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October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743-1805) Quartet in C, Op. 2, No. 6 October 27, 2019: Quartetto di Cremona Boccherini achieved widespread recognition in his day both as a virtuoso cellist and as an extremely prolific composer, primarily of chamber music. He wrote more than 100 string quintets, close to 100 string quartets, and some 150 other chamber works, including more than thirty cello sonatas. The renown that Boccherini enjoyed in his prime is attested to by the remarks of the typically cautious Charles Burney, famed eighteenth-century historian, who rated him “among the greatest masters who have ever written for the violin or violoncello,” placing him second only to Haydn. In 1756 young Luigi made his concerto debut in his native Lucca, and the following year he likely accompanied his bass-playing father and his older siblings on engagements in Venice and Trieste. The following year Luigi gave a successful solo performance in Vienna, and he and his father were soon hired for subsequent full-season orchestral engagements there, returning for the 1760–61 and 1763–64 seasons. Though he continued to give performances in Vienna and in various Italian cities, times were such that a musician could not earn a living as a solo cellist alone, which is why he took various orchestra jobs and began composing at a great rate. This, then, is the backdrop for Boccherini’s first chamber works, composed in 1761—the six String Trios, op. 1, and six String Quartets, op. 2. After his father died in 1766, Boccherini embarked on a concert tour with violinist Filippo Manfredi, traveling first to Paris, where the Trios and Quartets were published in 1767 (with the opus numbers reversed) and where most of Boccherini’s works would continue to be published. They soon left for Madrid and environs, which through royal patronage became Boccherini’s base for the remainder of his life. In 1770 he added to his other duties the position of “court chamber composer” to the King of Prussia, an arrangement through which he sent twelve works a year but never actually visited or lived there. The last years of Boccherini’s life brought loss of family members, illness, and dwindling financial resources, though reports of him dying in poverty are likely exaggerated. The Opus 2 Quartets brim with elegant Italianate melodic lines and perhaps a few Viennese traits but predate any Parisian influence. The works are notable for the cello’s equality with the other instruments and Boccherini’s frequent use of its tenor register—natural features for a cellist-composer. The C major Quartet, op. 2, no. 6, like the others in the set, contains three movements: a fast first movement, a slow middle movement, and—in this case, like Nos. 3 and 4—a closing minuet. Boccherini launches the spirited first movement with a forthright chord, a sprightly upward gesture, and a gradual sequential descent, all over pulsing repeated notes that lend forward propulsion. Both the second theme, led off by paired second violin and high cello, and the exposition’s closing theme maintain the elegant figures and pulsating drive. The second half begins like the first, but Boccherini soon introduces the minor mode and more sinuous lines before the merriness returns, not with the opening theme but with the second and closing themes. The brief slow movement contains a wealth of ideas—melancholy imitative entries, chromaticism, gentle wide leaps, paired triplets, a lovely passage for second violin and cello, descending gestures answered by emphatic chords, and a flowing cello passage. The concluding section, which begins like a development section, drifts into quiet contemplation with the cello in a haunting prominent role. The closing minuet swings along extrovertedly, relying on loud-soft contrasts. After a more introverted trio section, the cheerful minuet returns to round off the movement. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA BRAD GEMEINHARDT, HORN; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, K. 495 September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA BRAD GEMEINHARDT, HORN; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR Mozart lost no time looking up his old friend and horn virtuoso Joseph Leutgeb (c. 1745–1811) when he settled in Vienna in 1781. Mozart had known Leutgeb as the principal horn in the Salzburg court orchestra, and, though Leutgeb was now working in his wife’s family’s cheese business in Vienna, he continued to play the horn publicly until at least 1792. As early as 1777, when he transferred to Vienna, Leutgeb had asked Mozart for a horn concerto, but it wasn’t until the composer himself moved to Vienna that he wrote the first of his several works for horn and orchestra. In fact his first Viennese composition, though not a concerto, was the Rondo for horn and orchestra, K. 371, dated March 21, 1781, in his own catalog of works. Mozart loved to tease and ridicule Leutgeb, consequently some of the manuscripts he wrote for him are full of sarcastic comments and playful jibes. Despite Mozart’s oft-reported insensitivity to Leutgeb, they remained close friends to the end. The works Mozart wrote for Leutgeb stand as the true testament not only to their friendship but to the horn player’s skills. Mozart composed his concertos for the hand horn (or natural horn), which had no valves to produce notes that did not occur naturally in the instrument’s harmonic series. These notes could be elicited only by pressing the hand into the bell, something regular orchestral players were not usually required to do, but which solo and chamber music players had to master in order to fill in the full range of notes. These “stopped” notes produce a different tone quality, which Mozart naturally took into consideration, but he was well aware that he could write virtuosically for the horn because of Leutgeb’s abilities. All the works Mozart wrote for Leutgeb—the Quintet K. 386c (K. 407) for horn and strings, several concertos, some fragmentary compositions, and probably the above-mentioned Rondo—admirably display the horn player’s spectrum from vivacious to lyrical playing. The three complete Horn Concertos, K. 417, 447, and 495, all in E-flat major, are misleadingly known as Nos. 2, 3, and 4 because a two-movement work in D major had erroneously been assigned “No. 1,” and K. 447 had been thought to have been composed before the present work, K. 495. The date of this piece, actually the second of the complete concertos, has never been in doubt, for Mozart entered it into his catalog on June 26, 1786, describing it as “A hunting horn concerto for Leutgeb.” Composed just two months after Mozart had completed The Marriage of Figaro , the Horn Concerto not only revels in hunting-horn idioms (last movement), but also exhibits the juxtaposition of elegant melodic bustle and tenderness. The manuscript shows Mozart’s cheerful state of mind in writing for his friend: he employs a variety of different colored inks—black, red, blue, and green. Among the notable aspects of the first movement, the most extended in all the horn concertos, is the soloist’s adoption of the long-note theme of the oboes as the main theme rather than the rhythmic violin melody. The “early” entrance of the soloist is also unusual as is the reordering of the materials in the recapitulation and the additional appearance of the soloist after the cadenza. The slow movement would have shown off Leutgeb’s renowned lyrical playing admirably. It was reported about his solo playing in Paris in the Mercure de France in 1770 that he could “sing an adagio as perfectly as the most mellow, interesting, and accurate voice.” The main theme shows a striking similarity to that of the slow movement (also in B-flat major) of the four-hand Piano Sonata, K. 497, which Mozart completed just over one month after K. 495. The finale, perhaps the most familiar of the composer’s “hunting horn” finales, consists of a rousing rondo in 6/8 meter, replete with horn fanfares. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

EIGHTEEN YEARS OF BRINGING THE WORLD’S FINEST MUSICAL ARTISTS TO OUR COMMUNITY Piano Anderson & Roe Emanuel Ax Inon Barnaton James Baillieu* Alessio Bax Boris Berman Jonathan Biss Xak Bjerken Michael Boriskin Wendy Chen Gloria Chien Lucille Chung Jeremy Denk Simone Dinnerstein Richard Goode Julie Gunn Marc-André Hamelin Wu Han Warren Jones Henry Kramer* Rachel Naomi Kudo Paul Lewis Anne-Marie McDermott Philip Moll John Musto Ken Noda John Novacek Garrick Ohlsson Jeewon Park Soohong Park Juho Pohjonen Anna Polonsky Roman Rabinovich Peter Serkin Connie Shih Albert Cano Smit Conrad Tao Andrew Tyson Gilles Vonsattel Bryan Wagorn Shai Wosner Orion Weiss Vocal Benjamin Appl, baritone* Erika Baikoff, soprano Angel Blue, soprano Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano Lawrence Brownlee, tenor* Amy Burton, soprano Danielle de Niese, soprano Ying Fang, soprano Nathan Gunn, baritone Thomas Hampson, baritone Wendy Bryn Harmer, soprano Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano Susanna Phillips, soprano Dimitri Pittas, tenor Matthew Polenzani, tenor Morris Robinson, bass Lucy Shelton, soprano Meigui Zhang, soprano String Quartet Brentano Calidore Cremona Danish Emerson Escher Goldmund Jerusalem Modigliani New York Philharmonic Schumann Piano Trio Lysander Trio Pinchas Zukerman Trio Sitkovetsky Trio Violin Benjamin Beilman Jeanelle Brierley Benjamin Bowman David Chan Chee-Yun Tim Fain Ming-Feng Hsin Quan Ge Frank Huang Paul Huang Katharine Fong Stefan Jackiw Erin Keefe Alexi Kenney Michelle Kim Soovin Kim Aline Kobialka Yoon Kwon Kristen Lee Sean Lee Qian-Qian Li Kerry McDermott Nathan Melzer Anne Akiko Meyers Clara Neubauer Oliver Neubauer Elmar Oliviera Wen Qian Catherine Ro Philip Setzer Emily Daggett Smith Sheryl Staples Arnaud Sussmann James Thompson Danbi Um Sarah Crocker Vonsattel Audrey Wright Kevin Zhu Viola Abraham Appleman Maurycy Benaszak Isabella Bignasca Ettore Causa Karen Dreyfus Lawrence Dutton Guillermo Figueroa Mark Holloway Mary Hammann Hsin-Yun Huang Matthew Lipman Milan Milisavljević Paul Neubauer Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt Cynthia Phelps Robert Rinehart Dov Scheindlin Cong Wu Cello Edward Aaron Carter Brey Nicholas Canellakis Matthew Christakos Sterling Elliott* David Finckel Andrés Díaz Rafael Figueroa Zlatomir Fung Jerry Grossman Sihao He Steven Isserlis Mihai Marica Eileen Moon Joel Noyes Zvi Pressler Jonathan Swenson* Paul Watkins Nathan Vickery Viola da Gamba Jordi Savall Accordion Radu Ratoi* String Bass Timothy Cobb Jon Deak Richard Fredrickson David J. Grossman Brendan Kane Leigh Mesh Flute Sarah Beaird Denis Bouriakov Erin Bouriakov Sir James Galway Lady Jeanne Galway Érik Gratton Stefán Höskuldsson Maron Anis Khoury Seth Morris Chelsea Knox Robert Langevin Lauren Scanio Yoobin Son Oboe Michal Cieślik Elaine Douvas Nathan Hughes Joseph Jordan Ryan Roberts John Upton Clarinet Innhyuck Cho David Gould (basset horn) Dean LeBlanc (basset horn) Jon Manasse Anthony McGill Jessica Phillips Anton Rist Richard Stoltzman Osmo Vänskä Stephen Williamson Bassoon Jensen Bocco* Evan Epifanio Frank Morelli Mark Romatz William Short* Horn Javier Gándara Brad Gemeinhardt Liana Hoffman Erik Ralske Anne Scharer Hugo Valverde Tanner West Trumpet Chris Coletti David Krauss Trombone Demian Austin Weston Sprott Percussion Barry Centanni Ian Rosenbaum Gregory Zuber Organ Paul Jacobs Guitar Sharon Isbin Los Angeles Guitar Quintet Jason Vieaux Harp Nancy Allen Mariko Anraku Emmanuel Ceysson Michelle Gott Deborah Hoffman Saxophone Steven Banks Lino Gomez Harpsichord Paolo Bordignon Theremin Darryl Kubian Glass Harmonica Cecelia Brauer Friedrich Heinrich Kern Large Ensembles Antioch Chamber Ensemble (Choir) Hespèrion XXI Members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Members of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus The Tallis Scholars* Jazz Artists Bill Charlap Trio Stefon Harris, vibraphone Paquito D’Riviera Quintet Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar Howard Alden, guitar Frank Vignola, guitar Narrator Jamie Bernstein Stephanie Blythe Ann Crumb Gareth Icenogle Benjamin Luxon Ray Menard Michael Parloff Midge Woolsey Dancer Anni Crofut *2025 – 2026 Parlance Debut Artist

HESPÈRION XXI, EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE Ancient music’s most important value stems from its ability as a universal artistic language to transmit feelings, emotions and ancestral ideas that even today can enthrall the contemporary listener. With a repertoire that encompasses the period between the 10th and 18th centuries, Hespèrion XXI searches continuously for new points of union between the East and West, with a clear desire for integration and for the recovery of international musical heritage, especially that of the Mediterranean basin and with links to the New World. In 1974 Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, together with Lorenzo Alpert and Hopkinson Smith, founded the ancient music ensemble Hespèrion XX in Basel as a way of recovering and disseminating the rich and fascinating musical repertoire prior to the 19th century on the basis of historical criteria and the use of original instruments. The name Hespèrion means “an inhabitant of Hesperia”, which in ancient Greek referred to the two most westerly peninsulas in Europe: the Iberian and the Italian. It was also the name given to the planet Venus as it appeared in the west. At the turn of the 21st century Hespèrion XX became known as Hespèrion XXI. Today Hespèrion XXI is central to the