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Home , Bruce Adolphe, Duo Concertant, Ragtime (II), Samuel Dushkin, Scherzo (Stravinsky), Tango (Balanchine)

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Saturday, April 18, 2015 8 p.m. 7:15 p.m. – Pre-performance discussion Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts

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COPLAND...... Two Pieces for and Piano (1926) K. LEE, MCDERMOTT

ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT, piano STRAVINSKY...... Concertino for String Quartet (1920) , clarinet AMPHION STRING QUARTET, HYUN, KRISTIN LEE, violin SOUTHORN, LIN, MARICA AMPHION STRING QUARTET KATIE HYUN, violin DAVID SOUTHORN, violin COPLAND...... Sextet for Clarinet, Two , WEI-YANG ANDY LIN, viola Viola, , and Piano (1937) MIHAI MARICA, cello Allegro vivace Lento Finale STRAVINSKY...... Suite italienne for Cello and Piano SHIFRIN, HYUN, SOUTHORN, Introduzione: Allegro moderato LIN, MARICA, MCDERMOTT Serenata: Larghetto Aria: Allegro alla breve : Vivace Please turn off cell phones, beepers, and other electronic devices. Menuetto e Finale Photographing, sound recording, or videotaping this performance is prohibited. MARICA, MCDERMOTT

COPLAND...... Two Pieces for String Quartet (1923-28) AMPHION STRING QUARTET, HYUN, SOUTHORN, LIN, MARICA

STRAVINSKY ...... Suite from Histoire du soldat for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano (1918-19) The Soldier’s March Music to Scene I Music to Scene II Tonight’s performance is sponsored, in part, by: The Royal March The Little Concert Three Dances: –Waltz– The Devil’s Dance Great Choral Triumphal March of the Devil K. LEE, SHIFRIN, MCDERMOTT

Notes on the Program by DR. RICHARD E. RODDA Two Pieces for String Quartet Aaron Copland Suite italienne for Cello and Piano Born November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York. Died December 2, 1990 in North Tarrytown, New York. Born June 17, 1882 in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg. Composed in 1923 and 1928. Died April 6, 1971 in . Duration: 9 minutes Composed in 1932. “In my catalogue under ‘Chamber Music,’” wrote Copland in the first Duration: 19 minutes volume of his autobiography (Copland: 1900 through 1942, with Vivian Perlis) So successful was the premiere of the Violin Concerto in D that Igor “can be found Two Pieces—Lento Molto and Rondino for String Quartet. The Stravinsky wrote for violinist Samuel Dushkin, on October 23, 1931 in Rondino was written in the spring of 1923 in Paris as an ‘Hommage à Fauré.’ Berlin, that and violinist received invitations to present the piece (Gabriel Fauré was Boulanger’s favorite composer, and I soon shared her all over Europe, from Florence to London to Madrid. The resulting series of admiration for him.) It was based on the letters of Fauré’s name. [The Rondino concerts made Stravinsky realize, however, that a good performance of the opens with the notes G–A–B-flat, but the derivation of thematic material from concerto demanded both a first-rate orchestra and an adequate number of the French composer’s name is difficult to follow thereafter.] Mixed with his rehearsals, circumstances that could not be taken for granted in all cities, so influence can be heard a hint of American jazz and a bit of mild polytonality.” for a subsequent tour with Dushkin he devised several recital pieces for violin For a concert in New York on May 6, 1928, Copland prefaced the Rondino with and piano that would enable them to play almost anywhere without difficulty. an original piece titled Lento Molto, which, though very different in style and The centerpiece of the tour program was the of 1931-32, but to effect, was paired with the Rondino as the Two Pieces for String Quartet. While round out the concert together they arranged excerpts from some of his , the Rondino is angular and nervously syncopated, the Lento molto is austere, pure including , The Fairy’s Kiss, , and The . (Dushkin in harmony, and profoundly moving. After Copland sent Boulanger a copy of the extracted the violin parts from the orchestral scores; Stravinsky made the piano Lento molto, she wrote to him that “it is a masterpiece—so moving, so deep, so arrangements.) The best known of this set of transcriptions is the Suite italienne, simple.” derived from Stravinsky’s luminous score for , the 1920 based on works of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-36), a musical meteor who flashed briefly across the Italian artistic firmament during the early years of the 18th L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale), Trio Version for Violin, century and created several important instrumental and operatic pieces that laid Clarinet, and Piano the foundations of the Classical style. In 1933, Stravinsky arranged the Suite Igor Stravinsky italienne for cello and piano. Composed in 1918; arranged for trio in 1919. The plot of Pulcinella was based on an 18th-century manuscript of Premiered on November 8, 1919 in Lausanne. commedia dell’arte plays discovered in Naples. Stravinsky provided the following Duration: 15 minutes synopsis: “All the local girls are in love with Pulcinella; but the young men to whom they are betrothed are mad with jealousy and plot to kill him. The After soaring to international fame in 1910 with The Firebird, Igor minute they think they have succeeded, they borrow costumes resembling Stravinsky became a citizen of the world, living in Switzerland during the Pulcinella’s to present themselves to their sweethearts in disguise. But autumn and winter months, returning to Russia for the summers, and Pulcinella—cunning fellow!