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PINCHAS ZUKERMAN; AMANDA FORSYTH; ANGELA CHENG A prodigious talent recognized worldwide for his artistry, Pinchas Zukerman has been an inspiration to young musicians throughout his adult life. In a continuing effort to motivate future generations of musicians through education and outreach, the renowned artist teamed up in 2002 with four protégés to form a string quintet called the Zukerman ChamberPlayers. Despite limited availability during the season, the ensemble amassed an impressive international touring schedule with close to two hundred concerts and four discs on the CBC, Altara and Sony labels. Beginning in 2011 Zukerman, along with cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Cheng, began offering trio repertoire as an alternative to the quintet works with the ChamberPlayers. In addition to piano trios by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Dvorak and Shostakovich, programs often include duo performances with various couplings including the Kodaly Duo. Invitations from major Festivals and venues led to the official launch of the Zukerman Trio in 2013. The ensemble has traveled around the globe to appear in Japan, China, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Hungary, South Africa, Istanbul, Russia, and throughout the United States. Appearances at major festivals have included the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Verbier, and Bravo! Vail. This season, the Zukerman Trio returns to Australia for performances at the Adelaide Town Hall and the Ulkaria Cultural Centre. Other highlights include appearances at Chamber Music Sedona, Chamber Music Society of Detroit and the Music Institute of Chicago. The 2017-2018 marks Mr. Pinchas Zukerman’s ninth season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and his third as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence and includes over 100 concerts worldwide. He joins long-time friend Itzhak Perlman for a gala performance with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and duo recitals in Boston, Newark, Miami, and West Palm Beach. He tours with cellist Amanda Forsyth and the Zukerman Trio, and leads the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Baltimore, San Diego, Vancouver, Nashville and New West Symphonies, among others, as soloist and conductor. Born in Tel Aviv, Pinchas Zukerman came to America in 1962, where he studied at The Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian. He has been awarded a Medal of Arts, the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, and was appointed as the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative’s first instrumentalist mentor in the music discipline. A devoted and innovative pedagogue, Mr. Zukerman chairs the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, where he has pioneered the use of distance-learning technology in the arts. He currently serves as Conductor Emeritus of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, as well as Artistic Director of its Young Artist Program. Canadian Juno Award-winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North America’s most dynamic cellists. Her intense richness of tone, remarkable technique and exceptional musicality combine to enthrall audiences and critics alike. From 1999-2015, Amanda Forsyth was principal cellist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, where she appeared regularly as soloist and in chamber ensembles. She is recognized as an eminent recitalist, soloist and chamber musician appearing with leading orchestras in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. As a recording artist she appears on the Fanfare, Marquis, Pro Arte and CBC labels. Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng performs regularly throughout North America as a recitalist and orchestral soloist. Angela Cheng has been Gold Medalist of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition, as well as the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition. Other awards include the Canada Council’s coveted Career Development Grant and the Medal of Excellence for outstanding interpretations of Mozart from the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

DOV SCHEINDLIN, VIOLA Dov Scheindlin is a member and Artistic Director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and an Associate member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has been violist of the Arditti, Penderecki and Chester String Quartets. He has performed in 28 countries around the globe, and won the Siemens Prize in 1999. He has appeared as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and has recorded extensively for EMI, Teldec, and others. He won the Gramophone Award in 2002 for the Arditti Quartet’s recording of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Pulse Shadows. He has premiered chamber music by Britten, Carter, Kurtág, Adès and others. He has performed at festivals such as Salzburg, Luzern, and Tanglewood with members of the Juilliard, Alban Berg, Tokyo, and Borodin String Quartets. Dov Scheindlin lives in New York and he plays a viola by Francesco Bissolotti of Cremona, made in 1975. He is married to Met violinist Katherine Fong, and they have a two-year-old son, Ezekiel.

2009-2010 ARTIST ROSTER ANDERSON & ROE, DUO PIANISTS DAVID CHAN, VIOLIN DANIELLE DE NIESE, SOPRANO RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO DARRYL THOMAS KUBIAN, VIOLIN, THEREMIN JOEL NOYES, CELLO PETER WASHINGTON, JAZZ BASS ABRAHAM APPLEMAN, VIOLA BILL CHARLAP, PIANIST LAWRENCE DUTTON, VIOLA STEFÁN RAGNAR HÖSKULDSSON, FLUTE YOON KWON, VIOLIN JEEWON PARK, PIANO STEPHEN WILLIAMSON, CLARINET CECILIA BRAUER, ARMONICA TIMOTHY COBB, BASS EMERSON STRING QUARTET DR. GARETH ICENOGLE, NARRATOR KEN NODA, PIANO KENNY WASHINGTON, JAZZ DRUMS GREG ZUBER, XYLOPHONE

DANIEL DORFF, COMPOSER Daniel Dorff’s music has been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, commissioned five times by the Philadelphia Orchestra’s education department resulting in over 20 performances, and commissioned twice by the Minnesota Orchestra’s Kinder Konzert series which has performed his music over 200 times. Dorff’s works have also been performed by the Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Eastman Wind Ensemble; chamber concerts of the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Oregon Symphony; on the 1998 Chicago Symphony Radiothon, by clarinetists of the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic, and by pianist Marc-André Hamelin, clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal, Donald Peck, Mimi Stillman, and Gary Schocker; and conducted by maestros Alan Gilbert and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Other commissions have come from Walfrid Kujala, the Colorado Symphony’s Up Close and Musical series, Sacramento Symphony, Young Audiences, American Composers Forum, Ithaca College School of Music, Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony), Network for New Music, National Flute Association Piccolo Committee, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and other organizations. Dorff has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and pop musicians Keith Emerson and Lisa Loeb. Highlights of the 2009-10 season include Concerto for Contrabassoon at the International Double Reed Society 2010 convention orchestral concert as well as two performances of It Takes Four to Tango at that convention; several performances at the National Flute Association 2010 convention including the world premiere of Three Little Waltzes for Flute and Clarinet and the new band transcription of Flash! featuring Walfrid Kujala as piccolo soloist; all-Dorff children’s concerts at the Aspen Music Festival and Icicle Creek Music Center in Washington; and many performances of orchestra works at family concerts throughout the season. Highlights of the 2008-09 included the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival performing Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the Baltimore Symphony in 5 performances of The Tortoise and the Hare. In February 2009, the Allentown Symphony gave performances of The Kiss, after the painting by Klimt. Dorff was the pre-concert lecturer for Philadelphia Orchestra concerts in March 2009. Flash! for piccolo and piano was performed by Kate Prestia-Schaub at the 2009 International Piccolo Symposium and annual convention of the National Flute Association; Flash! has also been performed on tour by piccolo legend Walfrid Kujala and recently won the International Piccolo Symposium’s biennial composition competition. In May 2009, Sheryl Lee performed Dorff’s The Day Things Went Wrong at the Pet Store (11 Cartoons for Piano) at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other recent premieres include Yvonne Smith in Spark for solo viola performed in Houston in November 2009, Kate Prestia-Schaub in Flash! for piccolo and piano (Murietta CA, January 2009), and Tiffany Holmes in Trees for solo flute, premiered at an all-Dorff concert at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair in February 2009 featuring Cindy Anne Strong as guest narrator. Tiffany Holmes and Cindy Anne Strong also performed Trees at the National Flute Association’s annual convention in August 2009. Symphony In C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony) has recorded an all-Dorff CD recently released on Bridge Records, featuring Ann Crumb and Ukee Washington as narrators, conducted by Rossen Milanov. The companion coloring book for his narrated work Billy and the Carnival is now given out annually to young audiences at the Colorado Symphony’s educational concerts. Laurel Zucker recently released August Idyll for solo flute on Cantilena Records, and in May 2010 flutist Pam Youngblood released Dorff’s 9 Walks Down 7th Avenue and his flute/piano transcription of Ives’s Variations on “America” on Azica Records. Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY in 1956; acclaim came early with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival’s annual composers’ competition at age 18 for his Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet. Dorff received degrees in composition from Cornell and University of Pennsylvania; his teachers included George Crumb, George Rochberg, Karel Husa, Henry Brant, Ralph Shapey, Elie Siegmeister, and Richard Wernick. He studied saxophone with Sigurd Rascher. In 1996, Dorff was named Composer-In-Residence for Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony), in which he played bass clarinet from 1980 through 2002. Daniel Dorff serves as Vice President of Publishing for Theodore Presser Company; he is a sought-after expert on music engraving and notation, having lectured at many colleges as well as Carnegie Hall, and advising the leading notation software companies. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Music Publishers’ Association of the USA, the Board of Directors of the National Flute Association, and the Executive Board of The Charles Ives Society. Dorff’s compositions have been published by Theodore Presser Company, Carl Fischer, Lauren Keiser Music (formerly MMB), Elkan-Vogel, Shawnee Press, Mel Bay, Kendor Music, Tenuto Publications, and Golden Music, and recorded on the Bridge, Crystal, Cantilena, New Focus, Silver Crest, Barking Dog, Capstone, Orange Note, Farao Classics, Northbranch, Sea Breeze, Isis, and Meister labels.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016 AT 3 PM Jonathan Biss, piano, and the Principal strings of the NY Philharmonic BUY TICKETS CARTER BREY, CELLO JONATHAN BISS, PIANO “…unerring sophistication…close to perfection.” – Alex Ross, The New Yorker CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA Principal Viola New York Philharmonic SHERYL STAPLES, VIOLIN Principal Associate Concertmaster New York Philharmonic FRANK HUANG, VIOLIN Principal Bassoon Orpheus FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS On November 20 , the internationally celebrated pianist Jonathan Biss will partner with the incomparable principal string players of the New York Philharmonic : concertmaster Frank Huang , principal associate concertmaster Sheryl Staples , principal violist Cynthia Phelps , and principal cellist Carter Brey . Their “English-speaking” program will include Dvořák ‘s luminous American Quartet , Gershwin ’s charming Lullaby , and Elgar ’s lushly romantic quintet for piano and strings. PROGRAM Antonin Dvořàk Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96 (American) Program Notes George Gershwin Lullaby for string quartet Program Notes Sir Edward Elgar Quintet in A minor, Op. 84 for piano and strings Program Notes Jonathan Biss performs Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12: Meet Frank Huang, the New York Philharmonic’s new concertmaster:

March 24, 2019: Sarah Crocker Vonsattel, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Violin and Piano Sonata in E, BWV 1016 March 24, 2019: Sarah Crocker Vonsattel, violin; Gilles Vonsattel, piano Bach may have begun his six Sonatas for violin and keyboard (BWV 1014–19) before 1725—possibly in Cöthen—but it is clear that he completed them c. 1725 in Leipzig, where he served as director of the city’s church music and of the Collegium Musicum. (For more about the Collegium see the notes for the Double Violin Concerto.) Some of the important surviving manuscript sources, dating from the mid 1720s and 1740s, show layers of emendation, suggesting that the sonatas were played frequently and that slight modifications were introduced. Bach’s accompanied Violin Sonatas differ from other Baroque violin sonatas in that the keyboard serves as an equal partner to the violin instead of merely providing continuo accompaniment. In many Baroque sonatas the keyboard part consists of a written-out bass line and a set of numerical figures that indicate which harmonies are to be filled in by the right hand. In these sonatas, however, Bach writes out a specific, independent part for the keyboard right hand, which engages in dialogue and independent counterpoint with the violin in the manner of a trio sonata. In regard to formal plan, Bach did embrace tradition—in all but the sixth of the Violin Sonatas he kept the typical sonata da chiesa (church sonata) sequence of four movements—fast, slow, fast, slow. The imposing Adagio that opens the E major Sonata, shows an exception to the general predominance of trio sonata texture. In this case the violin plays sweeping phrases, the keyboard right hand plays chords in an ostinato or repetitive pattern, and the left hand provides solemn, measured pacing. The main theme of the fugal Allegro transmits an innocent, popular character. Though the movement is clearly delineated in A–B–A form, the main theme recurs even in the cantabile B section. The return of the A section is considerably condensed. The third movement takes the form of a modulating chaconne or passacaglia in which the repeating pattern (occasionally altered) occurs in the bass. The violin and the keyboard right hand play independent melodic lines. At the end Bach writes out a miniature “cadenza” where other Baroque composers might have left an improvisation up to the performer. Bach’s irrepressible closing movement again displays ternary structure. The middle section features a contrasting triplet idea, though ideas from the opening section eventually appear here as well. Bach makes it very clear, nevertheless, when the opening section proper returns. Throughout the movement the trio sonata texture is fully exploited in the engaging interplay between the violin and keyboard right hand. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

January 29, 2023: Danish String Quartet WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat, K. 428 January 29, 2023: Danish String Quartet Upon his move from his native Salzburg to Vienna in 1781, one of Mozart’s most momentous musical developments was meeting Joseph Haydn for the first time and hearing his Opus 33 Quartets. Their profound influence resulted in Mozart’s composing his six Haydn quartets—the first three between December 1782 and July 1783 and three more between November 1784 and January 1785. He dedicated these “fruits of a long and arduous labor” to his esteemed friend 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.” Haydn heard the first three performed at Mozart’s home on January 15, 1785, and the others on another visit February 12, played by Mozart, his father Leopold, and two friends. Leopold proudly reported to his daughter Nannerl back in Salzburg what Haydn had told him: “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.” The E-flat major Quartet bears no date in the manuscript, but scholar Alfred Einstein’s best guess was that Mozart composed it in June or July 1783. That may still be the case, though more recent research has allowed that it could date from as late as the following January, which is still a year before the final two of the group, K. 464 and K. 465 (“Dissonance”). Whether or not it is the third of the Haydn Quartets, its lyrical warmth contrasts greatly with the other five quartets while showing every bit as much originality. The sonata-form first movement is at the same time concise yet rich in inventiveness. The opening melody, played softly by all four instruments in octave unison, leaps an E-flat octave that only later becomes confirmed as the movement’s key after a bit of lovely wandering. The second theme, led off by the violin and reiterated by the viola also indulges in quick harmonic deflections. The development briefly revisits the first theme forcefully—in a canonic pairing of violins answered by viola and cello—but focuses mostly on bits of the second theme interspersed with dramatic arpeggios. Mozart brings on the recapitulation through a striking harmonic inflection at the last moment . A movement of breathtaking lyricism and inventiveness, the Andante con moto gently spins out a melody at great length in an otherworldly four-part texture with exquisite tensions and relaxations. This extraordinarily rich, chromatic harmonization unfolds over a regular sonata form with a short but true development section. Mozart’s Menuetto immediately lands the listener in a rustic Haydnesque realm with its merry octave plunges (almost braying)—which reverse the octave leaps of the first movement—and its lightly stepping passages, drone effects, and occasional “horn fifths.” The trio casts a fascinating and mysterious shadow over the proceedings—the drones now host ethereally haunting music before the merrymaking of the Menuetto resumes. The main theme of the finale begins in hesitating two-note fragments before letting loose with running fast notes. Mozart plays with all manner of rhythmic displacements—a fitting tribute to Haydn’s own such witty techniques. The movement is in a modified sonata form, that is, without a development, but the character and contrasting sections certainly suggest a rondo. Comic pauses and sudden dynamic shifts—especially at the very end—contribute to the movement’s high spirits. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

DARRYL THOMAS KUBIAN, VIOLIN, THEREMIN Darryl Kubian is a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section under the direction of Maestro Neme Järvi and former principal second violin of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra with Lukas Foss, Dennis Russell Davies and most recently Robert Spano. The 2007-2008 season marked the premiere of Mr. Kubian’s concerto for electric/acoustic violin and orchestra ‘3-2-1′, which was commissioned by the NJSO and dedicated to Maestro Järvi and concertmaster/soloist Eric Wyrick. Based on the work of renowned physicists, Lawrence M. Krauss and Glenn D. Starkman, ‘3-2-1′ traces the fate of the universe as it expands out from the big bang toward an unfathomable infinity. The solo violin conjoins the elemental with a human presence. Following the critically successful premiere of the concerto, Scientific American featured ‘3-2-1′ in its 60-Second Science blog, describing it as a ‘beautiful example of what happens when artists are inspired by scientific discoveries’. In 2006, Darryl composed a special 70th birthday piece for Maestro Järvi entitled ‘The Maestro Waltz’ which was the featured encore for the final two weeks of the season as well as appearing in Maestro Järvi’s biography, ‘The Maestro’s Touch’. Mr. Kubian is presently working on a commission from The New Sussex Symphony for an overture entitled ‘Occam’s Razor’ celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ensemble. This new work will be premiered in May of 2009. Darryl has been a featured soloist with the NJSO on theremin performing the ‘Cantelina’ from ‘Bachianas Brasilerias No. 5′, playing jazz violin with trumpeter Randy Brecker in a program of music by Charlie Parker entitled ‘Byrd Lives!’ as well as arranging and performing Duke Ellington’s ‘Sacred Songs’ in cooperation with the NJSO and the Jazz Studies Program at Rutgers University. Mr. Kubian’s improvisational skills have also been highlighted with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Al Jarreau, Bobby Short and Rene Fleming. In addition to his many solo and chamber ensemble performances using modern, electric and period instruments, Mr. Kubian has performed in many Broadway musicals including ‘The King & I’, ‘Show Boat’, ‘Crazy for You’ and ‘Tommy’. He has also recorded with such noted artists as Trevor Pinnock, Malcolm Bilson, Meredith Monk, Bruno Weil, Zdenek Macal and Phillip Glass. Mr. Kubian’s music production company Xtreme Medium is involved with many diverse projects which includes the completion of the score for “Living With Predators” for the Wildlife Conservation Society based at The Bronx Zoo. This DVD release, narrated by Glenn Close, is being used as a lobbying tool to save The Endangered Species Act, which is currently under threat. A lighter hearted project was the scoring of all of the Bronx Zoo’s video podcasts for use on their website and on-site kiosks. Other highlights include composing the music for the Discovery Channel’s ‘Jaws & Claws’ series, ‘U.S.S. Indianapolis’ and the docudrama ‘Raging Rapids’ which also ran theatrically at SONY’s High-Definition Television Theatre. Darryl’s scoring for National Geographic includes ‘Phobias’, ‘Killer Ice’, ‘Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union’ and ‘Really Wild Animals’ which starred Dudley Moore. Past projects include music for Pangolin Pictures, NHK, CBS, The Learning Channel, The Travel Channel, Discovery Health and the Disney Channel. In 2004, Darryl released his first solo CD entitled ‘String Theory’. This CD explores the rich tradition of the violin as a solo instrument through original music and arrangements infused with the sounds, styles and techniques of modern music making. It features the Zeta 5-string MIDI violin, an 18-piece string section and is being distributed by CD Baby.com and the iTunes website. Mr. Kubian has engineered and produced recordings for the NJSO/NY City Opera’s principal flutist Bart Feller, The Elements Quartet, The Oberon Quartet, The Halcyon Trio, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and members of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra including principal flutist Michael Parloff and violinist Garrett Fischbach. Mr. Kubian is looking forward to future projects that include a concerto for processed trumpet and orchestra, a chamber piece for strings and theremin and a continuation of the exploration of the boundaries of electroacoustic music. Darryl received his BM and MM at Rutgers University where he studied violin with Arnold Steinhart and Hiroko Yajima, baroque violin with Benjamin Hudson, conducting with Jens Nygaard and composition with Charles Wuorinen.

EMERSON STRING QUARTET The Emerson String Quartet has amassed an unparalleled list of achievements over four decades: more than thirty acclaimed recordings, nine Grammys® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year” and collaborations with many of the greatest artists of our time. The arrival of Paul Watkins in 2013 has had a profound effect on the Emerson Quartet. Mr. Watkins, a distinguished soloist, award-winning conductor, and devoted chamber musician, joined the ensemble in its 37th season, and his dedication and enthusiasm have infused the Quartet with a warm, rich tone and a palpable joy in the collaborative process. The reconfigured group has been praised by critics and fans alike around the world. “The Emerson brought the requisite virtuosity to every phrase. But this music is equally demanding emotionally and intellectually, and the group’s powers of concentration and sustained intensity were at least as impressive.” The New York Times The 2016-17 season marks the Emerson Quartet’s 40th Anniversary, and highlights of this milestone year reflect all aspects of the Quartet’s venerable artistry with high-profile projects and collaborations, commissions and recordings. Universal Music Group has reissued their entire Deutsche Grammophon discography in a 52-CD boxed set. After recent engagements together at the Kennedy Center and Tanglewood, illustrious soprano Renée Fleming joins the Emerson at Walt Disney Concert Hall, performing works by Alban Berg and Egon Wellesz from their first collaborative recording, released by Decca in fall of 2015. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has programmed celebratory concerts at Alice Tully Hall, as well as in Chicago and Purchase, NY, in October: the Calidore Quartet teamed up with the Emerson for the Mendelssohn Octet, and the Emerson gave the New York premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Shroud (co-commissioned by CMS). Former Emerson cellist David Finckel appears as a special guest for Schubert’s Quintet in C Major. In May 2017, international acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman will join the Quartet for a performance of the Brahms Quintet at Carnegie Hall. Additional highlights include a concert with clarinetist David Shifrin as part of the Quartet’s season-long residency at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon, as well as a collaboration with cellist Clive Greensmith at the Soka Performing Arts Center in California. The Emerson continues its series at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC for its 38th season, and the quartet members have been selected as Artistic Advisors for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at The Barns in Virginia, curating the series in celebration of its 20th season. On April 21, 2017 the Quartet releases its latest album, Chaconnes and Fantasias: Music of Britten and Purcell, the first release on Universal Music Classics’ new US classical record label, Decca Gold. Multiple tours of Europe comprise dates in Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom (including Wigmore Hall for a 40th Anniversary Gala);the Quartet also tours South America and Asia. Formed in 1976 and based in New York City, the Emerson was one of the first quartets whose violinists alternated in the first chair position. The Emerson Quartet, which took its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, is Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University. During the spring of 2016, full-time Stony Brook faculty members Philip Setzer and Lawrence Dutton received the honor of Distinguished Professor, and part-time faculty members Eugene Drucker and Paul Watkins were awarded the title of Honorary Distinguished Professor. In January 2015, the Quartet received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, Chamber Music America’s highest honor, in recognition of its significant and lasting contribution to the chamber music field.

April 13, 2025: Quartetto Di Cremona Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 April 13, 2025: Quartetto Di Cremona When Prince Nicholas Galitzin ordered “one, two, or three new quartets” from Beethoven in November 1822, he could hardly have realized that he was instigating a series of works by which all later generations would judge profundity. Beethoven had not forgotten the quartet medium in the twelve years since the F minor Quartet, op. 95, but the commission gave him the impetus to turn sketches into finished works. Nevertheless, he could not concentrate on quartet writing until after completing the Missa solemnis , the Diabelli Variations, and the Ninth Symphony, so the project did not begin in earnest until mid-1824. Beethoven completed the E-flat major Quartet, op. 127, in early 1825; the present A minor, op. 132, that July; and the B-flat major, op. 130, in early 1826. The prince loved the Quartets, but was able to make only one payment before going bankrupt and joining the army. The floodgates had been loosed, however, and out of inner necessity Beethoven completed two more quartets in 1826, the C-sharp minor, op.131, and the F major, op. 135, to arrive at the five works known as the “late quartets.” It should be noted that, too late for Beethoven himself but in the proper spirit, a son of Galitzin paid with interest what was owed on his father’s three quartets into the Beethoven estate. While pestering Beethoven in 1823 and 1824 about when he would received his quartets, Galitzin was always quick to say he understood that genius couldn’t be rushed. Beethoven’s problem was not a lack of ideas, but his hectic life as a world-famous composer, as mentioned above. With the A minor Quartet, illness was a major impediment. Though he began work late in 1824, from mid-April to mid-May 1825 he suffered from such a serious intestinal inflamation that part of the time he was bedridden. Though considerably weakened, he managed to complete the A minor Quartet by July, his recovery having prompted one of the few genuinely autobiographical manifestations in his music: he included a slow third movement entitled “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (A Convalescent’s Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode). The opening of the Quartet’s first movement has won special comment ever since the late quartets were considered as a group. Its signature four notes—an ascending half step then a descending half step—bears striking similarity to the main theme of the Grosse Fuge (the original finale of the B-flat Quartet) and the opening fugue subject of the C-sharp minor Quartet. Some have even traced it in all five quartets. Whether Beethoven intended the motive as a unifying feature or recognized instances where he or other composers had used it previously, it seems to have been associated with painful emotions, which fits with these profound, introspective late works and particularly with this Quartet’s underlying script of pain transcended. A remarkable aspect of the first movement is how Beethoven is able to relate this motive—of which he gives several permutations in the brief slow introduction—with the distinctive opening gesture of the fast main part. Another noteworthy feature of the movement is the “double recapitulation,” the first in the “wrong” key and the second capped by an especially key-confirming coda. For his second movement he wrote a new style of waltzlike scherzo with a pastoral musette (bagpipe piece) for a trio. In this slightly contemplative dance, pairs of half steps reappear, but with a third note added, which makes the lilting main theme so distinctive. Pronounced utterances of the half steps gruffly interrupt the end of the ethereal musette. Beethoven employs the Lydian church mode (like F major, but with B-naturals instead of B-flats) to give his convalescent’s hymn an archaic, reverent tone. This exquisitely calm music returns in two equally slow-moving variations, twice contrasted by livelier music with wide leaps and trills that he labeled “Feeling new strength.” At a very late stage Beethoven decided the “German dance” that had originally followed the Thanksgiving movement should be replaced by an almost fierce march. (The original movement wound up transposed as the Alla danza tedesca in his next quartet, the B-flat.) He often seemed to require something earthy after something heavenly, or a witticism after something poetic, which is just what the Alla marcia provides. Shortly, however, the first violin plunges into the dramatic recitative that introduces the finale. This rondo—Beethoven’s last except for the replacement finale of the B-flat Quartet—employs a main theme that he had originally sketched as a “Finale instrumentale” for his Ninth Symphony. He gives the lyrical, pensive melody a sense of unrest with his agitated rocking accompaniment. Toward the end Beethoven increases the speed to a dizzying Presto with the cello playing this theme in extremely high register. Having slipped into a scintillating A major, Beethoven decided at the last phase of composition to extend his coda significantly to provide the proper tonal balance in this key for the entire Quartet. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

February 12, 2023 – Gloria Chien, piano, Alexi Kenney, violin, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola, Mihai Marica, cello GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911) Piano Quartet in A minor February 12, 2023 – Gloria Chien, piano, Alexi Kenney, violin, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola, Mihai Marica, cello Schumann’s famous words about Brahms, that he had sprung “fully armed like Minerva from the head of Jove” might just as well have been uttered about Mahler, whose surviving compositions show that he apparently achieved mastery “not step by step, but at once.” Yet we now know that Brahms destroyed dozens of student works that might have offered a glimpse into his development. In Mahler’s case it seemed no such glimpse was possible until 1964, when Peter Serkin and the Galimir Quartet played what may have been the first public performance of a youthful piano quartet movement by Mahler (New York, January 12). The only surviving authenticated composition from a list of possible student compositions by Mahler, the Piano Quartet in A minor (first movement and thirty-two measures of a scherzo) was found in a folder labeled “early compositions” in Alma Mahler’s hand. The date 1876, inscribed on the title page may or may not be authentic. Beginning in the academic year 1875–76, Mahler spent three years as a student at the Vienna Conservatory, studying harmony with Robert Fuchs and composition with Franz Krenn—both conservatives in their musical orientation. Other sources of influence may have been Brahms’s Piano Quartets—Julius Epstein, Mahler’s piano teacher at the Conservatory, had helped introduce Brahms and his Quartets to the Viennese public in 1862. Mahler’s Quartet movement in A minor shows thorough knowledge of sonata form. Such knowledge is intriguing to find in light of Mahler’s more complex and less orthodox sonata-forms in later works. Of the three main themes in the exposition, the second is somewhat unusual in appearing in the home key, only moving away somewhat later, and the third, which has a closing character, exhibits harmonic instability. A tendency in Mahler’s later works to “slip” into other keys quickly rather than modulate painstakingly is already apparent in this movement. A “textbook” development section is followed by the recapitulation, which varies its presentation of exposition materials by incorporating passages from the development and reversing the order in which the second and third themes return. But perhaps the most unusual feature of the movement is the introduction of a violin cadenza just before the tranquil close. Composers throughout history have treated their student or early works with varying degrees of disdain, but would the discovery of more such works truly alter our opinion of a master’s greatness? We can at least be grateful for one glimpse into a formative stage in Mahler’s development as a composer. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Goldberg Variations BWV 988 October 29, 2017: Peter Serkin, piano A wonderful story, recounted by Bach’s early biographer J. N. Forkel, revealed that the Goldberg Variations were the result of a request by former Russian ambassador and insomniac Count Keyserlingk for some clavier pieces that his young house harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, could play for him during sleepless nights. A great patron of the arts, the count lived in Dresden but often visited Leipzig, where in 1737 he had introduced the ten-year-old Goldberg to Bach, recommending him as a harpsichord student. Goldberg indeed took lessons from Bach, but also from his oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, a great keyboard virtuoso who was working in Dresden. It may be, as some scholars claim, that the elder Bach wrote the monumental work for his son rather than for Goldberg, but Forkel’s account cannot be dismissed because some information for his biography came directly from Wilhelm Friedemann and from Bach’s second oldest son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. In any case, Goldberg, too, became an outstanding virtuoso, and seems to have played the Variations frequently. Bach visited Count Keyserlingk in Dresden in November 1741, having published the Variations that fall, and it is entirely likely that he gave him a presentation copy. The count referred to them as “my” variations, but the work cannot have been an official commission or Bach would have included a formal dedication. For posterity the Aria with 30 Variations will always be known as the Goldberg Variations. In the larger scheme of things, Bach, a master organizer, published the work as part of the series he unassumingly titled Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Exercise), which he issued in installments beginning in 1731. This “exercise” represents the pinnacle of Bach’s art and thus an incomparable peak in the whole of music. His six keyboard Partitas make up Part I, followed by the Italian Concerto and the French Overture as Part II, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major and various organ chorales as Part III, and, finally, the Goldberg Variations. He may even have included the Art of Fugue as Book V had he lived to see it published. In choosing to compose a large set of variations, Bach stood firmly in the tradition of Corelli, Handel, and Rameau, though he himself had not written a keyboard set since his youth. Aria was also a traditional title for the first movement of such a set—Bach’s Aria is a thirty-two measure theme that also appears in Anna Magdalena Bach’s Clavier-Büchlein of 1725. For the first eight bars the harmony and bass line (the basis for most Baroque variation sets rather than the theme itself) are the same as for Handel’s Chaconne avec 62 variations, which Bach surely knew. Handel’s treatment of the last variation as a simple canon (precise imitation of one line by another) must have sparked Bach’s imagination even before the Goldberg Variations, because he used the underlying progression as the basis for several canons. Versions of these later appeared in his Fourteen Canons (BWV 1087), which he eventually copied into his own print of Part IV of the Clavier-Übung, explicitly connecting these two collections. He probably also knew a set of sarabande variations attributed to the “Eisenach” Bach (1642–1703)—or to J. S. Bach’s older brother—which employ the same progression for the first four measures. Forerunners aside, Bach employed a much longer theme than his predecessors had, giving himself a much fuller range to explore his incomparable canonic and variation techniques. The whole set is carefully organized so that every third variation includes a canon, systematically increasing the pitch interval at which the second line begins its imitation, starting with a canon at the unison for Variation 3 and continuing through the interval of a ninth in Variation 27. (The canons in Nos. 12 and 15 proceed in contrary motion.) In addition Bach sets up a threefold pattern of variation types (beginning with the third variation) of canon, free counterpoint, and duet-style. Before No. 3 he includes two free variations and follows No. 27 with three more free variations before he recalls the Aria. Despite Bach’s organizational and canonic rigors, there is nothing dry and pedantic about the Goldberg variations, which certainly must have kept Count Keyserlingk highly engaged rather than lulled to sleep. Bach juxtaposes variations of contrasting meter, specific rhythmic figuration, or texture, and he makes dramatic or witty variations with equal ingenuity. One of the most striking aspects of his elegant wit appears in the variations with hand-crossings, which appear already in the first variation. Here they require a certain athleticism, since Bach designates this variation to be played on just one of the harpsichord’s two manuals (keyboards). (Because Bach intended the Goldberg Variations for a two-manual harpsichord, transferring them to piano necessitates decisions about how best to distribute the two-manual variations, which pianists solve in many different ways.) Variations 5, 14, 20, and 28 also call for similar leaping hand-crossings rather than the type whose hand-crossings are the result of lines of counterpoint crossing each other—Nos. 8, 11, 17, 23, and 26. Both types require great virtuosity, the latter following in a long line of keyboard pieces known as bicinia or pièces croisées. Bach also includes dance types, such as a gigue for Variation 7 (labeled al tempo di Giga in his manuscript) or, though not so-designated, a highly ornamented sarabande for the slower Variation 13 with its emphasis on second beats. He labels Variation 10 a Fughetta, which though not a strict fugue contains an entrance of the fugue subject in every fourth bar. Variation 24 seems to have roots in the instrumental pastorale, similar to the siciliana in its lilting compound meter and deceptively simple or “rural” atmosphere. Many of the variations focus on a certain keyboard technique or challenge in the manner of the études of much later generations. Variation 8 suggests a study in arpeggios and contrary motion, Variation 23 a variety of virtuosic figures including parallel thirds, and 28, sustained measured trills, often in inner voices. Bach makes a striking gesture with French overture–style dotted rhythms as a kind of grand opening statement for the second half of the set. This variation also serves to bring back the prevailing major mode after No. 15, the first of only three variations in minor, whose canonic unfolding introduces two-note “sighs,” some daring chromaticism, and a curious ending that drifts upward. The last minor-mode variation, the soulful, chromatic No. 25, achieves the greatest weight and depth of the free variations, part of Bach’s scheme of increasing drama as well as technical brilliance as the set progresses. Most of the variations exhibit a two- or three-voice texture, though Bach intersperses four-voice variations at judicious intervals. Of these, two make specific reference to older polyphonic styles: Variation 22, marked Alla breve, employs Renaissance-style counterpoint as in a motet, and Variation 30 shows Bach having some fun in a quodlibet. Literally “as you like it,” the term had been used since the mid-fourteenth century to designate a humorous piece that combined two or more independent melodies, often folk tunes, in contrapuntal style. The Bach family reportedly improvised such pieces at family gatherings. Scholars have found at least six snippets in Variation 30 that appear to be folk quotations, of which the most obvious are phrases from “Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir g’west” (I’ve been away from you so long) and “Kraut und Rüben haben mich vertrieben” (Cabbage and turnips have driven me away). Bach’s witty combination of these phrases seems to refer to this “hodge-podge” (another meaning of Kraut und Rüben) having driven the main theme away, necessitating the recall of the Aria. Without any knowledge of quotations or elegant witticisms, however, Variation 30’s old-fashioned demeanor has the musical effect of halting the intensifying brilliance built up by the preceding variations, preparing for the Aria’s return to bring the work full circle. It is unlikely that Bach, his sons, or Goldberg played the set of variations straight through at a single performance. Nevertheless, its organization, carefully considered contrasts, cohesion, and technical challenges have made performances of the entire Goldberg Variations the lofty goal of many keyboard virtuosos—to the delight of the listening public. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes