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BRENTANO STRING QUARTET The Brentano String Quartet Mark Steinberg , violin Serena Canin , violin Misha Amory , viola Nina Lee , cello Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent ; the New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.” Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and was also honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. Since then, the Quartet has concertized widely, performing in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. In addition to performing the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet maintains a strong interest in contemporary music, and has commissioned many new works. Their latest project, a monodrama for quartet and voice called “Dido Reimagined,” was composed by Pulitzer-winning composer Melinda Wagner and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, and premiered in spring 2022 with soprano Dawn Upshaw. Other recent commissions include the composers Matthew Aucoin, Lei Liang, Vijay Iyer, James Macmillan, and a cello quintet by Steven Mackey (performed with Wilhelmina Smith, cello.) The Brentano Quartet has worked closely with other important composers of our time, among them Elliot Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Bruce Adolphe, and György Kurtág. They have also been privileged to collaborate with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and pianists Richard Goode, Jonathan Biss, and Mitsuko Uchida. The Quartet has recorded works by Mozart and Schubert for Azica Records, and all of Beethoven’s late Quartets for the Aeon label. In 2012, they provided the central music (Beethoven Opus 131) for the critically-acclaimed independent film A Late Quartet. Since 2014, the Brentano Quartet has served as Artists-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music. They were formerly the Ensemble-in-Residence at Princeton University, and were twice invited to be the collaborative ensemble for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet is named for Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars consider to be Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved”, the intended recipient of his famous love confession.

Howard Alden, guitar "He may be the best of his generation," writes Owen Cordle in JazzTimes . George Kanzler of the Newark Star Ledger proclaims that he is "the most impressive and creative member of a new generation of jazz guitarists." And Chip Deffaa of the New York Pos t observed that he is "...one of the very finest young guitarists working today." It seems that the only thing regarding Howard Alden on which the critics have debate is whether the remarkable jazz guitarist is one of the best or simply the best. Born in Newport Beach, California, in 1958, Howard began playing at age ten, inspired by recordings of Armstrong, Basie and Goodman, as well as those by guitarists Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt and George Van Eps. Soon he was working professionally around Los Angeles playing in groups ranging from traditional to mainstream to modern jazz. In 1979, Alden went east, for a summer in Atlantic City with Red Norvo, and continued to perform with him frequently for several years. Upon moving to New York City in 1982, Alden's skills, both as soloist and accompanist, were quickly recognized and sought-out for appearances and recordings with such artists as Joe Bushkin, Ruby Braff, Joe Williams, Warren Vache` and Woody Herman. He has continued to win accolades from critics and musicians alike, adding Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Mel Powell, Bud Freeman, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie and George Van Eps, as well as notable contemporaries such as Scott Hamilton and Ken Peplowski to his list of impressive credits. Howard Alden has been a Concord Jazz recording artist since the late '80s where his prolific recorded output as leader, co-leader, and versatile sideman, has captured an artist of consistently astonishing virtuosity and originality. One of the many highlights in Howard Alden's fruitful association with Concord Jazz came in 1991 when, at the urging of Concord President, Carl Jefferson, Alden recorded with one of his all-time heroes, seven-string guitar master George Van Eps on the album Thirteen Strings . As a result of his associating with - and inspiration from - George Van Eps, Alden has been playing the seven-string guitar since 1992. The seven string guitar imparts a greater range and harmonic richness to Alden's already colorful tonal palette, as evidenced on three remarkable follow-up albums with Van Eps, his critically acclaimed duo recordings with saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski, and the stunning interplay between Alden and special guest Frank Wess on Your Story - The Music of Bill Evans . Alden also teamed up with fellow guitarists Jimmy Bruno and Frank Vignola to record a three guitar outing entitled The Concord Jazz Guitar Collective , which was quickly called by some critics "an instant classic!" Alden's recording from 1996 Take Your Pick serves to underline Howard's wide scope of knowledge of jazz literature. Thoughout the disc, one is amazed at how skillfully Alden delivers interpretations with fresh surprises. Michael Moore, Bill Goodwin, Lew Tabackin, and Renee Rosnes combine with Alden to bring exciting interplay and thrills around every corner to the ten standard and lesser known gems hand picked for this recording. Released in honor of Concord's 25th anniversary was a duo recording with Jimmy Bruno, Full Circle teamed with the very first Concord recording Jazz/ Concord featuring Herb Ellis and Joe Pass. Howard can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1999 Woody Allen movie "Sweet and Lowdown", starring Sean Penn, who was also nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a legendary jazz guitarist in the '30s. Howard not only played all the guitar solos, but also coached Mr. Penn on playing the guitar for his role in the film. The London Observer had this to say about Alden's 2001 solo CD, My Shining Hour ; "If there is such a thing as a complete jazz guitarist, then Alden is it. Only a real virtuoso can sustain a whole CD of solo guitar with the aplomb he displays here." In 2004 Howard was the guitarist(and musical director) chosen for an all-star line-up commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, touring 50 cities of the United States in addition to their appearance at the Newport Festival. The 2005-2006 season saw Howard adding his acoustic guitar voice to violinist Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing on his national concert tour. His 2009 recording, “I REMEMBER DJANGO”, once again features his distinctive acoustic sound, developing and expanding the warm and elegant spirit of his performance in “Sweet and Low Down”. Howard’s inimitable playing has also been sought out by rock/blues/pop icon Steve Miller for recording projects and live appearances. Even country music legend Vince Gill recently said, after hearing Howard play in Nashville; “I’m meat and potatoes, but he’s the real deal!” And guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke has this to say about “Guitar” , Howard’s recent solo recording on K2B2 records; “It's the best recording of the seven-string guitar I've ever heard!”. In 2018, in addition to his solo guitar work, Howard has been asked to join multi-genre violin star Nigel Kennedy in recordings and concerts. Howard Alden was voted "Best Emerging Talent-Guitar" in the first annual JazzTimes critics' poll, 1990, and "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in the 1996, 1992, 1993 and 1995 Downbeat critics' poll. In February of 2009, Howard was recognized as a “Modern Maestro”, one of DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE’S 75 Great Guitarists of all time! “An original virtuoso”

June 2, 2024: Mozart’s Double Concertos WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364 June 2, 2024: Mozart’s Double Concertos Scarcely anything is known about the circumstances surrounding the composition of Mozart’s glorious Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola. In the voluminous Mozart correspondence there is no mention of any impending occasion, soloists for whom it was written, or performances that took place. The work was almost certainly completed in the summer of 1779 while Mozart was in Salzburg, having recently returned from a trip to Mannheim and Paris. No dated autograph source survives for scholarly reference, only a sketch of part of the first movement and some cadenza material. Modern editions must rely principally upon the first edition published in 1801 by Johann André. Many have guessed that Mozart had himself in mind as the viola soloist. He had switched allegiance from the violin during this Salzburg period, much to his father Leopold’s chagrin. One can only be thankful that the circumstances did arise for Mozart to compose this glorious work, which the great Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein went so far as to call “Mozart’s crowning achievement in the field of the violin concerto.” Though the Sinfonia concertante is scored like many earlier concertos for strings with oboes and horns, the orchestral writing is much richer. There are many passages for divided violas, extensive separation of the cello and bass parts, and the inclusion of the soloists in the many of the orchestral tuttis (ensemble sections). Furthermore, Mozart originally required the solo viola to be tuned a half-step higher than normal, to give it a brightness that made it stand out from the orchestral violas. Thus, though the work is in E-flat, the solo viola part was notated in D major. (Nowadays, however, the violist often elects to perform the solo part without this scordatura, or unusual tuning.) Mozart’s use of the marking maestoso (majestic) was infrequent; it colors the whole sonority of the first movement. Other unusual features of this sonata form movement are the use of a long, thrilling crescendo known as a “Mannheim crescendo”—used by Mozart in the Figaro Overture but seldom elsewhere—and the eloquent semi-recitatives that open the development. The poignant slow movement is in the older sonata form in which the second part closely follows the material of the first, except for the traditional alterations in the harmonic scheme; this framework was closer to a binary than ternary form. Each successive antiphonal phrase of the soloists seems to outdo the previous in expressiveness. For his Presto finale Mozart employed a sonata rondo without a development—or if there is a development, it lasts only four measures after which an exact recapitulation begins. Here the soloists enter with the main theme in the subdominant, a rare device for Mozart, but one later favored by Schubert. This coupled with other unexpected events, such as the very first entrance of the soloists, contribute to an exhilarating movement rich in inventiveness. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 133 October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET Toward the end of his life, Shostakovich was beset by multiple health problems—loss of feeling and mobility in his limbs, a heart attack, a broken ankle—all of which brought his performing career to an end and curtailed many of his civic activities. With sadly more time on his hands, lengthy hospital stays, and deaths of people in his circle, he began thinking more about his own mortality. Many of his late works—the vocal cycles, Symphony No. 14, and the last four string quartets—reflect this preoccupation by plumbing new depths. While living at the Composers’ Union retreat at Repino, Shostakovich wrote to his friend Isaak Glikman on March 9, 1968, that he constantly feared he would die and leave whatever piece he was working on incomplete. Just two days later he finished his String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat major and wrote to the first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet, Dmitry Tsïganov, whose birthday was March 12, asking him to accept the dedication. Two years earlier he had dedicated his Eleventh Quartet to the memory of Vasily Shirinsky, second violinist of the Quartet until his death in 1965, and thus Shostakovich was continuing his plan of writing a quartet for each member of the group that had premiered most of his quartets. Shostakovich was quite pleased with the work, reportedly answering Tsïganov’s question about whether it was “chamber” in its proportions by saying, “No, no—it’s a symphony, a symphony.” The Beethoven Quartet gave the private premiere on June 14, 1968, at the first creative convocation of the new secretariat of the Russian Composers’ Union. Shostakovich commented on the magnificence of the performance, and the favorable reaction of musicians in attendance made its way into the press in advance of the public premiere in Moscow on September 14. The audience at both performances recognized a newness of form and language in the Twelfth Quartet, in particular its reliance on twelve-tone themes. Though Shostakovich was well-aware of the avant-garde tendencies of his younger colleagues and had occasionally incorporated twelve-tone rows himself, he was now using them in a new way to suit his own purposes. He described his approach to twelve-tone writing in a remarkable encapsulation of his ideals just before the private premiere: As far as the use of strictly technical devices from such musical “systems” as dodecaphony or aleatory is concerned . . . everything in good measure. If, let’s say, a composer sets himself the obligatory task of writing dodecaphonic music, then he artificially limits his possibilities, his ideas. The use of elements from these complex systems is fully justified if it is dictated by the concept of the composition. . . . You know, to a certain extent I think the formula “the end justifies the means” is valid in music. All means? All of them, if they contribute to the end objective. What makes Shostakovich’s use of twelve-tone material in the Twelfth Quartet so fascinating is the way in which he juxtaposes it with the work’s tonal anchor of D-flat major. One might expect the twelve-tone writing to sound antagonistic and be settled by the reassurance of tonality, but Shostakovich’s D-flat major passages seem instead to explore other realms that are at times anguished, brutal, or drained of enjoyment. Laid out unconventionally in two movements with the second much longer than the first, the work opens with a wandering twelve-tone gesture in the cello, which is treated along with other dodecaphic fragments as a delineating device rather according to the “rules” of serial technique. The answering, low-register D-flat music with its oscillating rising patterns sounds sorrowfully contemplative and searching. Another twelve-tone utterance, now in the first violin, brings on a kind of waltz that is far-removed from a glittering social occasion, and yet another twelve-tone fragment introduces an idea characterized by staccato repeated notes. These ideas become joined or layered in myriad ingenious ways with the twelve-tone interjections serving as points of departure. The hushed, fragmented ending still seems in search of closure despite its D-flat fade-out. The huge second movement takes on the symphonic proportions and sonorities Shostakovich suggested in his remarks to Tsïganov. He rolls several movement-like sections into one, beginning with an almost savage mixed-meter “scherzo” that is pierced by individual trills and a jabbing melodic idea begun by the cello. Eventually the tumult dies away with a somber cello recitative that initiates a “slow movement” (Adagio) comprised of funereal chanting juxtaposed with searing melodic lines of great pathos. A striking, insistent pizzicato solo by the first violin based on first-movement figures launches a remarkable section that further develops materials from the entire work. Shostakovich combines motives and textures from the scherzo and the Adagio, and at a climactic point has the lower strings play dense pizzicato chords containing all twelve pitches. A brief revisiting of the Adagio’s sustained pathos brings a return to the first movement’s contemplative sorrow as if “ending with the beginning.” Shostakovich has more to say, however, and revs up the music of the “scherzo” to drive relentlessly to the conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

ORION WEISS, PIANO One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). With a warmth to his playing that outwardly reflects his engaging personality, Weiss’s “delicate, even fingerwork” (Washington Classical Review) and “head-spinning range of colors” (Chicago Tribune) have dazzled audiences around the world. He has performed with all of the major orchestras of North America, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic. In February of 2025, Weiss released Arc III, the final album in his recital trilogy, on First Hand Records. Weiss’s 24-25 performance schedule includes engagements with violinist James Ehnes, who joins Weiss for a return to London’s Wigmore Hall and for performances of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Seattle. Among numerous engagements with U.S. orchestras, Weiss makes his David Geffen Hall debut in New York with the American Symphony Orchestra. He performs Bach's Goldberg Variations at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Newport Classical in Rhode Island, among other recitals. He is featured in performances at Italy’s Teatro Marrucino Biglietteria and in the Great Artists Series at Washington University in St. Louis, on a tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at LaMusica Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida. Weiss also tours Japan, playing the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas with Akiko Suwanai and performs the complete Grieg Sonatas with James Ehnes in Bergen, Norway. Over the last year, Weiss made his return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Michael Tilson Thomas, and debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra, led by Ken-David Masur. He also toured the United States and Asia with violinist Augustin Hadelich and performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with Augustin Hadelich, as well as fellow violinists William Hagen and James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Weiss has appeared at venues and festivals including the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Schubert Club, Hong Kong Premiere Performances, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Series, the 92nd Street Y, and at summer music festivals including Bard, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Bravo! Vail, Sunriver, and Grand Teton, among many others. Other highlights from Weiss’s recent seasons include a live-stream with the Minnesota Orchestra; a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the release of his recording of Christopher Rouse’s Seeing, the first two installments of his critically acclaimed Arc recital trilogy; a recording of Korngold’s Left Hand concerto and other works with Leon Botstein and TON; and recordings of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta. Weiss can be heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung, and Artek labels on recordings such as The Piano Protagonists with The Orchestra Now, led by Leon Botstein; a disc of Scarlatti Sonatas for Naxos; a solo recital disc of Bartók, Dvorák, and Prokofiev; Brahms Sonatas with violinist Arnaud Sussmann; a solo recital album of J.S. Bach, Scriabin, Mozart, and Carter; and a recital disc with cellist Julie Albers. In March 2022, First Hand Records released the first album of Weiss’s Arc Trilogy – Arc I: Granados, Janáček, Scriabin – a recording exploring the omens and tension of the period preceding World War I. Gramophone Magazine praised the album as “expansive, colorful, and texturally varied.” Arc II, featuring the music of Ravel, Brahms, and Shostakovich, was released in November 2022. Arc III, featuring works by Brahms, Schubert, Debussy, Dohnányi, Ligeti, and Talma, was released in February 2025 and called a “a worthy successor to the distinguished predecessors” by Gramophone. Over recent years, Weiss has also raised his profile through video, assembling a broad and growing YouTube videography that includes Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the Op. 39 Rachmaninoff etudes, and Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, among many others. In the summer of 2011, Weiss made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood as a last-minute replacement for Leon Fleisher. In recent seasons, he has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and in summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Itzhak Perlman. Weiss’s list of awards includes the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at The Juilliard School, and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. He won the 2005 William Petschek Recital Award at Juilliard and made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall that April. Also in 2005, Weiss made his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. From 2002-2004, he was a member of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). A native of Lyndhurst, Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Program through high school, where he studied with Paul Schenly, Daniel Shapiro, and Sergei Babayan. His other teachers include Joseph Kalichstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Kathryn Brown, and Edith Reed. In February 1999, Weiss made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The next month, with less than 24 hours notice, Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was immediately invited to return for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto that October. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax. Learn more www.orionweiss.com .

JOEL NOYES, CELLO Joel Noyes is Assistant Principal Cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and is also very much in demand as chamber musician and recitalist. He regularly appears at the most prestigious concert halls throughout North America, and in 2018 alone his performing schedule will bring him from New York to Norway to China and across the U.S. He performed with Renee Fleming in the opening night concert of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and has been seen there many times since as part of the Musicians from the Met chamber series. He has been featured at festivals including Marlboro Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Strings Music Festival of Steamboat Springs, and serves as principal cellist of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. He has also collaborated with many of the world’s leading chamber musicians, including members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Vermeer Quartets. Along with fulfilling the demanding schedule at the Met Opera, at various times in his orchestral career Joel has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Born into a musical family in the state of Maine, he began playing the cello at the age of three under the tutelage of his father. Joel graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with David Soyer. His other teachers have included Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Marc Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet. A versatile musician, Joel composes his own music, has played Egyptian music in a band in New York, has performed on CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has participated in numerous movie soundtracks.

October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36 October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET Brahms’s Sextet in G major might be called his “Agathe” Sextet, because it is linked, whether as a salve to his conscience or as a farewell, to Agathe von Siebold, whom he had recently loved but rejected. Brahms wove a musical spelling of her name (or as close as he could get) into the continuation of the first movement’s beautiful second subject. The letter T is not available in musical terms so Brahms spelled it A–G–A–H–E (H is B-natural in German). Some have argued that he spelled it A–G–A–D–E, with the D coming out because it is so prominent in another voice, and that A–G–D is woven in elsewhere as well. In any case, the Sextet is a lovely tribute, though perhaps not as “Romantic” as, and certainly less exuberant than, the first Sextet in B-flat. The whole Sextet, in fact, has a veiled or mysterious quality, projected from the outset by the chromatically juxtaposed rising fifths of the first subject and the continuous oscillating half step of the viola accompaniment. The interval of a fifth and its inversion, the fourth, are thematically important to all four movements. The second movement is the Scherzo, but a scherzo in 2/4 rather than the customary triple meter. Brahms breaks into triple meter for the Presto giocoso trio, which is a thematic outgrowth of the Scherzo theme. The slow movement unfolds as a theme and variations, a form that held great fascination for Brahms ever since his student days with Eduard Marxsen. Brahms’s obvious examples in the form are his Haydn, Handel, Paganini, and Schumann variations and Fourth Symphony finale, but he also used variations frequently in his chamber music. The work ends with a turbulent sonata-rondo, in which the interval of a fifth is particularly exploited in the second theme. Brahms completed the first three movements in September of 1864 and the last movement in May 1865. The first public performance took place in Boston at a Mendelssohn Quintet Club Concert on October 11, 1866; the first European performance took place over a month later in Zürich. The performance in Vienna on February 3, 1867, which is often cited as the first, drew censure from the critics and indifference from the public. Brahms’s circle, however, was enthusiastic and subsequent performances convinced the public of the work’s great merit. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 8, 2022: Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Anna Polonsky, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; Fred Sherry, cello; Michael Parloff, lecturer WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 May 8, 2022: Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Anna Polonsky, piano; Paul Neubauer, viola; Fred Sherry, cello; Michael Parloff, lecturer According to Georg Nicolaus von Nissen (who married Constanze after Mozart’s death and wrote a biography of the composer), Mozart was contracted in 1785 by the publisher-composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister to write a series of three piano quartets. Mozart began the G minor Quartet in July that year—this is the date he entered in his own catalog for the work—and completed it on October 16, as indicated on the autograph manuscript. With this Quartet he had introduced a new genre to Vienna by adding the viola to the already prevalent piano trio combination. Hoffmeister complained that the Quartet was too difficult and that the public would not buy it. Reportedly he told Mozart, “Write more popularly, or else I can neither print nor pay for anything of yours!” Mozart released Hoffmeister from the contract saying, “Then I will write nothing more, and go hungry, or may the devil take me!” Hoffmeister allowed Mozart to keep the money he had already been paid. Mozart had already written the companion Quartet in E-flat major, K. 493, but never began the third. Hoffmeister did in fact issue the G minor Quartet in 1785, but lost money because of poor sales. He began engraving the first violin part of K. 493, but sold the plates to Artaria, who published the work in 1787. It is not surprising that Mozart’s piano quartets would have seemed unattractive to the Viennese public. Amateurs who were used to sightreading piano chamber music at salon gatherings found them too challenging. Even when the quartets had been rehearsed, the audience found them hard to appreciate because of the noisy surroundings and the poor performances at these social gatherings. An anonymous critic in 1788, after complaining bitterly about mangled, dilettantish performances, presumably of K. 493, wrote: What a difference when this much-advertised work of art is performed with the highest degree of accuracy by four skilled musicians who have studied it carefully, in a quiet room where the sound of every note cannot escape the listening ear, and in the presence of only two or three attentive persons! Like its E-flat major successor, the G minor Quartet is laid out in three movements: a large sonata-form first movement, a melodious slow movement—in this case in sonatina form (sonata form minus the development), and an exuberant rondo finale. Striking features of the G minor Quartet’s first movement include the earnest unison opening by all four players and the unusual dynamic emphasis of the second theme, grouping the subject into units of five beats. The graceful second movement, in the relative major, allows the seriousness of the first movement to abate. The piano presents the songlike first theme and the strings the second theme. Streams of thirty-second note figuration extend both themes. Mozart makes subtle alterations in the “recapitulation”—the cello in particular receives more attention. The finale turns the mood to one of out-and-out cheerfulness. Mozart clearly had a fondness for the D major theme of one of the episodes, which Alfred Einstein called “a moment of perfect bliss.” Instead of overexposing it in this movement, in which it never recurs, he reused it in the Rondo for piano, K. 485. Mozart sets the listener up for the conclusion only to divert the course by a crashing deceptive cadence, after which he winds up again for the true finish. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Kakadu Variations, Op. 121a January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio On July 19, 1816, Beethoven wrote to his Leipzig publisher Gottfried Christoph Härtel offering him his “Variations with an introduction and coda for Piano, violin, and violoncello upon a well-known theme by Müller,” adding, “They are from my earlier compositions but they do not belong to the reprehensible ones.” Beethoven had originally penned the Variations c. 1801–03, taking as his theme the well-known tune “Ich bin der Schneider Wetz und Wetz” (I am the tailor whet and whet) from Wenzel Müller’s 1794 singspiel (light opera with spoken dialogue) Die Schwestern von Prag (The sisters from Prague). The work charmed the Viennese in 130 performances at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt during Beethoven’s lifetime. An 1814 revival—the opera’s 122nd performance—may have prompted Beethoven to revisit the Variations and send them to his publisher in 1816, but he appears to have gone far beyond a mere dusting off. He likely made revisions in two stages, as scholar Lewis Lockwood has pointed out, both around 1816, and, since Härtel did not publish the work then, again around 1824 when Steiner published it as Opus 121a—the last of the master’s piano trios. In particular, Beethoven made substantial changes to his introduction and finale, the latter curiously labeled “rondo” in the 1824 publication but clearly not in that form. The popular tune that Beethoven used as his theme—now the opera’s best-known melody thanks to the Variations—underwent a name change by the time of the 1824 publication, because “Wetz und Wetz” (whet and whet, or grind and grind) had sexual connotations in Viennese dialect. The choice of the innocuous “Kakadu,” a comic bird, may have been related in some way to Mozart’s birdcatcher Papageno from The Magic Flute. In Müller’s singspiel, “Ich bin der Schneider Wetz und Wetz” is the entrance song of the tailor Krispin, who will disguise himself as the “sister from Prague” to gain the required approval for his master Herr von Gerstenfeld to marry Herr von Brummer’s daughter Wilhelmine against a field of undesirable suitors. Beethoven’s introduction, presumably expanded when he revisited the work, contrasts markedly from the more traditional ensuing variations. Fantasia-like, it anticipates the “Kakadu” tune in tantalizing bits as if, as Lockwood suggests, Müller’s simple, jocular theme is being “composed before our very ears.” Beethoven also seems to have tinkered with the last variation, elaborating it in a fugal manner and imbuing the coda with extra weight and the experience of his mature years. That Beethoven returned in Variations 1–9 to the more conventional if still engaging variations of his original set seems to say that he was happy with them as long as his introduction and conclusion now showed how far he had come in his maturity. After the drama of the introduction, the utterly simple presentation of Müller’s Papageno-like theme makes for a delightful comedic jolt. Variation 1 features the piano alone, Variation 2 highlights the violin in running triplets and birdlike ornaments over dainty piano, and Variation 3 presents the cello in lyrical lines to gentle piano accompaniment. Variations 4, 5, and 6 combine the three instruments—No. 4 sending the piano in cascading descents and ascents, No. 5 introducing contrapuntal imitation, and No. 6 requiring virtuosic delicate piano octave figurations with pointed “chirps” from the strings. Variation 7 gives the violin and cello a simple contrapuntal duet, Variation 8 shows Beethoven’s fleet-footed rhythmic play in alternation between strings and piano, and Variation 9 presents the requisite minor-mode Adagio for somberly expressive contrast. Variation 10 scampers at lightning speed until the coda begins in a simple, slightly martial Allegretto that Beethoven builds in fugal style to a grand, spirited conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 16, 2020: Ying Fang, soprano; Ken Noda, piano SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943) Six Songs, Op. 38: In My Garden at Night, To Her, Daisies, Pied Piper, Dreams, A-oo February 16, 2020: Ying Fang, soprano; Ken Noda, piano Rachmaninoff composed all of his approximately ninety songs in the first half of his life—the first in 1890, when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, and his final set, op. 38, in 1916, the year before he left Russia for what turned out to be the last time. This last collection and the one before, op. 34, came about in part through a fan letter he received in 1912 from someone signed “Re.” Soon discovering that the sender was poet Marietta Shaganian, he wrote to ask for suggestions of poems to set, saying: “The authors may be living or dead—it makes no difference!—only that the things must be original, not translations, and must be no more than 8 to 12 lines long, at most 16. And one more thing: the mood should be sad rather than happy. The lighter shades don’t come easily to me!” Of the fourteen songs in Opus 34, half, he wrote to Shaganian, were ones she had suggested and analyzed for him. Most were Romantic poets with the addition of the more modern Bal’mont. For the Opus 38 set, she again provided texts for him, trying to turn his conservative tastes toward more contemporary symbolist poets, such as Blok, Bryusov, Severyanin, Sologub, and again Bal’mont. Though the composer had noted his affinity for dark moods, which had characterized his earlier songs, these two last sets for the most part transmit more peaceful, uplifting, and even humorous aspects than gloomy ones. Rachmaninoff had plenty of reason for gloom in the fall of 1916 because he was being treated at a sanatorium in Essentuki for tiredness and a pain in his wrist. Shaganian visited him there and described his state of total despair and self-doubt saying that he broke into tears several times as he described his inability to work and the galling idea that it was impossible to be anything more than “a well-known pianist and a mediocre composer.” She ended her lengthy description saying, “He spoke of the impossibility of living in the state he was, and all this in a terrible dead voice, almost that of an old man, with his eyes lifeless and his face grey and ill.” It was during that visit that she gave him a notebook full of her suggestions of poems to set, just as she had done four years earlier. This helped to jolt him out of his creative slump, but he was also aided by visits from other friends, his move out of the sanatorium to nearby spa city Kislovodsk—and above all spending time with the young soprano Nina Pavlovna Koshetz, whom he had accompanied in a recital that spring and who had also visited him at Essentuki. They made plans for another concert, he composed the Opus 38 Songs in August and September, and they premiered them in Moscow in October 24. Rachmaninoff opens the Six Songs with the haunting “In My Garden at Night,” his setting of Alexander Blok’s translation of Avetik Isaakian’s poem, in which he responds to the images of the weeping willow—metaphorically a lovelorn maiden—with simple, melancholic unmeasured phrases. The second half rises to an impassioned peak at “bitterly” as the poem promises that “tender maiden dawn” will dry weeping willow’s tears. “To Her” continues the lovelorn theme, this time a poem by Andrey Bely in which each of three verses ends with the poet calling futilely to his beloved. Rachmaninoff allows great metric freedom in his through-composed setting but preserves the structural text refrains with recognizably similar but ingeniously varied, impassioned phrases. Other striking features include the opening five-note chromatic gesture, which permeates the setting even when the accompaniment becomes more dense, and the fluid music for the river Lethe, the mythological river in Hades that causes forgetfulness. For “Daisies,” op. 38, no. 3, Rachmaninoff chose a 1909 unassuming nature poem by Igor Severyanin. His setting exudes charm with its treble-oriented sonorities, its graceful, independent melodies for the voice and the piano right-hand, and its memorable extended piano postlude. “The Pied Piper,” fourth in the set, shows Rachmaninoff’s rarely seen humorous side as he responds to Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov’s 1914 poem, itself a play on the famous legend. The piper lures—not rats or children—but his beloved out of her house with the enticing sounds of his flute. Rachmaninoff delightfully depicts the flute in both the voice and piano parts. In “A Dream,” op. 38, no. 5, Rachmaninoff responds ingeniously to poet Fyodor Sologub’s images of disembodied dreaming. His atmospheric piano part uses various bell-like sounds—a favorite device of his—to set the scene for the soaring vocal lines. Placed last in Opus 38, “A-oo” sets a 1909 poem by Konstantin Dmitriyevich Bal’mont in which a lover remembers fondly the laughter of his beloved and a dream of them running together to a mountain slope. Rachmaninoff’s pianistic shimmer aptly conveys the poet’s eager, anticipation of finding her, his agitated chords and short vocal phrases portray the lover’s confusion at not finding her, and the music builds to an incredibly impassioned peak as the lover calls “A-oo” hoping she’ll answer back. That hope clearly dies in the piano postlude, which trails off in open-ended quiet. © Jane Vial Jaffe Texts and Translations Ночью в саду у меня Ночью в саду у меня Плачет плакучая ива, И безутешна она Ивушка, Грустная ива. Раннее утро блеснет, Нежная девушка Зорька Ивушке, плачущей горько, Слёзы кудрями сотрет. —Alexander Blok In My Garden at Night At night in my garden a weeping willow weeps, and she is inconsolable, weeping willow, sad willow. When early morning shines tender maiden dawn will dry bitterly weeping willow’s tears with her curls. К ней Травы одеты перлами. Где-то приветы Грустные слышу, Приветы милые . . . Милая, где ты, Милая! Вечера светы ясные, Вечера светы красные Руки воздеты: Жду тебя, Милая, где ты, Милая? Руки воздеты: Жду тебя, В струях Леты смытую Бледными Леты струями… Милая, где ты, Милая! —Andrey Bely To Her Pearls adorn the grass. From somewhere I hear mournful greetings, Cherished greetings . . . Dear one, where are you? Dear one! The lights of evening are clear, The lights of evening are red, My arms raised, I await you, Dear one, where are you? Dear one? My arms raised, I await you; In the streams, Lethe washes the years away, Pale Lethe, In the streams, Dear one, where are you? Dear one! (Маргаритки) О, посмотри! как много маргариток— И там, и тут . . . Они цветут; их много; их избыток; Они цветут. Их лепестки трёхгранные—как крылья, Как белый шёлк . . . В них лета мощ! В них радость изобилья! В них слетлый полк. Готовь, земля, цветам из рос напиток, Дай сок стеблю . . . О, девушки! о, звезды маргариток! Я вас люблю . . . —Igor Severyanin Daisies Oh, look! how many daisies— here and there . . . they are blooming; so many; they are abundant. they are blooming. Their petals are triangluar—like wings, like white silk . . . they have the power of summer! the joy of abundance! they are a radiant regiment. Earth, prepare the flowers a drink of dew, give the stems juice. Oh, maidens, oh starry daisies, I love you! Крысолов Я на дудочке играю,— Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Я на дудочке играю, Чьи-то души веселя. Я иду вдоль тихой речки, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Дремлют тихие овечки, Кротко зыблются поля. Спите, овцы и барашки, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, За лугами красной кашки Стройно встали тополя. Малый домик там таится, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Милой девушке приснится, Что ей душу отдал я. И на нежный зов свирели, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Выйдет словно к светлой цели Через сад через поля. И в лесу под дубом темным, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Будет ждать в бреду истомном, В час, когда уснет земля. Встречу гостью дорогую, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Вплоть до утра зацелую, Сердце лаской утоля. И, сменившись с ней колечком, Тра-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля-ля, Отпущу ее к овечкам, В сад, где стройны тополя. —Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov Pied Piper I play upon my little pipe,— tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I play upon my little pipe, making people’s souls merry. I walk along a quiet stream, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, gentle lambs doze, Fields wave softly. Sleep, sheep and lambs, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, beyond the meadows of red clover slender poplars rise. A little house is hidden there, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, a sweet girl will dream that I gave her my soul. And at the gentle call of my flute, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, she will come as if to a radiant goal, through the garden, through the fields. And in the forest under a dark oak, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, she will wait in dazed delirium for the hour when the earth falls asleep. I shall meet my dear guest, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I shall kiss her until morning, assuaging my heart with caresses. And once we have exchanged rings, tra-la-la-la-la-la-la, I’ll let her go to the lambs, to the garden with the slender poplars. Son (Сон) В мире нет ничего Дожделеннее сна, Чары есть у него, У него тишина, У него на устах Ни печаль и ни смех, И в бездонных очах Много тайных утех. У него широки, Широки два крыла, И легки, так лёгки, Как полночная мгла. Не понять, как несёт, И куда и на чем Он крылом не взмахнет И не двинет плечом. —Fyodor Sologub Dream There is nothing in the world better than sleep, he has an enchantment, he silence. He has on his lips neither sadness nor laughter and in bottomless eyes many secret pleasures. He has wide, two wide wings, and they are light, so light like a midnight shadow. How he carries you is unknown, and where, on what, he won’t flap his wing And he will not move his shoulder. Ау Твой нежный смех был сказкою изменчивою, Он звал как в сон зовёт свирельный звон. И вот венком, стихом тебя увенчиваю. Уйдём, бежим вдвоем на горный склон. Но где же ты? Лишь звон вершин позванивает Цветку цветок средь дня зажег свечу. И чей-то смех все в глубь меня заманивает. Пою, ищу, Ау! Ау! кричу. —Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal’mont A-oo! Your gentle laughter was a volatile fairy tale, calling like a flute in a dream. Now I crown you with a wreath of verse. Let’s go, let’s run together to the mountainside. But where are you? Only the sound of the heights is ringing a flower for another flower lit a candle midday. And someone’s laughter deep inside lures me. I sing, I search, “A-oo!” “A-oo!” I shout. Return to Parlance Program Notes

GOLDMUND STRING QUARTET Florian Schötz, violin 
 Pinchas Adt, violin 
 Christoph Vandory, viola 
 Raphael Paratore, cello The Goldmund Quartet is known to feature exquisite playing (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and such multi-layered homogeneity (Süddeutsche Zeitung) in its interpretations of the great classical and modern works of the quartet literature. Its inwardness, the unbelievably fine intonation and the phrases worked out down to the smallest detail inspire audiences worldwide. In keeping with the theme of their current CD "Travel Diaries", the past season was marked by international travel. The Quartet travelled to Colombia for the Cartagena Music Festival and toured the U.S. with stops in New York, Boston, Kansas, Tucson, Salt Lake City and Montreal. Back in Europe, their busy schedule took them to Italy, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. The 2022/23 season features a firework display of musical highlights. A tour of Japan by invitation of the Nippon Foundation is followed by the Quartet's debut at Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Performances in Padova and at Teatro Reggio Emilia lead the Quartet to Italy while performances of Chausson's Sextet with violinist Noa Wildschut and pianist Elisabeth Brauss are scheduled in Holland and Belgium. In the second half of the season the Quartet follows invitations from Sociedad Filarmonica in Bilbao and the Hemsing Festival in Norway before concluding the season with recitals at Berlin Konzerthaus, Prinzregententheater Munich, Musikverein Graz, Mercatorhalle Duisburg, Mönchengladbach, Bensheim and the Marvão Festival in Portugal. The winners of the renowned 2018 International Wigmore Hall String Competition and the 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition have been selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation as Rising Stars of the 2019/20 season. Since 2019, they have been performing Antonio Stradivari's Paganini Quartet, provided by the Nippon Music Foundation. In addition, the quartet was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize in March 2020 and the Freiherr von Waltershausen Prize in December 2020. In 2016, the quartet was already a winner of the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize and the Karl Klinger Prize of the ARD Competition. In 2020, Berlin Classics released "Travel Diaries", the Goldmund Quartet's third album with works by Wolfgang Rihm, Ana Sokolovic, Fazil Say and Dobrinka Tabakova, which Harald Eggebrecht described as "one of the liveliest and most stimulating string quartet CDs of recent times". (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Their Travel Diaries are the musical diary from their last decade together and a sound document that is both reflective and forward-looking. Chamber music partners include artists such as Jörg Widmann, Ksenija Sidorova, Alexander Krichel, Alexey Stadler and Wies de Boevé, Nino Gvetadze, Noa Wildschut, Elisabeth Brauss, Maximilian Hornung, Frank Dupree, Simon Höfele. In addition to studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and with members of the Alban Berg Quartet, including Günter Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia and the Artemis Quartet in Berlin, master classes and studies with members of the Hagen, Borodin, Belcea, Ysaye and Cherubini Quartets, Ferenc Rados, Eberhard Feltz and Alfred Brendel gave the quartet important musical impulses.