—had changed places with a double, who pretends descending on Paris to oversee the productions of Petrushka, , to succumb to their blows. The real Pulcinella, disguised as a magician, now and . With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, resuscitates his double. At the very moment when the young men, thinking however, his travel was restricted so he settled full-time in Switzerland, near they are rid of their rival, come to claim their sweethearts, Pulcinella appears Lausanne, where he remained until moving to France in 1920. Among his and arranges all the marriages. He himself weds Pimpinella, receiving the closest friends during the war was Ernest Ansermet, then conductor of the blessing of his double, who in his turn has assumed the magician’s mantle.” symphony concerts in Geneva and founder (in 1918) of the Orchestre de la Though the Suite italienne is a sort of vest-pocket version of the original ballet, it Suisse Romande in that city, who introduced him to the Swiss novelist and fully captures the wit, insouciance, and joie de vivre that place this music among poet Charles Ferdinand Ramuz late in 1915. Stravinsky invited Ramuz to help the most delicious of all Stravinsky’s creations. prepare French versions of the Russian texts for Reynard and , and the collaboration went so well that they agreed to undertake a new collaboration in 1917. Given the difficulty of theater production during the war, they realized Two Pieces for Violin and Piano that only a small company could be assembled, perhaps one that could play Aaron Copland in almost any hall and easily tour Switzerland. Ramuz, not being a dramatist, suggested that he write a story which could be presented on stage as a kind Composed in 1926. of acted narration, something “to be read, played, and danced.” It was agreed Premiered on May 5, 1926 in Paris by violinist Samuel Dushkin and the that Stravinsky’s music would be an accompaniment to the action, arranged composer. so that it could be performed either on stage or independently in concert. For Duration: 11 minutes a subject, they settled on a story from a collection of Russian tales compiled In June 1924, Copland returned to New York from his study with Nadia by Alexander Afanasiev that concerned, according to Stravinsky, “a Soldier Boulanger in France and began to establish a reputation for himself with his who tricks the Devil into drinking too much vodka. He then gives the Devil thorny Symphony for Organ and Orchestra and the more friendly Music for a handful of shot to eat, assuring him it is caviar, and the Devil greedily the Theater. Early in 1926, Boulanger invited him back to Paris to take part in swallows it and dies.” Stravinsky and Ramuz incorporated other from a concert of American music that she was planning for May under the auspices Afanasiev’s stories into their scenario, notably one that featured a “Soldier of the Société Musicale Indépendente that would include performances of who deserts and the wily Devil who infallibly comes to claim his soul.” A pieces by Virgil Thomson, Herbert Elwell, Walter Piston, George Antheil, Narrator would tell the following Soldier’s Tale while performers portraying the Theodore Chanler, and Copland. To help finance the trip, Copland agreed characters danced and mimed to Stravinsky’s music: to act as correspondent for Musical America at the International Society for A Soldier, granted ten days leave, marches home to his village. He rests Contemporary Music Festival in Zurich that summer. Before he left New York along the way, takes out his fiddle, and plays. The Devil, disguised as an old for Paris in March, Copland began his Two Pieces for Violin and Piano, an man with a butterfly net, persuades the Soldier to trade his fiddle for a magic unlikely pairing of a Nocturne and a Ukelele , and finished them the book. He invites the Soldier to spend three days with him, when he will show following month at his lodgings in the Boulevard Pasteur. Samuel Dushkin, him how to earn immense wealth from the book. Arriving at his village after then carving out a fine career on the European concert circuit, was enlisted their encounter, the Soldier discovers that not three days but three years have as violinist for the SMI premiere on May 5th; the composer was pianist. “The passed. He tries to console himself with the wealth obtained through the book, audience was a distinguished one,” Copland recalled, “since the SMI and Nadia but can find no peace, and wanders into another kingdom. The Princess of the had influential followings in the Parisian art world—even James Joyce made a land is ill, and the King has promised her hand in marriage to anyone who can rare appearance!” The composer wrote of his Two Pieces, “The first,Nocturne , cure her. The Soldier determines to try. The Devil appears, playing the Soldier’s is slow and in the manner of a blues. It is dedicated to Israel Citkowitz, a violin. The Soldier challenges him to a game of cards. The Soldier loses his promising young composer who was studying with me in New York and with wealth to the Devil, whose power over him is thus ended. When the Devil Nadia in France. The second, Ukelele Serenade, dedicated to Samuel Dushkin, collapses, the Soldier reclaims his violin and plays the Princess back to health. is an Allegro vivo. It begins with quarter-tones meant to achieve a blues effect, She dances a tango, a waltz, and a ragtime. The Devil reappears, the Soldier while arpeggiated chords in the right hand of the piano part simulate a ukulele fiddles him into contortions, and the Soldier and the Princess drag him into the sound. Later in the piece, the roles are reversed, with pizzicato quadruple violin wings. The Devil swears vengeance. Some years after their marriage, the Soldier stoppings representing the ukulele. The bar lines for the two instruments do not wants to visit his village. The Narrator counsels him not to seek the lost joy of necessarily coincide.” his youth, now that he has found wedded happiness in a new home with the Princess. Refusing the advice, the Soldier sets out. When he crosses the frontier, Concertino for String Quartet however, he again falls under the mastery of the Devil, who takes his violin and leads him away, powerless to resist. Igor Stravinsky In 1919, Stravinsky arranged a concert suite from The Soldier’s Tale Composed in 1920. for violin, clarinet, and piano, which was first performed in Lausanne on Premiered on November 3, 1920 in New York City by the Flonzaley Quartet. November 8, 1919. The suite for trio includes The Soldier’s March, The Soldier’s Duration: 6 minutes Violin, The Little Concert (accompaniment to the card-playing scene), Three Stravinsky related the circumstances of the genesis of the Concertino in Dances: Tango, Waltz, Ragtime, and The Devil’s Dance. his autobiography: “M. Pochon [Alfred Pochon, first violinist of the Flonzaley Quartet of Switzerland] wished to introduce a contemporary work into their almost exclusively Classical repertory, and asked me to write them an ensemble piece, in form and length of my own choosing, to appear in programs of their numerous tours. So it was for them that I composed my Concertino, a piece finally Copland asked him if the score was too difficult. “Non, ce n’est pas in a single movement, and treated in the form of a free sonata-allegro with trop difficile,” the conductor responded. “C’est impossible!” Koussevitzky has a definitelyconcertante part for the first violin, and this, on account of its since, though not often, been proven wrong. The Short Symphony was not limited dimensions, led me to give it the diminutive title: Concertino (piccolo performed in the until Stokowski broadcast it with the NBC concerto).” Stravinsky began the piece in July 1920 and dated the finished Orchestra in 1944, and it was, incredibly, not heard at a public performance score on September 24th. The Flonzaley, however, had little success with the in this country until Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic work, whose idiom was unfamiliar to them. When they premiered the piece presented the work in 1957. Given the woeful tale of the (non)performance in New York on November 3, 1920, Alfredo Casella reported that, despite the of this splendid piece, it is little wonder that Copland chose to arrange it as music’s meticulous preparation, “Its performance by the Flonzaley Quartet the Sextet for Clarinet, String Quartet, and Piano during a visit to Mexico in showed an almost complete lack of understanding and resulted in a clamorous 1937. This chamber version was first heard at New York’s Town Hall in 1939 failure.” Stravinsky took up the Concertino again in 1952, when he was living played by an ensemble from The , and it has since come to be in , and re-scored it for a chamber ensemble of 12 instruments. admired as one of Copland’s consummate compositions. The Concertino is in three formal paragraphs. Its opening and closing Other than some re-barring to make the rhythmic difficulties of the score sections are lean and acerbic, often motoric in rhythm, and frequently more manageable, Copland made almost no musical changes when adapting energized by the jazz syncopations that Stravinsky found so intriguing at the the sextet from the Short Symphony. The reduced scoring, however, clarifies time of the work’s composition. (The Piano Rag-Music also dates from 1920.) the work’s lean textures and piquant harmonic language, lending the sextet The center portion is an elaborate violin solo, the inspiration for the work’s a steely brilliance. Copland wrote of this work, “It is in three movements— title, “Little Concerto.” fast, slow, fast—to be played without pause. The first movement’s impetus is rhythmic, with a -like quality. Once, I toyed with the idea of naming the entire piece The Bounding Line because of the nature of this first section. Sextet for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Piano All of the movement’s melodic figures result from a nine-note sequence—a Aaron Copland kind of row—given in the opening two bars. The second movement, tranquil The Sextet is a 1937 arrangement of the Short Symphony of 1931-33. in feeling, contrasts with the first movement. It is in three brief sections — the The Sextet was premiered on February 26, 1939 in New York. first rises to a dissonant climax, is sharply contrasted by a song-like middle part, and returns to the beginning. The finale is bright in color, rhythmically Duration: 15 minutes intricate, and free in form.” “I think of my Short Symphony as one of ‘my neglected children’ and am perhaps more fond of it because it receives so much less attention,” lamented ©2015 Dr. Richard E. Rodda Aaron Copland in his autobiography. Along with the Piano and the Statements for Orchestra, the Short Symphony was a product of the early MUSICIANS’ BIOS 1930s, before the years of the familiar folk-based scores, when Copland was synthesizing his individual musical style from a wide range of influences— Anne-Marie McDermott French, Stravinsky, Jazz, Jewish—and had just added to them the austere For over 25 years, pianist Anne-Marie McDermott has played concertos, harmonic techniques of Schoenberg. These works, though among his most recitals, and chamber music in hundreds of cities throughout the United masterful creations (“I expended so much time and effort ... because I wished States, Europe, and Asia. She is artistic director of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music to write as perfect a piece as I possibly could,” wrote the composer of his Festival, the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Florida, and The Avila Short Symphony), have never been popular with audiences. The Symphony Chamber Music Celebration in Curaçao. She was also recently appointed has especially had a disheartening performance history. After its premiere in curator for chamber music at the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego. As Mexico City (November 23, 1934) by an enthusiastic Carlos Chávez (who a soloist, she has recorded the complete Prokofiev piano sonatas and Bach said, “this work is ... simply unprecedented in the whole history of music”), English Suites and Partitas (which was named Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s it was scheduled by both Koussevitzky and Stokowski for performances, but Choice), and her solo disc of Chopin’s works was released in 2011. She has they later gave it up as too complex rhythmically for their limited rehearsal performed with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas time. Koussevitzky continued to ponder his decision for over a year, and Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Highlights of the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, she was a top prize winner 2011 include her performance of Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with Steven of the 2012 Naumburg Competition, Astral Artists Auditions in 2010, and Sloane at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. She has been an Artist of the Chamber Italy’s Premio di Trieste Competition in 2011. Recent highlights include Music Society since 1995. With CMS she has performed the complete performances at the Strathmore Series in Maryland, and solo appearances Prokofiev piano sonatas and chamber music, as well as a three-concert series with the West Virginia Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a of Shostakovich chamber music. She is also a member of the piano quartet, chamber musician, she has made appearances at the Ravinia Festival, Music@ Opus One, with colleagues Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley. Menlo, Sarasota, El Sistema in Caracas, Festicamara de Medellin, and the Ms. McDermott studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Dalmo Carra, Perlman Music Program. Ms. Lee earned a master’s degree from The Juilliard Constance Keene, and John Browning. She was a winner of the Young Concert School in 2010 under and Donald Weilerstein and served as Artists auditions and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. an assistant teacher in Mr. Perlman’s studio. She is an Artist of the Chamber Music Society, a former member of CMS Two, and on the faculty at the Aaron David Shifrin Copland School of Music in Queens College. A Yale University faculty member since 1987, clarinetist David Shifrin is artistic director of Yale’s Chamber Music Society series and Yale in New York, Amphion String Quartet a concert series at Carnegie Hall. He has been an Artist of the Chamber Music Hailed for its “gripping intensity” and “suspenseful and virtuoso playing” Society for 23 years and served as its artistic director from 1992 to 2004, (San Francisco Classical Voice), the Amphion String Quartet is a winner of inaugurating the CMS Two program and the annual Brandenburg Concerto the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joined the concerts. Currently in his 32nd season as artistic director of Chamber Music roster of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two Program Northwest in Portland, he has collaborated with the Guarneri, Tokyo, and in fall 2013. Through CMS, the ensemble made its debut in Emerson string quartets and is a member of the Kavafian-Schub-Shifrin Trio. March 2014, about which the New York Times praised “the focused, forceful Winner of the Avery Fisher Prize, he is also the recipient of a Solo Recitalist young Amphion String Quartet” for its “sharply detailed performances.” Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A top prize winner The 2014-15 season begins with the ASQ’s Mostly Mozart debut with in competitions throughout the world, including Munich, Geneva, and San two pre-concert recitals at Avery Fisher Hall and a return to Korea for the Francisco, he has held principal clarinet positions in The Cleveland Orchestra Busan Chamber Music Festival. The quartet has several return engagements in and the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski. His recordings have New York in 2014-15, including two CMS performances at Alice Tully Hall, received three Grammy nominations and his performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Schneider Concerts at the New School, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, and the Tilles Concerto with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra was named Record of Center Chamber Music Series on Long Island. Collaborative performances the Year by Stereo Review. He has also released two CDs of Lalo Schifrin’s include a recital with clarinetist David Shifrin at Rockford’s Coronado Theatre compositions, one of which was nominated for a Latin Grammy. At home and a special program with the renowned dance company BodyVox in with the work of such contemporary as John Adams, Joan Tower, Portland, OR entitled Cosmosis, (which will tour in 2015-16). In fall 2014, Bruce Adolphe, and Ezra Laderman, Mr. Shifrin commissioned a concerto the ASQ’s first CD will be released by the UK-based label Nimbus, including from Ellen Taaffe Zwilich that he premiered at CMS and with the Buffalo quartets by Grieg, Janácek, and Wolf. Philharmonic in 2002. He is a Yamaha performing artist. Internationally, the Amphion Quartet has performed in South Korea Kristin Lee at the Music Isle Festival in Jeju and at the Seoul Arts Center. Previous Violinist Kristin Lee enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, and US festival appearances include The Chautauqua Institution, OK Mozart, chamber musician. She has performed concertos with orchestras throughout , La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, New the US and abroad, including the Saint Louis Symphony, Philadelphia Jersey’s Mostly Music Series, NYU String Quartet Workshop, Princeton Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, and Korean Summer Concerts, Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, and Kneisel Hall Broadcast Symphony. As a recitalist, she has performed at Ravinia’s Rising Chamber Music Festival. Summer 2014 featured the world premiere of a new Stars Series, the Salon de Virtuosi at Steinway Hall, The Metropolitan Museum quartet by Yevgeniy Sharlat at the Caramoor Music Festival (commissioned of Art, the Louvre in Paris, the Kumho Art Gallery in her native Seoul, and by Caramoor as the culmination of the 2012-13 Stiefel String Quartet throughout northern Italy. A winner of Juilliard’s Concerto Competition and residency). The ASQ has collaborated with such eminent artists as the Tokyo String Quartet, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, Carter Brey, Edgar Meyer, Michala Petri, James Dunham, and Deborah Hoffmann. Recent featured concerts include the Amphion Quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall on the CAG series with guest David Shifrin, and also Zankel Hall; the Library of Congress and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC; Caramoor Center for the Arts; Pepperdine University; TCAN Center for the Arts (MA); New York’s Met Museum and National Arts Club; and a tour of northern California with concerts at UC San Francisco, Eureka Chamber Music Series, and Montalvo Center for the Arts. The ASQ is showcased on New York’s WQXR radio frequently, including the station’s November 2012 Beethoven String Quartet Marathon, playing two quartets live in The Greene Space, with live webcast and subsequent airing on the radio. Violinists Katie Hyun and David Southorn, violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin, and cellist Mihai Marica first joined together for a performance at Sprague Hall at the Yale School of Music in February 2009. The overwhelmingly positive audience response was the inspiration behind their mutual desire to pursue a career as the Amphion String Quartet. Additional honors include the 2012 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in New York; First Prize at the Hugo Kauder String Quartet Competition in New Haven, CT; and First Prize in the Piano and Strings category as well as the Audience Choice Award at the 2010 Plowman Chamber Music Competition held in Columbia, MO.