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GARRICK OHLSSON, PIANO Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him. This season that vast repertoire can be sampled in concerti ranging from Rachmaninoff’s popular Third and rarely performed Fourth, to Brahms Nos. 1 and 2, Beethoven, Mozart, Grieg and Copland in cities including Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Miami, Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Liverpool, and Madrid ending with a spring US West Coast tour with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. In recital he can be heard in LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, New York, New Orleans, Hawaii and Prague. A frequent guest with the orchestras in Australia, Mr. Ohlsson has recently visited Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart as well as the New Zealand Symphony in Wellington and Auckland. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Takacs, Cleveland, Emerson, and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podles. A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévinne and Irma Wolpe. Although he won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, it was his 1970 triumph at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he won the Gold Medal (and remains the single American to have done so), that brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since then he has made nearly a dozen tours of Poland, where he retains immense personal popularity. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI. He is also the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. He makes his home in San Francisco.

September 26, 2021: Paul Neubauer, viola; Arnaud Sussmann, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Joel Noyes, cello; David J. Grossman, bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051 September 26, 2021: Paul Neubauer, viola; Arnaud Sussmann, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Sihao He, cello; Joel Noyes, cello; David J. Grossman, bass; Paolo Bordignon, harpsichord In March 1719, when Bach was in Berlin to collect the new harpsichord made for Cöthen by court instrument maker Michael Mietke, he had occasion to play for Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg. The meeting spurred an invitation from the Margrave for Bach to send him some compositions. The works that he sent probably originated in Weimar even before Bach’s move to Cöthen in 1717, but it took yet another two years for him to complete, compile, and submit his “Six concerts avec plusieurs instruments” (Six concertos with several instruments). He dedicated the 1721 manuscript to the Margrave, saying: As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness . . . and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the small talents that Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my composition: I have then in accordance with Your Highness’s most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments. No record exists of the Margrave of Brandenburg ever using the scores, ever sending Bach a fee, or ever thanking him. Legend has it that a lack of acknowledgment may have stemmed from the Margrave’s instrumental resources not matching those of Cöthen or Weimar, thus rendering the pieces unperformable at his establishment. It is certainly true that Bach used unprecedented and different scoring in each of the individual works, treating the collection like an “Art of the Concerto Grosso” and thus was not aiming to match any specific establishment’s resources. The manuscript eventually became the property of the state library in Berlin, remaining unpublished until the Bach revival in the nineteenth century. In 1880 Philipp Spitta, Bach’s famous biographer, coined the term “Brandenburg Concertos,” which has been used ever since for the beloved works. Bach empoyed the simple yet flexible plan for the eighteenth-century concerto grosso developed by Torelli and Corelli, standardized by Vivaldi—a small solo group (the concertino) alternating with the full ensemble (ripieno or tutti), typically in three movements: fast, slow, fast. The Brandenburg Concertos offer a wide spectrum of innovative instrumental schemes and combinations and a great variety in treatment of form. Nos. 1, 3, and 6 use instrumental forces that are fairly balance in number, with No. 1 containing some violino piccolo solos and No. 6 featuring two violas. Nos. 2, 4 and 5 contrast a small concertino with a large ripieno throughout, with different instruments featured in each case. In the Sixth Concerto Bach uses only strings and continuo, as in the Third. In this case, however, he creates a new atmosphere of somewhat darker colors by dispensing with violins. (Could Brahms have been following his lead in his A major Serenade?) The concertino is made up of two violas (originally viole da braccio), two violas da gamba (now usually played on cello), and cello. The solo violas provide an especially mellow sound that contributes to this Concerto’s unique sonority. Perhaps the most striking feature of the work, other than scoring, is the incredible contrapuntal writing in the first movement. The violas enter in canon separated by a time interval of only two sixteenth notes. The second movement is a poignant Adagio ma non troppo, followed by the energetic final movement in da capo form (A-B-A), made lively by syncopations and a bubbly mood of optimism. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2022 AT 4 PM EMERSON STRING QUARTET VALEDICTORY CONCERT BUY TICKETS DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO “His playing has great warmth and expressiveness coupled with a noble, aristocratic restraint.” — Strings Magazine GUILLERMO FIGUEROA, VIOLA EMERSON STRING QUARTET “With musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity.” — The Times (London) FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The Emerson String Quartet has maintained its status as one of the world’s most illustrious chamber ensembles for more than 45 years. In honor of their final season, this special valedictory concert will bring back two Emersonian laureates — the quartet’s original violist, Guillermo Figueroa, and longtime cellist, David Finckel — for a musical reunion that will conclude with Johannes Brahms’s radiant String Sextet No. 2 in G major. Don’t miss this unforgettable event! PROGRAM Joseph Haydn String Quartet in G, Op. 33, No. 5 Program Notes Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 133 Program Notes Johannes Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36 Program Notes Watch the Emerson String Quartet perform Shostakovich’s 8th String Quartet at Parlance Chamber Concerts:

FRIEDRICH HEINRICH KERN, GLASS HARMONICA Friedrich Heinrich Kern is a German composer, pianist, and glass harmonica player based in New York City. He has made widely-praised appearances as a performer and composer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. FHKern’s work is dedicated to exploring wistful, unfolding soundscapes and discovering the realms between dreams and consciousness. He moves freely between the worlds of electronic and acoustic music, unwilling to be limited by boundaries, languages, and any barriers between them. One of the few professional glass harmonica soloists worldwide, he plays the only existing modern version of the glass harmonica in North America, the Verrophone. FHKern began his studies in his home country of Germany where he earned degrees in both piano and composition. He then traveled to Korea studying traditional Korean music. He combines his contemporary classical background with a refined pop sensibility to create ethereal compositions with modern electronic vibes. In addition to his solo and ensemble performances, he has composed works for acoustic and electronic instrumentations, ranging from solo piano to full orchestra. Musical connections shape his ideas and genius. His latest collaboration is ‘The New Paganini Project’ with Niklas Liepe (Sony Classical, 2018), and his solo recordings are released on M=Maximal. FHKern currently performs live in Europe and North America on his spellbinding ‘The Evolution of Silence’ tour. He is a member of German glass music ensemble sinfonia di vetro.

CARTER BREY, CELLO Carter Brey was appointed Principal Cello, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Chair, of the New York Philharmonic in 1996. He made his official subscription debut with the Orchestra in May 1997 performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations under the direction of then Music Director Kurt Masur. He has since appeared as soloist almost every season, and was featured during The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival, when he gave two performances of the cycle of all six of Bach’s cello suites. Most recently, he was the soloist in performances of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major at David Geffen Hall in February 2020 and at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in July 2021, and the Brahms Double Concerto at Geffen Hall in June 2024 with Music Director Jaap van Zweden conducting on all occasions. He is a member of the New York Philharmonic String Quartet, established in the 2016–17 season, and has made regular appearances with the Tokyo and Emerson string quartets, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at festivals such as Spoleto (both in the United States and Italy) and the Santa Fe and La Jolla Chamber Music festivals. He and pianist Christopher O’Riley recorded Le Grand Tango: Music of Latin America, and has recorded the complete works of Chopin for cello and piano with Garrick Ohlsson. Carter Brey was educated at the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Laurence Lesser and Stephen Kates, and at Yale University, where he studied with Aldo Parisot and was a Wardwell Fellow and a Houpt Scholar. An avid sailor since childhood, he holds a Yachtmaster Offshore rating from the Royal Yachting Association.

