Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Concert 1

Sonatas

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Sonata for Clarinet & Piano
French composer, pianist and recording artist Francis Poulenc was largely self-taught at first since his parents forbade him the serious study of music, preferring that he follow his father into the family business.   He began formal studies after his parents died, around his 20^th year.   In addition to pieces for solo piano and chamber works, his compositions included religious choral works, ballets, operas and orchestral works. 

Commissioned by the legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman and written in 1962, his clarinet sonata was one of the last pieces he completed.  Poulenc was to have accompanied Goodman but died of a heart attack two months before the April 1963 Carnegie Hall premier.  Leonard Bernstein ultimately accompanied Goodman.  Harold C. Schonberg, music critic of the New York Times, wrote, "Poulenc was not a 'big' composer, for his emotional range was too restricted. But what he did, he did perfectly, and his music shows remarkable finish, style and refinement. The sonata is typical Poulenc.” 

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Sonata No. 2 for Viola & Piano in E-flat major, Op. 120, No. 2
Conductor Hans von Bülow in 1880s heralded German composer Johannes Brahms as the third of  “the Three B’s” of music, grouping for the first time Brahms with Bach and Beethoven (substituting for Hector Berlioz).  A native of Hamburg, Brahms’ potential was recognized early on by many, most notably Robert Schumann and pianist wife, Clara, who would become Brahms’ mentors. Schumann hailed him a genius and the savior of German music.  Consequently, a close friendship developed between the young Brahms and the Schumanns, resulting in the most famous love triangle in classical music, as Brahms fell hopelessly in love with Clara. “I can do nothing but think of you. What have you done to me? Can’t you remove the spell you have cast over me?” he wrote to her in 1855.  

The Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 2 was originally composed in 1894 as a sonata for clarinet and piano and premiered on January 8, 1895, with the composer at the keyboard.  It was one of the last chamber pieces Brahms would complete.  It was written at a time when Brahms had mostly retired from composing until he met clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whom he greatly admired.  He began to write for him some of the greatest works in the clarinet repertoire. The sonata was subsequently arranged by Brahms for the viola and piano. 

Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Sonata for Violin & Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18
Richard Strauss was a late-romantic and early-modern era German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems, operas and lieder.  His father was the principal horn player with the Court Opera in Munich, who gave him a thorough music education, as well as a great love for the horn.  A child prodigy, he was composing by age six.  He learned conducting from Hans von Bülow and succeeded him as conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra in 1885.  He enjoyed critical acclaim and the prosperity that came with it.  In 1906 he built a villa, where he and his wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna Strauss, resided until his death from heart failure.  He is credited with having significant impact on 20^th -century film music and influenced a generation of composers, including Béla Bartók, Benjamin Britten, Edward Elgar and film composer John Williams.  His ever-popular “Also sprach Zarathustra” was used by film director Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 film, 2001 A Space Odyssey.   

This technically-demanding sonata written in the standard classical form, like all his chamber works, was composed between 1887 and 1888, at the time he was falling in love with Pauline.  The effect of their romance is reflected in the lush lyricism of this virtuosic three-movement work.    

Concert 2

Duos and Trios

Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959), Trio for Flute, Cello & Piano, H.300

Martinů was a prolific Czech composer who wrote over 400 pieces and was once criticized for “writing too much music.”  He was said to “zone out” while deeply absorbed in thought, with the ability, it was said, to work out an entire score for a symphony in his head during long walks.  He was attracted to “new” music, but eventually he settled on neoclassicism. He fled political upheaval in Europe with the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia and eventually settled in New York, where he held several teaching posts and continued to compose at a frenetic pace.  He eventually returned to Europe and died in Switzerland in 1959. 

The Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano was written in 1944, after Martinů had arrived in the U.S. and was teaching at Tanglewood.  The three-movement work is a light-hearted piece, a departure from much of his previous work.  Two sunny movements bookend a darker, brooding second movement.  Virgil Thompson described the trio as “a gem of bright sound and cheerful sentiment that does not sound like any other.”    

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69
A transplant from Bonn, Germany, to Vienna at age 22, where he would live and work the rest of his life, Beethoven is considered one of the greatest music geniuses who had a profound influence on the development of Western music.  Early in his career, he abandoned the Classical form of Haydn and Mozart and played a crucial role in the transition to Romanticism.

Beethoven composed his A major sonata, one of five cello sonatas he would complete, in 1808, toward the end of his “middle” period, the same year his fifth and sixth symphonies premiered.  The sonata was innovative, giving equal weight to both instruments. The first movement opens with a cello solo before being joined by the piano. Listen for the off-beat accents in the second movement. The third movement, after a slow introduction, ends with a lively tempo and an eloquent coda.  

Carl Frühling (1868-1937), Trio in A Minor for Clarinet, Cello & Piano, Op. 40
Austrian composer and pianist Carl Frühling studied piano at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, receiving the Liszt Prize at his graduation. During his career, he worked as a piano accompanist and teacher, working with a number of well-respected ensembles.  WWI had a disastrous affect on his career, as it did for many in Germany and Austria, and he and his work fell into obscurity.  

Published in 1925 (it is not known exactly when it was written), this four-movement trio for clarinet, cello and piano was also arranged by the composer for the standard piano trio, substituting a violin part for the clarinet. Although written around the turn of the 20^th century, this work harkens back to mid 19^th-century Romanticism and suggests the clarinet works by Schumann and Brahms, yet is distinctively Frühling.  The trio, which has been described as a breath of springtime, is occasionally melancholy, sometimes playful and always graceful.

Concert 3

Trios with Strings
The Mae Ruth Swanson Memorial Concert

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1826), String Trio No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3
Ludwig van Beethoven moved from his native Bonn to Vienna in 1792, just short of his 22^nd birthday, to study with Joseph Haydn. His early works reflected the strong influence of Haydn and Mozart, but the unique voice of one of music’s titans quickly became apparent.  By the time his C minor trio was published, he was emerging as a major force in Western Music.  

The String Trio in C minor is one of three trios composed between 1797 and 1798 and published in 1799 as Opus 9, when the composer was 28.  All three of the Opus 9 trios are a dramatic departure from those of his predecessors, Haydn and Mozart.  The C minor trio is the heaviest of the three, written in the key that Beethoven used for some of his most serious pieces, such as his fifth symphony.  His signature dynamic effects and sharp rhythms punctuate the stormy first movement. The Adagio offers a peaceful respite, and the final two movements return to the passion and turbulence of the opening movement.   

Ingolf Dahl (1912-1970), Concerto a Tre for Clarinet, Violin & Cello
Born in Germany to a Jewish-German father and a Swedish mother, Dahl fled Nazi persecution and settled in Switzerland.  When conditions also deteriorated in Switzerland, he immigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in Los Angeles and eventually becoming a US citizen.  He was a composer, pianist, arranger, conductor and educator. He joined the faculty at the University of Southern California, a post he held until his death. A gifted sight-reader, he also worked extensively in the entertainment industry, collaborating with many notables, including Victor Borge and Benny Goodman.  

Influenced by jazz, the engaging, rhythmically-complex Concerto a Tre (“Concerto for Three”), was premiered in 1946 with Goodman on clarinet. This one-movement piece is based on a jovial six-note theme that is then bandied about among the musicians.  A tranquil interlude of exquisite intervals and dissonances precedes a return of the playful antics and virtuosic passages, especially in the clarinet.     

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), London Trio No. 1, Divertimento in C Major, Hob. IV:1 for Flute, Violin & Cello
Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn was instrumental in the development of the trio form, as well as the symphony and string quartet.  Chamber music in its current form did not take shape until the Classical period, largely due to the innovations of Haydn. As a boy he served as a chorister at the venerable St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna.  After being dismissed for cutting the pigtail off a fellow student as a joke, he struggled to survive on the street.  He was a hard worker, and his reputation eventually earned him a succession of respectable positions.  He served as Kapellmeister in the Esterházy court, the remoteness of which, far from Vienna, isolated him from the works of other composers and musical trends, forcing him, as he said, to become original.  His output over his 77 years was remarkable.  His style evolved over his career, breaking away from the Baroque style, enlarging and expanding the Classical form and ultimately setting the stage for Beethoven and Romanticism. 

Published in 1784, the London Trio No. 1, like all four of his London trios, was written for patrons in England who were fine amateur flautists. Unlike his contemporary, Mozart, Haydn had a fondness for the flute, a popular instrument among amateur musicians at the time.  The London trios were, however, the last chamber music he would write for the instrument.  Originally scored for two flutes and cello, the trios have been transcribed for different combinations, in this case, substituting a violin for one of the flutes.    

The “Hob” cataloguing is named for Anthony van Hoboken, who prepared a comprehensive catalogue of Haydn’s works.  Some have “opus” numbers and some “Hob.” Numbers, and some have both.   

Ernö Dohnányi (1877-1960), Serenade for String Trio in C Major, Op. 10
Composer, pianist and conductor, Ernö Dohnányi composed in the Neo-romantic style and incorporated elements of folk music from his native Hungary. He was an ardent admirer of the works of Brahms and Listz, both composers heavily influencing his work. Most of his works were published in Germany under the German form of his name, Ernst von Dohnányi. As a pianist, he toured Europe to great acclaim and held several prominent posts at various musical institutions.  World War II tragically impacted his career and life; two sons were killed in the war, one in combat and the other, who was a member of the German resistance, was executed for taking part in a failed plot to assassinate Hitler.  That son, incidentally, was the father of the distinguished German conductor, Christoph von Dohnányi.   He eventually settled in the United States and became an American citizen in 1955.  His Serenade in C major for string trio, written in 1902 and premiered in Vienna in 1904, is overtly Romantic in style, recalling the mid 19^th -century styles of Brahms and Schumann.  Says James Keller, longtime program annotator of the New York Philharmonic, “The five short movements of Dohnány’s Serenade pack in a good deal of wit, suggesting that the smiling spirit of Haydn hovers not far away.” (Chamber Music: A listener’s Guide, Oxford University Press 2011). 

Concert 4

Quartets

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Quartet in F Major for Oboe, Violin, Viola & Cello, K.370
Born in Salzburg, Austria, son of a court musician, Mozart was steeped in music from the very beginning and became one of the greatest child prodigies. He was also one of the most prolific composers in history, writing masterworks in virtually every genre.  He remains one of the most popular composers of all time.  

His Oboe Quartet in F Major, written in early 1781, is replete with endearing charm, with the oboe assuming the role normally occupied by the violin. The oboe had undergone recent refinements, and Mozart was eager to show off the capabilities of the improved instrument, as well as his own skills.  In the piece, he requires the oboe to achieve something rarely played by an oboe in those days:  a high “F” above the staff.  In this three-movement work, Mozart plays a musical joke in the finale, written in 6/8 time. The oboe plays a virtuosic passage in 4/4 while the strings continue in 6/8.  

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), Libertango and Oblivion for Clarinet, Violin, Cello & Piano
Known as the world’s foremost composer of tango music, Piazzolla was instrumental in the development of nuevo tango, a blending of traditional tango with jazz and classical music, and many of his earlier composition incorporated these forms.  He began to concentrate on traditional classical music until studying composition in Paris with the legendary Nadia Boulanger, who recognized his talent and encouraged him to pursue tango.  He returned to Argentina and reinvented tango. He wrote thousands of pieces and recorded, collaborated and performed extensively.  

Piazzolla’s Libertango, published in 1974, symbolized Piazzolla’s break from classical tango to Tango Nuevo.  An instant sensation, the piece has been used in a number of films and has been recorded by many artists, including YoYo Ma in his album Soul of the Tango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla.With its sultry tango rhythms, the work is one of his most-often performed compositions. 

John Mackey (b. 1973), Breakdown Tango for Clarinet, Violin, Cello & Piano
Though contemporary American composer John Mackey plays no instrument, he is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School and has written extensively, especially for wind band and chamber ensemble.  

The opening section of this high-energy work explodes with fiendish rhythms, making virtuosic demands on all the players, especially the pianist. The steamy middle section is a more traditional tango and a saucy clarinet.  The tension mounts and the players return to the frenetic main theme. 

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), Piano Quartet No. 2 for Piano & Strings in E-flat Major, Op. 87
Czech composer Antonin Dvořák was born in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic). He was heavily influenced by the folk music of the region, polkas being among his earliest compositions.  As his studies continued, he was more heavily influenced by Western European music, especially that of Beethoven and Schubert, but his music remained strongly nationalistic.   He married a pianist and the couple raised six children.  They maintained a summer home in a small village, where he wrote some of his best-known works. In 1892, he became the director of the National Conservatory in New York.  While in the United States, he took a keen interest in American folk music, notably the spirituals of the African Americans and Native American melodies. He wrote, “I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies.” He wrote his famous Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” during this time.  He returned to Bohemia after three years.  

Dvořák wrote his enchanting Piano Quartet No. 2 while passing the summer of 1889 in his country home, 14 years after publishing his first piano quartet, and it would be his last work for this instrumental combination. The quartet is replete with inventive melodic richness, especially the slow second movement, one of Dvořák’s most beautiful slow movements.  The quartet demonstrates Dvořák’s full maturity and mastery of the form. 

Program Notes by Sara Grossman