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Arr. Sharon Isbin November 2, 2014 – Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Sharon Isbin, guitar XAVIER MONTSALVATGE (1912–2002) Selections from Cinco canciónes negras Arr. Sharon Isbin November 2, 2014 – Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Sharon Isbin, guitar With Montsalvatge we move to the Catalonian region in the north of Spain—he was born in Girona, studied at the Barcelona Conservatory, became a critic for the weekly Destino , and also taught at the San Jorge Academy, the Conservatory, and the Destino Academy in Barcelona. His Catalan teachers had been drawn to the Germanic composers, but Montsalvatge leaned toward the French style of Stravinsky and Milhaud, one of Les Six. One of the most significant events in his life was his traveling around the Costa Brava during the 1940s collecting West Indian and specifically Cuban folk songs, which particularly attracted him because of the close ties between Cuba and Catalonia. Montsalvatge’s music of the 1840s and ’50s reflects not only the influence of Milhaud, who had also fallen under the spell of Afro-American music, but the rhythms of Cuban music. The West Indian influence that surfaces in Montsalvatge’s Tres divertimenti of 1941 becomes particularly pronounced in his Cinco canciones negras of 1945–46, which became his most frequently performed songs. Though Montsalvatge was more interested in modern “art music” trends than Lorca—coming close to abandoning tonality in his later works—he, too, recognized the importance of his Spanish heritage and sought ways to incorporate it even during the censorship of Franco. His Canciones negras began with “Canción de cuña para dormer a un negrito” on a text by Uruguayan poet Ildefonso Pereda Valdés, which he intended as a single song for a recital by soprano Mercédes Plantada in mid-May 1945. After the rave response, he decided to make it into a collection, flanking the lullaby with two songs on texts by Nicolás Guillén, “Chévere” and Cante negro,” then added settings of poems by Spanish friends Néstor Luján and Rafael Alberti to form a group of five. Plantada premiered the set to an enthusiastic reception on June 14. The success of the orchestrated version, presented to an audience of 6,000 just after Falla’s death in 1946, represented a passing of the nationalistic torch. The popularity of “Canción de cuña para dormer a un negrito” (Lullaby for a Little Black Boy) rests on its gently lulling habanera rhythm, coupled with the jazz touches in its harmonies and syncopations. By contrast, “Canto negro” (Black Song) energizes with its vigorous setting of Guillén’s Congolese nonsense words and fast rumba rhythms. Montsalvatge employs some zesty harmonic inflections and clusters to add further spice. TEXT AND TRANSLATIONS © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) Sonata in E-flat for viola and piano, Op. 120, No. 2 April 2, 2023: ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA; BORIS BERMAN, PIANO This rich, warm product of Brahms’s later years was originally conceived for the clarinet. While writing his G major String Quintet in the summer of 1890 at Ischl, his holiday haunt, Brahms decided he would retire from composing. Yet the following spring he became so enamored of the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, principal clarinetist of the Meiningen orchestra, that in the next few years he wrote four works all featuring the instrument: the Clarinet Trio and the Clarinet Quintet, both composed mostly in the summer of 1891, and the two Clarinet Sonatas, op. 120, written in the summer of 1894. In order to reach a wider audience Brahms also produced alternate versions of all these works, substituting the viola for the clarinet. He even made violin versions of the Trio and of the two Sonatas. Brahms was drawn to Mühlfeld as a musician, not for his flash and technical brilliance, but for his warm tone, sophistication, and sensitivity—qualities Brahms emphasized in the four late clarinet works. The composer accompanied Mühlfeld in the first private performance of the Sonatas in November 1894 and also in the first public performances in January 1895. In arranging the Sonatas for viola Brahms transposed certain passages an octave lower and introduced some double stops, but the works were already well suited for the deep, mellifluous tone of the viola; the piano part was left unchanged. With these Sonatas Brahms broke new ground in the repertoire for both the clarinet and the viola. The Sonatas follow Brahms’s tendency to compose in pairs—usually contrasting in character. The F minor Sonata displays storminess in its first movement and ebullience in its last, framing more intimate inner movements in a fairly traditional four-movement framework. The E-flat major Sonata projects a more relaxed feeling in its outer movements, which surround an impassioned scherzo—a less orthodox three-movement sequence. The E-flat major first movement, Brahms’s last in sonata form, shows just how pliable the form could be in his hands. The songful, amabile (amiable) main theme is immediately varied, leading succinctly to his second theme, which as in many of his works is a theme group. Brahms delights in obscuring the outlines of the form so that the end of the exposition and beginning of the development flow seamlessly together. Similarly the end of the development and beginning of the recapitulation are dovetailed. The E-flat minor second movement, Brahms’s last scherzo, takes an intense stand as the Sonata’s centerpiece. Yet it, too, relaxes in a lovely oasis, a trio in B major, rich in the parallel thirds and sixths and the octave doublings of which Brahms was so fond. Brahms turned to his beloved variation form one last time in the closing movement. The first three variations return to the Classic technique of employing increasingly faster note values so that the basic subdivisions change from predominantly eighth notes, to sixteenths, to thirty-second notes. Far from becoming cluttered, Brahms’s texture retains a miraculous clarity. The fourth variation relaxes with quiet, syncopated chords to set up the only fiery variation, the fifth, which also shifts to the minor mode. Amiability returns with the Più tranquillo coda, but Brahms allows the two instrumentalists their virtuosic say in the final bars of the piece. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello Ludwig van Beethoven Trio in E-flat, Op. 1, No. 1 October 30, 2016: Wu Han, piano; Philip Setzer, violin; David Finckel, cello Beethoven carefully considered his presentation to the musical world of Vienna. Though he had composed quite a few works by 1795, he chose the three Trios that form Opus 1 as his first publication. He had been sponsored by Elector Maximilian Franz to move from his hometown of Bonn to Vienna at the end of 1792, to study with the great Joseph Haydn and to make his name in a musically more active world. Haydn was writing piano trios at that time, and though Beethoven probably had started work on his trios before he left Bonn, it was natural for him to work on them under the influence of his new teacher. When Haydn left for a sojourn in London in January 1794, Beethoven immediately began studies with Johann Albrechtsberger, which continued for fourteen months until Haydn’s return. A sketch for one of the movements of the G major Trio, op. 1, no. 2, was found among lessons Beethoven had done for Albrechtsberger. The Trios were performed privately in 1794 at the house of Prince Lichnowsky, the dedicatee of the Opus 1 Trios. Ferdinand Ries, later Beethoven’s pupil, reported many years after the fact that Haydn was among the distinguished guests in the audience and that the older composer had many nice things to say about the works, but advised against publishing the Third in C minor, saying the public would have difficulty understanding it. Ries also reported that Beethoven took this to be a sign of jealousy on Haydn’s part. It has been shown more recently that Ries’s account mixed up the chronology and that possible qualms Haydn may have had about the C minor Trio were raised upon his second return from London in 1795, after the Trios had already been published. In response to this and other accounts that Haydn was envious of the younger composer, esteemed musicologist James Webster wrote, “[I]t is inconceivable that the powerful and original genius of Haydn at the height of his powers should have had any difficulty with this work . . . or indeed any of Beethoven’s music of the 1790s, unless for reasons that reflect on Beethoven’s limitations rather than his own.” Furthermore, Webster demonstrated that no irreparable falling out between the two composers occurred in the 1790s, though they did experience a period of distrust between 1800 and 1804. Beethoven may have worked more on the Trios after the 1794 performance and perhaps other performances of them at Prince Lichnowsky’s. But his most likely reason for delaying their publication until 1795 was to build up a following—meaning a sufficient number of subscribers. Like the other Opus 1 Trios and the Opus 2 Piano Sonatas, Beethoven conceived of the E-flat major Trio in four movements, despite the custom of the day to compose chamber works with piano in three movements. Beethoven’s first public utterance, the first theme of the first movement, takes simple repeated chords and upward-rushing arpeggios and makes distinct motives out of them—short “building-block” kinds of motives that remained central to his mature style. Three quiet repeated chords begin the second theme, which stays within a narrow range in contrast to the more ebullient first theme. His sonata-form movement concludes with an extended coda, showing even in his early work the tendency toward substantial codas that begin almost as second development sections. The Adagio cantabile gently follows a rondo scheme as three presentations of the graceful main theme alternate with two contrasting episodes. Beethoven adds ornamental variants with each recurrence of the main theme and subtracts from its total length in the second appearance to make a more concise form. Beethoven wrote a scherzo instead of a minuet for the third movement of his Trio. Haydn had written minuets in fast enough tempos to be considered scherzos and even used the term Scherzo in his Opus 33 Quartets of 1781, but he was not writing scherzos in his piano trios or for that matter giving them a fourth movement. Beethoven’s sense of humor surfaces in the present Scherzo as it merrily begins in a key twice removed from the home key (the dominant of the dominant). The recurring little three-note motive with a grace note contributes to the section’s cheerful character. The Trio certainly changes character and texture, with long sustained notes in the strings supporting quiet legato figures in the piano. A striking leap of a tenth, heard three times, initiates the exuberant Presto Finale, which contains elements of both sonata and rondo form. The second theme, with its arpeggiated then stepwise descent, enters in each instrument in turn—violin, cello, piano, and again in the violin. Beethoven shows a little harmonic ingenuity late in the movement when this theme appears in E major before returning dramatically to the home key of E-flat. Just before the affirmative closing measures he has a bit of fun with his leaping motive. All in all the Trio makes a very assured as well as promising first opus. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

2017-2018 SEASON Dear Friends, Welcome to the second decade of Parlance Chamber Concerts! Our eleventh season will bring thirty-one outstanding artists to our community in eight electrifying events. On September 24 , our gala opener will showcase nine dazzling artists in scintillating dances and soulful romances by Beethoven, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Falla, and others . The afternoon will climax with their collaboration in Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for strings , the 16-year-old composer’s miraculous melding of youthful exuberance and sovereign musical command. 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 . On November 19 , the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will offer a varied program of classical favorites, tracing a broad dramatic arc and emotional journey. For three decades, the LAGQ has set the standard for expression and virtuosity among guitar ensembles. Their acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past while their interpretations from the contemporary realm continually break new ground. December 17 ’s concert will highlight the pianistic partnership of Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung . Their musical marriage has been described as one “of wondrous colors and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” Their virtuosity, passion, and artistic chemistry will be on display in glittering duets by Mozart, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, and Rachmaninoff . On February 17, Saturday at 8 PM , the highly acclaimed Chiara String Quartet will recreate the candlelit ambience of the 1787 premiere of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ , his timeless masterpiece of spiritual music. At 7:00 PM , I will introduce the work and its history in a half-hour multimedia preview. Our March 11 event will spotlight two of today’s fastest-rising stars, violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Orion Weiss . Their deeply communicative performances go far beyond technical mastery and have won them worldwide acclaim. Their far-flung musical journey will range from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including music by Mozart, Beethoven, Kreisler, and a newly composed work by the renowned American composer Frederic Rzewski . On April 8 , it will be a thrill to introduce the sizzling Danish String Quartet to our community. The Danes’s rare combination of rock star charisma, ensemble perfection, and consummate artistry have made them one of the most in-demand quartets of our time. Their All-Beethoven concert will feature three masterpieces from his early, middle and late periods. On May 6 , the stellar Neubauer-McDermott Family will bring our eleventh season to an exhilarating conclusion. Violist Paul Neubauer (of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society), violinist Kerry McDermott (of the New York Philharmonic), and their children, violinists Oliver and Clara Neubauer , will be joined by Kerry’s sister, CMS pianist Anne-Marie McDermott , in music of Bach, Dvořák, Ravel, and Schumann . The concert will include the World Premiere of Gilad Cohen’s* “Moments of a Moonrise” for Three Violins, Viola, and Piano , commissioned by PCC especially for this event. Inspired by the familial theme, Cohen’s work will focus on children’s songs from Israel, America, and Spain. Michael Parloff * Gilad Cohen is a Ridgewood resident and a professor at Ramapo College. A Princeton Ph.D., he the winner of the 2016 Barlow Prize and the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers. Programs and artists are subject to change. 2017-2018 SEASON September 24, 2017 Dances, Romances, and Mendelssohn’s Octet October 29, 2017 Peter Serkin, piano Mozart and Bach November 19, 2017 Los Angeles Guitar Quartet December 17, 2017 Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung A Pianistic Partnership February 17, 2018 Chiara String Quartet Candlelit Haydn The Seven Last Words of Christ March 11, 2018 Benjamin Beilman, violin Orion Weiss, piano April 8, 2018 Danish String Quartet All-Beethoven May 6, 2018 Neubauer-McDermott Family Concert 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

December 4, 2022 – The Sitkovetsky Trio LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) Allegretto WoO 39 December 4, 2022 – The Sitkovetsky Trio Beethoven made his final statement in the piano trio genre with this single-movement Allegretto in B-flat major. He inscribed his manuscript score: “Vienna, June 26, 1812: for my little friend Maxe Brentano, to encourage her in her piano playing.” Maximiliane Brentano was the ten-year-old daughter of Beethoven’s dear friends Antonie and Franz Brentano. The composer even included his own suggestions for fingerings to aid his little friend. If Maynard Solomon’s convincing evidence is accepted, Maxe’s mother Antonie was Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” the woman to whom Beethoven wrote his famous letter less than two weeks after completing the little Trio. With great anguish, Beethoven nobly resolved not to accept the high-society married woman’s offer to leave her husband, thereby preserving—if we adopt Solomon’s reasoning—his friendship with the family. Nine years later he dedicated his wonderful Piano Sonata in E major, op. 109, to Maximiliane, who must have kept up her piano studies. The sonata-form Allegretto contrasts a busy, cheerful main theme, played by the piano to chordal string accompaniment, with a simple second theme marked by a characteristic dotted rhythm that is echoed alternately by the strings. The development takes an excursion to D major, which Beethoven even notates in the key signature. The slightly varied recapitulation leads to a relatively substantial coda, which comes to a sprightly conclusion. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

2023-2024 ARTIST ROSTER BRUCE ADOLPHE, COMPOSER ALESSIO BAX, PIANO MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, PIANO LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANO BRUNO EICHER, VIOLIN BRAD GEMEINHARDT, FRENCH HORN HESPÈRION XXI, EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE JOSEPH JORDAN, OBOE LEIGH MESH, BASS PAUL NEUBAUER, VIOLA JORDI SAVALL, VIOLA DA GAMBA SARAH VONSATTEL, VIOLIN MARIKO ANRAKU, HARP ANGEL BLUE, SOPRANO NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, CELLO KARI DOCTER, CELLO GARRETT FISCHBACH, VIOLA GOLDMUND STRING QUARTET MING-FENG HSIN, VIOLIN LYSANDER PIANO TRIO SETH MORRIS, FLUTE ALBERTO PARRINI, CELLO ANNE SCHARER, FRENCH HORN BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO ANTIOCH CHAMBER ENSEMBLE, CHOIR BRENTANO STRING QUARTET CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN ELAINE DOUVAS, OBOE KATHERINE FONG, VIOLIN RICHARD GOODE, PIANO STEFAN JACKIW, VIOLIN ANTHONY MCGILL, CLARINET OLIVER NEUBAUER, VIOLIN WEN QIAN, VIOLIN DOV SCHEINDLIN, VIOLA NANCY WU, VIOLIN

2018-2019 ARTIST ROSTER EDWARD ARRON, CELLO MICHAEL BROWN, PIANO BARRY CENTANNI, PERCUSSION TIMOTHY COBB, DOUBLE BASS DAVID J. GROSSMAN, DOUBLE BASS PAUL HUANG, VIOLIN CHELSEA KNOX, FLUTE SEAN LEE, VIOLIN MIHAI MARICA, CELLO KEN NODA, PIANO WEN QIAN, VIOLIN SHERYL STAPLES, VIOLIN JASON VIEAUX, GUITAR PINCHAS ZUKERMAN; AMANDA FORSYTH; ANGELA CHENG ELAINE DOUVAS, OBOE MAURYCY BANASZEK, VIOLA THE CALIDORE STRING QUARTET INN-HYUCK CHO, CLARINET EMERSON STRING QUARTET WENDY BRYN HARMER, SOPRANO PAUL JACOBS, ORGAN PIERRE LAPOINTE, VIOLA QIAN-QIAN LI, VIOLIN ANNE AKIKO MEYERS, VIOLIN GARRICK OHLSSON, PIANO DOV SCHEINDLIN, VIOLA ARNAUD SUSSMANN, VIOLIN GILLES VONSATTEL, PIANO JOEL NOYES, CELLO PASCUAL MARTÍNEZ FORTEZA, CLARINET ALESSIO BAX, PIANO NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, CELLO LUCILLE CHUNG, PIANO DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO MING FENG HSIN, VIOLIN FRIEDRICH HEINRICH KERN, GLASS HARMONICA KRISTIN LEE, VIOLIN MATTHEW LIPMAN, VIOLA EILEEN MOON-MYERS, CELLO CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA EMILY DAGGETT SMITH, VIOLIN DANBI UM, VIOLIN SARAH CROCKER VONSATTEL, VIOLIN KEVIN ZHU, VIOLIN YOOBIN SON, FLUTE

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

2011-2012 ARTIST ROSTER STEPHANIE BLYTHE, RECITER ANDRÉS DÍAZ, CELLO JULIE GUNN, PIANO DEBORAH HOFFMAN, HARP CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA DENIS BOURIAKOV, FLUTE - 2011 TIM FAIN, VIOLIN NATHAN GUNN, BARITONE STEFÁN RAGNAR HÖSKULDSSON, FLUTE MIDGE WOOLSEY, NARRATOR WENDY CHEN, PIANO RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO THOMAS HAMPSON, BARITONE WARREN JONES, PIANO

2016-2017 ARTIST ROSTER MARIKO ANRAKU, HARP CARTER BREY, CELLO INN-HYUCK CHO, CLARINET DAVID FINCKEL, CELLO FRANK HUANG, VIOLIN ISABEL LEONARD, MEZZO-SOPRANO DOV SCHEINDLIN, VIOLA JASON VIEAUX, GUITAR EMANUEL AX, PIANO EMMANUEL CEYSSON, HARP ESCHER STRING QUARTET ÉRIK GRATTON, FLUTE JERUSALEM STRING QUARTET CYNTHIA PHELPS, VIOLA PHILIP SETZER, VIOLIN WU HAN, PIANO JONATHAN BISS, PIANO DAVID CHAN, VIOLIN RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO JERRY GROSSMAN, CELLO WARREN JONES, PIANO CATHERINE RO, VIOLIN SHERYL STAPLES, VIOLIN MELINDA WAGNER, COMPOSER

2022-2023 ARTIST ROSTER STEVEN BANKS, SAXOPHONE XAK BJERKEN, PIANO GLORIA CHIEN, PIANO EMERSON STRING QUARTET RAFAEL FIGUEROA, CELLO JAVIER GÁNDARA, HORN RACHEL NAOMI KUDO, PIANO MARON KHOURY, FLUTE MILAN MILISAVLJEVIĆ, VIOLA JESSICA PHILLIPS, CLARINET ANNE MARIE SCHARER, HORN YOOBIN SON, FLUTE BRYAN WAGORN, PIANO BENJAMIN BEILMAN, VIOLIN 2022 BENJAMIN BOWMAN, VIOLIN THE DANISH STRING QUARTET EVAN EPIFANIO, BASSOON ZLATOMIR FUNG, CELLO NATHAN HUGHES, OBOE ALEXI KENNEY, VIOLIN MIHAI MARICA, CELLO JOEL NOYES, CELLO ANTON RIST, CLARINET SITKOVETSKY TRIO JOHN UPTON, OBOE PAUL WATKINS, CELLO BORIS BERMAN, PIANO ETTORE CAUSA, VIOLA ELAINE DOUVAS, OBOE GUILLERMO FIGUEROA, VIOLA DAVID GOULD, BASSET HORN BRENDAN KANE, BASS DEAN LEBLANC, BASSET HORN PASCUAL MARTÍNEZ FORTEZA, CLARINET MILENA PAJARO-VAN DE STADT, VIOLA MARK ROMATZ, BASSOON ALBERT CANO SMIT, PIANO HUGO VALVERDE, HORN KEVIN ZHU, VIOLIN

2025-2026 ARTIST ROSTER BENJAMIN APPL, BARITONE JONATHAN BISS, PIANO BRAD GEMEINHARDT, HORN HENRY KRAMER, PIANO ANTON RIST, CLARINET THE TALLIS SCHOLARS JAMES BAILLIEU, PIANO LAWRENCE BROWNLEE, TENOR PETER FRANCIS JAMES, NARRATOR KEVIN J. MILLER, PIANO WILLIAM SHORT, BASSOON ORION WEISS, PIANO BENJAMIN BEILMAN, VIOLIN STERLING ELLIOTT, CELLO JERUSALEM QUARTET RADU RATOI, ACCORDIONIST JONATHAN SWENSEN, CELLO CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN