SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 AT 8 PM CANDLELIT HAYDN: THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST BUY TICKETS CHIARA STRING QUARTET “The performances had shape and grace and ample room to breathe, but they never lacked mystery or intensity.” — The Boston Globe “The Chiara’s deeply personalized performance felt so vital” — The New York Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS “Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near the infinite.” — Thomas Carlyle Regardless of culture or style, music has always been experienced as a direct pathway to the spirit. In Haydn’s own description of his great wordless oratorio, he wrote, “Each movement is expressed by purely instrumental music in such a fashion that it produces the deepest impression in the soul of even the most uninstructed listener .” Haydn’s timeless masterpiece of spiritual music was conceived as a multimedia event combining special lighting, spoken words, and music. On Saturday , February 17 at at 8 PM the highly acclaimed Chiara String Quartet will recreate the candlelit ambience of the 1787 premiere in Cádiz’s Oratorio de la Santa Cueva. At 7:00 PM , Artistic Director Michael Parloff will introduce the work and its history in a half-hour multimedia preview. Haydn explained the origin of the work in the preface to the 1801 edition: “Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose instrumental music on the Seven Last Words of Our Savior On the Cross. It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar. The interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits.” — Franz Joseph Haydn PROGRAM Joseph Haydn The Seven Last Words of Christ for string quartet Program Notes Watch the Chiara String Quartet perform Ravel’s String Quartet (1st mvt) from memory: Watch Part 1 of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ (Zemlinsky Quartet):

ALEX BROWN, JAZZ PIANO Setting the tone for the second decade of the 21st century, pianist Alex Brown kicked it off with a feature article in the January 2010 issue of Keyboard magazine. His reputation continues expanding via his notable performances with everyone from innovative saxophonist Miguel Zenon to the legendary Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. A member of Paquito D’Rivera’s ensemble since 2007, he shared in that ensemble’s 2010 Grammy nomination for D’Rivera’s album, Jazz-Clazz. Of Brown’s 2010 debut CD with his own ensemble, Pianist, DownBeat magazine proclaimed it “A really fine record that leaves you wanting more.” This just a year after his 2009 graduation with a Bachelor of Music from New England Conservatory where he studied with Danilo Perez and Charlie Banacos, among others. Due to his diverse influences, classical, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, Afro-Caribbean, and Brazilian styles all co-mingle—naturally and infectiously—in Brown’s music. Doubtlessly, this versatility contributed to his collecting an array of student and young composer awards from ASCAP, DownBeat magazine, and BMI, propelling him towards a professional career. Now in Alex Brown’s rear-view mirror are appearances at top jazz venues and festivals, including: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, Birdland, Blue Note in New York (and Tokyo), Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., the Telluride Jazz Celebration, and Israel’s Red Sea Jazz Festival.

SIR JAMES GALWAY, FLUTE The living legend of the flute, Sir James Galway is regarded as both the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Sir James has made himself a modern musical master, whose virtuosity on the flute is equaled only by his limitless ambitions and vision. Through his extensive touring, over 30 million albums sold, and his frequent international television appearances, Sir James has endeared himself to millions worldwide and is a tireless promoter of the arts. Still sharing his love of performing, Sir James opened his 2014/15 season receiving the coveted Gramophone Classical Music Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the classical music industry, in a star-studded ceremony in London. His concert schedule opened with a tour through Asia, Canada, and the U.S., incorporating his educational work alongside his concert performances. A long-awaited South American tour will be preceded by a special Birthday Tribute Concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in aid of Music Education and Autism. A return to Europe saw Sir James performing a JS Bach tribute in London, closing the year with his annual New Year’s Eve concert in Switzerland. The New Year brought in more educational work and a tour of South Africa with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The first South African Galway Flute Festival concluded with a spectacular Starlight Classics concert in Cape Town, incorporating flute students from the festival. Spring brought in a return to the U.S. with concerts in NY and LA to name a few, followed by a return to various performances throughout Europe. Sir James devoted most of the summer to his educational outreach