freedom to experiment. Around this time, the extrava - gant postures of the European Baroque gave String Quartet (1905) way to Sturm und Drang, a movement that Anton Webern, with and would morph into Romanticism, with its eleva - , is one of the composers identified tion of human feelings and instabilities, and as part of the —as a love of dark forests and craggy mountain compared to tonalists like Mozart, Beethoven, ranges. In two years, Goethe would publish e and Brahms, who presumably made up a first Sorrows of Young Werther, which in Western “school.” While Webern’s early works reveal a literary history ruptured past from future as Romantic sensibility, he admired his teacher surely as Haydn’s Opus 20 bade farewell to the Schoenberg and adopted that composer’s 12- style of earlier quartets. tone system of composition, going on to write Before Opus 20, string quartets had starred music you might imagine plotted on a spread - the . Here Haydn puts the players on sheet, dauntingly abstract and sometimes so equal footing. He starts with the cello, which brief that it spans seconds rather than minutes. outlines the elegant opening theme, accompa - “e impact of these works on the general pub - nied by second violin and viola. Only aer the lic and on the critics,” wrote Nicolas Slonimsky, cello finishes his statement does the first violin “was usually disconcerting.” enter to repeat it. roughout the exposition, Despite the hostility or indifference of audi - the four instruments intertwine. Haydn con - ences, Webern continued to write the music he trols the music’s flow through light and shade, believed in. Stravinsky, who knew how to please like a painter capturing the same scene at dawn listeners, offered a touching tribute to his older and noon and dusk. As the exposition ends, the colleague: “Doomed to total failure in a deaf dynamic level subsides and the mood dark - world of ignorance and indifference, he inex - ens—to be dispelled by the bright initial theme orably kept on cutting out his diamonds, his as the exposition repeat begins. e develop - dazzling diamonds, of whose mines he had a ment explores what has come before, but from perfect knowledge.” Ill fortune followed Webern. the point of view of the minor mode. Even in One September evening in 1945, unaware of the his recapitulation, Haydn continues to unearth curfew set by occupying troops, the composer new facets in his material. Finally the opening stepped outside his home near Salzburg. A US theme reappears, then the voices hush. Army MP shot and killed him. For a sense of the emotion Haydn could pack Webern’s String Quartet of 1905 reveals into a quartet, look no further than the oddly someone deeply interested in connecting with named Capriccio. It opens in declamatory ges - his audience, in communicating a sense of inner tures touched by a hint of lament, leading to a splendor. Discovered aer his death, it received

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES its first performance only in 1962. Sixty years be - section. Placid music occupies the second sec - fore that, Webern saw a triptych of Alpine land - tion. e touch of anxious agitation that opens scapes by the Italian painter Giovanni Segantini. the third section becomes a keening that re - Something in Webern responded to the moun - solves at last in serenity. tainous country the painter depicts, and the pastoral scenes influenced him as he wrote the quartet. To his diary Webern confided: “I long String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 for an artist in music such as Segantini was in Grandeur intimidates. Commentators have painting. His music would have to be a music cloaked the late string quartets of Ludwig van that a man writes in solitude, far away from all Beethoven in so much majesty that many lis - the turmoil of the world, in contemplation of the teners fear they will never grasp these works, so glaciers, of eternal ice and snow….” at rever - why bother trying. But of all Bee tho ven’s music, ent wonder is also reflected in lines with which the late quartets strike me as most comprehen - the composer prefaced his quartet, from the sible to a 21st-century sensibility. eir intro - 17th-century German philosopher and mystic spection, sometimes odd harmonies, aspiration, Jakob Böhme: and a humor that has more in common with I cannot describe the spiritual triumph I felt. barroom jokes than drawing room bon mots —all I can compare it to nothing other than life this gives them immediate presence. born in the midst of death. It is like the res - Even by Beethoven’s standards, Opus 135, urrection of the dead. from 1826—16th and last of his string quartets— In this light my spirit sees the essence of all is urgent and affirming music. e opening things and sees God in all creatures, even in movement at first hearing seems constructed weeds and grass—who he is and what he is with fragments of tunes, yet the leaping figure and what his will is. that launches the work is heard in variants and e quartet is inward and contemplative and different rhythmic guises throughout, and is filled with spiritual optimism. It derives much repeated literally at the end. is movement may of its power from the tonal ambiguity that per - feel improvisatory. It’s not. meates the work, evoking a sense of uncertainty, e Vivace , a rolling ball that darts from implying a kind of search—extra-musical qual - corner to corner and which you’ll never catch, ities suggested by Webern’s comments on Segan- illustrates what composer John Adams calls tini, and in the epigraph from Böhme. Webern Beethoven’s “ecstatic energy.” Adams assigns this delivers an emotional experience far out of pro - music a major role in Absolute Jest, his orchestral portion to the quartet’s 15-minute length, me - riff on Beethoven scherzos—those tours de force andering through thickets of indeterminate into which Beethoven poured, as Adams says, harmony, resolving with the clarity of conven - an “inspired sense of movement and happiness.” tional tonal music in a sudden peak of exalta - Now the forward thrust stops and aims in - tion, and again in a final reverie of deep calm. ward. Grave, searching, penetrating—we heard e work unfolds in three roughly differenti - such music in the Webern Quartet—the Lento ated parts, played with no break. Time stands explores stasis. A sense of timelessness, a mood still at the outset, but scarcely more than a voiced in the full-throated opening song, satu - minute passes before a twisting figure intrudes, rates this enveloping music. Even when it re - the first music that bears a melodic contour eas - cedes and we no longer hear the song, we sense ily negotiated by ears tuned to tonal music. is its presence and welcome it as it re-emerges, to is developed, grows impassioned, and crests tri - be completed, as the movement concludes. umphantly. A pause follows, then a passage slow Beethoven titles the finale “Der schwehr and subdued, its gossamer textures leading into gefasste Entschluss .” English offers no elegant the by-now-familiar twisting figure. Pensive at equivalent; “the difficult decision seized upon” its reappearance, the figure again rises to an ex - conveys the sense literally, but with a heavy ultant apex, ending the quartet’s first and longest German accent. At the head of the movement

 PROGRAM NOTES

Beethoven notates two figures, each made of e answer: “It must be.” “Beethoven was so three notes. Above the first, heard as viola and amused on hearing about this transaction,” cello voice the movement’s grave opening, he Keller writes, “that he wrote a little canon to me - writes three words, as though the music is a set - morialize the event.” He continues: “Beethoven ting for them: “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?) A was not one to undervalue his own jokes, and moment later, the violins state a figure made of apparently he couldn’t get this little jest out of his three equal stresses, then repeat it. Above this mind. So there it is again, as the theme of the figure Beethoven has written, “Es muss sein! Es canon that pops up to head the last movement of muss sein!” (It must be! It must be!) e word - his quartet.” Beethoven’s friend Anton Schindler play suggests the kind of cosmic riddle we might ascribes the question-and-answer to some ban - expect from this composer. But permeating the ter between the composer and his housekeeper. allegro is that second three-note figure—“Es Keller also provides a postscript. Beethoven told muss sein!” —heard now as a short unstressed his French publisher that he composed the last syllable plus two longer hard stresses, and re - movement only because he needed the money. peated as a taunt: “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” Necessity must have simplified the “difficult e mockery suggests something less exalted decision.” “You can see from the motto ‘Es muss than the existential question-and-answer with sein,’” Beethoven confessed, “that I wrote it with which Beethoven prefaces the movement. James reluctance.” M. Keller (in his : A Listener’s Beethoven was no solemn artist. We can Guide) offers an explanation. He refers to savor his grandeur, but I doubt he would Beethoven biographer Alexander Wheelock have wanted grandeur to stand between us and ayer’s story of a Viennese official, one Demb - his music. scher, who wanted to borrow the performance —Larry Rothe parts of Beethoven’s Opus 130 quartet. A friend, acting as go-between, assured Dembscher that Larry Rothe is author of Music for a City, Music the composer would supply the music—in re - for the World and co-author of For the Love of turn for a fee. “Must it be?” asked Dembscher. Music.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Among today’s many exceptional chamber Beethoven. e quartet’s musical interests also music groups, the Danish String Quartet con - encompass Nordic folk music, the focus of its tinuously asserts its preeminence. e group’s newest recording, Last Leaf , on the ECM label. playing reflects impeccable musicianship, so - e recipient of numerous awards and presti - phisticated artistry, exquisite clarity of ensem - gious appointments including the Borletti ble, and, above all, an expressivity inextricably Bui toni Trust, the Danish String Quartet was bound to the music, from Haydn to Shosta ko - named in 2013 as BBC Radio 3 New Genera - vich to contemporary scores. e quartet’s per - tion Artists and appointed to the Bowers Pro - formances display a rare musical spontaneity, gram of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln giving audiences the sense of hearing even treas - Center (formerly CMS Two). ured canon repertoire as if for the first time, and e Danish String Quartet began its current exuding a palpable joy in music-making that has season in Europe with appearances at the made the group enormously popular on concert Lammermuir Festival in Scotland, followed by stages around the world. Norway’s Trondheim Festival, where the artists Since its debut in 2002, the Danish String performed Mendelssohn’s Octet with the Max - Quartet has demonstrated a special affinity for well Quartet, and collaborated with pianist Scandinavian composers, from Nielsen to Hans Joseph Kalichstein in Brahms’ Piano Quintet. Abrahamsen, alongside music of Mozart and e season also includes a return to London’s

 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Wigmore Hall for a program of Beethoven and mandolin player Chris ile to appear at the Webern. e quartet tours North America, venerable Danish Radio Concert Hall. Concerts including performances in Toronto, Richmond, this season range from a chamber version of the Ann Arbor, and New York, and is presented by Fauré Requiem to a recital with violinist Augus - the 92nd Street Y, Washington Performing Arts, tin Hadelich, and the Scan di navian debut of the Houston Da Camera, Ensemble Music Society Vision String Quartet. in Indianapolis, and Rockport Music. Concert e Danish String Quartet has received nu - programs include works by Haydn, Beethoven, merous citations and prizes, including First Prize and Mendelssohn; the String Quartet No. 1, Ten in the Vagn Homboe String Quartet Com pe - Preludes, by the contemporary Danish com - tition and the Charles Hennen Interna tional poser Hans Abrahamsen; and Scandinavian Chamber Music Competition in the Nether - folk song arrangements. In Europe, the quartet lands, as well as the Audience Prize at the 2005 travels to Munich, Milan, Ant werp, Berlin, Trondheim International String Quartet Comp - Ham burg, and Madrid. e artists return to the etition. In 2009 the quartet won First Prize in United States for performances in La Jolla and the 11th London International String Quartet Santa Barbara, appear for the first time in Logan, Com petition, now known as the Wigmore Hall Provo, and Los Alamos, and return to the Van - International String Quartet Competition; the couver Recital Society and Laramie. artists return to the celebrated London concert e ensemble’s expansive 2017 –18 North hall frequently. In 2011 the group received the American season included more than 30 per - Carl Nielsen Prize, the highest cultural honor in formances across 17 states. e quartet made Denmark. numerous debuts, including summer festival Named Artist-in-Residence in 2006 by the appearances at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Danish Radio, the quartet was offered the op - Bravo! Vail, and Ravinia, as well as with the portunity to record the Nielsen string quartets Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Ensemble at the Danish Radio Concert Hall. e two CDs, Music Society of Indianapolis, Santa Fe Pro released in 2007 and 2008 on the Dacapo label, Musica, Oregon Bach Festival, and San Fran - garnered enthusiastic praise—“these Danish cisco Per formances. e musicians returned players have excelled in performances of works to the Mostly Mozart Festival, the UW World by Brahms, Mozart and Bartók in recent years. Series at Meany Hall in Seattle, and the cham - But they play Nielsen’s quartets as if they owned ber music societies of Lincoln Center, Philadel - them,” noted the New York Times . In 2012 phia, and Buffalo, and collaborated with Finnish the quartet released a recording of Haydn and pianist Juho Pohjonen in Ravinia and cellist Brahms quartets on the German Avi-music Jakob Koranyi as part of the Chamber Music label, for which they also received critical praise. Society of Lincoln Center residency at the Sara - Subsequently, they recorded works by Brahms toga Performing Arts Center. In Europe, they and Robert Fuchs with clarinetist Sebastian toured Denmark, Norway, Germany, Luxem - Manz, released by Avi-music in 2014; Wood bourg, and the Netherlands; additional tours in - Works , an album of traditional Scandinavian cluded Australia and Asia. folk music, released by Dacapo in 2017 and one e group takes an active role in reaching of the top classical albums of the year, including new audiences through special projects. In 2007 on Spotify; and music of omas Adès, Per they established the DSQ Festival, which takes Nørgård, and Abrahamsen, the quartet’s debut place in an intimate and informal setting in Co - album on ECM. pen hagen. In October, the quartet performed, over the course of six concerts, the complete Exclusive Representation Beethoven cycle of 16 string quartets. In 2016 Kirshbaum Associates, Inc. they inaugurated a new-music festival, Series of 711 West End Avenue, Suite 5KN Four, for which they both perform and invite New York, NY 10025 colleagues including the Ebène Quartet and www.kirshbaumassociates.com

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