<!-- Facebook Pixel Code --> <script nonce="mbsjNBqJ"> !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');   fbq('init', '492979763667320'); fbq('track', "PageView");</script> <noscript><img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=492979763667320&ev=PageView&noscript=1" /></noscript> <!-- End Facebook Pixel Code -->
top of page

Search Results

905 results found with an empty search

  • STERLING ELLIOTT, CELLO

    STERLING ELLIOTT, CELLO Acclaimed for his stellar stage presence and joyous musicianship, cellist Sterling Elliott is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. Already in his young career, he has appeared with major orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony and the Dallas Symphony, with noted conductors Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Thomas Wilkins, Jeffrey Kahane, Mei Ann Chen and others. In the 2024/2025 season Sterling Elliott debuts with the Atlanta Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Columbus Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and returns to the Wilmington Symphony. He joins the Madison Symphony for the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Gil and Orli Shaham and returns to Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Louis Langree. As the YCAT–Music Masters Robey Artist with the London-based Young Classical Artists Trust he will Tour New Zealand in addition to appearances at Wigmore Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and others. This season he also begins his tenure as a BBC New Generation Artist, and a three-year residency in the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center appearing with CMLSC at Alice Tully Hall and on tour throughout the U.S. Sterling has a long history with the Sphinx Organization where he won the 2014 Junior Division Competition, becoming the first alumnus from the Sphinx Performance Academy to win the Sphinx Competition. Last season, Sterling received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. Sterling is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick and Clara Kim, following completion of his Master of Music and undergraduate degrees at Juilliard. He is an ambassador of the Young Strings of America, a string sponsorship operated by Shar Music. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.

  • BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO

    BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO Canadian pianist Bryan Wagorn serves as Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera and regularly performs throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as chamber musician and recital accompanist to the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Recent engagements include the Met Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, and recitals with Angel Blue, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Lise Davidsen, and Nadine Sierra. Mr. Wagorn has appeared at festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Ravinia and Glyndebourne, and served on the faculty of the National Arts Centre of Canada’s Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra. He has been a guest coach at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program and at the Glyndebourne Festival’s Jerwood Young Artist Program, and serves on the faculty of Mannes College and Manhattan School of Music.

  • RADU RATOI, ACCORDIONIST

    RADU RATOI, ACCORDIONIST Winner of the 2024 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, accordionist Radu Ratoi, began playing the accordion at the age of six in his hometown in the Republic of Moldova. A prodigious talent, Radu excelled early on, winning numerous international competitions in the junior category. He has since gone on to achieve an extraordinary record, claiming victory in six of the most prestigious accordion competitions in the world: Coupe Mondiale, Klingenthal Accordion Competition, Trophy Mondiale, Arrasate Accordion Competition, PIF Castelfidardo, and the Moscow Accordion Competition. In total, he has received more than 60 national and international awards. Praised for his originality, versatility, and virtuosity in both classical and contemporary repertoire, Radu has earned several prestigious honors in his homeland. In 2018, he was awarded the "Excellence Diploma"" and in 2022, the esteemed Moldovan National Distinction "Master in Arts"" both presented by the President of the Republic of Moldova. Radu studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he was awarded the Sonning Music Prize, one of Denmark's most prestigious honors. His artistry is defined by the unique way he blends two major musical traditions-the Russian school and the Western European school-into a deeply personal and distinctive style. In 2022, Radu released his debut album, Greatest Organ Works Arranged for Accordion, featuring works by J.S. Bach and F. List. Through his transcriptions of pieces by J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti, J.P. Rameau, F. Liszt, and others, Radu has expanded and redefined the accordion repertoire. As both a soloist and chamber musician, Radu has captivated audiences worldwide with his musicality, technical brilliance, and charisma. He has performed in some of the world's most renowned concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Radio Concert House Copenhagen, Victoria Concert Hall, Tivoli Hall Copenhagen, Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in Yerevan, and Harbin Concert Hall, among others. In 2024, he was appointed as a soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. Radu's groundbreaking contributions to the accordion repertoire and his unforgettable performances continue to set him apart as one of the foremost accordionists of his generation.

  • Board of Directors (Item) | PCC

    Development Director Inmo Parloff Leadership Council Thomas and Heidi Ahlborn Anne Bosch William and Zitta Chapman Catherine Coo ke Christina Hembree Adrian and Christina Jones Ronald and Mollie Ledwith Youngick and Joyce Lee Carol Martin Dorothy Neff Suzanne Taranto Donald and Gigo Taylor Richard and Michelle Vaccaro

  • Kol Nidrei for cello and piano, Max Bruch (1838-1920)

    February 18, 2024: Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Michael Stephen Brown, piano Max Bruch (1838-1920) Kol Nidrei for cello and piano February 18, 2024: Nicholas Canellakis, cello; Michael Stephen Brown, piano When Bruch was selected in August 1878 for the directorship of a choral society in Berlin, he expressed surprise since the Stern’scher Gesangverein had taken no notice of any of his choral works. He had really hoped for a position in England, which did come to pass two years later, but meanwhile he took up his duties in Berlin. He worked on just two compositions there, the Scottish Fantasy and Kol nidrei. Bruch assumed the position of director of the Philharmonic Society in Liverpool in late August 1880, completing his Kol nidrei there that fall. Subtitled Adagio on Hebrew Melodies for Cello and Orchestra, the work was composed for Liverpool’s Jewish community. The composer described his sources: Two of the melodies are first-class—the first is an age-old Hebrew song of atonement, the second (D major) is the middle section of a moving and truly magnificent song “O weep for those that wept on Babel’s stream” (Byron), equally very old. I got to know both melodies in Berlin, where I had much to do with the children of Israel in the Coral Society. The success of Kol nidrei is assured, because all the Jews in the world are for it eo ipso [by that very fact]. Bruch’s first-mentioned melody is traditionally sung on the eve of Yom Kippur during the service of atonement, when worshipers proclaim that all vows (“Kol nidrei”) made unwittingly or rashly during the year should be considered null and void. Many melodies and their variants have been employed for the Kol nidrei, varying according to local tradition. Bruch’s Kol nidrei melody is the approximately 200-year-old Ashkenazi version, parts of which may go back more than a thousand years. Though he had to condense it, he retained most of its most characteristic turns of phrase. Bruch’s work unfolds as a paraphrase with variational sequences on the melody, and though he was writing for cello and orchestra, his approach seems vocally oriented—an area in which he always felt comfortable. The second theme enters soulfully in the cello atop harp and string arpeggios. This melody, too, is repeated and embellished in many ways, though it never loses its poignant quality. Its treatment takes us to the end of the piece, which closes in tranquility after three rising arpeggiated figures in the cello. The composer was quite partial to this theme—he employed it again in his choral work Three Hebrew Melodies. Though a Protestant, Bruch was often thought to be Jewish because of the strong Jewish affinities so compellingly woven into his music. Of the many cellists asking Bruch to write something for cello along the lines of his violin concertos and Scottish Fantasy, it was Robert Hausmann, said Bruch, who had plagued him for so long that he eventually composed Kol nidrei for him. Bruch was pleased by trial performances in Liverpool by cellist Joseph Hollmann and in the arrangement he made for violin which was tried out by Ernst Schiever. Hausmann did in fact receive the dedication and gave the public premiere in Berlin. Bruch surmised from Hausmann’s reports that the work had suffered in the Berlin orchestral sessions because of “an insanely slow tempo” and vowed to conduct it himself when he came to Berlin at the end of December 1880. With Hausmann’s ensuing performance in London, Hollmann’s in Russia, Jules Delsart’s set for Paris, and publication in 1881, Kol nidrei received an auspicious launch that translated into a well-deserved place in the repertoire. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

  • ANNE-MARIE McDERMOTT, PIANO

    ANNE-MARIE McDERMOTT, PIANO In a career that has spanned over 25 years, American pianist Anne-Marie McDermott has played concertos, recitals and chamber music in hundreds of cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. The breadth of her repertoire matches that of her instrument, spanning from Bach, Haydn and Beethoven to Rachmaninoff, Prokoviev and Scriabin to works by today’s most influential composers — Aaron Jay Kernis, Steven Hartke, Joan Tower and Charles Wuorinen, among them. As an Artistic Director, Ms. McDermott leads the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Florida and the Avila Chamber Music Celebration in Curacao. 

Beginning with the 2011 season, she is also the Artistic Director of the Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. Anne-Marie has been an Artist Member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1995. Ms. McDermott’s passions have recently coalesced in several important projects that are indicative both of her popularity and the range of her musical interests: the presentation of The Complete Prokoviev Piano Sonatas and Chamber Music as part of the Lincoln Center Festival; The Chamber Music of Shostakovich at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ; the premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s Piano Sonata No. 6; and the performance and recording of Gershwin’s Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony (2008, Bridge Records). The latter was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. 

About her critically acclaimed recording of the Complete Prokoviev Piano Sonatas (2009, Bridge Records), Gramophone wrote “we have waited a long time for an American pianist of this stature.”

  • SIR JAMES GALWAY, FLUTE

    SIR JAMES GALWAY, FLUTE The living legend of the flute, Sir James Galway is regarded as both the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Sir James has made himself a modern musical master, whose virtuosity on the flute is equaled only by his limitless ambitions and vision. Through his extensive touring, over 30 million albums sold, and his frequent international television appearances, Sir James has endeared himself to millions worldwide and is a tireless promoter of the arts. Still sharing his love of performing, Sir James opened his 2014/15 season receiving the coveted Gramophone Classical Music Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the classical music industry, in a star-studded ceremony in London. His concert schedule opened with a tour through Asia, Canada, and the U.S., incorporating his educational work alongside his concert performances. A long-awaited South American tour will be preceded by a special Birthday Tribute Concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in aid of Music Education and Autism. A return to Europe saw Sir James performing a JS Bach tribute in London, closing the year with his annual New Year’s Eve concert in Switzerland. The New Year brought in more educational work and a tour of South Africa with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The first South African Galway Flute Festival concluded with a spectacular Starlight Classics concert in Cape Town, incorporating flute students from the festival. Spring brought in a return to the U.S. with concerts in NY and LA to name a few, followed by a return to various performances throughout Europe. Sir James devoted most of the summer to his educational outreach programmes, including First Flute, his online Flute education community. In celebration of Sir James’ legacy to music, Sony Classics has honored the “Master of the Flute” with the release of a special box set containing 71 CDs—all his recordings for Sony/RCA (available at Amazon.com). Belfast born, Sir James studied in London and Paris before embarking on his orchestral career in such prestigious orchestras such as the Sadlers Wells and Royal Covent Garden Operas, The BBC, Royal Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra, before taking up the coveted position of solo flautist with the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. Since launching his successful career as a soloist in 1975, his busy touring schedule sees him performing with the world’s leading orchestras and most prestigious conductors. From Galway’s lips have come definitive treatments of classical repertoire and masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart. He also features contemporary music in his programs, including new flute works commissioned by him and for him by composers such as Adamo, Amram, Bolcom, Corigliano, Heath, Lieberman, and Maazel. Recent commissions include a concerto “Linen & Lace” by Bill Whelan (composer of Riverdance); concerto by Elaine Agnew “Dark Hedges” commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the Royal Albert Hall Proms, and a Double Flute concerto for 2 flutes written especially for Sir James and Lady Galway by the Northern Irish Composer, Philip Hammond. Alongside his busy performing schedule he makes time to share his wisdom and experience with the young through the 10-day “Galway Flute Festival” he holds each year with his wife, Lady Jeanne Galway, in Switzerland and the USA. Through these, and the numerous other classes they hold worldwide throughout the year, they are able to have a hands-on mentoring of the students they meet ( www.galwayflutefestival.com ). Launched in December 2013, is the ground breaking “First Flute. ” Sir James’ online Educational Network is geared for students, teachers, and music lovers, allowing them to have first-hand access to Sir James’ invaluable expertise ( www.firstflute.com ). Sir James continues commissioning new works for the flute, publishing articles, flute studies, and books. To celebrate his legacy and commitment to flute players all over the world, he has recently collaborated with Nagahara Flutes of Boston who have created a special “James Galway Nagahara flute series”; as part of their 125th Anniversary, William S. Haynes have also produced a James Galway Q Series edition. A discography of over 70 CDs with BMG Sony Classics and Deutsche Grammophon ranging from the great classics such as Mozart and Bach, his performing on the sound track of Lord of the Rings (Return of the King), and his recording of “O’Reilly Street” with the Cuban timba group, Tiempo Libre, reflects his mastery of musical diversity. Sir James has played for such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, President Clinton, President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush, President Mary McAleese, President Michael D. Higgins, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Prince Charles, HRH The Princess Royal, The Empress of Japan, The Queen of Norway, Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Diana, TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent, President Shimon Peres and most recently, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and shared the stage with an amazing array of entertainers including Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, John Denver, Elton John, The Chieftains, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Jessye Norman, Cleo Laine, and Andrea Bocelli. He performed with Pink Floyd in their memorable concert at the Berlin Wall, was part of the Nobel Peace concert in Norway and performed at the G Seven summit hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace. He also devotes much of his free time supporting charitable organizations such as SOS, FARA, Future Talent, Youth Music (UK), The Caron Keating Foundation, Lorin Maazel’s Châteauxville Foundation, Shimon Peres Peace Center educational project and UNICEF, with which he holds the title of special representative. He is also Ambassador to the European Brain Council. Among the many honors and awards for his musical achievements are: the Gramophone 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award; the Grammy President’s Merit Award; Classic Brits Lifetime Achievement Award; The Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame; The National Concert Hall Dublin Lifetime Achievement Award, and numerous gold and platinum CDs. In December 2009, Sir James was awarded the honor of being made the first Artist Laureate of the Ulster Orchestra. He has been honored twice by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with The OBE in 1979 and again in 2001 with a Knighthood for his services to music. Sir James lives with his wife and family in Switzerland and currently plays on the 20K “Galway” Nagahara Flute, especially commissioned for him.

  • Piano Sonata No. 50 in C Hob. XVI: 50, JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)

    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

  • String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108, DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975)

    January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108 January 4, 2015 – Emerson String Quartet When Shostakovich announced the completion of his First Cello Concerto in the summer of 1959, he also mentioned that he had composed one and a half movements of a new quartet. He completed this—his Seventh—in March 1960, possibly having also worked on it the previous month while hospitalized for one of many treatments of his weakened right hand. (Only later was his condition diagnosed as a rare form of poliomyelitis.) The Beethoven Quartet (Dmitri Tsïganov, Vasili Shirinsky, Vadim Borisovsky, and Sergei Shirinsky) premiered the work on May 15 at Leningrad’s Glinka Concert Hall. From the time of Shostakovich’s Second Quartet they had become his friends and collaborators, premiering all his remaining quartets until the death of the cellist prevented them from their premiering his last, the Fifteenth. The composer was the first to credit the influence of their performing style on his music. Shostakovich had set up a tonal structure for his cycle of quartets, intending to write one in each of the twenty-four keys. He placed each quartet a third below the previous, beginning with C major (C–A–F–D–B-flat–G), but he broke his scheme by choosing F-sharp minor for his Seventh. (He would resume with Nos. 8 and 9, but in reverse, C minor and E-flat, then continue without break through No. 15.) Commentators speculate that he associated F-sharp minor with the Quartet’s dedicatee, Nina, his first wife and mother of his two children; she had died six years previously from undetected colon cancer. He had recently extricated himself from his unfortunate second marriage of four years, and had perhaps grown nostalgic about his first wife. Nevertheless, their twenty-two year marriage had been anything but smooth, perhaps reflected in the work’s conflicting moods—impish, agitated, haunted, belligerent, and introspective. Shortest of his fifteen quartets, the Seventh unfolds in three compact movements, linked not by continuous sound but by the “attacca” directive between movements so as to prevent disruptive pauses. The first movement begins impishly with the first violin descending in little three-note grouplets until it knocks three times on the home pitch. Not only does the light texture and soft volume add to the impishness, but Shostakovich plays metric games that keep the two types of three-note groupings delightfully off-kilter. The cello presents the stealthy second theme, made agitated by inner instruments’ insistent repeated notes—a Shostakovich hallmark. He cleverly alters the return of the first theme by evening out the rhythm and having the strings play pizzicato. Before the first theme ends, the strings don their mutes, keeping them on through the return of the agitated music and into the hushed ending with the three repeated notes. Still muted, the second violin initiates the slow movement with a rocking arpeggio, which provides a perfect backdrop for the haunting theme of the first violin. The viola and cello’s eerie theme in octave unison receives another of Shostakovish’s insistent repeated-note accompaniments in the second violin, which continues as the first violin floats in. The concluding somber four-note descent leaves the movement sounding open-ended. The finale crashes in with unexpected violence, whereupon we hear the slow four-note descent again. Shostakovich then launches a belligerent, thrilling fugue of irresistible forward momentum. Just when the intensity becomes nearly unbearable, he suddenly brings back the main theme from the first movement in a terrifically aggressive version, reminiscent at times of the Cello Concerto he had just completed. Miraculously, he then turns his fugue theme into a gentle, muted waltz. With a kind of nostalgic look at the impish material of the first movement, the piece dies away introspectively. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

  • LINO GOMEZ, SAXOPHONE

    LINO GOMEZ, SAXOPHONE Saxophonist Lino Gomez enjoys an extremely diverse career in the orchestral, chamber, and commercial music fields. A former member of both the American and the New York Saxophone Quartets, his other chamber music credits include performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Chamber Players and recordings with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is a frequent guest artist, as both saxophonist and clarinetist, of the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony, American Composers and New York Pops orchestras. He has performed solo roles with all of these ensembles, including performances of Eino Tanberg’s “Concerto Grosso” with the NY Philharmonic and the USA premier of Tan Dun’s “Red Forecast” with the American Composers Orchestra. Lino’s many commercial music credits include feature film soundtracks, radio andtelevision commercials, and Broadway shows. He is a former member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live band.

  • Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K. 191, WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)

    September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA WILLIAM SHORT, BASSOON; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K. 191 September 14, 2025: “SINGERS” FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA WILLIAM SHORT, BASSOON; MUSICIANS FROM THE MET ORCHESTRA; MICHAEL PARLOFF, CONDUCTOR Mozart completed his Bassoon Concerto—the first of his existing concertos for wind instruments—in Salzburg on June 4, 1774. The manuscript on which he recorded this date is now lost, but was once in the possession of publisher A. André, who published the work in 1801 and issued another edition in 1805. It is infinitely regrettable that Mozart may have composed as many as four other bassoon concertos, but this is the only one that survives. We have no documentation about a bassoonist for whom he intended the work or about the first performance. Most likely Mozart wrote it for one of the two bassoonists employed by the Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg—Johann Heinrich Schulz or Melchior Sandmayr. The Concerto admirably displays the lyrical expressiveness, staccato capabilities, and contrasting ranges of the bassoon. The sonata-form first movement begins with the traditional presentation of ideas by the orchestra alone—a shortened version of the main theme, a second theme of notably unusual phrase lengths, and a closing arpeggiated theme, which remains the property of the orchestra only in the course of the movement. Mozart’s treatment of the second theme is especially elegant—when the orchestra plays this theme in the soloist’s exposition Mozart gives the bassoon a countermelody and in the corresponding place in the recapitulation the bassoon and orchestra melodies are reversed. By qualifying the Andante tempo marking with “ma adagio” and by employing muted strings throughout, Mozart infuses a tinge of pathos into the serene atmosphere of the second movement. His writing for the bassoon shows off its singing qualities to great advantage. The opening idea bears a similarity—intended or not?—to the Countess’s aria “Porgi amor” from The Marriage of Figaro , and also appears in a sketchbook Mozart used during his London journey of 1766. For his finale Mozart chose the type of minuet-rondo favored by J. C. Bach, whom he greatly admired; that is, in the style and triple meter of a minuet but with the rondo form of a recurring refrain with intervening episodes. Mozart also ingeniously incorporates elements of variation form by giving the soloist variation material or figuration in the episodes between the orchestra’s statements of the rondo refrain. He offers intriguing variety, though, by entrusting the next to last statement of the refrain to the bassoon while the strings offer contrapuntal interest. By providing places for an “Eingang ” (short cadenza-like passage) in the outer movements, and for cadenzas proper in the first two movements, Mozart allows the soloist ample opportunities for additional display and imagination. —©Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

  • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2022 AT 4 PM | PCC

    SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2022 AT 4 PM WINDS OF THE MET BUY TICKETS ELAINE DOUVAS, OBOE DAVID GOULD, BASSET HORN NATHAN HUGHES, OBOE DEAN LEBLANC, BASSET HORN JESSICA PHILLIPS, CLARINET MARK ROMATZ, BASSOON HUGO VALVERDE, HORN BRAD GEMEINHARDT, FRENCH HORN JOEL NOYES, CELLO EVAN EPIFANIO, BASSOON JAVIER GÁNDARA, HORN BRENDAN KANE, BASS MARON KHOURY, FLUTE ANTON RIST, CLARINET JOHN UPTON, OBOE BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO SETH MORRIS, FLUTE ANNE SCHARER, FRENCH HORN FEATURING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE BUY TICKETS The inaugural concert of Parlance Chamber Concerts’s 15th season will showcase the brilliant virtuosity of the MET Orchestra’s wind section. The program will highlight the eighteen musicians’s operatically-honed insight into fantasies on themes from Rigoletto and Lucia di Lammermoor, and lyrical music by Amilcare Ponchielli, the composer of La Gioconda. The afternoon will culminate in a performance of Mozart’s sublime ”Gran Partita,” the majestic wind serenade that inspired Peter Shaffer, author of the play Amadeus, to have Mozart’s envious rival, Salieri, sigh, “It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.” PROGRAM Franz & Karl Doppler Rigoletto Fantasie for 2 flutes & piano Seth Morris & Maron Anis Khoury, flutes; Bryan Wagorn, piano Program Notes Henri Brod Duo from Lucia di Lammermoor, Op. 55 for oboe and cello & piano accompaniment Elaine Douvas, oboe; Joel Noyes, cello; Bryan Wagorn, piano Program Notes 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 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Serenade No. 10 in B-flat, K. 361/370a (Gran Partita) Program Notes Watch the Winds of the Met Orchestra perform Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 (“Gran Partita”)

PARLANCE CHAMBER CONCERTS

Performances held at West Side Presbyterian Church • 6 South Monroe Street, Ridgewood, NJ

 Wheelchair Accessible

Free Parking for all concerts

ABOUT PCC I BUY TICKETS I CONTACT US I CONNECT WITH US:

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
bergenlogo.png

Partial funding is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts through Grant Funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

bottom of page