understanding of the music of the period between the Middle Ages and the Baroque. Their labours to recover works, scores, instruments and unpublished documents have a double and incalculable value. On one hand, their rigorous research provides new information and understanding about the historical knowledge of the period, and on the other hand, the exquisite performances enable people to freely enjoy the aesthetic and spiritual delicacy of the works of this period. Right from the beginning Hespèrion XXI set out on a clearly innovative and artistic course that would lead to the establishment of a school in the field of ancient music because they conceived, and continue to conceive, ancient music as an experimental musical tool and with it they seek the maximum beauty and expressiveness in their performances. Any musician in the field of ancient music will have a commitment to the original spirit of each work and has to learn to connect with it by studying the composer, the instruments of the period, the work itself and the circumstances surrounding it. But as a craftsman in the art of music, he is also obliged to make decisions about the piece being played: a musician’s capacity to connect the past with the present and to connect culture with its dissemination depend on his skill, creativity and capacity to transmit emotions. Hespèrion XXI’s repertoire includes, amongst others, the music of the Sephardi Jews, Castilian romances, pieces from the Spanish Golden Age, and Europa de les Nacions. Some of their most celebrated concert programmes are Les Cantigues de Santa Maria d’Alfons X El Savi, La Diàspora Sefardí, the music of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Armenia and the Folías Criollas. Thanks to the outstanding work of numerous musicians and collaborators who have worked with the ensemble over all these years Hespèrion XXI still plays a key role in the recovery and reappraisal of the musical heritage, and one that has great resonance throughout the world. The group has published more than 60 CDs and performs concerts for the whole world, appearing regularly at the great international festivals of ancient music.

March 29, 2015 – Matthew Polenzani, tenor; Ken Noda, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Adelaide, Op. 46 March 29, 2015 – Matthew Polenzani, tenor; Ken Noda, piano Having moved from Bonn in 1792, Beethoven, in his twenties, was in the process of making a name for himself as a composer and pianist in Vienna. Greatly enamored of Friedrich von Matthison’s poetry, he was especially captivated by Adelaide, which must have resonated with his own yearnings for romantic involvement with women who proved unattainable. In fact, he may have conceived his “cantata,” as he called it, for the beautiful singer Magdalena Willmann—a Bonn acquaintance who arrived in Vienna in 1794 and to whom he proposed unsuccessfully. Making many sketches, Beethoven set the poem in 1794–95 in a style that shows an Italianate-Romantic fervor, but also possibly the Classic influence of “O Tuneful Voice” by Haydn, with whom he had just been studying. Marriage proposal aside, Willman did give the first performance on April 7, 1797, and Beethoven published the song that year with a dedication to Matthison—unbeknownst to the poet. Three years later Beethoven wrote humbly to Matthison saying, “I cannot explain why I dedicated a work to you which came directly from my heart, but never acquainted you with its existence,” except that “at first I did not know where you lived” (a flimsy excuse), and also “from diffidence” (likely), and that even now he was sending the song “with a feeling of timidity.” As it turned out, Matthison greatly appreciated the song, as we know from his introduction to an 1825 edition of his collected poems: “Several composers have animated this little lyric fantasy through music; none of them, however, according to my deepest conviction, cast the text into deeper shade with his melody than the genius Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna.” “Adelaide” became one of Beethoven’s most popular songs—a favorite especially in salons and in numerous arrangements by other composers. Beethoven’s setting is through-composed—every stanza fit with new music, even the refrain “Adelaide”—and divided into two parts, the first three stanzas at a slow tempo followed by a fast section comprising the last stanza. The dreamlike opening section suggests the beloved’s wandering with triplet motion and many key changes—influenced by Haydn’s song, perhaps?—and the rapturous closing section suggests the poet’s reuniting in death with the beloved who was unattainable in life. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019 AT 3 PM QUARTETTO DI CREMONA AN ITALIAN JOURNEY BUY TICKETS QUARTETTO DI CREMONA “It’s a rare blend: breadth of sound and capriciousness combined with perfect tuning and ensemble has the players sounding absolutely of one voice… Nothing less than life-affirming.” — Grammophone FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The inaugural concert of the 2019 – 2020 season will showcase one of the most exciting chamber ensembles on the international stage. The Quartetto di Cremona received the 2019 Franco Buitoni Award in recognition of their exceptional contribution to promoting Italian chamber music throughout the world. Their musical journey will feature string quartets by four of Italy’s greatest composers. PROGRAM Luigi Boccherini Quartet in C, Op. 2, No. 6 Program Notes Giuseppe Verdi Quartet in E minor Program Notes Giacomo Puccini Crisantemi Program Notes Ottorino Respighi Quartet in D Program Notes Watch the Quartetto Di Cremona perform the first movement of Giuseppe Verdi’s Quartet in E minor:

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2022 AT 4 PM STEVEN BANKS, SAXOPHONIST-COMPOSER BUY TICKETS STEVEN BANKS, SAXOPHONE “One senses that Banks has the potential to be one of the transformational musicians of the twenty-first century.” — Seen and Heard International BENJAMIN BOWMAN, VIOLIN Concertmaster, Met Orchestra MILAN MILISAVLJEVIĆ, VIOLA Principal Viola, Met Orchestra XAK BJERKEN, PIANO RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO Principal Cello, Met Orchestra FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS Winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Steven Banks is poised to become today’s leading ambassador for the classical saxophone. A compelling and charismatic performer and an innovative composer, Banks is committed to rethinking and expanding the boundaries of the instrument and classical music itself. His program will feature an eclectic range of music, ranging from Mozart’s lilting oboe quartet arranged for soprano saxophone and string trio to 20th-century saxophone classics by Debussy and Schulhoff to Steven Banks’ own powerfully expressive works, As I Am and Come As You Are . The afternoon will reveal the full gamut of his artistic persona, instrumental virtuosity, and creative spirit. PROGRAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quartet for oboe (soprano saxophone) and strings, K. 370 Program Notes Erwin Schulhoff Hot Sonate for alto saxophone and piano Program Notes Steven Banks As I Am for baritone saxophone and piano Program Notes Claude Debussy Rhapsody for alto saxophone and piano Program Notes Astor Piazzolla Milonga del ángel for alto saxophone and piano Program Notes Steven Banks Come As You Are for tenor saxophone and piano Program Notes Watch Steven Banks perform Mozart’s quartet for oboe (arranged for soprano saxophone) and strings:

2014-2015 SEASON 2014-2015 SEASON Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

February 18, 2024: Stefan Jackiw, violin; Michael Stephen Brown, piano Arvo Pärt Fratres for violin and piano February 18, 2024: Stefan Jackiw, violin; Michael Stephen Brown, piano In 1960, while still a student at the Talinn Conservatory, Arvo Pärt won national attention for his Nekrolog, dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. It was the first work by an Estonian composer to use Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system, so it created something of a scandal. The notoriety had its rewards, however, as it brought Pärt commissions from state sources and from cellist Rostropovich. Soon tired of his serial phase, Pärt began a series of alternations between creative output and withdrawal to search for a new style. One of his explorations came up with the collage technique, resulting in such compositions as his Collage on the Theme B-A-C-H (1964) and Second Symphony (1966). During the 1970s Pärt supported himself by writing some fifty film scores. His Third Symphony (1971) followed one of his “withdrawal” periods, in which he studied fourteenth- to sixteenth-century polyphony, from Machaut to Josquin. He followed another of his “creative silences” with For Alina (1976), a small piano piece of high and low extremes. Pärt said he reached a “new plateau” with this piece: “It was here that I discovered the triad series, which I made my simple, little guiding rule.” He has written in this triadic style, which he calls “tintinnabuli” (after the bell-like resemblance of notes in the triad), ever since, with only slight modifications. From 1982, when he moved to Berlin, he has composed primarily religious works for chorus or small vocal ensembles. Pärt composed Fratres, originally for string quintet and wind quintet, in 1977 for Hortus Musicus, an early-music ensemble in Tallinn. The title refers to the fraternal spirit of the Hortus Musicus. In the decades since then he has written versions of this popular piece for many different combinations: wind octet and percussion, strings and percussion, and string quartet—and versions in which violin, cello, or guitar take a solo role. In the violin and piano version, the violin alone introduces the piece’s essential hymnlike theme in its low register under virtuosic string crossings that transmit Pärt’s triadic harmonies. The hymnlike additive theme—reminiscent of a style of medieval church singing called organum—recurs eight times in the piano, employing slight variants but always in the same contour and with the same rhythmic pattern. The violin weaves imaginative “variations” through and around this framework. Pärt employs a brief, low tolling in the piano punctuated by percussive strums of the violin to separate each recurrence. The dynamics create an arch form, moving from soft to loud and back, with a particularly climactic use of double-stop chords in the violin’s central “variation.” The piece concludes with the quiet tolling measures. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

< Back Gustav Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor Gloria Chien, piano Alexi Kenney, violin; Milena Pajaro-Van de Stadt, viola; Mihai Marica, cello Program Notes Previous Next

2024-2025 SEASON Dear Friends, Parlance Chamber Concerts’s 17th season will begin joyfully on September 29 with a “Cellobration” spotlighting four of today’s leading cellists. Carter Brey, principal of the New York Philharmonic; Rafael Figueroa, principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Zvi Plesser, professor at The Juilliard School; and the versatile soloist and chamber musician Edward Arron will join forces in a rich selection of cello solos and ensembles. On October 20 , the elite French string quartet, The Modigliani , will make it’s Parlance debut. Their far-ranging program will include Joaquín’s Turina’s lushly impressionistic Bullfighter’s Prayer , Brahms’s tenderhearted Quartet in B-flat, Op. 67 , and Beethoven’s sublime Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2. On November 17, the poetic English pianist Paul Lewis will return to PCC's stage. Universally acclaimed for his sovereign Schubert interpretations, Lewis will perform Schubert’s profound final trilogy of sonatas. A special mid-season “series with the series” will showcase the scintillating virtuosity of three of today’s most exciting performers: “The Virtuoso Flutist” On December 15, the phenomenal Crimean flutist Denis Bouriakov will perform a recital of concertos for flute and orchestra by Mozart, Bach, CPE Bach and Saint-Saëns . Denis will be supported by an ensemble of musicians from the New York Philharmonic. Michael Parloff will conduct. “The Virtuoso Organist” On January 19, organist Paul Jacobs will again grace our stage in a afternoon of towering masterpieces for the King of Instruments by Bach and Liszt. Don’t miss the musician that the Washington Post called “one of the greatest living virtuosos.” “The Virtuoso Cellist” On February 9, the renowned British cellist Steven Isserlis will make his long-awaited Parlance debut. Celebrated worldwide for his deeply communicative artistry, Isserlis radiates joy and virtuosity with every note he plays. His internationally diverse program will include works by Beethoven , Martinu , Boulanger , and Edvard Grieg’s soaring sonata for cello and piano. On March 9, celebrate Maurice Ravel’s 150th Birthday with the beguiling Russian-American soprano Erika Baikoff and the stellar Korean pianist Soohong Park. Their recital will feature a selection of Ravel’s most alluring song cycles and ravishing piano solos, including Shéhérazade and Gaspard de la nuit . On April 13 , the lustrous Quartetto di Cremona will make their eagerly anticipated return to PCC. The award-winning Italian ensemble will perform pinnacles of the quartet repertoire, including Debussy’s luminous String Quartet and Beethoven’s spiritually transcendent Quartet in A minor, Op. 132. On May 18, you won’t want to miss our star-studded seasonal finale, Late Night with Leonard Bernstein. This special multimedia cabaret will be hosted by the Maestro’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein, in collaboration with acclaimed soprano Amy Burton and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin. They will provide an affectionately intimate portrait of the multifaceted titan of 20th-century American music. I look forward to seeing you again soon at Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff 2024-2025 SEASON September 29, 2024 Cellobration! October 20, 2024 Modigliani Quartet November 17, 2024 Paul Lewis Plays Schubert December 15, 2024 The Virtuoso Flutist January 19, 2025 The Virtuoso Organist February 9, 2025 The Virtuoso Cellist March 9, 2025 Ravel’s 150th Birthday Concert April 13, 2025 Quartetto Di Cremona May 18, 2025 Late Night With Leonard Bernstein Artist Roster Parlance Program Notes LOCATION At West Side Presbyterian Church 6 South Monroe Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450 For map and directions, click here . CONCERT AMENITIES Whee lchair Accessible Fr e e Parking for all concerts

November 20, 2022: Steven Banks, Saxophonist-Composer Xak Bjerken, Piano, Principal Strings of The Met Orchestra ERWIN SCHULHOFF (1894-1942) Hot Sonate for alto saxophone and piano November 20, 2022: Steven Banks, Saxophonist-Composer Xak Bjerken, Piano, Principal Strings of The Met Orchestra Erwin Schulhoff was a child prodigy who, in 1902 at the age of eight, so deeply impressed Antonín Dvořák with his playing and improvising on the piano that Dvořák advised him to begin composition studies immediately. Schulhoff studied first in Prague, then in Vienna, where he became a good friend of Alban Berg, and later in Leipzig, where he studied with Max Reger. He also took some lessons with Debussy in Paris shortly before World War I. Schulhoff’s musical interests varied widely. He collaborated with visual artists Däubler, Grosz, and Klee in Germany, where he had settled in 1923. A champion of modern music, he worked on the problems of quarter-tone music with Alois Hába after his return to Prague in 1929. His improvisatory skills naturally led to his dedication as a jazz pianist and to the incorporation of jazz in several of his own compositions. He also showed great interest in music of the distant past, unearthing and arranging medieval and Renaissance music of Bohemian composers. Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, the great German music encyclopedia, characterizes Schulhoff as a “composer of extraordinary talent and creative power.” Alfred Einstein appreciated his gift for creating comical and grotesque effects in music. Schulhoff’s desire for social revolution led to his leftist political views. In 1932 he composed a cantata setting of the original German text of the Communist Manifesto of 1848. He was granted Soviet citizenship to protect him from arrest during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, but when the Nazis invaded Russia in 1941 Schulhoff was sent to the Wülzburg Concentration Camp where he died on August 18, 1942. Schulhoff composed his Hot Sonata on a commission from the Funk-Stunde (radio station) AG in Berlin, which premiered the work on April 10, 1930, with American saxophonist Billy Barton and the composer at the piano. By this time Schulhoff was recognized as a jazz expert, having even published a jazz method for piano. Jazz movements had become increasingly more frequent in his works and he used the title Hot-Sonate, using the American word “hot” that had become synonymous with jazz. The piece is laid out in four movements, each headed not by a tempo marking but by a metronome marking, though in the sultry third movement he asks the saxophone to play “lamentoso ma molto grottesco” against the piano’s “molto ritmico.” The jaunty first movement, which has something in common with Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk, is rife with jazz syncopations, swinging along merrily until its nonchalant ending. The second movement heats up the action with darting licks for the saxophone, an especially syncopated piano part, and a surprisingly abrupt ending. The bluesy third movement has the saxophonist bending pitch to slide into its destination notes while the piano keeps its steady beat. The final movement drives forward motorically until Schulhoff inserts a slow contrasting section. The momentum resumes, once again catching the listener off guard with the suddenness of the ending. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes