Escher String Quartet, Nov 13, 2018

oneppo chamber music series David Shifrin, artistic director

Escher String Quartet Adam Barnett-Hart, violin • Danbi Um, violin Pierre Lapointe, viola • Brook Speltz, cello

Tuesday, November 13, 2018 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791

String Quartet No. 23 in F major, K. 590 I. Allegro Moderato II. Andante – Allegretto III. Menuetto – Allegretto IV. Allegro

Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1897–1957

String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 34 I. Allegro Moderato II. Scherzo. Allegro molto III. Sostenuto. Like a Folk Tune IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco

intermission

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo II. Allegro molto vivace III. Allegro moderato – Adagio IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile – Più

mosso – Adagio – Allegretto – Adagio, ma non

troppo e semplice – Allegretto V. Presto VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante VII. Allegro

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Artist Profiles Escher String Quartet The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its expressive, nuanced performances that combine unusual textural clarity with a rich, blended sound. Within months of its inception in 2005, the quartet came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the ensemble was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet-in-Residence at each artist’s respective summer festivals. The quartet has since collaborated with artists including David Finckel, Leon Fleischer, and David Shifrin, as well as jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalist Kurt Elling, legendary Latin artist Paquito D’Rivera and guitarist Jason Vieaux. In 2013, the quartet became one of very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, performing at venues such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, and Auditorium du Louvre, and appearing at festivals such as Heidelberg Spring Festival, Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, and Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Last season, the quartet toured with CMS to China.

Currently Quartet-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Tuesday Musical Association in Akron, the quartet fervently supports the education of young musicians and has given masterclasses at institutions such as the Royal Academy of Music in London and Campos do Jordão Music Festival in Brazil.

In Autumn 2016, the quartet released the third and final volume of the complete Mendelssohn Quartets on the BIS label.

The set has been received with the highest critical acclaim; Volume II was listed in the Top 10 CDs of 2016 by the Guardian and hailed for its “sheer finesse” by Gramophone, while Volume III was nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award. The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label, to accolades including five stars in the Guardian with “Classical CD of the Year”, a Recommendation in The Strad, “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb International and a nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award.

The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. » escherquartet.com Discography: NAXOS, BIS Exclusive Management: Arts Management Group, Inc., 130 West 57th St., NY, NY

Program Notes String Quartet No. 23 in F major, K. 590 mozart Keith Murphy, ed. Aaron Levin Mozart wrote his three “Prussian” quartets (K. 575, 589, 590) at the suggestion of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, an accomplished amateur cellist whom Mozart met while on tour in the spring of 1789.

These quartets, Mozart’s last works in the medium, pay homage to their royal dedicatee by offering frequent cello solos, though this trend diminished throughout the three works; while K. 575 features the cello prominently in all four of its movements, K. 589 only does so in the first two, while K. 590 offers the cello an expanded melodic role in the first movement only. Though the reasons for the diminishing quantity of melodic cello material are not entirely clear, Mozart may have been influenced by financial rather than musical concerns; an extraordinarily difficult cello part would likely have hindered the marketability of the scores.

As with Mozart’s earlier set of six quartets, dedicated to Haydn, the composition of the Prussian quartets gave Mozart more trouble than he expected; each quartet took more time to compose than was usual for him. Despite working on several of the movements simultaneously, Mozart did not complete K. 590 until 1790. As with many of his final years, the F major quartet shows exceptional refinement and a renewed fascination with counterpoint (while on his tour, Mozart had reacquainted himself with the music of J.S. Bach). Furthermore, the F major quartet demonstrates an incredibly unified motivic and thematic

landscape. The first, second, and final movements all retain the first theme by the secondary key area; although this practice was common in the music of Haydn, the more tpical practice of Mozart and his contem- poraries was to introduce a new second theme. Even in the minuet’s trio, often characterized by strong contrast from the surrounding music, Mozart uses material closely related to the minuet proper.

The invigorating and highly contrapuntal finale makes K. 590 one of Mozart’s most challenging quartets to perform, but one of the most exciting to hear.

String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 32 korngold Keith Horner, ed. Aaron Levin Declared a musical genius by Mahler at age ten, child prodigy Erich Wolfgang Korngold found early success in his native Austria as both a composer and performer. Unfortunately, the onset of World War II quickly disrupted his promising career, as Korngold was forced to emigrate to the United States in 1938 due to his Jewish heritage. Settling in Los Angeles, Korngold discovered that his late-romantic musical vocabulary flourished in the Hollywood films of the late 1930s and early ‘40s. Two of his seventeen major film scores for Warner Bros. won Academy Awards, and went on to define the language of the silver screen itself.

Korngold’s third quartet was both his final chamber work and his first concert work composed in America, premiering in Los Angeles on January 3, 1949. Compared to the two earlier quartets that had been composed in Europe, Korngold’s third string

quartet draws on the melodic skills finetuned in his film scoring half a world away.

The first movement follows a traditional structure, contrasting and interweaving the two themes in a restless search for a tonal center (which only arrives in the closing D major chord). The interval of a seventh is featured prominently in the sinuous opening theme and progresses throughout the movement, underpinning the vivid, skeletal scherzo that follows.

Here, the two violins fervently pursue one another above the musical staff; below, a dogged accompaniment. The central trio section is based on a calm, luxurious theme from Between Two Worlds, Korngold’s favorite film score.

The main theme of the slow movement, modal and with the performance indication, “like a folk tune,” is drawn from the love theme from the 1941 film The Sea Wolf. The restraint and clarity of Korngold’s writing make this slow movement among his most successful. The high-spirited finale toys with the idea of a fugue, the four strings entering in unisons or merrily passing the theme among each other.

String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 beethoven School of Music Files, ed. Aaron Levin Beethoven devoted the last three years of his life writing string quartets. Having completed both his Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis, Beethoven turned his attention to composing quartets in 1824, with five late works that represent the

height of his compositional prowess, and contain some of his most intense and personal musical expressions.

Beethoven claimed that his fourteenth quartet was his finest achievement in the genre. This quartet is characterized by remarkable originality of form and content.

The traditional four-movement form of Haydn and Mozart is consumed by a massive seven-movement plan. The movements are played without a break, and build organically toward the final movement.

The opening movement is a slow fugue, which Wagner described as “the saddest thing ever said in notes.” The serious nature of the fugue is quickly dispelled by the second movement, a lighthearted dance.

The transitional third movement has the character of a recitative, and functions as an introduction to the quartet’s slow, middle movement. A theme and variations rich in imagination and emotional variety, this movement culminates in a slow hymn that is the spiritual core of the whole quartet.

The penultimate movement takes on the form of a scherzo, which functions as an introduction to the finale. Here, Beethoven recalls a transformed version of the opening fugue subject as the main theme of the quartet’s only sonata-form movement.

Oneppo Chamber Music

2018–2019 Season dec 4

jan 29

Emerson String Quartet Haydn String Quartet in D major, Op. 71, No. 2; Bartók String Quartet No. 5 in B-flat major; Dvořák String Quartet in G major, Op. 106 Brentano String Quartet lamentations Haydn “Consumatum Est” and “Eli, Eli” from the Seven Last Words of Christ; Shostakovich Elegy for String Quartet; Carter Elegy for String Quartet; Lekeu Molto Adagio sempre cantante e doloroso; Bartók String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

feb 26

Jordi Savall with Le Concert des Nations Music from the film Tous les Matins du Monde, featuring works by Couperin, Lully, and more

apr 16

A Far Cry gravity: a progression of works for strings. Pärt Silouan’s Song; Xenakis Aroura; Kernis Musica Celestis; Bartók Divertimento for String Orchestra; Golijov Tenebrae

may 7

Competition Winners Performances by the winners of the School’s annual Chamber Music Competition

About the Oneppo Chamber Music Series Chamber music is an integral part of the Yale School of Music, and this concert series presents many of the world’s leading concert artists on the stage of Morse Recital Hall.

Ever since Sprague Memorial Hall was built in 1917, it has been home to chamber music performances. The origins of this series can be traced to concerts organized

by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, widely considered the godmother of chamber music in America.

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Upcoming Events nov 15 Peter Oundjian, principal conductor

Yale Philharmonia Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with Sophiko Simsive, and Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra.

7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall Tickets start at $12, Yale faculty/ staff $8, students $5 $3 surcharge at the door

Special Offer for Orchestra seats:

Buy one, get one free! nov 28 Melvin Chen, piano

Horowitz Piano Series

Faculty pianist Melvin Chen performs an arrangement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, and works by Sibelius and Ravel.

7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $15, students $7 dec 4 Emerson String Quartet

Oneppo Chamber Music Series

A performance by the legendary Emerson String Quartet, an ensemble The New Yorker has said is “as eminent as ever.”

7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Tickets start at $28, students $13

dec 5 Lunchtime Chamber Music 12:30 p.m. | Joseph Slifka Center

Free dec 6 New Music for Orchestra

New Music New Haven

A program of new orchestral music by the School’s student composers performed by the Yale Philharmonia, with guest conductor Julian Pellicano.

7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall

Free dec 8 Yale Percussion Group

YSM Ensembles 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

Free dec 12 Guitar Chamber Music

YSM Ensembles 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

Free dec 13 Ettore Causa, viola, with Boris Berman, piano

Faculty Artist Series 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall

free

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