559628 bk Lees US 7/5/09 20:01 Page 4 Cypress String Quartet AMERICAN CLASSICS Cecily Ward, Violin I • Tom Stone, Violin II • Ethan Filner, Viola • Jennifer Kloetzel, Cello Formed in 1996, the Cypress String Quartet is renowned for its unmistakable transparent sound, its fresh interpretation of masterworks and its significant commissioning program. Benjamin Performing across America and internationally, the Cypress is a vigorous member of the San Francisco arts community that works hard to enrich the city’s musical life. The Quartet’s Photo: Basil Childers LEES approach to performance is refreshing for its honesty, invigorating for its energetic and muscular precision, and seductive for its lyrical sensibility. The clarity of its expression intensifies the raw emotions of the music. By questioning String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 and 6 conventions, the Quartet reveals the composer’s truest intentions and the music at its most pure. The Cypress sound is a product of the virtuosity of its members combined with the Cypress String Quartet extraordinary timbres of a group of exceptional instruments, including violins by Antonio Stradivarius (1681) and Carlos Bergonzi (1733), a viola by Vittorio Bellarosa (1947) and a cello by Hieronymus Amati II (1701). From left to right: Ethan Filner, Jennifer Kloetzel, Cecily Ward, Tom Stone 8.559628 4 559628 bk Lees US 7/5/09 20:01 Page 2 Benjamin Lees (b. 1924) one and is marked, appropriately, Explosive. It is The movement gains momentum with sharply accented String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 and 6 somewhat akin to a fughetto; the first statement is by the passages and ends quite forcefully. The second viola, taken up by the cello, second violin and then first movement is introduced with a series of quiet, calm String Quartet No. 1 was completed in 1952 and given inspiration derived from the two older works. Asked to violin. A section marked Slower, broader is opened by chords. A subject in the cello is picked up by the other its première in Los Angeles in 1953. The piece received respond to the quartets of Shostakovich and Britten, the cello and quickly echoed by the other three three instruments and the subsequent development the first Fromm Foundation Award, and in 1954 was Benjamin Lees writes the following: members. A demonic interlude leads directly to a new dissolves into an episode of sharp accents. A somewhat given its New York première by the legendary Budapest “I was drawn to Shostakovich when I was still in section distinguished by sharp, brusque figures taken up whimsical subject appears, leading gradually to the String Quartet. Writing of the performance, the music my early teens. His music always contained unexpected by the viola, then cello and finally the two violins. A re- elements of the quieter opening and then to the calm, critic of the New Yorker Magazine Winthrop Sargeant twists and turns both harmonically and rhythmically, statement of the first section with the cello coming in sustained chords. The third movement, marked Quiet, remarked “Mr Lees’ quartet proved to be a very well- and his sharp sardonic wit appealed to my own sense of first followed by the other three players leads quite eerie, is quite short. Sudden outbursts are followed by knit affair, quite fresh and original in style, and humor. Since my taste in painting favored the Cubists suddenly and abruptly into the opening fughetto. One by flecks of pizzicati. Quick legato passages whiz by in a beautifully written for the instruments. I liked and Surrealists, his music mirrored the elements found one the four instruments echo the subject, extend it a bit unison pianissimo, rise suddenly to a fortissimo and end particularly its slow movement, which seemed to me in those two schools. Shostakovich exposes raw nerves and then bring it all to an explosive close. the movement on a triple pianissimo played pizzicato by one of the most distinguished things of its sort by a even as he suddenly reverses field and becomes jocular, String Quartet No. 5 was chosen by Chamber Music all four players. The fourth movement contains a few contemporary composer that I had heard in some time.” only to draw the listener up short again with thematic America for inclusion in its list of 101 Great Ensemble surprises. The cello opens with a calm, unhurried In 1955 the work was played by the Juilliard Quartet at material of somber beauty. The element of surprise is Works. statement and is joined by the first violin. An unexpected Tanglewood. never far away. What appeals to me about Britten is his String Quartet No. 6 was written for the Cypress outburst, brings on a restatement of the cello line. Then, The quartet is laid out in three movements - extremely refined sense of harmony and the ability to String Quartet and completed in January, 2005. The another outburst and another restatement, only this time Moderato, Adagietto, and Allegro vivo. The first simply suggest a tonality before sliding away from it work comprises four movements. A composer’s a totally different element appears, a burlesca. All four movement consists of two distinct subjects, the first into a hazy suggestion of another. He can, briefly, whip fingerprint always remains the same no matter how instruments engage in a prolonged tongue-in-cheek brisk and energetic and the second more lyrical, both into a full-blown tonal scale and then, quite suddenly, different one work is from another, nor how many years exchange until the broad outlines of the opening receiving formal developmental treatment. The second slide away into a harmonic haze. It always manages to separate each piece. The genre may range from statement appear, this time giving way to a somewhat movement also has two distinct subjects, opening with a keep the listener off balance.” orchestral pieces to piano concerti to operas. No matter. faster call and response exchange. The final outlines of cantabile and moving steadily to the second Poco meno Lees’s Quartet No. 5 is in four movements. The first The fingerprint is there. In each of the four movements the drive to the end appears in the form of turbulent section. The movement as a whole is quite transparent is marked Measured and is the most complex of the there are unexpected turns and resolutions. The opening string passages that gather momentum, becoming and uncomplicated in its structure, ending quietly and four. The movement is a continuous development of of the first movement is dark, agitated, with no hint of motoric, more violent, and finally coming to the climax, calmly. The third movement is basically a rondo, three contrasting elements. The second movement is the sudden lyrical subject that seems to appear without observing the marking in the score “as fast as possible”. opening with an energetic first subject that undergoes a marked Arioso. It opens with a lengthy dialogue preparation. A slight development leads to an intense slight development and enters a transition leading to a between the two violins in the nature of a soliloquy. The section, then back again to a quieter episode. The Cypress String Quartet second subject marked Cantabile. This is expanded aura of lyricism permeates this mood. It begins to alter somewhat and leads to a transition back to the first abruptly with an outburst from the cello marked Benjamin Lees subject. A development occurs followed by a brief “menacing”. As the section loses power and grows transition to a third subject marked Espressivo. All quieter the two violins once again begin their romantic Benjamin Lees was born on 8th January, 1924, and spent his early years in San Francisco, moving to Los Angeles in subjects now undergo some development, a transition dialogue, this time at the very top of their instruments’ 1939. Following war-time military service he attended the University of Southern California and completed four leads to the re-statement of the first subject and a register. It is like two swallows turning over and over in years of private study with George Antheil. He taught at the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, the Juilliard School, spirited coda brings the movement to a close. air, arcing and tumbling. The third movement is the the Manhattan School of Music, and Queens College, New York. His works have been performed by major soloists, String Quartet No. 5 was completed in late summer shortest of all, barely two minutes in duration. Marked including pianists Ian Hobson, Emanuel Ax, and Gary Graffman, violinists Henryk Szeryng and Elmar Oliveira, 2001 for the Cypress String Quartet. It was Quick, quiet, it is like a zephyr, barely audible in contralto Maureen Forrester, and leading quartets, the Tokyo String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Budapest commissioned by the Quartet as part of its Call & manner. One could compare it, perhaps to a silken String Quartet and Cypress String Quartet. Honors awarded to Benjamin Lees include two Guggenheim Response series. For this series, the Quartet selects two thread. The four players are asked to execute all this as Fellowships, the Sir Arnold Bax Medal, Fulbright Fellowship, Copley Foundation Award and the Fromm works from the standard quartet repertoire and fast and silently as possible and ending, if you will, in a Foundation Award of which he was the first recipient in 1952. He received his first Grammy Nomination in 2004 commissions a third work that is to be based on puff of smoke. Movement number four is an explosive for his Symphony No. 5 and his second Nomination in 2008 for his Violin Concerto. 8.559628 23 8.559628 559628 bk Lees US 7/5/09 20:01 Page 2 Benjamin Lees (b.