programmes, including First Flute, his online Flute education community. In celebration of Sir James’ legacy to music, Sony Classics has honored the “Master of the Flute” with the release of a special box set containing 71 CDs—all his recordings for Sony/RCA (available at Amazon.com). Belfast born, Sir James studied in London and Paris before embarking on his orchestral career in such prestigious orchestras such as the Sadlers Wells and Royal Covent Garden Operas, The BBC, Royal Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, before taking up the coveted position of solo flautist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. Since launching his successful career as a soloist in 1975, his busy touring schedule sees him performing with the world’s leading orchestras and most prestigious conductors. From Galway’s lips have come definitive treatments of classical repertoire and masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart. He also features contemporary music in his programs, including new flute works commissioned by him and for him by composers such as Adamo, Amram, Bolcom, Corigliano, Heath, Lieberman, and Maazel. Recent commissions include a concerto “Linen & Lace” by Bill Whelan (composer of Riverdance); concerto by Elaine Agnew “Dark Hedges” commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the Royal Albert Hall Proms, and a Double Flute concerto for 2 flutes written especially for Sir James and Lady Galway by the Northern Irish Composer, Philip Hammond. Alongside his busy performing schedule he makes time to share his wisdom and experience with the young through the 10-day “Galway Flute Festival” he holds each year with his wife, Lady Jeanne Galway, in Switzerland and the USA. Through these, and the numerous other classes they hold worldwide throughout the year, they are able to have a hands-on mentoring of the students they meet ( www.galwayflutefestival.com ). Launched in December 2013, is the ground breaking “First Flute. ” Sir James’ online Educational Network is geared for students, teachers, and music lovers, allowing them to have first-hand access to Sir James’ invaluable expertise ( www.firstflute.com ). Sir James continues commissioning new works for the flute, publishing articles, flute studies, and books. To celebrate his legacy and commitment to flute players all over the world, he has recently collaborated with Nagahara Flutes of Boston who have created a special “James Galway Nagahara flute series”; as part of their 125th Anniversary, William S. Haynes have also produced a James Galway Q Series edition. A discography of over 70 CDs with BMG Sony Classics and Deutsche Grammophon ranging from the great classics such as Mozart and Bach, his performing on the sound track of Lord of the Rings (Return of the King), and his recording of “O’Reilly Street” with the Cuban timba group, Tiempo Libre, reflects his mastery of musical diversity. Sir James has played for such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, President Clinton, President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush, President Mary McAleese, President Michael D. Higgins, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Prince Charles, HRH The Princess Royal, The Empress of Japan, The Queen of Norway, Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Diana, TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent, President Shimon Peres and most recently, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and shared the stage with an amazing array of entertainers including Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, John Denver, Elton John, The Chieftains, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Jessye Norman, Cleo Laine, and Andrea Bocelli. He performed with Pink Floyd in their memorable concert at the Berlin Wall, was part of the Nobel Peace concert in Norway and performed at the G Seven summit hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace. He also devotes much of his free time supporting charitable organizations such as SOS, FARA, Future Talent, Youth Music (UK), The Caron Keating Foundation, Lorin Maazel’s Châteauxville Foundation, Shimon Peres Peace Center educational project and UNICEF, with which he holds the title of special representative. He is also Ambassador to the European Brain Council. Among the many honors and awards for his musical achievements are: the Gramophone 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award; the Grammy President’s Merit Award; Classic Brits Lifetime Achievement Award; The Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame; The National Concert Hall Dublin Lifetime Achievement Award, and numerous gold and platinum CDs. In December 2009, Sir James was awarded the honor of being made the first Artist Laureate of the Ulster Orchestra. He has been honored twice by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with The OBE in 1979 and again in 2001 with a Knighthood for his services to music. Sir James lives with his wife and family in Switzerland and currently plays on the 20K “Galway” Nagahara Flute, especially commissioned for him.

October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Piano Trio in E-flat major, op. 1, no. 1 October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello Beethoven carefully considered his presentation to the musical world of Vienna. Though he had composed quite a few works by 1795, he chose the three Trios that form Opus 1 as his first publication. He had been sponsored by Elector Maximilian Franz to move from his hometown of Bonn to Vienna at the end of 1792, to study with the great Joseph Haydn and to make his name in a musically more active world. Haydn was writing piano trios at that time, and though Beethoven probably had started work on his trios before he left Bonn, it was natural for him to work on them under the influence of his new teacher. When Haydn left for a sojourn in London in January 1794, Beethoven immediately began studies with Johann Albrechtsberger, which continued for fourteen months until Haydn’s return. A sketch for one of the movements of the G major Trio, op. 1, no. 2, was found among lessons Beethoven had done for Albrechtsberger. The Trios were performed privately in 1794 at the house of Prince Lichnowsky, the dedicatee of the Opus 1 Trios. Ferdinand Ries, later Beethoven’s pupil, reported many years after the fact that Haydn was among the distinguished guests in the audience and that the older composer had many nice things to say about the works, but advised against publishing the Third in C minor, saying the public would have difficulty understanding it. Ries also reported that Beethoven took this to be a sign of jealousy on Haydn’s part. It has been shown more recently that Ries’s account mixed up the chronology and that possible qualms Haydn may have had about the C minor Trio were raised upon his second return from London in 1795, after the Trios had already been published. In response to this and other accounts that Haydn was envious of the younger composer, esteemed musicologist James Webster wrote, “[I]t is inconceivable that the powerful and original genius of Haydn at the height of his powers should have had any difficulty with this work . . . or indeed any of Beethoven’s music of the 1790s, unless for reasons that reflect on Beethoven’s limitations rather than his own.” Furthermore, Webster demonstrated that no irreparable falling out between the two composers occurred in the 1790s, though they did experience a period of distrust between 1800 and 1804. Beethoven may have worked more on the Trios after the 1794 performance and perhaps other performances of them at Prince Lichnowsky’s. But his most likely reason for delaying their publication until 1795 was to build up a following—meaning a sufficient number of subscribers. Like the other Opus 1 Trios and the Opus 2 Piano Sonatas, Beethoven conceived of the E-flat major Trio in four movements, despite the custom of the day to compose chamber works with piano in three movements. Beethoven’s first public utterance, the first theme of the first movement, takes simple repeated chords and upward-rushing arpeggios and makes distinct motives out of them—short “building-block” kinds of motives that remained central to his mature style. Three quiet repeated chords begin the second theme, which stays within a narrow range in contrast to the more ebullient first theme. His sonata-form movement concludes with an extended coda, showing even in his early work the tendency toward substantial codas that begin almost as second development sections. The Adagio cantabile gently follows a rondo scheme as three presentations of the graceful main theme alternate with two contrasting episodes. Beethoven adds ornamental variants with each recurrence of the main theme and subtracts from its total length in the second appearance to make a more concise form. Beethoven wrote a scherzo instead of a minuet for the third movement of his Trio. Haydn had written minuets in fast enough tempos to be considered scherzos and even used the term Scherzo in his Opus 33 Quartets of 1781, but he was not writing scherzos in his piano trios or for that matter giving them a fourth movement. Beethoven’s sense of humor surfaces in the present Scherzo as it merrily begins in a key twice removed from the home key (the dominant of the dominant). The recurring little three-note motive with a grace note contributes to the section’s cheerful character. The Trio certainly changes character and texture, with long sustained notes in the strings supporting quiet legato figures in the piano. A striking leap of a tenth, heard three times, initiates the exuberant Presto Finale, which contains elements of both sonata and rondo form. The second theme, with its arpeggiated then stepwise descent, enters in each instrument in turn—violin, cello, piano, and again in the violin. Beethoven shows a little harmonic ingenuity late in the movement when this theme appears in E major before returning dramatically to the home key of E-flat. Just before the affirmative closing measures he has a bit of fun with his leaping motive. All in all the Trio makes a very assured as well as promising first opus. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

COLEMAN ITZKOFF, BAROQUE CELLO Coleman Itzkoff Baroque cello Prizewinner at the 2019 Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Competition, cellist Coleman Itzkoff is a founding member of the innovative American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), where his work extends beyond performance into dance and theater. He studied at Rice University and the University of Southern California and earned a Juilliard Artist Diploma, studying with Timothy Eddy, Richard Aaron, and baroque cellist Phoebe Carrai.

DAVID J. GROSSMAN, BASS Double bassist and composer David J. Grossman enjoys a multi-faceted musical career in both classical and jazz genres on both the East and West Coasts – as bassist in the New York Philharmonic (joining as its youngest member) and Principal Bassist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, Mr. Grossman gave the West Coast premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s bass concerto Dark with Excessive Bright as part of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2019-2020 subscription season. He has also given recitals and master classes at the Yale School of Music, The Boston Conservatory, the Hartt School of Music, Penn State University, as well as numerous faculty recitals at the Manhattan School of Music (where he is on faculty), among others. Mr. Grossman has released two albums (one classical and one jazz) entitled The Bass of Both Worlds , available from his website, www.davidjgrossman.com . Also a passionate chamber musician, he regularly performs in the New York Philharmonic Ensembles Concerts at Merkin Hall, has performed at the 92nd Street Y, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, to name a few. In the field of jazz, Mr. Grossman was a member of the Marcus Roberts Trio and has performed with Wynton Marsalis, among many others. As a composer, Mr. Grossman’s compositions include Mood Swings for trombone and double bass, written for New York Philharmonic Principal Trombonist Joseph Alessi, Fantasy on “Shall We Gather at the River?” , written for Thomas Stacy; and two early compositions: Swing Quartet and String Quintet No. 1 , which were premiered by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

SARAH CROCKER VONSATTEL, VIOLIN Violinist Sarah Crocker Vonsattel has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2008. She previously held positions in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Sarah has appeared as soloist with the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, among others. Recent performances include appearances at Lake Tahoe Summerfest, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, the Bronxville Chamber Music Series, Downtown Music at Grace Church, the New Marlborough House Concerts, and the Syracuse Society for New Music. As a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, Sarah was a Grand Prize Winner of the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, leading to concert tours in the U.S. and Italy with this ensemble. A proponent of new music, Sarah has appeared with the iO string quartet and the Talea Ensemble and can be heard on the Bridge Records label performing the music of Poul Ruders and Tod Machover. She has appeared as both performer and faculty member at festivals including the Orfeo International Music Festival (Italy), the Wellesley Composers Conference (Massachusetts), and the Musical Friends Academy (Tunisia). She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of David Updegraff, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ronald Copes and Naoko Tanaka. In her spare time, she enjoys distance running and traveling.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2021 AT 3 PM THE SCHUMANN STRING QUARTET MENDELSSOHN, RAVEL, AND MOZART BUY TICKETS PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN Paul Huang possesses a big, luscious tone, spot-on intonation and a technique that makes the most punishing string phrases feel as natural as breathing.” — The Washington Post SCHUMANN STRING QUARTET “Fire and energy. The Schumann Quartet plays staggeringly well with sparkling virtuosity and a willingness to astonish” — Süddeutsche Zeitung FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS One of today’s fastest rising ensembles, the Schumann String Quartet has been hailed worldwide for their fire, energy, and supreme technical accomplishment. Their Parlance debut will include Mendelssohn’s precocious Quartet in A minor, Op. 13, Maurice Ravel’s spellbinding Quartet in F, and Mozart’s adventurous “Dissonance” quartet. PROGRAM Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 Program Notes Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F Program Notes W.A. Mozart String Quartet in C, K. 465 (“Dissonance”) Program Notes Watch the Schumann String Quartet perform Mendelssohn’s F-minor Quartet, Op. 80:

PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA (2021) Violist Paul Neubauer’s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him “a master musician”. He is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Mostly Music series in New Jersey. This season he will be featured in a Live from Lincoln Center broadcast with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and will premiere a new work for viola and piano by Liliya Ugay written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Carson McCullers’s birth. He also appears with his trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and as soloist with orchestra. His recording of the Aaron Kernis Viola Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a work he premiered with the St. Paul Chamber, Los Angeles Chamber, and Idyllwild Arts orchestras and the Chautauqua Symphony will be released on Signum Records. A two-time Grammy nominee, in 2016, Mr. Neubauer released a solo album of music recorded at Music@Menlo. His recording of piano quartets with Daniel Hope, David Finckel and Wu Han was recently released on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Joan Tower’s Purple Rhapsody with Timothy Russsell and the Pro Music Chamber Orchestra, commissioned for him by seven orchestras and the Koussevitsky Foundation, was released by Summit Records. Other recorded works that were written for him include: Wild Purple for solo viola by Joan Tower for Naxos; Viola Rhapsody a concerto by Henri Lazarof on Centaur Records; and Soul Garden for viola and chamber ensemble by Derek Bermel on CRI. His recording of the Walton Viola Concerto was recently re-released on Decca and his Schumann recital album with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott was recorded for Image Recordings. During his six year tenure with the New York Philharmonic, Paul Neubauer appeared as soloist with that orchestra in over twenty performances. One particularly memorable performance was the New York premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Viola Concerto with Penderecki conducting. He has appeared with over 100 orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the San Francisco, National, St. Louis, Dallas, Indianapolis, Puerto Rico and Cincinnati symphonies, the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn (with whom he performed the world premiere of the newly revised version of Bartók’s Viola Concerto), the Kansas City Symphony (premiering Tobias Picker’s Viola Concerto), the English Chamber Orchestra (performing the world premiere of Gordon Jacob’s Viola Concerto no. 2), and the Knoxville Symphony (premiering David Ott’s Viola Concerto). Mr. Neubauer made his Carnegie Hall Debut playing the first performance of Joel Philip Friedman’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with the National Orchestral Association. He has also appeared with the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ensemble orchestral de Paris, Orquesta Filharmonica de Buenos Aires, Bournemouth Symphony, and the Taipei National Symphony. In Rome, he has performed with violinist Vladimir Spivakov and the Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecelia. Other collaborations include performances with Andre Watts and Vladimir Feltsman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis at London’s Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Hall’s; and with Pinchas Zukerman, James Galway, Vladimir Spivakov and Alicia de Larrocha at the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has also collaborated with the Emerson, Shanghai, Juilliard, Cleveland, Fine Arts, Orion, Borromeo, Miami, and Brentano quartets. Mr. Neubauer’s musical activities are consistently creative. In a pair of highly acclaimed New York premieres, he performed Bartók’s Viola Concerto (which he helped to revise along with Bartók’s son, Peter and composer Nelson Dellamaggiore), and Max Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with clarinetist David Shifrin. He also gave the North American premiere of the Detlev Müller-Siemens Viola Concerto and Richard Suter’s Three Nocturnes for Viola and Orchestra. He has been featured as a special guest artist of the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center in performances of Viola Alone, and on the popular radio show A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He was very successful as the director of Voilà Viola, a viola festival held at Merkin Hall in New York, and has toured the United States with pianist Christopher O’Riley, violinist Pamela Frank, and cellist Carter Brey. In addition to his innumerable orchestral, recital, and festival appearances, Paul Neubauer is accessible to a broad range of television and radio audiences through Live from Lincoln Center telecasts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning; in recital on PBS’s Front Row Center and In Concert; on Argentinean, Brazilian, and Mexican television as soloist with orchestras; on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and Morning Edition, on St. Paul Sunday Morning, as well as on international radio performances throughout the world. Among Mr. Neubauer’s numerous awards are First Prize in the Mae M. Whitaker International Competition, the D’Angelo International Competition, and the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. He has been the recipient of a Solo Recitalist’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a special prize from the Naumburg Foundation, which awarded him an Alice Tully Hall recital debut. Moreover, the Epstein Young Artists Program has sponsored him and he was the first violist chosen to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Born in Los Angeles and currently residing in New York City, Mr. Neubauer studied with Alan de Veritch, Paul Doktor, and William Primrose. He holds a Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School where he is now a member of the faculty. He also teaches at Mannes College.

April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; PAUL WATKINS, CELLO; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Trio in A minor for viola, cello, and piano, Op. 114 April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; PAUL WATKINS, CELLO; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO As mentioned above (see the Sonata, op. 120, no. 2), Brahms was convinced that the G major String Quintet of 1890 would be his last composition, yet the following year he became so inspired by the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld in Meiningen that he wrote four more works, all featuring the clarinet. For all of these works he broadened their appeal by also writing versions featuring the viola in place of the clarinet. Brahms wrote a rather humorous letter to Countess Heldburg, wife of Count Meiningen, on July 25, 1891: I wish to invite myself to Meiningen! For once this is not out of pure egotism! I must tell you in secret how much I have thought of you and worked for your welfare. Entre nous it has not escaped my notice that you have a “penchant” for the Right Honorable Richard Mühlfeld. I have seen you try to pick him out in the orchestra; last winter I was able to bring him into the limelight with the Weber Concerto, but now I can produce him properly and in secret. He can sit on one of your chairs; you can turn over [turn pages] for him and make your vows during the pauses allotted to him! To this end I must tell you that I have written a Trio and a Quintet in which he has to play. Brahms wanted to try the works out in Meiningen comfort before presenting them in Vienna. His longtime but sometimes estranged friend Joseph Joachim, the celebrated violinist, begged to be present at the trial and played in the Quintet. Brahms performed the Trio on November 21 with Mühlfeld and the superb Berlin cellist Robert Hausmann, and on November 24 the Quintet was tried. Both performances took place at parties given by Countess Heldburg. Joachim liked both works so much that he arranged their first public performance on one of his Berlin Quartet concerts, December 12, with Brahms again playing the piano part in the Trio. Both works were extraordinarily well received. The Trio and Quintet contain some of Brahms’s most formally skilled and impressive music, yet both, especially the Trio, are tinged with melancholy. The Trio’s opening and closing movements are both in sonata form, both are in A minor, and both contain second themes that are presented by the cello, then by the clarinet with the cello echoing the theme canonically upside-down. Brahms strove to make the lower-ranged cello an equal partner with the clarinet, and indeed the cello presents not only the second theme but begins the introduction—alone and in high register. The first movement shows Brahms’s penchant for fashioning a first theme group out of several contrasting ideas. This not only provides great resources for development but also enables him to disguise the recapitulation by beginning with an idea from the first theme group, but not necessarily the initial one. The movement closes with fluid whispered scales and arpeggios. The serene slow movement in D major epitomizes Brahms’s late period conciseness, unfolding in only fifty-four measures. It gives the impression of a ternary form, but also contains elements of sonata form. A leisurely scherzo-alternative, the Andante grazioso presents a clearer ternary structure, with the meter and ambiance of a waltz or Ländler. The unhurried simplicity of the opening gives little hint of the movement’s scope, in which Brahms gently indulges in his love of metric play. The Finale offers intriguing rhythmic organization, with the opening notated both in 2/4 and 6/8 meter. The second theme, with the canonic continuation mentioned above, switches to 9/8. Brahms plays with the form by bringing back the first theme directly after the exposition, almost as if the exposition were to be repeated or as a rondo refrain. The development ensues, however, rich in modulation through Brahms’s favored descending chains of thirds. The recapitulation then begins where the “false return” left off. The work closes resoundingly and seriously in A minor. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, BWV 903 March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano Bach’s first biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel wrote of Bach’s celebrated Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue: “I have taken infinite pains to discover another piece of this kind by Bach, but in vain. This fantasia is unique, and never had its like.” Forkel had duly taken note of the Fantasia’s bold chromatic improvisatory flights, the unusual use of recitative in an instrumental piece, and the drama and harmonic adventurousness in both the Fantasia and Fugue, and was astonished to find that Bach had written no other works like it. Bach may well have composed the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue before 1723, and it may have been one of the pieces he wrote for the new two-keyboard harpsichord for which he traveled to Berlin to acquire for the Cöthen court. The work most certainly was the product of Bach’s practice of improvising at the keyboard and appears to have gone through many stages in the way that Bach himself played it. One manuscript for the work states that the piece had reached its final form by 1730, but many versions postdate this manuscript, including versions known to have been played by Bach’s sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Bach scholars have identified some thirty-seven different roughly contemporary manuscript sources for the work—some that wound up as far afield as Vienna, Italy, and France, attesting to the work’s universal appeal. The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue was also championed by nineteenth-century piano virtuosos such as Liszt and Busoni. With its chromatic flourishes and broken chords, the opening of the Fantasia sounds extemporized. It also contains progressions that Bach wrote out in chords but that are meant to be played in arpeggiated style—these often take daring harmonic excursions. Bach also borrowed from vocal tradition by including a passage marked “recitative,” which imitates speech in its free declamatory style. The ensuing three-voice Fugue is all the more remarkable when one considers that Bach originally conceived it in all its complexity on the spot. Though he and other keyboardists of the day were trained in such improvisation, and though he no doubt polished the Fugue over successive years as he performed it and used it as a teaching piece, the achievement is still remarkable. The Fugue subject itself is an especially lengthy one that contains several different motivic elements for later elaboration: a four-note chromatic ascent that occurs twice, a little three-note “dip” at the peak, a four-note descent that balances the previous ascent, and a stepwise rhythmic sequence based on a repeated eighth note and two sixteenths. At several points Bach heightens the drama by introducing a pedal tone (a long held note), under or over which figuration unfolds until the tension is released by the resumption of motion in the pedal voice. The last of these occurs with great drama at the conclusion, where the release launches a descending version of the rhythmic sequence over which a series of massive chords unfolds, bringing a final flourish and cadence. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

WU HAN, PIANO Pianist Wu Han ranks among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. Leading an unusually multifaceted artistic career, she has risen to international prominence through her wide-ranging activities as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural entrepreneur. In high demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, Wu Han has appeared at many of the world’s most prestigious concert series and venues across the United States and around the world. She is a frequent collaborator with many of today’s finest musicians and ensembles. Wu Han appears extensively each season as duo pianist with cellist David Finckel, and in 2012, they were the recipients of Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year award, one of the highest honors granted by the music industry. London’s Musical Opinion said of the duo’s Wigmore Hall debut: “They enthralled both myself and the audience with performances whose idiomatic command, technical mastery and unsullied integrity of vision made me think right back to the days of Schnabel and Fournier, Solomon and Piatigorsky.” In addition to her distinction as one of classical music’s most accomplished performers, Wu Han has established a reputation for her dynamic and innovative approach to the recording studio. In 1997, Wu Han and David Finckel launched ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company, whose catalogue of eighteen albums has won widespread critical acclaim. The duo’s recording for the ArtistLed label of the Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev sonatas for cello and piano received BBC Music Magazine’s coveted “Editor’s Choice” award. The most recent addition to the ArtistLed catalogue, Wu Han LIVE, was released in December 2014 in collaboration with the Music@Menlo LIVE label and features Wu Han performing solo and chamber works of Mendelssohn, Bach, and Haydn. Now in their third term as Artistic Directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, David Finckel and Wu Han hold the longest tenure since Charles Wadsworth, the founding Artistic Director. They are the founding Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in Silicon Valley that has garnered international acclaim, soon to celebrate its thirteenth season. David Finckel and Wu Han also serve as Artistic Directors of Chamber Music Today, an annual festival held in Seoul, Korea. The festival, now celebrating its fifth anniversary, is at the forefront of expanding the presence of chamber music in the Far East. Wu Han has achieved universal renown for her passionate commitment to nurturing the careers of countless young artists through a wide array of education initiatives. For many years, she taught alongside the late Isaac Stern at Carnegie Hall and the Jerusalem Music Center. Under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Wu Han and David Finckel direct the LG Chamber Music School, which provides workshops for young artists in Korea. In 2013, Wu Han and David Finckel established a chamber music studio at Aspen Music Festival.