Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble Program

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble

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Chamber Music / England

ArtPower presents Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble

October 14, 2022 at 8 pm Department of Music's Conrad Prebys Concert Hall

Tomo Keller, violin

Harvey de Souza, violin Jennifer Godson, violin Martin Burgess, violin Robert Smissen, viola Fiona Bonds, viola Caroline Dale, cello Will Schofield, cello

Program credits: The Academy’s work in the US is supported by Maria Cardamone and Paul Matthews together with the American Friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists, www. davidroweartists.com

Chandos, Philips, Hyperion recordings

Program

Henry Purcell (1659–95)

Chacony for Strings in G minor (arr. Benjamin Britten, 1948, rev.1963)

Johannes Brahms (1833–97)

String Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18 Allegro ma non troppo Andante ma moderato Scherzo. Allegro molto - Trio. Animato Rondo. Poco allegretto e grazioso

INTERMISSION

George Enescu (1881–1955)

Octet in C, Op. 7 (1900) Très modéré –Très fougueux –Lentement –Moins vite, animé, movement de valse bien rythmée

Thank You

Sponsor: Robert & Sonia Hamburger Family Chamber Music Series

About the Program

Chaconne in G Minor (arr. Britten)

Henry Purcell

Born 1659

Died November 21, 1695, Westminster, London

Henry Purcell is considered the first of England’s great composers. Born into a musical family, he sang in the Chapel Royal as a boy, became “composer to the King’s violins” at age 18, and was named the organist at Westminster Abbey in 1679, a position he held until his death in 1695 at the age of 36. A prolific composer, he wrote church music, coronation anthems, incidental music for London theatrical productions, and a large number of songs, instrumental compositions, and keyboard pieces. His one opera, Dido and Aeneas, written for an amateur production at a girls’ school in 1689, is regarded as the first great English opera.

Purcell’s Chaconne in G Minor (or Chacony, as Purcell spelled it) dates from the 1680s, or roughly from the same time as Bach’s birth. Originally published as the sixth of Purcell’s Ten Sonatas in Four Parts, this music is not a sonata in the classical sense (during this period “sonata” meant “sounded” and could refer to any purely instrumental composition). The “four parts” here are first and second violins, viola, and a bass line that might consist of harpsichord, cello, and double bass.

At this concert the Chaconne is performed in an edition for string orchestra that Benjamin Britten prepared in 1948 and revised in 1963. This brief and impassioned work is in fact a strict chaconne, built on a set of variations over a repeating eight-bar ground bass; recent scholarship suggests that Purcell derived this bass line from the song Scocca Pur by his friend, the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Draghi. This ground bass is announced firmly at the beginning and repeats throughout. Above this chordal progression, Purcell gives the higher string voices a sequence of variations remarkable for their invention and their emotional power–this is quite intense music. Purcell also stretches the harmonic language, so that while the Chaconne stays in G minor, it often implies G major, with a great deal of resulting harmonic ambiguity.

Sextet for Strings in B-flat Major, Opus 18 Johannes Brahms

Born May 7, 1833, Hamburg

Died April 3, 1897, Vienna

We so automatically identify Brahms with Vienna that it is easy to forget that he did not move there until he was nearly 30. By that time he had already written a great deal of music, and some of the best of these early works were composed while he was a court musician in Detmold. About 100 miles southwest of Hamburg, Detmold was a cultured court, much devoted to music, and for three seasons (1857–59) Brahms served as a court musician there. These years were quite productive for him musically. With a chorus, orchestra, and good solo performers at his disposal, Brahms could have his music performed immediately and could test his ideas. From these years came his two serenades for orchestra, the first two piano quartets, several choral works, and the

completion of his First Piano Concerto.

It was during his final year at Detmold that Brahms began his Sextet in B-flat Major, completing it in 1860. Brahms is sometimes credited with “inventing” the string sextet (two violins, two violas, two cellos), but that is not true–Boccherini and others had written for this combination of instruments earlier. But Brahms’ two examples are the first great works in the form, and they remain—with Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence and Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht—the core of the slim repertory for this ensemble. Perhaps because it is an early work, critics have been quick to detect influences on the Sextet in B-flat Major. Brahms’ admirable biographer Karl Geiringer hears the influence of Schubert in the first movement, of Beethoven in the scherzo, and of Haydn in the finale. But the Sextet already shows Brahms’ unmistakable voice, particularly in its rich sonorities and in the way a wealth of musical ideas grows out of each theme. And in contrast to the clenched intensity of some of Brahms’ later chamber music, the Sextet is (generally) full of sunlight.

