ÉRIK GRATTON, FLUTE Acting Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Érik Gratton is a native of Montréal, Canada. He received a First Prize with great distinction from the Montreal Conservatory, where he studied with Carolyn Christie and Jean-Paul Major. He furthered his studies with Jeanne Baxtresser at the Manhattan School of Music. Érik is in his 18th season as principal flutist of the Nashville Symphony. He has made many solo appearances with the orchestra, including John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy. He can be heard on more than 20 recordings with the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label. Érik performed recently with the Montreal Symphony and the Seattle Symphony, and he has appeared at numerous orchestral festivals, including Tanglewood, Shira Music Festival Israel, the Peninsula Music Festival, and Mainly Mozart. Érik is an active session player in Nashville’s busy recording industry and enjoys giving solo recitals and playing chamber music on a regular basis. In his spare time, his hobbies include beekeeping, woodworking, and discovering new things and places with his wife Erin.

ANDREW TYSON, PIANO Hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” American pianist Andrew Tyson is emerging as a distinctive and important new musical voice. In summer 2015, he was awarded First Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, as well as the Mozart and Audience Prizes. These victories have resulted in numerous performances throughout Europe under the auspices of the Géza Anda Foundation. Tyson is also a laureate of the Leeds International Piano Competition where he won the new Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize, awarded by the orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder with whom he enjoys an ongoing relationship. With concerto performances taking him across North America, Europe and further afield, Tyson has performed with orchestras from North Carolina Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Kansas City Symphony and Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, to Osaka Symphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Musikkollegium Winterthur and National Orchestra of Belgium. Highlights this season include a return to the Hallé and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras as well as his debut with Flanders Symphony Orchestra. Recital appearances include major cities across the U.S. and Europe at venues such as Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle. Following last season’s recitals in Shanghai, Vancouver, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and a return to London’s Wigmore Hall, this season sees Tyson giving recitals in Taiwan for the first time as well as a tour in Switzerland. No stranger to the festival scene, Tyson’s previous performances include Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Lucerne Piano Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the Musica Viva festival in Sydney for a mixture of solo and chamber performances. An active chamber musician, Tyson regularly appears in recital with violinist Benjamin Beilman; this season they join up again for performances in the U.S. Tyson’s three recital discs apppear on the Alpha Classics label. His debut disc comprises the complete Chopin Preludes while his second album released in March 2017 features works by Scriabin and Ravel. His latest disc, Landscapes, released in September 2019, features works by Mompou, Albéniz, Scarlatti and Schubert and is described by Tyson as a program which “synthesizes my love of Spanish music, my love of nature and my fascination with the coloristic aspects of piano playing.” The album title takes its name from Federico Mompou’s Paisajes, which are “landscapes of the mind as much as intimate, yet vivid depictions of Spain.” As winner of the Young Concert Artists International auditions in 2011, Tyson was awarded YCA’s Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the John Browning Memorial Prize. An Avery Fisher Career Grant soon followed. After early studies with Thomas Otten he attended The Curtis Institute of Music where he worked with Claude Frank. Tyson later studied with Robert McDonald earning his Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School, winning the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and receiving the Arthur Rubinstein Prize in Piano.