March 11, 2018: Benjamin Beilman, Violin; Orion Weiss, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96 (1812) March 11, 2018: Benjamin Beilman, Violin; Orion Weiss, piano Beethoven wrote his ten sonatas for piano and violin (his generation still thought of the piano first and the violin second) during his early and middle periods. Of his celebrated late, introspective, otherworldly style we catch only a foretaste—in his very last Sonata, the present G major, op. 96. Drawing on materials he had begun earlier, Beethoven composed this Sonata in December 1812 for French violinist Pierre Rode, who was visiting Vienna. Rode’s inclinations surely account for some of Beethoven’s leaning in the introverted direction, especially in the finale. As the composer wrote to his patron and pupil Archduke Rudolph: I have not hurried unduly to compose the last movement merely for the sake of being punctual, the more so as in view of Rode’s playing I have had to give more thought to the composition of this movement. In our finales we like to have fairly noisy passages but R does not care for them—and so I have been rather hampered. Rode played the premiere of “his” G major Sonata with the Archduke joining him on the piano December 29, 1812, at a soiree of another of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Lobkowitz. The Sonata was one of a group of works that Beethoven sold to publisher Anton Sigmund Steiner in 1815 in repayment of a debt. The debt must have been substantial because the batch also included the Archduke Trio, the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, the Serioso Quartet, and several smaller works. As with many of his other works, Beethoven dedicated Opus 96 to the Archduke. Beethoven gives the delicate opening of the first movement with its signature trill figure to the violin alone. Opening with an unaccompanied stringed instrument was a device he had used before in his Kreutzer Sonata, Cello Sonata, op. 69, and Trio, op. 70, no. 2, and would again in his Cello Sonata, op. 102, no. 1. With such highlighting he assures that the motive will be recognizable even in its most disguised permutations. Here such manipulations occur throughout the movement, as in the mysterious low-range interplay between violin and piano at the beginning of the coda. This spot apparently came to Beethoven as an afterthought when he was preparing the Sonata for publication in 1815. With the sublime serenity of the Adagio espressivo we enter the intimate, personal world of Beethoven’s late style. The glorious hymn tune of the piano’s opening moves fluidly into a tender continuation by the violin. After a decorative flourish we listen awestruck as Beethoven lingers with infinite patience over the unfolding of his harmonies in the middle section. Another flourish brings us back, not to the real world, but to the serene main theme. As this final section continues he savors each fragment of the intimate conversation between the two instruments. After seeming to come to rest Beethoven adds one unsettled chord to lead directly into the brief Scherzo. Here the minor-mode outer sections impishly play with our metric expectations by accenting normally unaccented beats. The interior trio settles into a lyrical dance tune—straightforward until with seeming innocence he plays again with our sensations of the basic pulse. Beethoven’s solution for a finale to please Rode is one that also offers great variety—a theme-and-variations movement. He takes a simple little theme, with one nice harmonic twist, and treats it ingeniously in six variations. These are not simple embellishments of the tune, but foreshadow his great Diabelli Variations in their remarkable transformations of the theme. The general momentum halts for the meditative fifth variation, which distances itself utterly from the folkish simplicity of the tune. The resumption of the movement’s high spirits points to the composer’s well-developed sense of humor. But Beethoven is far from finished—further surprises include an introspective fugal passage and one additional application of the brakes before the final race to the close. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano Spirituals Good News; You Can Tell the World; Deep River; Ride on King Jesus November 12, 2023: Angel Blue, soprano; Bryan Wagorn, piano Spirituals Angel Blue concludes her program with a set of four traditional spirituals, an apt choice as it reflects a significant time in her life when she and her sister dreamed of being opera singers. Interviewed for PBS’s Great Performance: The Magic of Spirituals episode, she reflected on Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle’s Spirituals in Concert, which she as a seven-year-old and her older sister watched with intense interest. Said Blue, “We took it upon ourselves to become Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. So we would hold hands in my sister’s room and we would play on VHS ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,’ and we would sing that back and forth to each other. . . . And we’d sing it over and over again. This concert has been one of the things in my life I think that has kept me going in terms of opera and what it means to be a classical singer.” The four spirituals she has selected range from the jubilant “Good News,” which rejoices in the “robe” and “crown” awaiting in “that Kingdom,” and the equally upbeat “You Can Tell the World,” to the profoundly moving “Deep River,” concluding with the triumphant “Ride on King Jesus.” Her emotional involvement with these spirituals reflects her deep family ties, not only to her sister but to her father Sylvester Blue, a singer and choir director who she says is “the reason I sing, the reason I know anything about opera.” —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2017 AT 3 PM ALESSIO BAX AND LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANOS A Pianistic Partnership BUY TICKETS ALESSIO BAX, PIANO “Among the most remarkable pianists now before the public.” — Gramophone LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANO “…a blazing, gutsy performance.” — The Washington Post FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS "Bax and Chung are husband and wife, so it's not surprising that their piano duets work so well. They share a brilliant clarity in their playing. In this scintillating recital, it's hard to find even a fleeting moment where ensemble is less than meticulous." - The Sunday Times, London, November 2014 PROGRAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in C, K. 521 for piano 4-hands Program Notes Sergei Rachmaninoff Suite No. 2, Op. 17 for two pianos Program Notes Dmitri Shostakovich Concertino in A minor, Op. 94 for two pianos Program Notes Witold Lutoslawski Variations on a Theme of Paganini for two pianos Program Notes

March 24, 2019: Kristin Lee, violin JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Prelude from Violin Partita in E, BWV 1006 March 24, 2019: Kristin Lee, violin We find precedents for Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin in works by Johann Jacob Walther, Heinrich Biber, and Johann Paul Westhoff, but Bach’s contributions totally eclipsed these and remain unsurpassed to this day in invention and magnificence. Trained as a violinist in his youth by his father, Bach knew the capabilities of the instrument and expanded greatly upon them. The autograph manuscript, dated 1720, presents three sonatas in alternation with three partitas. The sonatas represent the serious Italian sonata da chiesa (church sonata) form with four movements in a slow, fast, slow, fast pattern; the partitas resemble the sonata da camera (chamber sonata), a series of dance movements, which if Bach had been writing in the French style would have been called a suite. Throughout the unaccompanied violin works and in those for solo cello, Bach showed his mastery at creating a many-voiced texture with what is essentially a single-line instrument, often by the use of double stops or rolled chords, but even more often by implying several melodic lines by artful figuration. He counted on the ability of the ear to pick out and hold onto notes in one register and string them together over time as an independent voice; one can often hear such implied voices in counterpoint, occurring in two or more registers. Whereas Bach began each of his solo cello suites with a Preludio, the E major Partita is the only solo violin work to open with such a movement and is notable for its larger than usual number of authentic dynamic markings. The cheerful perpetual motion of the Preludio has contributed greatly to the work’s popularity. Bach himself showed a fondness for it by transcribing it for organ and orchestra in Cantatas 120a and 29; he also made a transcription of the entire Partita for lute. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 15, 2024: THE VIRTUOSO FLUTIST. DENIS BOURIAKOV, FLUTE. A RECITAL FOR FLUTE AND ORCHESTRA, with Erin Bouriakov, Flute. Musicians From The New York Philharmonic. Michael Parloff, Conductor. Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28, arr. by Denis Bouriakov December 15, 2024: THE VIRTUOSO FLUTIST. DENIS BOURIAKOV, FLUTE. A RECITAL FOR FLUTE AND ORCHESTRA, with Erin Bouriakov, Flute. Musicians From The New York Philharmonic. Michael Parloff, Conductor. By the time Saint-Saëns met him, Pablo de Sarasate was already an established violin virtuoso, though he was only fifteen years old. Saint-Saëns wrote: It is a long time ago now since I first saw Pablo de Sarasate call at my house. Fresh and young as spring itself, the faint shadow of a mustache scarcely visible on his upper lip, he was already a famous virtuoso. As if it were the easiest thing in the world he had come quite simply to ask me to write a concerto for him. Flattered and charmed to the highest degree I promised I would, and I kept my word with the Concerto in A major. The First Violin Concerto, written in 1859, was only the beginning of their long artistic relationship. In 1863 Saint-Saëns wrote the present Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for Sarasate, who for unknown reasons did not give the first performance until April 4, 1867; the composer waited until 1870 to publish the piece, but meanwhile Sarasate performed it throughout Europe and in the United States. In 1880 Saint-Saëns honored him again with the Third Violin Concerto. These works were ideally suited to Sarasate’s style of playing—technically perfect, with an unusually sweet and pure tone and a wider vibrato than was common at the time—all of which he reportedly achieved without practicing scales or exercises. The Introduction and Rondo capriccioso is a brilliant showpiece—and perhaps the most famous of Saint-Saëns’s lighter compositions. Frequent performances were facilitated by Bizet, who made the violin and piano arrangement, and Debussy, who made a version for two pianos. Now, flute virtuoso Denis Bouriakov has transcribed the work for flute and orchestra, which makes a great and perfectly natural if extra-challenging showpiece for the flute. Saint-Saëns gave the one-movement work a pronounced Spanish flavor in Sarasate’s honor. The rhapsodic passages of the Introduction are accompanied by pizzicato strings, suggesting a guitar. The Rondo theme with its “Spanish” syncopations alternates with contrasting episodes guaranteed to show off the soloist’s virtuosity. The work ends with a whirlwind coda that dazzles with its pyrotechnical display of scales and arpeggios. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 18, 2022: WINDS OF THE MET WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Serenade No. 10 in B-flat, K. 361/370a (Gran Partita) September 18, 2022: WINDS OF THE MET In March 1784 the Wienerblättchen announced a benefit concert for virtuoso clarinetist and basset-horn player Anton Stadler that would include “a big wind piece of quite an exceptional kind composed by Herr Mozart.” Johann Friedrich Schink, who had attended the concert, later published the following account: I heard music for wind instruments today by Herr Mozart, in four movements, glorious and sublime. It consisted of thirteen instruments; viz. four corni, two oboi, two fagotti, two clarinetti, two basset-corni, a contreviolin, and at each instrument sat a master—Oh what an effect it made—glorious and grand, excellent and sublime. This concert at the National Hoftheater in Vienna had indeed included only four movements of this marvelous work, though the manuscript shows that all seven had been composed at the same time. Perhaps concert or rehearsal time was restricted, necessitating the cuts, or perhaps Mozart was aiming more at symphonic proportions—it was common practice for him to delete movements of typical six- or seven-movement serenades to make four-movement symphonies. The exact date of the Serenade’s composition cannot be pinpointed. Expert Alan Tyson has shown that the paper was a type Mozart used in 1782 and not for any composition thereafter, but circumstances and style suggest late 1783 or early 1784 as a more likely date of composition, and Mozart scholars such as Daniel Leeson and David Whitwell stand by this date. Thorough investigation of the manuscript only became possible beginning in 1942 when it was purchased by the Library of Congress after being passed from one noble family to another for over 175 years. The familiar title “Gran Partita” was not Mozart’s idea—it appears in a hand other than his on the manuscript. The instrumentation was indeed unusual, and Mozart apparently worried that such a piece would not be of much use after the occasion for which it was written. Stadler probably played the first clarinet part as “concertmaster,” though he was equally adept on the basset horn (a customized clarinet with a lower range). There can be no mistaking that Mozart intended a string bass as his lowest instrument, for the manuscript says “contrabasso” and the part contains pizzicato indications. Nevertheless it is often played on contrabassoon. A stately introduction, common to such serenades but less common in his symphonies, features contrasting fanfares and gentle responses. The main Molto allegro proceeds in a wonderfully witty manner that has much in common with Mozart’s comic opera style. Its extended sonata form contains a number of memorable features such as the wandering approach to the right key for the beginning of the recapitulation and the almost wistful moments in the coda before the snappy conclusion. The first of the minuets elegantly contrasts the full group with solo utterances. In the first trio we are treated to the singular sound of the two clarinets and two basset horns, while the second trio in the minor mode contrasts a section of scurrying triplets and sequences with a horn call that is answered by oboes and basset horns. “Sublime” is indeed the word for the Adagio, which Mozart starts out in solemn unison before setting up the pulsing accompaniment that will support the exquisitely poignant solos above it. Sustained notes that blossom into motion and expressive leaps between registers play a wonderful role here. The second minuet swings along merrily, again employing pointed contrasts between the full ensemble and solo instruments, in addition to dynamic contrasts. As in the first minuet Mozart includes two trios, the first a slightly mournful piece in B-flat minor—an extremely rare key in his time—and the second based on a simple folklike melody played by oboe, basset horn, and bassoon. Mozart labeled the fifth movement “Romance,” which typically meant something in a vocal style. Here poised, lyrical outer sections frame a lively minor-mode section. In this center section the bassoon’s continuous fast notes drive the shorter phrases of the upper winds to a major mode conclusion before the solemn singing style resumes. The charming theme-and-variations sixth movement is almost exactly reproduced in the C major Flute Quartet, K. Anh. 171, a work whose pedigree is still under scrutiny. Whether or not that arrangement is genuine, Mozart’s music captivates the listener. The movement follows double variation form, in which two themes are alternately varied, giving rise to myriad instrumental combinations. Most impressive is the great pause that halts the action in preparation for Mozart’s poignant Adagio variation. The sprightly final Allegro variation concludes the movement in high spirits. The last movement is a jolly rondo, which might have inspired Beethoven’s finale in his well-known Wind Octet, op. 103. Mozart’s two contrasting episodes each contain a section in his agitated, minor-mode “alla Turca” style. The second also features the bassoon in a fast-paced solo. Mozart extends the ebullient refrain on its final appearance with a brilliant wind-up to a decisive end. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 19, 2009 – Jon Manasse, clarinet; Rafael Figueroa, cello; John Novacek, piano MAX BRUCH (1838-1920) Andante con moto in C# Minor, Op. 83 for clarinet, cello, and piano April 19, 2009 – Jon Manasse, clarinet; Rafael Figueroa, cello; John Novacek, piano A brilliant child prodigy, Max Bruch began composing at the age of nine. By his early teens he had completed his first symphony, and his reputation as a precocious talent had spread across Europe. As an adult, Bruch was renowned as a conductor, teacher, and the composer of major operatic, symphonic, choral and chamber works. At his height, many saw him as destined to be remembered as one of history’s greatest composers. And yet, by the time he died in 1920, Bruch’s reputation had receded precipitously. His output had been long overshadowed by his Romantic contemporaries, Brahms, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky, and he lived to see himself become something of a musical anachronism. His relative obscurity at the end of his life was due largely to his conservative nature. Early in his career Bruch modeled his compositions after those of Mendelssohn and Schumann. As he grew older, he stubbornly refused to embrace the musical language of such revolutionaries as Liszt, Wagner, Strauss, and Schoenberg. Indeed, many of his final works sound as if they could have been composed sixty years before. Taken on it own terms, though, Max Bruch’s music is melodious, masterfully crafted, and fully deserving of being heard. His two most popular works are his G Minor Violin Concerto and Kol Nidrei, a work for cello and orchestra based on Hebrew melodies. The 1910 trio for clarinet, cello (or viola), and piano, Andante con moto in C# Minor, Op. 83, is one of a set of eight pieces for this combination that he dedicated to his son, a professional clarinetist. These pieces were not intended to be performed as a suite; Bruch wrote them to be played separately or in smaller groupings. The C# Minor trio highlights Bruch’s extraordinary melodic and dramatic gifts. Though not specifically programmatic, the piece seems to tell a story. The cello begins with an agitated lament, suggesting the image of a suffering penitent. After a minute or so, the clarinet responds with a soothing hymn, like the voice of a consoling angel. The two protagonists continue to alternate in their contrasting worlds until the clarinet finally prevails, gently drawing the cello into a heavenly resolution. By Michael Parloff Return to Parlance Program Notes