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December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Sheep May Safely Graze, BWV 208 December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ Bach wrote secular cantatas for aristocratic patrons to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, name days, and accession days, or for academic ceremonies. He wrote one of his most famous, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd! (What pleases me is above all the lively hunt), BWV 208, on a text by Weimar court poet Salomo Franck for the birthday of Duke Christian Weissenfels in 1713. Known as the Hunt Cantata, it contains “Schafe können sicher weiden,” the well-known aria for Pales, second soprano to Diana, goddess of the hunt. For centuries listeners have been captivated by its texture of rocking parallel thirds for two flutes—the quintessential pastoral instrument—accompanying the tender main melody, which praises Duke Christian for ruling his people as a good shepherd. Though the lovely aria has been transcribed for myriad instruments, arrangements for organ are particularly felicitous because organs have “flute stops,” that is, settings for pipes that will sounds specifically like flutes. The present organ arrangement is by French organist and composer André Isoir (1935–2016). Isoir studied in Paris at the École Cesar-Franck before he became a student of Roland Falcinelli at the Paris Conservatory, where he received the premier prix in both organ and improvisation in 1960. Winner of numerous international prizes, Isoir served as organist at St. Médard, St. Séverin, and the Abbatial Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris from 1973 onward. He became especially known for his Bach performances. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

< Back Amilcare Ponchielli Quartetto for woodwinds & piano accompaniment Seth Morris, flute; Elaine Douvas, oboe; Anton Rist, B-flat clarinet, Jessica Phillips, E-flat clarinet; Bryan Wagorn, piano Program Notes Previous Next

2022-2023 SEASON Dear friends, Welcome to the 15th season of Parlance Chamber Concerts! Our 2022-23 events will feature more than 45 of the most extraordinary musical artists of our time. Highlights of the season will include the valedictory appearance of the great Emerson String Quartet and the long-awaited return of the charismatic Danish String Quartet . Notable debuts will feature award-winning artists: saxophonist-composer Steven Banks , winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant; pianist Rachel Naomi Kudo , winner of the 2018 Leipzig International Bach Competition; the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio , winner of BBC Music Magazine’s 2022 Chamber Music Award; and cellist Zlatomir Fung , the first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division. The season will also include an assortment of remarkable artists in thematic events spotlighting operatic wind music performed by Members of Met Orchestra Wind Section , Music from Golden Age Vienna , and masterpieces Inspired by Friendship . I look forward to welcoming you back soon to the 2022-23 season of Parlance Chamber Concerts! Michael Parloff 2022-2023 SEASON September 18, 2022 Winds of the Met October 30, 2022 Emerson String Quartet November 20, 2022 Steven Banks, saxophone December 4, 2022 Sitkovetsky Piano Trio January 29, 2023 Danish String Quartet February 12, 2023 Golden Age of Vienna March 19, 2023 Bach’s 338th Birthday April 2, 2023 All Brahms May 21, 2023 Inspired by Friendship 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

< Back C.P.E. Bach Suite in E minor Wq 62/12 Program Notes Previous Next

< Back Manuel de Falla Danse Espagnole from La Vida Breve for violin and piano Program Notes Previous Next

< Back Charles Ives Sonata No. 4 (Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting), S. 63 Program Notes Previous Next

October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) String Quartet in G, Op. 33, No. 5 October 30, 2022: EMERSON STRING QUARTET Haydn composed his six Opus 33 Quartets in 1781, nine years after his previous set of six, op. 20. A debate has raged for over a century about whether Haydn marked the attainment of perfect Classic Viennese style with these new quartets when he noted to possible buyers they were written “in a new and special way.” The latest thinking is that “new and special” was a phrase designed to sell works rather than a statement about arriving at the perfection of Classical style, since that would ignore the merits of the Opus 20 Quartets, the symphonies written around 1772, or, as scholar Robbins Landon suggests, the opera L’infideltà delusa or the Missa Cellensis of 1782. What scholars and listeners do agree on is that there is something different about the Opus 33 Quartets, chiefly a tendency toward popular, folklike expression and outwardly simple structures that hide an inner complexity—and, yes, they include a remarkable profusion of Classic stylistic elements whether or not they represent a turning point. Commentators have speculated, with the usual cautionary asides about art and life circumstances, that the lightness and humor of these Quartets were linked to Haydn’s personal happiness at this time—the beginning of his affair with singer Luigia Polzelli, hired by Prince Esterházy in 1779. Both were in unhappy marriages at the time and she became Haydn’s mistress by 1781. Over a decade later he was writing her from London: “Perhaps I shall never again regain the good humor that I used to have when I was with you.” Some of Haydn’s greatest wit and lightheartedness lies in the Opus 33 finales, which move away from sonata form or the contrapuntal complexity of fugues in favor of rondos or variation forms. On the other hand, and no doubt for balance, these works show more profundity in their slow movements. As to his “Scherzo” and “Scherzando” movements, though they are the first in his quartets to be so-designated instead of “Minuet,” they actually differ little from his previous minuets. Thus the aptness of the sometime nickname “Gli scherzi” (with scherzos) for the Opus 33 Quartets applies not so much to these movements as to the entire set’s many “jokes”—the literal Italian meaning of scherzi. Haydn first published the Opus 33 Quartets in 1782 with no dedication, but added one to Grand Duke Paul of Russia with the second edition of 1796, which led to their most common nickname “Russian.” This belated dedication had to do with the fact that most, if not all, received their first performance at the Vienna home of the Duke’s wife, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, on Christmas Day, 1781. The Opus 33 Quartets gained instant popularity, so much so that fraud was immediately detected when a composer from Mainz tried to pass them off as his own. Haydn begins the G major Quartet—likely the first in order of composition—with a quiet, graceful “curtsey” or “bow” in a rhythm that prompted the English mid-nineteenth-century nickname “How do you do.” Many commentators have seen its cadential gesture as a supreme example of his wit—an ending as a beginning. The immediate contrast of the rhythmic main theme with its bold, repeating bass notes sets the stage for an almost symphonic movement in which Haydn often thickens the texture with double stops. Unlike the monothematic tendencies in many of the other sonata-form movements of the Russian Quartets, Haydn’s second theme introduces a lyrical idea over a cello pedal. In his development section he takes apart and recombines his thematic fragments with creative resolve, and his recapitulation expands into what approaches a second development. The slow movement unfolds in a tragic mood with the first violin “singing” an aria-like lament over individualistic accompaniment lines by the other three instruments. Many commentators have noted that Haydn may have been influenced by Orfeo’s “Che puro ciel” from Gluck’s opera Orfeo e Euridice, which he had directed at Esterhazá in 1776. The four instruments finally come together at the end in a forceful unison phrase, capped by a unison pizzicato that has elicited much speculation about whether it can fit the somber mood or should be heard as Haydenesque humor. Haydn certainly makes jokes in the third movement, taking the Italian term “scherzo” in its literal meaning. He teases the listener with meter-busting displacements and shows supreme comic timing when, just after seeming to get on track, he inserts a bar of rest. The graceful regularity of the trio provides tongue-in-cheek foil. The Finale, marked Allegretto, unfolds as an easy-going siciliano theme with three variations. The decoration increases in the third variation, first for the viola then the cello, and Haydn caps the movement with a presto coda that gallops toward the finish—but not without some final soft-loud playfulness. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

< Back Mark O’Connor F.C.’s Jig for violin and viola Program Notes Previous Next

DENIS BOURIAKOV, FLUTE - 2013 Principal Flute of the Metropolitan Opera, Denis Bouriakov enjoys one of the fastest growing careers in the flute world. He has won prizes in many of the most important international competitions, including the Jean-Pierre Rampal, the Munich ARD, the Prague Spring, the Carl Nielsen, and the Kobe competitions. Bouriakov looks outside the standard flute repertoire for works that allow the flute to shine. In addition to having a phenomenal virtuoso technique, he is continually transcribing and performing violin concertos and sonatas, expanding the limits of flute technique and artistry. Mr. Bouriakov released his first solo CD in 2009, which includes the Sibelius Violin Concerto in his own arrangement. He has also recorded the Bach Concerto for 2 Violins in d minor with flutist William Bennett and the English Chamber Orchestra. His anticipated 2012 CD, recorded in Japan, will include works by Copland, Debussy, Boehm, Jolivet and Prokofiev. Bouriakov has performed worldwide as a soloist with many orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble of Tokyo, the Odense Symphony, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble of Paris and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Denis Bouriakov was born in Crimea (now the Ukraine). At the age of ten, he was given a place at the Moscow Central Special Music School, where he studied with Professor Y.N. Dolzhikov. With the support of the ”New Names” International Charity Foundation and the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation, he toured as soloist to over 20 countries in Europe, Asia, South America, and the USA. He went on to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying with Professor William Bennett (OBE). His graduation in 2001 was accompanied by the “Principal’s Award”, the diploma for Outstanding Recital, and the Teaching Fellowship Award for the following year. In 2006, the Academy awarded him the title of ARAM, Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. While in London, Bouriakov freelanced as principal flute with the Philharmonia of London, the LPO, Leeds Opera North and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Bouriakov’s first position was Principal Flute with the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, where he also taught at the Tampere Conservatory of Music for 3 years. In 2008, he was appointed Principal Flute with the Barcelona Symphony under Eiji Oue. Later that year he won the Principal Flute position in the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mr. Bouriakov is very active as a soloist, orchestra player and teacher; his recent engagements have included recitals and master classes in Europe, Asia, USA and Australia.

< Back Sergei Rachmaninoff Six Songs, Op. 38 In My Garden at Night, To Her, Daisies, Pied Piper, Dreams, A-oo Program Notes Previous Next

September 24, 2017: Rafael Figueroa, cello GASPAR CASSADÓ (1897-1966) Sardana and Jota from Suite for Solo Cello September 24, 2017: Rafael Figueroa, cello Young prodigy Gaspar Cassadó began his music training early with his organist-composer father. The family moved to Paris to insure the best teachers—the great Jacques Thibaud for his violinist brother and Casals for him. Casals’s playing and mentoring left an indelible impression on the young Gaspar, who became acquainted with all the leading musicians in Paris—he also studied composition with Ravel and Falla. Influenced by his mentor’s legendary performances of the Bach solo cello suites, Cassadó composed one of his own in 1926, successfully transferring the idea of Bach’s stylized Baroque dances to dance forms of his own Spanish heritage. The Sardana, reflecting the national Catalonian circle dance, unfolds in two parts: slow and stately (dancer holding hands with arms down) and fast and exuberant (arms up). The final movement alternates an introspective Intermezzo with a lively triple-meter Jota, which evokes the guitars and castanets of the dance’s northern Spanish roots. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

< Back Alan Jay Kernis 100 Great Dance Hits for guitar and string quartet Program Notes Previous Next