November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) String Quartet in C, K. 465 (“Dissonance”) November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet One of Mozart’s most earthshaking developments upon moving from his native Salzburg to Vienna in 1781 was meeting Joseph Haydn and hearing the older composer’s Opus 33 Quartets. Their profound influence spurred Mozart to compose his six so-called “Haydn” Quartets—the first three between December 1782 and July 1783 and the second three between November 1784 and January 1785. Mozart dedicated them to his friend as “the fruit of a long and arduous labor,” saying, “During your last stay in this capital you yourself, my dear friend, expressed to me your approval of these compositions. Your good opinion encourages me to offer them to you and leads me to hope that you will not consider them wholly unworthy of your favor.” Mozart’s highly unusual dedication to a composer and not to an aristocrat or intended performer shows the extent of his admiration. Haydn had expressed his approval on a visit to Vienna in February 1785, when he heard Mozart, his father Leopold, and two friends play the quartets. He famously told Leopold: “I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.” Haydn’s Opus 33 Quartets, which the composer himself had said were written “in an entirely new manner,” influenced Mozart particularly in their new equality of part-writing for the four individual instruments and in their treatment of thematic elaboration as an integral part of the whole. Mozart’s famous C major Quartet, completed on January 14, 1785, crowns his entire set of Haydn Quartets with its contrapuntal exploration and brilliance. The work received the nickname “Dissonance” in the 1780s because of the clashing pitches (cross-relations) in its slow introduction, resulting from Mozart’s bold approach to counterpoint. The public did not originally appreciate these dissonances—the irate Hungarian Prince Grassalkovics tore up his performers’ music, an Italian publisher returned the Haydn Quartets to Mozart’s original publisher Artaria saying they were full of mistakes (presumably the Dissonance Quartet’s introduction loomed large as a culprit), and French encyclopedist François-Joseph Fétis even printed a revised introduction. Haydn himself may have had misgivings about the opening, but stated, “Since Mozart wrote it this way, he must have had good reason to do so.” His less than enthusiastic endorsement seems surprising from the composer whose Creation famously opens with Chaos—in the same C minor key—which employs similar dissonances before bursting brilliantly into C major at “Let there be Light!” But, we have to remember, he wrote the oratorio over ten years after the Dissonance Quartet. Could he, in turn, have been influenced by the younger composer? The disquieting intensity of Mozart’s slow introduction grips the listener, heightening the sense of release into the sunny main body of the movement in C major. His singing first theme with its propulsive undercurrent arrives by means of imaginative counterpoint at his more forthright second theme with its cascading fast notes. And, assuaging any thirst for a more typically lyrical second subject, he offers another more lilting theme in this new key area. His charming main idea with ingenious variants serves as the basis for the exposition’s closing, for the movement’s development section, and for the coda. Following the tender melody that opens the intimate slow movement, Mozart introduces a little turn figure—in dialogue between violin and cello—that he invests with great significance as the movement proceeds. He also creates a second theme out of simple repeated notes. But what is most remarkable is how he treats his “recapitulation.” Proceeding without a development section—a common enough procedure for a slow movement—he begins what seems like an ornamented version of his main theme, but injects a bit of development as he progresses into the “dialogue.” Similarly he incorporates some development into the recap of his second theme, producing poignant dissonances. Nor can he resist introducing a lovely new violin melody toward the end against the little turn figure. In the minuet Mozart plays with contrasts—soft and loud, chords and unisons—and delights in injecting frequent sinuous chromatic elements. The compelling melody of the minor-mode trio begins hesitantly then soars—presented by the violin in the first half and by the cello when it returns in the second. The exuberant sonata-form finale gets much of its propulsive energy from the quick repeated notes of the outset, which Mozart treats in myriad inventive incarnations. He also outdid himself with touches of humor—Haydnesque surprises—but also dramatic modulations, a tender almost Schubertian passage, and spurts of virtuosity, which make this a fitting conclusion to the six Haydn Quartets. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Sinfonia from Cantata, BWV 29 (arr. Marcel Dupre) December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ As the busiest and most important musician in one of the most active music centers in Germany in the 1730s and ’40s, how did Bach find time to meet all of his obligations? He had arrived in Leipzig in 1723 to take up the position of Kantor of the renowned Thomasschule, which meant that, in addition to overseeing music at the four major churches, he held the post of civic music director. As if that weren’t enough, he took on the music directorship of the University of Leipzig and, from 1729 until the early 1740s (with a short interruption from 1737 to 1739), he directed the Collegium Musicum, which presented weekly public concerts. The duties associated with all of these positions included composing music for all the principal Sunday services, church feasts, and occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and city events; training all the singers at the Thomasschule to staff the four choirs; and training instrumentalists who ranged from students at the Thomasschule and the University to the city’s professional musicians. Like many an enterprising composer before and after him, Bach borrowed from materials he had composed earlier to meet the constant demand. Just as his cantatas provided a rich source for instrumental works, the cantatas themselves also borrowed from each other and from other genres. In the case of the Sinfonia from Cantata 29, “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir” (We thank you, God, we thank you), Bach needed to compose a celebratory cantata for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council on August 27, 1731. So, he borrowed from the Sinfonia that opens Part 2 of his Cantata 120a, “Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge” (Lord God, ruler of all things), which he had written for a wedding, most likely in 1729. (That cantata survives in incomplete state, but has been reconstructed with help from the sources of its borrowed material.) For that wedding cantata, Bach had taken the unusual step of fashioning the Sinfonia for the massive forces of organ and orchestra out of a movement for unaccompanied violin—the Preludio of his E major Partita, which dates from 1720 when he was in Cöthen. As often with his borrowings, he used a different key, in this case D major, which he maintained for the 1731 cantata. The Partita movement’s merry perpetual motion made its reuse entirely fitting for these festive occasions and has contributed to the piece’s remarkable popularity. Numerous arrangers have seized on the Preludio/Sinfonia to adapt it for various instruments and instrumental combinations. Organ transcriptions work particularly well, since Bach himself already paved the way. Out of many, Paul Jacobs has chosen that by the great French organist and composer Marcel Dupré, known especially for his virtuoso, symphonic organ music and for his prodigious technique, improvisation skills, and memory—and, as a fitting sidebar to this 335th Bach anniversary celebration, Dupré is credited as the first to perform Bach’s entire organ works in a series of concerts given at the Paris Conservatoire in 1920. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 15, 2023: Lysander Piano Trio FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 100 October 15, 2023: Lysander Piano Trio Schubert made four contributions to the piano trio literature, two full-fledged trios—B-flat major, op. 99, and E-flat major, op. 100—and two one-movement pieces—the early Sonatensatz, D. 28 (1812), and the Adagio in E-flat, D. 897, sometimes called Notturno. Though the precise dating of the B-flat major Trio remains somewhat of a mystery, both that and the E-flat trio are known to have been composed close to the same time, about a year before his unfortunately early death. The manuscript of the E-flat Trio states that it was begun in November 1827; the finale was probably completed in December. The two trios, though considerably contrasting in character, show a typical Schubertian tendency to work on more than one major work in the same genre, if not simultaneously then in quick succession. The Notturno, which may have been intended as a movement for the B-flat Trio, was also composed around that time. Outside of songs and a few operas, most of Schubert’s compositions were not performed publicly during his lifetime, though many were heard at the private musical evenings known as “Schubertiads.” The E-flat major Trio was one of the few that received a public performance, at the only public concert of his works that Schubert instigated before his death. The concert took place at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna on March 28, 1828, to an overflow crowd containing many ardent Schubert supporters who loudly voiced their approval; the concert also helped Schubert’s ailing finances. The Trio—played by pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet, violinist Joseph Böhm (not Schuppanzigh as is sometimes reported), and cellist Josef Linke—formed the centerpiece of the concert, which also included a string quartet movement, several songs, and a piece for double male chorus. Despite the success of the concert, the event was largely eclipsed by the Paganini frenzy that soon held Vienna in its grip. Schubert’s growing recognition, however, was reflected in the fact that two publishers outside Vienna—B. Schott of Mainz and H. A. Probst of Leipzig—began asking Schubert for works to publish, hoping mainly for “easy” pieces that would sell well, such as songs and piano duets. Probst eventually offered to publish the E-flat Trio for about one-quarter of the going rate for piano trios, saying “a trio is a luxury article that rarely brings in a profit.” Schubert felt obliged to accept the offer on May 10, 1828, in view of his financial situation, asking only for “the swiftest possible publication.” Schubert wrote to Probst on August 1 that “this work is dedicated to nobody but those who find pleasure in it.” On October 2 he still had to “beg to inquire when the Trio is at last to appear. . . . I wait its appearance with longing.” Regrettably, Schubert died one month before the first copies reached Vienna. Both the B-flat and E-flat trios show Schubert’s expansive approach to Classical forms, the B-flat lasting approximately thirty-six minutes and the E-flat about forty-four—the latter, which Joseph Braunstein pointed out, is longer than all the Beethoven symphonies except the Third and the Ninth. The sonata-form first movement of the E-flat Trio is built on four themes—the unison opening, which returns to signal the recapitulation and to conclude the work, the scherzo-like main theme, a more hesitant second theme, and a lyrical closing theme. One of the most striking aspects of the movement is that Schubert uses the last of these as the basis of the development. Schubert’s friend Leopold von Sonnleithner reported that the composer had made use of a Swedish folk song in the Andante con moto, and, indeed, Schubert had heard several Swedish folk songs sung by Isak Albert Berg (later the teacher of the famous Jenny Lind) at the home of his musical friends, the four Fröhlich sisters. Eventually, in 1978 musicologist Manfred Willfort showed the source of Schubert’s material to be “Se solen sjunker” (The Sun Is Setting) from a manuscript “5 Swedish Folk Songs . . . composed by Mr. B.” Schubert’s use of the folk song constitutes an absorption into his own expressive style rather than a simple quotation as seen in the example below. Despite his “Scherzo” label, Schubert referred to the third movement in a letter to Probst as a minuet, which was to be played “at a moderate pace and piano throughout.” And indeed the Scherzo, which opens canonically, suggests older models. “The trio, on the other hand,” wrote Schubert, should be “vigorous except where p and pp are marked.” Its heavy accents provide great contrast to the more graceful outer Scherzo sections. Schubert’s finale is remarkably progressive in its recall of earlier movements—such “cyclic” procedures were to become common with Romantic composers. The movement has often been criticized for its length, and Schubert himself made cuts in it which he told Probst “are to be scrupulously observed” in the engraving. In a reversal of his usual editorial practice, Brahms restored Schubert’s cut material when he prepared the movement for the new critical edition of Schubert’s works, making the finale over 1,000 measures(!), and adding to the decisions modern performers have to make. The movement’s expansiveness also brings to mind Schumann’s famous phrase in regard to Schubert’s Ninth Symphony—“heavenly length.” Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 2, 2025 BENJAMIN APPL BENJAMIN APPL ON DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU November 2, 2025 He let poetry resound and music speak‘ Franz Grillparzer's draft for Schubert's gravestone inscription An die Musik expresses my great gratitude to Dieter Fischer-Dieskau for the many hours we spent together: ‘Beloved art, for this I thank you!‘ I met Fischer-Dieskau for the first time in 2009 when I took part in a masterclass at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. Afterwards he offered me the opportunity to study with him privately. From that point on until just a few weeks before his death, I had the incredible fortune of working with him regularly at his homes in Berlin and Berg. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin in 1925. His father was a schoolmaster who loved to compose, for example he wrote the Singspiel Sesenheim (Heidenröslein ). Dieter's mother was denied the opportunity to become a singer, so she ensured that great care was taken over the musical education of her three sons Klaus, Martin and Dietrich. The eldest brother, Klaus began composing at an early age and dedicated Nocturne to his mother, and Wehmut to his brother. It soon became clear that Dieter wanted to be a singer, and the first song he studied was Wie bist du, meine Königin . Shortly before his military service in 1944, he became engaged to Irmgard ‘Irmel’ Poppen, his future wife. Torn from his homeland, he wrote many love letters full of longing for and memories of (Andenken ) his distant beloved. In 1944, the Nazis murdered Dieter’s younger brother Martin. During the early years of the war and Dieter’s subsequent imprisonment in Italy, he learned countless pieces of music, regularly hearing of the atrocities at the hand the National Socialists. Reimann's Tenebrae deals with the suffering of Jewish victims during the Holocaust in a haunting way, and was written for Dieter. His singing gave strength to thousands of prisoners. Shortly after the end of the war, he sang songs from previously hostile countries for example Sinding's Sylvelin and Tchaikovsky's Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt . His repertoire also included operetta (Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell ). In 1947 he finally returned to Germany (Die Heimkehr ) and started his international career in Berlin where he began to receive major recognition (Vier ernste Gesänge ). Irmel gave birth to three sons, but tragically she died during the birth of her third child ( Süßes Begräbnis ). As is so often the case, Dieter saw music as the only path out of suffering (An mein Klavier ). Benjamin Britten dedicated his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake to him – ‘For Dieter: The past and the future‘ (Proverb III ) after this terrible loss. Another bitter moment of grief was the death of his beloved and mother Theodora (Mutters Hände ) to whom he was very close. His private life in the years to come was not very stable: his marriage to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-1967), famous from the film Vater braucht eine Frau , only lasted a short time, as did his marriage to Kristina Pugell (1968-1975) (Liebhaber in allen Gestalten ). In 1977 he married the soprano Julia Varady (Liebst du um Schönheit ). Fischer-Dieskau received countless commissioned compositions during his lifetime, and took part in important premieres, such as the historically significant and emotionally stirring premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962 which he then translated into German. Additionally,Samuel Barber wrote his three songs op. 45 especially for him. Teaching played an important role in Dieter’s later decades. Often demanding, strict and with a great attention to detail, he shared his unfathomable knowledge with his students. I fondly recall him telling me that he liked my recording of Sterb' ich, so hüllen in Blumen meine Glieder so much, that he would like to mentor me. From the many hours we then spent together, I particularly remember the moments when he felt unobserved, sharing his mischievous sense of humour and dancing through the living room. When I visited Fischer-Dieskau for the final time, it was just a few weeks before his death in May 2012. Coming away that day, I somehow felt that could be the last time I would see Dieter. I wrote him a very long letter, thanking him for the experiences we had shared and expressing my gratitude for all I had learned from him. And then a few weeks later, I learnt that he’d passed away. This concert (and the accompanying CD recording) is both a personal and public dedication to this fine artist. I was and remain inspired by Dieter both from our private time together and his recordings, and this moment gives us all the chance to celebrate his enormous legacy on his 100th birthday. Return to Parlance Program Notes

March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) String Quartet in D major, Hob. III/63, op. 64, no. 5, “The Lark” March 26, 2017: Jerusalem String Quartet Haydn composed his Opus 64 Quartets in 1790, a year of great change in his life owing to circumstances at Esterháza where he had been employed for thirty years. In February Prince Nicolaus’s wife died, and the grief-stricken Prince kept Haydn—his friend as well as his servant—constantly by his side. Haydn’s letters show that, much as he valued his friendship with the Prince, he felt imprisoned, frustrated, and lonely. In September the music-loving Prince Nicolaus died. His successor, Prince Paul Anton II, did not care for music and dismissed most of the music staff, though he continued to pay Haydn’s salary, requiring him to supply music only for occasional functions. Haydn was free at last to pursue other interests and embarked on his first trip to London with violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon, who had been trying to lure him there for years. Haydn quartet scholar László Somfai suggested that the “stronger profile” of the last two Opus 64 Quartets—the Lark and No. 6 in E-flat major—owed to these great changes in Haydn’s life. The six Opus 64 Quartets are known as the “second” set of “Tost” quartets because of their dedication to Johann Tost, former violinist in the Esterháza orchestra who by this time had become a cloth merchant. (Haydn had also dedicated to Tost his six previous quartets, published in two groups of three as Opus 54 and 55.) Haydn’s relationship with Tost was complicated because Tost apparently profited unscrupulously from selling some of Haydn’s symphonies and quartets in Paris, but he clearly esteemed him as a musician. Though the Quartets may have been commissioned by Tost, several commentators have suggested that it was wealthy patron Maria Anna von Gerlischek (or Jerlischek; Fräulein Nanette in Haydn’s letters) who urged Haydn to compose them. She had ascended to head housekeeper at Esterháza after Prince Nicolaus’s wife died, and she married Tost when he returned to Austria. The D major Quartet, op. 64, no. 5, became known as “The Lark” because of the soaring, circling violin melody in the first movement. The designation, though fitting, was not attached by Haydn, nor was the Quartet’s other less famous nickname, “Hornpipe,” which refers to the merry Finale’s fleeting resemblance to an old English sailors’ dance. The opening movement’s elegantly prancing staccato provides the perfect foil for the first violin’s exquisite “lark” melody in high register. This beloved theme lies at the heart of one of the movement’s most ingenious features—a second recapitulation after he had already produced one in the home key. This produces a wonderful sense of spaciousness and a chance to hear the lovely melody yet again. Equally striking is the sharply modulating transition to his second theme, which begins with a cascade of triplets that takes on a prominent role in the development section. The intimate slow movement follows Haydn’s usual plan—A-B-A with the middle section unfolding in the minor mode. This “B” section turns out to be an imaginative variation on the material of the outer section. Variation also plays a key role in the return of “A,” especially in the added figuration for the first violin. In the wittily elegant minuet Haydn revels in impish grace notes, metric shifts between groups of twos and threes, and unexpected chromatic inflections. His trio section is remarkable for its chromatic minor-mode counterpoint. At breakneck pace in exhilarating perpetual motion, the Finale unfolds in A-B-A form, with elements of sonata form evident in the developmental nature of the middle section. This imaginative minor-mode fugato brilliantly brings out the main theme’s contrapuntal potential without an interruption in the steady stream of fast notes and shines the spotlight equally on all four participants. © 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

February 20, 2022 – Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Violin Sonata No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 12, no. 3 February 20, 2022 – Paul Huang, violin; Juho Pohjonen, piano Though he achieved his early fame as a pianist, Beethoven had also developed as a respectable violinist. He played violin in his native Bonn and, upon moving to Vienna, took lessons with celebrated violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and with Wenzel Krumpholtz, who was one of the first to recognize Beethoven’s genius as a composer. His ten sonatas for piano and violin—his generation still thought of the piano first and the violin second—have always held a prominent place in the literature and contain some of his most delightful music. Beethoven completed his three Violin Sonatas, op.12, in 1798, and had them published by Artaria in 1799 with a dedication to composer Antonio Salieri. The dedication is a curious one on two counts—one that Salieri was his mentor in vocal not instrumental music, and the other that most of Beethoven’s dedications went to nonprofessional musicians—aristocrats, patrons, and friends. It is difficult for modern listeners to hear in these Sonatas the “striving for strange modulations,” “inimical barriers,” and “perversities” that upset contemporary critics. His innovative features in these works may also have puzzled Salieri, who, though he admired Beethoven’s talents, thought him wilful and difficult. All three works fit an overall framework that includes a sonata-form first movement, full-fledged slow movement, and rondo, but the rich interplay of motives and Beethoven’s emphatic style took them beyond the comfort level of his contemporaries. The E-flat major Sonata, op. 12, no. 3, is a grand, virtuoso work, whose opening shows just the kind of expansive rhetorical gestures that set Beethoven’s themes apart from those of his Classic period counterparts. And yet, there are enough elegant eighteenth-century-isms to show Beethoven’s deep roots in this tradition, and particularly his study of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin. The graceful second theme particularly evokes his forebears. One of the many striking moments in this movement comes just before the close of the exposition when Beethoven builds tension with fast figuration and pounding octaves only to relax into a humorous new little theme. The tempestuous development reminds us of the proximity to his Pathétique Piano Sonata, and the recapitulation is capped by a coda that dramatically suggests the start of a new development section before coming to an emphatic close. The reposeful slow movement highlights first the piano’s lyrical capabilities then the violin’s in the main theme, whereas the violin “sings” the entire middle section over rippling accompaniment. The regular return of the opening section of this aria-like movement seems straightforward until Beethoven takes off on an extended section that almost sounds improvised in its freedoms and unexpected turns. The jolly rondo that rounds off the Sonata contains three contrasting episodes alternating with its dancing refrains. The first, which returns for the third episode, sounds like a variation on the lively main theme, and the second shows Beethoven indulging in his love for contrapuntal devices without actually launching a fugue. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

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January 19, 2025: THE VIRTUOSO ORGANIST PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN César Franck (1822-1890) Prelude, Fugue, and Variation, Op. 18 January 19, 2025: THE VIRTUOSO ORGANIST PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN As organist at St. Clothilde and professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory, Franck influenced a generation of organists and composers including d’Indy, Chausson, Duparc, and Vierne. As a composer Franck was a late achiever par excellence: his three memorable chamber works—the Piano Quintet, the Violin Sonata, and the String Quartet—were composed in the last decade of his life, and his only Symphony was completed when he was sixty-five. There is no telling what he might have achieved had he not died in 1890 at age sixty-seven. At St. Clothilde, which boasted one of Cavallé-Coll’s finest organs, Franck naturally provided service music, but it was his after-service improvising that drew crowds and led to his Six pièces , composed between 1856 and 1864. His friend Liszt was so impressed that he declared them deserving of a “place beside the masterpieces of Bach.” Franck dedicated the third of these, Prélude, fugue et variation , composed between 1860 and 1862, to fellow organist Camille Saint-Saëns. The classically oriented Prelude and Fugue may show a kinship with his colleague’s style, though in no way represents a portrait. The tender, slightly melancholy Prelude consists of three iterations of an irregular five-measure phrase. Another short “prelude” that sounds extemporized launches the Fugue, after which the Variation presents a new version of the opening Prelude with a more active accompaniment. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2017 AT 3 PM Emanuel Ax, piano BUY TICKETS EMANUEL AX, PIANO “His greatness, his overwhelming authority as musician, technician and probing intellect emerges quickly as he plays. Within minutes, we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” – Los Angeles Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS On February 26 , the legendary pianist Emanuel Ax will grace our stage for the first time. Hailed the world over as one of the paramount musical artists of our age, he will offer a ruminative set of Impromptus by Schubert , Chopin , and the young American composer Samuel Adams , followed by his signature interpretation of Chopin’s great Sonata in B minor . This dramatic work ranges across a panoramic musical terrain, at times majestic, at times tragic, culminating in the tour-de-force finale regarded as one of the most technically daring movements in the entire piano repertoire. PROGRAM Franz Schubert Four Impromptus, D. 935 (Op. 142) Program Notes Frédéric Chopin Four Impromptus, Opp. 29, 36, 51, & 66 Program Notes Samuel Adams Impromptu: After Schubert Program Notes Frédéric Chopin Sonata in B minor, Op. 58 Program Notes Emanuel Ax performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 (excerpt): Emanuel Ax discusses Chopin’s piano music: