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2010-2011 ARTIST ROSTER DENIS BOURIAKOV, FLUTE - 2010 ANNE CRUMB, NARRATOR DANIEL DORFF, COMPOSER MICHELLE GOTT, HARP DAVID KRAUSS, TRUMPET JON MANASSE, CLARINET CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA MARK ROMATZ, BASSOON SHERYL STAPLES, VIOLIN SHAI WOSNER, PIANO CARTER BREY, CELLO JON DEAK, COMPOSER RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO WARREN JONES, PIANO YOON KWON, VIOLIN JOEL NOYES, CELLO MATTHEW POLENZANI, TENOR DOV SCHEINDLIN, VIOLA SCOTT STEVENS, PERCUSSION DAVID CHAN, VIOLIN SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, PIANO RICHARD FREDRICKSON, DOUBLE BASS MICHELLE KIM, VIOLIN KATE LINDSEY, MEZZO-SOPRANO JEEWON PARK, PIANO CATHERINE RO, VIOLIN WESTON SPROTT, TROMBONE RICHARD STOLTZMAN, CLARINET

March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Italian Concerto, BWV 971 March 19, 2023 – Rachel Naomi Kudo, piano A master organizer, Bach planned a monumental keyboard series, which he began publishing in installments in 1731 under the unassuming title Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Exercise). This evening’s Italian Concerto holds an important place in this series of “exercises,” which in fact represents the pinnacle of his art and thus an incomparable peak in the whole of music. The first volume contains his six keyboard partitas; the second (1735), a remarkable pair—the Concerto after the Italian Taste and Ouverture in the French Manner, as Bach called them—representing the two leading national styles and the two main orchestral genres of the day; the third (1739), the organ chorales, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, and the four Duettos; and the fourth (1741), the Goldberg Variations. The Art of Fugue might have constituted Book V, had he lived to see it published. Bach made a careful study of any style he sought to emulate. Not only had he transcribed a number of early concertos by Vivaldi and Marcello as keyboard concertos, but as director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum he had come to know Vivaldi’s later concertos, as well as further examples by younger German contemporaries writing in the now well-established three-movement format. What is remarkable in Bach’s Italian Concerto is that, though he writes to the “Italian taste,” he makes his own masterful reinterpretation, thus it might better be thought of as the “German-Italian Concerto.” Composer and critic Johann Adolphe Scheibe singled out Bach’s Italian Concerto in 1739 as the best of this solo type—that is, not a transcription of an orchestral concerto, but written for one performer encompassing both “solo” and “orchestra” at one keyboard instrument. He went on to hint at Bach’s ingenious mix of styles when he said: “We can certainly defy foreign nations to provide us with such a piece in this form of composition—a piece which deserves emulation by all our great composers and which will be imitated all in vain by foreigners.” Both outer movements follow the customary Italian ritornello form, standardized by Vivaldi, in which periodic returns of thematic material alternate with contrasting episodes. Both movements also bubble along in the vivacious manner long associated with the Italian style, but they also show later developments in their use of four-bar phrases. Of particular interest in this regard is the existence of an earlier version of the first movement, which Bach “pruned” in several place to make more regular four-bar phrases. The lovely slow movement emulates the Vivaldi style that Bach often adopted—a singing, embellished melody line accompanied simply by a steadily pulsing accompaniment. The piece unfolds in two sections, the second beginning with the same accompaniment progression as the first but with a new highly ornamented melody. Bach’s “German-ness” shows in that all of his Italianate embellishments are carefully written out rather than assumed to be improvised as in Italian practice. The infectious vivacity of the last movement contributes enormously to the popularity that the Italian Concerto has always enjoyed. It took the hand of a master to create something so captivating from such uncomplicated harmonies and the simple idea of an ascending scale. Though similar in form and key scheme to the first movement, the finale shows Bach’s later outlook in the more extensive recall of episodic material. As the movement barrels irrepressibly to its conclusion, one can imagine Bach himself reveling in playing this work, which, as he states on the volume’s title page, was “Composed for Music Lovers, for the Mind’s Delight.” © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Piano Trio No. 2 in C, Op. 87 January 27, 2019: Pinchas Zukerman Trio From his holiday haunt at Ischl in June of 1880, Brahms sent the first movements