Program: Esmé Quartet

esmé quartet

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Chamber Music/

South Korea

ArtPower presents

Esmé Quartet

March 17, 2022 at 8 pm

Dept. of Music's Conrad

Prebys Concert Hall

Program

Alexander Borodin (1833–87)

String Quartet No. 2 in D Major

Allegro moderato

Scherzo: Allegro

Noctturno: Andante

Finale: Andante; Vivace

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–47)

Wonhee Bae, violin I

Yuna Ha, violin II

Dimitri Murrath, viola

Yeeun Heo, cello

String Quartet No. 1 in D-Major, Op. 25

Adagio ma non troppo

Allegretto

Romanze

Allegro molto vivace

INTERMISSION

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)

String Quartet in D Major, Opus 11

Moderato e semplice

Andante cantabile

Scherzo: Allegro non tanto

Finale: Allegro giusto

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Bachner

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About the Program

Alexander Borodin

String Quartet No. 2 in D Major

Born November 12, 1833, St. Petersburg

Died February 27, 1887, St. Petersburg

Everyone knows this quartet, even people who know nothing about classical music and who have never heard of Borodin. And the reason for this is simple: the quartet’s third movement—a lush, yearning Nocturne—has become one of the most famous pieces ever written. In arrangements for orchestra and countless other ensembles it has become almost too familiar. Yet the rest of the quartet is just as melodic and ingratiating, as if in this music Borodin had consciously set out to write a quartet that would proceed not from dramatic conflict but from the beauty of its lyric ideas.

There appear to have been autobiographical reasons for this, and this music had particular significance for its composer. Borodin wrote it in the summer of 1881, when he was 48 years old and a professor of chemistry in St. Petersburg. This quartet was consciously intended to evoke his past: Borodin dedicated it to his wife and wrote it as an evocation of their first meeting exactly twenty years earlier—this music is in effect a love-song to her. Also, Borodin had taught himself to play the cello as a boy, and while he never became a very good cellist, that instrument had special meaning for him, and it plays a particularly prominent role in this quartet.

The cello announces the flowing main theme of the first movement, and this is immediately picked up by the first violin, which also has the second idea, marked cantabile; there is a third theme in this sonata-form movement, a march-like tune built on dotted rhythms, but the movement is remarkable for its lack of contrast: these ideas sing agreeably, and the music moves easily to a quiet close on a unison D.

The second movement is a scherzo, but Borodin avoids traditional ABA form and instead writes a quick-paced movement based on two ideas: the opening bustle gives way to a surging, almost waltz-like second theme, and these two themes alternate across the course of the movement. The third movement is the famous Nocturne. Over throbbing accompaniment, the cello lays out its lengthy song, and once again the first violin repeats it. The danger inherent in such a lovely melody is that it might become cloying on repetition, but Borodin avoids this with his thorough and concentrated development, marked by vigorous runs, chromatic harmonies, and extended canonic treatment before the main theme reasserts itself at the quiet close.

The finale has a slow beginning, and in an ingenious touch Borodin gradually accelerates this figure to make it the main theme, now marked Vivace. A smooth second subject arrives almost unnoticed, and Borodin builds his finale out of these materials. Once again, there is an absence of conflict, and the quartet proceeds on high energy and good spirits to its relaxed close, again on a radiant unison D.

Fanny Mendelssohn

String Quartet in E-flat Major

Born November 14, 1805, Hamburg

Died May 14, 1847, Berlin

There is general agreement that the two most prodigiously-talented young composers in history were Mozart and Mendelssohn, and there were many parallels between the two. Both were born into families perfectly suited to nurture their talents. Both showed phenomenal talent as small boys. Both began composing as boys, and from the earliest age both had their music performed by professional musicians. Both became virtuoso keyboard performers. In addition, both played the violin and viola and took part in chamber music performances. Both composed voluminously in every genre. Both drove themselves very hard. Both died in their thirties.

But there is uncanny further parallel between the two: both Mozart and Mendelssohn had an older sister whose musical talents rivaled their own. Mozart’s sister Maria Anna, five years his senior, performed as a child with her brother in all the capitals of Europe, where they were put on display by their ambitious father. She also composed (none of her music has survived), but a serious career in music was out of the question for a woman at the end of the eighteenth century: she married in 1784 and grew estranged from her brother—they did not see each other over the final years of his life.

Fanny Mendelssohn, four years older than Felix, had a much closer relation with her brother. Like Felix, she began composing at an early age, and some of her songs were published under her brother’s name. She too was discouraged from making a career in music, and at age 24 she married the painter Wilhelm Hensel and had a son. But music remained a passion for her, and she composed an orchestral overture, chamber music, works for piano, and a great deal of vocal music (by the end of her life several of these works had been published). Fanny remained extremely close to her brother throughout her life, and her sudden death from a stroke at age 41 so devastated Felix that he collapsed on hearing the news and never really recovered—his own death six months later at age 38 was triggered at least in part by that shock.

Fanny began her String Quartet in E-flat Major during the summer of 1834 and completed it on October 23 of that year, just a few weeks before her 29th birthday. The work was probably performed during the Mendelssohn family’s Sunday musicales in Berlin but was not published. When the manuscript was finally discovered many years later, small parts of it were missing, and editors were able to reconstruct those sections by using music from other parts of the score. The Quartet in E-flat Major was not published until 1986, over a century and a half after its composition.

The quartet is in the expected four movements, though its structure is unusual: it begins with a lyric, understated movement at a slow tempo and concludes with a very fast movement, so the quartet seems to gather force as it proceeds. The Adagio ma non troppo offers smooth, flowing lines at the beginning and a more animated middle section before coming to a quiet close on the return of the opening theme. The Allegretto dances easily along its 6/8 meter—there are some nice touches along the way here, including the rapid alternation of pizzicato and bowed notes and a fugal episode in the development. Gradually the movement’s energy subsides, and it winks out on two quiet pizzicato

strokes. The third movement is titled Romanze, an indication of a gentle atmosphere rather than a specific form. First violin leads the way, both at the opening (marked molto cantabile) and in the active central episode. The last movement is quite fast (the marking is Allegro molto vivace), and it has an unusual meter, 12/16, though for practical purposes the music is stressed in 6/8. There is some brilliant writing for all four instruments here, and the first violin soars high above the others voices in the breathless rush to the close.

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky

String Quartet in D Major, Opus 11

Born May 7, 1840, Votkinsk

Died November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg

In the summer of 1869, Tchaikovsky—then a 29-year-old professor at the Moscow Conservatory—made an extended visit to his family’s summer estate in Kamenka in the Ukraine. There he spent a relaxed summer with his sister and brother-in-law, and there he came in contact with the folk-music of the region. This would show up in his own music three years later when he incorporated some of these folk—themes in his Second Symphony, known as the “Little Russian” (“Little Russia” was the somewhat imperial Russian nickname for the Ukraine). But another tune from the region showed up more quickly in his own music.

While in Kamenka, Tchaikovsky overheard a workman—a carpenter or a baker (accounts vary) — whistling a haunting melody that was sung with the words “Vanya sat on the divan and smoked a pipe of tobacco.” Back in Moscow two years later, Tchaikovsky planned a concert of his own music as a way of supplementing his faculty income. For that occasion he composed his First String Quartet, and as he worked on the quartet Tchaikovsky remembered the tune he had heard whistled in Kamenka. He used it as the principal theme of the quartet’s slow movement, which he marked Andante cantabile, and that little tune would go on to become one of the most popular melodies in history.

The Quartet in D Major is in traditional forms—sonata-form outer movements and ternary-form inner movements—and some have suggested that in this music Tchaikovsky was striving to demonstrate that he could handle classical structures. The opening Moderato e semplice is built largely on two ideas: a chordal opening and a slightly-swung second subject. Tchaikovsky subjects both themes to an energetic development, and the movement drives to a vigorous close.

In the Andante cantabile muted strings play the workman’s haunting tune, which alternates measures of 3/4 and 2/4. This gives way to a graceful (and equally lyric) middle section, announced in the quartet by the first violin over pizzicato accompaniment. The main theme returns, apparently to round matters off, but Tchaikovsky appends a reminiscence of the center section before the music faces into silence.

The D-minor scherzo, marked Allegro non tanto, powers ahead on a firmly-dotted 3/8 meter. In its trio section, the upper voices dance above a murmuring cello bassline; a recall of the opening section leads to the sudden close. The Allegro giusto finale is in sonata form, with a first theme that eventually soars and a more lyric second idea announced by the viola; once again, Tchaikovsky’s development is full of energy. The music draws to an unexpected silence, then races to its close on a coda that is almost orchestral in its excitement.

Tchaikovsky’s concert—presented at the Moscow Conservatory on March 28, 1871 was a great success, and its slow movement was the sensation of the evening: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, who was in the audience, was moved to tears by it. Tchaikovsky would eventually understand that the string quartet was not a medium well-suited to his expressive needs, and he would do his best work in the ballet and the concert hall. The Andante cantabile, however, achieved international fame, particularly in Tchaikovsky’s own arrangement of it for string orchestra. This concert allows listeners the rare opportunity to hear the string quartet that was the original setting for that famous movement.

Program notes by Eric Bromberger

About the Artist

Esmé Quartet

Winning the first prize and sweeping four of the special prizes, among them the Mozart and Beethoven prizes, at the 2018 London Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition the Esmé Quartet made a sensational entrance into the string quartet world. Subsequently, they were invited and started touring internationally playing concerts at festivals and concert halls such as the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Wigmore Hall and throughout the UK, at the Flagey Musiq3 Festival in Brussels, Auditori di Barcelona, the Opéra de Lille, the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival, the Haydn String Quartet Festival in Schloss Esterházy in Fertöd, Hungary and Classic Esterházy in Eisenstadt, Austria. In the summer of the same year, they were named as the quartet in residency at the Aix-en-Provence festival and also appeared at the McGill International String Quartet Academy in Montreal.

In 2019, the quartet was awarded the HSBC Laureate of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the first prize of the 55th Possehl Musikpreis Lübeck. They recorded their debut CD with works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Unsuk Chin, and Frank Bridge on the label Alpha Classics. The recording was released in early 2020 and has achieved critical acclaim with a 5 star review from Diapason d’Or and was named as one of the best classical albums of 2020 by WQXR radio in New York.

They were named the first Artists in Residence at the Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul, Korea for the season 2020–21 and in October 2020, the quartet was awarded the Hans-Gál Prize by the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz and the Villa Musica German Music Foundation. 2021 will see return invitations to the Festival Musiq3 and Wigmore Hall, an Italian tour and return engagements in Germany and Portugal. In 2022 the quartet will perform on tour for the first time in North America and Japan.

The name of the quartet—Esmé—is borrowed from an old French word meaning ‘being loved‘. Based in Germany, the group was formed in 2016 at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany and is comprised of four Korean musicians that were in their youth acquainted with each other as friends and shared common interests and passions in music, the arts, and life. The quartet has been mentored in masterclasses with artists such as Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Alfred Brendel, Eberhard Feltz, Andraś Keller, Christoph Poppen and Jonathan Brown (Cuarteto Casals). Esmé studied with Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet) at the Hochschule für Musik Lübeck, Germany and is currently studying with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the HMTM Hannover, Germany.

Dimitri Murrath, viola

Born in Brussels, Belgian American viola player Dimitri Murrath has made his mark on the international scene, performing as a recitalist and soloist in venues including Kennedy Center (Washington), Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall (London), and Théâtre de la Ville (Paris).

A first prize winner at the Primrose International Viola Competition, Dimitri Murrath has won numerous awards, including second prize at the First Tokyo International Viola Competition and the special prize for the contemporary work at the ARD Munich Competition. In 2012, he was named laureate of the Juventus Festival, an award recognizing young European soloists. He is a recipient of a 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant through which he recorded and released his first solo album recording music by Vieuxtemps, Clarke and Hindemith in 2017

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Murrath is a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society. He has collaborated with Richard Goode, Gidon Kremer, Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida, and members of the Cleveland, Mendelssohn and Guarneri Quartets. He has performed in festivals that include Verbier, Caramoor, Juventus, and Marlboro.

Dimitri Murrath began his musical education at the Yehudi Menuhin School studying with Natalia Boyarsky, his Bachelor of Music in London with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and graduated with an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory as a student of Kim Kashkashian.

After 9 years teaching viola at New England Conservatory, he is currently Professor of Viola and Chair of Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Dimitri Murrath participates in the Music for Food project, which raises awareness of the hunger problem faced by a large percent of the population, and gives the opportunity to experience the powerful role music can play as a catalyst for change.

www.dimitrimurrath.net

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