From the first instant of this music Brahms fully exploits the richness of the lower sonorities a sextet makes available—there are important thematic roles here for first viola and first cello—as well as playing off combinations of instruments impossible in a string quartet. The gentle, rocking main subject of the Allegro ma non troppo, heard immediately in the first cello, is only the first in a number of thematic ideas in this sonataform movement, but its relaxed and flowing ease sets a tone that will run throughout the Sextet—this is music that proceeds along a mellow songfulness rather than through the collision of unrelated ideas. Brahms’ performance markings tell the tale here: the first theme is marked espressivo, the second subject–for upper strings–is marked dolce and pianissimo, while the third—a winding idea for cello—is marked poco forte espressivo animato. The development treats the first two thematically, but the third is developed rhythmically: Brahms derives a series of rhythmic patterns from this theme that help bind the movement together, and the theme reappears in its melodic shape only in the recapitulation. The lengthy movement closes with a nice touch: the brief coda, played pizzicato, moves gracefully to the two concluding chords.

The second movement, in somber D minor, is a theme and six variations. The first viola immediately lays out the firmly-drawn theme, and the first three variations seem barely able to suppress a sort of volcanic fury that seethes beneath the surface of this music. Even in chamber music Brahms favored a heavy sonority, and at several points in these variations all six instruments are triple-stopped, creating huge chords played simultaneously on eighteen strings. A ray of sunlight falls across the music at the fourth variation, which moves to D major, while the sonorous fifth—also in D major—is almost entirely the province of the first viola, accompanied by the violins’ wispy octaves. The dark sixth variation serves as the coda. Here the cello, playing with an almost choked sonority, returns to the D-minor darkness of the opening and leads the movement to its quiet close.

After these two massive movements, the pleasing Scherzo zips past in barely three minutes. The scherzo section itself is playful but feels a little subdued in comparison to the slashing, full-throated trio, which suddenly races ahead (Brahms’ marking is Animato). This rises to a sonorous climax before the return of the opening scherzo;

Brahms closes with a mighty coda derived from the trio. The concluding Poco Allegretto e grazioso is a rondo based on the first cello’s amiable opening theme. Significant interludes intrude on the progress of the movement, which makes use of the same kind of rhythmic underpinning that bound the first movement together so imaginatively. The rondo theme itself undergoes variation as this movement proceeds, and Brahms rounds matters off with a coda so powerful that it feels virtually symphonic.

Octet for Strings in C Major, Opus 7 George Enescu

Born August 19, 1881, Liveni Virnav, Romania Died May 3/4, 1955, Paris

A child prodigy, George Enescu left Romania at age 7 to enter the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, then went on to study at the Paris Conservatory. Along the way, he worked with a spectacular array of musicians: in Vienna he played in orchestras conducted by Brahms, and in Paris he studied with Massenet and Fauré, became friends with Saint-Saëns, and was a classmate of Ravel. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory with a first prize in violin in 1899 at the age of 18, then embarked on a career as violinist and composer. Enescu’s music took two distinct paths at first. There were consciously nationalistic works like the Romanian Rhapsodies, composed in 1900–01. But at this same moment, just as he left the Conservatory, the teenaged Enescu set to work on quite a different piece, an Octet for Strings. In contrast to the Romanian Rhapsodies, which string together a series of Romanian folksongs in an episodic structure, the Octet was very carefully conceived and composed as a complex musical structure. The Octet grows out of its powerful opening idea, which will reappear in many subtle transformations across its forty-minute span. The process of composition was difficult for the young composer (it took him eighteen months to complete the Octet), and Enescu, who planned the piece with great precision, noted that “An engineer who would have thrown over a river his first suspension bridge wouldn’t have been so anxious as I was blackening the paper with staves.”

An Octet for Strings of course calls to mind the other great octet for strings, also written by a teenager: Mendelssohn’s Octet of 1825, composed when he was 16. But how different these two works are! Mendelssohn’s Octet is all fleetness, grace, and polish, but Enescu’s plunges us into a world of violence, sonority, and conflict. Its premiere in Paris produced varied responses. The French violinist and conductor Edouard Colonne brought his son to the premiere, and at the conclusion the son remarked, “Well, but this is awfully beautiful.” To which the father replied, “Of course, it is more awful than beautiful.” (Enescu, who had a wonderful sense of humor, loved to tell this story.)

The principal influence on Enescu’s Octet was not Mendelssohn, but—surprisingly— Berlioz, who wrote no chamber music of his own. But Enescu saw a role model in Berlioz, who had been dead for thirty years when he began work on the Octet: Berlioz had fought against hidebound French musical traditions and had introduced a nightmare element into his music, one that strongly attracted Enescu (who in fact quotes the Symphonie fantastique in the closing moments of the Octet). Enescu noted that he wanted to

bring the extravagance of the earlier composer to the civilized world of chamber music: “Sometimes I felt myself like a Berlioz in chamber music, if it is possible to imagine the man who used five orchestras composing such a kind of music.”

The opening instantly establishes the character of this powerful music. Over steady accompaniment from the second cello, the other seven instruments hammer out the opening theme, a sinuous, angular, and propulsive idea that takes nearly a minute to unfold. This is the seminal subject of the Octet, and all subsequent material will in some way be related to this theme. This is very densely argued exposition: much of it unfolds canonically, and the writing makes virtuoso demands on all eight players. The second subject, announced by the first viola and marked expressive and grieving, seems to strike a different note, but this theme is simply a derivation of the powerful opening idea. After a dynamic development, this extended movement trails into silence on a muted restatement of the main idea.

Enescu calls for only a brief pause between the first and second movements (long enough only to remove the mutes), and suddenly the second movement leaps violently to life. Marked Très fougueux (“fiery, impetuous”), it opens with the same sort of unison explosion that launched the first movement, but now that theme has evolved into something spiky and fierce. Enescu marks this opening statement agité, and it alternates with slower, gentler material marked caressant: “caressing.” The movement develops principally through a violent fugue based on its opening gesture; along the way the principal theme of the first movement makes a reappearance, and the music drives to a huge climax full of massed chords.

This fury subsides, and the music proceeds without pause into the third movement, marked Lentement. This opens with a series of slow, muted chords (once again derived from the seminal theme), and soon the first violin sings the grieving main idea (one of Enescu’s recurring markings in this movement is velouté: “velvety”). Gentle as its opening may be, this movement too rises to a conflicted climax, recalling themes from the opening movement as it proceeds. The finale, which begins without pause, is a sort of grand waltz, full of energy and sweep. The movement drives aggressively to its closing pages, which bring a surprise: the music slows, and the first violin sings a phrase that appears to be derived from the theme of the Beloved in Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. After all the violence of the Octet, this episode—however brief—seems to offer a moment of relief, of purity. And then the furies return to drive the Octet to its surprisingly fierce conclusion.

Program notes by Eric Bromberger

About the Artists

The Academy Chamber Ensemble was formed in 1967, drawing its membership from the world-renowned chamber orchestra the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which was itself founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958 and is currently led by Music Director Joshua Bell. The purpose behind the formation of the Chamber Ensemble was to perform the larger scale chamber music repertoire with players who customarily worked together, instead of the usual string quartet with additional guests. Drawn from the principal players of the orchestra and play-directed by Academy Director/Leader Tomo Keller, the Chamber Ensemble now performs in multiple configurations from wind trios to string octets. Its touring commitments are extensive and include regular tours of Europe and North America, whilst recording contracts with Philips Classics, Hyperion, and Chandos have led to the release of over thirty CDs.

The Academy Chamber Ensemble’s October 2022 tour of the United States and Canada is supported by Maria Cardamone and Paul Matthews, together with the American Friends of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The American Friends was founded in 1998 to support the work of the Academy around the world, particularly in the USA. Find out more at www.asmf.org

You can also find the Academy on:

Facebook: /asmforchestra

Twitter: @asmforchestra

YouTube: /TheASMF

SoundCloud: /asmf

“an ensemble of first-rate musicians, technically superb, generously expressive, and obviously enjoying themselves.” —Dallas Morning News

“impressively seamless ensemble”—Chicago Classical Review

“impressive sophistication and complexity of phrasing, elegant articulation and an impeccable sense of balance… What sets the Academy apart from other ensembles is its exceptional musical intelligence.”—Seen and Heard international

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Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley

Elaine Galinson Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation

Bobbie and Jon Gilbert

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund  of the Jewish Community Foundation Patricia and Christopher Weil  of The Weil Family Foundation  The Parker Foundation

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Jack Lampl

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Jack Lampl

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Donor list and PowerPlayer list reflecting gifts and pledges allocated for September 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022.

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