of two piano trios to his friend, famous surgeon and amateur musician Theodor Billroth. Brahms then laid both trios aside—the one in E-flat major permanently and that in C major until precisely two years later when, again at Ischl, he added three more movements. The C major Trio exudes the confidence, happiness, and fulfillment of a composer at his zenith who was widely recognized as one of the greatest of his time. With uncharacteristic pride Brahms wrote to his publisher Simrock, “You have not so far had such a beautiful trio from me and very probably have not published one to match it in the last ten years.” Following his long-standing custom, Brahms tried out the C major Trio, along with the concurrently composed F major String Quintet, at private performances. The first trial took place on August 25 in Altausee, just up the river from Ischl, and the second at Billroth’s home in Vienna on October 19. In December that year Brahms paid Clara Schumann a surprise visit and was delighted to find her trying out the Trio with friends. Finally Brahms gave the public premiere on December 29 in Frankfurt. The work was well received, but Clara complained privately in her diary that Brahms’s playing had degenerated into “thump, bang, and scrabble”—one of the costs of giving up piano practice with his rise as a composer. Though outwardly traditional in layout—sonata-form first movement, theme and variations slow movement, scherzo with trio, and rondo with some sonata features—the C major Trio shows Brahms at his most ingenious in regard to the execution of these structures. The first movement employs two main theme areas that each contain two main ideas. The robust opening idea remains the exclusive property of the violin and cello until the very end of the movement when the piano joins in lustily. One of the most unusual passages occurs in the development when, instead of the expected beehive of activity, Brahms slows down this main idea almost to a leisurely waltz. Another remarkable feature in this second part of the movement is the combining of development and recapitulation functions. Brahms closes with a substantial coda that again includes the “waltz” version of the opening theme, but varied as we have come to expect. Brahms wrote a theme with a Hungarian or Gypsy flavor as the basis for his slow-movement variations. Clara commented particularly on the theme’s folklike nature, brought about in part by the octave doubling of the cello and violin and the short-long rhythms so characteristic of that style. In the course of the variations, Brahms, the supreme master of variation technique, varies not only the string idea, but the syncopated piano accompaniment. The last part of the theme—telescoped from eight to seven bars—shows just one facet of Brahms’s ingenuity, when halfway through he turns the previous material upside down. This inversion appears in each of the variations but the fifth, which signals finality and the onset of the coda. The brief but powerful Scherzo is a gem. The furtive outer sections frame one of the most glorious trios Brahms ever wrote. The gorgeous interplay between the violin and cello produces exquisitely poignant tensions and relaxations as each phrase arches and subsides. Brahms labeled his Finale giocoso or playful, and moments of wit indeed shine through, often based on the staccato pattern of the piano at the outset or on sudden contrasts. Nevertheless, the overall impression is one of restrained intensity that sometimes erupts passionately. Brahms adds to the movement’s aura of importance by affixing an extensive coda in which the slow, tender section near the end reminds us of his unexpected slowing in the first movement. Here it functions as the calm before the storm, which Brahms then unleashes with almost fierce merriment. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

May 21, 2023: Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945) Rhapsody No. 1, Sz 86 for cello and piano May 21, 2023: Zlatomir Fung, cello; Albert Cano Smit, piano Bartók first let on that he had written his Rhapsody No. 1—initially for violin and piano—when he wrote to his friend, violinist Joseph Szigeti in the autumn of 1928: “I simply have to talk to you. . . . I have written a minor (12-minute) composition for you (based on folk dances); and I want to talk to you about one or two points.” The same year Bartók wrote his Second Rhapsody for violin, which as it turns out was composed almost simultaneously with No. 1. The Second he offered to Zoltán Székely, a gifted young violinist who became the first violinist of the Hungarian Quartet. In his two Rhapsodies Bartók used many of the authentic folk tunes he had spent years collecting. In a long letter in 1931 to Romanian diplomat and music historian Octavian Beu, who was preparing a radio program about the composer, Bartók wrote: “The two Rhapsodies contain folk melodies from various sources. I intentionally did not indicate any source here, so I restrict myself to saying to you that No. 1 uses Romanian and Hungarian melodies, No. 2 Romanian, Hungarian, and Ruthenian.” Enterprising scholars have identified some of the melodies he used from his great collection entitled Romanian Folk Songs. Like his predecessor and compatriot Liszt, Bartók associated the rhapsody with typical folk improvisations consisting of two sections, lassú (slow) and friss (brisk or lively), and adapted the freely ornamented style, accompanimental figurations, and instrumental colors. Both first movements feature a characteristic short-long Hungarian rhythm—similar to the “Scotch snap” but probably unrelated. In the First Rhapsody Bartók went so far as to include the cimbalom (a Gypsy hammer-dulcimer-like instrument) in his orchestration, which he imitates in the original piano accompaniment. Bartók once admitted to his mother that there was something to be said for music that was pleasing and would make money by being played “a great many times, on the radio, etc.” To this end he made his Rhapsodies playable in as many ways as possible. Although both were initially written for violin with piano accompaniment, he transcribed them almost immediately for violin and orchestra. He also transcribed No. 1 for cello and piano—the version played here—which Pablo Casals played all over the world. Additionally, Bartók stated that each section (lassú or friss) of either Rhapsody could be performed separately. Curiously, not Szigeti but Székely premiered the First Rhapsody with the composer at the piano on March 4, 1929, in London. Szigeti, did, however, premiere the orchestral version in Königsberg on November 1, 1929, Hermann Scherchen conducting. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet Mendelssohn’s A minor Quartet would have been an amazing achievement for a mature, fifty- or sixty-year-old composer. That he wrote it at the age of eighteen can scarcely be comprehended. Yet it may have been just because of his youth that it emerged as a masterpiece: he was young enough to have been greatly impressed by the works of Beethoven’s late period, but not old enough to be daunted by them. Mendelssohn wrote his A minor Quartet in 1827, the very year Beethoven died. Not only was Mendelssohn influenced by Beethoven’s Quartet in the same key, op. 132, which he must have known even though it was not published until the end of 1827, but he took thorough notice of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, especially the recall of themes from preceding movements in the Finale and Beethoven’s use of instrumental recitative. Earlier in 1827 Mendelssohn had composed a short song entitled “Frage” (Question), which set some lines by J. G. Droyson (known as “Voss”): “Ist es wahr? das du stets dort in dem Laubgang?” (Is it true that you are always waiting for me in the arbored walk?) The song, marked Thema, is printed at the head of the Quartet score in the Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Works edition. Mendelssohn used the three-note questioning motive for “Ist es wahr?” as the Quartet’s motto. The use of a “texted” motto naturally brings to mind Beethoven’s last String Quartet, op. 135, published in September 1827, with its “Muss es sein?” “Es muss sein!” motto. The Opus 135 Quartet was not premiered until 1828; but provided Mendelssohn became acquainted with Beethoven’s immediately upon its publication, he would have had nearly a month to incorporate this idea into his Quartet, which he completed on October 27. Mendelssohn first presents his “Ist es wahr?” motive in the Adagio introduction just before the onset of the Allegro vivace. He also bases the main theme of the movement on the motto, though disguised by the change to the minor mode and a switch to 4/4 instead of 3/4: after the scurrying sixteenth notes, the viola, imitated by the other instruments, plays the theme based on the motto rhythm. The use of E minor as the secondary key area gives the first movement some of its intensity, as do the fugal writing and high level of dissonance, which again bring Beethoven to mind. We know from some remarks Mendelssohn made about the Quartet’s success with the Parisian avant-garde that he knew he was being revolutionary. The slow movement, curiously marked Adagio non lento, reaches an even higher level of dissonance, especially in the fugal D minor section that follows the opening F major passage. Links to the motto theme can be found in both. After the climax of the developmental middle section, a violin cadenza brings about the return of the opening theme; the fugal section is recalled, but masterfully transformed. Rather than a scherzo, which was usual by this time, Mendelssohn wrote an Intermezzo for the third movement. Its elfin “trio” brings to mind the fleeting scherzos from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Octet. The main theme and the trio are cleverly joined in the coda, a feature he would return to in his later quartets. The finale shows a truly remarkable conception. It opens with a dramatic violin recitative over tremolo chords, and ingenious thematic references begin to crowd in. Mendelssohn increases the drama by delaying the establishment of the home key of A minor. The exposition ends forcefully in E minor. The development begins with a subdued treatment of the fugal subject from the slow movement in three-part counterpoint. The violent octave outburst signals the end of the development at which point the movement’s opening recitative over tremolo reappears. Eventually the first violin alone states the fugal subject in the original key, meter, and tempo. Its continuation prepares the work’s perhaps inevitable conclusion: the return of A major, and the opening of the first movement, based on “Ist es wahr?” This time, however, Mendelssohn fully makes the connection with the song by quoting its ending completely: “Was ich fühle, das begreift nur, die es mitfühlt, und die treu mir ewig bleibt” (What I feel, can only mean, she feels it with me, and will stay ever true to me). (Note: Though it is generally agreed that the Quartet is in A minor, it is frequently listed in A major because of the short opening and closing sections in the major.) © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 20, 2016: Frank Huang, concertmaster; Sheryl Staples, principal associate concertmaster; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Carter Brey; cello ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904) String Quartet No. 12 in F major, B. 179, op. 96, “American” November 20, 2016: Frank Huang, concertmaster; Sheryl Staples, principal associate concertmaster; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Carter Brey; cello Beginning in the fall of 1892 Dvořák served as artistic director and professor of composition at the National Conservatory of Music in America (in New York City) at the urging of the institution’s president, Jeannette Thurber, who offered him twenty-five times the amount he was being paid at the Prague Conservatory. His life in the U.S. was hectic with teaching, public appearances, and engagements as a guest conductor, so he happily accepted an invitation to spend the summer of 1893 relaxing in a small farming community (300 residents) of Czech immigrants in Spillville, Iowa. Overjoyed to be reunited with four of his children who had just arrived from Czechoslovakia with their aunt and a maid, Dvořák traveled to Spillville by train in a party that also included his wife, his two oldest children, and his secretary Josef Jan Kovařík who had grown up there. His delight at being in a rural setting among his countrymen immediately erupted in the composition of his American Quartet, which he sketched in only three days, June 8–10. At the end of the sketch he wrote: “Thanks to the Lord God, I am satisfied, it went quickly. Completed June 10, 1893.” Polishing the score occupied him until June 23, and members of the Kovařík family assisted in trying out the Quartet with the composer himself making his way through the first violin part. The Kneisel Quartet gave the premiere in Boston on New Year’s Day 1894 and in New York on January 12. By far the most popular of Dvořák’s fourteen quartets, the American reflects his aim “to write something really melodious and simple.” As several scholars have pointed out, however, his effortless-sounding result masks remarkable unifying and thematic procedures. The first, second, and fourth movements all begin with an accompanimental backdrop before the main thematic material emerges. The first movement’s viola solo rising confidently over bass pedal and upper-string shimmer specifically brings to mind the opening of another famous Czech string quartet, Smetana’s “From My Life,” which Dvořák knew well. Dvořák chose the “pastoral” key of F major for his work, in which pedals or drones and permeating pentatonic themes (based on five “white-key” notes, F, G, A, C, D) help transmit a rural, “simple” flavor. We should note, too, that these traits relate to American, Slavic, and many other folk traditions. Just one example, however, shows the kind of sophistication at work: the lovely pentatonic melody in the violin that closes the exposition begets the related but altered expressive theme for the cello just after the start of the recapitulation. Many commentators have singled out the nostalgic Lento as the crowning movement of the Quartet, and Dvořák scholar Michael Beckerman has drawn attention to the Schubertian quality of its endless melody. Unfolding in a broad arch that comes to one of chamber music’s most exquisite climaxes, the movement relies primarily on the simple texture of the violin or cello carrying the melody with constant undulating support from the other instruments. Occasionally the second violin joins the first in a melodic role, as at the poignant climax. The final keening of the main theme by the cello against simple repeated chords rather than the former busy accompaniment lends an air of tragedy. Dvořák bases his entire scherzo on the same theme, with a variant serving as the contrasting section, which appears twice. Kovařík suggested that the quiet high violin tune that enters shortly after the opening was inspired by a bird call Dvořák heard outside his home in Spillville. Though the exact species of bird has never been determined beyond question, the most likely candidate is the scarlet tanager. The composer offsets the cheerful main theme of the rondo finale with episodes of more reflective quality. Toward the center, one of these quieter passages suggested to Dvořák scholar John Clapham an occasion when the composer enchanted the St. Wenceslas congregation of Spillville by spontaneously playing the organ during their typically music-less morning mass. The ebullient high spirits cannot be suppressed for long and the movement ends with a plethora of affirmative phrases. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2025 AT 4 PM THE RENAISSANCE CHOIR: THE TALLIS SCHOLARS “MOTHER AND CHILD” THE TALLIS SCHOLARS “The rock stars of Renaissance vocal music” — The New York Times “The sound coming from the Tallis Scholars almost surpassed the humanly possible.” — The Telegraph “One of the UK’s greatest cultural exports.” — BBC Radio 3 ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS For over five decades, The Tallis Scholars , led by founder and director Peter Phillips , have reigned as the world’s leading interpreters of Renaissance sacred music. Renowned for their purity of tone, exquisite blend, and deep musical insight, the ensemble has brought the glories of early choral music to audiences across the globe. Their program, Mother and Child , offers a profoundly moving meditation on motherhood, mystery, and the divine. Spanning five centuries, the all-English program features Thomas Tallis’s magnificent Missa Puer natus, William Byrd’s tender Votive Mass of the Virgin, John Taverner and John Nesbett’s intricate Renaissance gems, and Benjamin Britten’s radiant Hymn to the Virgin. Together, these works form a luminous arc that connects England’s sacred choral tradition from the Tudor era to the modern age. 2025-2026 SEASON September 14, 2025 “Singers” from the Met Orchestra October 12, 2025 Lawrence Brownlee, tenor November 2, 2025 Benjamin Appl, baritone; James Baillieu, piano December 7, 2025 The Tallis Scholars January 18, 2026 Benjamin Beilman, violin; Jonathan Swenson, cello; Orion Weiss, piano February 22, 2026 Radu Ratoi, accordion March 8, 2026 Jonathan Biss, piano April 26, 2026 Jerusalem String Quartet May 17, 2026 Chee-Yun, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello; Henry Kramer, piano 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 FEATURING BUY TICKETS PROGRAM MOTHER AND CHILD Program Notes Thomas Tallis: Missa Puer natus - Gloria William Byrd: Votive Mass of the Virgin Matthew Martin: Salve Regina INTERMISSION Thomas Tallis: Missa Puer natus - Sanctus and Agnus Benjamin Britten: Hymn to the Virgin John Taverner: Mater Christi John Nesbett: Magnificat Watch The Tallis Scholars perform Christmas highlights from the Renaissance : Watch The Tallis Scholars sing Tomás Luis de Victoria's First Lamentation for Maundy Thursday:

October 17, 2021: Roman Rabinovich, piano JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) Piano Sonata No. 50 in C Hob. XVI: 50 October 17, 2021: Roman Rabinovich, piano While he was in London in 1794 Haydn composed his last three piano sonatas—in C major, D major, and E-flat major—for professional pianist and teacher Therese Jansen; his final works for piano trio were also written for her. The firm friendship he formed with both Therese and her fiancé Gaetano Bartolozzi is affirmed by his standing as a witness to their marriage in 1795. Her pianistic abilities are reflected in all the works he wrote for her; this C major Sonata in particular required the manual dexterity for combinations of parallel thirds and broken octaves as well as a wide range of color and nuance. Laid out on a grand scale, the first movement of the late C major Sonata nevertheless begins in single triadic notes that then open out into two voices, then three, and culminate in full rolled chords. The second theme, as so often with Haydn, is closely related to the first. But perhaps the most striking features of the movement are Haydn’s performance directions. The most notable of these is the marking (possibly not in his hand) for “open pedal” in the development section, where he modulates to A-flat major, and again in the recapitulation. This direction has been variously interpreted to mean: 1) raise the dampers, which creates a blurring effect, 2) employ the una corda pedal, which softens the tone, or 3) use the two pedals jointly! Other notable directions occur with the aforementioned interplay of thirds and octaves, which require very detailed crescendos and diminuendos. The Adagio sounds improvisatory but actually unfolds in sonata form. Typical of this type of slow movement, the development section is short, consisting only of ten measures. The recapitulation is nicely elaborated, perhaps in admiration of the slow movement of Mozart’s B-flat major Sonata, K. 315c (K. 333) composed ten years earlier. Haydn’s finale suggests a scherzo with its triple meter and joking manner. Outrageously short in proportion to the first movement, the movement stresses the deliberately grotesque cadence in the tenth bar, fashioned out of the motive that first appeared in the third bar. The “contrasting” section that alternates two times with the main theme is so closely related to it that Haydn’s monothematic tendencies are again recalled. After each “contrasting” section the opening material returns in a varied version that contains the added curiosity of the note A in the register three octaves above middle C. This note was available on certain English pianos but not those on the Continent. The movement closes before Haydn’s witticisms can wear out their welcome. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

September 18, 2022: Seth Morris & Maron Anis Khoury, flutes; Bryan Wagorn, piano FRANZ AND KARL DOPPLER (1821-1883; 1825-1900) Rigoletto Fantasie for 2 flutes & piano September 18, 2022: Seth Morris & Maron Anis Khoury, flutes; Bryan Wagorn, piano Brothers Franz and Karl Doppler both began studying flute at an early age with their father, composer and oboist Joseph Doppler. Franz played in the conventional manner with the flute out to his right, but Karl played “backwards” with the flute out to the left! As teenage flute virtuosos they made several concert tours together, then in 1838 settled in Pest, Hungary. They both became flutists of the German Town Theater and in 1841 of the Hungarian National Theater. Karl also served as a conductor at the National Theater until 1862. Franz composed several operas that met with considerable success, and Karl composed a singspiel, some incidental music, and songs that also found a receptive audience. They even composed several works jointly, such as the present Rigoletto Fantasy. Together they helped found the Philharmonic Concerts in 1853 and periodically toured as a duo. In 1858 Franz left for Vienna to become first flutist for the Court Opera and later conductor of the ballet orchestra; his fifteen ballets date from this period. From 1865 Franz also taught flute at the Vienna Conservatory. Karl stayed on for a time in Pest, but then moved to Stuttgart in 1865 to serve as court Kapellmeister, a post he held for thirty-three years. Besides composing for the theater, they each wrote a number of piano pieces and works for male chorus, and the compositions of both brothers achieved great popularity in their day. The Fantasy and Variations on Motives from the Opera Rigoletto, of Verdi, to use the work’s full title, was published in 1878 as Opus 38, but it may have been composed years earlier. One can easily imagine the brothers working on it when they lived in the same vicinity and touring with the piece long before it was published. On the other hand, maybe they had a reunion and celebrated by collaborating on the piece. In any case, they would have been very familiar with Verdi’s themes, since Rigoletto had been immensely popular ever since its Venice premiere in 1851. The aria that receives the most attention in the course of the Fantasy is the celebrated “Caro nome,” which is treated to several variations, interspersed with interludes that bring in other themes from the opera. The famous “La donna è mobile” makes a brief appearance, and we also hear parts of “Povero Rigoletto—La rà, la rà,” “Bella figlia dell’amore,” “Figlia! Mio padre!,” “Cortiginai, vil razza dannata,” and “Sì, vendetta.” The scoring for two flutes happily accommodates the many passages of parallel thirds and sixths so common to Italian opera. The Dopplers also added virtuosic filigree, switching off between players so that each has ample chance for dazzling display. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) String Quartet in G major, K. 387 January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet One of Mozart’s most earthshaking developments musically upon his move from his native Salzburg to Vienna in 1781 was meeting Joseph Haydn for the first time and hearing the older composer’s Opus 33 Quartets. The profound influence of these works on the younger composer resulted in his composing six Quartets—the first three between December 1782 and July 1783 and the second three 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.” In fact, on that occasion in 1785 when Haydn had heard Wolfgang, his father Leopold, and two friends play these Quartets, Haydn had 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 he 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 their treatment of thematic elaboration as a integral part of a whole work rather than belonging only to traditional development sections. Mozart’s Haydn Quartets show these elements in abundance along with his own inspired brand of grace and inventiveness. Mozart completed the G major Quartet, K. 387, the first of the Haydn Quartets, on December 31, 1782. The stunning variety of the four movements and their combined effusive optimism have made this perhaps the most popular quartet of the six. The first movement revels in contrasts—soft and loud, determined and tender, ascending and descending, diatonic and chromatic. The opening gesture’s forthrightness followed by its gentle tag immediately demonstrates this, as does the contrast between the entire first theme and the gently marching second theme with its repeated notes. Not only is the development remarkable for Mozart’s ingenious spinning out of these ideas, but the recapitulation delights in further elaboration. The Menuetto takes dynamic contrast to a new level of detail when, following two graceful downward leaps, his chromatic lines alternate soft and loud with every note. As a counterbalance Mozart introduces a second theme—as part of this section’s miniature sonata form—now featuring repeated notes followed by chromatic descents. Drama explodes in the trio in minor-key unison where one might often find more pastoral repose. By now we expect dynamic contrast, which certainly abounds in the slow movement, though with a preponderance of quiet that is especially striking at the close of the first phrase. What becomes more salient as the movement unfolds is the contrast in textures between slow-moving lines and the fast notes of Mozart’s filigree, which is not always confined to the first violin part. A striking harmonic surprise prepares the second theme of this slow-movement sonata form (that is, exposition and recapitulation without a development section). In the recap’s brief delicate extension, Mozart emphasizes the triplet motion that had made an appearance toward the end of the first theme and become a defining feature of the second. The last movement gives us a wonderful preview of the composer’s crowning Jupiter Symphony, both in its four-note theme and in its fugal (imitative) treatment. The miracle of Mozart’s fugal style here comes in the ease with which he switches back and forth between contrapuntal and homophonic texture (melody and accompaniment). Thus his fugal writing becomes an enticing propellant rather than an academic exercise. These effortless shifts of style correspond to structural divisions in which the fugal texture presents the main thematic material of sonata form, and the homophonic texture the transitional and cadential material. Mozart takes his leave with a nice Haydnesque touch—forceful, seemingly conclusive chords that then give way to the quiet “true” ending. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2017 AT 3 PM PETER SERKIN: MOZART AND BACH BUY TICKETS PETER SERKIN, PIANO “Serkin is a great pianist because he is an original musical thinker…Serkin consistently provided an amazing and illuminating amount of subtle detail; every chord was fascinatingly voiced, every phrase tenderly sculpted, the counterpoint limned a way a great Bach player does.” — The Boston Globe “Mr. Serkin played as if channeling the music from another realm.” — The New York Times FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS On October 29, pianist Peter Serkin will make his long-awaited Parlance debut. Hailed worldwide as an artist of passion and integrity, Serkin is one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians appearing before the public today. His program will feature sublime works by Mozart and Bach , culminating in the pinnacle of Bach’s keyboard art, The Goldberg Variations . PROGRAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adagio in B minor, K. 540 Program Notes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in B flat, K. 570 Program Notes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Goldberg Variations BWV 988 Program Notes Hear Peter Serkin perform the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations: Hear Peter Serkin perform Variation 1 from Bach’s Goldberg Variations: