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MATTHEW LIPMAN, VIOLA As one of the world’s leading young violists, 26-year-old American Matthew Lipman has been hailed by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing” and by the Chicago Tribune for his “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” The recipient of a prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota, Illinois Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber, Juilliard, Ars Viva Symphony, and Montgomery Symphony orchestras, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall, and in recital at the WQXR Greene Space in New York City and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. His debut solo album “Ascent” that includes a world premiere by Brazilian composer Clarice Assad and Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy played for the first time on viola is being released by Cedille Records, coinciding with a Lincoln Center recital debut in Fall 2018. The Telegraph praised Mr. Lipman as “gifted with poise and a warmth of timbre” on his Avie recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with the preeminent Mozart scholar Sir Neville Marriner, which topped the Billboard charts. He was the only violist featured on WFMT Chicago’s list of “30 Under 30” of the world’s top classical musicians and has been profiled by The Strad and BBC Music magazines. Mr. Lipman performs internationally as a chamber musician with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and regularly at the prominent Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bridgehampton, Seattle, Cleveland, and Valery Gergiev’s White Nights festivals. A top prizewinner of the Primrose, Tertis, Washington, Johansen, and Stulberg International Viola Competitions, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees as an inaugural Kovner fellow from The Juilliard School as a student of Heidi Castleman, and was further mentored by Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy. A native of Chicago, Mr. Lipman is on faculty at Stony Brook University and performs on a fine 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola loaned through the generous efforts of the RBP Foundation.

ABOUT THE 2013-2014 SEASON 2013-2014 SEASON Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

November 4, 2018: Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, pianos; Yoobin Son, flute; Pascual Martinez-Fortese, clarinet; Sheryl Staples, violin; Qian-Qian Li, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Eileen Moon, cello; Tim Cobb, bass; Barry Centanni, xylophone CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) The Carnival of the Animals 2018 November 4, 2018: Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, pianos; Yoobin Son, flute; Pascual Martinez-Fortese, clarinet; Sheryl Staples, violin; Qian-Qian Li, violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Eileen Moon, cello; Tim Cobb, bass; Barry Centanni, xylophone Saint-Saëns’s popularity as a pianist, organist, and composer was so great that in the 1890s his picture appeared in a series of cards depicting famous people included with packets of chocolate, in the same way that pictures of famous baseball players were wrapped with bubble gum in America. (The bubble gum disappeared from such packets only in the twenty-first century.) He naturally composed works featuring his own instruments, but he also composed operas, symphonies, chamber music, and many songs. Most of these were serious pieces, but he also had a sense of humor, which surfaced, for example, in his Odors of Paris for piano, harp, trumpet, bagpipe, tin whistle, bird warbler, cuckoo, quail, bass drum, and humming top. He never published the piece, however, for fear it would damage his reputation. For the same reason, he did not allow his Carnival of the Animals to be published or played in public while he was still alive, though it was played in private performances. Saint-Saëns composed the piece in just a few days in February 1886 as a surprise for the annual Shrove Tuesday concert of his cellist friend Charles-Joseph Lebouc. The two first performed it with a small group of instrumentalists—two pianos, flute doubling piccolo, clarinet, glass harmonica (now usually played on glockenspiel or celesta), xylophone, and string quintet—though the work has since been played more often by a larger orchestra. The first public performance took place on February 25, 1922, only two months after Saint-Saëns died. He was proved right in a way: the piece became so popular that much of his “serious” music was overlooked. Saint-Saëns’s inspired portrayals go beyond typical animal specimens to include pianists, fossils, and even habitats, as in Aviary and Aquarium. Often a famous actor or the conductor will describe the pieces during modern performances, especially for educational or young people’s concerts—or they recite the delightful accompanying poems that Ogden Nash wrote in 1949. Many others have since supplied humorous verses, among them Peter Schikele, Bruce Adolphe, and John Lithgow. This afternoon’s performance is enhanced by Frances Button’s amusing poems. Saint-Saëns’s fourteen movements include: The Introduction and Royal March of the Lion: The king of beasts is presented in a majestic march. The lion’s roars are heard in the piano parts. Hens and Roosters: The pianos and strings, with the addition of clarinet, depict pecking and squawking. Wild Tibetan Donkeys: These animals are known for their speed and are imitated by the two pianos alone in fast, running notes. Turtles: Saint-Saëns made a great joke here by transforming Jacques Offenbach’s famous and lively can-can from Orpheus in the Underworld into a piece representing some of nature’s slowest animals. The Elephant: The composer continues his fun by having the bass line represent the elephant with a lumbering version of a delicate, fairy-like piece by Hector Berlioz called “Dance of the Sylphs.” The composer also recalls a bit of the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream , another exquisite bit of fairy music. Kangaroos: The pianists represent these jumpers, sometimes taking short hops and sometimes making giant leaps. Aquarium: Rippling figures create a beautiful water picture. The part usually played by the glockenspiel was originally intended for the glass harmonica. This instrument, invented by Benjamin Franklin, was played by rubbing wet, tuned glass disks (like water goblets at the dinner table). Characters with Long Ears: The raucous braying of mules is imitated by the violins alone. The Cuckoo in the Depth of the Woods: The pianos play muted chords while the clarinet adds the voice of the cuckoo. Aviary: This habitat houses the fluttering creatures depicted by the flute while the strings play tremolo (quick repeated notes) and the pianos add bird calls. Pianists: The composer makes fun of beginning pianists practicing their exercises. Fossils: Here the xylophone suggests old bones. Saint-Saëns quotes six old tunes or “fossils” of music: his own Danse macabre (which had also used xylophone to suggest skeletons), French folk songs “J’ai du bon tabac” (I have some good tobacco), “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” (Ah! I’ll tell you, Mother, also known as “Twinkle, Twinkle” or “Baa-Baa Black Sheep”), “Au clair de la lune” (In the moonlight), and “Partant pour la Syrie” (Leaving for Syria), and finally an aria from Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville . The Swan: This most famous movement, written for the composer’s cellist friend, was the only part of the Carnival that Saint-Saëns allowed to be published in his lifetime. The piece was made into a very popular ballet even while the composer was alive, and its beautiful melody has been arranged for almost every instrument. Finale: The work closes with a grand mixture of several of the animals we’ve met: the lion, the wild Tibetan donkeys, a few hens, roosters, and kangaroos, and, at the end, some jeers from the long-eared characters. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2018 AT 3 PM GARRICK OHLSSON, PIANO ALL BRAHMS BUY TICKETS GARRICK OHLSSON, PIANO “…an incredible technique with razor-sharp accuracy, producing a sound so lush it almost glistens.” — The Seattle Times “The unfailingly beautiful tonal variety the pianist found in the score was very special indeed, and his exploratory approach made it sound at times as if the music were being composed under his fingers.” — The Washington Post “As he has long demonstrated, he’s a born Brahmsian, equipped at the highest level with the necessary speed and power, the muscular strength and facility of finger tempered by breadth of outlook and solidity of intellect.” — BBC Music Magazine FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The renowned master pianist will perform music by Brahms. The afternoon will climax with his devilishly tricky “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”— a work so challenging that Clara Schumann called it “The Witches’s Variations!” PROGRAM Johannes Brahms Eight Pieces, Op. 76 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21, No. 1 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Variations on a Hungarian Theme, Op. 21, No. 2 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Ballades, Op. 10 Program Notes Johannes Brahms Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35, Book 1 Program Notes Watch Garrick Ohlsson perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2:

Karen Dreyfus, viola Karen Dreyfus enjoys a wide-ranging career, as a noted orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, and as a pedagogue. Prized for her impassioned musicianship and her rich mahogany tone, she has inspired a variety of contemporary music’s finest composers to write scores specifically tailored to her communicative talents. Born into a family of musicians, Dreyfus began studying the violin with her father, a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, before pursuing the career of a concert violist under the tutelage of the longtime master, Leonard Mogill. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle, Dreyfus was subsequently a prizewinner of such prestigious musical competitions as the Washington International Competition, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, and the Naumburg Viola Competition. Karen Dreyfus soon moved to New York City, and to the world stage, concertizing extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and South America. She has performed in such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with Musicians From Marlboro, the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center and Philomusica, and she has collaborated with such legendary artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Alexander Schneider, Leon Fleisher, jazz great Chick Corea, and her husband, Glenn Dicterow as well as performed chamber music with members of the Budapest, Galimir, Guarneri, Tokyo and Emerson quartets. Her wide discography includes traversals of such classics of the literature as the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante (alongside violinist Glenn Dicterow) and Walton’s Viola Concerto, beside her collaborations in the chamber music of Dvorak, Strauss and Turina. Dreyfus’s first recording as a recitalist, entitled Romanze (Bridge Records), essaying a program of Hindemith, Schumann, Debussy, Falla and Bruch, won considerable acclaim, the American Record Guide citing her as “a terrific player with impeccable technique and intonation, beautiful tone, and real musicianship. Her playing is highly expressive and responsive to the many moods elicited by this varied program.” When the classically schooled jazz pianist Chick Corea composed his Lyric Suite for Sextet, he engaged his longtime colleague, vibraphonist Gary Burton, and a quartet of the finest chamber players, including Karen Dreyfus. The resultant recording, for the ever-searching ECM label, was subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance. Many equally searching, equally lyrically focused composers have subsequently written scores specifically for Dreyfus. She has recorded two CDs of contemporary viola concertos for the MMC label, American Journeys and Karen Dreyfus Viola Concertos Volume II. She and the composer William Thomas McKinley have had a special connection, he writing several concertos for her, plus the gloriously nimble Concert Variations for Dreyfus and Glenn Dicterow. In recent decades, Dreyfus has found a particular niche as a teacher. She joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, leading a sonata class for violists and pianists, among other duties. She has also taught at New York’s Third Street Music School Settlement, SUNY Purchase and Queens College. In 2022 Karen Dreyfus was given the status of Faculty Emerita by the Manhattan School of Music, where she participated in the Graduate Program in Orchestral Performance and viola studies for 30 years. Currently Dreyfus teaches viola and chamber music at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. Many of her students have gone on to win positions in major orchestras and at universities around the globe. During the summer season she is on the faculty of Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West, while performing and teaching in a variety of music festivals and academies around the nation, and beyond. Recently Karen Dreyfus and Glenn Dicterow performed as a soloist with the Shanghai Symphony and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras along with coaching members of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Dreyfus is a founding member of the Lyric Piano Quartet – whose initial recording for Black Box Records was nominated as an “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine – and the Amerigo Trio, touring with both groups. And in her spare time, she has often been a “first call” session player on numerous movie soundtracks, and pop, jazz and rock recordings.

ESCHER STRING QUARTET The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, this season presenting the complete Zemlinsky Quartets Cycle in a concert streamed live from the Rose Studio. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Programme on Shelter Island, NY. The quartet has since collaborated with artists including David Finckel, Leon Fleischer, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell, Cho Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Vilde Frang, David Shifrin, and guitarist Jason Vieaux. The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, and Les Grands Interprètes series in Geneva. Last season also saw debuts at London’s Kings Place and Slovenian Philharmonic Hall in Ljubljana, and festival appearances at Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses and the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway. In the current season, the quartet undertakes further UK tours including the Wigmore Hall and makes debuts at the Heidelberg Spring Festival and De Oosterpoort Groningen in the Netherlands. The ensemble also renews its collaboration with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor in a European tour including the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. In 2014, the quartet gave a highly praised debut at Chamber Music San Francisco and in 2015 returned to Music@Menlo in California, focusing on the quartets of Schubert. In the 12/13 season, the ensemble performed a critically acclaimed Britten Quartets series at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and this season is one of five quartets chosen to collaborate in a complete presentation of Beethoven’s string quartets. Elsewhere, the ensemble made its first Australian appearance at the Perth International Arts Festival in 2012, and last season made its debut at the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Return engagements took the quartet to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel and the Campos do Jordão Music Festival in Brazil for coaching activities. The quartet fervently supports the education of young musicians and frequently gives masterclasses, including regular coaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In Spring 2015, the quartet released Volume 1 of the complete Mendelssohn Quartets on the BIS label, received warmly by critics with comments such as “This is full-blooded quartet playing in the grand, classic manner: extrovert and eloquent… hugely engaging music-making” (BBC Music Magazine) and “The Eschers sound warm, relaxed, and responsive to all of Mendelssohn’s expressive nuances…” (The Guardian). The Mendelssohn series continues this season with the release of Volume 2. The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in 2 volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Their great critical acclaim included 5 stars in The Guardian with “Classical CD of the Year,” a Recommendation in The Strad, “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb International and a nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award. The Escher Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

SCHUMANN STRING QUARTET Erik Schumann Ken Schumann Liisa Randalu Mark Schumann The Schumann Quartet has reached a stage where anything is possible, because it has dispensed with certainties. This also has consequences for audiences, which from one concert to the next have to be prepared for all eventualities: “A work really develops only in a live performance,” the quartet says. “That is ‘the real thing’, because we ourselves never know what will happen. On the stage, all imitation disappears, and you automatically become honest with yourself. Then you can create a bond with the audience – communicate with it in music.” This live situation will gain an added energy in the near future: Sabine Meyer, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Ottensamer and Anna Lucia Richter are among the quartet’s current partners. A highlight in the 19/20 season is its three-year residency at the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in New York City, which began back in December 2016. Furthermore, the quartet will go on tour twice in the US, will give guest performances at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands and will also perform concerts in the big musical metropolises of London, Munich, Madrid, Hamburg and Berlin. In addition, the ensemble is part of the opera production “Inferno” at Opera Frankfurt and is looking forward to their annual concerts as part of its long-term residency at the “Robert-Schumann-Saal” in Düsseldorf. Its album “Intermezzo” (2018 | Schumann, Reimann with Anna-Lucia Richter and Mendelssohn Bartholdy) has been hailed enthusiastically both at home and abroad and received the award “Opus Klassik“ in the category quintet. It is celebrated as a worthy successor to its award-winning “Landscapes” album, in which in which the quartet traces its own roots by combining works of Haydn, Bartók, Takemitsu and Pärt. Among other prices, the latter received the “Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, five Diapasons and was selected as Editor’s Choice by the BBC Music Magazine. For its previous CD “Mozart Ives Verdi”, the Schumann Quartet was accorded the 2016 Newcomer Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards in London. The three brothers Mark, Erik and Ken Schumann have been playing together since their earliest childhood. In 2012, they were joined by violist Liisa Randalu, who was born in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and grew up in Karlsruhe, Germany. Those who experience the quartet in performance often remark on the strong connection between its members. The four musicians enjoy the way they communicate without words: how a single look suffices to convey how a particular member wants to play a particular passage. Although the individual personalities clearly manifest themselves, a common space arises in every musical work in a process of spiritual metamorphosis. The quartet’s openness and curiosity may be partly the result of the formative influence exerted on it by teachers such as Eberhard Feltz, the Alban Berg Quartet, or partners such as Menahem Pressler. Teachers and musical partners, prestigious prices, CD releases – it is always tempting to speculate on what factors have led to many people viewing the Schumann Quartet as one of the best in the world. But the four musicians themselves regard these stages more as encounters, as a confirmation of the path they have taken. They feel that their musical development over the past two years represents a quantum leap. “We really want to take things to extremes, to see how far the excitement and our spontaneity as a group take us,” says Ken Schumann, the middle of the three Schumann brothers. They charmingly sidestep any attempt to categorise their sound, approach or style, and let the concerts speak for themselves.

October 17, 2021: Roman Rabinovich MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn October 17, 2021: Roman Rabinovich Debussy composed his Hommage à Haydn at the request of Jules Écorcheville for a special issue of the Revue S.I.M. (Société Internationale de Musique) to celebrate the centennial in May 1909 of Haydn’s death. Five other composers also accepted the commission—Paul Dukas who wrote his Prélude élégiaque, Reynaldo Hahn his Thème varié sur le nom de Haydn, Charles-Marie Widor his Fugue sur le nom d’Haydn, and Vincent d’Indy and Maurice Ravel who both wrote pieces called Meneut sur le nom d’Haydn. The pieces were published in the January 15, 1910, issue of the Revue S.I.M. They were not premiered, however, until March 11, 1911, when nineteen-year-old pianist Ennemond Trillat performed them at a Société concert at the Salle Pleyel. Each composer was given the same assignment: Write a short piano piece using the letters of Haydn’s name as a five-note motive. This was an age-old practice to honor an important person, and in cases where there was no musical equivalent for a letter it could be skipped or be replaced by a substitution note. Here the composers were all given H (B natural in German nomenclature, A, Y (using D as the substitution), D, N (using G as the substitution). The substitution notes, given by the commissioner were obtained by “putting the letter’s alphabetical order over the diatonic series of the sound scale.” As a fascinating historical note, two of the other most important French composers of the day—Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré—declined to participate, presumably because, as Saint-Saëns wrote to Fauré, they would be the laughingstock of Germany for the wrong use of letter-note correspondences. Debussy’s Hommage à Haydn begins with a “soft and expressive” “Valse lent” (slow waltz) in which he presents a bass melody with a distinctive dotted-rhythmic pattern and then highlights his H-A-Y-D-N motive in the upper melody line of the right hand. The second section of the piece shifts to a lively, light character with the motive sped up in the first notes of the right hand. After an even more animated section Debussy concludes with a brief reminder of the expressive opening and a final fast but quiet flourish. This afternoon’s celebration of Haydn makes the perfect occasion to include Ravel’s Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn alongside Debussy’s tribute. Ravel writes a contemplative minuet with Impressionistic harmonies, presenting the motive six times, which he labels in the score. The motive begins the piece as the first five notes in the top line of the pianist’s right hand, migrates to the bass, and appears in inner voices in reverse order and inverted in reverse order (D-G-G-C♯-B). The final utterances appear in the top of the piano’s right hand and in a slow descent from the middle register to the bass. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2025 AT 4 PM THE VIRTUOSO CELLIST STEVEN ISSERLIS, CELLO CONNIE SHIH, PIANO “Steven Isserlis can have the listener in perpetual wonder at the ingredients of his art…” — The Australian “Isserlis's incomparable technique, phrasing, expression and sensitivity across all the tempi and dynamics, quite simply, were incredible. There can be no doubt that Isserlis is an inspired and inspiring - musician” — Limelight Magazine “Connie Shih proved a terrific, imaginative partner, with enough lightness, speed and power” — Washington Post ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a unique and distinguished career. A sovereign artist and a commanding virtuoso, Isserlis radiates the transcendent joy of music in every phrase he plays. 2024-2025 SEASON September 29, 2024 Cellobration! October 20, 2024 Modigliani Quartet November 17, 2024 Paul Lewis Plays Schubert December 15, 2024 The Virtuoso Flutist Denis Bouriakov January 19, 2025 The Virtuoso Organist Paul Jacobs February 9, 2025 The Virtuoso Cellist Steven Isserlis March 9, 2025 Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert April 13, 2025 Quartetto Di Cremona May 18, 2025 Late Night With Leonard Bernstein Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts FEATURING BUY TICKETS Steven Isserlis Connie Shih His internationally diverse program will feature works of Beethoven, Bohuslav Martinu, and Nadia Boulanger . This afternoon will culminate in Edvard Grieg’s folk-tinged cello sonata , which Isserlis poetically describes as “combining warm-hearted charm with joyous excitement and imbued with Grieg’s soaring ecstasy of yearning wistfulness.” PROGRAM Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2 Program Notes Bohuslav Martinů Program Notes Cello Sonata No. 1 Nadia Boulanger 3 Pieces for cello and piano Program Notes Edvard Grieg Cello Sonata, Op. 36 Program Notes Watch Steven Isserlis perform the third movement of Joseph Haydn’s Concerto Concerto No. 1 in C major

September 23, 2018: Michael Brown, solo piano; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Emily Smith, violin; Matt Lipman, viola; Nick Canellakis, cello; David J. Grossman, bass WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Concerto No. 14 in E flat, K. 449 for piano and string quartet September 23, 2018: Michael Brown, solo piano; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Emily Smith, violin; Matt Lipman, viola; Nick Canellakis, cello; David J. Grossman, bass The E-flat major Concerto—completed on February 9, 1784, but probably begun in 1782 or ’83—was the first of Mozart’s so-called “great” concertos and the first work he entered in his own catalog of works. Something about the work’s significance must have triggered the idea that he needed to maintain a record of his compositions, a practice he kept up until a few weeks before he died. He composed the E-flat Concerto for Barbara (Babette) Ployer, a fine pianist who studied with Mozart and whose talents he greatly appreciated. It was for her that he also wrote his Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453, and the “Grand” Sonata for two pianos in D major. Her father, Gottfried Ignaz von Ployer, agent of the Salzburg court in Vienna, frequently presented evenings of music and had helped to pave the composer’s way in Viennese society. By refraining from publishing the E-flat Concerto during his lifetime, Mozart granted Babette almost exclusive rights to the work. He did, however, play it himself on his benefit concert in March 1784, where “it won extraordinary applause,” as he reported to his father, and he did send a copy back to Salzburg for his sister Nannerl to perform. The work’s modest proportions in comparison with subsequent “grander” concertos later prompted Mozart to call it “a concerto in an entirely different style and written more for a small than a large orchestra.” As he had for the three piano concertos that immediately precede this work, Mozart suggested that the E-flat Concerto might be played “a quattro”—that is with string quartet accompaniment rather than full orchestra, in which version it works extremely well. History has tended to underrate this Concerto, but its many imaginative features make the work deserving of more frequent performance. The E-flat Concerto is remarkable for the earnestness of its first two movements. The tonal ambiguity between E-flat major and its relative minor in the restless first movement have even resulted in the work’s being labeled in C minor on occasion. In characteristic fashion Mozart presents a plethora of ideas in both his first and second key areas. In the first group an agitated theme in C minor does not reappear until near the end of the movement. Other striking uses of C minor occur in the recapitulation and in Mozart’s own cadenza for the movement. The slow movement presents an interesting mix of sonata and rondo elements in a procession of intimately elegant ideas and rich modulations. The marked avoidance of cadences and of the signposts of traditional form make this a “quietly revolutionary” movement—a precursor to Schubert perhaps—and add to the tally of this Concerto’s noteworthy features. The finale combines contrapuntal style and comic opera elements with great success, all the while presenting an original sonata-rondo form. Mozart’s distinctive main theme never returns exactly the same way. The second episode’s use of C minor makes a connection with the first movement as does the subsequent fugal version of the main theme in that key. Mozart’s coda in merry 6/8 meter introduces further variation both of the main theme and of one of the later themes—a witty conclusion to an inspired Concerto. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 13, 2025; Quartetto Di Cremona Claude Debussy (1862-1918) String Quartet April 13, 2025; Quartetto Di Cremona Debussy composed his only String Quartet in 1893 amid work on his orchestral Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune . The chamber work marks the transition between Debussy’s youthful and mature styles—bridging the academic world of his Paris Conservatory training with the dreamy, coloristic world of the Faune . In a larger sense it both glances back to the nineteenth-century heritage of Wagner and Franck and looks to the future with original and imaginative ideas that would influence the course of music. The Quartet is Debussy’s only work that bears an opus number and names a key, as if he were thinking of the weighty history of the genre. The work’s tonal center may be G, but “minor” tells little about Debussy’s harmonic scheme. The first movement relies heavily upon the centuries-old Phrygian mode on G and on D. The second movement alternates and combines G major pizzicato chords with an accelerated and chromatically altered version of the first movement’s opening motive, further blurring distinctions between major and minor. The slow movement, placed third in the order of movements, centers around D-flat, the remotest possible key from “home.” Completed in February 1893, the Quartet was premiered December 29 by the Ysaÿe Quartet on a concert that brought Debussy’s music to the notice of many for the first time. Critics initially seemed somewhat baffled—some were uncomfortable with the Quartet’s original ideas, others felt the allure of its new sounds and suspected their importance for the future. The Quartet exhibits a certain cyclicism or the reuse of themes across movements—not as distinctly unmistakable entities in the manner of his conservatory teacher Franck but as alterations of previous ideas. This creation of new possibilities contributes to the music’s fluid quality. Variants of the first movement’s main theme appear throughout the Quartet, some more obviously related than others. Debussy relied more on the motive’s rhythmic characteristics and general contours than on its harmonic scheme and exact melodic details. In the scherzo, the texture and timbre immediately strike the ear even as the thematic ideas clearly derive from the first movement’s main motive, beginning with the viola’s quickened and obsessively repeated version. The murmuring accompaniment in the next section, over which the first violin plays an elongated version of the motive, provide a coloristic effect that Debussy was to employ frequently, particularly in his orchestral works. The often noted Russian character of the slow movement probably has its roots in Debussy’s sojourn in Russia as part of a piano trio employed by Madame Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky’s patroness. Whereas the movement indulges in a kind of Romantic-period expression, it also foreshadows the new style of Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune . The finale bridges the preceding movement by opening in the same remote key and quiet mood. Recitative-like musings from cello and first violin alternate with all four parts echoing chromatic and rhythmic variants of the main motive. The bridging continues in an animated passage that harks back to the textures and rhythms of the scherzo. Debussy then launches the finale proper with an agitated theme above shifting open-fifth chords. He recalls passages of all the movements, but in altered form so they seem to evolve rather than reprise. Tempo and textural changes abound, which apparently unsettled some of the early critics. The final exciting coda offers yet another look at the germinal motive. Debussy optimistically called the work “Premier quatuor ” as if he expected more to follow. He began a second quartet the following year, primarily to please his friend, composer Ernest Chausson, who had been surprisingly disappointed with the “First.” The two had a falling out, however, and Debussy never returned to the project. The Premier quatuor also contributed to the professional animosity between Debussy and Ravel. When Ravel’s Quartet in F appeared in 1902, the parallels with Debussy’s work were obvious—such as the shadowy accompanimental sixteenth-note figures in the first movement and the pizzicatos in the scherzo—igniting a firestorm in the press about the quartets’ rival virtues. Debussy is said to have written to the younger, harassed composer urging him not to change a note of his work, but this letter has never come to light. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ARNAUD SUSSMANN, VIOLIN Winner of a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Arnaud Sussmann has distinguished himself with his unique sound, bravura and profound musicianship. Minnesota’s Pioneer Press writes, “Sussmann has an old-school sound reminiscent of what you’ll hear on vintage recordings by Jascha Heifetz or Fritz Kreisler, a rare combination of sweet and smooth that can hypnotize a listener. His clear tone [is] a thing of awe-inspiring beauty, his phrasing spellbinding.” A thrilling young musician capturing the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world, Arnaud Sussmann has appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Paris Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Further solo appearances have included a tour of Israel and concerts at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Dresden Music Festival in Germany and at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Mr. Sussmann has been presented in recital in Omaha on the Tuesday Musical Club series, New Orleans by the Friends of Music, Tel Aviv at the Museum of Art and at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He has also given concerts at the OK Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest and Moritzburg festivals and appears regularly at the Caramoor, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Seattle Chamber Music, Moab Music and Saratoga Springs Chamber Music festivals. Recent concerto appearances include performances with Maestro Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra at the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony and the Grand Rapids Symphony. This past season, chamber music performances included tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to Korea’s LG Arts Center, Shanghai’s Oriental Center and Hong Kong’s Music Academy. Arnaud Sussmann has performed with many of today’s leading artists including Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman, Shmuel Ashkenazi, Wu Han, David Finckel, Jan Vogler and members of the Emerson String Quartet. He has worked with conductors such as Cristian Macelaru, Marcelo Lehninger, Rune Bergmann and Leon Botstein. A dedicated chamber musician, he has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2006 and has regularly appeared with them in New York and on tour, including a recent concert at London’s Wigmore Hall. A frequent recording artist, Arnaud Sussmann has released albums on Deutsche Grammophon’s DG Concert Series, Naxos, Albany Records and CMS Studio Recordings labels. His solo debut disc, featuring three Brahms Violin Sonatas with pianist Orion Weiss, was released in December 2014 on the Telos Music Label. He has been featured on multiple PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts alongside Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program and with musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Born in Strasbourg, France and based now in New York City, Arnaud Sussmann trained at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Juilliard School with Boris Garlitsky and Itzhak Perlman. Winner of several international competitions, including the Andrea Postacchini of Italy and Vatelot/Rampal of France, he was named a Starling Fellow in 2006, an honor which allowed him to be Mr. Perlman’s teaching assistant for two years. Mr. Sussmann now teaches at Stony Brook University on Long Island and was recently named Co-Artistic Director of Music@Menlo’s International Music Program.